by J. E. Cluney
One woman grabbed my hair as I was busy snapping one man’s wrist as he was mid-shift into a tiger, his other clawed hand swiping towards my face.
I slammed a foot into his crotch just as I was yanked backwards by my hair.
I grabbed the wrist holding my blonde locks, jamming my thumb into the pressure point in the wrist as her grip weakened.
Then I spun and smashed my fist into the redhead’s black lace mask, hearing the satisfying crunch as I broke her nose and blood spewed from her nose while she staggered away.
I landed a roundhouse kick on the werewolf to my side before falling to the floor as a leopard pounced at me.
I rolled and caught it by the tail, sliding it my way and straddling it.
In one quick motion, I’d snapped its neck and moved onto the next opponent.
All sorts of supes surrounded me as my aura overtook me, assisting me in defending myself.
I was panting and my muscles were aching as I moved with precision and speed unlike anyone else in the room.
A heavy hand clamped on my upper arm just as I was kicking a big brown wolf away, and I spun to face the half-shifted reptilian man.
I cursed as I saw the movement off to my side, but I couldn’t move fast enough as the lioness clamped onto my leg, it’s deadly claws slicing down my calf.
I shrieked, fear finally hitting me full force.
I couldn’t fight them all.
I was going to lose this.
My aura arm knocked the reptilian man away as I spied a grizzly bear moving in for me.
So many large predatory shifters now filled the room, and I focused on the lioness ripping into my leg.
I jammed my thumb into her eye, causing her to let go of my leg with her teeth, but her claws held on as she roared in agony while blood trickled down from her eye along with other strange oozing stuff.
I couldn’t die like this.
I needed to get Izzy out, to free Nate and all the others.
I was their only hope.
I wanted to see my mates again. I even wanted to see Jackson again.
Even just one last time.
I wouldn’t die here.
I screamed as my aura burned bright, and the power that filled me flung the lioness off me with ease as I closed my eyes.
I felt the two aura kitsunes spring forth from me, and I opened my eyes to find the unique wispy forms attacking those around me. Right before my eyes they solidified, perfect replicas of my half-shifted kitsune form, their four tails pulsing with the powerful aura as they hurled aside the supes.
I’d made clones.
Holy fucking hell.
I didn’t get time to be impressed by my achievement as another werewolf came for me.
I was going to kick ass alongside my aura clones.
I had this.
The tables quickly turned back in my favor as my clones had my back, and it was like a perfectly choreographed dance as we dealt with all the supes attacking us. Mostly werecreatures and shifters.
I could hear the Collector applauding as we all fought, his laughter ringing out over the snarls and shouts filling the large room.
I was just about to slam my heel down on the face of some punk-ass shifter when my whole body seized up.
“That’s enough!” The Collector’s voice rung out loud and clear throughout the room, and everybody froze.
I gave my clones a look of pure heartbreak as they dispersed into thin air.
No.
“Well, well, well. You are full of surprises, aren’t you,” the Collector called out, and I could hear the grin in his voice.
My feet lifted off the ground, but no sound of alarm rose out of me as I floated into the air, still completely frozen in an attack.
This was his doing.
My eyes fell on the Collector as I drifted closer to him, and he just smiled at me.
“A child from a Dorian would be the perfect addition to my team of warriors,” the Collector said as he cocked his head at me.
I wanted to punch him in the face, or kick him. But now that the adrenaline was slowly fading, my torn open calf was killing me.
I managed to glance down at it, wincing at the horrible mess of my leg.
“I’ve been informed Maurice has passed, but no matter, I’ll get another nurse to attend to your wounds,” the Collector stated as he eyed my leg. I was covered in blood now, my own blood mixed with the werewolves from earlier all over my arms, chest and face.
And then the blood all over my leg.
“You are quite special, Savage,” the Collector stated as he raised his hand.
I barely managed to bare my teeth at him before he snapped his fingers, hurling me into darkness.
30
I shot up, snarling as I sensed someone beside me.
“Sav, it’s me.”
I sighed as I drew in a deep breath, Nate’s face coming into focus.
He’d showered apparently.
Still had the scruffy beard and crazy hair, but no more grime or strong B.O.
“When did you get to shower?” I grumbled as I found myself sitting in his bed, back in the cell.
Shit.
Disappointment filled me as I numbly pulled the blanket back.
I was in a new set of lacy black bra and panties, apparently having been washed when someone had tended to my wounds. My arms were bandaged, along with my leg. I probably had some stitches too I’d imagine.
“They sent me off to the showers a while ago, when I returned, you were in my bed, out cold,” Nate said as he gave me a sad smile.
‘Guess your plan didn’t work then, huh?’ he asked mentally.
‘No shit,’ I growled.
‘I was told I was to continue breeding with you once you were awake. They want you to conceive.’
‘Of course they do.’
‘I’m not going to take advantage of you. You’ve obviously been hurt.’
‘Nothing I won’t recover from. Did they say what would happen if we didn’t?’
He just shrugged as he eyed the camera on the ceiling, and I pried into his mind.
I just gave a sharp laugh at what I found.
They intended to break a finger or limb each time he refused an order from now on.
And then he’d still have to mate.
‘They can’t force me to do shit, I can take broken bones.’
‘Yeah, but why do that to yourself?’
‘So they can’t use us. Use you. If you do end up pregnant, who knows what they’ll do to it.’
I instantly thought of the children I fought, and his face turned to one of despair.
Yeah. I knew exactly what would happen to it.
‘Just do it. I could use the distraction right now,’ I said as I lay back down. I felt numb and defeated right now, like all my effort had been for nothing.
How was I meant to escape this horrid place?
‘I’m not doing that while you’re unwell,’ he sighed as he slid under the blankets and slung a comforting arm over my waist.
‘It’ll help me deal with this. Please, sex has always helped me handle things and think clearly, and I can’t let them hurt you,’ I thought to him as I rolled over in his arms.
Hell, even my teeth felt like someone had brushed them.
‘Pretty sure they did, they even let me brush mine.’
Good. Then I could take control of this myself.
I leaned up, brushing my lips against his. They were cracked and dry, despite having the basin beside his toilet to drink from. That’s how Izzy and I had survived.
Guess the lack of everything else — sunlight, proper food, a life — took its toll.
He stiffened as I kissed him, my tongue running over his lower lip gently.
‘Just let me feel something good.’
He relaxed and opened his mouth, allowing me to deepen the kiss as his arm tightened around my waist.
My body was aching a little, but I imagined they’d dosed me up with some
pretty decent painkillers or something considering I couldn’t feel much.
He eased me onto my back as he began to kiss me back, his tongue exploring my mouth and stroking my own.
I trailed my fingers down his back, loving how he moaned at my soft touch.
He pulled back to nibble and suck on my lower lip, and it was enough to send all the heat downstairs.
God, he sure knew how to kiss as he moved back in to explore my mouth once more. His lips were gentle and sweet, and I barely noticed how cracked and dry they were now as his hands began to explore my body. His fingers left heated trails across my skin as he traced my ribs and side ever so delicately.
I quivered as his chest hovered just over mine, and I slid my hands around to feel down his toned body. I ran them over every inch of his torso, loving his warmth and musky scent as he moved to kiss and nip my neck.
His arousal was pushing into my stomach now, and I ran my fingers down to the hem of his briefs he had on.
He moaned as I danced my fingers along it, hooking them in the waistband teasing him.
“Damn,” he growled beside my ear as his hands moved under me.
He raised me up and unhooked my bra, sliding it down off my shoulders. The way he touched my skin made my whole body react like it was on fire.
And to think my leg had been torn open earlier.
His fingertips brushed down my arms as he ravished my neck and collarbone, and then he was sliding down under the blanket.
A low moan escaped my lips as his mouth found my left nipple. He licked it and suckled, rolling his tongue over the bud as I arched into him.
Hot damn, how I needed this right now to be taken away from it all.
He chuckled softly as his hands continued down and caressed my hips.
I was getting so wet from this teasing, and I could smell our joint desires seeping from beneath the blanket.
I ignored the growls around me from the other cells as the other males got excited.
I’d focus on this, on feeling something good.
I gasped as he nipped my nipple, catching the bud in his teeth and tugging on it softly.
And then his hands were straying along my panties, teasing and tempting me. I just closed my eyes as I focused on the sensations.
‘You smell so fucking good down there,’ he murmured into my mind, followed by a deep growl.
He switched up breasts, nibbling and suckling on the other as his hands stroked my inner thighs and continued to just toy with me.
He was careful not to bump my injured calf, which I was grateful for.
I savored every moment of it as I dragged my fingers down his back, loving his muscles as they flexed and moved beneath my fingers.
And then he was sliding down my body, kissing down my navel as my heart fluttered in excitement.
My panties were tugged at, and I had the briefest thought of how I hadn’t showered myself. Was I still dirty down there?
‘I can smell only traces of myself and you,’ he assured me as he slowly slid my panties down.
I gasped as he nuzzled me down there, his tongue flicking out to capture my wetness.
And then he was using his fingers to test me as his mouth found my clit.
I just moaned in pure delight as he began suckling on it, swirling his tongue as he slid a single finger inside me.
I tried not to rock into him as he suckled, and he eventually added a second finger inside me as he stroked me. God, he was good.
I couldn’t contain the soft moans now as my hips moved with him, and he used his free hand to hold me down as he savored pleasuring me.
‘I’ll make you get so close that you’re begging me to take you.’
Fuck. Me.
I arched back as the bliss built up, and I begged him mentally to quicken his pace.
Only his deep chuckles filled my head as he slowed down.
That little fucker.
I groaned as I tried to move against him, desperate for my release, but instead, he just pulled his fingers free of me and moved up to kiss my neck, leaving me desperately wanting my orgasm.
‘How badly do you want it?’
‘More than anything.’
‘Really? You’d beg for it?’
‘I already begged you not to stop.’
’Tell me how badly you want it, tell me how much you need me,’ he purred in my mind as he ground himself against me, still wearing his briefs.
God, he was driving me mad with hungry desire now.
‘I need it more than anything, I need you, all of you, inside me, making me finish. I need it all so badly,’ I admitted, hooking my legs around his waist and grinding into his briefs.
He growled, a deep, animalistic sound as he bit down hard on my neck and made me gasp.
And then his hands were sliding between our bodies, and I could feel him removing his briefs.
Fuck yes. Finally.
He gripped my hip with one hand as he prodded my soaking entrance, teasing me as he swirled the tip of his length against me as I throbbed and ached for him.
“Please,” I whimpered out loud. He pulled back, those stormy grey eyes focusing on my own sapphire orbs.
He didn’t break his gaze as he eased inside me, holding my hip down hard as I tried to arch into him and take all of him.
He dictated our pace as he thrust into me, not looking away from me.
I was ensnared in his gaze, lost in those murky grey depths.
“Nate,” I breathed as my body shivered in anticipation, my bliss teetering on the edge.
So close now.
He smiled at me, and then I gasped, still staring at him as he began hammering into me, his other hand moving to tease my clit.
The fiery pink and white light scorched through me, blinding me as I cried out and my legs tightened around his waist.
He grunted and growled as he drove into me a few more times before he joined me in the perfect orgasm.
As the bliss and affection swirled through me, I found myself in the white void once more.
This time, we were lying side by side, entangled in one another’s limbs as he stroked my hair and I nuzzled his chest. He had just the stubble again, but his dark brown hair was short and ruffled this time.
“You look so gorgeous when you finish,” he murmured as he kissed my neck sweetly.
“I don’t make any horrible sex faces?” I snorted, and he just laughed.
“No, not at all. A look of pure bliss is all you have, and knowing I put that there is enough to make me finish,” he said softly.
“I don’t know if you make any faces, I normally finish first,” I chuckled softly as I relished the sweet, tender moment. All my worries and fears had faded away in this void. It was just him and I. Nothing else.
“That’s how it should always be. The man cannot finish until his woman is satisfied. Especially if they’re mates.”
“Good to know.”
“So, Savage is your name?” Nate asked as he twirled a strand of my hair in his fingers.
“Yeah, I was born Savannah though.”
“Why’d you change it?”
I just smirked at the question. I pictured my adopted father and brother, projecting them to him as I mentally explained everything in a series of images.
This lasted a few minutes as I gave him a rough rundown on my life, right up until I was kidnapped.
“Damn, that’s full on,” he said once I’d finished up.
“Yeah, but it’s my life,” I shrugged.
“I’ll try to show you mine too,” he murmured.
I closed my eyes as images of him and his mother and fathers filled my mind. He had a sister and two brothers. His mother was a kitsune too, along with his biological father.
I learned that he had left when he’d turned eighteen, wanting to explore the world and see if he could find a mate. He’d travelled and been with many female supes, but none connected with him.
Male kitsunes could choose a mate as well,
but only a singular mate, if not selected by a female kitsune. It was much harder and rarer for their kitsune side to choose a female for them though, and he’d hoped he would be a lucky one.
He’d never found one, and then his bracelet had broken. And he’d wound up here.
It was a life I was a little jealous of. A perfect, normal family knowing what he was, the freedom to make his own choices.
And yet, I wouldn’t change my past. Because it had made me who I was now.
We lay in a comfortable silence for a while, just enjoying the blissful moment. Too bad there was a part of my mind niggling at me, reminding me that this was not real. That I had issues to deal with in the real world.
As to where I was, I had no idea. A special place in our joined minds I guess.
“I think so,” Nate agreed. “A safe place in our minds, away from outside forces.”
“Yeah, but we have real problems. We can’t just hide here,” I sighed.
“I’d rather be here willingly than a prisoner out there,” he muttered as he nuzzled my hair.
“How long could we even stay here?” I asked softly.
“As long as we want.”
As much as I wanted to believe that, I knew I needed to go back.
Something felt strange now, like a shadow was falling upon us.
“I think something is bothering your body out there,” Nate remarked as he pulled back, frowning as he looked around us.
“Maybe,” I murmured.
And then I was back in the bed with him, his body still over me, held up with just one arm.
But I knew what had been bothering me now.
The Collector’s voice over the speakers.
He wanted to see me.
31
“She’s not going,” Nate growled as Tubby waltzed over to the cell.
“The Collector’s orders,” Tubby growled, obviously still pissed at me. His voice was raspy and hushed, and the bruising around his neck was evident from me choking him. I was surprised he was still working.
I was huddled under the blanket in Nate’s arms as he held me protectively against his chest.
“If you don’t comply, he’ll just force you,” Tubby groaned as he massaged his temple and then touched his neck gingerly. He wasn’t big on talking right now.
“He’s right,” I muttered. As much as I hated it, he was right.