Some Lycan Hot: Chapter 4

DAMIAN

"Your brother is going to kill us. Well, mostly me. But probably you, too."

“Only if he finds out, Liebling.” Damian glanced at his wife, Kelsey, who sat in the passenger seat of their Mercedes peering out the tinted window with a pair of binoculars.

Her target—a small shop called The Winter Goddess—was only twenty feet away.

With her supernaturally heightened senses, she didn't need binoculars. But she was born and raised human, and humans strove to make up for perceived deficits—even when they didn’t have any.

Besides, he thought that his wife putting together a spy kit was cute.

“I’m sorry I spilled the beans. But after I heard him talking to Lorcan, I knew he was still in love with her. The next thing you know I’m telling him about Alaya and he’s all what? That can’t be. And I’m all, oops, that was supposed to be a secret. You should've seen his face. So, I told him everything,” said Kelsey, her tone heavy with worry and guilt. “I can’t believe he’s already found her.” She put a hand on his forearm. "Do you think she loves him?”

“Yes.”

“Why did she bail?” Kelsey returned to her snooping, raising the binoculars once more. "She was all vague and mystery about destinies when we talked to her."

“Only she knows for sure why she left, and why she never returned to him.”

“Her face is scarred,” said Kelsey. “Maybe she believed Darrius would reject her.”

Damian snorted. “Then she did not know my brother at all.”

“Maybe she didn’t know herself at all, either,” she said.

His wife was insightful, which probably had something to do with her training as a psychotherapist, but a lot more to do with her empathic abilities—a gift she’d been born with as a human and that aided her still as a werewolf.

Werewolves were usually more about action than emotion.

Alaya had been hiding for years with the Order of the Moon Goddess. A secret only revealed after Damian and Kelsey had returned to his home in the Black Forest of Germany.

Alaya had made Damian promise never to tell his brother that she lived, and he had given his word.

His wife, on the other hand, had made no such bargain and had told Darrius the truth.

Darrius left immediately for Germany but arrived too late.

Alaya had already fled the temple and her role as high priestess.

Perhaps Alaya had gotten complacent enough to believe her former fiancée had given up on trying to find her.

She’d hidden her presence—and her tracks—very well for nearly a century. But Darrius was motivated by the knowledge that Alaya was alive and well, and more determined than ever to find her.

Two days ago, Darrius called and said he’d found Alaya in a tiny town in the Missouri Ozarks, but as yet, he had not made his presence known.

"I mean, she's not really too far away from Broken Heart," said Kelsey. "Maybe she wanted to be found."

"This town is weirder than Broken Heart," said Damian. "And that's saying something considering we have a Flet and a Zerina."

"An ornery pixie and a scary fairy," said Kelsey. "I'm kinda glad we spend most of our time in Germany."

"Well, Soul, Missouri isn't on any map. And it has more magical protections than Broken Heart. If Darrius hadn't enlisted Zerina's help, he might've never found it. "

Kelsy looked at him, brows raised. "How did she know about Soul?"

"How does she know anything?" asked Damian. "She's terrifying. I don't think there's anyone or anything in this world who would dare go against her. Honestly, I'd hand over the castle and the werewolves if she demanded it."

Kelsey laughed. "Yeah, right."

Damian wasn't joking. Zerina was scarier than any creature he'd ever faced, and he would rather jump into a pit filled with poisoned spikes before he'd get on her bad side. Well, her worse side. Zerina didn't exactly have a good side.

"Darrius is just watching Alaya," said Kelsey. "Is he going to make a move?"

"When he's ready." Damian knew his youngest sibling was monitoring her every move, sizing her up, researching her life, before figuring out the opportune moment to confront her.

And that’s how he and his wife had ended up here, in Soul, staking out the small shop owned by Alaya.

Damian now doubted their hasty decision to follow Darrius. His brother was a grown man entitled to handle his private business in the way he saw fit. He didn’t need his oldest sibling hovering over him and clucking like a mother hen.

As usual, Kelsey sensed his thoughts. She tucked the binoculars inside the bag resting on her lap. Then she turned and placed a hand on his arm. “We’re just trying to make sure he’s okay. I mean, it’s got to be a big shock to learn that your true love wasn’t dead for the last century.”

“Maybe she had her reasons.” The lyrical female voice filtered from behind them.

Kelsey yelped, but Damian instantly recognized his mother’s voice. He looked into the back seat—and yes, there were his mother and father. The god and goddess tended to appear and disappear suddenly.

“Jeez Louise!” yelled Kelsey.

“Who is Louise?” demanded his father, Tark.

“It’s just a human saying, Dad.”

Dad frowned. “I don’t think this Louise would appreciate people randomly shouting her name. Especially without a proper altar or sacrifice.”

“She’s not a deity,” said Kelsey. “Didn’t we talk about the popping in thing?”

“Oh, right.” His mother, Aufanie, offered a sweetly innocent smile. “I’m sorry.”

Damian's father had no such regrets. “Well?” he demanded in his gruff voice. “Have they torn each other to bits yet?”

“He hasn’t approached her,” said Damian.

Dad crossed his arms, obviously unimpressed by his youngest son's shenanigans. “What’s he waiting for?”

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