by Calin, Ana
“I’m sorry, I couldn’t resist,” she says, staring at me as if she doesn’t quite understand what’s happening. But I do.
“Our bond deepens by the second,” I explain. “It urges us to become one with each other. Your instincts scream to take the fluids of my body inside your own, and for me to take yours.”
Janine crushes her lips to mine, her arms winding around my neck as if she’s abandoning herself to this love that takes us both in a whirlwind. We fall together back on the cot and I plunge into her, roaring and grinding until the iron frame gives in under us.
Janine
CONAN’S ARMS WIND AROUND me, keeping me close and warm on the lovers’ bridge.
“Isn’t this dangerous,” I whisper, my breath turning to mist in the night.
“It is,” he whispers back. “But I wanted you to enjoy Venice, at least a little bit. And especially the full moon.”
I turn in his arms and look up at his hard warrior face, tracing the scar running down his cheek. If once it made him look dangerous, now it speaks to me of pain. I want to talk to him about it, but we have to keep verbal communication to a minimum. We’ve got Cinzia’s special perfume to mask our scent from Lorenzo’s hounds, but they can track our voices, too.
Conan’s big hand puts slight pressure on my hip, the signal that we better return to our hideout. We’ve been here in Venice for a few weeks already, making love in the old prison as if not doing it would starve us, Conan telling me about the werewolf lore and history as I lay in his arms on the mattress. But we’re still not even close to getting enough of each other. In fact, if anything, we want each other more with every hour we spend together.
“Does it ever get warm and comfortable,” I say as I take off the wool cape back at the sanctuary, before we even enter the old prison ward’s office. “This need we have for each other?” I reach up as he lifts me in his arms. I wind my legs around his waist, kissing him hungrily as he walks into the room and pushes the door shut, but something’s off about the place.
We find Cinzia in a black cape in the place where we should see an old wooden bookcase. She has a hood over her head, and a dark tunnel stretches out behind her. I realize it must be a secret exit from the sanctuary.
“Apologies for intruding, my lord,” she says. Her eyes move from Conan to me under her hood. “But you need to leave. Now. The Piovras are raiding the entire city for you. They could discover the hidden tunnels. If you’re planning on using them, now’s the time.”
This isn’t a surprise to either of us. Conan and I have been talking about this, and we’re ready. Conan lights the torch, sprays oil over the bookshelves, and looks at them one last time before he sets them on fire. The Piovras can never get their hands on the Wolves’ secrets and, while we take along the most important scrolls and manuscripts, the rest needs to be either protected or destroyed.
The fire roars behind us as Conan rushes with me down the narrow dark corridors that smell dank and old, Cinzia trailing behind us. We slide into a gondola that Cinzia’s got ready deep down, and Conan pushes us off the dock.
But as we glide silently on the water ripples with only the sound of our hearts pounding in our ears, I get a strange feeling. Something about Cinzia just isn’t right. The way her eyes dart around as she sits in the gondola in front of me, both of us bracing ourselves under our capes against the chill and the mist, it’s suspicious. She searches the area not as if she were looking for threats, but like she’s waiting for them.
Then I spot something in the night as it flies at Conan.
“Watch out!” I cry out, pointing at it. But it’s too late.
A large wolf materializes from the darkness like a spreading net, falling on Conan’s back. He doesn’t manage to throw the large Conan overboard, but the impact sends the gondola rocking on the canal like on a raging sea. Both Cinzia and I fall to the side, grabbing the edges of the gondola and staring up at the struggling men.
Conan roars and throws the attacker off of him, water splashing onto the gondola as the wolf sinks like a bomb into the canal. Conan reaches out to help us up, but two more werewolves attack him. They fail to throw him down, but the gondola sways dangerously, both Cinzia and I screaming. I’m flat on my stomach, holding tightly to the edge of the gondola, a veil of water hanging on my lashes, but I can still see Conan. He balances the gondola with his muscular legs while tearing the wolves off of him, but more of them jump from the darkness, overwhelming him. They bury him in a heap of fur, their deadly roars tearing through the night.
The gondola tips over, and a vacuum pulls at my ears, water invading my nostrils. Then it all goes black.
Conan
I FURROW MY BROW, STRUGGLING to clear the fog in my head. What the hell happened? I look up to the only source of light in this chilly darkness, a pain in the back of my neck. It’s just an opening above my head, sending a cone of light down to where I’m standing, naked and in chains.
Something sharp slides across my wrists like blades. Heavy iron cuffs are restraining my arms to the side, and I’m clearly in a dungeon. My muscles hurt with every move, maybe because of the weight I’ve had on me—all those wolves with their battle-hardened bodies.
“Why did you have to fall for her, my lord,” Cinzia’s voice with its thick accent reaches me from the darkness.
“Witch Eyed Sister.” I sound hoarse, as if my vocal cords were rusty. “What did you do?”
“Why, I betrayed you, of course.” She steps into the light, wearing a fresh cape, a dark-red one. She pushes the hood off her head, revealing rich dark hair and shimmering dark eyes.
“But please don’t think it was my intention from the start, because it wasn’t. It is true, however, that when Lorenzo stormed the establishment with his people I didn’t take a lot of convincing to tell him where you were. It was your life or mine. And why should I give up breath for you?”
She steps closer, letting me see the fury and frustration in her face.
“You and I can never be,” I say. “And you know why.”
“Long ago you said you didn’t want to imprint on any woman, ever, and that you wouldn’t do it even if you met a Fated Female.”
“And you took that as a personal promise I made to you?”
“Maybe I did. I was even prepared to be with you without asking for your love. I was determined to love enough for the both of us. All because you said the more people a werewolf loved, the weaker he was. And I took you seriously, even when you said that the love for a Fated Female could be deadly.” She snorts. “Look at you now. I guess you were right.”
She paces around me, inspecting my battered, bloody body from all angles. “Do you know what it felt like to find you fucking her with so much gusto in my whoring room? Do you have any idea how much I dreamt about you fucking me like that, in your wolf form?”
“Cinzia...”
“Why, my lord? Why didn’t you ever do it? Damn it, I would have done the dirtiest things with you, I would have been your whore.”
“What happened with Janine, it was beyond my control. What she and I feel for each other, it was never up to us.”
“Lies!” She cries. “You lied on that first night you came to me, saying you needed to rescue her for wholly other reasons than your feelings. You said you wouldn’t imprint on her for the world.”
“And I meant it.” I glare at her out of red-hot eyes. “I couldn’t let Lorenzo imprint on her, it would have been a disaster. Janine has a superpower, Cinzia, and Lorenzo could take over the entire world using it, fuck, rescuing her probably stopped the apocalypse.”
“Damn it, even the way you pronounce her name betrays your passion for the woman!”
“Passion, yes.” My arms strain against the chains, clattering them powerfully from the walls. Cinzia takes a step back. “Passion beyond rhyme or reason, and beyond my control. Since the day I met Janine feelings started to bubble up inside of me, and there was nothing I could do to stop them. I didn’t understand those fe
elings at first, because I’d never experienced them before, but after Nice they became unbearable. I couldn’t look at her without wanting her, and God knows I tried to. It’s the reason I was looking for a hooker that night. I was desperate for release, for a way to stop obsessing about Janine Kovesi. But then I ran into you, and a plan started to take shape in my head.”
Cinzia’s lips draw in a straight, angry line. “In my mind, we had a deal the two of us—I would accept your lack of love for me, as long as you didn’t give that love to someone else. But then you went ahead and fucked Janine Kovesi, giving her your heart in the process.”
“I did,” I hiss. “And you know what? I’d let myself be tortured just to have her one more time.”
She stares at me full of revenge. “Be careful what you wish for, my lord.”
Conan
“TORTURE,” LORENZO SAYS, staring at me out of pale blue eyes. “You would take torture just to be with Janine one last time?”
“I’d let you skin me alive if you want.”
“I won’t let you out of those chains, just so you know. So if you want to fuck your personal little hooker Janine, it will have to be here, in this dungeon, with you in those chains.”
“Call her a hooker again, and I’ll rip your tongue out of your filthy mouth, if it’s the last thing I do.”
Lorenzo folds his arms across his chest, planting his feet apart. He’s tall and lean, leaner than the two wolves with sleek black fur flanking him, but I know he’s stronger than both.
“You know what I did after you hi-jacked my imprinting ceremony with Janine by stealing her away? I ordered my men to kill her on sight.”
I jerk against the chains, spitting menacingly through my teeth. “If you as much as think that again—”
“Oh no, I only thought it once. I have new plans now, let me tell you about them.” He leans forward from his waist. “And let me start with the beginning. When you stole Janine away, I was devastated. I cried like a groom left at the altar—in the end, that’s sort of what I was.”
“No, it isn’t, because you hadn’t lost a woman you loved. You’d lost a woman you needed.”
“Does that really make a difference? I hung on her, just as you did. I needed her to create an army of werewolves, while you needed her because you were desperate to dip your cock inside of her. But it was need for both of us.”
My knuckles show white as I ball my fists. “I could punch your pretty face till there was nothing left of it. But you’re not stupid enough to face me in a fair fight, are you?”
“You thought I wouldn’t be clever enough to find you,” he says. “But guess what—I was clever enough to seek out the whore you hooked up with. I caught your scent inside that filthy establishment, but then surprise—further trails joined it. The scent of Janine Kovesi, and the smell of the two of you fucking.” He roars the last word, his cheeks alight with fury.
“As I stared at that ravished bed stained with both of your pleasure I wanted to kill her,” he spits. “Even more than I wanted to kill you. But I wouldn’t lay a hand on her, not while you still have what I want most in the world.”
“The Reaper’s weapon. You’ll bargain for that?”
“There will be no bargain. You will cede it to me, or Janine dies.”
“And what guarantee do I have that you’ll keep her alive after I turn over the weapon.”
“You’re in my power, Conan, and so is the woman you love. You don’t get to set terms.”
“I want to have her again,” I say, loud and clear so that the werewolves in the shadows hear it, too. I catch Cinzia’s scent, so I guess she’s here somewhere in here as well. “I want to make love to her.”
“And then you’ll give it over to me without further ado?”
“Then I want a guarantee that you’ll send her safely to my brother Nero. Then I will give it over.”
A vicious thought crosses his pale blue eyes. “No further requests? This is all you want?”
“All I want.”
“What about all the damage you cost me by imprinting on the woman I needed to create my army? Who’s gonna pay for that loss, and how?”
“I tried to resist the need to be with her, but I just couldn’t. She threatened that she would find another werewolf and let him, a stranger, imprint on her before either of us could, and I just... I lost it. I couldn’t imagine her with another man, I wanted to smash faces and break necks. Believe it or not, it wasn’t personal.” My arms strain so hard the chains rattle, and Lorenzo’s wolves stand to attention.
“Bring the girl,” Lorenzo commands.
Janine
TEARS STREAM DOWN MY face as I’m forced to look at the man I love hanging from heavy chains, blood and bruises crisscrossing his muscular body.
“Ever thought you’d see the powerful Conan Wolf in such a situation, Janine?” Lorenzo whispers in my ear, brushing my hair away. My skin crawls at the touch of his breath on my skin. “These chains, they’re made of special iron, imbued with sacred chemistry by the Witch Eyed Sisters. When Cinzia, their leader, betrayed the Wolf pack, the entire Order did. The chains keep the wolf in check, so he won’t be able to shift and defend himself no matter what we do to him.”
I glance over at Cinzia, who’s staring at me from under her red hood. “The things that a scorned woman would do, isn’t it?” I manage, but look away from her immediately, as if she’s not worthy of another glance.
I focus on Conan’s reddish eyes. Strange. He’s much too still, too quiet for a man in trouble, almost as if he has a plan to save us both. My brain must be playing tricks on me, clawing to a hope of salvation that I know we don’t have.
“At least I know you’ll never get your army,” I defy Lorenzo, feeling his presence behind me. “I’m Conan’s bonded mate. If I ever make werewolves, they will answer to him, and not you.”
“Never say never, Janine. It hurt to lose you, it’s true, but maybe I’ll meet someone like you again someday. But you know what, it doesn’t matter, because that’s not why I brought you here.”
He winds an arm around my shoulders. I try to shake it off, but he pushes me closer to Conan until the rusty scent of his blood crawls up my nostrils. I can’t keep back the tears as I look up into his face. His hard features, his dangerous stare, and the scar that runs down his cheek used to turn me on, but now that I love the man behind all that, my heart breaks. There was so much pain in his life, and now this.
“Conan and I have reached an arrangement, Janine,” Lorenzo says. “He agreed to cede The Reaper’s weapon to me, if I granted him two wishes—he wants to make love to you one last time before he dies, and see you safely back under his brother Nero’s protection.”
“Die,” I repeat, hot tears rolling down my cheeks. I press my lips together, tasting the salt as they touch my mouth.
“It’s the reason I had you take a bath of milk and roses just before. So he can enjoy your skin at its softest.”
“So kind of you,” I hiss.
“Contrary to what you might think, I’m not a monster.”
“No. You’re a worthless piece of shit.”
I can feel his anger stabbing my back, but I don’t move an inch, keeping my eyes on Conan and making myself a promise. If Lorenzo kills Conan, I’ll be left with only one reason to go on living—I’ll build the army of werewolves that Lorenzo so ardently desires, I’ll sleep with a thousand men if I have to, but I’ll build it for Nero. So that he can take down the Piovra pack once and for all.
“Now,” Lorenzo says, running his hand over the side of the red lace negligee he’s had me wear. “You’ll go to your lover, drop to your knees and suck his cock. Right here, in front of us all.”
“Say what?!”
“Son of a bitch,” Conan roars, the chains rattling as he pulls at them. Dust and stones break away from the walls, and the werewolves stand to attention, ready to step in if he manages to break free.
“I don’t have to watch this,” Cinzia says and make
s to leave, but Lorenzo stops her with a hand on her elbow.
“Oh, you will watch, witch sister. Didn’t you say you wanted to see the human humiliated?”
“Yes, but he loves her,” she spits through her teeth, jerking her head in Conan’s direction. “I don’t want to witness their love again. Because it will be love making, even under these circumstances.”
“You. Will. Watch,” Lorenzo decrees.
All the werewolves’ eyes switch to me from the darkness as I stand in front of Conan in the cone of moonlight from the opening above our heads. I look up into the moonlight, and realize that it’s full moon, the third one, and maybe I can help him set his wolf free. If what he told me is true, then his wolf has full power on the night of the third full moon, and he might be able to save himself if I manage to help him.
“I’ll do it.” My whisper bounces off the walls in the hungry silence. “But first, let me make you a promise, Lorenzo. I will see your pack wiped out from the face of the earth if it’s the last thing I do.”
“And how do you plan to do that?” he mocks as a ripple of laughter travels among the gathered werewolves in the darkness.
“The same way you would—by going as low as I have to.”
“I’m proud of you, Janine. You just made the first good decision since you and I met.”
“I suppose that’s what revenge requires.”
“It’s what intelligence requires. And, if anything, you’re one brilliant woman. I love myself a brilliant woman. Maybe, one day, after you’ve grieved enough from the death of your lover, you’ll consider going out with me?”
“Be careful what you wish for.” I glare at him with the promise of death.
He snaps his fingers, and two wolves bring chairs from the back. He takes a seat on one, pulling Cinzia’s hand and forcing her to take a seat on the other.