Free Slip of Fate (Werelock Evolution Book 1) by Hettie Ivers Page A

knocked me out yet? As frightening as the prospect of being unconscious at Alex’s mercy was, I was growing more desperate for any manner of escape from him that I could achieve.
    “Stop,” I managed to croak at last. My mouth felt dry, and it seemed markedly more difficult to get my lips to form the words I wanted to speak than it had a few minutes ago. “Please stop.”
    “Stop what?” he asked, gazing down at me with rapt interest, his near-black irises swirling with flecks of gold.
    “Stop creeping her the fuck out!” Alcaeus spoke up from somewhere in the immediate vicinity. “Jesus, if you weren’t Alpha, I don’t know how you’d ever get laid. What the fuck is wrong with you?”
    “Why are you still here?” Alex turned his attention from me to his brother. “I thought you’d have gone to comfort Lessa by now.”
    To my blessed relief, his fingers stilled and withdrew from my hair and neck at long last. To my supreme irritation, the delightful tingling sensations remained.
    “What, and miss this grand display of your softer side?” Alcaeus quipped. “I suspect the news of Raul’s death is slightly less heartbreaking and traumatic for Alessandra as it is for Milena. Alessandra is used to you disappointing her and disregarding her feelings.”
    Somehow Alcaeus proved to be quite the comforting sight for drugged eyes as he came to crouch next to me on my right side, giving me a lopsided smile and a wink. “Holding up okay there, sweetheart?”
    The emotions in me swelled in response to Alcaeus’ understanding about my brother and his confirmation of my earlier suspicion that Alessandra had held feelings for Raul, and I nearly burst into tears at his inquiry as I shook my fuzzy, weary head. I was not holding up okay.
    “Please … help?” I mouthed, my watery eyes pleading with Alcaeus to save me from his evil little brother’s clutches. Alcaeus gave me a quick nod of reassurance as Alex’s inner Cujo commenced growling at him.
    “Oh, quit your yapping! You’re acting about as endearing as a serial killer right now, Alex. Way to win over your mate.”
    “Mate? Never. I assure you, I’ve no such interest in her.”
    “’Course not. It’s only your wolf’s attraction to her scent,” Alcaeus mocked. “You yourself couldn’t possibly find anything tempting about her hot little young human body. And I’m sure those guileless blue eyes hold zero appeal for you as well. That why you can’t keep your hands off her? She said stop! She’s a far cry from accepting you as her mate.”
    “She is not my mate!”
    Whatever did they mean by mate?
    “This isn’t something you’re allowed to force on her,” Alcaeus lectured, ignoring his brother’s protests. “It’s against our laws, and particularly in the rare case of a human mate. She has no idea what this means.”
    Did they mean mate as in … an actual mate?
    “What the fuck am I forcing?” Alex blustered, arising onto his knees where he straddled my midsection. Out of the corner of my eye I noted he’d thankfully pulled on a fresh pair of pants at some point—presumably during my shaking fit.
    “I don’t even want her. She is not my mate! No matter how fucking fantastic she might smell.”
    Oh, Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, they did mean mate as in mate!
    “You were practically salivating over her just now,” Alcaeus said. “And you were growling at me for getting too close to her.”
    “That wasn’t about her,” Alex denied. “I do not disregard Lessa’s feelings.”
    “You did where Raul was concerned.”
    “It’s our law. I don’t have to explain my actions.”
    “Our law? You uphold our laws when it’s convenient for you,” Alcaeus charged. “Damnit, I don’t deny it was a unique circumstance. I’m not at all happy about what Raul did. But the consequences arising from his death at your hands are going to significantly complicate things for you, both with Lessa and now Milena. And what affects you impacts all of