Masters of the Hunt: Fated and Forbidden

by Sarra Cannon

  The footsteps grew closer, the guard’s stride gaining speed. Her mate gave her one last look over his shoulder before he crouched into a pouncing position. Every inch of him hard and tense, ready. Able. Savage.

  The guard kicked the door open at the exact same moment the blue-eyed stranger struck. Sariel barely had a chance to see what happened because her mate moved so fast. The door had only just opened when his hand slashed across the guard’s throat, his other arm pushing the man to the floor as blood sprayed from his neck. Before Sariel could even take a breath, her mate turned—eyes glowing, chest heaving—and looked right at her. She could feel the tension between them, relished in the tightening of the bond. The connection to him. Her mate had killed for her. Had protected her and the young one they were responsible for. He’d proven himself as a strong and able male. God, was that sexy in a very primal, animalistic kind of way.

  “We go. Now.” His words were an order, almost nothing more than a grunt. Sariel nodded. She may have been strong with the power of her Omega, but this beast was a totally different animal. He could raze the world if he needed to, and she knew it. She sensed it. That knowledge made something ancient and carnal burn through her blood, a form of attraction that had her growling low and soft. Her mate responded with his own growl, his light eyes following her as she stood and moved closer. But before Sariel could take more than a few steps, Angelita grabbed her hand, pulling her out of the moment.

  “What do we do?” Angelita asked, sounding slightly panicked. Understandably so.

  Sariel stared into the fiery eyes of her mate, refusing to look away even as she sensed how much more wolf than man he was at that moment. “We do whatever he says. We follow him from here on out.”

  The man grunted, still watching her. She felt more than saw his wolf recede, those eyes going from washed-out topaz to bright silver. Swirling in a way that pinged something in her memory. Something she’d learned about but never seen.

  He held Sariel’s gaze until she faltered. The moment had gotten too intense, the pull to him too hard to resist. She had to break the spell. He glanced from Sariel to Angelita, eyes hard and face giving nothing away, before motioning them over to the far side of the houseboat.

  “Up and out, ladies.”

  The three slipped out the window, dropping into the water below. Sariel hated the feeling of the water surrounding her. Hated even more knowing there were things beneath the surface that were more predator than she was. Though she doubted they were more predator than her mate.

  The three swam and waded their way through the dark water and mucky riverbed, trudging on until they reached a spot of land dry enough to gain their footing. Sariel stumbled up the grassy land first, holding on to Angelita’s hand and pulling her along.

  “I never want to go swimming again,” Sariel said with a shiver. Her mate stalked out of the swamp, droplets of water and mud and muck clinging to every curve of his body. She bit her lip and shivered, pulling at her sodden clothes. “What now?”

  Her mate took a moment to investigate their location, looking all around them and even up to the sky. Sariel mimicked him, though she doubted she saw the things he did. Still, it was a joy to be standing outside looking up at the night sky above. The moon hung heavy, on its way to its pinnacle. Full moons always made her twitchy, made her inner animal itch to be released. Tonight was no different. Hell, the moon affected humans every month. It certainly affected shifters just as much.

  “They’re coming back.” Her mate looked over his shoulder, his eyes sharp and his chest still as he held his breath. He glared into the distance, a steely determination on his face. “We need to run.”

  “Wolf or human?”

  He turned to her, his eyes blue once more, swirling in the dark. “Wolf.”

  Sariel pulled her tank top over her head, glad to be rid of the sticky, wet fabric. The night air felt amazing against her skin, for once the humidity a benefit instead of an irritation. Her mate watched her, his eyes following her hands as she dropped them to the waistband of her shorts. She hooked her thumbs beneath the elastic and slid them over her hips. The weight of the water pulled them down her legs, and they fell to the grass with a muffled splat. Sariel kicked them off, standing on the balls of her feet, and stretched.

  “God, I’ve missed my wolf.” She wanted to dance in the night, celebrate being released from her cage, but she knew there was no time. Still, she stood brazen and bold, completely naked in front of her mate, and let the slight breeze blowing through the trees caress her body as it hadn’t in months. Her mate watched her, stared at her, ate her up with his eyes. His gaze slid over every curve of her body, head to toe, almost as if he was memorizing her. Every inch of her felt that stare, responding as if to touch. Nipples hard, goose bumps rising, Sariel held still and let her mate see her as she waited to let her wolf free.

  “I can’t.” The little voice may as well have been a bucket of ice water thrown over Sariel. She and her mate turned in an odd sort of unison, both staring at an extremely uncomfortable-looking Angelita.

  “What do you mean, you can’t?” Sariel asked.

  “I can’t shift on command. I’ve never been able to.”

  Her mate growled as the sound of an engine grew in the distance. “Our wolves have a better chance in this swamp.” He turned those glowing eyes on Angelita, the power of his inner wolf making the air feel thick and heavy. “Shift to your wolf.”

  Angelita whimpered and shook her head. “I can’t.”

  The thump of car doors closing reached Sariel’s sensitive ears, and her heart raced as she watched the showdown between man and girl.

  “Omega, you need to shift. Now.”

  Angelita met Sariel’s concerned gaze, her eyes wide with fear. “I can’t. I swear, I can’t. If I try, I’ll fail. I can’t even feel my wolf spirit right now.”

  Sariel looked to her mate, ready to follow his lead. He gave her a heated once-over, his eyes resting on her chest for a long second before meeting her own.

  “Shift.”

  With a nod, Sariel shifted to her wolf form, sinking fast to the gray wolf of her second form. The man went still, eyes wide as he looked off in the direction of the houseboats. The scent of something rotten and wrong met Sariel’s nose, and she shook her head to try to rid herself of the stench. The man breathed deeper, nostrils flaring, hands clenching into fists.

  “Motherfucker,” he hissed, turning back to the women. “Do you smell that, Omega? Do you sense the wrongness of the monster?”

  Angelita nodded, her eyes bouncing from the man to the darkness behind him.

  “That’s the scent of werewolf, little one. Real, honest to God, beasts of the moon, werewolves.”

  Angelita gasped and took a step back as Sariel whined, desperate to run. There weren’t a lot of things that could make her feel the level of terror currently winding around her heart, but the presence of a werewolf was certainly one of them. Half dead, rotting away under the full moons, werewolves were the epitome of all that was wrong with an animal and human mix. They hunted relentlessly, killed indiscriminately, and wreaked havoc for three nights whenever the full moon lit up the sky. The way it did that night. And—the most terrifying fact of all—they only hunted female shifters. They attacked mercilessly, sometimes wiping out every female in a pack in one night, feeding off the bodies of the fallen women. A fact that led most shewolves to run for their lives when the beasts showed up. And damn, did Sariel want to run.

  “Omega,” the man said, the stiff set of his jaw the only outward sign of the tension that had to be nearly suffocating him. “We have to—”

  “I can’t!” Angelita exclaimed, her breaths coming so fast, Sariel worried the girl would hyperventilate.

  Sariel whined and rubbed her side along Angelita’s legs, pushing her fur against the girl’s skin, wishing it was enough to get her to reach her wolf spirit. But Angelita stood, human as ever, trembling and gasping in her fright. Sariel had one terrifying moment w
hen her mate turned as if to leave them, thinking he’d run off and leave Angelita behind. But she should have known better.

  With a growl, her mate grabbed Angelita around her waist, hauling her off her feet. The girl yelped as he tossed her on his back and began to move, strides long and aggressive. In two steps, he morphed from man to animal, his sterling wolf form taller and longer than her own. A huge, uniquely colored beast that almost made her stop in her tracks.

  A Dire Wolf.

  Assumed extinct, Dire Wolves had been the gladiators of the shifter world. Their size and strength were legendary, their fierceness in battle told in stories to that day over campfires and with a sense of respect, of reverence and fear. No one had seen a Dire Wolf for over two hundred years. Until tonight, of course. The size of him, the heaviness of his muscles, the breadth of his shoulders, and the unique ermine spots along his back and haunches revealed her mate for what he truly was. A beast of battle; a weapon in the war on the worst of the things that went bump in the night.

  Oh hell, what had the fates been thinking?

  Her mate ran hard and fast. Sariel followed, struggling to keep pace with him but refusing to slow him down. Angelita clung to his thick neck with her eyes squeezed shut. Sariel wished she could comfort the girl, could tell her things would be okay, but as the sound of men’s voices reached their ears, even she doubted.

  They yelled and hollered, splashing through the water behind her. Sariel ran harder, desperate to put distance between her and her captors. Her mate growled with every stride, his paws eating up the earth under their feet.

  And then the howling began. Deep and dark, not a sound a shifter would make. The call of a werewolf on the hunt. She whimpered on the second howl, stumbled on the third. Once she regained her footing, her mate edged closer, brushing his shoulder against hers with every step. Sariel took what comfort she could from his presence and ran harder.

  Sariel and her mate raced through the woods along the riverbank, paws flying across the swampy earth. She followed his lead, stretching her body to keep up as best she could. She had a feeling he was running at a slower pace for her, and she didn’t want to hold him back. Plus the sounds of the animal chasing them was enough to make her want to run faster. To escape. To live.

  About an hour into their run, deep in a wilderness that made Sariel’s hackles rise, Angelita pulled the man to a stop.

  “I think I’m ready now,” she said.

  Sariel’s mate shifted to his human form, dropping to one knee in front of the girl so he could look her in the eye. “We must hurry. Shift.”

  Angelita closed her eyes, curled her hands into fists, and for several minutes, she struggled, trying to pull her inner wolf forward. Sariel waited and watched, her heart breaking for the girl. Shifting forms, while natural, still took time to learn. It took strength and mental skill to access the magic of their kind. Angelita wasn’t ready yet.

  The Dire glanced at Sariel before placing a hand on Angelita’s arm, stopping her. “Omega, we need to keep moving.”

  “I can do this.”

  “No, I don’t think you can.”

  “Yes.” Angelita’s eyes went dark, her shoulders back and her hands in fists. “I’ll show you. I just need a minute.”

  The man glanced around the woods. “We don’t have a minute.”

  “I can do this on my own.” Angelita’s voice rose, almost yelling at the man.

  He glared at her, eyes swirled with liquid silver and glowing. “Then shift, Omega.”

  “Give me a minute,” Angelita cried, her face red.

  “No, we must move.” He grabbed her arm at the elbow and placed his other hand on her forehead. “Shift, now.”

  Sariel took a step back, growling at the energy she sensed surging from the earth. Angelita’s eyes went wide as what felt an awful lot like some kind of bastardized Alpha-order exploded into the clearing. She dropped her head back, body tense as the force around her brought her to her toes, stretching her up. Bending her body to someone else’s will. Angelita’s jaw fell open, her throat working as if to scream, but no sound came out. She was silent, stretched and taut and screaming her agony in her own mind.

  Slowly, Angelita’s body began to change, bones and muscles rearranging themselves into a lupine shape. The girl trembled, body tense, fighting every alteration. Sariel whimpered as she watched, horrified, until she couldn’t take it any longer. Changing so slowly would be painful—more than just painful, it would be torture.

  Sariel shifted human, yelling to Angelita even before she’d fully made the switch. “Relax, don’t fight it. It won’t hurt so much if you stop fighting.”

  Angelita’s head fell to the side, her eyes meeting Sariel’s. The older shifter nodded, giving the girl a small smile.

  “It’ll be okay; just fall into it. Let your wolf take over. She’ll protect you.”

  As Angelita began to shift faster, closing her eyes and letting her wolf push through, Sariel walked to the side of her mate. His body tensed as she approached, his eyes locked on the shifting form of the younger girl. Sariel saw his regret in the clench of his jaw, the tic of a muscle near his eye. He hadn’t meant for Angelita’s shift to go so wrong.

  Sariel walked right up beside him, purposely brushing her shoulder against his arm. He jerked and looked down, obviously surprised when her skin met his. Sariel waited, watching him, keeping her body against his. Wolves as pack animals relied on touch; they needed it. Touch from a packmate could calm the nerves or lessen a bout of sadness. Her mate acted as if he didn’t like to be touched, but Sariel knew differently. It was part of who they were, in their nature. Touch healed.

  Sariel stayed where she was, leaning into his arm until he sighed and pressed back. Taking comfort and giving it, all at the same time. She smiled up at him before leaning her head against his bicep and looking back to where Angelita stood. And then they waited for the young girl to finish the longest shift Sariel had ever seen.

  Once fully wolf, Angelita fell to the grassy floor of the forest. Sariel followed, shifting to her wolf without moving away from her mate, brushing her fur against his leg as she waited. Angelita’s red wolf was petite but obviously strong, with a lean yet muscular physique. Sariel knew she’d be able to handle the run once she recovered from that horrible shift. It took Angelita several seconds to be able to push to her feet, her chest still heaving and her legs wobbly. She looked exhausted. Sariel hurried to her, nuzzling and whining at the little wolf. Her mate shifted back to his animal form as well, the wolves huddling together to comfort their youngest member.

  Sariel’s mate was the first to break contact, moving a few steps away and scenting the air around them for signs of danger. There was no rot on the air, no sound of a beast coming after them through the woods. Still, Sariel worried. Her mate must have as well, because with a huff and a quiet yip, he ran ahead, the two shewolves immediately following him through the night. Sariel stayed next to Angelita, refusing to take even one step in front of the girl. She would not allow Angelita to be left behind.

  Eventually, the man led them to a dusty old Jeep with gigantic tires parked along a stretch of road so rough and buried in the trees, she doubted most people even knew it was there. Perhaps a service road or fire stop. Whatever it was, she’d never been happier to see a vehicle in her entire life. Especially one that looked made for off-roading.

  Her mate shifted as they approached the Jeep, never breaking stride while he went from four feet to two. Sariel followed, cracking her neck as skin replaced fur. Angelita stayed wolf, probably too afraid of getting stuck in her human form to shift back. Naked and dirty, Sariel and her mate hurried to the Jeep with Angelita padding along behind them. Sariel held open the passenger door for the wolf, giving Angelita enough room to jump into the backseat before hopping into the front.

  As her mate turned the key that had been left in the ignition, he glanced at Sariel. She could only imagine what a sight she had to be. Naked, filthy, covered in muck and God
knew what else from the swamp. She fidgeted in her seat, crossing her legs and bringing her hands to her knees. He swallowed hard, but then he looked away.

  “There’s a blanket and a pack of clothes in the back if you can reach them.” He slammed on the gas as he spoke, the tires kicking up dirt as they raced down the road.

  Sariel reached behind her, grabbing a blanket to wrap around herself and tossing a small cylinder of fabric at him. “This is all that’s back there.”

  He unwrapped the fabric, unrolling a shirt and a pair of ratty camouflage shorts that looked as if they’d come from some kind of uniform pants. He handed her the clothes, barely flicking a glance her way. She fingered the edge of the shorts fabric, suddenly nervous.

  “Um, here.” She handed him the shorts, trying hard not to stare at his naked body. Trying and failing. He was so masculine, so ridiculously muscled. But even that couldn’t describe him fully. The man was simply big…tall and broad, muscular and strong. A solid wall of wolf shifter.

  She couldn’t help but let her eyes wander over his hands as they wrapped around the steering wheel, down his rigid arms, to the rounded muscles of his shoulders. His jaw clenched as she inspected him, from his chin to his nose, back down along his neck to his chest. Lower still, over the curves and ripples of his abs, dancing along his Adonis belt before straying to where his thick penis rested against his thigh. Big, like him. Blunt and fat. Sariel shivered but took a deep breath, fighting off the wave of arousal seeing him so free and naked caused. While she watched, his penis twitched, growing fuller with every second. Mesmerized, she stared, her mouth falling open, her breathing coming faster. Good Lord, he was just so thick.

  They hit a rough bump in the road, causing the Jeep to jerk hard to one side. Sariel ripped her eyes away from her mate’s lap, her cheeks heating when she found him staring at her. Watching her. Knowing what she was looking at and probably how it made her feel. The mating haze was strong, the bond demanding. It didn’t matter that they were literally running for their lives, or that there was another person in the back seat. She wanted him, and she knew he could sense the desire pouring off of her.