Creed

Creed managed to remain still when he really wanted to attack the other GarLycan. Angel was his. Suddenly he considered Kelzeb a threat. They had been friendly in the past but he’d kill him if he laid a finger on his mate.

“What do you think? Would this Angel consider mating with a GarLycan?”

He chose his words carefully. “She’s a human who was raised with a Lycan pack. She holds no prejudices against our kind.”

Kelzeb gri

“What do you believe I would hide?”

Kelzeb leaned in closer and his expression grew serious. “I decided to take a little look around before I drove in. Get a lay of the land, because it’s been some years since I’ve been here. My first stop was your place. You didn’t cover the opening, Creed. You’ve grown a bit lax about security, living with these Lycans, since they can’t reach your lair. The mountain is too sheer for them to climb. You should have burned the bedding with her blood on it. You bit her, didn’t you? I doubt some virgin would climb into bed with one of us, and it was near the top of the bed, not the bottom where you would have chained her.”

Creed said nothing but his heart pounded.

“That’s what I thought.” Kelzeb shook his head. “Damn it, Creed. I knew the second I saw that blood and where it was that you didn’t chain her down. You mated her.”

“I did chain her down.” That he could truthfully say.

“Then how in the hell did her blood get near the top of your bed? What is she? Ten or eleven feet tall?”

Creed heard Kelzeb’s sarcastic tone.

“So you chained her but then let her go. You’re pla

Creed just coldly regarded him.

“Damn. I’m trying to put myself in your place. You, for whatever reason, released her from the chains and bit her. Did she beg you to take her the way Lycan men do? Did she freak the hell out in the chains so you showed compassion? Say something!”

Creed kept his lips sealed.

“Was it just a cut somehow or did you mate her?”

Silence.

“I’m going to have to go to her parents’ house and meet her. Is that what you want? I’ll do it. It’s my job to investigate what went down here after this pack called Aveoth. He wants a report.”

“I’ll report to him myself.”

“Just tell me what the hell happened. I might be able to help.”

Creed debated the wisdom of seeking an ally. He knew Lord Aveoth and Kelzeb were close friends. He also knew the man in front of him had a reputation for being lax about the rules. It wasn’t a secret that Kelzeb had been punished by the previous lord of their clan for many infractions. As a youth, the lead enforcer had liked to test limits and push boundaries.

He’d also admitted he had an attraction to humans. It was worth the risk.

“I am still in service to Lord Aveoth until my hundredth birthday.”

“You did mate her. Damn. He’ll want to see her, too, when you go before him.”

“She is not at fault.” He wanted that made clear. “The punishment is mine to take.”

“You know it doesn’t work that way. She’s your mate, and you technically belong to the clan. It means you’re both considered one unit now. You go before Aveoth with her at your side.”

“I will not risk her being killed or enslaved. I told her to remain here with her pack so they could protect her.” It wasn’t a lie. He had told her that.

“Oh, fuck. Her pack can’t overrule our laws. She stopped belonging to them the second you mated her. She’s one of ours now. Just answer me this: Did you plan to mate her or was it one of those moments when your dick did the thinking for you?”

“I did not plan it.”

“Did you untie her because she was scared? Were you too rough? I would worry about fucking one of them, and I’m not suffering the ravage. It’s not as if we’re known for being gentle in bed to begin with. I get how it could happen. You were trying to console her and one thing led to a moment of insanity. Do you even like her? Hell. What a mess.”

“I regret the timing, not that she’s mine.”

Kelzeb cocked his head, peering at him with interest. “You live here and have known her for a while. How close are you to her?”

There was no reason to deny it. “I feel for her.”

“Are you in love with her?”

“I will fall for her to keep her safe, if it comes down to it.”

“Just say you love her. You’re telling me you’ll die before you let her suffer any punishment.”

“I feel for her,” he repeated.

“Damn. Your father must be proud of you. I’m a big disappointment to mine. He barely withstands my presence. He doesn’t like the way I talk or that I’m not…well, like you.”

“It’s a difficult balance with Gargoyle fathers and Lycan mothers. I know we’re both first-generation half-breeds.”

“That’s a nice way to put it. I enjoy it when my mother slaps the shit out of my father for the things he says to her. I almost envy her. I’d love to deck the bastard from time to time. It’s the only enjoyment I get out of these road trips. He’s not able to glower at me from a distance since I don’t run into him.”

“Solitude helps.”

Kelzeb turned his head, glancing up at the lair, then back at Creed. “But the girl visits you. You let her up there.”

“Just for the ravage.”

“First time? What about when you take lovers?”

“I don’t.”

“Shit. You’ve been assigned this post for about three decades, give or take some years. Never?”

“No.”

Kelzeb closed his eyes and shook his head. “Damn.” He reached up and ran his fingers through his hair and looked at Creed with sympathy. “I didn’t know. Why the hell didn’t you get friendly with the locals?”

“There were no unattached females of age when I arrived. And I stay solely in this territory unless I am called home to give updates to you. Later, the desire wasn’t there.” He paused. “The only woman I wanted was the one I knew I couldn’t have. She deserved more than just sharing my bed from time to time. It would have been too difficult for us both.”

“Angel.”

He inclined his head. “She wanted a mate. I couldn’t give her that.”

“So you decided to pick her last night? Why? You had to know she was the one who might make you lose control.”

“I believed I could resist, and…”

“And what? Just spit it out.”

“I couldn’t hurt her that way. It would have been painful for her to know I had chosen another when she’d volunteered. I already made her suffer by rejecting her when she approached me to be my mate. It’s why she left here in the first place. After she was gone, she visited every year. There would have been talk if I’d taken a lover, and she would have heard. I didn’t want to add to her pain.”

“You really do love her. You’ve had it bottled up for years. You need to tell Aveoth this. He’s not such a bad guy. Go pack an overnight bag and I’ll swing by the girl’s parents’ place to tell her to do the same. We’ll drive home together. It’s best if we just get this over with. I’ll speak to Aveoth privately first, and then you need to be open with him. Tell him you’ve loved her for years and did everything you could to resist. We’ve all suffered the ravage.”

“She won’t be coming with us.”