Lup Teren (Wolf Land Series Book 1)

by L. D. K. Johnson

  “And if I don’t get to them by sunrise?”

  “Then you will have to make a sacrifice.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “You will have to choose between the three of us…which one of us will…die,” Nicolae informed, his expression looked just as forlorn as she felt.

  “No,” she said, shaking her head. “I won’t choose.”

  “Then the choice will be made for you,” the official informed sternly.

  This couldn’t be happening. It was all some crazy nightmare that would end as soon as morning came. It had to be.

  “It’s not a nightmare,” Blaine’s voice rang clearly in her mind. “Get to them before Nicolae gets to you…before sunrise…and we can all breathe easier.”

  “Fabulous,” she chuckled, obviously shocked into fits of laughter. “I hate being one of you. Have I mentioned that before?”

  “Yes, you have,” Blaine reminded solemnly. “You can do this. I have faith in you.”

  “I’m glad one of us has faith in me,” she sighed, glancing at Nicolae who was looking at his feet again.

  “Stop feeling sorry for yourself, damn it!” Blaine yelled, losing his patience. “Use your wolf’s heightened senses. You know both your father’s and Antonio’s scents. You are connected with Antonio telepathically, get into his head.”

  “Easier said than done,” she yelled back. “I’ve only recently learned how to shift on command, everything else is touch-and-go.”

  “Do you want to die?” Blaine asked all joking aside.

  “No.”

  “Do you want your father or Antonio to die?”

  “Of course not,” she gasped at his stunning question.

  “Then stop your whining and do your job,” Blaine commanded, leaving no room for snide remarks or biting sarcasm.

  “I’ll do my best,” she agreed.

  “Good girl.”

  *****

  Nicolae’s heart was racing and his hands were shaking. For the first time in his life, he wished he was not a Romani. Hunting Raina was the last thing he wanted to do. Hurting her was even further from his thoughts.

  Unfortunately, if he didn’t submit to the old customs, his family would pay for his defiance and another hunter, a hunter who did not care as he did for the annoying hybrid female, would be chosen to take his place. He couldn’t let that happen. He would rather die than see something awful happen to her.

  “Miss Jacobs,” the official began, “you get a ten minute head start.”

  Shite! That wasn’t enough of a head start. With his training and preternatural senses Nicolae could effortlessly catch up to her. She didn’t stand a chance.

  “I understand,” she answered weakly, her body unexpectedly racked with shivers and a cold sweat.

  “Why are you shivering and sweating at the same time?” Nicolae asked, his scowl replaced by worry.

  “I don’t know?” she grumbled, using the back of her hand to wipe the perspiration from her overheated forehead. “Something is wrong.”

  Without permission, Duncan left his position and was at her side in a few strides. Gently, he felt her drenched brow.

  “She’s in the first stages of mating heat,” he announced to everyone, causing her to blush. “She’s in no shape to continue.”

  “We can’t postpone the second trial,” the gray-haired official declared in a stern voice. “Tradition states…”

  “Fuck tradition, Samson,” Duncan snapped, stepping between her and the elderly gentleman. “Even an old shite like you remembers the fevers that come with the heat.”

  For a moment, the official stood contemplating and then turned toward her. “Choose.”

  “Choose…what?” her eyes narrowed at his demand.

  “Your partner,” Samson stated like she should understand his request.

  “I don’t know what you’re referring to,” she continued to stare at his blushing face. “My partner for…”

  “To have sex with,” Duncan stated dryly.

  Her undignified peal of laughter startled everyone surrounding the knoll. Over two hundred pairs of eyes stared at her as she continued her fit of giggles.

  “You can’t be serious,” she chuckled, thinking it was a colossal joke that everyone else was in on except for her. “Uncle Duncan…tell me this is a bunch of malarkey.” Duncan only continued to stare at her. “No,” she adamantly shook her head, “absolutely not.”

  “It’s the only way to decrease your body temperature and return to normal,” he informed without humor.

  Leaning close to his ear, so only he could hear she whispered, “Antonio is not here.”

  “You will need to choose someone else.” Duncan glanced down at the ground, unwilling to look at her.

  “No,” she stated again. “I’ll just deal with it.” That’s right. She’d follow Blaine’s advice and just deal with it. “I can do this without cheating on Antonio.”

  “Darling,” Duncan finally looked up, “Antonio would understand.”

  As her body began to shiver even more from the chills accompanied by mating heat, tears began to well. Something instinctual told her that, on this matter, she had no choice but to give-in or suffer the consequence of losing the most important men in her life.

  Reluctantly, she mumbled, “I don’t know who to choose.”

  Unexpectedly, Blaine stood, a blank expression on his handsome face. “I’ll do it.”

  “Pardon?” she mumbled, wondering if he had actually said the words out loud or if it were wishful thinking on her part.

  “We’ll keep it clinical,” his words, meant to be reassuring, had the opposite effect.

  Shaking her head with disapproval, she managed to squeak-out, “I won’t do that to you.” For a second, she imagined Antonio’s reaction. It would not be taken well. “You and Antonio are friends.”

  “I’ve known him for four years,” Blaine stated confidently, “I’m sure he’ll understand.”

  Again she declared, “No. Forget it.”

  “What happens if the fever weakens you to the point that Nicolae kills you and both Antonio and Richard die as a result?”

  Several long excruciating moments past before she finally whispered, “I’ll do it.” Her chest tightened again and she willed it to stop. “Let’s get this over with quickly.” Sweeping their surroundings for privacy, she asked, “Where should we go to…ya know?”

  The official grimaced before saying, “Right here.”

  *****

  Shock, indignation, and utter revulsion slapped her hard.

  “I’m sorry. Did you just say we have to do it…here?”

  “Yes,” Samson blushed, “there’s no place else.”

  The words, Hell no! was just about to leave her mouth when Blaine appeared behind her, close enough where she could feel the heat radiating from him. Against her back, she could also feel the dampness drenching his own shirt. She guessed the Irish warrior/wolf was not immune to mating heat and was suffering with his own symptoms.

  “Everyone stand,” Blaine shouted making her jump and like a well-trained platoon of soldiers, they all stood and turned, their backs facing them. Silently, Duncan and the official left the knoll and joined the others, both facing away from her and Blaine.

  “I’m sorry you have to do this,” she apologized.

  “I’m not,” he admitted angling her head to a better position.

  Without hesitation, he kissed her lips. The pressure so light, she wasn’t sure if he had actually done it or if it were just her overly-active imagination playing tricks on her. Instantly, her sex began to dampen.

  “Blaine,” she couldn’t help moan into his mouth, his extra-large hands moving slowly over her shoulders and arms. The gentleness of his touch making her even more wet. “Everyone can hear us. Suppose they…”

  “They won’t turn around,” he answered her question before she could ask it while his exploratory quest moved lower to the waist of her yoga pants. Before she could say an
ything else, he had her pants around her ankles and his fingers stroking her now soaked sex.

  “That feels sinful.”

  She widened her stance as she submitted to her inner-wolf. Even more gently, he began circle her entrance with two eager digits, making small circles over her slit. When another trickle of arousal seeped out, both fingers entered her. The stretching feeling suppressing her embarrassment along with her inhibitions.

  “You feel so damn good,” Blaine whispered near her ear.

  “Mmm,” was her only response.

  “Raina.” Blaine unhurriedly pumped her with his fingers as if they had all the time in the world. “I can’t believe I’m going to have you. Out in the open. In front of everyone.”

  “Technically,” she shuddered, arching toward his hand, “they’re not watching us.”

  “Whatever makes you feel better,” he said, rubbing his lengthening member against her hip. “They can still hear us.”

  “Shh,” she rebuked, “don’t remind me.”

  Removing his fingers from her clenching depths, he brought them to his lips and licked the juices from them, then placed them against her lips silently commanding her to do the same. Shamelessly, she did.

  “You taste as delicious as I thought you would,” he chuckled, going to his knees behind her. “Open your legs wider…that’s it.”

  Brazenly, his mouth replaced his fingers as he licked and sucked her lower lips, then speared his tongue and entered her opening.

  “Oh!” she shouted as he used it to tease and torment her. She was almost past the point of no return now and something inside of her reminded of Antonio. “We should stop,” she moaned, but widened her legs some more. “Shouldn’t we?”

  “I don’t think I can,” he openly confessed, his warm breath teasing her folds. “I’m in heat too.”

  As she was about to pose another question, she heard Blaine’s zipper being lowered. Effortlessly, he picked her up and placed her on her hands and knees.

  “Don’t move,” he ordered, voice sounding rougher.

  “Why?” she asked, looking over her shoulder.

  What she saw surprised, but didn’t scare her. Blaine had partially shifted, green eyes glowed, thick toffee-colored sideburns appeared, face slightly more wolf-like, but even with all of that, he still made her feel safe, protected.

  “Don’t move,” he repeated in a raspy tone that made her tremble.

  Coming around in front of her as she waited still in the position he had placed her in, he took out his rigid cock. The size of it even longer and thicker than Antonio’s, if that was even physically possible.

  “Dear father!” She couldn’t help staring at the man’s blessings. Arrogantly, he chuckled moving closer to her mouth.

  “Open your mouth,” he said, but it wasn’t a request. More than willing, she did as she was told, closing her eyes as he entered her. He was an enormous bloke and she could only take half of his manhood past her lips before almost gagging. “There ya go,” Blaine whispered as he began fucking her mouth as she used her tongue to caress his deliciously veiny shaft. “Too bad we don’t have more time,” he smiled wickedly, grabbing a handful of her hair and tugging her head back so they were staring into each other’s eyes, “I’d love to see you take all of it. Right to the back of your throat.” She hoped he was teasing, but the glimmer in his emerald depths told her that he wasn’t. Slowly, he removed himself and went behind her once again. Lowering to his knees, her whole body stiffened as she felt the broad tip of his cock pushing against her opening. Thank goodness she was dripping with her own cream. “Ahh,” Blaine continued to work his shaft inside of her, but only made it three-quarters of the way inside. “Are you alright?” All she could do was nod her head, reach behind him and pull him closer, making him go deeper.

  “Blaine!” she shouted.

  Automatically, her inner muscles clenched as she lost herself when his girth stretched her to the point of almost bursting. With every thrust of his hips, she felt herself getting more slippery and Blaine’s cock sinking impossibly deeper. They both moaned when he finally…finally…bottomed-out bumping her cervix.

  “Fuck!” he practically growled. “You’re so hot!”

  “Give it to me, Blaine,” she begged, feeling her temperature lower a few degrees and her trembling cease. Obediently, he followed her request. His tapered hips slamming against her with every forward lunge while heavy balls slapped the seam of her arse creating a rhythm that made her rock into each movement. “I’m close,” she cried-out, pushing all the way back.

  “I can’t last much longer,” Blaine shouted back as one hand reached around and began those mind-numbing circles over her clit once again.

  “Blaine!” Her body stiffened as the orgasm hit almost making her hands slip out from under her as Blaine draped across her back still pummeling her from behind.

  “Grrr,” he roared right before he pulled-out of her still spasming channel and emptied himself all over her naked arse. After a few minutes, he removed his shirt and used it to clean her off. “Did I hut you?” he asked sheepishly, breath coming in choppy pants.

  “No,” she whimpered, “you were incred…” her words trailed away as she looked over her shoulder and locked gazes with Nicolae, who was staring at them both, his hand stroking his cock to completion.

  Oh! No! Lost in the brief sexual interlude with the gorgeous Irishman, she was completely oblivious to the fact that Nicolae had never turned away. Before she could yell at him, he turned, putting his cock away before Blaine noticed. Her face paled as she pushed Blaine away and fixed her yoga pants to their proper position.

  “What’s the matter?” Blaine asked, giving her one final kiss to the shoulder blade.

  “Nothing,” she denied, not wanting Blaine to get upset at Nicolae’s prying eyes. “Forget about it.”

  Afterward, the trial went right back to business. Everyone else acted like what she and Blaine had just done was normal. Even Blaine seemed unfazed, although, he refused to look at her. Nicolae, on the other hand, couldn’t stop looking at her.

  “If you two try to help one another,” the official announced, regaining her attention, “we have scouts who will know.” The man glared at each of them. “Do you understand?”

  “Yes,” they both stated at the same time.

  “Then let the second trial begin.”

  *****

  What was she doing?

  Running through a thicket of prickly-needled dwarf pines interspersed with thick-leafed beech trees. Along the ground serpentine vines and dried, broken branches grabbed at her ankles with unrelenting fingers. Once she had to stop when her foot got entangled in the thick blanket of debris covering the forest floor.

  Stopping her brisk run momentarily, she sniffed the air. Nothing. She couldn’t smell anything except the suffocating fragrance of pine. There was no other choice. She would have to shift.

  *****

  Damn! Raina had stopped again. Nicolae could hear her removing her sneakers that had somehow gotten ensnared by a rope-like vine. Why hadn’t she shifted to her wolf form yet? Her stubbornness would mean the death of her.

  “Why do you not shift?” he questioned telepathically unable to keep quiet any longer.

  “Nicolae?” her soft, sinfully-seductive voice asked in response making his knees go weak.

  Rolling his eyes, he sarcastically replied, “Who else would it be speaking to you inside of your rock-hard cranium?”

  “I just shifted, you arse,” she snarled.

  “Get moving then. I cannot go too slowly or the scouts will get suspicious. I have already managed to fall several times and have the scratches to show for it.”

  “Stop your complaining,” she barked. “I’m moving as fast as I can.”

  “Have you scented them yet?”

  “All I can smell are pine trees and rotting undergrowth,” she howled, making him cringe.

  “Ok,” he stated calmly, “focus on blocking out the plant s
cents. There are animals all around you, focus on them.”

  Several seconds later, she informed, “I smell them: squirrels, deer, werewolves…”

  “Those are the scouts, ignore them. Do you remember your father’s scent?”

  “I think so.”

  “Concentrate on that.” He waited a few seconds before asking, “Well?”

  “I can’t scent him,” she whimpered in frustration.

  “Come on, Raina,” he sighed trying to hold his frustration at bay. “If you take too long there will be no hope.”

  “No pressure,” she mocked anxiously.

  “Stop joking and focus!”

  “Don’t yell at me!”

  Taking a calming breath, he tried again. “I am sorry. I know you are nervous, so am I. But I really need you to focus.” He paused trying to find another angle to come at the current problem. “Focus on Antonio’s scent instead.”

  “Wouldn’t I have a stronger connection to my father?”

  “Not necessarily. You two are practically…mated,” the word felt like sawdust in his mouth. “You love him and he loves you.” Again he thought he would choke, but continued saying, “You have known him since childhood. Those unique circumstances make him a better target to focus on.”

  “I’ll try.”

  After a couple minutes, he asked, “Anything yet?”

  “Yes. I mean…I think so.” There was another moment of silence right before she said, “I think they are at the cave. The one you took me to in the mountains.”

  “Good,” he breathed a sigh of relief, “run as fast as you can. It is a long, steep hike up the eastern face of the mountain and you have wasted a great deal of time.”

  “I’ll make it,” she stated confidently, making him smile.

  “I will see you up there.” He paused again. “Raina?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Be careful of traps.”

  *****

  “Traps. What traps?” she asked the hollowness of her mind and was surprised when Nicolae didn’t answer. Ok. She was on her own again.

  With a resolve she didn’t know she possessed, she sprinted on all fours through the thickening brush toward the highest mountain. Its dark silhouette almost bleeding into the purple night sky. When she finally cleared the base of the mountain, she began the arduous climb up to the clearing just before the peak. Surprisingly, she wasn’t winded or worried. She knew with all certainty she would save her father and the man she loved.