The Shadow Wolf

by Bonnie Vanak

  Megan materialized before him. She wore the turquoise floral dress he’d bought her.

  Fearing he had hallucinated, he closed his eyes until two warm, soft hands cupped his face.

  “You’re not dreaming. I’m here, Gabriel.” She kissed him.

  Oh, it was the softest satin, this kiss. Megan’s scent flooded his nostrils. Gabriel remained still, drinking in her mouth, not wanting the dream to end.

  Then she took his lower lip between her teeth and bit lightly. Mischief glowed in her beautiful blue eyes as he regarded her.

  “Megan?” He wrapped his fingers around her slim wrists. His heart burst with joy, then reality set in. Gabriel looked around grimly.

  “You have to get out before they discover you’re here and lock you up for good.”

  “I’m not leaving.” She turned up her face to him. “Call it my right to a conjugal visit. I want to make love with you, Gabriel. Achieve a mating lock and become what you are.”

  “No. I can’t allow it. You have to leave.”

  “Breaking in is easier than breaking out. If I have your powers, we can both break free. Make me Trans-Feral, Gabriel. It’s the only way you can protect me in here.”

  Hissing, he pushed a hand through his rumpled hair. “I can’t make you what I am.”

  “I want you to.”

  Sincerity shone in her shining blue eyes. “And when I do, I’m shifting into a Trans-Feral and we’re breaking out of here.”

  “You would do this for me? A monster?” He traced the fragile bones of her face with a wondering finger.

  “Not a monster. My mate, who is loyal and brave and sacrificed himself for me.” She took his fingers, kissed them one by one. “Can you ever forgive me for saying those terrible things to you?”

  “I already have,” he said solemnly. “I need to know, Megan. Why did you react that way when I’d already warned you?”

  As she confessed about her nightmare, he listened. Gabriel slid a palm over her nape and caressed her scarred skin. “I wish I could have taken those dreams from you. Why didn’t you tell me before?”

  “I was afraid it would make the dream more real.” Megan leaned against him. “Now my worst nightmare is never seeing you again, never being with you. Not having your acceptance.”

  “You have more than that. You have my heart.”

  It was comforting and yet terrifying seeing her trapped here with him. The cage was a haven and a curse. “It’s like us,” he realized slowly. “We’ve both struggled for years to be free and not have our own people fear us, but now we can’t hide from what we truly are.”

  “But together we can stand strong. Then nothing will knock us down.”

  He took her hands and kissed them. Gabriel gave her a wry look. “I’m dressed for the occasion, but I need a shower. C’mon.”

  Megan shivered as he gently undressed her. The bathroom in his cage was surprisingly large. A shower in one corner took up half the room. He stepped into the glass enclosure, herding her before him.

  Jets of warm water cascaded over them. Gabriel lifted his face to the refreshing spray. Muscles rippled fluidly beneath his sun-darkened skin. Water beaded in the dark hairs of his chest.

  Megan began to soap his sweating body, running the cake over his thick muscles. He tilted back his head and released a contented sigh.

  “No one ever cared for me the way you do, chère,” he murmured.

  She delighted in scrubbing the muscle and sinew, making him shudder in pleasure. When he turned to face her, his thick arousal slid against her belly. Megan encircled it and stroked with her wet hand.

  His eyes snapped open. Amber flared in them. Gabriel took the soap and began washing her.

  With slow circular strokes he washed her breasts, teasing her nipples until she arched and moaned. Then his wet, soapy fingers slid between her legs.

  Megan whimpered as he caressed and played with her. Hot whispers in her ear, a promise of sultry heat. Gabriel watched her. Possessive pride filled his dark gaze. Then he ceased and cupped her bottom with his strong hands, pinning her against the ceramic tiles.

  Gabriel nudged her legs open with a knee. With one smooth move, he slid into her body. She gasped as he stroked, his thrusts steady as the water beat down on them.

  One hand continued to hold her upright. With his other, he cupped the back of her head and took her mouth in a savage, deep kiss. She arched against him, crying out.

  “Come for me, darling,” he whispered.

  Megan screamed into his mouth, squeezed his arousal, feeling him pump deep inside her. Shaken, her body well used, she opened her eyes. Lungs squeezed air in and out as he dropped his head. Gabriel pressed a singularly sweet kiss to the juncture of her shoulder and neck.

  “I’ll never leave you, Gabriel.”

  “You’re not afraid?” Challenge filled his gaze.

  “Not as long as you’re with me.”

  “Then, come here.”

  The bed dipped beneath their weight as they fell naked upon it.

  His hungry growl echoed her own. Megan arched her back, leaning into his caress as his hands touched and explored. Wonder dawned on her face.

  Love filled him. For her. His Megan.

  Without words, he pushed into her. Breath fled her as his thickness filled her to the core. He thrust, withdrew and created a rhythm, intensifying the pleasure. Their fingers intertwined as he smiled tenderly at her.

  Craving her, needing her, as equally as she needed him.

  Megan arched as she opened to him like a flower. Then she felt him tense as his hands gripped her hips. His cock seemed to expand and stretch her beyond limits.

  Framing his face, she let him feel the gentleness of her love for him. Gabriel took it, absorbed it, cherished each mote of sensual tenderness.

  Megan wrapped her legs around his pumping hips as he angled his thrusts to give her the most pleasure. She arched off the mattress as the tension built. She felt taut as a bowstring, her wolf howling.

  “Megan, come for me, now,” he commanded.

  Sweet tension shattered. He loved the pleasure hazing her face, felt pride in her climax as she sobbed and clung to him.

  Gabriel groaned, his big body shuddering as he joined her. He opened himself as he filled her with his seed. The sensual haze blended with the powerful emotions flowing from him. And then he felt it.

  He locked inside her as his essence flowed into her. Megan gasped in wonder. “It’s happening.”

  Colors swirled and sparkled, dancing in the air like fireflies. He felt his spirit pour into his mate. His powers. His fears. His love.

  She opened herself fully, giving him all her Shadow powers.

  Her tearful gaze locked with his intent one. For the first time, Gabriel felt completely one with her as they exchanged powers. He felt her every emotion like a brush of silk across his quivering body.

  They were sealed together in the flesh and the spirit.

  Chapter 23

  Megan lay drowsily splayed over her mate’s body the following day. A heart that belonged solely to her beat reassuringly beneath her cheek. She felt sated, her body tender and well-loved.

  She pushed a lock of silky hair away from his face. “I smell demon.”

  A lazy stroke over her naked thigh. “We are in a demon prison, chère.”

  “No, this smells different. Bitter, more pungent.” Megan frowned. “It’s gone now, as if someone covered it up.”

  Hearing voices outside, Gabriel frowned. His nostrils flared. “Get dressed. My family’s outside.”

  Near their cage, his brothers and their mates and his parents stood with J.P. Sacks, the governor of Shadow Island and all the members of the Draicon Council, including the leader, Morgan Bailey. Suspicion pricked him. Something felt very off and it wasn’t because of the unusual assembly.

  Megan slid her palm trustingly into his. He gave her a reassuring smile and narrowed his gaze at his father.

  “What’s going on? Here to s
tare at the animals?”

  Remy looked guilty. “Your brothers and their mates, they convinced me…”

  Jamie stepped forward. Determination hardened her pixie face. “I told Remy that Megan shouldn’t be ostracized because she’s a Shadow and this business of keeping you locked up because you’re Feral, Gabriel, well, it’s…”

  Damian cursed in French.

  At her mate’s words, Jamie nodded. “Exactly. What our son does in his diaper. Look at me, my magick is powerful. I’m capable of flight. I know other Draicon are sometimes afraid of me, but do they stick me on an island because I’m different?”

  Damian snarled. “I’d kill them if they tried. Just as I’ll kill anyone who tries to send you back, Megan.”

  “But to keep it civilized, to show we’re not beasts, we put on a little pressure.” Etienne gave the council a hard look.

  “We’re springing you, too, mon frère,” Raphael told him.

  “And no one’s ever locking you up again,” Alexandre said.

  “Or we’ll deal with them,” added Indigo, flexing his strong arms.

  Remy gestured to the council. “We all had a long talk. Then I called in a large political favor with the council and requested a meeting with them and the governor. They held a vote and agreed to free you and Megan, under conditions.”

  “I was outvoted.” Bailey gave him a sullen glare. “You belong in prison and Megan Moraine is too dangerous to be released to the public. She’s a Shadow.”

  A sibilant hiss sounded as Governor Sacks pointed at Megan. “She goes with us. I will not honor that vote, Robichaux. That abomination belongs on my island.”

  Pulling his mate closer, Gabriel growled softly. “Where you can abuse her and send her to a sex shop like you have other female Shadows? She’s mine, Sacks. Back off or I’ll rip you to pieces, cage or no cage.”

  “Stop it.” Remy turned to the governor. “You made a deal and you’re not breaking it. Or I’ll have my sons demonstrate how the Robichaux pack deals with those who betray me.”

  The pale-haired governor warily watched as the brothers shifted into wolves and snarled. They could make short work of the whiny bastard.

  Though he was heartened to see family support at last for Megan, it troubled him that no one stood up for the other Shadows.

  As his brothers shifted back, Remy approached the cage. “Son, the council’s agreed to free you and Megan under my strict supervision.”

  “What’s the catch?” Megan asked.

  Remy hedged. “Before you leave, both of you must be fitted with a restraining device to suppress all your magick powers. I know it sounds bad, but you will be out of this horrid place.”

  “I will not leave this cage until all Shadows are free.” Gabriel leaned against the bars, dimly wondering why the magically charged silver didn’t diminish his powers.

  “Gabriel.” Rapt wonder shone on Megan’s face. “Why would you would do this for my people?”

  “Because until they are all free, you won’t be. You’re wholly part of me now, Megan, and what affects you is important to me.”

  “You make no sense, Gabriel,” Remy cried out. “You and Megan can both walk out of here.”

  “I have to make a stand, mon père, for what I believe in.” He drew in a deep breath. “Because I know how it feels to live as an ostracized Shadow. All these years I’ve tried to act like nothing mattered, hide myself so no one could see inside me. You said I would always have trouble blending into the human world. You feared my Feral side.”

  He glanced at Megan. Her deep blue eyes were soft with emotion. He drew strength from this.

  “What matters most to me now is that she’s with me. She loves me, despite of what I am. Megan sees past the mask that hid me from the outside world, into the heart of me, and she still loves me. She’s chosen not to abandon me. I would die for her before because instinct drove me to protect her beyond all reason.”

  Emotion clogged his throat. Gabriel locked his gaze to Megan’s, seeing the tears fill her eyes. “I would die for her now simply because I love her. So I suppose I am more human than you ever thought.”

  He felt only her love, her devotion. Gabriel slid both hands into hers.

  “He’s right. If you release us,” Megan told them, “then release all my people.”

  “When hell freezes over.”

  This from Sacks. Bailey nodded. “You’re staying locked up.”

  Then Gabriel caught a whiff of something foul. He inhaled, gagging on the pungent stench of sulfur and methane.

  Demon.

  But no Crimson demons were in sight. And this odor, he’d smelled it before, back at the cemetery when Jay had been possessed….

  Shock stilled his heart. He narrowed his eyes and forced himself to truly see those standing before him.

  Fury consumed his body. He telegraphed to Megan a silent order just as Sacks inched backward and grabbed Celine. A sickly smile touched the governor’s thin mouth. “Fine. But I’m taking someone with me to Shadow Island to face punishment.”

  All hell broke loose as his family rushed toward the governor, only to be blocked by a powerful force field thrown up as Bailey held out his hands.

  Gabriel saw red. He roared and shifted into Feral.

  The bars bent easily beneath the power of his hands. Dimly he realized Tristan had not caged him in a special prison meant for Trans-Ferals.

  He leaped out of the cage. Megan pushed past him.

  Talons grew out of the governor’s fingertips. He sank them into Celine’s chest. “I’ll rip her heart out,” Sacks snarled.

  Gabriel’s blood pressure dropped as his mother screamed in terror. He tested the force field and broke through, and then ground to a halt in shocked wonder.

  Megan transformed into a Trans-Feral. Her red eyes glowed with purpose, not savagery. She broke through the force field, grabbed Sacks and tossed him. The governor flew through the air, crashing against the cage. On him in seconds, she raised her right hand to swipe at him with her talons.

  Sacks snarled and lashed out at her.

  Only to find Megan had vanished. Sacks screamed. Blood gushed from a terrible wound on his chest. Blow after blow rained on the governor.

  Gabriel went for Bailey. The council leader’s eyes glowed red as he attacked. Using his powers, Gabriel tore the man to pieces.

  It was over. The dead bodies of Shadow Island’s governor and the head of the Draicon council lay on the ground. Bits of splintered bone and blood scattered over a wide path.

  Gabriel shifted back to human form and went to Megan. Her body was shaking badly, her red eyes filled with blood tears. I can’t do it. I can’t shift back.

  “It’s okay,” he soothed. “Just think of things that make you human.”

  Finally, she assumed her human form. Naked, she flushed with embarrassment. Gabriel waved his hand and clothed her, erasing the blood splatters from her body. He slid his arms around his mate.

  “I saw what you were, and for the first time in my life, I felt only a sense of pride and wonder in my abilities. Not shame and disgust,” he told her.

  His family looked stunned. Celine put a palm over her bleeding chest, whispering thanks to them both.

  The four remaining members of the council were pale with shock. “What, what was that?”

  Tristan materialized out of thin air. “That being how the head of your council and the governor of Shadow Island were actually hitchhiker demons, or that being what Gabriel and Megan did?”

  Gabriel hugged Megan, wondering what awaited them. If need be, he’d fight tooth and nail to keep her safe. She smiled at him.

  You don’t have to, my love. I can fight tooth and nail and fangs now.

  Joyous laughter spilled out of him. No matter what, he knew he finally had someone at his side who understood and accepted him.

  Tristan’s gaze softened. “I had to lock you up, Gabriel, to see if Megan would do what destiny called for her to do. To finally lose her inner
fear of what you are and bond with you in the flesh and the spirit and the heart through the mating lock.”

  “To become Trans-Feral?” Megan asked.

  “To exchange your powers.” Tristan poked at the governor’s remains with the toe of one biker boot. “Trans-Ferals have been extinct so long, Draicon forget their true purpose. Trans-Ferals are the only Draicon who can scent, flush out and kill any kind of demon. Demon magick doesn’t affect you. Ten years ago, a few hitchhiker demons escaped their prison in the other dimension. When they possess a body, they blend perfectly. Even when they become cruel, no one questions them because they have positions of power. After time, the host ceases to exist, his soul trapped forever with the demon’s until his body dies.”

  “You put me in a demon prison to make me constantly shift.” Gabriel realized the clever ploy.

  Tristan nodded. “You’d denied yourself so long, you needed to exercise the power to gain full strength.”

  His piercing green gaze filled with intelligence. “Two invisible slayers to kick demon ass will be a tremendous asset to hunting down the escaped hitchhiker demons.”

  “Does this mean we’re free?” Megan asked.

  The Phoenix’s face cracked into a wide smile. “Both of you.” Then he sobered. “Pay attention to your dreams, Megan. They aren’t nightmares, but visions to prepare you for the future. Share them with Gabriel.”

  Her eyes widened. “The creature in my dreams, it was Gabriel.”

  “The creature wasn’t going to hurt you, but your own fears made him into something he wasn’t. You have the gift of prophecy. No one ever taught you how to examine your visions and separate your emotions from the truth—” he glanced at Gabriel “—just as no one taught Gabriel when he was much younger how to harness and control his powers.”

  Tristan studied the council. “I suspect there’s a meeting I’ll be sitting in on, where I’ll act as the fifth member when the council votes to lift the suspension on Shadow Island. Gentlemen?”

  Not giving the shaken council members time to react, the Phoenix waved his hand. He vanished along with the council. Gabriel hugged Megan to his side.