Ian's Choice (Wolves' Heat)

by Lynne, Odessa

His accent thickened as he spoke, making Ian have to work to understand him.

  “Submit,” the wolf continued. “Your alpha is worthless if he can’t keep you safe. Submit to me.”

  Ian struggled under the weight of the wolf across his thighs. “No. Go fuck yourself.”

  The wolf lunged, teeth first, and Ian twisted his head away, expecting to feel those teeth ripping into his throat. He felt nothing but hot breath on his skin.

  Ian turned his head. The wolf had pulled back far enough to stare at Ian.

  The wolf lowered Ian’s arm to his side to rest against the leaf covered ground and forcibly held Ian’s arm down. Then he moved his hands to Ian’s upper arms cutting off the last bit of leverage Ian had. Ian was trapped with the weight of the wolf over his legs and arms, unable to move in any way useful in his struggle to free himself.

  “Taking you from your alpha would give me the biggest gain in status, but your death will serve just as well. Submit, while the drugs are still in control and I’ll spare you.”

  “Don’t think so,” Ian said. “You’re not—” He grunted with the effort he put into his next buck against the wolf’s weight. Didn’t help. He still couldn’t budge the wolf, who maintained his position over Ian with ease. “Not my type,” he finished, breathing hard.

  “Your loyalty to your alpha makes you that much more valuable.”

  “This has nothing to do with loyalty. I’m not some human sex slave to be passed between you wolves during your heat season.”

  The wolf laughed. Not loudly, and his nose brushed against Ian’s ear. “Eventually, that’s all you will be. First Alpha refuses to acknowledge the more obscure parts of the prophesy, but those of us who are more enlightened understand what it means, what we have to do. Our societies will merge, and you and the rest of your people will submit to our rule.”

  Teeth scraped his collarbone. Ian simmered with an anger he knew better than to express while the wolf’s teeth were only one lunge away from the column of his throat. But as usual he couldn’t control his mouth no matter how precarious his position. “Never gonna happen. If you think it will, you don’t know half as much about us as you think you do.”

  The wolf growled. “You’ve already submitted to Alpha Craeigoer. An alpha of his status wouldn’t have decided to mate with you if you weren’t something special. His choices are too many to settle for a human he could fuck through his heat and then release.”

  Ian couldn’t hold his anger in check any longer. “Stop trying to talk me to death. I’m not going to submit to you, asshole. Get off me or kill me.”

  He would probably die out here today, claws in his back and teeth at his throat but at least he could bait the wolf into making it quick.

  The wolf stared at him with hot eyes, the fading light under the canopy of trees bringing out a faint glow in their green depths. Then he leaned forward and licked a wet stripe up the column of Ian’s throat.

  Ian flinched.

  “Don’t,” he said.

  Whatever drugs this wolf had taken must have been a new formula, because as far as Ian knew, the drugs hadn’t ever been so effective that a struggle during heat season couldn’t still lead to disaster.

  But maybe that wasn’t what was at play here.

  “I really don’t have a choice,” the wolf said. “I’m going to fuck you even if you don’t submit. I’ll tear you apart when I’m done, and Alpha Craeigoer will lose more than his mate today. He’ll go a little crazy when he finds you.”

  “We aren’t—”

  “Of course you are. You absolutely stink of him. He marked you to mate.”

  “I don’t have any marks on me,” Ian said, continuing to strain against the wolf’s hold.

  The wolf nipped at his ear. Ian jerked his head away.

  “It’s there,” the wolf said. “It’s not something you humans can see. But we smell it. You belong to him. Such a prize for me.” Another wet lick, along the side of his neck, and Ian shuddered, unable to control the reaction.

  God. He couldn’t stand this. He struggled harder, one last effort to get the wolf off his thighs, or break his hold but all he did was use up what energy he had left. He had to give up, his muscles quivering with exhaustion and his chest rising and falling rapidly at his harsh breathing.

  “Shit,” he said.

  One hand released his arm, too fast for Ian to react. The wolf reared up, head tilted as if he were listening to something in the distance, and raised his clawed hand high.

  “Submit!” he roared.

  Chapter 23

  Ian wasn’t going to submit. Not this time, and not for this wolf. He’d already made his decision and he had no intention of changing his mind, even when he saw those claws coming at him in a downward slash that would have ripped through his skin and cut him to the bone and then hurt like a son of a bitch until he finally bled out.

  But those claws never made contact.

  Ian heard the alpha roar he’d heard only twice before from Craig and then Craig slammed into the other wolf, their jarring collision tearing the wolf off Ian and carrying them several feet away.

  “He is mine!” Craig roared with his accented voice in a tone that allowed no doubt about Craig’s intention to make the other wolf pay for his trespass.

  Ian tried to shove himself to his feet, forgetting for a moment that his wrist was no doubt broken but getting a harsh reminder as his hand connected with the ground and pain shot up his arm.

  Craig already had the other wolf on the ground. Craig dodged a vicious clawing of his throat only to have the other wolf’s claws catch the side of his face. He returned the attack with just as much brutal force, while they grappled with each other to get the upper hand.

  Ian scrambled to his knees and got his feet under him, too slow, crouching long enough to get his balance. The pain made him dizzy, or the lack of enough food and water over the last twenty-four hours, but he finally staggered upright.

  His injured leg cramped, but he shook it out.

  The wolves snarled and growled, slashing and biting, in a battle of brute strength that made Ian’s blood run cold.

  They were going to kill each other. No doubt that was their intent. They were out for blood and only the death of the other would satisfy.

  He’d seen a couple of dog fights back when he was fourteen. Ian had tried to kick the gate in on the last fight, when his stomach couldn’t take any more and his youthful desire to put a stop to the savagery had overcome his common sense. His grandfather had grabbed his arm and yanked him up short. “You do that, son, and those dogs will tear you apart. They’ve already got the taste of blood in their mouth. Leave them be. It’s too late for them anyway.”

  His troubles would be over if the wolves killed each other like those dogs had. He could slip off into the woods, make his way back to the closest shelter or hide out until heat season ended, and leave the rest of the wolves to their alien ways.

  But he didn’t want Craig to die. He had no intention of allowing that to happen.

  So he found the gun he’d dropped earlier and he grabbed his knife off the ground where it was half-hidden in the leaves, and he lined himself up for a good shot with his forearm resting on his knee for stability.

  Not even a wolf recovered from a shot to the head—if the shot was good enough.

  Craig had the wolf down on the ground as Ian set his eye on his target. Craig seemed to have the upper hand at the moment, but Ian wasn’t taking any chances, not knowing what the other wolf had planned on doing to him. He sighted carefully, waiting for a still moment, aiming for the thinner part of the wolf’s skull just like he’d been taught, and he didn’t feel any remorse when he squeezed the trigger and sent a bullet slamming into the side of the wolf’s head.

  Craig reared back, blood splattering onto his face and neck to mingle with the blood already covering him. The other wolf twitched and then his body fell still.

  Craig brought his head around to stare at Ian in the sudden stillne
ss.

  Ian stared back.

  Craig broke the silence. “Thank you.”

  He took his hands off the dead wolf’s body and wiped blood out of his eyes and then off his cheek. More blood welled up in its place.

  Ian lowered the gun. He moistened his bottom lip with the tip of his tongue and took a shuddery breath. “Don’t think it means anything,” he said.

  Craig smiled, too much blood dripping from the deep claw marks that raked across his face and into his hairline to make the show of teeth look anything but savage. “It means everything.”

  Ian took a breath to argue, but then sat back on the damp ground. He was tired. He didn’t want to argue any more. Not right now.

  Craig’s smile faded into a frown. “You’re hurt.”

  Ian felt like he didn’t do anything more than blink and then Craig was hunkered down in front of him, taking his arm in hand.

  “I’m pretty sure it’s broken,” Ian said, wincing at the pressure of Craig’s fingertips on his skin where dark bruises were already visible under the hair on his arm.

  Craig’s nostrils flared, and Ian thought maybe it was for the best that he’d been hurt. Taking care of him would help Craig control his heat. Good thing, too, because Ian had no interest in fucking. He was in too much pain to want anything more than a soft bed and a heavy dose of pain meds. Maybe a bite to eat too but he’d pass on that if it meant he could rest easy for a while.

  “I’ve been out of water for a while, you got any on you?”

  Craig’s gaze flickered over Ian’s filthy, worn clothes, and his fierce expression softened noticeably.

  Ian raised his eyebrows. “What?”

  “I’ll find some. You need to rest and I—” Craig’s thumb grazed the inside of Ian’s elbow and he eased Ian’s arm down carefully. “I’ll do a better job of protecting you in the future. You have my word.”

  “I do fine by myself, thanks.”

  “You’re more resourceful than I expected. But it’s my duty to keep you safe and to care for you. I take my duties seriously.”

  “Then find me some water,” Ian said. “I’m dying of thirst here.”

  Craig came in close and placed a gentle kiss on Ian’s lips. Surprised, Ian drew back and looked at Craig.

  Craig brushed his thumb across Ian’s cheek, and then rose smoothly to his feet. “Stay here. My pack will keep watch.” With that, Craig pulled out a small device, even smaller than Ian’s phone had been, and pressed his thumb to the screen. Craig gazed straight down into the flash of light, didn’t say a word, and then the device appeared to shut itself off.

  Ian’s brow furrowed, but he knew there was a lot of technology that the wolves hadn’t yet shared. He had a feeling this might be one of those things.

  “They’re near. The remaining wolves have sworn fealty to me and my pack.”

  Ian wondered at the translation, but he nodded, because he didn’t feel like a discussion about it. “Is Brendan—” He had to stop and clear his throat. “Is the other human still alive?”

  Craig gave him a hard look, the openness from earlier gone. “He is. This Brendan is your childhood friend, isn’t he?”

  But Craig didn’t wait for an answer to his question. “The pack confirmed that he leads a group of the renegades. He’ll be judged for his crimes. I can protect you from judgment for your connection to him, but don’t ask me—”

  Ian raised his hand. “No. I’m not asking that. I just wanted to know if any of the wolves got him.”

  “Those who were in the other pack still had supplies of the repression drugs. We took the supplies from them and used them immediately.”

  “So—”

  “He hasn’t been harmed other than a deep scratch along his arm and a broken ankle after falling from a tree.”

  “Ah.” Seemed fitting that the tree got him.

  “But if one of my betas asked to mate him, I wouldn’t interfere.”

  Ian ignored the clench of his stomach. “He’ll never submit. That means—”

  “The drugs change things. Without them, we’re bound to our instincts where you humans are concerned because of the lust craze your scent causes, but with them, we have much more resistance to the craze. I doubt anyone would want him once they’ve taken the drugs, knowing what he’s done.”

  “What if someone wants revenge and thinks that’s how they can get it?”

  “That’s not our way.”

  “But what if—”

  “Ian.”

  Craig had rarely used Ian’s name and it caught him off guard.

  “No one would risk ruining themselves for their true mate just to fuck someone so repulsive.”

  Ian flicked a spider off the toe of his boot. “Repulsive?”

  “He led the slaughter of breeding females and children. Would you want to pleasure someone who had done those things?”

  “I didn’t say anything about pleasuring him.”

  “Pleasure or breeding is the only reason to fuck, and we can’t breed.”

  “Well, no.”

  “I’ll be back soon with water and a few others from my pack. Stop worrying yourself over this other human. He won’t be permanently harmed. He’ll be questioned. We have drugs to get him to tell us everything he knows. This war we’re on the verge of can still be averted if we discover enough about the actions and plans of the renegades to stop them from killing more of our people. He has to be whole and well to face judgment. First Alpha Traesikeille will want to weigh the political repercussions of his capture before he makes a final decision on the human’s fate.”

  Ian watched as Craig turned and left. He should tell Craig everything about his involvement with Brendan. He had a feeling if he didn’t it would all come out in the worst way. He didn’t want to face this judgment Craig had mentioned.

  Craig likely suspected most of it anyway, and Ian hadn’t lied after they had discovered the tracker in the belt buckle.

  If he was willing to risk staying with Craig, knowing almost nothing about the wolves’ society and culture except what Craig had told him and what he’d heard from people who didn’t know any more than anyone else, he didn’t see any reason not to tell Craig the truth.

  That decided, Ian wiggled his ass backward and propped himself up against the base of a tree and closed his eyes. He wasn’t sure when it happened, but he fell asleep and woke up to the feel of water on his lips.

  Craig held a bottle to his mouth, a few droplets at the rim wetting Ian’s bottom lip and dripping onto his chin. He started to reach for the bottle before he caught Craig’s look. He returned his arm to his lap and let Craig assist him.

  Feed him, more like it, because Craig had brought more than water with him.

  The oddest part of the whole thing was that several of Craig’s beta wolves had come back with him and they stood around talking quietly, acting as if nothing at all was going on, never once giving Ian a strange look, and that was when Ian finally accepted that this really was a normal part of the wolves’ mating customs.

  Ian watched the expression on Craig’s face, wondering if somehow something in his own head had gotten messed up somewhere along the way. Why had it been so easy to submit to Craig but unthinkable to do the same with the other wolf? He thought of how he’d reacted to Third’s interest in him the night Craig had caught him. Would he have submitted as easily if any other wolf had caught him?

  He couldn’t come up with a good answer to his own question so he wiped his lips with his thumb and stared at Craig’s hands.

  Craig tried to give Ian another bite. Ian shook his head and watched as Craig tucked the package of dried meat back into a small bag. He gestured to one of his guys.

  “You have to meet everyone in my pack and then you have to meet my family and my Alpha.”

  “Your pack isn’t your family?”

  Craig handed the bag off to the wolf who had responded to his summons. “No.”

  “And wait, I thought you were Alpha?”

&n
bsp; “Of my pack. My father is a beta in another pack and my mother is Alpha of her own pack. Then there are upper alphas and First Alpha.”

  “Huh?” Why did this shit have to be so complicated? Ian scratched at his eyebrow. He knew he was frowning but he couldn’t help it. “I don’t think ‘alpha’ translates well, just so you know. But more importantly, your parents aren’t of the same pack?”

  “They were heat mates, nothing more. They mated one season, but then she found a true mate a few years after my birth.”

  “So,” he said, trying to think how to word his question and then deciding to hell with it. “We’re not heat mates. You want me for a true mate.”

  Craig put his hands on Ian’s face and his palms warmed Ian’s cheeks. “I wanted to mate you the moment I caught your scent. But I couldn’t trust my senses until after I’d calmed down and gotten past the lust craze of the heat cycle. Then I knew without a doubt you were the one meant for me. You are my true mate.”

  “How often during heat season do you guys find someone you actually want to stay with after your heat cycle ends?” He kept his voice low, but he knew if any of the other wolves tried, they would still be able to hear every word he said. The thought made him uneasy but he really wanted to know the answer to that question.

  He didn’t believe in love at first sight—or smell—or whatever the hell it was that made Craig so sure he wanted Ian enough that he wasn’t willing to let him go, but he couldn’t deny there was more between him and Craig than just sex. Was there such a thing as fate? The wolves seemed to think so.

  Craig finally sighed and looked up at Ian, as if he didn’t really want to answer. “Not often. Most of our children are born of heat mates. True mates are harder to find.”

  “And you’re sure that’s what I am to you?”

  Craig’s brow rose. “I was once told that I was fated to find a true mate under the light of a single moon. That was twelve of your earth years ago, before we had discovered your planet. I have no doubt that you are mine.”

  Ian found it difficult to swallow after hearing that. He didn’t believe in fate any more than he believed in love at first sight. But…