The Love of a Lycan

"Hey, guys!" Calleb raised both of his hands. "It was just a joke, just a joke. Don't take it seriously!" he laughed dryly but closed his mouth shut when no one else laughed with him.

Calleb felt bitter since it was only him who didn't have a mate. Their journey tomorrow to Jedrek's place would be awful. The three of them had their own mates.

Maybe it sounded odd, but Calleb hoped Serefina would be there… at least he wouldn't feel too bitter when he was surrounded by those couples.

Even Calleb couldn't believe what he was wishing for. Was he that desperate?

"You will know how it feels when you find your other half," Raphael said as he forked his spaghetti.

"What do you think his mate is doing right now?" Kace asked Raphael after putting down his glass.

The Beta shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly. "She is probably flirting with some guys and messing up somewhere."

"Hell, no!" Calleb exclaimed, his fork fell onto the plate with a loud clink.

Kace and Raphael laughed hard when they watched how furious Calleb got. He literally turned red as he fumed in annoyance.

"She better be at home and bury her cute nose in a pile of books and study hard!" the Gamma huffed and puffed. "I hope she has a pair of strict parents who will put good use to the term curfew."

"Don't you think he would be a bad mate?" Kace elbowed Raphael.

It was almost unbelievable if one thought back to what had happened today. Early in the morning, the two of them tried to kill each other, but now they were partners in crime to attack their fellow lycan who was still mateless.

"Worst," Raphael said curtly and continued to eat his food while the two of them argued about one thing and another.

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The three of them returned late at night, they thought all of the people would be asleep right now, but the house was still so bright.

It was Calleb, who entered the house first and found Lana, standing in front of the door with Hope beside her.

"Where did you go?" Lana asked, narrowing her eyes dangerously at Calleb.

"We were eating," he said, raising both of his hands. "It was them, who invited me to join them." Calleb pointed at Raphael and Kace behind him with his thumb.

"No one ever invited you," Kace scowled at Calleb.

"Where have you been?" Hope frowned at Kace, who came in a second followed by Raphael. "Why didn't you ask us to go too?"

"My lovely baby girl," Kace said in sweet voice. "I thought you were sleeping."

"Which restaurant did you visit?" Hope asked sullenly. "Is this the same restaurant you always visit? With the waitress named Myranda?"

And from behind the couples, Calleb exclaimed. "Oh, that is the name of the woman who gave Raphael a phone number!" but, then he realized that he had created a calamity. "I will go to my room." Calleb murmured and retreated to his room as fast as his feet could take him.

He had run his mouth recklessly again.

"I swore! I threw away the paper!" Raphael shook his head in an attempt to convince Lana.

"I know Myranda, she is beautiful, isn't she?" Lana crossed her arms in front of her chest. She was upset.

Raphael stretched out his hands and caressed her cheeks with his thumbs. "Compared to you? She is nothing." He leaned over and kissed the girl's lips.

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"Stop staring like that…" Lana groaned and pulled her jacket so it would cover her neck completely, to hide the freshly imprinted mark on her skin. It was still swollen, but probably because Lana was also a shifter, her healing ability helped the wound to heal faster.

"Why are you still able to do everything as usual?" Hope asked in disbelief. "When Kace marked me, I was on the verge of death. He brought me back to life, but I still remember very clearly that the marking process was very painful." Hope grimaced when she remembered that.

Kace accidentally sapped her energy and she was too weak to even stay awake for a long time, not to mention to move around as if there was nothing happened, just like what Lana did now.

"Me too," Raine chimed in. She shuddered when she remembered how frightening her marking process was. Torak was in his beast form and it was very fortunate of her that he didn't take a chunk of her flesh too. "Torak almost killed me, as he marked me when his beast was in full control." Raine whispered, she didn't want Torak to hear this, even now, he felt bad thinking about it.

The three women were waiting for the men, who seemingly had other matters to discuss before they went to Red River city, where the portal for the other realm was located.

They could see the four of them were talking seriously in low voices near their cars.

"Tell us, how Raphael marked you." Hope shook Lana's arms and stared at her expectantly. "Our stories are not pleasant to hear."

"Yes, tell us. Our marking process is a horror story…" Raine grimaced.

Lana laughed awkwardly, but when she realized that Raine and Hope were being serious about what they were asking, she felt her throat turn dry.

"Well, we did what all mates would do…" Lana gulped and stared at Raphael, but her mate was too focused on what Torak was saying. "We marked and mated…" Of course, Lana wouldn't break the details for them to hear.

At first, there was no reaction from Hope or Raine, but then both of their eyes widened.

"Mated???" Hope covered her mouth as she gasped.

"Mated you mean… both of you 'did' that?" Raine was staring at Lana without blinking.

The fact astounded Hope and Raine. "That's so fast…" both of them said the same thing simultaneously.

"No. Actually, it is normal for our kind to mark and mate at our first meeting…" Lana waved her hands vigorously and hastily explained it to them.

"Really?" Hope asked in disbelief.

"If I remember correctly, Calleb had explained that to me in the past…" Raine mumbled.

"So, you mean it's us who are not normal," Hope stated sullenly.