Monsters & Guardians

by Kay Elle Parker

  Fergus grunted, blood spraying from his lips. His face could have been in a car wreck for all the damage he’d sustained. “You’re just a bitch. You have no authority here.”

  “Wrong thing to say to a pregnant woman with an axe, asshole. You tried to beat the babies from my belly,” she hissed in his ear from behind, her eyes glowing eerily in the murky moonlight. “My children, a part of me. I have all the authority I need. Now get on your feet before my mates make you stand.”

  Quinn waited a good thirty seconds, but his father remained stubbornly in position. He could see his mate getting irater as the seconds ticked past and wondered what she had in store for Fergus’s demise.

  I can end him for you, sweetheart. I don’t want his blood on your hands.

  I do. Her response was quick and brooked no argument. Hold him? Please?

  Meeting Finn’s eyes, he inclined his head and as one unit they walked to Raine, shifting as they went. He noted Dubhlainn stayed in wolf form in case of emergency, despite the pain he was suffering. Pain that would be erased if he’d just shift. He kissed Raine when he reached her, setting his hand on her stomach and caressing the flesh his father had battered.

  “You don’t have to do this,” he murmured as Finn grabbed Fergus’s arm and wrenched it behind his back. The accompanying yelp was...delicious, and as Finn yanked it higher, he obviously thought so too. “We can take him into the woods, finish him.”

  She shook her head, her hair fluttering around her face before she swiped it out of the way. “It took me weeks to accept the fact I belong to you three. He tried to break that, tried to destroy the life that’s growing inside me, be it one or six. Being executed by an Alpha and his pack is too good for him. Being killed by a breeding bitch, one he won’t ever get to fuck? That’s gonna hurt, Quinn, and trust me, I want the fucker to hurt.”

  He could understand that. He looked to Dubhlainn for confirmation, and the jet black wolf with midnight blue eyes dampened with pained shadows nodded in agreement. With his Alpha’s permission given, Quinn took Fergus’s other arm and hefted at the same time as Finn, using the same method of leverage.

  With his arms twisted behind his back, his sons forcing him to stand straight despite the position demanding he bend over to ease the pain, realization dawned over the bashed face, in those amber eyes. “Boys, please, you know I didn’t—”

  “Be quiet. We have no interest in the shit that falls from your mouth,” Finn snapped as Raine came to stand in front of the older wolf. His jaw dropped slightly as she grasped Fergus’s cock in her hand, stroked the shaft until it grew erect. “What the fuck, Raine?”

  She silenced her mate with a look. “This is your pride and joy, isn’t it, Fergus? The weapon you’ve used to make women cower and plead, to force babies into unwilling wombs. This is your symbol of virility, your mascot of leadership. Take it out and wave it around when you need to show your peers how big and masculine you are. Can’t have other packs know what a fucking pussy you are beneath the bluster. Bet you’d like me to lick it, wouldn’t you? Suck on it, make you harder, make you come.”

  Jesus, Raine.

  Fergus groaned, his hips jerking as he tried to thrust into her grip.

  “Yeah, bet you’d like that. Especially with your sons watching. Want to cuckold my mates, Fergus? Does that turn you on, bring all that Alpha seed rushing to here?” Her thumb ran over the tip of his crown. “Oh yeah, Fergus is a dirty boy. He wants to claim his sons’ mate and mark her with his cum.”

  A volley of growls erupted from all three said sons.

  “I’m thinking you’d like to come in my tight little pussy, right? You want to know what I have between my legs that has three incredibly virile wolves coming back to me for more? Of course you do. You know, it was Quinn who fucked me first,” she continued, stroking from base to tip until precum leaked over her fingers. “Fucked me like a demon, made me bleed, ripped screams from my throat.”

  Bile rose in his throat at the reminder of what he’d done not even a month ago. But when she looked at him, there was no accusation there, no hate or rage. She just gave him a small smile that forgave all his sins.

  I love you, Quinn. I love you, Finn. I love you, Dubhlainn.

  As one, they chorused back, I love you, Raine.

  She glowed with their response, closing her eyes as she basked in the love beaming through the connection between them. Her smile grew, warm and happy, and she stayed like that, a divine goddess in the throes of exultation, for a few more moments.

  When Fergus groaned and broke the spell, she glared at him, looking down at the penis in her hand that was, by Quinn’s estimation, seconds away from ejaculating over her skin.

  “You’ll never rape a woman again, lad.” Bringing the axe up between the old man’s legs, she released his cock, grabbed his testicles and pulled them down, using the sharp edge of her weapon to sever them completely from his body.

  For the longest second in history, the world stopped in its tracks.

  Blood fountained over the ground in a violent red gush, pooling rapidly over the earth as Fergus’s weight dropped. His scream was high enough to shatter crystal in Australia before it choked off into whimpering sobs. Writhing between his sons, legs kicking uselessly, he finally looked like the pathetic old man he was.

  Relentless, Raine tossed the bloody mess of masculinity in her hand to the side and gave him a ruthless smile as she gripped the now flaccid cock he possessed. “By my estimation, you’re gonna bleed out fairly quick so I’ll just speed up the process. Call it a parting gift.”

  Quinn’s own cock wilted as she removed the organ without the slightest tremble of hand, and certainly no hesitation. He wanted to cross his legs to protect himself and from the corner of his eye, saw Finn grimace and do the same.

  You’re savage, Raine. Beautiful but savage.

  No one touches my pups, was the reply he got.

  “Precious, put the axe down now. You’ve done what you needed to.” Back in human form now the threat was eliminated, Dubhlainn walked to her with his hand held out for the weapon she still clutched. “And for the love of all that’s holy, drop the penis.”

  Quinn relaxed slightly as Dubh wrestled the bloody axe from her clenched fingers, bent to kiss her softly. With the gruesome task dealt with, he dropped his sire into the pool of his own blood without ceremony and nodded as Finn did the same.

  They left him there, floundering weakly as his life ebbed into nothing, and embraced their mate between the three of them. Hands pressed against and stroked her belly as if reassuring the life in there that all was well while they stood among the carnage of mass destruction.

  “I should spank you for being so reckless,” Dubhlainn stated, scowling at her with angry eyes. “But right now I’m intimidated with the easy way you just castrated a man. And a little aroused by the way you handle an axe in the middle of a war.”

  Raine flushed scarlet. “They should have known better than to mess with me.”

  Quinn slid his hand into her hair, tugged her head back. “We all should have known, sweetheart. Lucky for us, we were too stupid to read the warning signs. Best decision we ever made.”

  Not to be left out, Finn traced his fingertips over the blood splattered over her skin. “I would have killed him for you, Raine. Tried my damnedest, maybe would have done it if that fucking blond wolf hadn’t come from nowhere.”

  Looking radiant despite the gore, she beamed at Finn with all the patience of a seasoned mother. “I have no doubt you would, Finn, and a fine kill you’d have made,” she said in a reasonable imitation of their accent. She nuzzled into his palm when he cupped her face. “But if you had, think of all that emotion I would have had building inside me with no outlet. However would you have dealt with me?”

  Quinn chuckled and tugged her hair as Dubhlainn laughed. “We’d have found a way to expend some of those emotions, sweetheart, don’t you worry. Now, I think it’s time Finn took you in and checked you over. I won’t r
est easy until I know you’re fit and well after this clusterfuck.”

  She sighed and rolled her eyes. “I’m fine. A few bruises, nothing I haven’t had before. I want to know what happened to Cabhan and Malachi, and what happens next. There’s bodies everywhere.”

  Dubhlainn scrubbed his hands over his face. “Cabhan came to warn us of the attack—I met him on my patrol. Malachi killed him. I killed Malachi. That’s the extent of that. We’ll gather the bodies and burn them. Leave as little evidence as possible, not that it matters. Cabhan will be given full familial burial rights and we will ask for his safe passage to the next life.”

  Quinn nodded soberly, shocked by but not devastated by the death of two of his brothers as well as his sire. Two of the three deserved to die, and Cabhan had teetered on the line in Quinn’s personal opinion. But if their brother had risked himself to warn them of a coming attack and died doing so, Quinn would not begrudge him the tradition of a proper burial and unhindered travels to the afterlife.

  Raine looked around the yard, counting the bodies if the way her lips were moving was any indication. Pale now, a little glassy-eyed, she nodded in agreement. “Yes, I think burning would be best. Too many graves to dig properly. We should get on with that.” She paused and met Dubhlainn’s eyes. “When do we leave for Ireland?”

  Puzzled, the brothers looked at each other. They all shrugged.

  “Ireland, precious?”

  “You’ll take over as Alpha of the pack, right, back in Galway? So we’ll have to go there and do that.” She swayed a little and Quinn released her hair, sweeping her into his arms and passing her carefully to Finn. “Wish you wouldn’t just swoop like that!”

  “Shush.” Dubh tapped his finger on her lips. “You just go with Finn and get cleaned up, Raine. I don’t want control of the Galway pack and they wouldn’t want me in charge. They’ll be fine, squabbling among themselves until they find an Alpha worthy of leading them. We’re not going anywhere right now.”

  She blinked at him and Quinn’s heart melted at the soft look on her face. How things had changed, he thought, in a few short weeks. Once he’d thought never to see that look on her face, full of trust and love, and now it came so naturally to her.

  “Right now?” she questioned suspiciously.

  Dubh gestured to the house with a jerk of his chin, then touched his lips to hers. “You’ll have all the answers soon enough, precious. This moment in time, you’re exhausted and you need to rest. Finn will look after you for a while until we come in.”

  “What about the wolves that ran?”

  “They’ll keep running or they’ll come back. They’re not a threat, Raine.” He gave Finn a shove on the shoulder to get him moving. “We’ll be in as soon as we’re done out here, brother.”

  Quinn chuckled as Finn carted their mate away, still chirping questions and demanding answers. She’d get none from Finn as he didn’t know any more than Quinn did, which was next to nothing about Dubhlainn’s plans for the future.

  They stood together, surveying the chaos that had been brought down on their heads, silently celebrating a bittersweet victory that shouldn’t have been possible. Wouldn’t have been if not for Raine and the mating bond lending them strength when they needed it most.

  I love you, jackasses.

  And that, Quinn thought as he smirked at Dubh, summed it up perfectly.

  Epilogue

  Raine

  It was fucking freezing.

  Some bright moron had decided to pack up and go rampaging across several states as March crawled into existence. Said bright moron still hadn’t given her any indication of where they were going, only that it was necessary and she would like where they were heading.

  Considering she was weighed down heavily with what she assumed were triplets if the movement in her belly was anything to go by, she just wanted to crawl into the nearest dark space and make a nest.

  Though they’d stayed in the house for a few months after the massacre in the yard, Raine hadn’t been able to bring herself to use the nest she’d built in the wardrobe that first horrible week. The pregnancy so far had tested her patience and the stamina of her wolves—a female without a nest apparently became a hormonal wreck, unable to settle in one place, emotions soaring sky-high and then plummeting into the depths of hell.

  Dubhlainn had given her a vicious spanking one afternoon when her attitude and temper had boiled over to the point she was nothing but a raging ball of fury nothing could calm.

  Well, the beat of his palm on her ass had done the trick, she supposed.

  Curled on Dubhlainn’s back, Quinn’s arms tight around her and the thick pelt they’d wrapped her in, they loped through the night as they had for so many. Covering hundreds of miles with her imminent due date hanging over their heads. When she asked why they’d waited so long to go wherever they were headed, Dubhlainn told her the weather had held them up—weeks of snow and furious ice storms had not made for ideal traveling conditions.

  Beside them, Finn kept pace.

  They took it in turns cradling her and keeping warm, but it was always Dubhlainn who carried her on his broad back, his pelt she dug her hands into for comfort as his thoughts soothed and reassured.

  Her monster, the ultimate guardian.

  She jolted, almost tumbling from his back as pain ricocheted through her belly. She pressed her hands to the massively rounded hump of her stomach and groaned. What the fuck?

  “We’re nearly there, sweetheart,” Quinn assured her, settling his hands over hers and adding subtle pressure to the growing ache. “I’ve got you. Dubh will have us there as quickly as he can.”

  “I...fuck, Quinn, that hurts.”

  Dubhlainn snorted. Labor does, so I’ve heard, precious.

  “Labor?” she screeched.

  “You’ve been showing subtle signs for a few days, sweetheart. Backache, peeing more and more often. Remember you said you felt tight across here?” Quinn traced his fingers over the smooth, taut skin of her bump. “Finn’s had his eye on you for a day or so. It’s nearly time to meet our pups.”

  Raine gaped at the wolf running beside them. “And you didn’t think to say anything? What the hell, guys!”

  We were trying to avoid this situation, Finn said calmly. There is no need to panic, your contractions are few and far between, but yes, the pups are ready to arrive.

  She seethed for all of five minutes before she felt her belly ripple with tension. She grabbed Quinn’s hand, digging her nails into his skin as she leaned forward and breathed into Dubh’s pelt, sucking in his scent to calm her rising anxiety.

  Howls exploded around them, echoing down to her bones, and to her surprise, Finn and Dubh replied with long, ululating howls of their own. They darted faster through a secluded section of forestry, following the yips and bays of the wolves calling to them.

  “Told you we were nearly there,” Quinn said, rubbing her back with his free hand as she bloodied the other. “These are friendly folk, Raine. They’ll help us.”

  Face pressed to Dubhlainn’s fur, it took her several moments to realize they were no longer running, and that there were voices instead of howls surrounding her.

  “Welcome, Dubhlainn. A pleasure to have you with us again.” A deep, rich voice seemed to wrap her up and suck her under. “We have everything ready for you—we were expecting you several weeks sooner.”

  Quinn slipped off Dubh’s back agilely and kept Raine pressed tightly to him. A second later, Dubhlainn stood beside them, his hand resting on her back. “The weather was not receptive. We left it as long as we could but...Raine went into labor yesterday. We’ve pushed hard to get here in time.”

  “May I?”

  “She can be volatile,” Dubh warned with a laugh in his voice.

  “Ha, volatile is something I’m used to. My Brenna is a firecracker of legendary proportions.” A big warm hand cupped Raine’s cheek, turned her to look at the gigantic specimen of male perfection standing in front of her. Built li
ke a fucking redwood, with hair a couple shades darker than her own, and dark eyes, the man was incredible.

  He was also an Alpha.

  “Hello there, little one. I’m Romulus. Welcome to the North Dakota pack of werewolves.” He ran his thumb over her cheekbone and scowled. “She’s lost weight on this excursion of yours?”

  “Some. Between the cold and the pregnancy, we’ve been struggling to keep weight on her.” Finn’s eyes passed over her with concern. “Once she’s settled and the pups are here, I’m hopeful she’ll gain it back.”

  “Oh aye, she will. My cooks might not have fancy mortal qualifications, but they know how to fucking cook. She’s a bonny thing, you should be proud to have her as your mate.” The giant swung around at the sound of his name, and love filled his face. “Brenna, my love. I think we’ll need you sooner than later.”

  Raine huddled against Quinn, pressing her face into his neck as another contraction threatened to tear her apart. She wiggled desperately, then burst into tears when she suffered through the indignity of wetting herself in front of her lovers and a whole group of random strangers.

  “Idiot men, always leaving things until the last moment! Quinn, follow me. How far apart are her contractions?” A soft yet irritated female voice drifted through Raine’s humiliation.

  “Brenna, nice to see you again.”

  “Less of that. There’s time for that later, when we have your pups safely delivered.”

  Raine felt like she was flying as Quinn moved swiftly in whatever direction the woman was taking them. Her belly twisted and pulsed, the muscles flexing in preparation for another contraction. She wept against Quinn’s neck as she muttered apologies over and over again.

  “Hush now, sweet little thing. You haven’t done anything that’s not natural at this stage. Your waters have broken, so labor is progressing quickly, probably faster from all the bouncing around on the back of a wolf,” Brenna said in disapproval. “She should have been here at least a month ago, Quinn. Bring her in here and set her down.”

  “I can’t just leave her—”