Dylan's POV

"Alpha, we returned to the premises as you ordered, but no one was there. The building was scattered, but not a single soul was found, ust a trail of blood that led to nowhere." I looked up at my Delta and felt the need to shred him into pieces.

"And you came back?" My voice cut through the thick tension swirling in the room.

"I... I'm sorry, but it seemed like I lost Journey." The pen snapped in my hand, and in the blink of an eye, I pinned him to the wall with a tired look on my face.

My claws dug into his neck, but not enough to kill him. His eyes widened as fear traveled back and forth in his pupils, giving me a bit of satisfaction.

"If those two are not brought to me in a month, you will wish I slaughtered you alongside your whore of a wife." I let go of him, and he scrambled on the floor before standing up and making a gag sound.

His body paled at the injury on his neck, but he bowed and immediately left, fear trailing behind him like his breath.

Everything in this place disgusts me to death. Was it bad for a man to want to live in his manor for years with no one to interfere?

"A Lycan Alpha must have people at his knees and a wife that must breed an heir, or else you will always be considered weak and disgusting!"

Father's voice rang in my head, and I counted to ten. I never had a problem, everything was super fine till she came, and then everything became complete chaos.

She has changed, hasn't she?

My subconscious reminded me of what I saw when she woke up, how disoriented she was. She had fussed about not knowing who I am before fainting, and then wondered where she was after she woke up, but... something was different.

It almost felt wrong.

Reedah was always making a fuss, always loud, and the most infuriating woman I've ever met. I didn’t even know where she got her audacity from, but she got it from somewhere. Yet, that fierce woman was gone.

Like someone else was in her body.

I dragged my finger on the table, pissed as I thought about what was going on. We could barely stand each other, yet we sat in each other's presence without actually gutting our throats out.

That was a change. Hell, she even apologized!

It had taken me by surprise when I saw her fight Felix. I never knew what she saw in that god-forsaking man, but she claimed she loved him, and I loathed the idea.

I never liked her, but I couldn't exactly control the mate bond. I stared at the door to my office, then down at the document on my table, her document.

A knock at the door had me growling in protest, but the woman pushed the door open with a smile on her face. That was even more reason to suspect she was clearly a witch. But I needed to be calm. I promised I would be calm and let things work.

"What are you doing here?" I had agreed to make things work, not make it easier. But something tugged in my chest every time I saw her.

It felt like I was drugged.

"You seem stressed, I should get you a cup of tea." My heartbeat raced as I stared at her. It was no secret that her beauty was intoxicating, I’d never seen anything like it.

"You don’t have to worry. What brings you here?" I let out a quiet sigh as the bond twisted within me.

Her scent filled the room, and even that was different. It had less spice and more vanilla. It was very comfortable, unlike when she first came here.

I nearly maimed her.

"I hadn’t seen you all day, and I wanted to check on you." She sounded so innocent. I must be in a damn dream because her change was so unbelievable.

Just accept the damn change and stop thinking weird about it!

I yelled at myself and let out a sigh.

"Come here." I didn’t know what I was doing, but I let my inner thoughts take over. My Lycan purred in my head like it had been waiting for this moment, but I couldn’t help it.

Deep down... I’ve always wanted a mate, even if she wanted to rip off my head not too long ago.

Her breathing slowed as she sat on my thighs, and my sweatpants were suddenly too tight. I ignored whatever was growing there and focused on the woman I’m meant to love my entire life.

"Why do you hate me so much?" My body went still, and I forgot how to breathe.

I didn’t have a genuine answer to that, because I didn’t know myself why I hated her. I just did. Even when I knew she was my mate, I just did.

"Don’t try to deny it, I saw it in your eyes when I woke up." Since when did she care about other people’s feelings?

She didn’t even spare the servants in this house, yet she was acting so different. I had a sick feeling she was up to something and this was all a ploy.

"I wasn’t going to deny it, but we agreed to make this work. Hopefully, I might just stop hating you after all. And I don’t have a reason."

Her head swirled so fast I didn’t have the time to move mine, and her lips were inches away from mine.

Her hot breath shimmered against my lips, and her cheek turned a bright shade of pink. Oh, fuck this! If we were going to make it work, then we were.

I slammed my lips against hers, and I knew at that moment this was what heaven tasted like. She leaned in, and I bit her bottom lip, causing her to moan in heat.

I wanted more, I craved more, but the door slammed open, and she immediately pulled away from me. Cold slammed against my face, and a growl rumbled from my chest.

"Who in..." I trailed off when Diana stood by the door, and I swallowed.