Lucas
Leila's scent hit me like a fist to the gut that night, sharp and wild, clawing at my senses until I couldn't think straight. I'd felt this chaos in my heart before, back at the full moon dance when the bond snapped into place and marked her as my mate. That night, her presence had been a burr under my skin; now, it was a blade twisting deeper. I'd always hated her - spoiled, domineering, a she-wolf who strutted like the world owed her its bones. But lately, it was as if some cursed alchemy had remade her, molding her into the mate I'd never dared imagine. Perfect. Too perfect.
The memory of the auction gnawed at me, sour and heavy. I'd been drunk, sloppy with liquor and rage, and I'd torn into her - verbally, physically, I couldn't recall the half of it. As a Lycan, she should've
