But for right now, she wanted him to come inside her and complete the claiming. If he had been an Alpha, this would have gone much differently. But she pushed that thought out of her mind by increasing her pace. Her calves were on fire, but she wanted, needed to come again. This time, he was going to come with her.
His moans were muffled as he sucked on her breasts. Nizhoni held his head to them and she felt his teeth as he started to shake. Confident he was moments behind her, she let go as the sheer joy and release drenched her. In the very back of her brain, she felt an enraged howl. It shook her and she tightened her entire body in shock. That roar sounded so much like Tulley. Thankfully, Sike didn’t notice. And her squeezing around his cock caused him to come. His possessive howl erased the echo of that phantom presence.
Covering his face with little kisses, she wanted to be joined to him forever. Her heart fluttered. She had a mate. Soon, she’d have a family.
“Thank you,” Sike murmured, stroking his hand up her back. “We probably woke up the entire ward.”
“Good,” she said. “Now they’ll know that their handsome doctor is all mine.” She wasn’t a lovey-dovey type of person, but the endorphins flooding through her made her gooey inside for him. He was all hers. The newness of their mating bond hummed along her veins. It was as if he had always been there.
Reluctantly, she unstraddled him and cleaned up the best she could in the small bathroom attached to the office. She was dressed before he even moved from the chair and she laughed at his dazed expression.
“I’ll see you tonight,” she said, placing a possessive kiss on his lips.
As she left the office, the fetid trail hit her again, stronger this time. It must have come closer when it noticed she was distracted. Or was she experiencing the heightened senses of a mated wolf?
Shaking off the mating stupor, Nizhoni went door to door throughout the reservation, following the evil trail she’d sensed in the hospital. She wasn’t surprised to see it lead to the area where their healers were chanting over the sand paintings that were being sanctified for the COVID-19 patients.
A flash caught her eye and evil filled her senses. She fired the shotgun at the leaping figure. The answering howl of pain made her drop the rifle. The holy water was useless. This was not a supernatural creature. It was a skinwalker, but it stunk like a rotting corpse. Here was the source of the fetid stench she had been tracking.
Nizhoni had fully shifted into her werewolf form when the skinwalker recovered from the blast and lunged for her. They rolled for dominance, snapping and biting at each other. She would rip the abomination apart.
This thing was once Diné, like Nizhoni. Unlike Nizhoni, it had killed a loved one to gain powers similar to a werewolf, but it could only shift by wearing the dead pelt of an animal. Because it thrived on pain, the power it would gain from the deaths of the humans would make it near unstoppable. This one was coated in a bad medicine that almost choked her. It was wearing the pelt of a diseased creature. She should have realized what it was long before now. Had her senses been awakened, she might have been able to track it sooner and kept it far away from the reservation.
Had it been trying to steal medicine? Did it want to kill and devour a recovering patient in the hope that would cure it?
The disease-ravaged monster took advantage of an opening and sank its teeth into her shoulder, while she chided herself at waiting to mate Sike. Her howl was more of rage than pain, and it shrank back from the death it must have seen in her eyes.
Disemboweling the creature, she shook it off her, snapping its neck just to make sure. She tried to shift back to human, but her knees buckled. There had been venom in its bite. That was wrong on all levels. If she could just get to her home or to Sike, she wouldn’t be so vulnerable.
Her vision wavered, but she forced herself to stagger forward. Had it infected her with the skinwalker version of COVID 19? If she was attacked now by the other skinwalkers, she would be done for. Nizhoni dreaded what the skinwalkers would do if they wore her pelt. Fear drilled through her and she howled for her mate. He would protect her. Cringing because she hated the need in her voice, Nizhoni pushed herself to take a step closer to safety. Her mate was beta, but he could still fight. He would keep any enemies away if they dared to attack her while she shook off whatever had been in the bite.
The answering roar shook her prone and she resisted rolling on her back to expose her throat and stomach to the all-powerful demand. The ground trembled and the trees shook. In the distance, she saw an immense wolf tearing up the landscape. Holy shit. It was Tulley.
Mine, her wolf claimed.
You can’t have both, she told her, but suddenly she wasn’t so sure. He shouldn’t be so close and in wolf form. Where was his truck? And she shouldn’t feel the mating urge anymore. She needed to get inside, to Sike, her mate.
“Diseased skinwalkers,” she growled the warning at Tulley. “With venom in their bite. Stay away. I could be contagious. Only my mate is immune.”
“I know.” He didn’t vocalize, just spoke inside her mind like he belonged there.
Shaking, Nizhoni took another painful step forward, but Tulley was suddenly there in human form. He lifted her into his arms. Closing her eyes, she couldn’t even argue with him. As always, he did what he wanted. And now he could be infected.
“Take me to my house,” she whispered. “The human children are in yours.”
Without a word, he strode across town, carrying her as if she weighed nothing. She saw he had open wounds on his torso. It made her want to twist out of his arms and demand vengeance, but she was losing her battle with consciousness.
“Don’t let them have my pelt,” she murmured.
“Never.” His angry snarl soothed her and she stopped fighting the darkness closing over her.
***
Wake, her wolf demanded.
Eyes flying open, Nizhoni rolled out of her bed and stumbled to the door. Tulley’s wide back blocked her from seeing outdoors, but she felt the tug of her mate on the other side. Ducking under Tulley’s arm, she put herself between Sike and Tulley. As a beta wolf, Sike couldn’t push past the Alpha wolf in front of him. Sike’s entire body was shaking with the need to lower his eyes and submit, but he was resisting, drawing on her power through their mating bond. Tulley would take that as a challenge and kill him if she didn’t stop this immediately.
Sike relaxed when he saw her and buried his nose in her hair. “You’re all right.”
“Get inside,” Tulley gritted out.
She let his Alpha power roll off her. He was not Alpha here. While he might be stronger, this was her town. Forcing her eyes up to him, Nizhoni knew the trick wasn’t defying his order. She would lose a head-to-head battle with him. He was too powerful. She could, however, go around him.
“Let my mate go,” Sike gritted out.
“She is not your mate,” Tulley shouted, and if power could terminate a mating bond, theirs would have disappeared.
As it was, she shivered from the strength of his conviction. Sike hooked his arm around her waist and tugged her up against him, away from Tulley. Sike was not stupid. He knew he couldn’t win in a fight against Tulley, but he wouldn’t stand down either. His eyes were closed and his face buried in her shoulder.
Tulley took a step forward.
“Use your senses,” Nizhoni said, trying to be reasonable.
“I can smell that you fucked him, but that scent will wash off,” Tulley said.
Sike growled low in his throat.
“Is that a challenge?” Tulley said.
“No. I forbid it.” Nizhoni deliberately turned her back on Tulley. His power rammed against hers in displeasure. She cupped her hands on Sike’s face. “Go back to the hospital. Tulley and I need to take care of any remaining skinwalkers in the area.”
“They’re gone,” Tulley spat. “For now.”
She couldn’t sense them. Couldn’t sense anything o
ver the confusing feelings coursing through her. “Be careful, Sike,” she said. “They’re not normal. Get to safety. Stay with your patients.” If she told him the skinwalkers were diseased, he might be tempted to try to cure them. He took his oath as a doctor very seriously.
“You called for me,” he said.
“You were too late,” Tulley snarled.
“Was I?” Sike said, silkily.
The only reason Tulley didn’t kill him for that was because Sike’s eyes were lowered when he said it and Nizhoni slammed her hand on Tulley’s chest to stop him. “Sike, please. Go. I’ll see you later.”
Sike stepped in and kissed her.
Tulley’s growl would have cowed a lesser wolf, but not her mate. “Be careful. Even now you might be carrying our child.”
Tulley advanced on him, making her feet slide in the dirt as she tried to hold him back. But again, Sike saved his life by backing away with his eyes lowered.
“Get in the house,” Tulley said softly, but the menace in his voice did crazy things to her libido. Things that didn’t happen to a mated werewolf.
“Why am I okay?” She put a hand to her neck. The wound was gone. She didn’t feel the disease in her or the venom that had sapped her strength.
“I healed you,” he said, advancing on her.
Relief made her knees weak, and she stumbled backing up into the house. “Where’s the truck and the supplies?” she asked.
“I was ambushed by human looters.” He kicked her door shut and stalked her. Every step she took back, he took one forward until her back was against the wall.
“Did they have silver bullets?” Nizhoni asked, gasping as he pressed his body against hers.
“Yes, and four of the diseased skinwalkers. After killing them, I ran to town as fast as I could.”
Biting her lip to keep from whimpering, she closed her eyes as he rubbed himself up and down. “You can’t do this,” she breathed. “Things are different now.”
“Stop me,” he said, settling his hips between her thighs. “Tell me no. Tell me you don’t want this. Want me.”
“I mated Sike today.” She resisted the urge to grind on his hardness. “Less than an hour ago. I claimed him as mine. He claimed me as his.”
“Wrong,” Tulley said. “He may be yours. But you are not his.”
She locked gazes with him as he dry-fucked her slow with their clothes between them. She met him stroke for stroke, her hips moving against his cock. He was going to make her come like this. But that was impossible. She still felt Sike’s mating link in her mind. She shouldn’t be responding to Tulley.
“Why are you doing this?” It took everything she had not to sink to her knees and take Tulley into her mouth. They’d played like this before, but he always walked away to stop the mating bond from happening. He didn’t act like he was going to stop this time. It thrilled her and made her panic.
“Because you’re mine.”
The words shivered through her. “Too late,” she said sadly.
“Is it?” He tore her shirt open, shredding it off her. “I hate his scent on you.”
“He’s my mate.”
Tulley took in a deep breath, in an attempt, she recognized, to stop his temper from exploding. “You’re not listening. That beta wolf may be your mate. But you, my delicious Alpha, belong to me.”
“You don’t want a mate,” Nizhoni said, trying to hold on to her sanity.
“I want your mouth on me.” He pushed her to her knees and she went willingly.
Greedily, she undid his buckle and unzipped his pants. If she was truly mated, she would feel repugnance at any sexual act that wasn’t with her mate. Instead, Nizhoni eagerly took Tulley’s cock into her mouth and sucked on it with the ease of long practice. In the past, only one of them could come. If both of them came, it would set the mating bond. So they would take turns pleasuring each other every time he visited.
Had they accidentally mated at some point over the years?
If they had, she shouldn’t have been able to climax with Sike. A throb of guilt passed through her, but then Tulley yanked hard on her hair and took over the pace, fucking her mouth while glaring down at her.
“Don’t think about him while you’re with me. Or I’ll rip out his entrails and decorate the trees with them.”
She couldn’t protest as he used her mouth. Her body ached, wet and needy, knowing that it must be his turn to come. At least when Tulley left this time, she’d have Sike instead of a vibrator.
“I warned you,” he growled and pulled her off his cock.
Nizhoni struggled to take him back in her mouth. She wanted the taste of him in the back of her throat. She had missed how he took complete control when they played and she could let down the burden of being Alpha and just have her physical needs deliciously met.
“Now, I’m going to send you back to him with my come between your legs and watch him as he licks you clean.”
Nizhoni couldn’t think. Couldn’t breathe. She gave a shaky laugh as he made short work of undressing her first. “You wouldn’t dare.”
Tulley gave an evil chuckle. “Keep pushing me, mate.”
“You don’t want a mate,” she said again, because he seemed to forget that he had told her that ever since they were sixteen years old and every time they played with each other on his infrequent trips back to Serenity.
“I changed my mind.” He flipped her on all fours and spread her wide.
“Tulley,” she moaned. “I don’t understand what’s happening.” The mating heat was running wild. She needed to mate or die. Only she was already mated.
“I can tease this little pussy until you’re begging for me.” He ran his finger up her slit and she lifted her hips. “I can even lick you until you drench my face.” Tulley traced his soaked finger around the rim of her puckered hole.
Nizhoni groaned, thrusting back on his finger.
“But my wolf won’t let me slow down for that, because you forgot who you belong to.” Tulley pushed his cock inside her and drew her hips back hard against him. Nizhoni held herself completely still, even as every instinct within her wanted her to buck and twist against his dominance. If she came, the game would end and she was enjoying it too much to stop. He felt so damned good. So damned hard, throbbing inside her. Then she realized he hadn’t come in her mouth when she went down on him minutes ago.
“Whose turn is it?” she panted. “Is it my turn?” Could this day get any better?
His evil chuckle tickled through her. “No more turns, mate. You’re going to come screaming on my cock and I’m going to fuck that sweet pussy until I fill it. And then I’m going to make your mate clean you up. Weren’t you listening?” Tulley smacked her ass.
She growled a warning at him. He was not going to bring Sike into this. She didn’t understand what was going on, but she would figure it out and try to make amends with Sike.
“And if he or you give me any more attitude, I’m going to fuck him in the ass while he does it.”
The image intrigued her so much, she squirmed on his cock. She found if she moved her hips in little circles his girth hit her clit. “I don’t think he swings that way.” Nizhoni clamped hard around Tulley’s cock at the thought of it.
“I don’t care,” Tulley grumbled. “And he won’t either if he just sensed how hot it got you.” Tulley pulled her hair. “Maybe I’ll allow you to suck his little cock while I fuck you. Would you like that?”
“His cock isn’t little.”
That earned her a hard smack on her ass.
“Not what I asked. Would that get you off?”
“Yes,” she moaned, the mere thought of it bringing her close to the edge.
“Fuck. I should have thought of this years ago, but I was too selfish to share you. He solves all our problems.”
“We have a problem?” She reached down to rub her aching clit.
“Not anymore.” Tulley began to move, fu
cking her hard enough that the smack of their bodies was loud, but not loud enough to mask her cries. “I love you.”
What? Nizhoni’s eyes widened and shock held her still. Tulley didn’t say things like that. She loved him, damn it. And he loved her. But he would never stay in Serenity. What was the point in mating her?
In the past, Tulley could only manage a few strokes before she would come. They would have to cut it short out of fear that he would follow and they’d be mated. Nizhoni couldn’t stop herself this time. She came hard, as if she hadn’t been completely satisfied earlier by Sike. Tulley’s thick, fast strokes were too much for her already sensitive area. He stretched her more than Sike had. He continued fucking her through her orgasm, not caring that she was coming apart with the release. She was trained that it would end soon and Nizhoni knew she would die with disappointment when he pulled out. But it didn’t end. Tulley grunted in pleasure, and instead of pulling out, he yanked her by the hair straight up against him and sank his teeth into her throat. Screaming, Nizhoni came again as the mate bond slammed into both of them.
Impossible.
And yet she still felt Sike through their mate bond, and he was angry.
I’m so sorry, she sent.
It’s not you I’m mad at, Sike sent back.
Tulley held her tight as he filled her with come. Power and strength flooded through her, even as her nerves jingled with deep satisfaction. She panted as he howled in triumph. They sank to the floor. Nizhoni felt boneless and satiated. Unfortunately, sanity came back too quickly.
“This will never work.” She rolled over to face him.
He leaned up on his elbow. “And why not?”
Typical Alpha arrogance.
“Are you going to settle down here in Serenity?” she challenged.
The Glittering World Anthology: Native American Romance Paranormal Fantasy Page 15