VIGGO
"Where the fuck do they think they're going?" I growl as I watch the lead escort vehicle drive off with my mate inside.
Costas hops in the front passenger seat and our driver gets us moving after them. "Luna order. They didn't have a choice." Costas says with a weary sigh.
I know his underlying frustration is with me.
"Just say it," I growl, sitting back with resignation.
Costas turns in his seat to face me, throwing me a fierce glare in the way only my Gamma can. "With respect Alpha, you're a moron."
I have to hold back Kyros from reacting to such uncharacteristic disrespect from Costas because I know he's right.
"I gather she's still mad?" I remark and Costas stares at me like he's going to pop an artery.
"Well if the door in your face didn't tell you that, I thought her fist in your dick would have."
I growl at the reminder of my mate's violent reaction this morning.
Part of me is still chafing with embarrassment that she caught me off guard the way she did, but mostly I'm just so fucking turned on.
How little she understands that violence is the love language of a lycan.
Quilla's little outburst may have hurt my dick but one punch had Kyros wrapped in her fist and he has something else he'd like to have her wrapped around. I groan internally as he throws me a mental image of exactly what he has in mind.
My thoroughly enamored lycan is going to be the death of me, but I have to admit I am one hundred percent with him on this.
Carrying Quilla back to Arden Valley gave me ample opportunity to examine my mate's luscious curves. She's a completely fascinating contraction.
Tiny, by any standards she could pass for a tall child with her tiny frame. Except for the fact she has firm full breasts almost disproportionately large on her frame, and her firm waist flares into lush hips and an ass rounded to perfection. My mouth waters thinking about sinking my teeth into her and tasting the life soaring in her blood. Goddess help me, her hair! Long and thick, carrying her addictive dewy scent, I spent the entire night dreaming of drowning myself in the mass of chocolate silk saffron.
"Hey Alpha, we get you're glad to have the Luna back, but you wanna tone it down for our sake please."
Costas complains from the front and our driver clears his throat. Tugging my collar to cool the heat constricting my throat, I drag myself back to reality as soon as I realize I have flooded the cabin with my arousal.
I shrug it off with a measure of pride and satisfaction I can't hide, relaxing in the back seat. This is my mate bond at work and I've waited longer than any wolf I know for this day. I revel in the power my mate has over me.
"I hate to break this to you Alpha but the Luna is more than mad at you, she's livid, and you know who her mother is right? Alpha Neo is just as pissed. You've got two Alpha females who kind of hate your guts right now so I think you need to cut back on the daydreams and work on a plan to get back in the Luna's good books." Costas says drily.
I hear what he says, but I'm not even slightly concerned.
"I disagree, Costas. The mate bond exists for a reason. She will come around."
I ignore his scoff and keep my eyes focused forward never leaving the vehicle in front that carries my mate home to Lycanos.
A strange peace settles inside me. The exhaustion and resignation that had begun to weigh in my soul, over my missing mate and the long years spent in search of her, ease from my bones.
Hope, I had long ago lost, begins to re-surface. Kyros struts triumphantly within me. He always knew. He never doubted.
At one time we battled each other over his unwavering faith and my apathy. To disastrous consequences. Consequences that haunt me to this day.
"Has there been any sighting of Tariq?" I ask as the wolf who has terrorized our lands for the last four years crosses my mind. Unfortunately, he is never far from my thoughts.
"Not since his last attack two months ago. The fields he poisoned have been cleared and resown but we've lost a quarter of our winter feed for the herds. I've already spoken to Alpha Xara at Crescent Ridge and they will supply us with extra feed to see us through. It will cost us but cannot be avoided."
I nod at Costas's damage report, familiar anger and frustration growing as Tariq's vengeance against my lands continues and I find myself, yet again, unable to find him, stop him, or kill him.
He is a fucking ghost, a walking nightmare, and now he is an even more real threat than ever before.
Quilla has been found. I know more than anyone that harming Quilla would be the ultimate revenge for Tariq, after all, I killed his mate.
The unsettling thought pushes me to link my Zeta warriors in the car ahead. Niko, how is the Luna?
She's doing great Alpha. Niko reassures me and opens his link so I can hear her chatting pleasantly with one of my Lycans.
With a grunt, I shut the link down as jealousy chews me out. I growl internally at Kyros.
See what you've done. If you hadn't let your cock get the better of you she would be here with us now instead of over there.
Kyros growls back, his response clear. He did his job. The rest is up to me.
I lean back glaring at the car ahead.
Quilla can't avoid me forever. Even if she's pissed at me, I know one thing for sure, her wolf is not.
I smile at the memory of her wolf in her eyes when we first met. It was only seconds, but time is relative. Those seconds were all Kyros and I needed to see the pleased approval in her eyes when she saw me.
Her beautiful green-gold eyes glowed with lust and desire the moment our skin touched and ignited under the mate bond.
I don't need a plan to fix what Kyros messed up. Quilla's wolf will bring her to me and the bond will do the rest.
Sitting back I try to relax as the vehicles take us home at slower speeds than what got us here. Her safety is paramount and Pietro, driving ahead, knows if he goes one mile over the speed limit I will have his heart.
It takes me a few minutes to realize we are not heading in the right direction.
"Where the fuck are we going?" I growl at Costas again. He glances at me in the rearview mirror.
"The Luna asked Pietro to take her back to her hometown. You know that's an order in his book."
"The fuck you say." I lean forward with my arms over the two front seats glaring at the vehicle in front.
"Don't do it Alpha. If you order Pietro to turn around it will conflict with her Luna order and he could drive them off the road."
I'm tempted to slap Costas over the head.
"I'm fucking well aware of that, thank you Gamma. Just follow, if she thinks she's getting off there she better think again. I'll tear that shit little bear town to the ground first."
"Well, that won't earn you any brownie points with the Luna you know."
"I hate brownies."
"You hate everything."
"Not her."
"Obviously, but that's the mate bond. She punches you in the nuts and you love it."
"Shut up."
"Or maybe you've got a kink?"
"Costas-"
"Alpha by day, sub by night?"
"You fucking say one more word and we pull over."
Silence at fucking last.
The convoy turns off the highway down a two-lane road that eventually veers into a small town.
I struggle to hold in my anger as the single row of shops rolls past. A quaint little town with the usual offerings of mom-and-pop stores.
I've searched hundreds of such towns over the years looking for Quilla. None of them were in bear territory though. It's a hard pill to swallow that it never occurred to me that she could be with other shifters. It's unheard of but it tells me I didn't look hard enough. It's not a pleasant feeling.
As we reach the end of the street the vehicle Quilla is in pulls up in front of Udyr's tavern.
Costas and I stare at the grizzly bear sign swinging above the entrance.
The Kodiak Keg.
"Hiding in plain sight I see," Costas says drily.
I don't answer, getting out, tracking Quilla's every move as she heads toward the Tavern.
"Quilla-" I call and grit my teeth as she ignores me, virtually kicking down the tavern door and flinging it back in my face.
I catch it before it breaks my nose, rolling my neck as Kyros threatens a shift. We follow our hot-tempered little mate into the dark empty bar.
"Udyr!" her loud angry bellow shakes the glasses behind the bar in the empty room.
Several sets of heavy footsteps thunder from the back of the building. Costas, Neo, and Sebastian step inside beside me and my lycans gather inside and out of the tavern closing off the building.
"Udyr George Karruk, you get down here right now!" she barks again.
Costas raises his eyebrow at me mouthing, "George?"
I ignore him to focus on the large male stepping into the room followed by three others. The bears immediately stiffen and go on alert at the sight of my dozen lycans filling the room.
"Kyra, what are you doing here?" Udyr says, ignoring us completely. His face is strained but filled with happy surprise as he faces Quilla.
I marvel as my tiny mate walks up to the large bear-shifter, barely reaching his shoulder. She faces him head glaring up at him with her hands on her hips.
"I live here remember? I'm your daughter and you don't get to just walk away from me. You don't get to throw me to the wolves like I'm nothing to you. How dare you. How could you!"
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