Her Shadowed Wolves (House of Wolves and Magic Book 3)

by Helen Scott

  My body bucked and clenched around them as wave after wave of pleasure rode me. Neither of them stopped fucking me either, drawing out my pleasure. The longer they moved, and the more Micah began playing with my clit once more, the faster I advanced to my second orgasm.

  It almost felt like the first one had never really stopped when the second one hit, but this one, unlike the first, drew orgasms from both Micah and Roman as well, the two of them climaxing almost simultaneously. I could feel them jerking and spilling themselves inside me while my body milked them with my own pleasure.

  We all collapsed into each other as the rush of our orgasms faded. Each of them extracted themselves from me, leaving me feeling empty once more, but at least this time, my body was sated. Micah hopped up and went to one of the packs, returning with the pack of baby wipes that had been stashed in there, while I cuddled against Roman. We all got cleaned up, and I went over to lay in the little den-like area that Micah had created. I knew one of them was probably going to keep watch for a while and they wouldn’t hear about any sleep until they felt sure we were safe, so I left them to it. As I lay there, eyes closed and sleep creeping over me, I only had one thought—I hoped tomorrow was less eventful than today.

  11

  Nina

  I woke early while the sunlight was still hidden behind the leaves on the trees. I crawled from our little den, surprised at how warm I was. As soon as I was free of the confines, I shifted, letting my wolf stretch her legs. As I settled into my new four-legged form, I shook off and began to wind my way through the trees, deciding to go for a morning run. Maybe I could even catch some breakfast.

  My stomach growled in response, and if I was in my human form, I would have smiled. As it was, I let my tongue loll out the side of my mouth as pure, unbridled joy filled me. My feet fell against the mossy, leaf covered ground, and when I broke out into a patch of sunlight, I tilted my head back and huffed the air, drinking in the scents of the day.

  Two loud caws sounded from above me, and I watched as two identical ravens flew overhead. They seemed to spot me and circle back, swooping lower to get a better look, letting out angry noises as they passed by.

  I continued on, not about to concern myself with the opinions of birds. An interesting scent on the breeze caught my attention, and I decided to follow it.

  Within a few moments, I came to a field I recognized, a field I’d been to in a dream. Was I dreaming now? I wasn’t sure. I didn’t want to be dreaming since I was enjoying myself, but I was also in my wolf form, and for some reason, that didn’t seem right.

  “That’s because wolves are not welcome here,” a masculine voice called out from across the field. I looked over and saw a man with a long cloak, the hood of which hid most of his face and a staff.

  “Oh, Havi, be at peace,” a woman’s voice called from the opposite end, me stuck between them. I looked over at her and saw the woman from my previous dream, though she was wearing a slightly different outfit. “She clearly means you no harm. In fact, I would wager the opposite.”

  “Her reason for being here is irrelevant. Wolves are not welcome.” The old man sniffed and tapped a staff on the ground like it was punctuating his sentence.

  “Havi, you’re scaring her. Be still, and you’ll see that she’s nothing to be scared of. She is our ally, our great masterpiece.”

  This lady was clearly off her rocker. I was no masterpiece of any kind.

  “Untrue,” the woman called as the man on the other end of the field cracked up laughing.

  “See what she thinks of you?” he called across the distance. As he began to move forward, nerves skittered through my body. “You are right to be afraid of me, child, but for now, I will not harm you, as you are under her ladyship’s protection.”

  “Will you take your human shape, child? You will be clothed, do not worry about that,” the woman said.

  I wanted to figure out who the hell they were and that was easier to do when I could actually speak, so I did as she asked. The moment I was shifting, I felt fabric wrapping around me. There were multiple parts, and as I stood there, fully human once again, I realized I was in a similar dress to hers. There was a slip or something that sat next to my skin, which had long sleeves and a skirt that reached the ground. On top of that, there was another dress in a rich green color, and as I looked down at myself, I saw wolf’s heads embroidered on each side of my chest just above my breasts. The last part was sort of an apron. The top came to just over my breasts and to the bottom of the embroidery, with straps going over my shoulders. It was cinched at the waist with a leather belt that was long enough to hang down the center of the dress at the front as decoration. The entire getup was more fabric than I’d worn in a while, and yet more comfortable than what I’d worn in a while as well.

  My hair was braided down my back, and I felt almost regal standing there like that between the two of them.

  “So this is who the fates have decreed?” the older man said as he came even closer and began to walk around me in a large circle, being sure to stay out of hitting range. I watched him as he went, his large, black cloak flaring behind him as he walked. Aside from the staff, he looked like he could fight. He had a large muscular build and a few scars, including a missing eye, that spoke of victories past. “I have won battles, many of them.”

  How was he doing that? I knew I wasn’t speaking aloud, and yet he knew my thoughts as soon as I had them.

  “He is the wise one, especially with his little helpers,” the woman said as she joined our duo. She wasn’t the only one who joined though, two large ravens alighted on the man’s shoulders, one on each side.

  “What do you think of your mates, child?” he asked as he stopped in front of me.

  He may have only had one eye, but between that and the ravens watching me as though they understood everything about the situation, it was kind of intense. Without voicing anything aloud, my mind filled with images of my four mates, mostly Roman and Micah since they were who I’d known the longest, but Blake was there and Tate was sprinkled in as well. When Jax made an appearance in my thoughts, I tried to push it away. I didn’t want to think about him in conjunction with my mates. He wasn’t one and never would be, if I had anything to say about it.

  “Interesting. You’re almost there,” he said, tapping his staff on the ground thoughtfully.

  “She has made improvements even since I saw her last,” the woman said, pride coloring her voice and shining in her eyes. I didn’t understand why, but that made me happy, made me proud of myself. Who she was and why I cared were still a mystery though.

  “If she is to save any of us, then she’ll need to hurry up. I can feel the end drawing ever closer,” the old man said, sounding angry. “I will not die at the teeth of some wolf, not after the life I have led. At the very least, I want to fight a person, not an animal.”

  “You know very well who you’d be fighting and I’d hardly call him an animal, though he may be in animal form at the time,” the woman said to Havi.

  I couldn’t help but watch her as she spoke. Her dress was just as beautiful as the one she’d given me through magic of some kind. The cloth of both dresses was of fine quality, nothing like what I would have expected if someone had described the dress to me. It was soft and breathable, smooth against my skin, and the fabric of her own dress looked similar. The only difference between our clothing was the jewelry. She had two large brooches, one on each strap of her apron, along with a large yet intricate necklace and a circlet of gold around her head, which was accented with feathers that hung down, each long enough that they had to come from a hawk or an eagle of some kind. The shimmer of the metal in the sunlight made her look like a goddess, and it was only as I watched her that I realized she had beads woven throughout her braids as well. “Havi is right about one thing though, child—you must hurry. The time is almost upon us, the balance is tipping and must be recentered.”

  “What does that even mean? What am I supposed to do about
some balance changing? Who even are you?” I demanded, suddenly finding my voice.

  She smiled at me and simply said, “Hurry.” The sun chose that moment to crest over the trees, and I had to blink from the brightness of it. When I shielded my eyes and looked back at the woman, she wasn’t there.

  I looked to where the man had been standing with his ravens, but he wasn’t there either. Neither was the meadow we’d been standing in. Yes, it was a clearing in the woods, but it wasn’t the same field as before. There were no long, lush grasses or pretty wildflowers. Instead, there were a few scrubby bushes and some clumps of grass that looked half dead.

  The snarl of a wolf ripped through the morning air.

  I spun to find myself face to face with a wolf I didn’t recognize. His dark brown coat was shot through with steel gray and tan and was shaggy. Eyes that were so dark they looked completely black stared me down menacingly. There was a human intelligence in them though, and I was scared that I’d accidentally wandered into the Shadow Wolves’ home. I knew we were in their territory, but I had no idea where their actual homes were, or if they even had any for that matter.

  “I’m sorry if I’m somewhere I shouldn’t be, I’m just looking for the oracle,” I said holding my hands up, palms out, to show I didn’t have a weapon. Not that wolves necessarily needed one, but it was a gesture of good faith.

  Another snarl, but this time, I got to see the long, pearly white fangs he was showing off as well.

  “I’ll go back the way I came. Don’t worry, I’m not trying to disturb you or your people.” I took a few steps backward without breaking eye contact with the wolf. I couldn’t help but hesitate though. Did he know anything about what I saw? Who the woman and this Havi were?

  There was something else there as well though, a curiosity about who this wolf was, why the Shadow Forest wolves were so separated from society. Why he was warning me away and not attacking me outright like I’d expected? Was it because I was a female wolf? Did the Shadow Wolves have the same breeding issues that the rest of us did?

  I had so many questions, but another snarl from the wolf stayed my tongue. The farther back I moved, the happier the wolf seemed to be, so I kept going until finally I lost sight of him through the trees. Either that or he was following me stealthily to report back to the rest of the pack. I could have seriously fucked us over if my sleepwalking or whatever that was had just outed us to the Shadow Wolves and given them our location.

  Being cautious was a skill I’d developed over the years. Sometimes I let it slip and did something stupid, like going to a party at a warehouse when I was trying to hide from the world, but this was not going to be one of those times. This time, I was going to be extra careful, which meant taking a more circuitous route back and stopping every few minutes to see if I could hear the footfalls of any wolves that may be following me. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much I could do about my scent. Scuffing up the dirt as I went was about it, but since I was barefooted, I didn’t, since that would’ve been like leaving sign posts behind me as I scraped my scent on the ground. No, the best thing I could do was lead them on such a roundabout route that they gave up trying to find the others and on following me, if they even were.

  When I finally got back to camp, Tate was there, pacing back and forth outside the tent. “Where were you?” he hissed.

  “Apparently, I sleepwalk now, it’s a new thing,” I said, trying to make a joke and watching it fall flat. I sighed and pushed my hair from my face before I continued, “I woke up, or thought I did, and went for a run, but I was dreaming the whole time, then when I woke up for real,and it was to a wolf snarling at me. Not just a wolf though, a shifter, like us.”

  “You should be dead from what I know of the wolves in this stupid ass forest. You shouldn’t have been going for a run in the first place.” He sounded affronted by the idea of me going off on my own, and that was something that was not going to fly, mate or not.

  “Listen, Blake and I had this discussion when he joined our little pack, or at least something similar to it, so I’m going to lay it out for you as well. I’m my own woman, I do what I want, when I want, and will take your suggestions under advisement, but that’s it. Just because we’re mates, doesn’t mean that you get to tell me how to live my life. If you want to know how well that worked out, then have a chat with Roman. I ran from him the first time the mate bond clicked into place. If any of you try and leash me, I will run again. I understand the risks of going off on my own. I know it’s not smart, but sometimes, it’s either that or scream so, you know, I take a few moments to myself. And this time, I happened to be dreaming as well, so it wasn’t like it was a conscious choice. Are we clear?”

  Tate nodded, clearly not expecting that kind of response from me. An awkward, silent minute later he said, “Jax would kill any woman that spoke like that.”

  “That’s because Jax is a moron with his head so far up his own ass that he can’t see the sun shining any more. He learned from a terrible alpha, and I’m sure when he took Landon’s place to be alpha, it broke something within him, even if no one else thinks so. They were best friends growing up, they were family, and you can’t murder your family and not feel anything. Sorry, I know he was your alpha and I’m not trying to make you feel bad, but there is absolutely nothing that makes women inferior to men, nothing that indicates that we need male guidance to make it through our lives. Erik believed otherwise, and that was who had the biggest impact on Jax and Landon growing up. Fortunately, my brother looked up to our dad more than his alpha. I think that’s the only thing that stopped them from brainwashing me into believing I needed a man’s permission to breathe or enjoy life.” Finally, I ran out of steam. Talk about a hot button for me. Gods, whenever Erik was brought up, I swear it was like I couldn’t stop the word vomit from spewing forth.

  “She’s right.” Roman’s voice came from just inside the sleeping area. “She ran from me, and she won’t be ordered around. So if that’s the kind of mate you want or need, then you may as well turn your back on her now and save each other even more pain down the line.”

  I looked over at my first mate, and he smiled at me, warming something within my heart that I hadn’t realized was cold. We moved toward each other and embraced. It wasn’t overtly sexual, just a hug, but I could feel the energy running through him and my body couldn’t help but respond. I squeezed him a little tighter, pressing my whole body flush against his, and I could feel more than hear the low growl in his chest in response.

  Tate sighed behind me, and when I looked over my shoulder, he was scrubbing his face. “I think we started off on the wrong foot today. I’m not trying to tell you what to do or who to be, I just got scared when I woke up and you were gone. I thought maybe the Shadow Wolves found you and took you or something.”

  “Scared is allowed. Being controlling, and not in the sexy way, is not a behavior I enjoy or put up with in a mate.” I shrugged within Roman’s arms and glanced up at him, pushing up to place a kiss on his cheek before I said, “He’s tried it a couple times, and it just made us butt heads. We know each other better now, and we know what each other needs to feel secure within this…unusual relationship. I want that for you and me as well, but it’ll take some time and some communication to get it right.”

  “I would like that. I can be patient and have been told I don’t know when to shut up before, so be careful what you wish for.” Tate smiled, and not for the first time, I felt a little giddy at seeing him like that.

  Roman peeled away from my back and began to busy himself around our little camp as he said, “If what I overheard was right and you had an encounter with a Shadow Wolf, then we should move camp. It doesn’t have to be far, just somewhere away from here so we’re not as easily discoverable as we are now.”

  “What about the others?” I asked.

  Roman knew I wasn’t so much asking about Micah, the guy was fine and just needed some extra sleep, which wasn’t a big deal. I was really asking about Bl
ake and his injuries. The way Roman’s mouth turned downward and his brows pinched together told me everything I needed to know. Blake wasn’t getting better. Moving the camp would be hard on him, but being discovered would be even harder.

  My only hope was that once we were set up somewhere new, we could stay there for a couple of days while he healed. If the move aggravated his wound, we could be in trouble. I wouldn’t risk his life to find the oracle, but I also couldn’t shake the sense of urgency that the dream had instilled in me. One word kept repeating over and over in my head.

  Hurry.

  I just wished I knew what would happen if I took too long.

  12

  Nina

  We moved slowly and quietly through the forest, making our way toward the top of the mountain, where we suspected the oracle to be. Who knew if she was actually there or not. We weren’t even halfway up the mountain yet, I didn’t think. It was seriously hard to tell because it felt like the thing was just going on forever, almost like we were on a treadmill or maybe going in circles.

  We all knew we’d have to stop soon, because Blake was tiring out. Each of us were taking turns helping him along, which he hated and had been vocal about hating, even though the exhaustion in his voice said otherwise. My heart ached for him. I knew what it felt like to be forced to rely on others when all you wanted to do was take care of yourself. Independence was a funny thing.

  Finally, we found another area where we could set up camp without being too exposed. A large tree was sticking out over the edge of an outcropping, making a bank where we could sit against it, and had some trees and bushes surrounding us so we weren’t completely exposed. The massive old oak almost acted like an umbrella hanging over us, and I knew if the weather turned and we got rained on, it wouldn’t be half as bad as if we were exposed. It was almost cozy.

  Though I may have been starting to forget what it was like to live indoors. Staying in the cabin with Roman and Micah seemed like it was a lifetime ago. And my old life? Being a mechanic, boxing, the café? That all seemed like ancient history, even though it wasn’t that long ago. So much had changed since then that it was almost overwhelming.