With a further nudge that sprayed mud out from beneath him, I stepped back to Jem.
Her body had ceased to shake, and I cradled her in my arms as I strode away toward home.
The scuff behind me warned of James climbing to his feet. “You must understand you have just killed her yourself, Sean. She cannot possibly survive the bite.”
I turned back to look at him. “You are wrong. Jem possesses strength and determination—they will ensure she awakens.”
“No human has ever survived a bite before.”
Eyes narrowing, I held Jem tighter. “The bites did not kill them—they died because none have ever been permitted to live.”
“For good reason.”
My lips drew back, and another snarl ripped free, the rumbling within my chest vibrating through me even once I paced away.
His footsteps pursued. “Would you dare defy me, Brother?” he shouted.
I peered back over my shoulder to see unexpected desperation in his eyes. “For her?” I nodded. “Yes.”
The walk back to the house took longer than I would have wished, and I passed the rest of the pack on the way. All of them stared at me in disbelief before looking in equal surprise at James, who trailed at my rear.
Through the kitchen I carried her, and up the stairs to my room, where I laid her on my bed. Once settled close enough to protect and comfort her, I awaited the arrival of my mate.
Epilogue
Jem’s grunts from beyond the bush revealed the stage of her change. From our first shared lunar event, every sensation of her changes had tore through me, sharing with me her agony, like a union of heart and soul. As a result, I already knew rapid hair growth bestowed itself upon her body, as did the stretching of her tendons and re-knitting of flesh. Further minutes passed, and I mirrored her progression with that of my own, before matching her snarled triumph upon completion as wolf.
My snorted breaths steamed the chill winter air. Each inhalation drew in the fresh crispness of the forest, enhanced by its frosted layer that coated like sifted sugar, and the banquet of succulent offerings inhabiting our land. Through those, more powerful and important to me than any other, came the warm and comforting scent of my mate.
The pad of my paws made little noise upon the frozen, compacted ground. A peer to my left would have revealed Jem had I wished. The lack of foliage did little to block the paleness of her coat, as it did the moonlight that highlighted her beauty.
Those brief glimpses never seemed enough, however. Only rounding the barrier would offer reprieve to the disquiet in my mind, created by our temporary separation.
As always, she awaited my approach. Her eyes met mine upon emergence and held the glisten of anticipation fed by the presence of foxes—a delicacy Jem had grown a yearning for.
At the brush of my body, a tremor swept through her. As my tongue groomed across her muzzle, her eyes closed, and a low rumble began its tune within her chest. She tilted her face, pushed into the thick ruffle of fur surrounding my throat, until my own body shuddered in response.
It had taken time to reach such a point of acceptance from her. Upon awakening from the bite, only screams of terror had flown from her lips. Placation had not been easy—Jem’s flee for her home resulted in an unwilling change, thanks to the guarding Wolfsbane, and she had to be returned in her collapsed state to where she belonged at my side. Days had passed with Jem’s sobs for her mother, until my words of apology and begging for understanding penetrated her refusal to listen.
She had finally allowed me back into her embrace.
I had scarcely left there since.
At my encouragement, Jem’s integration into the pack had begun. Amongst my brothers, curiosity won out for the new female—something never before heard of within our race—and their interest brought them closer to Jem.
Four full moons later, the pack’s scorn toward Jem no longer existed, nor did their denial of inclusion. I’d achieved what I would have considered impossible. My brothers within the pack titled her ‘sister’.
At the more than familiar wolf song calling to us from the south in an invitation to unite, Jem’s muzzle withdrew from my throat, and her gaze met mine, before a dance of her paws portrayed her excitement.
From deep within my chest, my response seeded, and the song erupted from my mouth.
The scrape of claws exposed Jem’s action a half breath before she took off. Dirt dislodged with each kick back of her paws and sprayed up to cloud my eyes, whilst her tail waved a teasing farewell.
My growled warning stalled her.
She skidded to a halt and whirled to whine out her complaint.
Laughter bubbled to echo through my mind at the impatience glowing from her eyes. Three steps took me to her, where I paused only a beat before my nudge gave permission.
Through the sparkling surroundings, we raced—together—as I had dreamed of from the first day I laid eyes on her.
Side by side, breath for breath, beat for beat.
Part II
Eternal
Chapter 11
Bodies coated in sweat, we clung to each other as we neared climax. Eyes locked. Breaths synchronised. Even our hearts beat to the same rhythm.
With each of his upward thrusts, bark bit into my back, gasps spilling from my lips.
His tongue darted out for a taste as the glaze of desire seeped into his eyes. “Stay with me, Jem.” His voice came out as a breathy murmur, but I heard him clearly.
I always did.
“I am with you always,” I whispered.
My legs tightened around his hips, as his hands found my shoulders. Nose nuzzling against my neck, he suckled, nibbled, raising his lips to my ear. “Now.”
I threw my head back, grasping at him. My cries mingled with his deep growls, and together, our muscles tightened before becoming languid with release.
As he drew back, breaths still slightly erratic, a smile tugged at his lips. “Blood remains upon your cheek.”
“’Tis your own doing.” I raised an eyebrow in blame. “You have failed in your attempts to groom me once too often.”
He chuckled. “Fox becomes you.”
“And rabbit becomes you, Sean. Yet, I see no traces from the hunt upon your face.”
I laughed, as he swung me down to the ground, sobering when he began moving inside me once more.
His mouth returned to mine, his chest brushed my breasts, hands touching me with tenderness even in their urgency. “Hunt with me again, Jem,” he whispered against my lips.
I smiled as my knees lifted, as I pushed up to greet each drive of his hips, the invitation arousing me further. “You know I will.”
“But no more foxes.” His lips twitched.
I shuddered beneath the high shine of his dark eyes and the heat of his body, but gave no response to his order. As Alpha to the pack, we all would obey his word without question—a respect he, himself, had failed to show his brother, the Alpha before him.
“Jem.” His attempt at admonishment stalled the flow of his movements.
I lifted my nose to his throat and inhaled the male musk redolent only of him, feathering my lips across the flesh there.
“Jem.”
As the deep drawn-out growl of my name vibrated against my ear, my lips curved. “I shall not eat the foxes, as you so kindly request ... on the condition that you supply me with an adequate dose of freshly caught rabbits, whilst I bask in the moonlight and groom away the traces you missed.”
His chuckle told me he had taken my words with the humour intended, rather than as a question of his authority. “As you wish.” He claimed my mouth with his usual fervour. “To have you at my side,”—he worked his way along my jawline—“in my arms,”— his teeth nipped at my earlobe—“forever mine ... I shall happily provide you with an endless—”
The stiffening of his body brought immediate tension to my own. “Sean, what is it?”
My whispered words would reach none other than him. Our ability to
privately communicate had come as a surprise to us both. Such a bond had not been heard of before—not between humans, not even between wolves.
When he did not answer, I tilted my head to bring his face into view. Although his body remained inert, his eyes traced the forest, and I strained my hearing in an attempt to identify what had disturbed him.
I detected nothing but the calls and music of nature. “Sean?”
He placed a finger to his lips, and the coiling of muscles throughout his body broke his union with mine. “I want you to go straight back home, Jem. Do you understand?”
“I understand.” That did not mean I would comply—I wondered if he realised his words held no direct order.
Before I could say anything further, he lunged forward and broke into a spring.
I spun onto my stomach, scrambling to my feet. For two breaths, I waited, before cutting a path through the forest toward my discarded clothing—away from the house.
From the east, the voice of my pack brother, Giles, carried through on the breeze, calling to Sean for direction.
I continued to run, the nocturnal air refreshing my flesh.
“Get her home, and ensure she stays there.” Sean’s command arrived clearly despite the deep growl suggesting his change had already begun.
I hadn’t much time. The order given to Giles would insist he overrule the lack of one to me.
My soles landed on sharp twigs and leaves crisp enough to slice with each step, and no matter how hard I raced, my pace could not match the beat of Giles’s approach. Inhalations led the way, although I did not need them to. Three years of living with the pack meant I knew the forest well, and in little over a minute, I spotted the pale silver of my dress, the even paler grey of the slip I had removed, and I threw myself toward them.
I fumbled on my step into the cotton underwear, ripping at the shoulder straps in my haste to pull them up. With a glance over my shoulder, I spied Giles’s passage, the tumbling strands of his brown hair buoyant with each of his movements.
“Jem!” Suspicion laced Giles’s call.
I pushed one foot after the other into my gown and drew the fabric to my waist.
“Jem!” He shoved heavily-laden branches from his path, ducking and weaving, picking up speed.
I thrust my arms into the sleeves, fed in my shoulders, and reached behind for the woven fastenings.
“Do not do what I think you are about to!”
Though I doubted my secured bow would last more than a handful of steps, I grasped my skirts and bounded into a sprint to the east.
Giles pounded the dirt behind me. “Damn you, Jem! Come back here!”
My breaths arrived faster, matching the rhythm of my feet.
“You will stop running now!” His growl rumbled a little closer than I would have liked.
In answer, I rounded a hazel tree. When his fingers brushed the back of my arm, I darted forward out of reach, panting as I ran. Perspiration tickled my forehead on its descent.
A howl—the song of my mate—called from the southeast. Recognising the cry as the demand for assistance, I stumbled to a halt.
Giles’s heavy frame thudded into my back and jolted me forward to my palms and knees. A sweep of his hands against my forearms sent me sprawling face first into the earth before he flattened me to the ground with the weight of his bulk.
“Sean will have my hide if I do not deliver you home.”
“Can I be blamed if the order you received does not tally with my own?” I pushed up with my arms, groaning in my effort against one so much stronger than I. “Now, please remove yourself from me.” I ceased to struggle, though my breath remained laboured. “Or shall I tell Sean you manhandled me to the ground?”
His weight disappeared. An instant later, his arms enfolded my waist and drew me back against his chest as he stood. “You and I both know forgiveness would be offered, if I acted out of concern for your safety.”
Whilst I pried at his clamping arms, he swung us around with a quiet grunt and began walking.
“Or as a result of an oath given,” he added.
Teeth gritted, I pushed down on his hold. “Never mind your oath. Sean is in trouble.”
“The last time Sean found trouble, she arrived in a package of blonde hair and blue eyes.”
“How amusing you are.” I kicked back against his legs, wriggling like a snake to be free. “But this is no laughing matter.”
His arms tightened until he had me pinned, and his breath hit my ear. “I am sure this would be enjoyable, if I were not the only one of us naked.”
The pummels I had been on the verge of administering diminished to only the twitch of my fingers as the rest of my body stilled.
His chuckle rumbled against my spine. “I imagined that might work. Now, give your mate one less concern, and for goodness sake, do his bidding. Your presence will do no more than distract him, and you know it.”
My fight lessened as his words rang true, and my sigh of acceptance heaved from my chest. “At least allow me the dignity of walking.”
My feet met back with the rough strewn bracken beneath me, yet his hands did not release their hold. “I shall be watching you very closely.”
I tilted my head to the side, meeting his stare over my shoulder. “You sound as though you do not trust me in the slightest, Giles.”
“Then, your hearing does not fail you.” A wide smile accompanied his humoured tone before he let me go and swept his arm in an exaggerated arc. “Shall we?”
Twisting loose of his grip, I gathered my layers and headed for home.
A slightly longer swing affected Sean’s right leg in contrast to his left as he paced the kitchen—no doubt he hoped nobody would notice. Tension pulsed from him with every stride, a palpable force clogging the room’s air, whilst some kind of inner rage lent darkness to his eyes, rendering them almost black. Spilling from an open wound to his left shoulder, blood pooled in the dip of his clavicle before escaping to trail across his chest, from where a deep thunder emanated.
Edward, Charles and Philip occupied the central table, their grey, blond and chestnut hair softened by the candlelight. Left to right, their three heads twisted to follow our Alpha’s inane passage.
Beside me, Giles shared the doorway to the hall, and I watched the twitch of the pack’s features whilst awaiting the inevitable explosion of Sean’s wrath.
I could not recall ever seeing my mate so furious, and I did not fully understand the fuel for it. Wolves may have dared intrude our territory, but I had only ever known Sean to handle each prior situation with quiet calm.
“Three times!” His stalking took him past the oak cupboards to the far wall, where he spun and retraced his steps. The crimson rivulet ebbed and flowed from his shoulder injury with each pump of his arms. “In one month! Why?”
Edward cleared his throat, drawing all attention his way. The inclination of his head could not have been more subtle, but I could not mistake its direction: me.
A dangerous glint claimed Sean’s eyes as he leaned toward the oldest pack member. “I mean, why so many? Why are they all coming? How do they all know to come?” With a groan, he spun and resumed his pacing. His hands clenched and unclenched at his sides, enhancing the bruises that had begun to appear along his biceps. “Every one of them that has come was already aware of ...” He trailed off, though I knew he had been about to say my name. “Jem, for the fourth time, will you please go upstairs?”
“So you can speak of me as though I am a helpless pet?” I waited for his gaze to turn toward me, holding my ground when it did. “I shall not cower in silence, nor bury my head of the dangers from which you wish to protect me.”
Exasperation seemed to war with pride as his glare softened, and he once more paced. “How can they know of whom our pack comprises before they even arrive?”
“Maybe it is not so much that they know of certain ... members.” Philip shrugged. “Maybe it is enough that they know of our location ...” He sent a
glance my way before continuing, “And that is reason enough for them to come near and learn the rest.”
“I doubt it,” Edward said.
Philip’s green eyes turned toward the older male. “Well, as we cannot comprehend how they could know of our female before they arrive here, mine is the most plausible reasoning.”
“Only because the past five intruders have been killed before we’ve learned anything,” Charles said.
“Yes!” Sean halted. “The exact reason I said no one was to harm the next trespasser beyond enforcing submission. I would have achieved that this eve, he would be here now.” His arms flew out to his sides. “But I called for assistance, and none arrived.”
Both Charles and Philip lowered their gazes, shoulders high as though in defence.
Edward’s shrewd grey eyes remained on Sean, the slight flicker of his fingers on the table-top his only sign of unease. “And I already told you I was mid-change.”
“Which is why I keep encouraging you all to master the running change—so no one is ever left vulnerable. This should not have happened—would not have, if you all took heed and followed my direction—”
“We do not all have your capabilities, Sean,” Charles said.
Sean swung toward the blond werewolf. “Maybe so. But my order was not a difficult one to follow. I call. You come. I call ...” His fingertip poked his own chest before he aimed it at the three men at the table. “You come. And not one of you did.”
“You have not been bested by an adversary for years,” Charles said. “I cannot recall the last time I came to your aid and was actually needed.”
“I am not usually ambushed.” Sean’s fists tightened until the tendons stretched into prominent view along his arms. “And my brothers usually provide support.”
The lack of assistance had left Sean no chance of subduing the three encroachers, leaving him little choice but to enforce total elimination for his own safety.
“The other pack knew when to come,” Giles said at my side.
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