His blazing eyes softened and cooled, then he dipped his head and kissed me more gently than I ever could have imagined such a brute capable of. I became lost in him and relaxed in his arms, reveling in every new sensation.
His lips left mine and kissed a burning trail from my neck to my ear. “So beautiful,” he whispered, sending my body into convulsions.
God, I wanted him! I hate to admit it, but there it was.
Propping me against the moarkwood freed one of Thrane’s hands, which he used with great skill. Cupping a breast, he skimmed his thumb over the protruding tip, bringing a gasp to my lips and an ache to my core. He glided along every curve and valley, as if he cherished every inch of me. I’d never felt so desirable — not even when a couple of Wargs had fought over me.
His tongue followed his fingers — hot wetness engulfed my already tight nipple through the sheer silk of my wrap — and my legs clenched around his waist. I felt his lips spread into a smile, and any semblance of awareness evaporated like steam.
Where he’d had trouble finding access earlier, his free hand discovered easily. My head dropped back helplessly as his fingers explored my folds before one slipped inside. So big! So thick! So good! I clenched around his finger and he moaned in response, seeking my mouth again.
Slowly and gently, he dipped in and out, allowing me to stretch gradually, without a smidgen of pain. When his finger became fully seated in me, I thought my brain would melt. Then his thumb decided to prove me wrong by finding my hypersensitive nub. At the slightest touch, I cried out and buried my face in his neck.
Our rhythm came naturally — me moving my hips as he tortured me with his fingers. Every trembling muscle in my body clenched to the point I thought I might collapse in on myself like a dying star. Then, like a supernova, I exploded.
A flock of green jays rose up from a nearby tree, squawking in protest at my cries of joy, but my brain barely registered them. Bright orange flashes merged with vibrant purple pulses behind my eyes as my whole world tipped upside down and inside out. I clung to Thrane, afraid I would spin off into the abyss if I didn’t hold on tight. Finally, the spasms subsided, leaving me cloaked in a cocoon of warmth I never wanted to escape.
“See?” Thrane’s voice was husky in my ear. “I knew you wanted me.”
He might as well have thrown me under an ice-cold waterfall.
“Let go of me, you jackass!”
I struggled to free myself, and he let me down gently, holding his hands up in surrender. Jamming my fists onto my hips, I glared up at the big doofus, no longer entranced by those flashing orange eyes of his.
Nope, not one bit.
He smirked down at me and leaned against the tree he’d just…we’d just… Shit! He leaned against the tree. And looked as cocky as ever.
I opened my mouth to chew him out, to tell him what a colossal jerk he was, to tell him to take a running leap off a tall cliff…but nothing came out. The best I could manage was a lame squeak. With one more glare, I huffed and stormed back to the village without looking back. And I didn’t want to look back either.
Nope, not one bit.
3
THRANE
“So it’s gone?” Solan asked.
All three of us alphas were sitting on a raised platform in what they called a “meeting hall.” In my village, it had been known as a koshu, and all the females and whelps lived in it under heavy guard. But apparently, protecting women and children at all costs wasn’t something the Valley scum bothered with.
“Yessir,” replied one of the Valley scouts — I couldn’t recall which one. I probably needed to start learning their names. “The Terran military outpost is completely gone. Not a trace left, not even garbage.”
“Huh,” Solan said, “they must have decided to cut their losses. Two of the women they’d come back for had been turned already, and they must have known Natalie would be turned.”
Markon grinned at me. “See? I told you they wouldn’t be back, Thrane.”
The guard shrank under the glower I cast on him. “Do you think they’re gone for good?”
“Sir?”
“I asked your opinion, soldier,” I growled at the young scout. “Do you think they’re gone for good?”
Markon leaned over. “Come on, Thrane, give the kid a break.”
“I-I…” The scout’s gaze snapped between his three alphas as he gamely tried to figure out what answer his superiors wanted from him. Finally, he visibly gave up and shrugged. “I don’t know, sir, but if I had to guess, I’d say no. I was in the Hill meadow when they attacked, and their leader didn’t seem the type to turn tail and run.”
“Ha!” I shouted and turned a triumphant snarl on Solan. “So there are intelligent Valley Wargs. I never woulda thunk it.”
“Hey!” One of the older Valley scouts stepped forward, fire in his eyes at my insult.
For the briefest moment, I wanted to lunge into the fray, rip out his throat at his insolence, and show the others exactly which of their alphas to fear the most. But Markon laid a calming hand on my arm, and I swallowed my warrior pride…this time.
“Stand down, soldier,” I said, leaning back and appraising his fight-ready stance. He looked skilled. I could work with that. “I was only proving a point to my co-alphas” — the word stuck in my throat like grumpus scat — “that not everyone thinks we’re about to live our very own happily ever after. Some of us think the Terrans are simply regrouping, assessing our strengths and weaknesses, and developing a plan of attack that will wipe us out once and for all.”
The angry scout didn’t seem convinced, but decided to accept my explanation anyway. Another smart Valley Warg. Well, knock me over with a green jay feather.
“What’s your name, soldier?” I asked the older man.
“Drayman…sir.”
Ooh, and he had sass. I could beat that out of him, but I admired his bravery. It, along with his fierce loyalty, were exactly what we would need very soon.
“And you?” I turned to the younger scout.
“Simpar, sir.”
“You two will meet me in the morning for training with my squad. We need more men like you.”
The shift in their attitudes was almost palpable. “Yessir!” they both practically shouted, snapping me a quick salute, then scurrying out of the meeting hall before I changed my mind.
“And what was that about?” Markon murmured as a mixed group of Hill and Valley females approached.
“What can I say? I liked them. Besides, you’re the one who’s always going on and on about how we need to work with the Valley scum.”
“Thrane!” Markon hissed a warning.
“Fine,” I said with a sigh. “I won’t call them that anymore. It’s just such a hard habit to break.”
“Try.”
“As much as I hate to admit it, you’re right. You and Solan can keep your heads in the ground about the Terrans, but I know this isn’t over. We must train our fighters together so they become brothers, and insulting them that way won’t instill loyalty. I intend to use those two scouts to recruit more warriors — real warriors.”
I shot a meaningful look at Solan, who was giving the women his typically inspirational welcome. Pompous jackass.
Markon’s eyebrow shot up in a way I didn’t care for in the slightest. “Don’t forget who bested you on your own home turf, big brother,” he said.
The shame and humiliation from my defeat still burned hot inside me — as did the scar on the side of my head where Solan had nearly ripped off my ear — but I’d vowed to leave that all behind, and I would die trying. If I was anything, I was true to my word.
Ignoring my brother, I turned my attention to the matter at hand — a group of very lovely females.
“We need more formal training, Solan,” said the Valley woman standing in front. “If Thrane is right and the Terrans aren’t done with us yet, we need to be able to protect ourselves.”
I couldn’t stop from snorting my disapprova
l. The woman narrowed her eyes at me.
“This isn’t the old days, Thrane. I know you had some warped idea that hiding your females away would keep them safe — all while trying to steal us away from our home — but things have changed.”
I admired her passion and eloquence, even though I didn’t agree. “If you haven’t noticed… Wait, what’s your name?”
“Yara.”
“If you haven’t noticed, Yara, there are still far too few women to justify risking their lives in battle.” Yara tried to object, but I interrupted her. “I agree all Warg females must learn basic self-defense, and those classes have already started, but I think I can speak for all of us when I say there’s no way we’ll allow a woman to join us on the battlefield.”
“But what’s the point?” asked Teema, the mate of Markon’s second-in-command. “When it was the Hill and Valley tribes fighting each other, it made sense to hide us away, since the Valley scu— Sorry, I mean our Valley brothers were trying to kidnap us. But now we have a common enemy who wants to kill us all. How will we protect ourselves if the Terrans slaughter all the men who’ve left us utterly defenseless? Don’t we have just as much at stake, Thrane?”
Her eyes bore into mine, and the truth of her words sank in. The Terrans weren’t out to abduct our women. They were out to slaughter our entire species. Still…
“We simply can’t risk it,” I said, looking to Markon and Solan for support.
“I don’t agree,” Solan said. “And I’m surprised you’re against it, Thrane. After all, you’re the one who keeps pushing for more training, more warriors. Here’s an untapped supply of fresh soldiers, who are just as eager for our species to survive as the males.”
I could taste powder from my grinding teeth. How dare he contradict me! Thick bristles sprouted on the back of my neck and I snarled my irritation, until Markon yanked me from my chair and dragged me down a corridor where no one could see us.
“What is going on with you?” he demanded, his nostrils flaring in frustration.
I shifted my gaze to nothing in particular. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Even to my own ears, I sounded like a petulant whelp.
“You’ve been cranky since the first night of the claiming. At first, I thought it was because you weren’t one of the men who found their fated mates, but it’s been going on for a week now.”
He wasn’t wrong. Ever since blowing Arlynn’s mind using only my fingers — okay, maybe my lips helped a little — she hadn’t so much as looked at me. Every time I’d tried to approach her, she’d found the nearest eligible male — which was most of them — and flirted shamelessly. I certainly hadn’t expected a lifetime commitment from her, but I sure as hell had expected a little reciprocity. Would it have been so hard for her to give me a quick handie?
No woman had ever refused me before. If I so much as looked in the direction of an unmated female, she practically jumped in my lap and begged me to take her to the heights of ecstasy. It proved almost impossible to shake them afterward — all of them hoping to be the alpha’s mate.
But not Arlynn. Hate rolled off her in waves whenever she caught me watching her, which was why I’d been so pleasantly surprised when she’d responded to my kiss that night in the forest. I’d foolishly thought she’d warm to me, let me do the things I’d dreamed about ever since I’d administered the bite to her. Well, she’d let me do some of the things, but then had run off as soon as she’d been satisfied.
Rude.
“It’s just the merge,” I said, shrugging off his keen observation. “And this entire co-alpha shit. Solan seems sincere enough, but sometimes I want to smash his perpetually positive head in, ya know?”
Markon chuckled. “Give it time, big brother. I swear he’ll grow on you.”
“Like creeper mold,” I groused.
“Exactly! Now why don’t you go walk off whatever’s irritating you. The women were the last group requesting an audience, and we won’t make a final decision without you. Sound good?”
I jerked up a shoulder in a petulant shrug. Apparently, I needed a good walk more than I wanted to admit. Sitting in one place for too long made my skin itch, but gods forbid I let Solan show me up in any aspect of being a good alpha. Without a word, I turned on my heel and strode toward the side door.
“May the Great Elders of the Warg help anyone who gets in your way,” Markon called after me.
No doubt he was joking, but his words held more truth than I cared to admit. The first moron who crossed me might find himself in the shaman’s hut for some healing sessions.
Naturally, the first person I saw when I stepped outside wasn’t some hapless moron I could justify chewing out. It was Arlynn.
Blood pounded in my ears as I watched her spar with Rikor, one of my best instructors and Markon’s right-hand-man, in a group self-defense class. As I watched her luscious body twist and writhe, I realized “spar” was being generous. Of all the ridiculously inept females flailing around, Arlynn was the worst.
4
ARLYNN
I don’t belong here.
Tears welled up in my eyes as I imitated Rikor’s stance — legs braced, knees bent slightly, fists raised in front of my face — but my heart wasn’t in it. Sienna and Natalie stood on either side of me, growling and shouting and grunting as they practiced their kicks and punches, but I just wanted to cry.
No, what I really wanted to do was run away. My abhorrence to violence fueled most of my flight instinct, but it didn’t help that my soul sisters’ fight instinct seemed so much stronger — and more adept — than mine.
“Couldn’t we just shift and bite their arms off?” asked a teenage female who looked annoyed at…well, everything.
Rikor sighed, but kept any annoyance he might have felt out of his voice. “Sometimes it’s not possible, Ayala. You could be too weak from an injury to shift, or you’re in a space that won’t allow it. There’s also the matter of time. It only takes a few seconds to shift, but sometimes a few seconds is the difference between living and dying.”
“What the hell is going on here?”
The entire group of women turned startled eyes toward the shout, but Rikor just rolled his. My entire body tensed at the sight of Thrane storming across the commons, fire blazing in those orange eyes of his.
Orange eyes! How did that even happen?
“I’m teaching these females self defense, just as you commanded, Thrane,” Rikor explained calmly as Thrane towered over him, fists thrust onto narrow hips with a silk wrap riding low on them.
“What about that one?”
I jumped when he jabbed a finger in my direction, and everyone turned to stare at me. Nice. Sensing my sudden case of the terrors, Sienna and Natalie closed ranks and moved in front of me, protecting me just as they’d always done. All I could see of them were the backs of their heads, but I could tell by Thrane’s narrowed gaze they were glaring at him.
“She’s…progressing.” Rikor’s hesitation bugged me, but I couldn’t really blame him. I was pretty terrible.
Thrane shook his head, never taking his hot gaze off me. “Not fast enough.”
Rikor stared at him for a minute, then smirked in a way that sent bubblyflesh up my arms. “She could probably benefit from some more personalized training, but as you can see, sir, I have my hands full already. I wonder if you might—”
Thrane interrupted with a huff. “Fine! I’ll do it myself, as usual.”
Their exchange was obviously meant to deceive everyone else into thinking Thrane was doing me some grand favor, but I caught the wink he gave Binkor, before pushing past my sisters to grab my arm.
“Hey!” I shouted as he tried to drag me away.
At the claiming, he’d caught me off-guard — that was the only reason I’d let him take me into the forest without a fuss — but I’d had a week to think about what I would have done differently. Digging my heels into the soft grass of the commons, I yanked my arm free and stood my ground.
Thrane blinked in surprise, then flushed red. “I’m going to teach you how to fight. You are the worst in this class, and you need…tutoring.”
I knew exactly what kind of “tutoring” he wanted to give me, but I didn’t dare say so. Embarrassing him publicly might unleash his wrath, which would surely lead to him telling the entire tribe what I’d let him do to me. Talk about embarrassing!
“But I don’t want to learn to fight,” I finally countered. “I’m a pacifist.”
“A what?”
“A pacifist,” I repeated. “I don’t like violence.”
Thrane’s snort reeked of disgust. “Like it or not, you can’t hide from it. Now come with me.”
I pulled away just as his fingers skimmed across my arm. His touch burned like the sun through a magnifying glass and sent shudders of need through my body.
Stupid body!
“Stop bullying her, Thrane!” Sienna wrapped a protective arm around my shoulders, then leaned into my ear. “It’s really not a bad idea, sweetie. I know it’s not who you are, and I love you for it, but you really do need to learn to protect yourself as best you can.”
“She’s right, Arlynn,” Nat chimed in quietly. Of course she’d take Sienna’s side. “As a species, we’re barely hanging on by a thread. Everyone needs to carry their own weight, and that includes all of the women learning to fight. If not to protect ourselves, to protect each other.”
My gaze bounced between them. They were right. It was time to grow up and face facts. We were a species on the brink of extinction, with another species drooling to finish us off. Besides, if a Terran soldier was trying to kill either of my sisters, would I really just stand there and not try to rip his throat out?
I leveled my angriest scowl on Thrane, at which he simply smirked. “I’ll let you train me…on one condition.”
“What’s that?” The rumbling of his soft growl reverberated through the air all the way to my inner essence.
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