A Man With An Obsession
*Note: This is book 2. Book one is Unplanned Mate. This version is a sample and the fully edited version will be on Galatea Feb 6th.
Chapter 1: POV Harper
I stood leaning with my side against the frame of the sliding glass door in my bedroom. It was dark outside as rain pelted the windows. I enjoyed the sound of rain, the rhythmic sound. It was soothing.
Normally it would help me sleep but right now I could not. While it was dark out, I could see rather well. I wasn’t human. I was lycan, and as such my eyes adjusted to the low light.
There was a bit of a glow in my hand from the phone I was holding and the picture on it I stared at. Stared at like I had been doing for more nights than I cared to count now. Her face, scent, and voice were all burned into my mind. I hadn’t even touched this woman. Just saw her a few times when I went with Axel to meet with the Red Coven. That right there was the biggest issue.
As I said I was a lycan, and most would understand it as being a werewolf on steroids. The description would have made me laugh but I was so lost in my own thoughts that the humor didn’t even register.
My wolf form was the humanoid type humans had once labeled monsters. Back when humans were the ruling force in the world was when I was described as such, but now the world was divided into territories, sections that different species mixed and ruled.
That bit of history was not what was on my mind right now. This green-eyed woman had a frost green that was hauntingly beautiful to me. My thumb moved over the screen like I could actually touch her.
This woman I was looking at, she was a vampire. She was completely out of reach as a vampire. Part of their royals from what I knew. Bloodlines considered royal for vampires had very powerful dangerous abilities. I knew this because I’d dealt with some, so she wasn’t your run of the mill vampire.
This woman whose image I stared at constantly was my true mate. I could feel my animal pushing at my insides, it wanted to go find her. The second I had seen her I knew. Just like any werewolf or lycan. When your eyes met you knew when it was your true mate.
It excited me as much as it disheartened me. I stood there with Axel, my alpha, as we spoke to her coven leader that first time. She had been there serving the men as was a woman’s job in most vampire societies. She only spoke when her father who led the coven demanded something of her, or to retrieve something needed. It had been incredibly hard to focus on that meeting. I felt more like I was staring at the desk and my peripherals were glued to her.
I didn’t want anyone to know I was looking at her. Vampires did not have recognition of true mates from what I understand. They did believe that there were those who were fated at the soul, but it was not important to them to figure it out or find out. They knew of other species who had the ability to know like werewolves.
However, vampires were very narcissistic, a cruel race in my opinion. I had suffered at their hands, my parents were killed by vampires. Back when war for territories and species fought to rule, my original pack had been young and the fight killed most of them. Me and my sister had escaped. I had pulled Grace from the house at the order of my father and took off with her.
After that we had lived in the wilds dodging not only a war-torn landscape but other species. For vampires, lycan blood did a great deal for them. So there was that too. As for my past, let’s just say I did not hold vampires in very high esteem. How I ended up as second and beta to the largest werewolf and lycan territory in the world had a lot of random reasons.
Plus it was thanks to the sheer will to survive I guess. Me and my sister coming across Axel back when he was just starting to form his territory and pack had been lucky. Guess running that night with her had landed us on a path to Axel.
I let out a sigh, lowering my hand and letting the phone go dark as my thoughts were back in the past for a moment. Remembering how other wolves had tried to take my sister to breed her and I fought that pack of bastards with all I had.
Outnumbered I nearly died, though I killed nearly all of them even young. I let my animal free and it was a wicked bastard. That was why others feared lycans so.
Axel had heard the fighting as he’d been passing through and came upon us. He didn’t even hesitate. He came in like the demon others called him and killed the rest. I helped and Grace being injured did the best she could too. We won and there was no question in my mind to take Axel’s offer to be part of his growing pack. We were young and Grace is an Omega even taking lycan form, so it was the best option for us.
It didn’t take long before my skills showed with the right training. Grace’s too, and nothing breeds loyalty like saving someone’s life. Axel’s trust was a damn hard thing to get, but I had his and he had mine. We were brothers in arms now, and that was another reason I felt such an impossibility with the realization of my mate. We were trying to renegotiate the treaty we had with vampires. Red Coven was stuck in their old ways and views. Like many vampires.
So I knew without a doubt that if I spoke up or showed interest in Sierra it would not be met well by the vampires. They might be civil to our faces and were concerned now with Axel’s territory growing so large and was thriving, but mating would be a line Red would not tolerate.
Could werewolves, well lycans in my case, and vampires fool around? Yeah, they strangely did not care about that. Mate or bond? No, that was appalling behavior to mate, bond and have offspring. We were animals to vampires.
Yeah, well fuck them, all of us were goddamn animals pretending to be cultured and civilized. My thoughts were racing as I stood looking out into the darkness and listening to the rain. My thumb still rubbed the black screen in my hand.
I did not see a good way to handle this, and I knew that as time passed my animal would grow restless. It would want the mate it recognized. If I could not figure something out, nor control my desire I was going to do something stupid. I just knew it, normally I was very level-headed, and why I balanced my Alpha so much. Now I might not be, and it would cost us if I couldn’t keep it to myself.
Tomorrow we were to go and talk with Red Coven. Tensions were growing again with different territories. Some leaders just could not keep their people in check and there were murders and kidnappings happening a lot more.
It was only a matter of time before more fighting broke out. Red Coven was a large territory, and River Coven hated Axel’s guts so we went with attempting to negotiate with Red Coven vampires. River Coven had been in bed with Nate. Luna Layla’s old suitor. Long story, asshole was dead now so whatever.
All the danger and possibility for war, and all I could think about was if Sierra would be there. Would I get to see her again? Would they have her there serving and listening? She was the daughter of their Lord.
I clenched my jaw and told myself to get a fucking grip, even if she was there, there wasn’t anything I could do about it right now. This negotiation that had been happening for months was a priority. You had to know who your allies were, and my desires and libido were second to this.
With a rush of air, I turned around and rather harshly sat looking down at my dark phone before giving a growl and nearly slamming the stupid thing on my nightstand. I needed to get some fucking sleep. Stop acting like some teenager with a crush. I laid back and put one arm above my head, one hand on my bare stomach just above my pant line. I stared at the ceiling, not seeing it.
After a few minutes, I realized that sleep was not coming and with frustration, I blindly reached over and grabbed that goddamn phone I couldn’t seem to put down. With a couple of swipes I had her picture there again. Maybe if I just stared a little longer I could get some rest easing my animal mind looking at her.
In the back of my own head I knew that was a lie. Chances were I would lay here all night staring at her image like a fool and get up with the sun to start my day and pretend I was not obsessed over a woman I barely met.
