by L. L. Raand
“No one should touch you unless I’m present.” Sylvan focused a predatory gaze on Sophia, who kept her place but lowered her gaze to Sylvan’s shoulder.
“Sophia,” Drake said calmly, continuing to stroke Sylvan, “tell the Alpha what you told me.”
“The pups are broadcasting already.” Sophia couldn’t help but smile. “They’re eager to run.”
Sylvan glanced at Drake and grinned, her eyes shimmering to blue and her wolf calming. “You’ll be busy with them.”
Drake threaded her arms around Sylvan’s waist and kissed her. “We’ll be busy.”
Sophia couldn’t help but feel the bond of tenderness and passion between them, and her joy was tinged with heartache, knowing she could never share a mate bond, the final irrevocable joining. She backed away until her shoulder accidently touched Elena’s. When Elena rested a hand at the base of her spine, the unexpected tenderness made her gasp. She had not been intimate with anyone in weeks, not even a casual tangle after a run. The absence of physical touch was a severe deprivation for a Were, and her body responded instantly. The blaze smoldering in her depths flared and she gritted her teeth to hold back a moan. She edged away. “I’m sorry.”
“No,” Elena said, “I am. I wasn’t thinking.”
Sylvan watched them from across the room, her eyes narrowed. “I need food for the young. And you two need to talk.” She slid her hand around the back of Drake’s neck and dragged her close for another kiss. “I’m taking them out for a run. Don’t leave the Compound until I return.”
Drake slipped her fingertips beneath the waistband of Sylvan’s jeans and nipped her lip. “I won’t. Stop snarling.”
Sylvan snarled again, but a smile softened her mouth. “Once they hunt, they’ll be stronger. You can talk to them then.”
“Good. Be careful.”
“Always.” Sylvan kissed her hard, spun around, and pushed out through the door.
Drake said to Elena, “I’ll be at headquarters if anything else turns up in the lab work.”
“Of course. We’ll let you know right away.” When Drake had left, Elena said quietly, “What you’re doing, it’s not safe.”
“I’m not taking anything the other females don’t sometimes use.”
“Not in the same quantities. And we don’t really know how the drugs will react in your system. You can’t be sure your body is metabolizing the chemicals. You could be inviting a dangerous buildup of toxins.”
Sophia turned away, humiliated. “I don’t have any choice.”
“You do. I can think of a dozen unmated Weres who would be more than happy to answer your need.”
“And what if I lose control?” Sophia dug her claws into her upper arms, focusing on the pain and not the terror flooding through her. “What if I bite? What if we mate?”
Elena came toward her, careful not to touch her, sensitive to how agonizing the slightest touch could be to a female in need. “And what if they welcomed your bite? What if you found a mate and you had to give up being alone?”
“You think that’s why?”
“No, not entirely. I know why,” Elena said quietly. “I was here when your parents brought you, remember?”
“I’m sorry,” Sophia said. “I do remember. Of course I remember. I remember how kind you were to me. I remember you sitting by my bedside, wiping the fever sweat from my forehead, telling me over and over that I was going to be all right.”
“And you are all right. You’re a strong, healthy Were, and we all love you.”
“Almost healthy,” Sophia murmured.
“We’re not certain. You know that. And what of your heart?” Elaine asked. “We are more than our instincts. Our wolves may choose by instinct, but we mate with more than our bodies. We mate with our hearts and our minds. What about that?”
Sophia thought of Niki, of the pain in her eyes and the power in her body. She shuddered, remembering the feel of Niki’s arms around her, Niki’s hard body pressed against her back, her hot breath against her neck. She’d wanted to give Niki her throat. She’d almost begged Niki to let her answer her need. She would have accepted Niki’s bite, returned it. And she would’ve despised herself. “I can’t take the chance.”
Elena gestured to the drug cabinet. “This is not the way.”
“I know,” Sophia murmured. Her system was rebelling, rejecting the drugs and possibly compromising her at the same time. She’d been through unrequited heat before and survived. She could again. She’d have to. She would not draw another Were into a mate bond that could prove deadly. “I’ll find another way.”
*
Niki paced circles in the small room, aching to shift, needing to run. Her hunger had been sated by the release ignited by Lara’s bite, but the Alpha’s call still echoed in her depths. The mindless craze of bloodlust could never satisfy the needs of her soul. Her wolf craved the touch of another wolf. She paused, feeling the familiar tingle of her wolf rising. Pelt feathered the midline of her belly. Her clitoris tensed. She breathed deeply and quivered. The tang of potent pheromones teased her tongue. Not the Alpha’s call. She rumbled, her canines lifting her lip. Beside her, Lara was deep in her daytime somnolence and defenseless. Sunset was still half a day away, but they were sequestered in the heart of the Compound. No harm would come to Lara here.
Niki strode to the door and slid out into the hall. Max leaned against the wall across from her. While she was safeguarding Lara, Max had taken her place as Sylvan’s general. A necessary move, but a blow to her heart she could barely tolerate.
“Good to see you, Imperator,” Max said, his craggy face breaking into a smile.
Niki bristled. “Shouldn’t I be calling you that?”
He ducked his head at the challenge in her voice. Like all centuri, he was dominant, but Niki was subordinate only to the Alpha, and now the Alpha’s mate. “I stand for you by the Alpha’s command, but I will never take your place. We miss you.”
“Just see that no harm comes to the Alpha,” Niki snarled, “and guard Lara.”
“I’ll be here until you return.”
Niki loped down the hall and out onto the wide split-log porch, drawn by a call that struck deep, inciting her wolf. Movement across the Compound drew her attention, and she sprang down onto the hard-packed earth, the ache in her belly exploding into furious need. Her heart hammered in her chest and her skin glistened with sex-sheen. Sophia leaned against a column on the barracks porch, her head tilted back, her eyes closed. Her arms hugged her middle and she trembled with need.
Niki leapt, clearing the distance between them in one powerful lunge.
Chapter Six
Kill quickly. Kill clean.
The Alpha’s voice resonated in her mind as Gray raced through chest-high grass in the upland meadow, bearing down on her prey. The Alpha was running nearby, and so was Katya, but all her senses were fixed on the shimmering form just ahead of her, leaping and jumping. She hadn’t run free in weeks, hadn’t felt the wind in her face, hadn’t scented rich earth and pungent pine and the tang of fox and rabbit. Now she was strong again, and she was never going to let anyone catch her. Never let anyone chain her. She gathered all her strength and burst forward, striking her prey on the soft underside of its throat, biting deep, bringing it down swiftly and breaking its neck with a powerful twist of her shoulders. Quick. Clean. Her kill.
Gray raised her head and howled, claiming her victory. The Alpha loped down from the ridge and Katya drew up on her flank, coming to share in the kill. Gray swung her head around and snarled at Katya, warning her away. Katya showed her teeth. Gray bristled and crouched, her tail stiff. Katya was too dominant, a threat. The Alpha arrowed through the waving green stalks, the tips of her silver ruff gleaming gold in the late-afternoon sunlight. She growled and shouldered Gray aside and circled the kill. Gray held her ground, rumbling deep in her chest, and the Alpha snarled, pinning her with a fixed stare. Gray looked away and Katya crept nearer. The Alpha sniffed the kill and Gray rumbled
again.
The Alpha whirled on her and charged, snapping and growling. Her jaws grazed Gray’s muzzle and with a startled yip, she backed away. She raised her lip and the Alpha stalked her, ears stiff, hackles raised.
You’ll eat when I’m ready for you to eat.
The Alpha’s command struck a chord deep inside her, igniting a primitive need for her to obey. The Alpha was everything she trusted, everything she depended on to bring order to a wild and dangerous world. Gray lowered her tail. The Alpha circled the kill again and shouldered first Gray, then Katya forward. Eat.
Katya waited while Gray took the first bite, tearing off the choicest portion. Then Katya fell on the carcass, and together, they shared in the kill. Despite her hunger, Gray stopped every few seconds and checked over her shoulder, watching for danger. Nowhere was safe.
I’m here. I will protect you. Eat.
Whining softly, Gray acknowledged the Alpha’s order, but she was still uneasy.
Sylvan sat far enough from the kill site to see in all directions, watching for human hunters or roving bands of cat Weres from the mountains to the east. She didn’t eat. She’d hunted with Drake that morning. She watched Gray carefully, alert to a resurgence of her aggressive posture. Weres, regardless of their place in the hierarchy, were not usually aggressive over food. Gray had won the right to own the kill, but the natural thing would have been for her to share without contest. Her show of aggression toward Katya and reluctance to submit to her Alpha’s authority were signs she was losing her Pack connection. If she could not find her place in the Pack, she would have to leave, and she would not survive as a lone wolf. Not many Weres could, and those who managed it were those who had never formed strong Pack bonds to begin with. Those circumstances were rare and usually a result of a very young Were having no access to the Pack at a critical stage of development. Every few generations, a very dominant Were would leave to start their own Pack, but as territory was scarce, they often failed. Even the most dominant wolf Weres usually remained with the Pack, content to serve as centuri or sentries or to perform some critical function in human society. It was always hard to let one of the Pack go, and Sylvan and her mother and the Alpha before her would do anything possible to prevent losing one of the Pack to the wilderness. If Gray broke with the Pack, Sylvan could not allow her to stay in Timberwolf territory, and she was too young to command her own Pack. She would die alone.
Sylvan grumbled, reminding the young hunters she was nearby. Reminding them they were not alone. Reminding them they were hers. She was not going to lose Gray.
*
Sophia felt the air change, as if the atmosphere was suddenly charged with electricity. The hairs on her arms and the back of her neck lifted the way they did when a high wind blew down from the mountain, carrying storm clouds and rain. Her muscles tingled and blood rushed through her veins, stirring her wolf, calling her out to run. Her pelt streamed to the surface, pressing against the undersurface of her skin, threatening to burst free. The urge to tangle, to thrash and bite and fuck and join, knifed through her so sharply she wanted to howl. Moaning, she squeezed her arms tighter around her middle as if that would dull the churning desire. Her wolf coiled within her, ready to spring, ready to launch herself at the wolf careening down on her. Her wolf was demanding she tangle, demanding to be filled, to be tied. To mate.
Her call was answered with a resonant growl.
“No,” Sophia gasped, her eyes snapping open. The porch shuddered under her bare feet and a blur of red-gray dropped into a crouch in front of her. Niki. Frenzied, coated in pheromones, her wolf riding her hard, unleashed and dangerous and so beautiful. The muscles in Niki’s legs bunched, absorbing the shock of her landing, and Sophia imagined those strong hips pumping between her spread thighs, Niki’s clitoris sliding along her hot cleft, making her come, forcing her victus to explode in torrents down the carved columns of Niki’s legs. Her canines burst out and she fixed on the sculpted muscles in Niki’s shoulders. She wanted to bury herself there, leave her mark. But she couldn’t. She couldn’t.
“Oh God, Niki,” Sophia whispered. “What—”
“You called me,” Niki growled, her cheekbones standing out in sharp relief, her eyes half-wolf, slanted and sharp, the dense green of a forest after a storm. Her breasts were tight, her nipples hard, dusky discs, her abdomen a staircase of stone painted the color of blood. She straightened to her full height and stalked a step closer. “You’ve been calling me since yesterday.”
“No.” Sophia stumbled back and felt the porch post at her back. Her sex tightened and she couldn’t stop the whine breaking from her throat. She fought to contain her wolf, but she was losing the struggle. The drugs were useless, overpowered by the hormonal storm of her heat. She’d denied herself too many times. But she was too close to abandoning all control. She’d never be able to contain her need to bite, to join and finish completely, and she couldn’t risk inciting a bond. Somehow she had to drive Niki away. “No, no. I didn’t mean to call you, I—”
“You never do,” Niki snarled, bearing down on her, seeming so much larger even though she was only an inch or two taller. And then she was up against her, one arm high up on the post above Sophia’s head, the other sliding around her hip, pinning her in place. Heat poured from her naked torso. Fire raged in her eyes, and her mouth—oh God, her mouth—was so gorgeous. The tips of her canines gleamed like pearl daggers and Sophia wanted them against her skin. “You never mean to call me, but you do.”
“Oh,” Sophia gasped, arching into her, tilting her head back to bare her neck. She couldn’t help herself. She couldn’t hold back, couldn’t chain her wolf or her need.
“Why is it you never want to call me?” Niki’s canines extended fully, her words now only a guttural growl. She sniffed Sophia’s neck, licked the column of muscle running from her shoulder to her ear. “Why?”
“Please,” Sophia whispered. Niki’s teeth scraped along her throat and Sophia’s legs went weak. She ached, mindlessly, and Niki was all she could feel. All she wanted. Her claws extended, ready to hold Niki to her, over her, inside her. “Please, Niki. I can’t—”
“You can’t what?” Niki rumbled. She kissed Sophia’s jaw and thrust her pelvis into the valley between Sophia’s thighs. “You can’t tangle with me? Who, then?” Niki growled and nipped Sophia’s lower lip. “You called me.”
“No,” Sophia said desperately. “No, I couldn’t help—I couldn’t stop—”
“I want you. I’ve always wanted you.” Niki rubbed her breasts over Sophia’s, her claws lightly scraping Sophia’s belly.
The tiny scratches shot tendrils of pleasure between Sophia’s legs and she whimpered. “I can’t. Not now. I can’t—”
“I can smell you, taste you,” Niki said, licking her again. “You’re ready.”
“Just let me go,” Sophia moaned, but she opened for her inside. Filled for her. “Not now…not now—”
A furious roar resounded across the clearing. “Get away from her!”
Niki whipped her head around, snarling a warning. Dasha Baran charged across the Compound, growling a challenge. Niki coiled to attack the dominant sentrie lieutenant, putting herself between Sophia and the challenger.
“Niki, no!” Sophia grabbed her, tried to hold her back.
Niki was past hearing. She was done bending to the will of others. She would give her throat to the Alpha, but only the Alpha. She had already given up her place leading the centuri, had subjugated herself to a Vampire’s bite, but she would not give up this female to another. She’d given up too much already, everything that mattered to her, everything she thought she understood about herself and her life and her place in the world. She was done surrendering. She would have this female, and she would have her now. Niki reveled in the raw edge of pain as she shifted, snarling as her bones morphed and her wolf ascended, roaring with the glorious surge of power. She launched from the porch, eager for combat. She wasn’t much older than Dasha, but she was str
onger, more dominant, and Dasha was a few seconds slower in her shift. Niki hit her midshift in the center of her torso with all four legs, claws extended and jaws snapping. She rolled the smaller brown wolf and clamped onto her throat before Dasha could protect her vulnerable, soft underbelly. But Dasha was strong and agile, and her claws emerged as they fell onto the hard-packed earth. Claws dug gouges into Niki’s belly, tearing through fur and skin and shredding muscles. Niki ignored the pain, closing her jaws tighter on Dasha’s windpipe, shaking her head, trying to crush the air from her lungs. Another wolf struck her shoulder out of nowhere and dislodged her hold just enough for Dasha to break free.
In a fury, Niki rolled away and swung around, ready to tear into the interloper. A white wolf with turquoise eyes planted herself between Niki and Dasha, offering no challenge, emitting no growl, telegraphing only calm strength. Sophia. Niki lifted her lip, growled a warning. She wouldn’t hurt her, but she would not let herself be calmed. She would not be neutered now, and not by this wolf. She would answer Sophia’s call, her, her and no one else. Dasha was on her feet again, blood soaking her ruff, her eyes wild with pain and sex frenzy. They both wanted Sophia, and one of them would die here. Niki lunged at Sophia, feigning an attack, trying to drive her away, but Sophia held her ground. She whined, not a frightened submissive cry, but a coaxing, imploring plea.
Sophia wanted mercy, but Niki had no mercy left. Only rage. Niki bunched her shoulders, growled a warning.
Sophia dug her claws into the earth, holding Niki’s gaze, no anger in her eyes, only pain. Niki’s heart tightened, but her wolf clamored for blood. She wanted to hurt the wolf that challenged her. She didn’t want to be the one hurting anymore.
Dasha circled out from behind Sophia, lips curled back, hackles raised, rumbling in continued challenge. Dasha would not back down. She was too lost in the frenzy, wanting to claim Sophia, wanting to displace Niki from her position in the Pack. No more. Niki would give no more. Niki charged and Dasha leapt. They crashed in midair, jaws clashing, claws raking, filling the Compound with wild roars. Somewhere in the distance, a door slammed open and another wolf vaulted into the center of the Compound, huge, black, midnight eyes as hot as molten lava.