Page 62 of Lycans & Lattes

Damn, that was not nearly as pillowy soft and yielding as I’d hoped. I blamed Aladdin.

I got a friction burn down my whole side as I skidded off the canopy and plummeted to the concrete below.

At least I hadn’t broken anything. But the lack of mortal damage was only a small victory when I looked up to see one booted foot climbing out the bathroom window above me.

“Willow, run!” Jordyn shrieked as the bakery door flung open. Orbs of magical light strobed from her fingertips.

I took off as fast as my feet would take me.

“Shit, shit, shit,” I hissed as I ran and ran and ran . . . straight to the town square.

30

Wyatt

Iknew she was in danger before I even spotted her. I started running across the town square just as Willow bolted out from the other side, Gregory barreling after her with a large knife in one hand and sharp wolf claws on the other.

Even as I ran, my mind couldn’t accept it.

It couldn’t be him.

Not the man who’d practically raised me when my own father had passed. Who’d shown me how to hunt large game and supported my need to find my own path when the rest of the pack hadn’t.

His bloodshot eyes landed on me as I bellowed his name, and he hesitated, giving me just enough time to get between him and Willow.

“Put the knife down,” I growled.

I wanted to tear him apart for betraying me and our pack. Worse, for threatening my mate.

Willow grabbed at the back of my shirt, trying to pull me along with her. But this had to end here. Now. The gathering crowd with cameras be damned. I heard the social media witch, Gwen, talking about immersive street theater and to please remain on the town green until the performance had ended.

“She destroyed our lives,” Gregory seethed, foam gathering at the corners of his lips. “She destroyed our pack and disrupted the natural order of things.”

I drew us toward the shadows of an alley, and he paced in short steps after me, anger and vengeance fueling him.

“It is my granddaughter who should be queen. It was agreed upon before you were even born.”

“Grandpa, stop!” Aisling barked as she came wheeling through the people lining the street. She pointedly placed herself between Willow and her grandfather. “I don’t want you to do this. This was never what I wanted.”

I didn’t take my eyes off Gregory but noted in my periphery that many members of the pack were circling us now, further obscuring us from view. One such wolf was my mother. And her fangs were bared at Gregory.

Good.

They should all be here to see this, to see what their lack of support for Willow had done and how they’d emboldened this man to hurt an innocent person.

“You deserve to be queen, Aisling!” Gregory shouted. “It was predestined by the moon.” He shifted his gaze between Aisling and me. “I’ve loved you like a son, Wyatt. Cared for you and your sister like my own. And this is how you repay me?”

“Love doesn’t need to be repaid!” Aisling scolded the older man. “And I don’t love Wyatt like that. I never wanted to marry him or be queen. You forced that path on me. Please don’t rip our pack apart for a dream that was never mine.”

Gregory didn’t soften. In fact, Aisling’s confession only seemed to anger him more. He snarled, his features morphing. Fur stretched over human skin.

Fuck.

I looked over the crowd to see Billy and Dean trying to distract the onlookers with a skit of their own, juggling gourds between them, but too many eyes were still trained on us.

“We’ll handle this as a pack,” I told him, embodying my alpha wolf. “Follow me to the haunted forest and we’ll talk about this sensibly.”

We both knew I was lying. He wouldn’t let this defuse to a simple conversation, not now. This was tantamount to a coup. He’d either win or be banished, and I could see in his eyes that he knew this was where it all ended.