Lycan's Prey by Jessica Hall

Chapter 24

Valen stared around my office. It used to be Valarie’s apartment, but we converted it into office space. I found it challenging to come in here before. Memories always brought back heartache, so we revamped it, and now the place didn’t haunt me.

Yet, seeing Valen standing here in what used to be her home. made filled me with sadness. He was her son, and she loved him. Yet here he stood, unaware that this place, the hotel, used to belong to the woman who had given birth to him. What kind of man would he be if she was given a chance to raise him, I wondered.

Twatch him for a few seconds, and he stops at the shelving before rearranging it. My brows furrow as I watch him straighten the ornaments making them line up; it was one thing seeing my son do odd things like that, but a grown man? His movement is robotic and strange as he rearranges the books in Alphabetical order on the shelf below. However, OCD wasn’t a genetic probability, so it had to be a coincidence.

“Why are you here? I wasn’t expecting you to stop by,” I tell him remembering his threat to come back tomorrow, yet here he stood.

“I don’t need a reason. I own the city, or did you forget?”

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I roll my eyes at him. Typical Alpha, thinking the world owes them for us being allowed in their presence.

He stops looking around, and I notice the picture of Valarian on my desk and quickly swipe it off, placing it in the drawer just as he turns to face me. My door opens, and the night secretary walks in.

“Coffee?” Emily asks, her brown eyes sparkling. She was a cheerful woman though ordinarily shy. Despite that, Emily has lasted the longest on the night shift in the foyer. Her son was nine, and she lived in the rogue commune, working here at night to provide for her child. However, she makes her own. coffee from scratch. It tastes terrible. She grows the beans herself, and after stopping by her place when I met her and offered her the job, I refused to drink a single cup–always bringing my own.

“No, this won’t take…” I try to stammer out politely.

“Yes, Please,” Valen cuts me off, and I glare at him. Emily lingers for a second, and I nod to her. Valen smiles triumphantly when I give in, yet the joke was on him if he thought he would enjoy what she would prepare for him.

“Now, if only you would give in that easily to the mate bond,” he continues, looking at me.

“Not happening, I don’t need or want a mate,” I tell him, and he huffs before pulling out the chair on the other side of my desk. He leans back, folding his arms across his chest, and

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watches me. I fight back a shiver as my eyes roamed over his muscular frame.

“And why is that? What have you got against me? I am your mate, Everly. There is no escaping me, but why would you want to? I am an Alpha. What sort of rogue are you? Most rogues would be begging me to be their mate,” he says, and I scoff.

“Not when you keep coming around. No, there isn’t any way. of escaping you. Do I need to get the authorities involved; tell them I have a stalker?”

“Tell them what you want. As an Alpha, and the most influential one in the city, I have every right to force you to complete the bond, and there is nothing I can’t buy my way out of even if there was an issue.”

“And here I was thinking; I have every right to reject you,” I retort. Valen growls, and the door opens. Emily walks back in, unaware of the argument she walked in on, utterly oblivious to the tension in the room. She places the coffees on my desk quietly while Valen and I glare at each other.

out, and Valen grits his teeth before looking around the room.

your mate?” he asks, sounding like a broken record, before getting out of his seat. He looks around again. His jaw clenches tight before

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test my theory. It

desk, I pull two

a breath, and I hand him one. He

like he didn’t just have

by his mere.

someone on just what is in the media?” he repeats, snapping me

my reasons won’t

it change mine,” Valen

chat,” I tell him getting to my feet when I feel his

over

and my butt hits the chair hard. Valen bites the inside of his cheek,

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should be able to resist me, yet you put up no fight at all,” he continues, cocking his head to the side

“I am rogue.”

he says more to himself than me. I add nothing; I

Everly,” he continues with renewed determination.

I will hate you forever,” I sneer at him, and he

he

you keep telling me you have every right, you make me, and I will make

as I stare at the mug in his hand. He wants to act like an annoying shit; he

women.

to force

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rogue to make up her mind,” he says before taking a sip. His cheeks puff out, and he gags, covering his mouth with his hand until he

It tastes ghastly,” he says. I chuckle at the look on his

that crap to

cup. Another

reserved for cocky Alphas only,” I snorted, choking on my laugh. Valen

“What?”

grows the beans

thumb, tasted like shit, no amount of

giggles while he continues to stare