Prymal Lust

  “Ask away.” Lycus waved a hand in her direction.

  “Tell me what you have to tell me first.” She notched her jaw high and her lips pursed when she focused on Lycus.

  Axe repressed a sigh. He’d come to recognized those twin tells of hers. She had her dander up. “About two months ago, Lycus and I nearly killed each other. The entire nineteen members of Lycus’s pack had been slaughtered, and what evidence there was of who’d done it pointed to me.”

  Tania, in the middle of taking a sip of java, sputtered. She thunked her mug onto the table. Her glance wicked from Axe to Lycus and back again. “I don’t understand. I thought you two were joined at the hip.”

  Axe snorted. “The Feral and Rogue wolves have been enemies for a hundred and fifty years. The only reason we hadn’t gone at each other before Lycus’s pack was murdered is because we’re both SEALs.”

  She grabbed a paper napkin from the holder on the table and dabbed at the spilt coffee. “Don’t SEALs do everything together?”

  “A SEAL Team does everything together. There are about twenty-five hundred active SEALs and nine teams. None of us here have served together for any significant period of time. We’re all over the place globally. Axe and Lycus knew each other, of course, but they weren’t on the same team—”

  Lycus cut Bandit off. “Enough. Let’s stick to the game plan. To continue—about the same time as my pack was murdered, Axe’s grandmother, his only living relative, was raped, tortured, and killed. My coat of arms was carved into what was left of her torso.”

  Tania gasped.

  She cupped a hand over her mouth. Her eyes were luminous with unshed tears, the difference in their hues more evident than normal. She reached across the table for him.

  Axe covered her hand with his. It took all he had not to leap over the table and haul her into his lap.

  “I’m so sorry, Axe. How horrible. You must have been devastated.” She gave his fingers a little squeeze.

  “I was enraged, Tania. I set out to hunt and kill Lycus.” A wave of the fury he’d felt that day washed through him. Axe struggled to clear away the red haze of anger.

  “And I was doing the same thing—hunting Axe to tear him apart limb by limb.” Lycus’s tone was so matter of fact he could’ve been talking about the weather.

  “Long story short. We fought. We’re equally matched—”

  “Your opinion,” Lycus growled.

  “For crap’s sake. They could hardly stand when I got to them. But that didn’t stop them from continuing to batter each other,” Jurango snapped.

  Tania’s mouth formed a silent moue of surprise.

  Axe couldn’t compress a quick grin.

  Jurango wasn’t known for volunteering information.

  He moved then to sit next to his mate, drew her onto his lap, crowded her, and shared his warmth. Her skin was cold and clammy.

  Jurango ambled over to the table and poured himself another cup of coffee. “Lycus and I have known each other for years. When my pack was massacred, Lycus offered to help me hunt their killers. After the murder of his pack, I helped Lycus investigate the scene. Once Lycus discovered the evidence incriminating Axe, he lost it. Before I could try to stop Lycus, he’d taken off after Axe.”

  Tania huddled deeper into Axe’s embrace.

  He kneaded her knotted shoulder muscles.

  Jurango sipped his brew and then continued, “There was something about the evidence pointing to Axe that seemed off. It was too easy to find and way too blatant. I went over every inch of the scene and picked up an odor I recognized. That same smell had been present when the members of my pack were butchered. I went after Lycus and persuaded him to listen to reason.”

  “The word ‘persuaded’ in Jurango-speak equals beat the crap out of Lycus until he had no other choice but to listen,” Bandit explained.

  Jurango flipped Bandit the bird. “The second I heard about Axe’s grandmother, I went to the scene. Got there just before the cops. Didn’t take me long to find that same odor. I knew Axe’d go after Lycus. Knew they’d kill each other. So, I hunted them down.”

  “That’s when you found them fighting?” Her voice held a reedy note.

  “Yes. I knocked both of them out cold, tied them up, and waited for logic to return to their dinosaur brains.” Jurango shot Axe a wrap-up-now glance.

  “Jurango-speak translation—he poured ice water over their faces until they agreed to be rational.” Bandit flashed Tania a wink.

  Tania tucked her fingers under Axe’s.

  Axe felt the tension and fear radiating from his mate. He rubbed her hands between his.

  “When Axe and Lycus were calm enough to think clearly, we analyzed all the evidence we’d found at the three murder scenes—my pack’s, Lycus’s, and Axe’s grandmother. We didn’t have to have Mensa IQs to come to a couple of obvious conclusions. One—someone or ones had deliberately pitted Axe and Lycus against each other. Two—that same someone had murdered my pack members.” Jurango gave Axe an over-to-you nod.

  Axe shifted Tania so they were face to face. He tucked a wayward curl of silky hair behind her ear and met her stare. “We found other wolves, both Rogue and Feral, whose packs had also been butchered. The Kydd and Bandit and others you haven’t met yet, all of them have all had their pack members slaughtered.”

  Tania blinked. Shot Axe a puzzled frown. “You all think it’s some sort of conspiracy?”

  “Bingo,” Axe said.

  “In all of the cases, we found a similar pattern. A Rogue pack murdered with the evidence pointing to a Feral alpha or one of his pack or the reverse. Two days ago, we discovered the pattern of Feral and Rogue pack massacres goes back at least five decades.” Lycus pushed off the bench. “Axe?”

  Axe waited until Lycus walked around the table and joined Bandit, Jurango and The Kydd.

  Then he nudged Tania’s chin.

  Her eyes had widened to baby-doe size.

  “While we have no proof right now. Each and every one of us here believes we’ll discover the pattern goes back at least a century.” Axe wished he could soften the blow to come.

  Tania’s nostrils quivered and dread rolled off her in waves.

  “We founded Prymal to hunt the person or persons behind the slaughter.” Axe hesitated. How to say what he had to say gently?

  She jutted her jaw. “Just say it. Don’t try to sugar coat it for me.”

  “We’ve evidence linking Triple W Corporation to the killing of not only our packs, but all the other slaughters we’ve discovered.” Axe kept his focus trained on his mate.

  “No.” She shoved at his chest. Shook her head. Scrambled off his lap and lurched to her feet. “No. I won’t believe this.”

  Axe was aware of nothing beside Tania, her fingers clenched into tight fists, the violent trembling of her lips, and the way she worked her jaw.

  The usual night noises faded. Axe ignored the owls hooting in the distance, the wind whistling up a canyon somewhere above them, and a couple of raccoons fighting over food at the bottom of his property.

  Slowly, he got to his feet, keeping his movements even and unhurried though every alpha instinct shouted he do the opposite. Axe approached his mate like he would a terrified cub.

  “Stop. Stay away,” her voice cracked on the last word.

  Axe froze studying her wan complexion and her hunched, defensive stance.

  “You can’t possibly believe that my father or my other brothers are involved,” she spat out the declaration, eyes narrowed, mouth canted down.

  Axe noted Tania omitted her Uncle Viktor from her fierce avowal.

  “For the record, sis, right now everything points to Uncle Viktor. We, I, don’t believe either Dad, or, Breede, or Mishe are involved.” Jaz met his sister’s gaze without flinching.

  “You don’t believe, Jaz. What about the rest of you? Lycus? Bandit? Kid? Jurango? Axe?” She had gone as white as fresh fallen snow.

  Axe tried to drag her close.

  Sh
e swatted at him, held her palms up in a don’t-you-come-nearer gesture, and scooted around the far corner of the bench. “You think my father and Breede and Mishe are murderers?”

  Chapter Sixteen

  Tania held her breath. She couldn’t haul her gaze from Axe’s.

  If he so much as vacillated, she’d have a meltdown.

  Uncle Viktor.

  Oh gawd.

  Had Viktor compromised Dad somehow?

  Viktor was the Prakov alpha and controlled the Prakov millions, but Dad had gained a considerable fortune when he’d been mate allianced with Mom. Her father ran Kiev Insurance, the business her mother’s father had founded.

  Triple W Corporation had nothing to do with Kiev Insurance.

  “I may have had my suspicions before. But now I don’t. No, I don’t believe either your father, or Breede, or Mishe are involved.” Axe looked at her without blinking. His declaration positive, steel-certain.

  Tania deflated. She slumped onto the edge of the bench and let out a hiccupped sob. Laid her head on her hands and let the relief wash over her. For there was no way she could do a Sophie’s Choice. Because she knew Axe and the rest of the Prymal founders would eradicate whoever was behind the slaughter of their packs.

  Fate would’ve dealt her the cruelest blow if she’d had to watch her mate kill her father or brothers.

  Her mate. Tania stared unseeing at a black swirl in the wood of the picnic table.

  Axe was her mate.

  She chewed the insides of her cheeks.

  Acknowledging that fact meant letting go of everything Wylfen. Including her family.

  Did she have a choice?

  She had been exiled.

  Her brain hurt.

  “We’re done for tonight,” Axe growled even as he leaped to Tania and gathered her into his embrace.

  She pummeled his chest feebly, but he ignored her attempts to thwart him, and wound his arms tighter around her.

  He marched to the back door, kicked it open, and threw a glance over his shoulder. “Don’t disturb us.”

  Axe hurried to the master bedroom.

  Halfway down the hallway, she shuddered, and leaned her forehead on his ribs. She couldn’t fight this anymore. Axe was her haven, her heaven, her everything.

  Axe was her mate.

  She sniffed his T-shirt. Sighed as the familiar, reassuring aroma of her mate filled her lungs. Unable to resist, she nosed his collarbone. Noticed the prickly stubble coating his jaw. A strange, languid, calmness seeped into her bones.

  “What, sweet girl? Talk to me. You promised, remember? To talk to me.” He walked straight to the bed and sat with his back to the headboard. He arranged her sideways on his thighs, and draped the covers over her shoulders.

  Her fingers had gone icy so he warmed them between his palms.

  Tania couldn’t get either her vocal cords or her limbs to work.

  Axe removed her flip flops, and massaged her chilled feet. “Tania, if you don’t speak to me, we’re both going to have a freezing shower followed by a piping hot bath. What’s scaring you?”

  “Tell me again. That you don’t believe my family’s involved in the slaughter.” She stared into his eyes.

  “I’m positive no member of your immediate family, your father, mother, or any of your brothers, is directly responsible for the pack slaughters.”

  She worried her lower lip. “Directly responsible. What does that mean?”

  Axe set his palms to her cheeks. He met her gaze without a blink or flinch. “It means I have a hunch that Mishe and Breede might suspect that Triple W Corporation’s activities aren’t all above board.”

  “Why? How could you even know about Mishe and Bre—oh. I get it. You’ve been investigating us. You Prymals.” Bitterness soured the saliva in her mouth. “Do you have a, what’s the word? A dossier on me? Did you set out to fuck me?”

  “Tania, listen to me. The last, last thing I expected was to recognize you as my mate. That first glance in the mirror—it dropkicked me into an abyss. Yes, we have ‘dossiers’ on all of you. We’re hunting a cold blooded killer. Someone who murdered our loved ones. But, this, this between you and me, was never part of our plan.”

  She so wanted to believe him. “It worked out perfectly for you though, didn’t it? You got what you wanted. Me exiled and here with you.”

  “When we made love in the shower, I knew it could be the end of my involvement with Prymal. By mating with you, I had fucked up all our plans, unless I gave up any hope of ever having you as my mate.”

  “But you didn’t. I mean, you know, the greenhouse. I wasn’t the one who pushed things.”

  He bumped their foreheads together. “No, you didn’t. And I couldn’t give you up. You’re my crack cocaine. The most beguiling, most exquisite, and only drug I’ll ever need. When I’m away from you, all I can focus on is how to get to you. I love you, Tania. I know you’re not ready to commit to me. And that’s A-Okay. I’ll wait as long as you need.”

  Axe’s fierce declarations dissolved what was left of Tania’s dwindling doubts. That this incredible alpha bared his soul and was willing to wait for her welled a tsunami of conflicting emotions. Joy, an unbearable tenderness that had Tania on the brink of exquisite, happy tears, and a certainty so poignant, she absolutely knew what to do.

  No more half-truths.

  No more avoidance.

  They were mates and she belonged by his side. Axe needed all the information ammunition she could give.

  She raised her head and looked right at him. Her lips trembled. There was no going back. “I wasn’t surprised.”

  Axe flicked his thumb over the cleft in her chin, brows gathered above his nose. “Surprised about what?”

  “Uncle Viktor. I don’t know how to explain it. I was shocked, but deep down, I wasn’t.” She covered her face with her hands.

  Axe eased her fingers away. Tipped her head back. “Tell me.”

  “Uncle Viktor’s a fanatic about the purity of a species. He doesn’t tolerate mongrels of any sort. Aunt Dozene, she’s my godmother, and Viktor’s wife’s youngest sister. She started feeding this stray cat.” Tania pressed a hand to her mouth and waited for the surging wave of nausea to subside.

  Axe cocked his head.

  She knew he wondered what her aunt had to do with anything. “We have family Sunday lunches at Aunt Dozene’s once a month. I must’ve been nine at the time and I adored Millie. The cat. I couldn’t find Millie anywhere so I asked Aunt Dozene for her. Long story short as you said before. Viktor wrung Millie’s neck. In front of everyone.”

  Tania’d never been able to erase the memory of the cat’s surprised mewl, or her frantic struggle before that horrible snap.

  Axe hugged her tight, tangled his hand in her hair, and kneaded the coiled muscles in the small of her back. “Sonofabitch. He did that in front of a little girl?”

  “Aunt Dozene was never the same after that. I was actually glad that it was time for me to go to boarding school in Connecticut.” At first, she had loved boarding school, loved meeting ‘normal’ girls, both human and Wylfen, loved not having to face Uncle Viktor every Sunday.

  He drew back. Trailed a finger the length of her throat. “Thank you.”

  She didn’t get it. “For what?”

  “Trusting me.”

  Tania’s chest ached at the expression on Axe’s face. His gray eyes were haloed amber and she glimpsed his need in his dilated pupils. In only a few days she’d come to recognize when his desire surged, the impatience evident in the slight flare to his nostrils, and the way he carefully composed his features when he tried to mask his uncertainty.

  He still worried about his scars. She knew that from the way Axe always shifted so he never presented his marred cheek to her. There was some deeper concern there, but Tania couldn’t identify the reason why he believed she would reject him.

  Time to commit.

  “I’m ready.” Deliberately, she grasped his jaw so he had to give her his
full frontal.

  He peered at her from half-hooded eyes. “For?”

  “Show me how to claim you.”

  Axe’s bared fangs had already lengthened. The gray halo around his black pupils pulsed with amber glints. Under her palms, his chest heaved.

  He touched her brow with his. “I should question you. Make sure you know what you’re doing.”

  She loved that he croaked the words. “I know what I’m doing.”

  “Bite here.” He arched to one side and placed her forefinger on the crook of his neck and the bridge of his shoulder. “Draw blood.”

  When he growled that way, she creamed. It was uncanny and she relished her reaction to him. Tania nuzzled the corded tendons wrapped around his throat. She nibbled the spot he’d indicated.

  Glanced up at him. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

  “Do. It.”

  The rumbled command galvanized her. She set her teeth to his flesh and bit down. Instead of nausea, as she’d expected, the coppery taste of his blood flooded her mouth and sparked a tidal wave of desire. Some instinct had her licking the small bite mark on his neck. To her amazement the tiny scrape throbbed beneath her tongue.

  Her pussy ached.

  She wanted him inside her. Now.

  “Love. You.” He tugged her T-shirt over her head.

  Tania unbuttoned his pants.

  Axe unfurled his claws and ripped her jeans down the sides.

  She shoved his black T up and bared his chest. Found a flat, pink male nipple and tongued the sweet bud. Grouched when he stepped back.

  Axe peeled off her denim. Shredded her panties and bra.

  Frustrated when he hindered her attempt to pull his shirt off, she said, “I need you. I want you in me so bad.”

  His answer was a low snarl.

  Within seconds they were skin-to-skin on the mattress with Axe on top of her. She ran her hands over him. Stroking his back. Raking her nails on the bridge of his shoulder. Arched her hips to grind her clit on his rock hard erection.

  Axe stilled. He lifted her leg and wrapped it around his lean hip, opening her sex to him. Leaned on one elbow. Met her gaze. Flashed an uneven smile that revealed glistening wolf fangs. “Mine”