Page 43 of Fated Obsessions

It washis…the Lycan male’s, Luca’s voice.

I actually closed my eyes and would have swayed from the sound if not for the fact that my father held onto me.

Luca was congratulating his brother Ren on his mating, and his deep, husky, and accented voice did warm things to me.

But why?

I’d heard about Luca Lupineov, the Lycan shifter who’d slowly lost his mind because he hadn’t found his mate. I knew it happened on occasion, centuries passing for our kind in the paranormal world making life tedious and hope fading.

More beast than male, I heard him being called. Hell, the rumors of Luca had reached all the way to the Highlands.

The murmurs in the room were low but great, and I sensed he was leaving. The bodies parted once again, and there I finally saw him, his back to me, twenty feet separating us and growing more as he exited.

And yeah, he was even more massive and imposing than any other male in this room.

He really is more animal than male.

“Luca,” I said his name so low I knew only I’d have heard. I didn't even know why I said his name, to be honest. It just slipped from my lips as if it were a plea.

But then he stilled. His huge body freezing, his hands curling into themselves as he snapped his head up. I swore I heard him inhale, felt my eyes widen as the room seemed to grow even colder. Everyone was at a standstill at whatever was happening. Would he lose control and kill someone? Was his mind so deteriorated that we were all in danger?

My father was in the process of pulling my mother and me behind him, my brothers coming forward to make a wall, blocking us from Luca. But the big Lycan spun around, his glowing animal-like blue eyes swinging back and forth as he scanned the hall. And then our eyes locked, gazes clashing.

“You,” he growled, his lips peeling back from his teeth, his canines growing as he stared right in my eyes. “My mate,” he all but purred, but it sounded so very wolf-like.

I sensed every male in the room going to protect the females. My brothers were making a barricade around me, but I kept trying to see through the openings their big bodies made, as if I couldn’t drag my gaze from the huge Lycan. God, he really was more animal than man, his body seeming to grow even bigger as his beast pushed forward.

My brothers’ bodies seemed to grow as well.

“Oh, feck no,” Caelan ground out.

“No fecking way some crazy-ass Lycan is getting tae her,” Tavish seethed.

“I’ve been itching for a fight, and what better one than tae go toe-tae-toe with that crazy motherfecker?” I could hear the glee in Lenox’s voice.

“Watch yerselves, sons,” my father growled. “Our priority is getting yer mother and yer sister out.”

I glanced over my shoulder and looked into my father’s face. He was staring at me, his eyes flashing blue from his wolf.

“Because that Lycan won’t stop until he gets tae his prize.”

Me.

Yeah, my father meant me.

I started shaking.

“Tis okay, lass. We will no’ let him get tae ye.”

I didn’t want to tell my father I didn’t shiver from fear but from… anticipation.

I snapped my focus back to Luca. He still looked at me, and I knew he hadn’t taken his gaze off me at all. His grin widened. God, his incisors were so big and white… so long and sharp.

As he watched my father and brothers take a protective stance, he chuckled low, deep, the sound distorted because of his beast. That laugh told me one thing—nothing would keep him from getting to me, not even four full-grown Lycans, or hell, a roomful of dangerous males.

Luca lifted his hand, his finger pointing to me. “Female.” My heart was thundering in my chest. “You. Are. Mine.”

And that's when all hell broke loose.