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“Momma, they’re like giants,” a little girl whispered as she tugged on her mother’s dress.
We were big males, our Lycan genetics making us tower over even some of the tallest human males. Our bodies were made up of corded muscles and intense strength. Humans didn’t know what to think of us, two males over six and a half feet in height and so much bigger than a human male. Their normal reaction tended to lean toward fear.
But some were really fucking brave as they stared with huge eyes at Odhran’s face, the scar that started at his hairline and curved down the side of his face hard to ignore if you were seeing him for the first time.
He was a trigger-happy bastard with an anger problem, and it had only gotten worse—a hell of a lot—decades ago when his mate was stolen right out from under him. The low growls from his inner animal were steadily coming from him.
“I kno’ how much ye want tae start finding yer mate,” Odhran said, and I didn’t bother looking at him, just kept making my way through the airport, the stench of human congestion causing this low-level hum of irritation to burn under my skin. “But I want tae remind ye we have tae pay respects tae Adryan, seeing as this is his territory.”
I grunted in acknowledgment. I knew we had to let the vampire leader know we were here, although I suspected he was already fully aware. The fucker had eyes everywhere, especially in his city. Any Otherworld creature stepped foot on his territory and the bastard knew right away.
“Adryan and his psychotic cousins are back from Scotland, so let’s get this done and over with.” I cracked my knuckles, rolled my head around on my neck, and felt tension start to move within me at the very prospect of having to speak with the vampire fucker face-to-face, let alone be in the same room with him. Although he was an ally to the Scottish Lycan clan, given that his sister, Luna, was married to Banner, the relationship between vampires and Lycans was still tremulous at best.
And it was all because Adryan was one sadistic motherfucker who played by his own rules and didn’t give a shit who he trampled over.
As an alpha, I respected him for that. But it was also because I was an alpha that any challenge had my canines lengthening and a growl rumbling up from my chest.
The fucker better not try to stop me from finding my mate, or I’d have no problem opening up a war for the first time in centuries between vampires and Lycans.
8
Cian
An hour and a half later, we were being led through a dark back hall of Sinner, Adryan’s newest nightclub in the city.
All around Odhran and I were members of the American Vampire Clan, mainly Adryan’s male soldiers, but there was an abundance of human women who loitered. It was clear by the healing bite marks on their necks and almost euphoric gazes as they stared at the male vampires that they were very willing blood donors to the leeches.
I knew vampires lived by the same mated rules as Lycans—as did many in the Otherworld—which meant there wasn't anything sexual going on between the species. They couldn’t, quite literally, fuck anyone but their mate. They didn't want to. So even if the human females wanted more, they weren’t getting anything more than fangs in their neck and their life source sucked out.
The aesthetics of the club were stereotypical of what anyone would assume a vampire-run nightclub would be, by media and fictional standards anyway. Red velvet and black patent leather, the shiny vinyl obviously used for easy cleanup.
The vampire who led the way was a scarred, nasty bastard with his upper lip seeming perpetually curled in distaste, his looks sharp enough that if they’d been tangible, they’d slice into our skin. The puckered scar that ran the length of one side of his face and wrapped around his neck spoke that at one point someone had tried to decapitate him. His scar gave Odhran’s a run for its money.
We rounded the corner, and my muscles clenched when we saw brothers Sebastian and Kane, Adryan’s righthand enforcers and cousins to the leader of the AVC.
They stood on either side of an obscenely ornate door that only Adryan would want, because the motherfucker had his head so far up his own ass he was the worst narcissistic psychopath I’d ever encountered.
“Fooking night dwellers,” Odhran rumbled as he bared his teeth at Kane and Sebastian, the brothers’ grins matching. Although they were a year apart in age, the fuckers looked like they could have been twins, they were so similar in appearance and psychotic tendencies. Seemed like lunatics ran in Adryan’s bloodline.
“Fucking dogs,” Kane mumbled with his grin still in place. He was the talkative of the two, with Sebastian being the silent mountain beside him.
“Anything else you need from me?” the scarred vampire asked in a gravelly voice, one that said his vocal cords had been damaged when someone had clearly been trying to take his heads off. Although Otherworld creatures healed quickly, a bad enough wound wouldn’t heal fully no matter how much time passed.
“Nah,” Kane mumbled. “We’re good here, James.” Kane had a stoic expression right back in place. “Matteo is handling some business in the control room. I’m sure he could use some help.”
James gave a nod and looked at me, this indescribable expression on his face, before he turned and left.
Once we were alone with the vampire brothers, Odhran tensed considerably. The amount of vampires we’d come across since we stepped foot into Adryan’s newest nightclub set me on edge as well. There were too many of them, their psychotic grins and elongated fangs meant to intimidate.
All they did was piss me off.
Did they not realize how dangerous a Lycan male was, especially one in search of his female? Did they not know that with just a swipe of my claw along their throat, I could rend their heads from their necks before they could even react? The very idea had bloodlust rushing through my veins.
It had been too long since I’d been in a proper battle, since I felt the warm spray of an opponent's blood cover my face and chest. I dared them to try to get in my way, to stop me from going after Evelyn. I’d get a hell of a lot of pleasure killing each and every one of them.
We stopped a few feet from Kane and Sebastian, my face stony in composure, but I felt the physical tension pouring from Odhran. He wouldn’t attack, not without my strict order, and seeing the smug fucking smile on Kane’s face had me nearly giving the order.
“Fuck,” Kane said on a low chuckle as he eyed Odhran’s face. “If you’re still standing after getting that fucked-up, I hate to see what the other bastard looks like.”
