“I am. And I probably would even if I wasn’t allowed to just to show I could. But with so many Alphas around, you haven’t bothered to face one of them and ask for permission to be on their land.”
“And that’s important…”
“It is. Isn’t it where you come from?”
“We’re usually loners at my age. If someone encroaches on our territory, we just kill them.”
She pressed her lips together and shrugged.
“I’m not usually one to play well with others.”
“Then you better be one to learn quickly. Especially if you plan to be here longer than the next hour.”
He shook his head and started eating her leftovers.
“I’m getting dressed. I’ll see you when I get back. Or not.”
Chapter 6
Lucien sat at the table eating, his hackles would have been fully raised if he had any. “This is getting more and more demanding,” he complained, as he got up from the table and started cleaning up the mess their breakfast had made. Before he was finished cleaning, he heard the front door open and close, and hurried to the front of the house to get a look at Hellen. She was wearing a pair of cutoff shorts, not too, too short, but short enough that she’d have to tug them down after every time she stood up from the sitting position. She had on a tank top that was knitted like a sweater, a cream color with muted red, orange, and yellow horizontal stripes around it near the bottom hem. It wasn’t skin tight, but it did hug her figure, leaving very little to the imagination while at the same time making her appearance seem effortless. Her feet were wearing some kind of heeled sandal that made no secret of the shapely tanned legs the girl had. “Fuck me,” he grumbled, shaking his head as he went back to the kitchen to quickly finish cleaning. “So damn tired of already having to consider any-damn-body-else.” He loaded the last of the dishes into the dishwasher and paused as he had another thought. “More irritating it gets, the less I’ll want to be here, the quicker I’ll get her out of my system.” Grinning with a newfound purpose, he went to the living room where he’d left the shirt and shoes Tempest had given him. He put them back on, and walked out the back door, his planned path already memorized from the first time he’d made the trek from there to Hellen's house the previous night.
~~~
Standing at the base of the staircase, looking up at the raised house, Lucien spent quite a bit of time second guessing his decision to be here. Deciding there was no way around it, he took his time making it up the steps and set foot on the wraparound porch, pausing to look out over the water. Yeah, this was the kind of home he’d choose if he chose to have one. Near the water, up off the ground so none of his own relatives would feel the need to invite themselves in, and a wraparound porch to lounge on when you didn’t feel like getting in the water.
He went to the front door and hesitated before knocking, wondering again if it might not be easier to just go. Then he thought of Hellen, and all traces of resistance melted away. “Fuck me,” he grumbled again, rapping his knuckles sharply on the door for the second time.
It only took a moment or two and the door was pulled open.
Brandt stood there, his front door open wide, his arms crossed over his chest, his head canted just slightly as he critically took in the male’s appearance.
“You Brandt?” Lucien asked.
“I am.”
“I’m Lucien.”
“And I’m supposed to care about that why?” Brandt asked.
“Because I’m here to ask,” he forced the word ‘ask’ out with a great effort, “if I can crash here for a while.”
“Who the hell are you?” Brandt asked.
“Friend of Hell’s.”
“Hellen's?” Brandt asked.
“Yep.”
“You don’t seem too happy about being here. Why do you want sanctuary?”
Lucien sighed audibly. “I’m not asking for sanctuary. I’m asking to hang out for a while. Because she said I either have to ask permission to be on your property or I have to go. And I’mnot going. At least not yet, so, here I am,” he said, scratching a hand through the back of his hair.
“I don’t think it’s a good idea. You don’t seem to want to be here.”
“No. No, that’s not it. I don’t want to have to ask. It’s not in my nature to ask. But damn, you ever meet a female and it makes you do all kinds of shit you never imagined you’d do? I mean, never do! For any damn body. And the next thing you know you’re standing in front of her damn Alpha begging to be allowed to be near her, and it really kind of pisses you the hell off.”
Brandt barked out a laugh. “Oh, hell yeah. I got me one of those, too. I was so pissed off when I figured out she was my mate and I had to give in.”
