“You’d better not stand in my way,” Alexander added coldly. And then he was gone.
Boaz stood there for a long moment, staring at the empty space where the vampire had been, his mind going over Alexander’s ridiculous claim.
“She’s my bride”.
Lyla… Alexander’s bride?
Not a chance in hell.
She’s going to be mine,Boaz silently declared.
With that thought, he turned and headed back toward the clearing.
By the time he came through the trees, the clearing looked almost deserted. The bonfire had burned low, its flames licking lazily at the remaining wood while glowing embers drifted up into the dark sky. Only two figures remained near the fire. Hansel and Manlius. They were clearly waiting for him.
Boaz exhaled when he saw them, a weary sigh slipping past his lips.
“What happened?” Hansel asked. “The vampires left.”
“Good,” Boaz muttered. He didn’t stop walking.
Instead, he turned toward the tiny path that led to his cabin, tucked away from the rest of the pack deep in the forest.
“I spoke to the healer,” Manlius called after him. “He said he could come tomorrow.” Boaz kept walking. “Will Alexander be here tomorrow?”
“I hope not!” Boaz shouted back over his shoulder.
“You hope not?” Manlius asked, clearly confused. “I thought you wanted him checked by a healer.”
Boaz rubbed a hand over the back of his neck, his frustration mounting.
“If he does show up,” Manlius continued, “bring him to my coven. I wouldn’t want Brett to come all this way for nothing.”
Fuck.
Boaz exhaled heavily as he disappeared down the path. He really didn’t want that vampire anywhere near here again. He was already disrupting the peaceful, simple life Boaz had built for himself.
Stirring up things he didn’t understand. Making him feel things he absolutely did not want to feel.
I don’t fucking want him here,Boaz silently screamed.
Chapter 4
Alexander
“Fuck!” Alexander roared as he appeared inside the cave near his home, the sound of his voice echoing all around him in the cavernous space, raw and unhinged. The fucking werewolf was driving him insane, pushing him to the brink. He didn’t know whether he wanted to fight him or bite him. And the worst part…his scent.
It made Alexander ravenous.
He could barely focus on courting his bride with the werewolf standing across the clearing, the night breeze lifting his delicious scent and delivering it to him again and again. Like Boaz was mocking him somehow.
Alexander knew it was ridiculous to think that.
Boaz had barely even looked at him. If anything, the werewolf had made it painfully clear that Alexander and his vampires were notwelcome in his pack.
“Who the fuck does he think he is?” Alexander snarled, his voice rising again as he paced the uneven stone floor like a caged animal.
Cold mountain air filled his lungs as he dragged in a deep breath, trying to wrestle down the storm raging inside him. Rage and hunger twisted together inside his stomach like a coiled serpent ready to tear him apart from the inside if he didn’t give in.