The Lycan Claimed Her Fate

5

Tired, I closed my eyes. It was getting harder and harder to keep them open, especially since we had long since left the village behind us and were now driving towards Portland, which was still 60 miles away.

"You can sleep well, July," I heard Kane say. His voice was deep and rough and sent goose bumps down my spine. I opened my eyes slowly. "No. I want to know where we're going," I said, which made him laugh quietly.

"You're one of the curious sort," he said with a smirk twitching at the corners of his mouth. I raised an eyebrow. "Is that a problem?" I asked. He just grinned and shook his head before looking back at the road.

Lost in thought, I looked at his profile and bit my lower lip. His chin bones were visibly prominent and a light stubble adorned his jaw. He looked beautiful. If you could say so. A crooked grin appeared on his lips and a dimple appeared.

"You don't have to stare at me so intensely, July. You'll have the rest of your life to look me over." I almost choked on my own spit. "The rest of my life. Don't you think you think too highly of yourself?' I asked, looking at him. He just continued to grin. 'Believe me. I just know it.'

I rolled the files. "Your ego is really quite large."

"What does it have to do with my ego if I know?" he asked, glancing at me. I raised an eyebrow. "How exactly do you know?" I asked him. He looked back at the road.

I saw a muscle twitch in his jaw. "Just a feeling," he replied. I was sure he was lying. But I was too tired to elaborate. "If you say so. I'll just keep blaming it on your ego. After all, your ego is so big that you show up at my wedding and then claim that I belong to you instead of talking to me first. Now that's what I call a big ego.

Especially that you just didn't think anything of it. The main thing is that you get what you want," he said, watching as a muscle in his jaw twitched again. His hands tightened around the steering wheel. So much so that his knuckles turned white. I knew deep down that I had gone too far, but I had to know what he was hiding.

If he had been watching me for so long, why hadn't he just kidnapped me? Or why hadn't he talked to us privately? Why had he waited so long? And why today of all days? He could have put an end to all of this long ago.

It was all so confusing. Especially since I just couldn't figure out Kane. I didn't understand what was going on in his head and I wasn't sure if I ever would. "I'm not selfish, if that's what you mean. I waited so long for you to come to your senses.

If I had done it earlier, you might have married him in protest. I had to wait until I started to have doubts. And I wanted you to see what he was really like. I watched him long enough to understand what he was really like.

I wanted you to see it too," he said, turning his head to me. His dark eyes were a little brighter now and almost seemed to glow again. I swallowed dryly and looked at him angrily.

"Until I had doubts?! Are you f*****g serious?! I don't even understand how you can say I belong to you! You're sick! You watched him and me!" I hissed angrily and took my feet off his lap. But I immediately regretted it when I felt the burning on the soles of my feet when they touched the ground. Kane growled and took my legs again and put my feet on his lap.

"He cheated on you and is controlling and you still want to defend him! I know that you were afraid of him earlier and I would be too if I were you. But I won't hurt you and, as I said, I won't hold you to me. But I know that you feel something when you're near me. You get goosebumps when I breathe on your neck or when my voice is deep and rough. Your heart beats faster when I look deep into your eyes. So don't deny that you feel that too," he said seriously.

I looked at him silently and blinked.

I couldn't really believe that he knew how I felt. That he noticed what he was doing to me. That made my cheeks blush and didn't really make my situation any better. But it was only gradually that I understood what he had said about Josh. "He cheated on me?" I asked quietly and looked at him. But that fact didn't hurt as much as I expected. Kane sighed.

"Not in the way you think. He took your money and bought something that wasn't meant for you. It was drugs. And he told you that he spent the money on the wedding," he explained to me. My mouth dropped open.

A lump formed in my throat. Josh really wasn't what I once thought. My body shook with a shiver. The idea was just disgusting. He could have done anything while I was sleeping! I felt sick. Something inside me didn't want to believe what it had just heard, but another part of me somehow knew it was true.

It was as if I had to believe something I didn't want to believe. And that was bad. I became even more aware of how little I had known Josh. This realization hit me hard. Could it be that you knew someone for so long and still didn't know them the way you thought you did? I had my answer to that and it frightened me. Had I been too naive all these years to see that?

Would I never have seen it if Kane hadn't come? A thousand questions I didn't know the answers to. I just knew that I was too naive to see some things and that made me angry. "I just didn't see it all these years..." I muttered to myself in disbelief. Something inside me still didn't want to believe it. Josh was really good at hiding his real side. My stomach turned. This wasn't good. Not at all.

"July. Hey. Stop worrying so much. You're safe. He won't come near you," Kane's voice rang out, softer than ever. It swept over me like a warm summer breeze in the evening. Pleasant shivers ran down my spine and I looked up.

His brown, almost black eyes met mine and the warmth I saw in them gave me goosebumps. I took a shuddering breath and then nodded. His hand rested on my shin, which was half in his lap, and he stroked it gently.

"I'll make sure he doesn't get his hands on you again, July." The seriousness in his voice almost made me gasp. I knew it was a promise and not just empty words. When Kane set his mind to something, he followed through.

And he was a man of his words. I had noticed that in the last few hours. He was not someone you should underestimate and he was not someone you should make an enemy of. That could backfire.

"Thank you..." I said quietly, because I didn't trust myself anymore. Then I turned my face so that I could look out of the windshield. His intense gaze was not for me in the long run. It only made my heart race and my pulse race.

"I'm sorry that I made you tear up the soles of your feet," his voice rang out after it had been quiet for a few seconds. Surprised, I turned to him. But he was already looking at the road again.