Chapter 16

Chapter Sixteen

Stepping into the hallway, I pulled the door closed behind me.

“Come here, little bird.” Lucian’s voice was muffled by the door. I knew that tone. It was commanding and powerful and made goosebumps rise along my arms. 

‘Little bird,’ shaking my head, I mouthed those words as I turned away, walking at an easy pace. Tucking my hands into my pockets. 

My brother had never given any of his previous partners a nickname. That was more my style than his. I wondered if he realized how he felt about her yet? I’d seen the hunger in his eyes, smelled his arousal for her in the air. His shoulders going tense beneath his tailored suit jacket. He was the one of us that never lost his cool demeanor. 

Until Cass, around her, that facade seemed to go out the window. 

My brother was smitten. I knew she didn’t realize it yet. She was human. She wouldn’t know how quickly these things worked for us. Once we found our mate, it was over. They were the ones that we would crave with every fiber of our being. 

I wanted her. I could feel the pull to go back to her. To watch her with Lucian, to take her in my arms. See if she responded to me the same way she did to him. I was shocked that my beast wanted the same. 

It seemed that he honored the pact that we had made as teenagers. Would my younger brothers feel the same draw to her as I did?

Had fate always known that we were meant to share her? Is that why we were drawn to her more than any other playmate we’d had before? 

I could tell that Oliver was drawn to her from the way that he’d spoken to her. His hands clenched by his side beneath the table to keep from touching her. How his pupils had shifted the moment we had caught her scent. 

I imagine if he were alone he would have hunted her. He was still so young. It must be confusing for him to feel so drawn to a human.

Things like emotional connections were always so hard for our youngest brother. Maybe it was the lack of affection his mother had given him? Maybe we hadn’t been enough to raise him? Nothing could take the place of loving parents and we hadn’t had those. 

We had a person that tried to pit us against each other. A person that put our mothers against each other until they turned on us. Lucian had protected us, taking their anger and rage. Letting it fuel him until the day that they had killed each other. 

That day he had gone after our father. 

I shook my head, trying to shake off those dark thoughts... My steps were loud in the empty hallway, the closer that I got to William’s room. Not many of the thrall came down here, just William and Oliver. Their rooms were across from each other. 

Would they move closer to Lucian? If they felt the same pull I did, it wouldn’t take long for them to take up one of the unused rooms down his hallway. I knew that I would be. I wanted to be close for when Lucian decided that I could have her. 

I could hear the soft, feminine giggle. Knocking on the steel door, I waited for him. He knew that she was here, but William was still playing with others. It was a big thing to know that the woman you were going to mate with was around. I guess this was his way of handling that information. Last night’s hunt should have been enough for him. It was enough for me. 

I had seen her, though. The quick glimpse in the darkness had piqued my interest. Maybe that was the difference? He hadn’t seen her, didn’t know how she looked like she was made for us. 

Cass was going to be mine and she’d be ours. It was just how things were going to be. The sooner she realized it, the better off things would be for all of us. 

The door opened and William leaned against the door frame. Bruises marred his sun-kissed skin. Had he already been out fighting this early?

“What?” He grumbled, his hazel eyes hard as he glared at me. Lips pressed into a thin line, he crossed his arms over his chest. 

I looked at the bloody scrapes on his knuckles before he tucked his hand under his elbow. His dark hair cropped close to his scalp. I glanced over his shoulder at the blonde woman in his bed. She let the sheet fall into her lap. 

Her perfect tits didn’t excite me as they would have yesterday morning. I didn’t want her, she didn’t call to my dragon.

William looked over his shoulder as the woman stood up, her body tight and toned as muscles moved beneath her flesh.

“Clean yourself up,” I said, turning to my brother.

“I think I’ll stay right here.” He turned back to look at me. Blinking slowly. 

I had to fight down the urge to grab him by the back of the neck. The woman stood from the bed, her blonde hair more of a mane as she prowled closer to my brother. Resting a hand on his arm, tracing candy-colored nails along a dark purple bruise. “Come back to bed, baby.” 

“William.” 

“I’m going to bed, Bash.” He wrapped an arm around her waist and her eyes started to gleam like a cat’s in the darkness. He pulled her closer, flush against his body, making her giggle. 

Where had my brother found a lioness shifter?

“She’s in Lucian’s office,” I said, resting my hand against the door frame.

He stiffened and I knew that he was fighting with himself. He wanted to go to her, to find out what Lucian found so appealing about her. 

The lioness moved her hand to the waistband of William’s shorts. He shivered before looking back at me. “I’ll meet her later. You and Lucian can take care of her.”

I nodded, stepping back as he closed the door. His loss was my gain. Turning, I headed back down to Lucian’s office. Hopefully, I could catch them before things got interesting.