Lycan's Prey by Jessica Hall

Chapter 49 – part 1
Everly POV
I wake up to pee during the night and realizes Valarian is in my bed. However, it is the body beside him that makes me tense. No
wonder my back was killing me with Valarian’s butt resting in the center of it.
Shaking my head, I quickly race to the bathroom. I never usually woke up in the middle of the night and would remain asleep
until my alarm woke me. So, I was a little disoriented as I walked back to the room. Glancing at the alarm clock that resided on
the bedside table, I noted that it was a little after 3 AM. Why was I awake? In the pit of my stomach, I knew it was the bond, the
dull throbbing ache of him being around for so long and the bond trying to pull me nearer and wanting me to seek him out.
I even took one of my pills, hoping the incessant niggling pains would dissipate. I knew they would come on, they always did
after seeing him, even if it was only for a few minutes, plus I was worried I would sleepwalk and crawl into wherever he slept.
The ache...the need to see your mate is ridiculous.
Bonds are far from a blessing. I would consider the bond to be more of a curse. It was irrational and illogical. Damn, Moon
Goddess really screwed werewolves over with that inbuilt setting in our DNA, as if breaking every bone in our body to
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shift wasn’t bad enough. We didn’t even get a say in who our mates were, and we are as good as dead if we didn’t accept them.
Valen is turned facing Valarian, Valarian’s head resting on his arm next to Valen’s face,
I carefully pull the blanket back up as I climb back into bed, not wanting to disturb them. They both look pretty peaceful.

I eventually drift back off, but not for long when I feel the bed move. I jolt upright, still caught in my dream of forsaken taking
Valarian from me. I try to shake the remnants of the dream away to look over at the clock and see I had only been asleep for
twenty minutes. What the fuck? Movement makes me look over at Valarian to see he had climbed out of bed.
“What’s wrong? Are you okay?” Valen asks as Valarian climbs over him to get out of bed.
“I’m just using the bathroom,” Valarian mumbles, half asleep before walking out of the room. My dream is still fresh. I found
myself following him, now paranoid about the forsaken getting in my house and stealing him. He shuts the door, and I lean on the
wall yawning. Why couldn’t I sleep? I have to do a double tomorrow; I need to sleep.
I debated whether it would be worth taking another pill, but they also gave me terrible heartburn for the first half an hour after
taking them; the wolfsbane was not a pleasant ingredient in them.
I hear the toilet flush, and Valarian opens the door rubbing his
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eyes and yawning before walking off in the opposite direction toward his room. “Val?” I say. He stops and looks up at me through
his half–lidded eyes. He is not coherent at all as he
yawns.
“Don’t you want to sleep in my room?” I ask him, knowing his father was in there.

“No, you keep kicking me,” he mumbles, turning around, walking into his room, and climbing in his bed.
I tuck him in, tucking the surrounding blankets over him before kissing his head. I don’t know what to do with myself now. I check
all the windows and locks before rechecking them to ensure I didn’t imagine checking them, anxiety at its finest. I debate what to
do. I could climb in with Valarian, but he said I woke him from kicking him.
I sigh before heading back out to the hall. I pause as I went to head out to the couch. Every part of my body tells me I was going
in the wrong direction. It’s like my body was trying to lead me back to my bed where Valen was. I knew the bond would get
stronger, now I marked him, but this was ridiculous, making me wonder what would happen tomorrow when he wasn’t here.
Would it get worse with him further away? Would the pain get worse?
My mind and body fight against one another before my body won, my feet carrying me back to my room while I mentally scolded
myself for letting them. Valen had moved, now more in the center of the bed where Valarian was.
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“I can sleep on the couch if Valarian isn’t coming back in. Is that why you were pacing in the hall, or did you go retake one of your
pills?” Valen says while yawning. Pacing? I didn’t realize I was pacing. I feel like I am losing my damn mind. I swallow. I know I
should tell him to go sleep on the couch.
“Everly?”
“No, it’s fine,” I mutter.
“It’s fine?” Valen says, sitting up on one elbow and looking at me. I pull the blanket back, climbing back into the bed. My entire
body is awake now, every part of me twitchy and antsy. I clench my hands into fists and place them under my ass to stop myself
from trying to touch him. What is wrong with me? The pain I was used to but the feeling of him so near was making my heart rate
increase, my breathing faster as I soaked up his scent that perfumed the room.
I feel him lay back down, getting comfortable behind me. He sighs loudly.

“Valarian told me what those pills were you were taking.”

I say nothing and look at the ceiling. That kid was far too observant for his age; he is like a sponge absorbing everything he sees
and hears.
“Why did you take them? Valarian said for pain, but I am not
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sleeping with anyone. Are you addicted to them?”
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Did he seriously just ask me that? I haven’t got time to scratch my ass half the time, let alone time to have an addiction on top of
my never–ending responsibilities.
“I’m not addicted to them,” I answer.
“Are you sure we can get you help? I am not judging if you are.”
“Valen, I am not addicted to them; I don’t take them all the time, only when you... well, you know, and lately when I see you.”
“What do you mean?”
“The bond...” I didn’t want to give more reason to be around or use it as an excuse.
“Are you going to finish what you were going to say?”

I rub a hand down my face. “When I see you, it’s worse than when I don’t. The bond recognizes you, tells me to claim you so you
can’t be with them.”
“But you have claimed me now, Everly,”
“Yes, and now the urge to be near you is even worse, and it
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hasn’t even been 24 hours,” my tone came out harsher than I intended. But thinking the words and saying them were vastly
different. Saying them made anger burn in me at how weak I sounded, I wasn’t weak.
“And that’s it, that is the only reason?”
“Yes, Valen. I am not addicted to my pills; you don‘...-” I squeak when he moves and grabs me, rolling me as he slides his arm
under my head and pulled me closer.
His scent invades my nostrils before I feel him rest his chin on my head. I inhale his scent, the dull ache instantly stamps down,
and I feel my body relax, almost going utterly limp in his arms. I press my nose into the base of his throat. His stubble brushes
my forehead, and a rather embarrassing noise leaves my lips that almost resembles a purring moan.
“Better?” he asks, and I freeze, mid sniff. He chuckles, his chest rumbling, and I go to pull my face from his neck, and he growls.
“I asked if it was better, didn’t ask you to move, Everly,” he whispers, tugging me closer. Within seconds I fall asleep when he
starts purring, lulling my waking mind into blissful contentedness.
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