Pack Violet Shadow

by C. M. Stunich

  “The waiting's the hardest part,” I said, but he just turned his gaze and stared out the open window, toward the dark woods just behind the Pairing House. The dirt road that connected this building to the rest of the property snaked down and to the right, disappearing into the trees. “The fighting is easy. The fighting means something is getting done. It's in moments like these that you really feel helpless.”

  “Time is a cruel mistress,” Monty said, looking back at me with a desperate plea in his face. “These divinations tomorrow, how are they going to help us? Aeron said she couldn't read the bones this side of the Veil.”

  “Not the bones, no, but both she and Whitney seemed to think either the tarot cards or the haruspex would help. They didn't say how, but it's worth a shot. And anyway, I wouldn't mind more time just to talk to the Maiden. I'm sure she hasn't told us everything she knows.”

  Montgomery stood up, a slow easy unfolding of his tall, lean form, and then he walked over and knelt before me, just like the knight I saw him as. He leaned forward and pressed his head into my belly; my right hand automatically touched on the top of his head, his hair as white as snow, glossy and full and soft. I dug my fingers into it as he put his hands on my hips and pulled comfort from our touch, from the closeness of wolf and pack. Of male and female … of mates.

  “I think I could get addicted to this hugging thing,” he whispered, his words feathering against my lower abs. My muscles tightened out of reflex as Montgomery dragged his right hand down my side and along the pale length of my thigh.

  'Nic,' I started, because I felt that charge all of a sudden. My aching body still tender and wet with need, my nipples still hard. I could mate again, no fucking problem. Sitting here like this, I felt as if I could mate all night. In my mind, an image flickered of me lying in this bed, taking one alpha male after another … taking all seven of them in a row.

  Goddess, I fucking wanted that. I wanted to mate with each of these males, mark them all at once, make them mine. I knew they wanted it, too, and that's what made it so irresistible. Not tonight, but … soon. I would do that before the year was out.

  Oh, shit. Who was I kidding? I'd probably do that before the month was out.

  'You don't have to tell me anymore,' Nic said, and I felt the bed adjust as he scooted closer to me, putting his lips up against my spine. 'In an ideal situation, I'd have you all to myself. But … you're a queen. You may as well have knights. In this, I'd rather not share, but I have to admit that it's nice to have all that extra backup when we're dealing with vampire bullies and carnivorous witches.'

  'You're sure?' I asked, as Montgomery lifted his head and raised his green eyes to mine.

  'I'm sure, Zara. I'm not going to lie and say I won't get upset or jealous or cranky sometimes, but … it's okay. This is our life now, and it's okay.'

  “I thought,” Montgomery said, not privy to my private wolfspeak conservation with Nic, but also not completely ignorant to it either, “that since you used your hand last night …”

  He trailed off and slid his fingers along my inner thigh until he found the red curls between my legs, slicking a single finger along the folds and shivering at the amount of slick wetness on his fingertips. I'd showered off real quick before coming up here and already, I was wet again.

  “You smell like the forest,” he murmured as he teased me, one of those long fingers stroking up from my opening to my clit, using my natural lubricant to tease the hardened nub of flesh. It was so sensitive, I could've sworn my body felt each ring of his fingerprints, like they were branding themselves into my flesh. “Like the trees and the wind …”

  Monty leaned in close and pressed his lips to my knee, making me shiver.

  I leaned back, my naked skin pressing against Nic's taut, hard belly. As soon as I did that, touched him and Monty both at the same time, it was like all my feelings, all those good sensations, were amplified a hundred times over.

  If two of my males makes me feel this good, I wondered, reaching out my right hand and curling my finger's through Nic's, then what would it be like if I had all seven of them? If they put their hands and mouths and cocks on my body …

  I could only imagine, but even just the fantasy in my mind … was explosive.

  “Oh, Zara,” Nic said, sitting up and positioning himself behind me. He let go of my hand and slid his palms around my rib cage, sliding them up and palming the heavy weight of my breasts. In the moonlight, they were full and pale and covered in silver moonlight.

  “I bet you taste like honeysuckle …” Montgomery murmured, his voice low and sleepy with sex. Using his hands, he pried my knees apart and continued kissing along the length of my thigh, pausing with his warm breath feathering against my wet heat. “May I, my alpha?” he asked.

  It was too much of a chore to get my voice to work properly so instead I just groaned and put my hand on the back of his head, pushing his face to the heat of my cunt. When Montgomery flicked his tongue against my folds, I almost lost it completely. A growl escaped from my throat and I found myself pushing him harder against me, using my palm on the back of his head to guide him where I wanted him to go.

  Nic's hands kept my upper half entertained … more than entertained … romanced, worshipped and warm. He squeezed my breasts with slow, easy motions, taking his time to give them the proper treatment they deserved. And his breath against my ear? That was intoxicating.

  “I love you, Zara Wolf,” he whispered to me as Monty made the same rounds with his tongue that he'd done with his fingers, licking the entire length of me and then focusing his attention on my clit.

  My body trembled under their ministrations, shook with wild need, by back arching, my left arm sliding back and finding Nic's head, pushing his lips against my neck. He growled and scooted closer to me; I could feel the thick, hard length of his shaft against my spine as he let go of my right breast and took hold of himself in his hand, working his dick with quick, violent strokes.

  “What's all this?” I heard Che say, his voice a thick curl of darkness that snaked around me and drew my chin toward his big, muscular form, standing at the end of the bed, naked and wearing nothing but a smirk for clothing.

  “Come here,” I told him, but all he did was turn that smirk into a grin, padding a few steps closer but staying frustratingly out of reach. I pushed Monty in deeper and gave a ragged moan when he managed to sneak two fingers inside of me at the same time he was licking me with a hot, wet tongue. “Now, Che,” I said, and I felt like I might snap if he didn't show at least a drop of submission toward me.

  Whether that's what he was doing or not, he finally closed the distance between us and knelt on the edge of the bed, putting the velvet hardness of his shaft within my grasp.

  “Oh, fuck,” he snarled, sitting down beside me, thigh to thigh. We turned toward each other, and as I began to work his cock, he reached out with his right hand and pulled my arm down, destroying the barrier between us.

  Without another word, he turned my chin more fully toward him and kissed my mouth like a beast who's just discovered the perfect prey. He could hunt me every night, slay me with passion and pleasure, eat me like Montgomery was doing. And then he could start all over again the next day.

  I was a strong, powerful person and I did not submit to others, but with Che's tongue taking over my mouth, borrowing control for a brief moment, I wondered what it'd be like to play along, let him fuck me like he was in charge.

  It wasn't something that sounded appealing on a frequent basis, but every once in a while? Wouldn't it be nice to just relax and let someone else take control for just a second? Oh yes. I knew then that Che and I … we'd be experimenting with things I never even dreamed I'd want to try.

  Montgomery slid his fingers in and out of me, swirling his tongue in circles around my clit, bringing my body to this state of ecstasy where all I could see behind my lids were showers of golden sparks, pleasure arching through me, up from my pussy and into my spine, out my mouth in a shout
of pleasure.

  I collapsed back into Nic as Montgomery withdrew, and my hand spasmed on Che's cock, making him snarl with pleasure.

  “I want to mount you,” the Pack Violet Shadow Alpha-Son said, looking me straight in the face with this violet eyes, his words bits of darkness plucked from between the stars and thrown right at me when I was at my most vulnerable.

  Because … I don't think I'd ever been vulnerable before. Never. Except … maybe that night in the shed, when Monty and I first hugged.

  “You do taste like honeysuckle,” Montgomery said, sitting back and watching me, like he was waiting to hear how I'd respond to Che. Nic had paused his kneading of my breast to listen, but he didn't stop working his cock. No, he kept a nice, even steady rhythm, and I wondered if he was thinking about my body on top of his, starlight falling in white-silver beams around us.

  “Fuck me,” I told Che, because the magic of our pack connection was riding me hard … and I wanted Che to ride me hard. I could feel the lust of all three men rippling through our bond, turning me into a wild wolf of a woman. “From behind.”

  I'm enjoyed it so much in the bathroom with Silas … I wanted to do it again.

  Nic scooted back, giving me room to get into position, and I caught the ebon beauty of his gaze. He looked like an animal, too, in that moment, awaiting his female's needs, killing time until he, too, was able to breed with her.

  It was so primal … I knew that later I'd be talking to Faith about it, and I'd probably feel like a completely crazy person, but I didn't want to fight the feelings taking over me. They were fun and different, and as long as my logical brain checked in and was okay with what I was doing, there was nothing wrong with letting my animal side out to play.

  Che crawled up behind me, his masculine scent making my sex clench tight, wishing he were inside me already. When his hands found my hips and gripped me tight, I relaxed into his touch, pushing my pelvis back so he'd have an easier time finding my opening. He smelt like bergamot oil and vanilla, the sweet kiss of lavender and the musky bite of fresh sweat underneath it all.

  For a moment, he just sat there, on his knees behind me. Nic was on my right, leaning against the headboard and looking down at me, my bloodred hair making a mess of tendrils all over the place, pooling on the white pillow beneath my hands.

  Montgomery climbed up on the other side, and he, too, took his shaft in his hand, using the juices he'd teased out of me for lube as he stroked himself. The sight of it reminded me of the warm beauty of our shower, the closeness I'd felt toward him.

  “Che, now,” I said, and he slapped me hard on the ass.

  I whipped my gaze around to snarl at him the same moment he used his hand to guide his bare cock to my swollen folds.

  We both grunted as he filled me up, my back arching, lids falling closed. Red hair slid over my shoulders as I lifted my head up and tilted it back, enjoying the feeling of being stretched, of being full, of having Che's balls slap my clit when he moved.

  Oh, it was nice.

  Beyond nice.

  He growled and snarled under his breath as he moved, a fucking animal in his own right, a man I'd been irresistibly attracted to from moment one. I had a feeling we might have disagreements about his level of dominance down the line, but with our bodies melded together into one like this? I couldn't imagine wanting a man more. Oh, god, I didn't want to give Che up at the end of the Pairing Year, not when he made me feel like this.

  Nic and Montgomery continued to stroke themselves, giving me a beautiful view of their hands wrapped around the glorious lengths of their penises. I wanted them both, too. I wanted to make Che come inside me, watch him collapse in a sweaty heap, and then do the same to the other two.

  The rest of the men slept peacefully on the other half of the bed, their breath an even rhythm that couldn't quite keep pace with the frantic thrusts of Che's muscular body against my ass. I could feel his shaft burrowing into me, the ridged folds of my cunt stroking and pleasing him, working him up to a sweaty frenzy.

  “Oh my fuck,” Che finally said, the first words he'd been able to grind out this whole time, his voice nothing but a sweet, sinful series of growls and purrs and incoherent murmurs. “Zara,” he groaned, reaching out and tangling his fingers in the silken red strands of my hair. There was a slight pain in my scalp when he pulled, but I let him do it as he came, messy and snarling, filling me up with his wild seed.

  Seed that belonged completely and solely to me. No other woman had had it.

  No other woman would.

  I would make sure of that.

  I would fight off any challenger that came our way with teeth and claws and cunning.

  Che … Monty … Nic … all of them were mine.

  Che Nocturne grunted again and collapsed forward, covering me with the comforting weight of his muscular body.

  “Zara,” he whispered again, adjusting himself and falling to the side, near Nic. The Ebon Red guard didn't seem to mind, letting the other man press up against his leg.

  I stayed on my hands and knees as Che lifted his head up and licked the edges of my lips, playfully and sweetly submitting to me. I growled at him and he pulled away, lying on his back with an arm flung across his eyes.

  “I can't believe I waited my whole life for this. Sex is the bomb, man.” Che paused, lifted his arm from his violet eyes, and looked at me. “But I have a feeling it's only this bomb with you, Zara Wolf. My female.”

  “My male,” I said, sitting back on my knees and smacking him in his hard abs with the back of my hand. “Mine.” I raised both red brows and Che just laughed, covering his eyes again as I turned around and looked over at Montgomery, my knight.

  My bodyguard, my challenger, my knight.

  Three different men, all with something to offer.

  “Come here, Montgomery,” I told him then, because he looked so calm and in control, so kingly in that moment that I just couldn't call him Monty.

  Sliding down the pillows, I spread my knees and grabbed Montgomery by the end of his braid. He stopped stroking his shaft and looked down at me with those gorgeous eyes of his, their emerald color far from the most impressive part about him. And frankly, it was impressive as fuck. But the openness in his expression? The bare truth, and the strength, the resolve and dedication … that's what really got me.

  “Alpha …” he started, his lids heavy, his mouth shiny from the orgasm he'd given me.

  Montgomery didn't argue, sitting up and moving between my thighs, leaning over me and putting a palm on either side of my head. His white braid hung down and mixed with the long red strands of my hair.

  He stared down, directly into my eyes, and I looked up into his.

  “You're the most beautiful wolf I've ever seen,” he told me, and I could tell it was more than a line. That was truth, pure and simple. I had a feeling that put in my position, a place where I was forced to tell lie after lie after lie … that Montgomery Graves might fail. And I liked him all the more for that. A truth teller without a silver tongue. “I came here for one reason, but I'm starting to think I'll want to stay for an entirely different one.”

  Montgomery leaned down and kissed me on the mouth, tasting of honeysuckle and the sweetness between my thighs. He used his right hand to touch the side of my head, kneading his fingers in my hair, pulling my face just a few millimeters closer so he could kiss me with everything he had inside.

  I understood the Pack Ivory Emerald Alpha-Heir more in that single moment than I had the entire week we'd been together.

  Untangling his fingers from my hair, Monty reached down and took hold of his shaft, positioning the head of his cock between my folds. That sweet, slow, aching that I wanted for our first lovemaking session … it was already starting.

  Our eyes locked, he pushed his hips forward and gave me his cock inch by careful inch, watching my face as he filled me up, as he felt the warm embrace of a woman's body for the first time in his life.

  Montgomery's body shuddered
as I wrapped my legs around his waist and slid my hands behind his neck, keeping our gazes locked together. Watching his expression change from surprise to pleasure to heavy-lidded ecstasy was a reward in and of itself. And then looking up at this kingly man with fire in his eyes and fight in his veins, and knowing that he was mine … priceless.

  The feel of him sliding in and out of me, achingly sweet and slow, was so vastly different from Che's wild, violent thrusts. It made both acts seem more pleasurable, contrasted beautifully against one another, like rain and sunshine. The earth needed both to stay green and fragrant and beautiful.

  “Oh,” I murmured, no longer locked in place by feral, primal desire. No, this was that sweet, slow lovemaking. I wasn't sure that I'd done enough to earn it, but … in Monty's eyes, it looked like I had. It looked like he actually cared about what I felt, what I wanted, if I was hurting or scared or overwhelmed.

  His body moved in these deep, undulating thrusts, filling me up completely, moving so deeply inside, the pleasure was almost transcendent. I could feel him in places I wasn't sure anyone else had touched before. Granted, my experience was limited, but Montgomery was long and thick, and he fit my body just right—like we were made for each other.

  He nuzzled my neck and kissed my ear, working his way down my throat and then along my jaw until he found my lips. His kisses were featherlight at first, at odds with the slow but powerful movements of his hips. As I teased my fingertips down his back, I could feel his muscles moving to pleasure me, working to bring my body to another glorious orgasm.

  After a while, I don't know how long, I felt Che sit up beside us. When I flicked my eyes toward him, I saw his face dark and shadowed and hungry for me. I had a feeling we could lock ourselves in a room and rut for days without tiring of it.

  Nic sat beside him, watching us, his expression confused but … excited, too. Like he was enjoying himself, even if he didn't want to. His hand moved up and down his shaft, faster and faster, like he was timing his own strokes with Montgomery's movements inside of me.