“Lucas,” he said formally. “This is Ryan Henderson. Ryan, this is my brother, Lucas, and my cousin, Kyle.”

Lucas looked Ryan over respectfully and nodded. Blayde knew Lucas was reserving judgment for his sake, but he still felt a little resentful at the inspection. He glanced down and saw Ryan’s erection outlined clearly by the sheet, then back up to see Lucas and Kyle carefully averting their gazes. He grabbed a pillow off the sofa and threw it over his mate’s lap.

Lucas cleared his throat and began.“Uh, Ryan, we have a strange kind of situation here that you’re not aware of. We need to ask you some questions, and it’s imperative that you tell us the truth, no matter how bad it might be. We can’t help you if we don’t have the truth.”

“Help me?” Ryan asked slowly. “Not that I don’t appreciate it and all, but why do you, all of you, want to help me?I don’t understand.”

“We’re Lycans, Ryan,” Blayde said carefully. Surely you know what we are, and that we sometimes take humans as our mates.I have chosen you.”

“You have?” Ryan’s eyebrows shot up.“But what does that mean, exactly? Why are you all looking at me like that? You’re not all planning to rape me or something, are you?” His eyes were huge in his face, and Blayde blanched at his words.

“No!” he roared, the very idea of his brother and Kyle with his mate making his blood boil and his stomach turn over.

Ryan jumped up, startled, and tried to run, but Blayde caught him around the waist easily and put him back on the chair. He leaned close, putting a hand on the arm of the chair, trapping him, and he made himself speak calmly.

“I didn’t mean to yell and scare you, but please don’t be silly, Ryan. I told you we’re not going to hurt you.Do you believe me?”

Ryan shrugged and nodded slightly, his eyes still wide and scared.

“Before you accept me, you need to be fully aware of my wolf.”

“Your wolf?” Ryan’s eyes were still huge, but now he looked totally confused as well. “What are you talking about?” Ryan’s gaze darted back and forth between them.

“We’re Lycans.Don’t you know what that means?”

Ryan looked up at him.“You’re rich? And really big? And you have red eyes.I mean, I’ve heard silly rumors, but…”

Blayde sighed.“Better just to show you, I think. Stay on the chair and don’t be alarmed, all right?”

Ryan replied irritably.“Alarmed?Okay, I’m not some dumb kid who’s scared of his shadow. What do you think I am, some kind of…”

Blayde shifted right in front of him.He’d seen other Lycans shift enough times to know exactly what Ryan would be seeing. A loud cracking and creaking sound came from his body, and before Ryan’s shocked gaze, his body seemed to stretch and shift, growing larger, taller and more muscular. His head seemed to melt and reform with his face pushing out, shaping itself into a huge fiercewolf’s head, his mouth dropping open to reveal wicked sharp fangs. His fingers and toes elongated with the tips gaining razor sharp claws, and his fierce glowing eyes raked over Ryan hungrily. Ryan’s mouth opened and closed several times, his face a mask of horror, and he stared. Just stared for a long moment before, elegantly and gracefully, he fell off the chair and to the floor in a dead faint.

Shit, Blayde thought, shifting back quickly to pick up his mate off the floor. Never had that reaction before. The Lycan shifters of Lycanus 3 were known for their huge size. He was even larger than most, standing at over seven feet tall once he shifted. The thick hair that sprouted all over him was a soft brown, and his eyes were the same glowing red. Taken in all, a pretty frightening creature, though he wouldn’t harm a hair on his mate’s sweet head, whether in his wolf or not.

Lucas and Kyle looked on as Blayde gathered his mate in his arms. Kyle spoke up dryly. “Not the smoothest move there, Blayde.You could have given him a little warning.”

Blayde ignored him, gathering Ryan up in his arms and kissing him until he began to stir and come back around. Lucas and Kyle looked on in embarrassment as he petted and fondled him until he seemed to be waking up. Rather than acting frightened of him as he expected, he opened his beautiful green eyes and looked at him with confusion and curiosity.

“What the hell just happened?”

Blayde held him tightly in his arms and sat down pulling Ryan into the chair with him. Ryan came along without struggle, but looked at Blayde warily as his voice rose in volume.“Explain what just happened! Did you give me some drug?I didn’t notice you slipping me anything. Am I hallucinating?”

“Calm down, sweetheart.It’s still me. We’re Lycan shape shifters, wolves, of course, as you saw. My whole family is Lycan. Had you really never heard thisbefore?”

Ryan shook his head.“Hell no. Well, not really. The Alliance only tells us what they think we need to know. The rest comes to us only in rumors.”

“Ryan, I’m not going to hurt you. None of us would do that.Look at me.” He pulled his head back and made him make eye contact with him.“Do you believe me?”

Ryan’s green eyes still looked panicked, but he nodded slowly.

“Good,” Blayde said. “You need to know that Lycans mate for life. When I saw you this morning, when I caught your scent, I knew you were my mate, baby. My own, sweet mate, and nothing will ever come between us again.I haven’t started the mating process yet, but I will soon, make no mistake about it.”

Ryan pushed back against him and started to stand up, but Blayde pulled him back down. He twisted in irritation and glared at him.“Will you cut that out? Just because you’re bigger than I am doesn’t mean you get to manhandle me, damn it.” He pulled out of Blayde’s arms and stood up.“And you can forget this mate business. I have no intention of matingwith anybody!”

Blayde pulled him back to stare down into his face.“Look, Ryan,” he said.“You’ve done some terrible things. I know that, but gods help me, I want you anyway. To give you the benefit of doubt, you may have been on drugs when you killed that boy. We know from the reports that you’re addicted. I think you must have been, because you don’t seem to be all that violent or vicious now. Maybe I can keep you here with me, or take you away somewhere to rehabilitate you. I could take you to Lycanus, our home planet.I’ll make sure you stay off the drugs and alcohol,and I’ll make sure you never hurt anyone ever again. Of course, you’d have to go into behavior training, but that would only be good for you in the long run. I can teach you to be a good mate and make sure you always act properly.”

Ryan’s reaction took him completely by surprise. He surged back away from Blayde and fell on the floor at his feet before he could grab him. Jumping up, he stood glaring at Blayde.

“Are you crazy?I’m no drug addict! And I didn’t kill my friend!” Ryan was shouting so loudly Blayde figured half the settlement could hear him. “It was the judge! He killed him and now he’s trying to kill me too!How can you think I would do something like that?”

He backed up and turned to run, pulling the long sheet up to free his legs. This time when Blayde came after him, Ryan shoved the broken remains of the coffee table in front of him and jumped back quickly. Blayde fell over it and went crashing to the floor. Ryan backed up right into Kyle and turned with his fists up, ready to fight. The sheet slipped to the floor, but Kyle had seenthe look in Blayde’s eyes when they opened the door of his bedroom and knew better than to touch his naked mate. He held up his hands in mock surrender and backed out of the way, averting his gaze.

Ryan sprinted toward the back door and was out of it and running across the decking by the pool before Blayde could get to his feet and go after him.Blayde’s quick reflexes kicked in and he was outside and on him before he could get very far. Still, Ryan fought him, kicking out at him and losing his balance. He fell backward into the pool and sank like a stone, leaving Blayde standing on the deck looking down into the clear water.

For a split second, Blayde didn’t react. Hell, it serves him right, let him cool off that temper. Yet after a few moments when he didn’t come back up, he grew alarmed. Blayde dove in and picked Ryan up off the bottom of the pool, bringing him quickly to the surface and over to the side. He climbed out, carrying Ryan, who was coughing and gasping for breath.

“You were only in there a minute, Ryan, don’t be so dramatic!”

“My mouth was open when I fell. I-I swallowed some water, damn you!” Ryan cried out, spitting and trying to cough it up.

Blayde slapped him on the back and chuckled.“Don’t you know enough to close your mouth, you foolish human?Serves you right anyway for running from me!”

Blayde took him by the arm and dragged him back to his room, flinging him down on the bed and standing over him until he began to settle down and breathe normally.

“Was any of that true, Ryan? Did you kill that boy or not? Tell me the truth, I mean it.I’m your master now, and lying to your master has very serious consequences.”

Ryan shook his head and stared up at Blayde, his beautiful eyes earnest, though he looked very uncomfortable with the word master.“No! Iswear to you I didn’t, Blayde.”

Blayde nodded.“Alpha,” he corrected gently. His mate would call him by the proper name. To the wolves, alpha meant master, top dog. His mate would be his to command and Ryan needed to understand that. And even thoughLucas led the pack, it didn’t take away Blayde’s status. He turned to the dresser drawers built into the walls behind him and found some dry clothes. He put them on quickly, throwing his wet jeans and shirt into the bathroom. Walking over to the door, he called over his shoulder.“Get dressed, Ryan, and come back out to the living room.We need to hear the whole story.” He turned at the door and looked back at him.“Don’t worry.We’ll get to the bottom of this mess.I won’t let anyone hurt you again.” Henoted Ryan’s mouth dropping open before he turned and walked out, hearing Ryan get slowly up off the bed to get dressed.