by L. L. Raand
Sylvan strode to her and stopped a foot away, her arms folded across her bare chest. She wore jeans and nothing else, but she couldn’t have looked more formidable if she’d been in full body armor. Niki kept her chin up, but her gaze fixed midway to Sylvan’s eyes. Sylvan’s mouth was set in a straight hard line. Niki quivered inside, but she had learned long ago never to show fear, not even in front of her Alpha.
“Tell me why I shouldn’t kill you,” Sylvan said in a flat, neutral tone.
“I can’t think of a reason,” Niki said.
“Then we have a problem, because neither can I. You put hands on my mate.”
“No, Alpha,” Niki said quietly. “I didn’t. Not intentionally.”
“Do you think that matters to me? She carries my young. She carries the future of this Pack.”
Sylvan’s voice had dropped to a low growl, and Niki felt the presence of Sylvan’s wolf bear down on her. She wanted to whimper. She wanted to fall to her knees, but she stood tall. She would die standing, for if she was nothing else, she was a warrior. “I know about the young.” She hesitated. “Congratulations. I was wrong about her—about her being a worthy mate to you. I was wrong about many things.”
Sylvan’s expression didn’t change. “What happened out there today?”
Niki was surprised at the opportunity to explain herself. She still didn’t know why she was breathing. The rules of the Pack were clear, and everyone, from the youngest whelp to the most seasoned warrior, knew them. The Alpha’s word was law. The Alpha’s mate was sacrosanct. The duty of every Were in the Pack was to protect the Alpha pair and preserve the bloodlines of the Pack. She had failed on every level. She took a breath. “I’d just come from being with Lara. The Vampire bite clouds the mind, and I—”
“I know what happens,” Sylvan said quietly. “That’s no excuse. You aren’t the only Were who services Vampires, or is serviced by them.”
Niki flushed. She didn’t like being referred to as no better than a blood addict. She raised her head, almost met Sylvan’s eyes. “Lara might be a Vampire, but she is also a centuri. I did not service her. I protected her. As you ordered, Alpha.”
Sylvan almost smiled at the show of defiance in her oldest friend and her most trusted warrior. But as much as she loved Niki, she loved her mate and her Pack more. She could not be wrong in this decision. “Regardless of how you define your need for the bite, if you cannot tangle with a Vampire and keep your head, you cannot be trusted.”
“Sophia is in heat. I answered her call. I was about to…” Niki looked away. What had she been about to do? Take her, although Sophia had said she wasn’t welcome? Seduce her, when Sophia could call any Were in the Pack she chose? Had she totally misread everything? “I was thinking only of Sophia, and then Dasha challenged. I…I lost control of my wolf.”
“Mating frenzy will do that to a Were.”
Niki jerked. “Sophia is in heat, but we’re not mating.”
“Drake thinks you are.”
“No. That’s not possible. Sophia does not want a mate and has not called for one.”
Sylvan laughed. “And you think that makes any difference at all? You think I wanted a mate? You know better.” Sylvan relaxed her stance and raked a hand through her hair. “Do you have any idea what it feels like to be truly afraid, Niki? Do you think I have the time or the luxury to be afraid? But I am.”
Niki raised her eyes to Sylvan’s. She’d seen her Alpha in frenzy, in fury, in battle—bloodied and blooded. But she had never seen the haunted shadows that swirled in her dark blue eyes now. The Alpha, afraid? She couldn’t fathom it. “I don’t understand.”
“If something happens to her, I don’t think I can survive, let alone lead.”
Niki’s jaw tightened and she growled. “No matter what you think, you will lead. You are the Alpha. We are here to ensure that nothing happens to her, or your young.”
“Who would that be?” Sylvan asked softly. “Who can I trust with all I care about?”
“Your centuri,” Niki answered instantly.
“And who leads them? Who can I trust above all others?”
Niki swallowed. “I have ever been and always will be loyal. My life for your life, for her life.”
“I need you strong, Niki. No matter your personal needs. If it’s a Vampire’s bite you crave, satisfy yourself, but hold your wolf and keep your head.”
“Yes, Alpha,” Niki whispered, wondering if the oblivion of bloodlust was what she truly wanted. She was being given a second chance to find out what really mattered.
“And if you mate—” Sylvan shot Niki a hard stare when she started to protest. “If you mate, your mate will come first if threatened, but at all other times, your loyalty is to me and mine, above all others.”
“Above all others.” Niki pressed her palm to her heart in salute.
“How badly are you injured?”
Niki grinned crookedly. “I’ve had worse. I think you’ve given me worse.”
Sylvan grasped the back of Niki’s head and pulled her into her arms. She kissed her forehead. “We were younger then.”
Niki rested her cheek on Sylvan’s shoulder, breathed in the scent of Pack, absorbed the strength of her Alpha. She had been in the Compound for days, but this was the first time she’d felt as if she was home.
“We still have some fight left,” Niki murmured.
Sylvan stroked Niki’s hair and rested her chin on top of Niki’s head. “Yes, and I’m afraid there are many fights to come.”
*
Lara woke snarling and jolted up on the narrow bed. She was naked, her skin burning, fiery blades slashing her to ribbons from the inside out. She took a breath, whipped her head around. Sophia stood at the foot of her bed. She was dressed in jeans and a T-shirt, her expression calm, unafraid. Lara searched for Jody in the shadows and didn’t see her.
“She is just outside,” Sophia said.
“Why are you here?” Lara asked, her voice thick with need.
“For you,” Sophia murmured, walking closer. “Welcome back.”
Lara gripped the mattress so hard she shredded it beneath her claws. Her canines were down, her clitoris rock hard. Her hunger painted the world in blood. “Are you sure? I can’t wait—can’t control it. If you’re not sure, leave now.”
Sophia came closer, sat on the edge of the bed facing her, cupped her jaw. “I’m sure. You’re one of us. I’m here for you.”
“I’m sorry,” Lara whispered, twining her fingers through the hair at the back of Sophia’s head to tilt her chin up and expose the thick, rich veins in her neck. “I hunger.”
“I hunger too,” Sophia murmured. “It’s all right.”
Beneath the lure of blood, Lara scented Sophia’s need. Her wolf surged, a dominant Were driven to answer the chief imperative of a female in heat. “I want you.”
Sophia shuddered, her heat an unbearable pressure pounding in her depths. Niki’s words echoed in her mind. When Lara makes you come, think of me. She tightened her grip on Lara’s shoulders. They were alike in their need—driven by instinct and nature to join—but she refused to surrender her will to the dictates of her biology. She would choose who touched her soul. Sophia framed Lara’s face, stared into the eyes of her wolf. “Feed from me.”
“Yes,” Lara groaned, taking her swiftly, driving into her throat, swallowing ravenously. Sophia bowed in her arms, a sharp cry escaping as she pressed against Lara’s chest. Sophia’s nipples were hard, her breasts hot and full beneath the thin T-shirt. Lara tore the shirt down the middle, wanting skin on her skin, and pulled Sophia down to the bed. Still drinking, she rose over her, her tense clitoris riding over Sophia’s thigh. The rush of Sophia’s blood coursing through her forced her to release, but she wanted more. She wanted to be inside Sophia while she drank her. Her wolf circled, agitated and wild. Sophia smelled like the forest after a heavy rain—fertile and rich. Sophia was life, potent and powerful. Lara wanted to drink her, she wanted to fuck her. She s
lid her claws down Sophia’s flank and over her thigh, barely aware of the vise-like grip on her wrist until she tried to part Sophia’s thighs.
“Wait,” Sophia whispered, and through the haze of bloodlust Lara heard the unmistakable command.
Lara stilled, her canines still buried in Sophia’s throat, Sophia’s blood flowing into her cells, her feeding hormones seeping into Sophia’s system. Sophia should have been completely powerless, but she was still aware and she had said no. Lara would not take her against her will, but she needed more blood to blunt her hunger. She straddled Sophia’s thighs, her release cresting as she drank. She thrust, groaning at the knifelike pleasure. Beneath her, Sophia stiffened, her claws stabbing into Lara’s back as she spent in hot waves over Lara’s belly. Sophia’s call was powerful, unrelenting, but Lara pulled away. Any more and she would lose herself in the ecstasy of Sophia’s blood and drink her dry.
“Oh!” Sophia gasped as Lara withdrew, instantly cast into aching loneliness. Feeding Lara had been intensely intimate. Severing the connection was physically painful, but through it all she had seen Niki’s face, not Lara’s, above her. When she’d tempered her heat with a gut-wrenching orgasm, she’d felt Niki’s mouth at her throat. “Oh God.”
Lara lay heavily on her, panting. “Are you all right?”
Sophia rubbed her cheek against Lara’s, stroking the damp hair that clung to her neck. “Yes. Thank you.”
Lara pushed up, her eyes scarlet pools, her face an elegant chimera of wolf and Vampire. “You thank me when you’ve just gifted me with life?”
Sophia smiled, determined not to let her sadness show. Lara was not to blame for Sophia’s condition or for her own bloodlust. They were both trapped by need. “I came to you. I wanted to feed you—and I needed your bite. I’m sorry I could not give you more.”
“I don’t know how you stopped me.”
“You are first and always a Were—I knew you would honor our code.”
“Am I still Were?” Lara whispered, not seeking an answer where there could be none. She shuddered. “It’s so lonely.”
“I know.” Sophia pulled Lara back down into her arms. She knew what it was to be thrust into an unknown world, to be an outsider, to struggle for a place in a new life, all the while consumed with powerful and foreign needs. “But you’re not alone. I promise.”
“You’re in heat.” Lara rubbed her cheek over Sophia’s breast. “Why aren’t you with a Were?”
“I am.”
“Not one who can give you a mate bite.” Bitterness flooded Lara’s throat. She hadn’t realized what she’d lost until she’d held Sophia in her arms and sensed the glory of her call. She was centuri. She hadn’t planned on mating, at least not until the Pack was safe in the post-Exodus world, and hadn’t thought it mattered. Until now, when she couldn’t. How much of her was changed? How much of her was…dead?
“You don’t know you can’t mate,” Sophia said. “When you’re stronger, we’ll find out.”
Lara rested her forehead on Sophia’s. “What kind of mate would I be—I couldn’t even protect my mate during the day.”
“You’d find a way. If you couldn’t, another Were would stand for you. We are Pack. We protect our own.”
“Our own.” Lara shook her head and sat up, putting her back to the wall and her body between Sophia and the door. Another Vampire approached.
The door opened and Lara snarled a warning.
“Be careful who you threaten, newling.” Jody stepped inside, her gaze passing over Sophia in the protective shadow of Lara’s body. She’d agreed to let Sophia come in alone after Sophia had insisted she would be safe. Struck by a strong wave of psychic energy, Jody had probed Sophia’s mind and found her inexplicably and powerfully shielded. Sophia was unlike any Were she’d ever encountered, with an extraordinarily strong path-signature. If she didn’t know Sophia was a Were, she’d think she was Psi. All the same, she’d monitored Lara’s feeding from close by, ready to intervene if Lara succumbed to bloodlust and threatened to drain the host. But Lara had surprised her too—she had a level of control to rival that of a seasoned Risen after only a few days. She shouldn’t even be aware of what she was doing in the midst of feeding, let alone be able to stop herself from gorging.
Over the centuries, the Were and Vampire species had lost their interdependent connections, and it appeared that the Weres had acquired some very interesting powers. Now that she was in line to rule a Clan, she’d need to know what her allies—at least for now—were capable of.
“I’m not your newling any longer,” Lara growled.
Jody laughed and materialized inches from Lara in the blink of an eye. She stroked Lara’s cheek with one fingertip. “Oh, but you are.” She glanced at Sophia. “Not many hosts are able to maintain awareness in the midst of a Vampire feeding. You’re an empath.”
“Yes.”
“You could monitor her need while she fed?”
“Yes.” Sophia regarded Jody steadily.
“And still keep your own consciousness separate.”
Sophia nodded.
Jody regarded her contemplatively. Ability like that might make a host resistant to thrall—and if not enthralled, prey might refuse the bite altogether. “I’d keep that to myself if I were you.”
Sophia smiled wanly. “I’m very good at keeping secrets.”
“I imagine you are.” Jody cocked her head. “Becca is coming. There’s trouble.”
Chapter Eleven
Jody left Lara and Sophia alone in Lara’s room. Another risk, but Lara’s unusual control needed to be tested. So did Sophia’s unheard of ability to resist blood thrall. And something much more critical demanded her attention—Becca needed her.
Outside in the hall, Becca hurried toward her, radiating tension and distress. Searching for a threat, Jody extended her senses out over the Compound. Rafaela was only a few feet behind Becca, Zahn—resting but alert—was recovering in the second room down the hall, and two more of Jody’s soldiers stood post on the porch at the front of the infirmary. She pulled Becca to her and slid her arm around Becca’s shoulders. “Are you hurt?”
“No, no, I’m all right.” Becca kissed her quickly. “I’m sorry, I forget how attuned you are to my moods now. I didn’t mean to worry you.”
Jody smiled faintly. “It’s a new sensation for me. I don’t mind.” She sifted a lock of Becca’s hair through her fingers, marveling at the silky softness and the twinge of desire that followed. Until Becca, only blood had stirred her. She had never expected the simple sight of a woman to awaken longing. “Something else is wrong, then.”
“Yes, I think so. I just got another anonymous phone tip.”
Jody’s temper flared. “You have no idea who called?”
“A man. The same one who told me about the laboratory where Katya and Gray were imprisoned. That’s why I believe him, and if what he said today is true—”
“What did he want?” Jody didn’t like Becca being used as a conduit for cryptic messages from unknown contacts with questionable motives. Becca’s job put her in the public eye. Her exposés on the Exodus, the Praetern battle for civil rights, and the sometimes violent opposition to granting Praeterns any protection under the law had earned her national coverage as well as acclaim. Jody could understand why individuals seeking a public forum for their views might contact her, but these anonymous callers were pulling Becca into a world of dangerous secrets. Becca could too easily become a target, and she didn’t intend to allow Becca to be put in danger.
“I can sense your thoughts too, and we’ve had this discussion before, Vampire,” Becca murmured as quietly as she could, knowing any Vampire and most of the Weres in the vicinity could hear them. “You can’t protect me at the cost of me doing my job. And this is what I do. I’ve been doing it a long time with no backup and no guards.”
“But you’re not alone anymore,” Jody said, her heavy tone filling the wide hall with her power. “You’re mine.”
Becca smiled. A wave of heat passed through her, making her knees tremble. She tightened her fist in Jody’s black linen shirt. “Am I now?”
You need to ask?
“No,” Becca said breathlessly. “I know.”
“Then don’t ask me not to protect you.” Jody withdrew the slight thrall she’d cast. “Tell me what he said.”
“He warned there are Weres left behind in the lab.”
Jody’s eyes narrowed. “My soldiers and Sylvan’s warriors swept that wing. We left no one behind except the permanently dead.”
“I’m sure you’re right. But he said there are other underground wings. I wasn’t able to get all the blueprints in the little time I had, and if there is more to that installation, there could be more captives.”
“Why would anyone associated with that operation want us…you…to know?”
“I think this man was undercover in that lab. I think he’s an ally.”
“Undercover with whom?” Jody said. “No one has taken credit for what was going on there, and extremist groups are the first to claim responsibility for their destructive actions. It gives them credibility and power.”
“I know the pattern of fanatics,” Becca said, “which is why I think whoever is behind the abductions and experimentation is far more organized and probably much more politically savvy than the typical fringe group. Whoever is in charge is obviously well-funded and well-connected, and that makes them doubly dangerous.”
“Point taken.” Jody signaled Rafaela. “Call your soldiers. Put them on alert. We may need to assemble a strike force.”
Rafaela saluted. “Yes, Liege.”
Jody said to Becca, “Can you work on finding more detailed blueprints of that installation? We need to know what else is out there. I can get satellite imaging—”
“You can? How?”
Jody smiled. “Now that I am Risen, I can call on many resources that weren’t available to me as a pre-an detective.”
“Handy,” Becca muttered.
“We’ll set up surveillance—”
“I don’t think there’s time.”