Bianca's POV

Without the slightest bit of hesitation, I raced out of the room. No logical thoughts; I was moving on autopilot, running down the hall, clutching tightly to the waistband of the sweatpants to keep them from sliding off my body. My heart was racing so fast it felt like it would jump out of my chest.

Once I reached the large brown doors of his office, I swung them open, only to find Cane standing at a huge desk, shaking with anger. I had never seen anyone so angry in my life. Throughout his body, patches of dark white fur sprouting on his body. Long claws grew from his hands, digging into the wood on the desk so deep that edges fell apart underneath his hold.

His eyes were black as coal, and sharp teeth grew from his mouth as his head began to morph into some humanoid monster.

Ashton was standing across from him; his face drained of color as he turned to look at me. Cane now also had turned his attention towards me.

He was shifting into his Lycan form, and it was terrifying. Unfortunately, my recollection of Ashton in his lycan form was foggy, so this was my first time consciously seeing a lycan. I stood there frozen at the door. I couldn't speak; I was paralyzed.

He towered over everything at eight feet tall, with razor-sharp fangs dripping with saliva. His body was covered entirely in alabaster fur.

Ashton saw how frightened I was and quickly rushed to my side, which caused Cane to let out a loud jealous howl. It echoed off the walls and shook the floor under us.

"You need to go. Now!" Ashton yelled, practically shoving me out of the door.

But I didn't get far. I lost grip of the sweatpants, which slipped off my body, pooling at my feet, nearly causing me to trip over them and land on the floor with my naked downstairs area in full view. But I thankfully caught myself before I fell, thanking the heavens that the shirt was long enough to fall past my thighs so I wasn't completely exposed. However, I was still naked from the waist down.

Cane's POV

I felt control of my body slip away as anger consumed me. My wolf howled wildly, fighting me for control. He wanted blood, but so did I. The world around me blurred as black spots clouded my narrow vision.

I felt my bones breaking as my body shifted into its lycan form. Black claws grew from my fingertips and planted so deep into the desk that the edges began cracking beneath my grip. Fur sprouted on my body like wildfire. The stitches on my clothes popped, and the torn fabrics of my shirt fell off my body.

That was when my mate came barging into the room.

For a moment, I regained my vision to see my beautiful mate. She was quivering with fear, clutching onto the giant sweats she wore. I wanted to take her into my arms, to tell her everything was okay, but I was already too far gone.

Ashton moved quickly to grab her to pull her out of the room. Having near complete control, my wolf let out a loud howl making the castle shake. Although Ashton let go of her immediately, the fumbling caused her to lose her grip on the sweats, and they fell at her feet. She turned bright red with embarrassment.

My wolf was even angrier now, especially at Ashton for touching our practically naked mate. Ashron muttered a sorry, clearly also embarrassed.

I took a deep breath inhaling through my burning nostrils. Bianca's scent pulled me out of the gaping hole that was my anger, and I slowly regained control.

I felt my body returning to regular human form.

"Ashton, take your hands off, my mate," I ordered using my alpha tone; he complained.

Bianca began to take steps toward me, and me toward her. Bianca's hair was still wet, curls clumping loosely at her shoulders. Her scent was heavily mixed with mine from using my products and clothes. Her lip was still quivering slightly. Her. All I wanted was her. All I needed was her.

I took her into my arms like she was a porcelain doll, cradling her in my arms. Breathing in her scent as my head was planted deeply into the crook of her neck. I could feel the goosebumps on her skin. My wolf's obscene thoughts clouded my mind. Her breath hitched, and she gasped as my canines teased at her neck's soft skin.

I wanted to mark her right now. Make her mine right now.

"Cane, you need to calm down." Ashton's voice pulled me from my daydream, drawing me back toward reality. "You need to calm down before you trigger her heat." He warned me.

"Force me into heat?" My mate's quivering voice asked, "Is that possible?"

I let her go and stepped back, trying to regain my composure.

"For regular werewolves, it's not; for us Lycans, yes. Overly scenting mates can trigger their heat early before ovulation." I explained to her. Biana's eyes widened in horror. She began stuttering.

I looked at Ashton; he was standing beside the door, ready to leave.

"I'll see you both at dinner." He grumbled and left quickly, leaving Bianca and me alone.

My wolf was still angry, wanting to claim our mate.

"I need to put my bandages back on; I forgot." She said shyly, breaking the silence of the room.

I looked up at her. "I'll help you. Come," I said softly. We walked back towards my room and into the bathroom, where I sat her on the Bathroom Vanity.

"I'll be back; I'm just gonna change," I told her. My shirt had completely ripped off my body from the shift, and my pants were hanging on by a couple of threads.

I left her sitting on the counter and walked into my closet. I needed to shower anyway, so I opted for black basketball shorts.

I walked out of the closet and back toward Bianca, who was leaning against the mirror, her eye closed.

"Are you tired?" I asked her. Her eyes fluttered open, and she nodded. "A little," Bianca mumbled.

There were bandages and ointment next to the sink. I unraveled the white cloth and began wrapping up her neck first.

"Does Ashton have a mate?" She asked curiously

"No," I responded. I was curious why Bianca was thinking about Ashton; my wolf was a little jealous, and I was too, but I tried to play it off.

She made a face, raising her eyebrow slightly. "How old is Ashton?"

"He's about your age; just turned twenty-one," I answered, gently tilting her chin to wrap her neck. Once I lifted her chin and looked at her neck, I saw the red raised lightning bolt-looking scars. They scattered her neck, and it broke my heart. I had no idea what exactly happened in that dungeon. I only knew what Ashton told me based on information from the interrogations.

I picked up a bit of ointment in the bathroom. Bianca shivered at first at the feeling of the cold balm. "Sorry, it's a little cold," I said, spreading it over the scars on her neck before wrapping it with the bandages.

"It's okay." She bit her lip gently, "Thank you."

"Anything for you." Her cheeks turned a light shade of pink. I wrapped the bandage around her neck and then switched to her wrist.

"I thought wolves usually found their mates around the times their wolves reach full maturity, at sixteen to twenty." She said, returning to our original conversation.

"Lycans are a little different. When our wolves reach full maturity, we phase into lycan form for the first time. As for mates, we entrust in fate to know when the time is right." I explained As I finished wrapping her dainty wrist, carefully tying the end of the soft white bandage.

"The moon goddess picks our soul mates, but fate determines when we meet them."

"I guess I never thought about it like that." She began, "I just figured I was a late bloomer or something. My sister is twenty-two and mateless still, though she says she doesn't care." She rolled her eyes.

I let out a short chuckle, "wolves tend to pressure themselves a lot over mates. But one way or another, it always works out. Who knows, maybe your sister's mate is one of the idiots in our pack."

"So what does that say about you?" She raised her eyebrows with a slight smirk. "Future king of the idiots?"

"Not like that; the pack members are great, just sometimes they can get a little rowdy." I confessed with a chuckle, "Especially the boys in the right wing." I sighed.

Bianca just laughed. Her laugh was angelic. Light and warm, it was like a song you never wanted to end so you'd have it on repeat.

"And there's no way her mate will be from the same pack as mine. Not even the moon goddess is that corny. Plus, Emiline is convinced her mate is in England. That's why she was studying abroad." 

"So you have an older sister named Emiline, any more siblings I should know about?" I asked her as I began to put away the ointment and bandages into a drawer of the vanity.

"Well, I have two little brothers. Philip and Carson. What about you?"

I shook my head, "It's just me, but Ashton's pretty much like an annoying younger brother I've never wanted, so I feel complete."

"Cane. What happened before? Why did you get so mad?" Her question immediately made the smile on my face drop. A familiar anger rustled from my wolf. I grabbed the edge of the sink, breathing deeply, trying to keep my composure.

Flashback

"Cane, we got him; he's here."

Ashton sent the mind link message to Cane earlier in the day while he was with Bianca in the infirmary.

They had caught him. The main wolf responsible for all the tortures and murders of the she-wolves. But, of course, only a hand-few knew. Everyone who knew was under strict orders to remain silent, especially around the soon-to-be queen and Luna.

Ashton was ordered to undergo interrogations of their whole operation, as he was in charge of the team to take them down. Now he was in their custody, deep down in the castle's dungeons.

Now, Cane sat at the edge of his desk. Ashton sat across from him, hands folded in his lap as he was supposed to have finished interrogating the vermin as he helped his mate settle.

"Have you gotten any information out of him?" Cane asked. His tone was deadly; the words dripped from his mouth like venom.

"So far, he's just been playing fucking games." Ashton huffed angrily, hitting his hands against his thighs. "We got a first name, Varian, but nothing else."

"Nothing came up in DNA records?" Cane was aggravated, to say the least.

"No. We even tried human archives in and around the city and towns where the bunker was located. He must have been born into a rogue group because there's nothing. No birth certificate, passport, license, or medical history."

"How are you sure that that was even his only fucking bunker?" Cane's fist slammed onto the desk.

"We talked to the others involved, who confirmed they attacked packs throughout the country. The she-wolves he captured were all transported to that bunker. At least the ones that survived the raids." The young wolf paused, looking away with narrowed eyes in anger and sadness. "Many of them were raped upon capture and beaten so severely they didn't even get to the bunker."

Cane had never been so angry in his entire life. But it wasn't just because his mate had been one of the captives; yes, he was infuriated by what his mate had been subjected to, and the idea that his mates' outcome in that dungeon could have been much different had they attacked a minute or two later was killing him. But the fact that so many women had suffered and been subjected to such horrors and lost their lives. It was ripping his heart apart.

He was responsible for protecting these people as the current prince and future king. He felt like a failure.

"Was my mate...." Cane's body was boiling over in anger. He couldn't even finish his sentence.

"No, we found pictures of her the hunters had sent to Varian, and he instructed them to take her to that bunker and keep her sedated until his return. He made it clear no one was to touch her but him." Waves of nausea hit Cane, making his stomach churn at the thought of the horrible things the man did and would have done to his mate.

"Did he say?" Cane's body began shaking as his wolf was itching to take over.

"Did he say what?"

"Did he say what he was going to do with her?"

"Cane," Ashton shook his head, wide eyes staring at the soon-to-be alpha before him. "Trust me. You don't want to know." Ashton knew what would happen if he told Cane what Varian had said about Bianca.

"Tell me now."

Alpha's command. No wolf could go against it; their nature was to comply without hesitation.

"He was going to rape her. Much like he did with the other she-wolves, but in his words, she was the one. He was spewing some bullshit about how she was special and that she was to have his pups."

That was what sent Cane over the edge.

Flashback Over

Cane's POV

I felt myself losing control as anger clouded my vision once more. But this time, I fought back instead of letting it consume me. I didn't want to scare Bianca again.

I felt her warm touch on my shoulder as she began to try to calm me down. "You don't have to tell me; I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry." I sighed, finally feeling my anger beginning to subside. "I just-"

"You don't have to tell me. We can talk about it when you're ready." She reassured me with the exact words I had said to her, making my smile return.

I stared down into her eyes. They were like two calm oceans, vast and full of mysteries.

For years, I had waited for the moment I'd have my mate by my side. While I wish the circumstances that had brought us together had been different, I was nonetheless grateful. So grateful to have her by my side, and I knew I could protect her, and no one would ever lay a hand on her again.