He’d watched Fang so many times, standing at the edge of the falls. It had taken Fang hours to reach his destination because he was confined to making the hike in human skin. Shane had stalked and observed Fang patiently, feeling guilty all the same.
As they ran, the sound of water drew near. The air felt cleaner here somehow. Few humans or paranormals dared venture this far into the woods. The path turned narrow, treacherous. Eventually, the earth under his paws turned to fine sand. He spotted Fang padding along the bank, fur getting wet. Fiery-red fur turned back to skin. Shane halted, content to observe Fang wade deeper into the water, until his head was directly under the falls.
Water turned Fang’s inked muscles slick.
Fang met his gaze, as if he’d known Shane was there all along. “How long are you going to stay there?”
Shane trotted over, shifting as he changed from four legs to two. The water chilled his skin, but the longer Shane was submerged, the less he felt the temperature.
“I thought it would take you longer to figure out where I went,” Fang remarked.
They were within touching distance now. Shane’s dick had thickened, and he didn’t need to look down to see the boner Fang sported for him.
“I used to watch you when we were kids,” Shane admitted.
Fang didn’t look angry. He even let Shane trail his fingers down the hollow of his collarbones to the ring of metal pierced into the skin. Silver, he realized. That was why the wound never closed.
“Perv,” Fang said, making him laugh. Shane gave the ring a tug, which wrangled a rumbling sound from Fang. Fang closed his fingers over Shane’s shaft, making him groan. “Only fair I can touch you too.”
“Are we still playing a game?” Shane asked, dragging his hand down the trail of fine hairs leading to Fang’s abs and finally his rock-hard dick.
“No. Not anymore.” Fang gave the tip of his dick a squeeze, making Shane groan. Any more and Shane would lose it.
“I need to be inside you,” Shane gritted out. A growl slipped from his lips. “Need to make you mine now or I’ll go insane.”
His inner wolf growled in agreement. He’d always wondered if Fang would bottom for him. Sweeter still, if Fang would respond to his roughness with eventual acquiescence, would yield to Shane.
“Take me.” Fang’s eyes gleamed with challenge.
Shane grabbed him by the shoulder, spun him so his torso pressed against Fang’s slick back. He angled his prick right between Fang’s asscheeks. Placing one arm over Fang’s massive chest, he banded the over his stomach. Fang’s chest rose and fell above him.
“Fuck,” Shane whispered against the back of Fang’s neck. He pressed a kiss to that spot, unable to believe Fang would willingly submit to him. He cursed again, rubbing his dick between Fang’s asscheeks, and Fang spread his thighs further.
“Is that all you can say?” Fang demanded.
“Shut up,” Shane said fondly, reaching for Fang’s nipple ring again. “You like some pain to your pleasure, don’t you?”
“You know what I need.” Fang’s answer was barely a whisper.
“I do. Enough words. Take me inside you.”
Chapter Ten
Shane kept playing with the ring, loving every groan from Fang. He used his other hand to wedge Fang’s cheeks apart. He pushed one finger inside Fang’s hole. With the water surrounding them, there was little resistance.
Fang tensed, but not for long. Shane added a second digit and began to make twisting motions. He knew he wasn’t small, and that Fang could take him and would probably welcome the pain, but he didn’t want to hurt his mate. Shane curled his fingers and must have brushed against Fang’s sweet spot, judging by Fang’s sudden change in breathing.
“Give me your mouth,” he ordered.
Fang turned his head and offered his mouth so Shane could thrust his tongue down his throat. When he felt for Fang’s dick, he found Fang hard as steel, no doubt close to bursting.
Shane pulled his mouth away to say, “Don’t come unless I tell you to.”
Fang growled but didn’t say anything else. Shane pulled his fingers out and positioned his dick at Fang’s entrance.
“I’m going to fuck you senseless now.” Shane said the words to offer Fang one last way out, but Fang didn’t seem interested in changing his mind. “Spread those legs wider.”
Fang obeyed, and Shane guided his prick in. Shane grunted as Fang’s inner muscles clenched around his shaft.
“Breathe,” he commanded.
The muscles loosened a little. Once he passed the thick ring of muscles, he pushed himself to the hilt, until his balls brushed against the curve of Fang’s ass.
“Shane.” Fang uttered his name with such softness and tenderness, the words set every nerve in his body firing.
Blood rushed to his dick.
“Ready?” Shane asked, nipping at Fang’s neck, marking the spot where he would place his bite mark.
“Ride me hard.”
Shane gripped his waist, nails digging into skin, but that only seemed to rile Fang up. He began to thrust in and out of Fang. With each push, he went faster, deeper.
“Touch yourself,” he said, and felt Fang reach out to stroke his prick. Fuck. That was so hot. At this rate, Shane would blow. He slowed down a little, and judging by Fang’s frustrated snarl, he wasn’t the only one impatient about their mating.
“You can’t imagine how many times I’ve dreamt of this, me buried so deep inside you, you can’t breathe.”
Fang groaned at his words. Shane picked up his pace again, until the sound of the pounding water and their bodies slapping together filled his ears. He could hear his heartbeat too, and Fang’s, taking on an accelerated rhythm.
“Shane, I won’t be able to hold back,” Fang confessed, voice breathy with need.
“Just a little more.” Shane rolled his hips, changed his angle, and knew he’d hit Fang’s prostate when Fang let out a surprised gasp. With each stroke, he brushed against Fang’s sweet spot repeatedly. He was close to reaching orgasm too.
“Give it to me, Fang. You surrender,” he said. Fang let out a sigh of relief. Shane reached over and gave Fang’s tip a squeeze, pushing Fang over the edge.
Shane thrust inside Fang several more times, spearing his fingers through Fang’s hair. Seemingly knowing what to do, Fang bared his neck in submission.
With a triumphant growl, Shane pushed into him one last time. The pressure building in him broke as he emptied his load inside Fang. Unsheathing his fangs, he plunged them deep where Fang’s shoulder connected his neck.
Blood filled his mouth. Shane could sense their inner animals mating, become one life force. Fang tasted like power in his mouth, pure strength. Apart, they were nothing, lost, adrift—but together, they could be something amazing.
He felt something he hadn’t in a long time too, the bonds connecting him to the other members of his pack. Shane felt Drake jerk up in surprise and then the others. They paused from whatever they were doing. All of them were in the pack house, with Drake.
They didn’t know what was happening, what had brought on this metaphysical pulse, but they felt the life entering the invisible bonds that linked their wolves to the Alpha.
Shane hadn’t expected the reaction to spread to the other wolves who’d been away from home, from the pack for so long. He felt Talon, Jax, and Razor’s wolves again. Shane wasn’t sure where they were, but he wondered if they would swear fealty to the pack once they felt the strength of the bonds.
“My turn,” Fang said when Shane pulled his teeth away.
Shane pulled his dick out, and Fang turned in his arms. He felt Fang sinking his teeth into his left pectoral, the area near his heart. Shane couldn’t help but smile. How appropriate given Fang always had half of his heart.
Sealing the mate bond, Fang pulled his teeth away and rested his head against the curve of Shane’s shoulder. Shane stroked Fang’s hair. They stood like that for a couple of moments, not speaking.
Eventually, after they recovered their breathing and washed up, Shane planted a kiss on Fang’s lips. “Let’s get out of the water.”
They ended up on the bank, with Fang lying on his lap. Shane shut his eyes. Everything seemed different—cliché but true.
“Did you feel that, the others when I bit you?” Shane asked.
“Yes.” Fang reached out for his hand and twined their fingers together.
Shane realized he could stay right here forever, with Fang on his lap, hidden away from the rest of the world. Distantly, he knew they had reality to face, a mess to clean up, and a pack to build. It didn’t matter for now.
Not long ago, the immense responsibilities would have staggered Shane, weighed him down, but not anymore. Drake had asked him earlier that morning if he blamed Fang for leaving, but how could Shane, when the pack had driven Fang away?
It had taken them a while to reunite, to realize their paths would diverge and converge again, to discover that what they’d been searching for was right where they’d started.
Shane brushed a finger over the bite on Fang’s neck. A surge of possessiveness filled him. Once they got back to the pack house, he’d take care of the wound.
“You’re mine,” he said, surprised when Fang turned so he stared right up at Shane.
“I always was.”
Shane’s throat constricted before he felt a sudden throb in his head, as if he’d been whacked with a blunt object. Fang snarled on his lap. Did he feel that too?
Shane rubbed at his temples. His wolf told him to reach for the newly formed pack bonds, and when he did, he felt fear and fury on the other end. Fang rose to his feet and offered him a hand up. Words weren’t needed. The pack was in danger.
“Vampires?” Fang asked, brows furrowed.
“Not sure yet, but we need to hurry.” Shane reached for his wolf and Fang did the same.
Together, they raced back to the woods. The night sky bled stars above them. The woods no longer felt safe; instead, they smelled wrong somehow, as if his wolf knew their territory had been invaded by enemies. They headed straight for the pack house.
The smell of burning wood hit his nose, followed by a woman’s scream. Clara. Anger sparked inside Shane. How dare they attack a mother? Smoke rose from the line of trees.
He smelled it now, the scent of decay that lingered on vampires and something else—fur.
Motorcycle engines rumbled, mixed with the sound of laughter.
Confusion rippled in his mind for a moment.
Shane saw the broad back of a leather-clad man making his way to the pack house, shotgun in hand. A laughing skeleton perched on a bike along with the words ‘Laughing Corpse MC’ had been stitched on the asshole’s back.
The surviving vamps had allied themselves with the werehyenas in town.
Double fuck. Rage filled him, purified him, but a sharp bite to his ear made Shane falter. He saw Fang beside him, looking at him with concern.
Shane no longer had to shoulder this burden alone. When the vamps came for him, he’d been ready to die. Now, all he wanted was to live.
It was his job to make sure his pack survived the night.
Chapter Eleven
Shane shared a look with Fang and jerked his head to the left, then right. Fang understood they had to split up. Without hesitation, Fang ran toward the left.
Shane heard a man’s surprised scream a second later, and Fang’s snarl. He knew Fang could take care of himself.
Shane got rid of the werehyena with the gun. One down, but how many more to go?
Knowing that wading into the fight blindly without analyzing the situation wasn’t the best solution, Shane used the bushes for camouflage.
He recalled how the pack bonds had pulsed to life when he’d mated Fang. Were Drake and the others still in the main pack house, trapped and cornered?
Shane brushed against the bonds and tasted their fear and panic. Drake was with them, and he trusted his Beta to hold their attackers off until he arrived.
The vamps and hyenas must have had someone spying on the house. They’d attacked when his pack was at their most vulnerable, while Shane, Fang, and the other fighters were away. How much time did they have before the entire pack house burned to cinders?
By now, the local authorities would see the smoke rising from the valley. They would arrive too late.
Enraged, Shane revealed himself.
A vamp flew at him, crimson eyes glowing, fangs dripping with blood. The bloodsucker and he collided. Shane growled as the vamp wrapped his arms around his neck. He shook the leech off, about to end its miserable life when a hyena came at him from his blindside.
The beast collided with him, teeth on his throat. Shane fought with a ferocity he hadn’t realized existed in him anymore. Maybe being with Fang reminded him of life, of the future they could build together.
Snarling, he raked and clawed at the hyena. Another jumped in, and a third. How many of these pests were there? A fourth let out that strange, eerie laughing noise only hyenas could make.
These assholes were certain of their victory, but a wolf howl came from the trees. A wolf with mottled gray fur pushed the hyena off him. Another with a pure white pelt took the vamp running at him with a gun in hand. Razor arrived too, muzzle and fur bloody.
A roar came from near the entrance of the pack house. Fang had barreled past a group of vamps guarding the front door and burst inside.
Seeing Talon, Razor, and Jax sent adrenaline spiking through his veins. They must have smelled the smoke too. The three wolves looked to him for direction. Shane padded to the burning house and let out a roar. The others responded with yips.
He loped after his mate. Flames licked at his face and fur, but Shane pushed back the discomfort. Vamps barred their path again. Motorcycle engines started. Some of the hyenas started to leave, which meant less enemies to fight.
“Come back, you filthy animals. We had a deal,” a vamp screamed.
Shane took that one first, ripping out his throat and then making his way inside the house. The temperature was worse inside. Smoke clogged his lungs. The rugs and old hunting trophies on the wall burned.
A scream tore from the living room area. He spotted Fang tangling with a vamp, and Kit in wolf form, injured and bleeding. Beyond Fang, he spotted Drake and Grey fighting more vamps and the leftover hyenas.
Shane felt the others behind him, pouring into the house. He ran in the direction of the scream, the kitchen, knowing the other wolves had his back. He froze in the doorway, seeing Magnus with his hands wrapped around the throat of an unconscious wolf pup. Will.
He bared his teeth but couldn’t move a step. The backdoor leading outside was opened, but he knew Clara wouldn’t leave her mate and child behind.
Clara was on the floor, her tear-streaked face bruised and bloody. She held onto a blood-splattered wolf with one paw twisted underneath, the bone broken and peeking through fur. Beck. Seeing the faint rise and fall of Beck’s chest reassured him Beck was alive.
“Finally, the Alpha arrives,” Magnus sang out in a dramatic voice. The vampire king looked worse for wear, with claw marks running the entire left side of his face and throat. Fang’s work, he knew. “Change, Alpha, or I’ll rip out this little puppy’s throat.”
Clara let out a gasp, and on her lap, Beck let out weak snarl of protest.
Making one wrong move could cost Will his life. Shane returned to human. “Leave the wolf pup out of this, Magnus. He’d done you no wrong.”
Magnus let out a laugh. “No wrong? Look at my fucking face, dog. Look at what you’ve done to my coven. We used to be a dozen strong, with fledglings to add to our force.”
“You made a mistake in choosing this town,” Shane stated. He felt a furry head bump into his back. Even without turning, he knew it was Fang. Reaching behind him, he rested a hand on Fang’s head, urging him not to move yet.
Magnus’s crimson eyes narrowed, and Shane spied madness that hadn’t been there befor
e.
They understood each other. After all, Shane had spent many nights with this vampire’s fangs buried in his neck. To Magnus, Shane wasn’t merely just food, Magnus had reveled in Shane’s humiliation. Magnus wasn’t reckless or stupid; something had set the vampire king off, pushed him off the edge.
“You forget your place, dog. Acting all high and mighty now, just because your little friends are back?” Magnus sneered. “Don’t fool yourself. We both know what you are. You hated coming to me at first, but in the end, part of you wishes I’d end your miserable life.”
Fang hissed behind him. Shane tugged one ear in warning. He wished Fang wasn’t hearing all of this. Then realized he didn’t need to fear judgment from his mate.
“This isn’t about me. Let Will go.” There was a truth in Magnus’s words, a truth Shane refused to admit. He’d viewed his blood donations as obligation, self-sacrifice so his pack could live. Part of him had embraced the pain too.
“Why would I do that? You took everything from me. I’ll do the same. Look at this little runt. He represents the next generation of your pathetic pack. Too bad he won’t see the next light of day.” Magnus gripped Will’s fur.
Anger shimmered inside Shane, mingled with helplessness. Even Fang grew silent behind him, tense. None of them could do anything. Magnus knew where to strike. If Will perished, Shane would never be able to forgive himself. Fuck. Will was innocent.
Wait, the wolf inside him whispered.
The little pup stirred, opening its eyes. Seeing the vamp, Will began to fight, to clamp his little teeth over Magnus’s arm. Shane held his breath.
Shrieking, Magnus tossed Will away. Clara moved, catching her son. Shane tackled Magnus to the ground.
“Clara, leave with Will. Fang will get Beck out,” he yelled.
Shane worried Fang wouldn’t obey his command, that the instinct to come to his aid would come first. Growling, Fang shifted back to human and hefted Beck in his arms. Seeing Fang follow Clara out the house filled him with relief. Brushing against the pack bonds told him the others were rushing out of the burning house too.
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