Page 22 of Chaos At Second Sight

A whoosh of air heaved from my constricted chest. Logan.

Somehow, the human had taken control of his lycan form. He stared at his blood-slick claws in shock, rotating his hands left and right.

“L-Logan?” I stuttered. His silver gaze shot to mine. Then⁠—

“How dare you hurt my twin!” A branch shattered on the back of Lucien’s skull, Lachlan still holding the splintered end.

Logan’s jaw twitched, muscles quivering.

Lachlan gripped him by the throat and shoved him against the stones, the rocks cracking under his weight.

Red swallowed silver. Logan disappeared, sucked back in.

“You come to my homeland uninvited, kidnap my sister, and then hurt her?” Lachlan snarled, his nose almost touching Lucien’s muzzle. “You poor excuse of a captain. You poor excuse of a mate. You deserve nothing but rejection!”

I bit my thumbnail. “Lachlan, stop!”

Lucien’s lips curled as his hand rose.

The cords in Lachlan’s neck strained as he shouted, “You abhorrent monster!”

A black claw flashed. Then a red slash appeared from Lachlan’s right shoulder to his left waist, like a bloody seat belt.

Lachlan looked down, outraged. Then he leapt backward, bones snapping, fur bursting through skin, and shifted mid-air. His paws barely touched the ground before the massive red wolf pounced.

The loves of my life collided. One, a superior species with no control. The other, an overconfident hothead with an oversized wolf.

Their claws screeched against each other. Uncle Clyde stepped forward but Grandpa held him back. “Let them fight, Clyde. A brother is teaching a lesson to a mate.”

Lachlan raked Lucien’s shoulder before twisting away, spinning into a kick with his paw. His black fur came away red.

“I taught him that move,” Uncle Clyde hummed, proudly.

Lucien caught Lachlan by the tail and, with one savage swing, hurled him through the trees. My brother vanished into the forest but came barreling back like an angry red comet.

My heart cracked wide open. Tears welling, throat burning, I ran up to them. “I can’t stand this. Stop it or I will!”

My twin listened. His wolf took one final bite of Lucy’s tail, a punishment for hurting me, and backed away, glancing at me with a whine. Lucien growled low in his throat but didn’t chase. Those red eyes flickered to mine, silver expanding again…

Until Lachlan, now in his human form, opened his big mouth again. “The Masturbator’s a two-legged mutt. Fitting.”

Lucien growled in warning. Apparently, Lachlan had the ability to annoy both Logan and Lucien alike.

With the fight over, my family spoke at the same time.

“Rionnag, come home.”

Uncle Clyde’s hand clamped down on my shoulder. “Straight to the infirmary.”

“Bee sting,” Uncle Angus hummed.

“Oh, Gealaich!” Uncle Knox whistled. “We’ll need to hide all the cattle from the bhiast back at the pack.”

“More like the children.”

“Not if it shifts back.” Grandpa addressed him then. “Lucien. Change to your human form and accept me as your Alpha,” he said, presenting him with the standard werewolf procedure to be welcomed into someone’s pack. “Otherwise, you’ll have to stay outside my territory and won’t be able to see Yvaine.”

Those were the wrong words.