by M. L. Briers
Cyrus grabbed a handful of her backside and lifted her against him. She naturally wrapped her legs around his hips and buried her face against his neck, guessing what came next. “You’re coming home with me. I want you in my bed.”Cyrus had made up his mind, and it wasn’t a hard choice. Wager be damned, his mate came first.
Kiera watched them go. A little bemused at the sudden rush to speed that Cyrus had whipped her away with. She caught her breath and giggled in amazement.
“I guess there’s something to be said for dating a vampire.”Kiera bit out, still giggling. Callum wasn’t particularly happy with her declaration. His mate was favouring a vampire over him, that wasn’t good.
“I suppose the downside is being used as a food source.”Callum growled.
“You don’t have to pout about it, just because you’re not a vampire.”Boy, sour grapes or what?
Callum came to a grinding halt and brought her to a stop with his hand on her wrist. When she turned to look up at him he was practically scowling like an old fishwife. It wasn’t a good look for him.
“You’d prefer it if I was a vampire?”He growled down at her.
“Geez, what is your problem?”Kiera shrugged her shoulders and tried to walk on, but he held her in place with just his fingers wrapped around the sleeve of her jacket. “Either way, vampire or not, you’re a little fruit loopy for my liking.”
Right then and there Callum started to undress. When he yanked off his padded jacket, she didn’t think much of it, but when he yanked the top over his head and discarded it in the snow, well her eyebrows started an upwards journey on her forehead.
Although, she had to admit, the scenery was impressive. The contoured muscles of his broad shoulders and chest made her lick her lips as if anticipating so much more… When he kicked off his shoes and stood in the freezing snow, she had to question his sanity, but still she was enjoying the floorshow, and when he yanked down his jeans, and he’d gone commando, she pulled in a breath through her lips as her eyes fell to the length and thickness of his manhood.
“Oh-my-Holy-Cow-Mother-of… what the hell are you doing?”Shock turned into disbelief as he stood there stark naked in front of her. Naked and horny. How the hell could he be horny when his feet were buried in snow? Why the hell was he naked?
“Can a vampire do this?”He growled at her. Then he shifted. One moment he was a man and the next he was a wolf. Kiera blinked as a squeak left her lips. Then she blinked again. Her mouth opened to speak, but nothing came out. It reminded him of the night before when she had encountered him in wolf form at the back door. Surely she was used to it by now?
Kiera stumbled backwards over the uneven ground. Losing her footing, she didn’t have a thought to save herself from falling backwards against the snow as her eyes took in the beast before her. Fear rose within her for what she had seen, what she was seeing. Wolf.
Callum saw the distress in her eyes and scented her fear a moment later, but it was already a moment too late. He’d forgotten that he wasn’t in his human form at that moment when he started towards her. He went to speak to comfort her, but a growl came from his lips. He saw her move backwards from him and how unsteady her footing was as she stumbled backwards, and he tried to lunge for her to keep her from hitting the ground. The scream that came from her lips and pierced the silence of the day made his ears ring. But his heart hurt far worse.
CHAPTER TEN
Cyrus heard the piercing scream and came to a sudden stop, Teri still clung around him.
“Crap.”He bit out. Something told him that scream was his fault and he felt the guilt rise within him in a heartbeat.
“Was that a scr…?”Teri started, but he was already turning back towards where they had left Kiera and Callum, and he wrapped an arm around his mate’s waist, locking her against him, and bit out a warning.
“Hold on, this is going to be fast.”He barely gave her time to bury her head back against his neck before he was running at full speed back towards the scene of his crime. He only hoped to God that she had not run from the man or the wolf…
The moment they came into view, Cyrus knew that the alpha had shifted. The man was buck naked and slowly crawling on his knees towards his mate. Holding his hands out in front of him and trying to sooth her. Kiera was on the floor in the snow and practically cowering back away from him. The closer Cyrus got the more he knew that the human was in trouble.
Guilt hit Cyrus like a brick wall as he came to a halt, not too close to the alpha, and placed his mate down on steady legs. With one look at Kiera’s face, Teri turned ashen.
“What did you do?”She demanded as she started towards her friend, but the alpha snapped his head around and growled up at her. Cyrus wrapped an arm around Teri and hoisted her back against his body.
“Easy love. He’s in protective mode.”Cyrus breathed against her ear and felt her relax against him slightly. She knew what a protective Lycan could do to someone he perceived as a threat to his mate and she wasn’t about to go rushing in to see just how protective he was feeling right then.
“Kiera…”Callum’s gentle growl seemed to do nothing to sooth her as he reached out his hand and stroked the backs of his fingers down her cheek. She didn’t move a muscle, didn’t blink, she just stared ahead of her…
“That’s not going to work, Callum…”Cyrus cautioned and the alpha tried to ignore him as he tended his mate.
“Kiera, I would never hurt you…”Callum tried to sooth her back to him, but she didn’t seem to be responding to his words or his touch. It was as if her mind didn’t recognise its mate…
“Callum, I influenced her mind last night to resist you as best she could…”Cyrus admitted. This time Callum didn’t ignore him. This time his head snapped around so hard on his neck that Cyrus could hear the clicking of his spine. Callum dragged himself to his full height and turned his attention towards the vampire. His eyes darkened in anger as he dropped his chin down towards his chest and glared back at him.
“What do you mean? What the hell did you do, Cyrus?”Teri asked before any thought other than to rip the vampire limb from limb came into Callum’s head.
“I thought it harmless, a prank on Callum. We had a bet that he couldn’t win his mate within two days and I built a wall within her mind against him…”Cyrus saw the anger explode within the alpha a moment before the man launched himself towards them. With speed and agility he snatched his mate out of Callum’s path and tore across the way, leaving Callum snarling and spinning around to locate him.
“Undo it, now.”Callum didn’t just growl, he sounded like a ravenous beast that was about to get its thrill from tearing whatever was in his path apart.
“I don’t know if I can, Callum. I never expected her to be like this…”He motioned towards where Kiera still sat on the floor. She hadn’t moved. She was just staring blindly ahead of her.
“You’d better…”Callum warned as he stalked towards them.
“I bloody second that.”Teri bit out, pushing her body away from her mate and standing there staring at him with disgust in her eyes. He might be her mate, but right now, she didn’t like him as a person.
“Will you let me approach her?”Cyrus asked, knowing that the beast within the alpha needed to be subdued in order for Callum to stand aside and let another tend to his mate. For a long moment Callum paced back and forth in front of his mate. His eyes never left Cyrus. Eyeing him with hatred and suspicion, but that was the beast inside, and Callum was trying desperately to calm the wild thing within him.
Cyrus didn’t move. He knew the man and the wolf inside his friend. Right now the man was fighting a battle to regain control of the beasts influence. He looked at Cyrus like he was lunch, and Cyrus wouldn’t blame him at all if he actually attacked. This wasn’t what he’d expected. He’d been so caught up in his mate that he hadn’t anticipated such an event taking place. He should never have left her side…
“Callum, she needs him.”Teri ground out between clenched t
eeth. It felt like forever that her friend had been sitting alone of the ground without anyone comforting her. She looked lost and alone and Teri desperately wanted to go to her, but she knew that she couldn’t, that Callum’s wolf needed to be put back into his cage before that could happen.
“Easy, love. He’s getting there.”Cyrus offered, eyeing the alpha just as much as he was eyeing him. If Callum attacked that would put his own mate in danger, and that was unacceptable. This might be his doing, and he sorely regretted it, but he wouldn’t allow the wolf near his mate.
“He needs to get there faster…”Teri hissed back, biting down on the urge to do something about it. But she knew that if she attacked the man, the beast might come, and that wouldn’t help the situation. That wouldn’t help Kiera.
Callum pushed his beast back and reined him in. Both man and beast would like nothing better than to taste the vampire between their jaws, but his mate was in need of the vampire to undo whatever it was he had done. He bitterly regretted his zealous actions in shifting in front of her, spurred on by the jealous assumption that she preferred the vampire to him. How the hell could he have known that Cyrus would be this duplicitous?
“Easy, Vampire. No sudden movements.” Callum thought he just might have enough control over his beast for them to allow the vampire near her, if not then vampire had better be quick of foot.
“Stay where you are and prepare to protect yourself.”Cyrus put Teri away from him and took a slow walk towards Kiera. With one eye on the alpha and his nervous disposition, and the other on Kiera, he eased down into a crouch beside the female and turned his full attention towards her.
Callum felt his beast pushing forwards and tightened his hold on the wolf inside. He couldn’t help the warning growl that rumbled through him as Cyrus edged for his mate, or the snarl that left his lips when the vampires hand rested against her cheek. But when she still didn’t even blink at the man’s touch, Callum roared inside his own mind at the beasts insistence they protect their mate.
“Kiera, listen to me.”Cyrus gently tipped her head up with his hands so he could look into her eyes, but what he found there startled even him. Nobody was home. She’d been so afraid of what had happened that she’d somehow retreated back into herself. Letting her mind close down everything around her and found refuge in the furthest corner of her mind where she felt safe. He’d seen this before in war. Men so traumatised that they shut down for a time, as if the brain needed to run on low power to be able to reboot, come back better able to cope. Sometimes, they never came back at all.
He positioned himself so that his face was right in front of hers. His eyes stared intently into the glazed, expressionless eyes that probably didn’t even see him. “Kiera, hear my voice…”He put everything he had into his words. His tone was so melodic, so tempting to human ears that she should have responded, but she didn’t. Nothing, not even a flicker of recognition.
“Cyrus?”Teri could see that her mate wasn’t making any headway. Kiera haven’t moved, and apart from the fact that she was starting to shiver from sitting in the coldness of the snow, there was nothing there.
“It’s not working yet; we need to get her home before she starts to freeze…” Cyrus moved fast when Callum made a move towards them on a warning growl. “At least get some clothes on man, you’re naked.”
“I don’t need clothes where I’m going. I’m taking her home to the pack.” Callum reached down and scooped his mate up into his strong arms. Lifting her against his body, her head lulled against his chest and he adjusted her position until she was safely secured against him.
“Callum, she needs to come back with me…”Teri started towards them, but stopped in her tracks when Callum’s head snapped around in her direction. His eyes were dark and anger flared across his face.
“I’m taking her home. You’re welcome to come. He is not.”Callum bit out. He didn’t look at Cyrus. He couldn’t for fear he would rip his head from his body and be done with it.
“You need him…”Teri protested angrily, making straight for the man and his mate, but Cyrus wrapped an arm around her waist and hauled her up against his body, halting her progress and soothing Callum’s inner beast.
“I need nothing from him.” The growl of the beast from within filled Callum’s voice and his eyes were jet black when he spoke. The curl of his upper lip said it all, as his eyes flicked towards Cyrus.
“She needs him.”Teri growled out, unwilling to let this drop. Kiera might have been his mate, but he wasn’t thinking straight right now. She needed to do everything she could to ensure that Kiera got through this, and if that meant going up against man or beast, she’d do it.
“Fine. He can come onto pack land, but he stays outside.”Callum was already stalking away on fast legs and Teri squirmed out of Cyrus’s hold to follow him. Even carrying his mate, Callum was quick over the rough terrain and Teri was determined to stay on his heels.
Callum paced back and forth outside his bedroom door. Fergus, the packs elder and most valued Wiseman, was inside the room with his mate and had tossed him out on his ear when he wouldn’t stop growling a warning at him. Teri was seething as she stood with her back to the wall across the hallway from Callum and she eyed him with disdain.
“You can’t do that, Callum.”
“Oh, but I can.”He assured her. He didn’t need to be looking at her for her to know that his dark eyes were flashing with the anger that was washing through him.
“But you won’t…”Teri was adamant. It wasn’t just plain wrong, it was a gut reaction to the situation that they found themselves in, and she knew that she could make him see sense, even through his thick Lycan skull.
“I already have. When this is over, Cyrus is banished from the area. I won’t have him anywhere near my mate or the pack.” The growling was beginning to annoy her almost as much as his attitude. She knew he was worried about his mate, but still…
“But, he’s been in this area longer than the pack…”
“Things change, Teri. The strongest survive and you’d do well to remember that.” He issued her a warning, much like the one he’d issued on her first day in town. If she meddled in pack business, if she put the pack in danger, or even if she was too meddlesome in general, she would find no leniency from him.
“Back to bullying women, I see…”The words were grated out between clenched teeth, but when Callum moved quickly, his body caging her against the wall and his dark eyes bore into hers, she fell silent. She could literally feel the anger inside the man.
“My mate is…”He growled down at her. It took everything he had to keep a rein on his beast.
“My friend too. So don’t get on your high horse with me.”She snapped back at him. This wasn’t about making a stand, or flexing her powers, this was about making Callum see sense.
“Then, I would have thought…”He started and she sneered back up at him.
“Please don’t think. It doesn’t look good on you.” Teri’s back was to the wall in more ways than one and she came out swinging the only way she thought she could.
“This conversation is over…”Callum slammed his fists into the wall either side of her head. The pain that shot through his hands and up his arms felt damn good. It eased some of the tension within his body and gave him the slight release that he needed so that his damn head didn’t explode on his neck. Teri didn’t move. Apart from flinching, she stayed perfectly still. He’d hit the wall, not her, that was a good sign, and even though she knew his hold on his beast was tenuous at best, she didn’t feel endangered enough to draw on her magic.
When the bedroom door was snatched open and the low, deep sound of a growl of annoyance filled the air from the Wiseman, Teri might just have breathed a sigh of relief. She couldn’t remember because she was too eager to hear what the man had to say.
Callum spun away from the witch and stalked towards the old man. His eyes questioning as Fergus looked over his shoulder to where Teri stood and at the Alpha’s han
diwork in decorating the wall with holes.
“Is terrorising a Fae the best way to spend your time?”The elder berated him and for a long moment all Callum could do was growl his annoyance.
“My mate?” Callum all but demanded and watched as the elder nodded his head in thoughtful contemplation of the situation.
“She’s withdrawn, but you knew that, and any wonder if you just shifted right in front of the poor little human…”He berated him again.
“There were circumstances that I did not know about.”Callum growled out. He didn’t need to be having this conversation now. He needed to know what he could do for his mate.
“I know. I got the lowdown from Cyrus on the way in.” Fergus barked back. Yet he still gave Callum a look of disapproval that would have melted Teri where she stood if he’d turned those dark eyes on her.
“My mate…”Callum tried again and Fergus waved a large hand in the air in frustration.
“Will be fine, given time and care. But you…”He pointed an accusing finger at the alpha. “Should know better. Damn it son, you’re not a pup, what the hell were you thinking, scaring the poor mite like that?”Fergus’s big bushy eyebrows did a dance above his eyes as he grumbled a growl.
“Cyrus…”
“Is cut up about it.”Fergus assured him, cutting off his explanation. He’d heard the conversation between the alpha and the witch. There probably wasn’t many who hadn’t the way the two of them were going at it, and he wasn’t impressed. “The two of you have you have been doing stupid’s since the day he pulled your pup backside out of the river and saved your life, or did you forget that history between you?” Fergus growled out his displeasure.