I called out to the young shifter who had nearly shot me when we'd arrived. He shifted in his fatigues, very military, as though he wanted to click his heels together. He was a handsome thing. Alma couldn't meet his gaze, I noticed.
"What's your name?" I said and if he gave it, I was sure I didn't hear. It was a formality taught to me by Galen so the person felt as though they mattered. In that moment, all that mattered was getting the pack alerted and the property shored up.
"Get word out to the rest of the pack," I said to him. "I want every able bodied shifter here on the grounds by nightfall."
"Right away," he said and shouldered his weapon. Then he waited quietly until I realized he was waiting for me to give him the order to go.
"Now," I said quietly and he retreated, his rifle swinging across his back as he took the floor in five paces. I sent Alma out with him. The door closed behind him without a sound.
I'd count them out as they came. I expected at least fifty of them, maybe more. A dozen for the gates, a dozen to sweep over the territory and guard individual houses that sprawled out over the community past the manse, a dozen or so to begin a sweep of the grounds and out into the woods. The others, the weak and old and young would have to wait in their houses, but at least they'd be under guard until I knew exactly what we faced.
I left the guards to clear up the property and gather the evidence, telling them to stuff it all in the Council room so that later we could all go over it with clear heads. Then, with legs that felt like water, I pushed myself to ascend the stairs to my room. Without Jeb, I doubt it I would find restorative sleep, but hopefully my body would fall into a short coma so I could deal with things later.
I went to bed with an uneasy knot in the ball of my stomach. If Alma was right, and these men were hunters, who not only tracked their prey, but taunted them before they rolled in full force to decimate the pack they had targeted, then I had put both my pack and rogue females in danger by bringing them here. I couldn't help thinking that most of the blame lay on Alma, though. I'd agreed to protect her and had put my entire pack at risk because of it. But what kind of alpha would I have been if I went back on the word I had given when I took over. No weak wolf should be at the mercy of those stronger. It had been an edict I'd been proud to announce, and yet that to sounded hollow in the face of this new threat.
I rolled over in my bed, missing Jeb. My only hope was that he would return soon and with enough information to offer answers we still didn't have.
It took me hours to fall asleep, and even as I slipped over into the abyss I knew that the rest would not be a good one. When the nightmares came, I expected them. The stress and anxiety of so many dangers this close together in so few short months, made the nightmares a certainty. I even knew the face in the dreams. I knew the touch so intimately, that I whimpered in my half sleep, too afraid to wake up and too afraid to fall fully into unconsciousness.
In one moment I was submerged in icy water, held down by a chain around my ankle, forced to free myself and fight my way to the surface. Even as a young girl I had been determined and focused with a strong survival instinct. My dreams were no different. I was young again in this dream, submerged deeper than I'd ever been plunged into before. This time, however, despite the instinct to fight and live, I opened my mouth and inhaled. Water clogged my lungs and pushed out any thought of survival. There was a relief in letting go. No more torture. No more confusing sessions afterwards where tender fingers stroked my hair and tender lips kissed my forehead.
I came awake gasping.
Oh yes, I knew the face. It was a beautiful one. Perfectly arched eyebrows and crystal clear blue eyes. Hair so white it would win against a snow drift with a complexion so creamy it would put Snow White to shame. Such a beautiful face should not be so heinous.
I knew even in the stillness of after-sleep that it wasn't the nightmare that had me so terrified, it was the thought that I would have given in to nothingness. That scared me. I gaped into the darkness as I tried to pick out new threats in the shadows of the room. Still full night, then. My skin prickled as though it had been deprived of oxygen. I searched the room frantically with eyes that couldn't keep still, thinking someone must have held their hand over my mouth while I'd been sleeping.
The room was empty of any sound but my own heartbeat.
I lay panting on my bed for long moments, my arms flung out to the sides. I didn't dare close my eyes for fear I might fall asleep again and give in to that desire to let go of pain and struggle. It was peculiar, the feeling of such heavy eyelids that they wanted to fall back asleep, warring with the beating of my heart that was so rapid I couldn't have sunk into slumber if I'd been drugged.
In the end, I pushed myself to the edge of the bed and found the floor with my feet. A good run was what I needed. A good run in the woods, inspecting the property and searching along the perimeter for any telltale signs of an intruder. Maybe a dozen intruders. I stripped off my pyjamas and for good measure pulled on the makeshift holster that I had made for my bowie knife. I slung it over my head and one shoulder so that it rested beneath my armpit. As a wolf, it would lie against my breast bone as I ran, and as a woman it would be slung beneath my armpit. The way, I wasn't going out there unarmed.
I avoided my mother's wing where Caleb had kept me prisoner in her panic room, because there was no way in hell I was going to ever go that route ever again if I could help it. Instead, I headed to the empty wing that my father had occupied and the one I'd escaped from during my captivity. I'd go down the escape route stairs and find my way out into the garden. No one would be on that side, and no one would question why I was going out at night. I needed to be alone. Something was unsettling me. And it wasn't just the appearance of the strange rogue wolf that had brought a dozen mad hunters to our doorstep. Nor was it the thought that we had given her sanctuary, and ended up targeted. Something more seethed beneath the surface even if I couldn't pick out what exactly what it was.
There was a connection between Alma that had something to do with my own past terrors. It was enough that my childhood years had come back to haunt me, here I was alone and without Jeb to share my worries with. All I had was a house full of antsy females, a dozen guards, a younger brother who had found his first crush on a rogue wolf who was as strange as she was deformed. The rest of the pack sprawled out over the territory safe and ignorant in their family homes, assuming all was still right with their world.
I padded to the stairs in my wolf form, rearing up on my hind legs to push the button as I came to it. Last time I had come this way, spiders had strung the corridors with silver tapestries and filled them with sticky gauze. A generation of neglect goaded me into making sure someone cleared and cleaned the stairwell weekly, and so there was nothing to meet my eyes but a soft glow from wall sconce lights and nothing to touch the pads of my feet but well trod stone. The strong antiseptic aroma of cleaner tickled my nostrils.
The triad of exits appeared before me in short time. I took the one furthest to the right and in short moments the smell of antiseptic gave way to the strong aroma of flowers and grass. I paused at the door, one leg lifted, scenting around me.
I could almost hear the woods in the distance marking its time. When last I had come this way, I had been fleeing from Caleb after Jeb had helped me escape. I'd run across the lawn and into the woods and ended up finding Dara's compound. But before that, I had hidden in my father's armoire, cloistered with his old clothes and jackets. I could still smell him if I thought about it. That strong musk and cigar smoke. I missed him. He had led this pack for a couple of centuries, and although he had been powerful, he had been wise and kind. The shifters in his pack followed him at first because he had married into old blood but they pledged their allegiance without qualm when they saw he was a natural leader, one who instilled pride and loyalty. They knew they were safe with him. Now they had pledged that allegiance to me, and I had done nothing with it but put them in harm's way. Here I was the first
female alpha ever for the pack, and I was already mucking it up. So much for my grand illusion of protecting my kind and protecting those from any other pack who were weaker and susceptible to harm. I couldn't even stop a band of human hunters from threatening the people I loved.
The air was cool against my coat, the errant breeze finding ways to finger its way into my fur, cooling me under my legs and belly. I looked sideways and noticed one of the guards standing erect and perfectly still. The young man from earlier, I guessed. He had that determined and fierce stance about him. His assault rifle was lifted muzzle up in a ready position. No doubt he'd already done what I'd asked, and I assumed there were shifters all over the night grounds, holding quiet sentry. I watched him for a long moment, studying the way his shadow remained perfectly still and I admired his tenacity. Sure, he would be ready for an attack that came from the front. But what of the woods between here and Dara's? There was no road, no drive, just paths in the woods made by deer and rabbits and one or two stray wolves that needed to find release in the trees.
If the hunters had found their way to Dara's, no doubt they had tracked us through that same forest. I should have thought of it before. It was the direction they had come from when they had attacked my brother. No doubt, they had set up camp somewhere close. Biding their time. I was almost surprised to hear the low rumble that came from my throat as I thought about it. I'd left that little loophole open and felt foolish.
Thinking I could at least close that hole in my plan, I headed toward the perimeter of the woods. As if on cue, I noticed a shadow lifting in the trees. I froze. Shadows didn't shift. That was a man. Or men. If I alerted anyone before I knew what the threat was, I might accidentally put the rest in danger. Best I investigate quietly on my own and call out when I knew what the need was.
I cantered toward a bush, trying to find some concealment in the shadows of its leaves. I waited, sniffing the air for silver or sweat or some aroma that would indicate the true form of the threat. Nothing. I was upwind. I stared off into the trees as I waited for my night vision to allow me to see dim shapes in the darker shadows. Whoever it was, he was stealthy. He picked his way through the woods as though he knew it and he did so in a way that he barely made a sound. He couldn't fool me. I knew the shape of every tree and rock. I knew where it was clear and where it was not. By the time he made it within half a dozen feet of me, I was already leaping for his throat. A heartbeat later his scent hit my nostrils. Licorice.
Too late to stop myself, I brought him down with a large groan that escaped his lungs as his back hit the grass.
"Nice welcome," he croaked out from beneath my paws as his lungs sucked in enough air to speak. Then he flipped me over so that the wolf scrambled for purchase on the ground and ended up having to relinquish its form to my human form.
"Jeb," I said, breathless. "I can't tell you how glad I am to see you."
IN WHICH THEA HAS TO WRITE A SEXY SCENE AND REALLY DREADS IT
"I didn't expect to get such an excited reception," he said from beneath me. His voice was slightly muffled by my weight and I stretched out along his body, my naked one pressed against the cool material of his khakis. He felt too good for me to roll away. I hadn't realized how badly I needed to see him.
"I would love to say it was excitement to see you," I said, pushing myself up on my elbows on either side of his head so that I could look down into the shadows of his face. "But-- "
He hushed me with a finger against my lips then rolled over so that I slipped onto the ground next to him. With one arm over my waist and the other slipping beneath my naked bottom, he pulled me close. No words. He just looked down at me for a very long moment before fitting his mouth to mine and exploring the insides with his tongue. The taste of apples and cinnamon invaded my mouth along with that familiar flavor of licorice, making me wonder where he'd been, who had fed him and then that tongue was curled around mine, drawing it into his mouth, making my spine tingle. The coil around my chest finally eased and I let myself indulge in one brief moment of relief, sagging beneath him.
I was wrapping my calf around his hips when I felt the sting of a playful slap on my bottom, shocking me enough to yank away. I could tell he was smiling.
"Better," he said and the scent of licorice wafted over me with his breath. The apples had gone. "Now. Tell me."
He pushed himself to a seated position facing me, and I reluctantly did the same. My eyes had adjusted to the darkness by now and though much of his features were in shadow, I could make out he hadn't shaved and his hair was loose and hanging in his eyes. I took a deep breath, hating to have to admit what I needed to.
"It's worse than we thought."
"I know," he said soberly. "You don't come at a full run like that unless something's wrong." He pulled off his jacket and put it around my shoulders. From behind his back, he reached for the pack that had dropped behind him when I'd knocked him over. A hollow, zipping sound razed through the darkness. Ever the boy scout. I put my hand on his as the sound echoed through the trees.
"Too loud," I rasped out. "They'll hear you."
"There's no one out there to hear, Shana," he said. "I've just trekked through the last couple of miles with nothing but a few coyotes to cross my path. He cocked his head at me. "Did you know you have coyotes?"
"The least of our worries," I said, wrapping his jacket around me and pulling my knees up beneath it. I took the protein bar he held out and unwrapped it quietly. Munching on it and staring at him in the darkness, I tried to formulate an explanation for the last 24 hours without him. Before I could speak, he tossed me a water bottle I caught just in time before it landed on my lap.
"I have to confess: I didn't have any luck," he said. "None of my contacts have any information. Maybe the girl is just unlucky."
I shook my head, swallowing down the last of the bar. It felt like a hunk of sawdust as I considered the things I'd have to tell him. "I wish I could say as much."
I told him about the attack and about Alma's explanation about the hunters. He looked off into the woods thoughtfully before he spoke.
"After my stint at Guantánamo Bay," he said. "When I was recruited to the Spirit Core, there was mention of a family of hunters. Do you think these might be the same?"
I shrugged. "I haven't the faintest. The warning just said they would come." I shivered as I said it, despite the residual warmth of Jeb's body heat in the jacket.
"Well," he said, splaying his feet out in front of him. "There was no evidence they actually existed. No whispers that turned to full blown secrets. We started to think they were some sort of mystical fairytale just like elves or fairies." He got to his feet because crawling over to me would no doubt dirty his pants, and then he eased down next to me again, pulling me against him so I could lean my head on his shoulder.
I started to feel a little better. "So you think maybe it was an anomaly."
"I think we should be on guard because stories like that don't start from nothing."
I could feel him shrug next to me as he gathered me in his arms and dropped a kiss on my hair, running his lips over my head as though he needed to taste the warmth coming from it. "And I'm saying that if there is a family of bad ass hunters out there, you are just the one to finish their line." This last was punctuated by a hand scooping beneath my ass and tugging me with ease onto his lap so I could straddle him.
"You did everything you could?" he said. "Beefed up the guards, alerted the pack?"
"Yes."
"And how are you?"
I sighed. "Tired, anxious and too damned fidgetey to be of any good to those who need me. I don't know how my father and Galen did it. If I were an elastic band, I'd be ready to take someone's eye out."
"You need to relax." He nuzzled my neck and I felt my spine tingle.
"But they could be out there. I need to--"
"There's no one there. Not now. Not yet. And you need to relax. You'll think better."
I snuggled in close. He felt damned g
ood, like a tall cold beer on a sweltering day. I eased my hand down between the crevasse between us, reaching for his zipper and when it fetched up awkwardly at his hips because he was still dressed, he grabbed my hand so he could help push it further. My palm met the bulge in his khakis with a sigh of relief from him that moved my hair.
"Ready for me, are you?" I said, feeling with my thumb for the swell of the head beneath the material.
"I was ready yesterday," he drawled. "Now I'm six feet of pure fucking ache."
He rarely swore and the fact he had sent a jolt of lust to my throat. I could barely swallow down around it. Even the muscles of my collarbone felt tight with need.
"Too fucking dressed," I said, echoing his lust with my own. "Why are you always so dressed?"
At that, he gripped the back of my neck with his hand and cupped my head, holding me tight so he could roll over onto his knees. For a heady second, I hung there, thinking I would fall, but he found his feet, with me still wrapped around his waist. He leaned against the rock, and sent his hands to his trousers. I felt them scrape along my ass cheeks as they came free, his cock springing against my ass as it was liberated.
"Pretty slick," I said, and ran my tongue along his throat to show him how impressed I was. Hot sticky perspiration mingled with apples and licorice. God, his skin tasted like it smelled. How could I have forgotten that for even one second?
He said something, but I couldn't make it out; his breathing was far too rapid, too ragged to fuel coherent words. I imagined they were more curses. Maybe one or two cries out to his god.
"Twenty four hours is too god damned long," he ground out as he lowered me again to the moss. I might have agreed except he had already spread my legs and was running his tongue all over my pussy in great broad licks and I couldn't do much more than groan in pleasure and the need for more.
I gathered his hair in my fist, pulling him closer to me so that tongue of his could enter the opening that was already spreading to invite him in. I wanted more than the soft, flickering pressure against my clit. I wanted to feel the thickness of him sliding inside. His hot exhale of air against my sensitive tissues retreated as if he sensed my disappointment, but then I realized it was only so he could ease one finger in, hooking it so I'd moan out loud. His breath again, this time as a soft chuckle warming my inner thighs with humid air. The contrast of cool wood air and his breath on my skin sent a shiver of goosebumps up my spine.
Rogue Breed (Rogue Huntress Chronicles Book 2) Page 7