by M. L. Briers
“So I am unique, good to know.” He teased her head back up and her eyes on him.
“Big headed…”
“Hey, you paid me the compliment little She-wolf…”
“Who said it was a compliment?” She retorted and he narrowed his eyes on her and made a show of thinking that through.
“Was it?”He saw the corners of her lips curl up and the look of mischief in her eye as she shrugged again.
“Perhaps…”
“Hmm, maybe I should compel you to tell me…” He cocked one dark brow at her and watched as panic swept over her.
“Don’t you dare use any of that Vampire voodoo…” He was sitting on the bed in front of her in the blink of an eye and he heard her take a sharp breath. “Don’t do that.” She berated him as she physically tensed in front of him, her hands tightening on the cushion in her lap.
“I thought you liked my Vampire ways…” The amusement in his voice was obvious, and she knew that he was only playing with her, like a wolf and a rabbit, with her as the rabbit, but unfortunately she couldn’t help the small spark of fear at the unknown that washed through her.
“Some of them…”
“Which ones?” He shot back and she frowned.
“The elevator to the roof and down was cool…”She admitted.
“Anything else?”
“No.”She snapped back at him and he gave her a lopsided grin.
“Sure?”
“Very.”She dropped her eyes to her cushion again and he thought he might have gone too far with her.
“Maybe I should read your thoughts…”Her head snapped back up and she tipped it to the side and regarded him with annoyance.
“Maybe I should rip off your damn head…” He raised an eyebrow again.
“Which one...?” He looked down at his groin before waving that question away. “Doesn’t matter I’m not fond of the idea of losing either one of them to be truthful… but tell me little wolf, do you think you could get the better of me?”
“Keep being so damn smug and I’ll give it a really good try.” She snorted and he grinned again.
“Like to see you try…” He challenged, knowing the wolf within her would take the bait and it did. He saw her eyes go black a moment before she launched herself at him, taking him clean off the bed and ending up straddled over him with his wrists pinned to the floor under her hands, a look of victory on her face. “Ouch and… my turn.”
Sky was flat on her back on the floor with him above her within a heartbeat. Her wrists were pinned down and his lips were just a breath from hers.
“Get off me…” She growled up at him, a moment before he saw something within her change. He scented her arousal a second before she lifted her head from the floor and brushed her lips against his.
“You really need to work on your come on lines.” He breathed as she dropped her head back down to the carpet and stared up at him.
“I want you…” She swallowed down the last of her trepidation at having a vampire mate. Her wolf was baying for him, her body was on fire with need, and she couldn’t take this indecision anymore.
“That works for me.” He groaned before claiming her mouth. There was no need to tease a response from her this time, she opened for him, her tongue searching for his and gave as good as she got, devouring him with the same passion that he was feeling.
The heavy thud on the door made Nathan want to rip the Alpha’s arm off. He had Sky practically purring beneath him, and yet the need to rip the rogue to pieces for what he had done to his mate was a hard pull on his temptation gene.
“Come back in five hours.” He growled out and heard his mate balk.
“Five hours…?”
“Not long enough? Make that eight hours… maybe ten…”He watched his mate’s whole attitude change in that instant as she used her Lycan strength to push him off her before she rolled out from under him and jumped to her feet.
“Seriously?” She demanded. Her hands went to her hips as she stared down at him.
Nathan could have kept her beneath him, could have teased her back into a state of arousal, hell, she wasn’t that completely out of her need for him now, but somewhere inside him he knew he needed to get this finished before he took her as his mate, because once he was inside her there was nowhere else he wanted to be for a very long time.
“Demanding little thing aren’t you? How long would you like….?” He teased her as he jumped to his feet in front of her.
“Go away, vampire.”He could see the amusement within her eyes and he played on it.
“Back to vampire again? Hmm, I can see that I’m going to have to mate with you sooner rather than later, Sky, if only to get you to behave yourself…”
“Behave myself…?”She balked and he gave her a drop dead gorgeous grin that curled her toes and made her ache for him, and if her damn brother wasn’t standing outside the door listening she might just have jumped on him again.
Nathan saw her melt and wanted nothing more than to take her in his arms and claim her mouth again, but he knew if he did that he probably would never leave this damn room, not for a very long time.
“Be nicer…”He teased and she huffed, motioning to the bedroom door with her chin.
“Don’t you have somewhere to be?”She offered with all the niceties of a rattle snake going in for the kill. Nathan gave her body a long hard look, taking her in from head to toe and saw her shiver for his trouble.
“Later then, right now I have to go help your pack.”He turned towards the door and heard her hiss out a string of expletives under her breath and slowly turned back towards her. She raised her chin and gave him a smug look.
“Our pack.” She took great pleasure in reminding him of that and he considered her words before nodding.
“Our pack.” He corrected.
Nathan dropped down the last stair and looked at Wade. The glint of amusement in the Alpha’s eyes made Nathan roll his eyes.
“Go ahead, I’m big enough to take it.” He assured him and Wade shrugged his broad shoulders innocently.
“What brother? I just didn’t realise that you would take what I said to heart and go upstairs to mate with my sister.”
Nathan raised one brow and sighed inwardly. “I did not go upstairs to mate your sister, and a gentleman never kisses and tells, but I will say that I was not the instigator of that little prelude.”Wade’s shoulders moved up and down in silent amusement as he turned towards the front door.
“I can’t believe you still haven’t mated your female…” He chuckled more openly now and Nathan sighed again.
“Unlike you, when I mate with my female, it won’t be over in a flash…” Wade whirled around to look at Nathan with a dark glare.
“It was not…”
“But never mind, I’m sure the older you get the more you’ll be able to control yourself…” Nathan smirked at the alpha that was now blowing long, deep breaths down his nose.
“I’m perfectly capable of controlling…”
“Being a little premature in your efforts is perfectly understandable considering…”
“I am not… Considering…?” Wade growled and Nathan gave him an innocent shrug of his shoulders.
“That you’re not a vampire…”Wade took a long step towards him and growled as his eyes turned black with anger just as his mother called out from the kitchen.
“Could you two knock it off for long enough to kill the rogue and bond with your mates. There is plenty of time to knock each other senseless after that you know.” Sienna watched both of her sons turn towards her, Nathan looking decidedly smug, while Wade looked as if he still wanted to wipe the floor with his newest pack member.
“You are so right, Sienna, female wisdom wins the day.” Nathan offered and Wade growled as he rolled his eyes.
“Don’t you ever tire of brown nosing?” Wade bit out between clenched teeth as he turned and yanked open the front door, still feeling the itch to plant his fist into the vampi
res smug face.
“Says the wolf…” Nathan murmured and saw the tension roll over the alpha’s muscles.
“How am I going to not kill you?” Wade growled, stalking out into the darkness of the night with Nathan on his heels.
“I’m your sister’s mate, do you really want to listen to a life time of bitching that you ruined her life?”
“God, no.”
“Well, just remember that every time the urge to rip my throat out takes a hold of you.” Nathan was even more smug, as Wade shot him a dark glare over his shoulder.
“On the other hand, some things are worth the hassle.”
Nathan couldn’t help the chuckle that rolled through him as his eyes took in the three Lycan’s naked Lycan males of the small hunting party that were standing by the woods waiting for them. Brook acknowledged Nathan with a nod of his head as the other two took him in with interest.
“Brook you already know, this is Jason and Jax.” Wade motioned towards the twins and Nathan had to bite down on a multitude of sarcastic remarks seeing the twins brought to mind. “So you need to scent them…”
“No butt sniffing necessary. I already have their scent.” Nathan offered dryly and Wade nodded, impressed with his vampire senses. “Here’s how we are going to do this. I lead, you all follow…”
“Wait a minute…” One of the twins started and Wade growled out.
“The vampire is faster than us. His senses are stronger, and if this rogue is an alpha, then Nathan is the only one apart from me who should try to take him down.” Wade’s wolf made its presence know with each word. He didn’t want dissention in the ranks and if these two were going to have a problem with working with a vampire he wanted to know about it now rather than later.
“In case you were wondering, I don’t have too much of a problem with bloodlust, but if I do bolt, stay the hell away from me.”Nathan looked to Wade for confirmation that they were going to do this.
“Let’s get it done.” Wade growled out. Nathan didn’t wait for the Lycan’s to shift. They had his scent and they could easily track him. In the blink of an eye he was gone and four wolves stood at the edge of the woods. Wade’s wolf was in the lead as they started the hunt.
Nathan knew that the wolves wouldn’t be able to track his scent so easily if he took to the trees, but right now he didn’t have an option. He could hear the gentle rustle of slow paws through the downed leaves ahead and knew that his team were somewhere behind him. If he was to stand a chance at corning this rogue this would be the way.
Nathan stood deathly still in the small enclave of trees, bending at his hips and knees he pushed up with everything he had, needing to make the transition from ground to the thick overhead branch as silent as possible he landed on silent feet, and started off in the direction of the rogue almost immediately, a quick check to make sure he knew where every member of the hunting party was first, and then onwards and upwards through the interlocking canopy of branches.
Nathan saw the black wolf slinking around the base of the outcropped rocks and wondered if he should take him from above or land on silent feet and attack from below. Decision made, he dropped downwards, using the lower branch to swing towards the wolf with one hand, and with the other his outstretched claws swiped through the air and connected with flesh before the wolf had caught his scent.
Nathan scented the rogue’s blood in the air and felt the fever start to rise within his own blood. With age and wisdom he had learned to control his bloodlust and it took him only one heartbeat inside the wolf’s chest for him to push the frenzy down within him and concentrate on the job at hand. Not to kill for the pleasure of it, although it would be a pleasure to end this wolf after what he had done to Sky and Rosie, but to kill for necessity, to keep his pack safe.
The rogue seemed to hesitate in his retaliation. The depth of the blackness of his eyes seemed to register the pain in his body from the deep wounds that Nathan had inflicted upon him, and yet he made little sound. There was no howl, no whine, just a sharp intake of breath that sounded like a hiss through his fangs.
Nathan had already swung his other hand around to strike out at the rogue when the beast reared up and seemed to turn in mid air, whether to run from the fight, which made little sense to Nathan, or in recognition of the wolf that came at him from the opposite direction, Nathan would never truly be able to say, but the sight of the brown wolf seemed to send the rogue into a frenzy of action, all of it aimed at the Lycan.
The brown wolf sailed through the air, not particularly graceful in motion, but with a substantial bulk and perfect aim that had his claws embedded in either side of the rogues ribs. And that was his first mistake.
Nathan had no real choice but to back off and allow the brown wolf to continue his play. If he attacked the rogue he could either inadvertently damage the brown wolf, or get in the way and become trapped between the beast’s jaws himself. Neither option appealed to him, but neither did standing back and allowing someone else the pleasure of the kill.
As the brown wolf drew his claws down the rogue’s ribs, opening up his flesh, he made his second error. He could either stay latched onto the beast and open himself up to attack from the snapping jaws of the rogue or he could pull his claws down the beasts body and disengage from him, opening himself up to an attack. It was a no win situation.
The brown wolf seemed to sense his own error of judgement and hastened to retract his claws from the beast at the same time as he tried to turn and come back at the beast from a different angle, and that was his third mistake, but probably one that saved his life.
The rogue’s jaws snapped wildly at the neck of his attacker, narrowly missing his throat as he sunk his fangs down into the side of the brown wolf’s neck and tore his head to one side, making deep groves within the brown wolf’s flesh, as the wolf howled his pain into the night air.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Nathan had little choice but to engage with the rogue now that one of his team was injured. He needed to protect the wolf from the rogue’s jaws, but it was the beasts claws that sunk into the brown wolfs rump and gouged out deeper groves into his flesh.
Nathan started for the rogue, but the beast, contrary to popular thinking wasn’t acting entirely on animal instincts. He stiffened, listened to Nathan’s advance and took off around the outcropped rock, choosing to run from the fight, from the vampire, and away from the danger that was posed, instead of letting his bloodlust take him over completely.
Nathan’s eyes flicked instinctively to the brown wolf as he heard the pain filled gasps of stolen breath’s that came from the young wolf, and Nathan knew that if he pursued the rogue, engaged him, and killed him, he would be too late to come back to save his pack brother.
“Damn it!” Nathan growled out between clenched teeth as he stalked over to the downed wolf. “Shift to human.” He ordered, just as fast paws came up behind him and he scented Wade before he saw him.
The young wolf shifted into his human form. The deep lacerations showed muscles sliced clean through down to the bone, and the wound in his neck looked twice as ugly in his human form. Nathan dropped down onto one knee next to the wolf and offered his wrist. “Bite, drink until I tell you to stop.” Nathan felt the hard grip of the twin’s fingers around his arm, the pain making the young Lycan latch on harder as his fangs sank into Nathan’s flesh.
“What the hell happened?” Wade had shifted to his human form and he stood tall and dark, in mood and stature looking down at the state of his brother.
“Your young wolf was a little too eager…” The sound of paws coming through the underbrush made both the Alpha and the vampire scent the air and upon recognising the scent, dismiss the approaching wolves.
“The rogue did this?” Wade growled out in anger and Nathan’s mood was too dark within him for the lost opportunity to end this that he sneered towards the young wolf still latched onto his wrist.
“No, I was bored.” Nathan dismissed Wade and stared down at the younger
wolf. His deep wounds were already starting to heal, and his breathing was easier. “You can stop now.” Nathan felt the immediate release of the Lycan’s fangs from within his flesh, and then the release of the hand around his wrist and he dragged himself to his feet to stare at the three Lycan’s, all in human form staring down at the twin.
“Why didn’t you finish the rogue?” The other twin demanded as he walked towards his brother and offered him some comfort by resting a hand on his shoulder as he knelt at his back.
“Because your brother decided to get in the way…”Nathan was in no mood to be civil. “I had a choice, let him bleed out or go after the rogue…”
“Thank you for healing him.” Wade offered on a deep growl of annoyance aimed solely towards both of the twins.
“When he’s healed, I’ll kill him myself for getting in the way…” Nathan ground out, and the healthy twin jumped to his feet.
“That’s my brother…” He growled out.
“Well let’s hope stupidity doesn’t run in the damn family…” Nathan took a step towards the young Lycan. The man was stomping all over his last element of self control and he could quite easily plant his fist into the idiots face and be done with it.
“Enough…” Wade growled out, sensing that the rising tide of aggression between the vampire and the Lycan was close to boiling point. “We’ll stay here and guard Jason until his wounds have closed enough to move him…”
“I’m going out to scout the area and see if I can pick up the rogues scent…” Nathan felt that he had done enough to ensue the idiot twin had survived. Right now he needed to be doing something else, far away from his temptation to go all Rambo on the guy.
“Who the hell does that vampire think he is?” Jax demanded, as Nathan took off at speed away from the clearing. The deep growl of his displeased Alpha made him straighten up and pay attention.