Cry Wolf

by Romy Lockhart

  He grins at me when I pull away. I smile back. Yes, I’m done giving a shite what these arseholes think of me. I have three incredible mates and I’m not going to hide that while I’m forced to live here.

  Theo moves to touch my collar and I step back.

  “No shoulder business in public,” I insist, making him laugh.

  It’s not funny. I shouldn’t be able to come from that, let alone immediately and like the earth is being shifted directly below my clitoris.

  “Shoulder business,” I hear Mr Murphy murmur, drawing us a strange look.

  I get the feeling it’s going to be a long night.

  The pub clears out quickly tonight. I don’t know if it was the PDAs or if there was just something in the air. I think maybe it was a bit of both. Sebastian’s prowling around out there probably didn’t do much to help anything. He was making me a little nervous, truth be told.

  “You ready?” Theo asks as I lock the till float away.

  “That’s about it. Just let me go to the bathroom before we leave.” It’s not a long walk home, but the need to pee comes on suddenly and swiftly.

  Theo makes to follow me and I shake my head at him.

  “I’m not letting you leave my sight,” he says.

  “Too bad, I’m not letting you watch me go to the loo. Sicko.”

  He rolls his pretty green eyes. “Fine, just be quick.”

  I push the door open and go inside. The light flickers a little while I take care of business. It only goes out once I’m washing my hands.

  “Oh, feck off,” I curse, pissed off that I didn’t think to take care of it before it got dark. I knew the damned light wasn’t working. I could have gotten a new bulb sorted.

  I reach out for the paper towel dispenser and I can’t find it. Everything’s further away than you think when it’s dark. I forget it, shaking my hands and wiping them on my jeans. I take a step toward the door and I’m yanked back suddenly by strong arms, away from the exit.

  I suck in a breath, ready to scream for Theo. One strong hand clamps over my mouth and nose, cutting off my breath. I try to bite, and fleetingly think of shifting, before I pass out.

  I wake up on the couch in my house, all three of my mates surrounding me. Sunlight’s burning through the open curtains. I was out for a while then.

  “What happened? I ask, as I try to sit up and realize I’m too exhausted to even do that.

  “Take it easy,” Sebastian says quickly. “You need to rest.”

  I frown at him. He’s not looking as cocky as usual. Actually he looks sick. He’s pale and there’s a sheen of sweat on his face. “What’s up with you then?”

  Lukas is sitting on the edge of the coffee table, and he leans forward to hold my hand.

  “You were hurt, Maggie.”

  “Hurt?” I ask, trying vainly to remember.

  The last thing I can recall is sucking face with Theo in the pub. Giving the regulars something to talk about. I don’t remember getting home, so I suppose the thing that hurt me must have happened between then and now.

  “It was the banshee,” Theo puts in.

  He’s pacing a little behind Lukas, his hair’s a mess. He must have been tugging it to hell and back since I’ve been passed out.

  “The banshee? Why can’t I remember?”

  “He knocked you out,” Theo says, stopping and swallowing. I realize he’s not been able to look at me, and I figure out why about the same time that he goes on. “You were right about Fergus. She used him to knock you out. She’s been hopping into his body. It’s probably how she got her bones out of the morgue in the first place.”

  “You’ve lost me,” I tell him, trying to make sense of what he’s saying.

  “It’s a drawn out process for a banshee to resurrect,” Sebastian clarifies. I have to tilt my head back a little more to see him. He’s perched on the arm of the chair behind me. “Her spirit got free when her bones were dug up. Lukas performed the ritual that should have sent her spirit back to hell, but it must have been too late. She’d already used her son as a host body. She already had a foothold in this world.”

  Okay, that’s not creepy or anything. “Did you not say banshees need to be female?”

  Lukas nods. “They do. She can’t use her voice while she’s using his body.”

  “So, why do I feel like I’ve been knocked for six?”

  Theo’s guilt-laden eyes meet mine fleetingly. “I shouldn’t have let you go into that bathroom alone.”

  “That was my mistake,” I tell him. “To be fair, there was no reason to think someone was in there.”

  “I’m not letting you out of my sight again.”

  I’m too tired to argue. I’ll worry about how stalkery he gets once I have to tell him to leave me to go to the bathroom in peace.

  “Would someone hurry up and tell me what that damn bitch did to me?”

  “We don’t know,” Lukas admits, holding my hand in both of his. “You were passed out.”

  They might not know, but there’s something they’re not telling me. I can sense it.

  “What else?”

  Theo sighs as he paces. Sebastian crosses his arms across his chest.

  Lukas’ gaze hardens. There’s a ferocity to his voice that I haven’t heard before when he speaks.

  “He locked the door. Theo figured out something was wrong when he called on you and you didn’t answer. He broke the door down. You were on the ground with your shirt off, out cold.”

  “I couldn’t stop hitting him,” Theo says, getting a little more frantic with his pacing.

  I notice the blood on his knuckles and I connect what he’s saying with what happened. My stomach twists into a knot and my vision blurs.

  “Where’s Fergus?”

  “There was so much blood,” Theo mutters on.

  I turn my gaze on Lukas. “Tell me.”

  Lukas clears his throat. “I got there when Fergus was out cold. He was in bad shape, but he’s alive.”

  Relief fills me, though a sob escapes my body when I close my eyes and let the tears fall.

  Lukas stopped Theo from murdering my friend in a rage.

  “Where is he?”

  “In the basement,” Sebastian puts in, his own tone hard. “We had to keep him close.”

  “I need to see him.”

  “That’s not a good idea, Maggie,” Lukas says.

  I struggle to move. My body feels weak. I don’t understand. “What did she do to me?”

  “Nothing,” Lukas tells me, shaking his head. “It doesn’t make sense.”

  “How do we stop her?” I ask, determined to find an answer to this.

  “We need to find her bones and destroy them. If she resurrects before we do, we’ll have a much bigger problem on our hands,” Sebastian explains.

  “What about Fergus?”

  They all look at me like they don’t understand what I’m asking. It makes me mad. He’s a person, a good person, and he doesn’t deserve any of this.

  “How do we stop her from using him?”

  Lukas blinks.

  “What is it?” I ask.

  He hesitates, his brooding expression intensifying for a long moment.

  “Come on, spill it. I practically saw the light bulb above your head there.”

  Theo snorts, stopping his pacing to wait for Lukas’ answer. Even Sebastian seems to be holding his breath.

  “We bite him,” Lukas says slowly, as if he’s thinking it over while he says it. “If he turns, she can’t use him and his wounds will heal.”

  It sounds like the ideal solution, but everyone is looking at me like they’d rather stick their tongues in an electrical socket. What am I missing here?

  “I don’t understand,” I murmur. “Why is this not a good idea?”

  “She’ll have to concentrate on resurrecting if we take away her only other option,” Lukas says.

  “So? Isn’t that harder for her to do?”

  “It’s bloodier,” Sebastian sa
ys. “She’ll have to kill people and she’ll do it at random. We won’t be able to stop it.”

  Damn. But... “How? How will she kill people? If she’s in spirit form.”

  “She can possess weaker willed humans,” Sebastian clarifies. “She probably realized her son was close to you and decided he was the best way to hurt us. If we take that option away, she’ll switch to possessing and killing weaker willed humans in sacrifice to resurrect. We can only stop that if we find out where her bones are.”

  “Then let’s find out,” I say, pushing myself up.

  My head swims a little and I feel out of breath and queasy, but I manage to sit.

  “Easy,” Lukas says. “You hit your head. It must have been worse than we thought. Healing drains shifters. You’re drained right now. You should be resting.”

  “She should be in bed,” Theo says.

  “I want to speak to Fergus,” I insist, taking a few deep breaths before I attempt to stand.

  Lukas helps me steady myself, rising at the same time I do.

  “I don’t think this is a good idea,” Theo mutters.

  I ignore him. It’s taking up all of my energy to stay upright.

  Lukas helps me walk to the basement, but Sebastian insists on going in first to make sure Fergus is properly restrained. I shiver at the thought of my poor, sweet friend possessed by a monstrous creature who needs to kill to exist.

  “You okay?” Lukas whispers.

  “Fine,” I murmur back, taking the stairs down to the basement so slowly I almost feel like I’m going backwards.

  Theo is behind us, keeping quiet. He’s really not himself right now and when I’m done worrying over Fergus he’s next on my list.

  I’m not prepared for what I see when Lukas leads me over to the couch.

  The bruised and bloodied body has been positioned sitting in the middle, his arms and legs restrained with thick bolts of rope. His chest rises and falls very slowly, and there’s an awful wheezing sound as he breathes. His head is laying back, his eyes closed. One of them is swollen shut. The other side of his face right down to his collar is a scratched, bloodied mess. He looks as if he’s been attacked by a vicious animal.

  “Oh Fergus,” I whisper, tears blurring my vision.

  He starts to make a choking noise and I stare at Lukas, alarmed. “What’s happening to him?”

  Lukas frowns. “We do this now, or we lose our shot.”

  Sebastian moves closer, but hesitates.

  “He’s dying?” I ask Lukas, my voice cracking. “What do we do?”

  “One of us needs to bite him,” Theo says, folding his arms under his chest.

  “Bite his throat and lick the wound to close it,” Lukas tells me. “He’ll survive this if his mate is the one to bring him over.”

  Everything happens so quickly it feels like a strange nightmarish dream. I shift so effortlessly, and my wolf form is stronger than my human side right now. I almost feel like she would have known what to do even if my mates hadn’t told me. She runs on instinct, and feels everything sharply.

  Fierce, protective, and ready to slaughter anything or anyone who tries to harm her mates, her feral growling as she approaches Fergus is in response to what’s been done to him. She wants to find the banshee and tear her limb from limb. Spill her blood and crush her bones to dust.

  She climbs onto the couch and nuzzles his throat.

  My fourth mate. My heart swells as I realize this was how it was always meant to be.

  She opens her mouth and bites down, making him bleed.

  He stops making those awful noises, his breathing begins to steady. He’s out of it and will be for a while, but he’ll survive.

  My wolf wants to curl up beside him for comfort until he wakes, but I want his restraints removed.

  In the end my desires trump hers and I shift back, now naked and straddling a friend who just became something more while he was unconscious. It’s more than a little bit creepy, even if I know mates are fated and the feeling is mutual.

  My energy has completely returned. I’m not shaky and weak. I feel like I could take on the world.

  “Untie him,” I say, as I turn and step down from the couch. “He’s not a threat any longer.”

  Theo’s staring at me, green eyes wild. “You accepted him as a mate.”

  He sounds disgusted, as if he can’t believe I would do such a thing.

  I glance at Lukas. He understands. I know he does. Sebastian seems a little shocked, but he’s covering it well. It’s only Theo who’s having a hard time with this.

  “It’s called fate,” I tell him. “He was already mine, I just didn’t know it.”

  “You can’t...” he starts, trailing off and shaking his head. “I can’t.”

  He leaves. The basement, and the house. I hear the rattle of the front door being slammed shut.

  “He’ll get over it,” Sebastian says, as he unties the ropes.

  The expression on Lukas’ face tells me he’s not so sure.

  My heart sinks. He reaches out to cup my face and kiss me lightly, resting his forehead against mine once he’s tasted my lips.

  “He’s your mate. We’ll get through this,” he murmurs.

  Frustration fills me. Lukas is right, but I can’t help worrying. Theo isn’t behaving like himself. I’d expect Lukas to hate the idea of a fourth mate, but not Theo. I’m not going to feel better until I understand what’s going on.

  I turn to Sebastian. “Can you take him to my bed and watch over him? I want him to be comfortable.”

  “It could take hours,” Lukas warns me. “Days, even.”

  I just smile and nod when Sebastian lifts him and looks my way for confirmation.

  He starts up the stairs and I lead Lukas up after him.

  “Come on, I want to show you something.”

  I lead Lukas into the living room while Sebastian takes Fergus upstairs.

  “Sit down,” I tell him, letting go of his hand.

  He watches me questioningly, but does as he’s told.

  “Part your legs.”

  He does so and I settle between his parted legs and lean back against him. I can feel his heart pounding and his cock starting to harden. My own arousal stirs at being so close to him. It probably doesn’t help that I’m naked.

  I place his hands on my now nicely toned stomach.

  “You could tell how many bones I’d broken when you touched my hand before,” I start. “Is that part of your abilities?”

  “Yes,” he tells me. “I have a couple of unusual abilities. My pack suspected I might become an Omega, but I wouldn’t submit easily to others so they ruled it out.”

  I’m not sure what an Omega is, but I don’t allow my curiosity to distract me as I move his hands.

  “I felt something when I shifted,” I tell him. “Something I think you can feel too.”

  “Something I can...” he murmurs, trailing off with a whisper of a gasp. “You’re pregnant.”

  “It’s yours,” I tell him, knowing it beyond any shadow of a doubt.

  His hands move to cup my breast and my sex. He kisses my neck urgently.

  “I need to be inside you,” he growls.

  I move as he pulls his cock out of his jeans, allowing him to guide me by the hips to settle down on his thick shaft. I’m wet and ready but the rough way he plunges inside makes me cry out.

  I move my legs so I’m kneeling at either side of him, able to control how deep I take him, at least until he rocks his hips and buries himself deeper. Groaning, I start to move on top of him in this reverse cowgirl position, and he holds onto my arms from behind, pulling me back harder if I go too slow. I have zero control and I love it.

  He’s mine. He knows what I need and how to give me it. I trust that. I trust him.

  “Lukas,” I murmur as he thrusts inside me harder.

  “You’re so wet,” he tells me. “My perfect mate barely needs me to touch her to get ready for me to fill her sweet cunt.”

&
nbsp; His cock expands as his voice gets raspier. He’s knotting. I quiver at the thought of that. Our bodies are locked together until he spills deep inside me. We can’t be parted. I moan as he leads one of my hands around and places it on the fine hair above my filled cunt. My fingers find my slick, swollen clit and I stroke as his fingers mirror mine.

  His replace mine and he leans forward to kiss my shoulder. A gasp bursts from my lips as he grazes the spot where Theo bit me.

  “Maggie?” he whispers.

  “Mm hm?”

  “Bring your hand up and grab my hair would you?”

  There’s something in his voice that makes me shiver. He’s smiling, I can tell. There’s no confusion over which hand he wants. He’s still holding onto my other forearm, to pull me back when he wants to thrust deeper. I move my hand up and reach back for his hair. I barely graze it when his tongue lashes out over the mark he put on my wrist, making me gasp as I come, milking his thrusting cock hard and shattering me into pieces above him.

  I murmur curses as he continues stroking my clit, eliciting a second climax from me before he licks my wrist again and pushes me into oblivion. My back arches as he grabs my hips and makes me grind hard on his swollen cock. He spills inside me as I cry out his name, cursing him to hell and back for making me come so damn hard.

  We stay there for a few long moments, as I try to catch my breath and he refuses to let me move away. His grip relaxes on my hips, but his arms snake around me, pulling me back against him.

  I relax into his embrace and he lifts me off his cock the moment the swelling goes down.

  “Huh,” I murmur. “So this knotting thing happens even if I’m already pregnant then?”

  “Sebastian told you?” he asks, not sounding surprised. “We have some control over it, though only when our mate is already with child.”

  “So then you’re still doing it because you like it?” What man wouldn’t? He’s essentially making his cock bigger while it’s inside me. I can’t see any reason it wouldn’t be preferable.

  “It feels good, and you seem to like it,” he says. “I don’t want to have to control myself around you, Maggie.”

  “I love it,” I assure him, not wanting him to stop. “I was just curious.”