Onyx stood, moving closer to the people as they began to lower their buckets for water. The pair of women ignored her, too engrossed in their exchange. The young man, however, did not.
His dark blue eyes ran over her, sizing her up not in a sexual way. He was gauging whether or not she was dangerous.
“Is there a toll to pay to use this well?” Onyx asked hoping to put the man at ease and be easily dismissed.
The woman with her hair tied in a knot smelled of grease, vegetables, and fire smoke. The other woman of soap and starch.
The man she could not yet pin a scent on.
Inhaling deeply drawing just a step closer she froze. The scent she found in the air she knew and knew it well. Her heart pounded in her chest so hard she thought it might explode.
Fear was better than what she was feeling now.
It was a pain of the soul and agony of her heart being pulled apart. Onyx turned toward the forest connecting the scent with the drumming of feet.
Shit. Fuck. Where do I go? What do I do?
The need to run and the yearning to see him became an internal battle that left her frozen in place.
His yellow and white coat contrasted with black, brown, and green of the forest as he came into view.
Errol.
The light blue, silver eyes she knew so well locked on hers. Her body trembled feeling the rage and pain visible in his eyes. Onyx felt her spirit wolf cringe at the pain along with her.
His fur receded as he began to shift. Errol’s werewolf lips were pulled back exposing his teeth. As he continued to shift into his human form, his teeth drew back inside his gums. The muzzle of his wolf shrinking and changing from the wolf she loved to the man she loved.
He never broke eye contact with her, and it was like without even touching her, Errol was holding her right where she stood. He stalked toward her, his stride long and controlled.
“You’re not supposed to be here,” she gasped taking a step back as he stopped only a foot away from her.
Errol’s fingers curled and flexed at his sides. “Onyx,” he said her name, a sound of need and pain. “Why are you here?” he asked the scowl on his face fixed and hard.
Onyx ran her tongue over her lower lip. What could she tell him? Demitrus would be coming for her, and he’d kill any shifter who stood in his way. Errol even as mad as he was at her, she knew would stand in Demitrus’ way. This time Demitrus really would kill him.
“I’m scouting. I’m scouting for the Herod pack.”
“Bullshit,” Errol said right away his eyes ran over her body, lingering on her breasts. His nostrils flared. The blue in his eyes seemed to vanish leaving only silver that cut like a blade back to her eyes. “Demitrus would never let you come here without him. What are you really doing here?”
Onyx swallowed the ache of pain in her throat as she watched him withdrawing that passion she’d seen in his eyes in that first glimpse of him as he came out of the woods. He was clinging to the anger and she couldn’t blame him.
“You’re not my mate. Are you? No, you’re not. I chose Demitrus. I answer to him, not you.” She backpedaled running up against the wall around the water well, nearly falling inside.
Errol reached out catching her by the arms.
His touch on her skin was warm. Even after all this time, it was familiar and soothing as even her skin ached for him.
Onyx let out an involuntary whimper. Her wolf surged forward and it took all Onyx’s strength to hold her back. Her spirit wolf wanted her mate. Onyx couldn’t make her spirit wolf understand why it was necessary to hold back.
Errol pulled her back onto the ground and his hands remained around her upper arms. His chest was hard solid muscle, she felt him against the sensitive skin of her breasts.
His silver eyes narrowed on her and he pulled her tighter against him taking another whimper from her lungs.
“Errol, don’t. I’m sorry. We aren’t-”
His hand took hold of her chin surprising her as he leaned down close to her mouth. Errol’s lips only a breath away from hers. Her heartbeat sped up. Onyx pushed at his chest trying to slip out of his hold but Errol held her tight.
“You’re responding to my touch, Onyx. I can feel it, see it, and hear it. Why are you responding to me this way if you are bonded to Demitrus? Onyx?”
She glared up at him. “I’m afraid of you.”
The feral growl of his wolf shook them both as the sound rumbled from his chest. Onyx felt her wolf surging forward to answer her mate. She couldn’t stop her.
Onyx kneed Errol hard. His hold faltered as he bent forward in pain.
Sorry.
Onyx only had time to jump away from him as her spirit wolf triggered the shift. Silky black fur grew from her skin as her bones shifted with the joints of a werewolf. Her hands grew and stretched into black paws as she fell on them.
A roar burst from the white and yellow wolf behind her that sent the people in Freebasin running into their homes. It was a sound of rage and scary as hell.
“Run,” Onyx pleaded with her spirit wolf. The wolf didn’t argue. The anger coming from her mate must have been enough to make her listen for a change.
Onyx raced into the forest like there was a wave of hot lava at her heels. She leaped over boulders and fallen trees so fast it felt like she was flying. Terror pushed her that was far greater than when Demitrus chased her. This time she was running to save Errol’s life.
Onyx pushed that image of Errol to the front of her brain. It was the only way she’d been able to keep herself from coming after Errol these past couple years. The memory of his limp, body sprawled over the rocks at the bottom of the cavern with his stomach ripped open in four jagged bloody stripes made her spirit wolf quake with pain.
“Hurry. We have to make sure this doesn’t happen to him again. Run faster,” Onyx pleaded with her spirit wolf.
Her wolf surged forward but Errol was still right at her heels. She’d always been faster than Errol, but this time because of the way she’d been pushing herself hard to get away from Demitrus she just didn’t have the strength to leave him in the dust.
The forest tilted in a strong incline. Loose stones under her paws slowed the climb for her but not for Errol. One quick look back confirmed he was right with her. In fact, he didn’t even look tired.
Is that amusement in his eyes?
Onyx remembered too late that he’d come from this forest and she was running up the mountain, the shifter alliance was with the Rizer pack?
She tried to turn around but Errol was too fast. His jaw clamped shut on the back of her neck, holding her in place. His growl a warning to Onyx to hold still and stop fighting. She couldn’t.
Thrashing in his hold to get free, she whimpered as his teeth bit past the fur and surface skin. Immediately, Errol released her neck. His tongue lapped at the tiny puncture, his spirit wolf clearly appalled to have hurt her.
Errol’s tongue on her body against the back of her neck sapped the energy and fight from her body. She cried out a sound of need, of desire as she began to shift back into her human form.
Her wolf was turning on her, responding to Errol. Onyx had to take back control or she’d get him killed.
Her huge black wolf paws shrank as Onyx ordered her spirit wolf back. The black fur receding as her bones shifted back into that of her human skeleton. Her dress was ripped during the transformation from human to wolf and back.
Errol followed her lead shifting back to his human form. His hand slid up her thigh. He gripped her by her upper inner thigh and pulled her back toward him.
Rolling her onto her back he pinned her to the ground with the weight of his body. His shaft was hard against her stomach.
Shit. He feels so good.
Onyx cried out as moisture pooled between her legs. His arms pinned hers up over her head. His silver eyes bore into hers as he growled.
“Let me go, Errol.”
“You don’t want me to let you go. I can smell you
r desire for me, Onyx. I can hear your heart beat racing, and the quiver in your voice when I touch you.”
Onyx tried again to wiggle free. “You’re wrong now just like you were before. You see and smell what you want. It isn’t real.”
The hurt in his eyes was evident but Onyx noticed he kept it from showing on his face. He didn’t want her to know she could hurt him. She only wished she didn’t have to.
CHAPTER FOUR
HE HAD TO WALK AWAY or he’d go further than he already had and what Errol had just done he would never have believed himself capable of doing. Climbing up and out of the mountain he tried again to slow his heart and calm his spirit wolf.
Seeing her after all this time. It hurt. Errol knew he had to walk toward her or crumble to the ground. He couldn’t believe it was her and the closer he got the stronger her scent became.
Onyx was lean, more so than the last time he’d seen her. Her cheekbones had become more prominent in her face, and the coldness in her eyes was different than those of the woman he’d originally fallen in love with. His spirit wolf was still just as bonded to hers as before.
How was he supposed to let her go a second time? He’d almost died the first time. After his wounds had healed he had no reason to want to live. Ian, his twin brother was the only one who’d been able to shake him out of his zombie-like state of existing.
It was simple. Errol couldn’t let her go a second time. At least, not without her telling him what really happened and why she didn’t want him. What changed in her heart that didn’t change in his?
Answers. She owed him at least that much.
Errol pushed his hands through his hair. The scent of Onyx was all over him. The pack would smell her on him. Ian would recognize the scent of Onyx. They wouldn’t approve of what he was doing. They wouldn’t understand.
Maybe they shouldn’t. Errol was functioning in panic mode. He knew he wasn’t in a position to be making big decisions but no matter how he turned the matter over in his mind he couldn’t think of another way.
Climbing down the mountain beyond the Rizer fortress, Errol used the stream to wash, using the natural herbs growing along the riverbed to mask her scent by rubbing them over his skin.
Fuck.
Ian was coming for him. Errol knew his twin would know something about Onyx was up the moment he saw him.
“Where did you go? You were like a lightning bolt streaking down the mountain. I couldn’t keep up. What happened? You scared the shit out of me.” Ian was still breathing hard. As he approached Errol.
Errol still had not looked at his twin. He was still too freaked out to know what to do or say.
“Errol? Talk to me. You’re freaking me out a little. Are you hurt?” Ian bent over to look Errol in the face. “Holy shit. What is it?” He grabbed Errol and pulled him up onto his feet. “You look like... bad. Like before.” Ian put a hand over his mouth and took a couple steps backward as his dark blue eyes widened at his brother.
Errol turned away from Ian again. He knew that he’d put Ian through hell already over Onyx. “It’s fine. I’m fine.”
“You saw her? Where? Why would she be here?”
Errol shook his head and shrugged. He was no good at lying to Ian. Everyone else he might be able to pull this off but with Ian. It was like his brother could hear his thoughts.
“But you talked to her, didn’t you?”
“Just, leave it alone. I am fine. That’s all you need to know, right?”
The alpha Darian Rizer’s summoning call echoed over the mountain, bouncing off the rocks. The command in the summons of the alpha is undeniable to the pack. Errol gave in to the call immediately, ready to get Ian away from the north side of the mountain.
Dragging his feet as much as possible, Errol waited for Ian to pull into the lead. He didn’t want his brother turning back for any reason.
They got wind of the other pack as soon as they approached. Ian looked back at Errol but didn’t say anything. They were too close to speak without being overheard by the other pack.
Darian was talking with Demitrus, the asshole, demon himself. Ian gripped Errol’s shoulder holding him still as they joined their pack, the Rizer pack. Errol resisted the urge to attack only because he knew if something happened to him, Onyx would be in danger.
Demitrus raised his huge oversized head and looked directly at Errol. Everyone in the courtyard could feel the hatred rolling off of Errol for Demitrus.
“You have been allowed on my territory because you’ve sworn to bring no harm to Freebasin or my pack,” Darian reminded Demitrus as he narrowed his demon-like gaze on Errol.
Demitrus didn’t take his golden eyes away from Errol. “Onyx has been stolen from my pack. We tracked her in this direction. We mean to find her.”
“Onyx, your wife?” Darian clarified as he looked between Errol and Demitrus.
“Yeah, she’s my bitch alright.” Demitrus grabbed his crotch as he spoke. “You know where she is, don’t you?” Demitrus asked as he released his crotch and pointed at Errol.
“You speak to me. I address my pack,” Darian said a warning growl vibrating from his chest.
Demitrus struggled to move his eyes away from Errol. His hatred for Errol was strong, nearly as strong as Errol’s for him. Though Errol didn’t understand why since Demitrus had Onyx at least he used to have her.
“Ask him if he knows where she is,” Demitrus commanded.
Darian did not make a move to obey. His shoulders remained relaxed in a show of ease at disobeying Demitrus.
“Please ask him,” Demitrus corrected himself his face heating the same color of red as his neck against his yellow, orange hair.
Darian signaled Cara, the female alpha, and his wife, to ask Errol. Darian wasn’t going to take his eyes off of Demitrus and he was right not to trust the demon dog.
“Did you take Onyx from the Herod pack?” Cara asked Errol her blue eyes soft and stern at the same time.
Errol shook his head. “No.”
“I want to know if he knows where she is,” Demitrus pushed. “Please ask him if she came to see him.”
“Did Onyx find you?” Cara asked Errol.
“No. She didn’t find me,” Errol answered. He was relieved to be edging around the truth.
“Has anyone seen this she-wolf of the Herod pack?” Cara asked the pack. Silence was the answer.
Darian nodded to the exit. “You’ve asked your questions. We haven’t seen her or taken her. It’s time for you to continue your journey elsewhere. As you’ve said, you already checked Freebasin for her. Best to move on. I don’t like other packs in my territory.”
“If I find that you have lied to me. Or any member of your pack has lied, I will destroy your little play castle and your human pets down in Freebasin,” Demitrus said.
Cara’s eyes flashed into those of her wolf’s. “Did you just threaten my pack?”
Demitrus made a scoffing sound as he laughed. “I don’t answer bitches.”
Darian grabbed Demitrus by the throat. The Herod pack started at attention but didn’t move as it would take very little for Darian to break Demitrus’ neck.
“Apologize to my wife and my pack,” Darian commanded Demitrus. His alpha voice was more powerful than any other and Demitrus struggled to disobey. “Sorry,” he said between clenched teeth.
“Get the fuck off my land. If I catch you on Rizer territory after sun up, I will kill you myself.”
Darian released Demitrus.
The two squared off as Demitrus tried to decide if he would fight or leave. Either way Darian appeared ready. Errol craved the fight with Demitrus. Needed it. These last two years were spent preparing and waiting for Ian to become a bigger part of the Rizer pack.
Standing so close to the werewolf he hated with every particle of his body and not being allowed to attack was a test in self-control. It was a test Errol would have failed if it was not for Onyx.
The only good that came out of it was knowing that he did
know where Onyx was and Demitrus was clearly uneasy believing that Errol might. To hope it was because Onyx still cared for him was too scary for Errol to approach.
Herod as a pack was known to be bloodthirsty. The stench of old human blood still clung to the pack like they’d not bothered to bathe since their last battle. Or more likely, they enjoyed carrying the stench of their slaughter. The Herod pack tensed readying for battle.
Ian elbowed Errol and nodded toward the werewolf to the left of Demitrus. Errol barely recognized Pelari. He was once a member of their old pack and he was also the cousin of Onyx. His once fair skin was stained a rusty shade of red. He was practically foaming up at the mouth to fight. The way he was looking at Cara, was going to get him killed if he didn’t back off.
Errol waited for a signal from Darian. If he allowed the fight, Errol would go for Demitrus as he knew that Darian would go for Pelari. Darian would always protect Cara first. Though the pair would make quick work of Pelari as Cara was not one to sit back and watch.
Demitrus inclined his head slightly and began to back out of the courtyard. Darian walked forward after him letting him know he was ready to battle.
Again, Demitrus inclined his head.
Backing down once was unusual for Demitrus, but twice was unheard of. The surprise in the eyes of his pack was evidence of the same knowledge.
The Herod backed up faster and began to shoot away toward the west. “If I find I’ve been lied to, Darian. If one of your pack has her, there will be no Rizer pack member we won’t hunt down, no Rizer pack friend who will escape death by fire.” Demitrus shifted, roaring with a sound of pain as he shifted.
He tore out of the courtyard. The Herod pack followed streaking over the stretch of plain before they reached the mountains to the west. No matter what Demitrus said, he wasn’t really leaving. There was no way he would without making certain that Onyx wasn’t with Errol.
“If anyone finds the Herod female alpha, she is to be pushed off our territory. We don’t need the Herod pack tearing up Freebasin. It is one of the last cities honoring an alliance. Am I understood?” Darian asked.
Rizer Pack Shifter- Complete Series Page 23