by L. L. Raand
“No,” Lara said. “I will take my Liege. You take this human.”
Sylvan snarled. “You disobey my orders?”
“Warlord,” Jody said in a toneless, flat voice. “Take the humans, go up first. Clear the way for all of us.”
“Yes, Liege.”
Drake waited until Rafe and Lara disappeared up the precipitous stairwell. “What’s wrong?”
“Jody has severe UV exposure,” Sylvan said. “She needs blood.”
“I can wait,” Jody said.
“You can’t even stand.” Sylvan gripped Drake’s shoulder. “I need to feed her, or she won’t survive to get bonded blood.”
“Then do it.” Drake circled her hand over the center of Sylvan’s back. “We don’t have much time.”
Sylvan took Drake’s hand and they eased over portions of a collapsed wall to where Jody lay. Together they lifted Jody until she was cradled against Sylvan’s chest.
Drake guided Jody’s head to Sylvan’s neck. “Jody, you must stop before you weaken her.”
Jody was beyond hearing. Her mouth was already against Sylvan’s neck, her teeth in Sylvan’s throat. Sylvan gasped and reached for Drake.
“Come here, mate,” Drake murmured, cupping Sylvan’s cheek. She kissed her, and Sylvan groaned against her mouth. Drake tasted her power, the heat of her, and her body stirred. She kissed her and kept kissing her until Jody pulled away with a gasp.
“Thank you,” Jody said. “I am in your debt.”
Sylvan shuddered, her hands trembling on Drake’s shoulders.
Drake stroked her face. “We need to go now.”
“Yes,” Sylvan said hoarsely.
Lara called down, “The forest is burning. Hurry.”
Jody disappeared into the stairwell above them.
“Drake,” Sylvan said. “That was not—”
“I know.” Drake kissed her. “Let’s go home.”
Chapter Twenty-two
“Niki, wait,” Sophia said urgently as Niki dragged her out of Gray’s room and slammed the door closed. “What’s happening outside? You don’t need to stay—everything is fine. I’m fi—”
“Callan is in charge. And you’re not fine.” Niki, her shoulders tight and her eyes flashing brighter than any fire, grasped Sophia’s wrist and pulled her down the hall toward one of the empty rooms. “If you were fine, I wouldn’t have found you with a young wolf about to jump you.”
“She wasn’t. I could have handled—”
Without breaking stride, Niki silenced her with a hard, ferocious kiss.
Sophia knew her legs were moving but she had no sense of her feet touching the floor. All she knew was the thick, heady force of Niki’s desire flooding her—her head whirled, sound faded to nothing but the roar of her blood and the drumbeat of her heart, her sight was blind to everything but the dense green of Niki’s eyes. A green deeper than any forest, hotter than any flame. She braced her hands on Niki’s chest and pulled free of the kiss. Instantly she wanted Niki’s mouth on her again. “Niki, oh God—Niki, wait. We can’t—not now.”
Niki yanked her into the darkened room, shoved the door closed, and pushed Sophia against it. She caged her with an arm on either side of Sophia’s shoulders, pinning her with her body. “Yes now. I’m done watching other Weres try to claim you.”
Sophia struggled for reason, but Niki’s mouth was on her neck, kissing her, nipping at her skin, scraping along the muscles with her teeth. Niki was hot and heavy and hard, and Sophia wrapped her arms around her neck as naturally as she lifted her face to the moonlight when she ran under the stars. Niki was the key that opened every need she’d worked so hard to lock away. “Niki, they might need you outside. I—I can wait.”
“I can’t…Not anymore. I need you,” Niki said, her mouth on Sophia’s throat. “I need you now, just for a minute.”
Sophia caressed Niki’s back, played her fingers over the massive muscles in her shoulders, traced the smooth slope of her waist. She spread her fingers through Niki’s hair and pressed Niki’s face harder to her neck. “I love the way you feel. You’re so beautiful.”
“Don’t stop touching me,” Niki growled, her teeth grazing Sophia’s shoulder. She pushed Sophia’s shirt up and lowered her head, sliding her mouth along the curve of Sophia’s breast, sucking, teasing, tormenting.
“I want your skin,” Sophia gasped, hooking her fingers in the waistband of Niki’s jeans and tearing them open. She shoved the pants down over the curve of Niki’s muscular ass, scoring her with her claws, so ready for her she could only whimper. “Niki. I need you.”
Niki panted, wanting her like she wanted prey on a hunt—with a single-minded ferocity that blinded her to everything else. She’d waited so long, wanted so madly, she was afraid she would lose herself, take her too hard, too fast. Hurt her. Breath burned in her lungs, her stomach knotted. Another second and she’d mount her and take her, and she wanted so much more. She went to her knees and forced herself to go slowly. Niki pressed her cheek to Sophia’s abdomen and rubbed her face over the soft dusting of silver pelt low on her belly. “I’ll hurt you.”
“You won’t.” Sophia dug her fingers into Niki’s broad shoulders. “I’m a Were. I’m not fragile.”
“You make me wild,” Niki muttered.
“Good.”
Niki opened Sophia’s pants, guided them down her long sleek thighs, kissed the quivering muscles she exposed. She ran her palms up and down Sophia’s legs, careful not to press too hard, careful not to draw blood. Yet. If she bit her, tasted her, her wolf would rule, and she wouldn’t stop until she’d come inside her.
“I want you inside me,” Sophia gasped.
Sophia raked her claws over Niki’s shoulders, and the lightning strokes of pain set Niki ablaze. Her clitoris stiffened, beating rapidly in time with her furious heart. Niki groaned when Sophia’s fingers came into her hair, pressing her face lower. A cloud of pheromones and sex engulfed her. She was blind with the beauty of her, wild with the scent of her. She was so ready to be inside her she could think of nothing else. Niki pressed her lips to Sophia’s belly, ran her mouth over the silky skin, dragged her teeth down to the junction of her thighs.
Sophia cradled Niki’s neck. “Please, oh please. Now.”
Sophia’s gasps of pleasure, her small cries of need, drew a possessive snarl from Niki’s throat. “Mine.”
“Yes, yes.” Sophia lifted her hips to Niki’s mouth. “Taste me.”
Niki’s wolf surged and Niki strained to hold her back. She stroked the insides of Sophia’s thighs and pressed her legs open, following the path of her fingers with her mouth. She licked lightly, teasingly, until Sophia jerked her head forward with a low warning growl.
“Now, Wolf. Now.”
Claws pierced Niki’s neck, another shock of bright, shining pain shot through her, and Niki shuddered on the edge of exploding. She closed her mouth around Sophia, taking her full, firm clitoris between her lips, sucking her deep. Sophia’s legs quivered as she tasted her.
“Niki, Niki, take me. Please, please.”
Niki held Sophia in her mouth, licking, sucking, teasing until she felt Sophia swell, felt the deep glands tense, and knew she was ready. She surged to her feet, pushed her hips tight between Sophia’s thighs, and pulled Sophia’s legs up around her hips. Holding Sophia against the door with her body, she pressed her tense clitoris beneath Sophia’s, joining them.
Sophia’s head fell back against the door. “Oh yes. Yes. I love you over me, inside me.”
Niki pushed deeper, and Sophia closed around her. The pressure was unbearable, agonizingly sweet—shatteringly perfect. Niki’s ass tightened and she thrust, forcing Sophia to coat her in pheromones and sex. Sophia’s wolf was hungry to mate, and Niki wanted her.
“Bite me,” Niki growled in Sophia’s ear. “Do it. I want your teeth in me when I come.”
Sophia quivered, her body, her mind unleashed, but no matter how badly she needed, she would not risk Niki. Panting, so
bbing, wild with hunger, she clung to reason. She’d always managed to avoid the final union, but she’d never wanted it so fiercely. Sliding her hands down Niki’s sweat-slick back, she cupped her ass, burying her claws in the hard, tight muscles. Tightening her legs around Niki’s hips, she rode her harder, faster, mercilessly.
Roaring, Niki jerked and her clitoris tensed.
“Now, Niki.” Sophia dragged Niki’s mouth to her shoulder. “Taste me.”
Niki was lost. She buried her canines in Sophia’s shoulder and thrust wildly, releasing a flood of victus over Sophia’s sex.
“Yes,” Sophia cried, releasing violently, devastatingly. But she held on, held back. She did not, would not, bite.
Niki buried her face in Sophia’s neck and emptied helplessly, over and over. Her legs gave way and she crumpled. Sophia cushioned her slide to the floor and held Niki’s damp face to her breast.
“Say it,” Niki gasped. “Please, say it.”
Sophia closed her eyes and rubbed her tear-streaked cheek over Niki’s hair. “I’m yours, Niki.” In every way I can be.
*
When Sylvan scrambled out of the hole in the side of the mountain behind Drake, she found Rafe waiting for them with one of the girls in her arms and the other on the ground at Jody’s feet. Sylvan got a good look at the two Vampires for the first time since the explosion. They were both more badly injured than she’d realized—their clothing smoldering, their flesh blistering, huge areas blackened and charred. She’d never seen a Vampire walk into the sun, but she thought these two might have come close to that final immolation. She had to get her mate and her friends out of this death trap. She lifted the unconscious girl into her arms. “Where’s Lara?”
“She went to get our vehicle,” Rafe said. “The limos are designed to resist fire.”
Around them, the forest burned, flames leaping from treetop to treetop, huge pines exploding like matchsticks, the sky swallowed by black clouds of smoke. Even the wind had been silenced by the roar of the fire.
“She’ll have to run through flame to find it,” Sylvan said.
“She said her wolf can outrun it,” Rafe said.
Sylvan glanced at Drake. The conflagration was closing in on them. She couldn’t risk her mate and her young, and she doubted she could get Drake to leave without her. Shall we wait? The fire is close and we might have to carry Jody.
Give Lara five minutes. The Vampires will be safer inside the car.
“All right,” Sylvan said. “We’ll wait.”
Jody turned to Sylvan. “You and Drake should shift and get out before that road disappears. Rafe and I will stay here with the humans.”
“We’re not splitting up,” Sylvan said. “Lara is strong and fast.”
“There’s no reason we should all die,” Jody said.
“No,” Sylvan said, “there isn’t. And we won’t.” She pointed. “Look.”
A hazy light shone through the torrent of burning embers, growing brighter with every second. A vehicle burst into the clearing and skidded to a stop. The doors flew open, and Sylvan pushed Drake toward the rear compartment. “Hurry. Everyone inside.”
As the doors slammed shut, Sylvan called to Lara behind the wheel. “Can you get us out?”
“Yes,” Lara said calmly. “Everyone hang on.”
Drake knelt on the floor next to the two humans and checked their vital signs. “Is there anything to cover them with? They’re both in shock.”
“There’s a pull-out compartment under the seat,” Jody said. “We have a few medical supplies.”
“IV fluid?” Drake asked hopefully, bracing a hand against the door as the vehicle jounced and careened over rocks and other obstacles.
Jody grinned thinly. “Synthetic blood.”
“It will do.” Drake sorted through the supplies and found intravenous needles and plastic bags of fluid. She managed to get lines into both the girls, despite their dehydrated state, and connected the bags to delivery tubes. That was all she could do for them now.
“Come here.” Sylvan pulled Drake onto the seat and sheltered her against her side. “Are you all right? You should have left when I—”
Drake kissed her. “I’m fine. You’re the one who’s injured.”
Sylvan grumbled. “You shouldn’t take risks. I told—”
“I love you,” Drake whispered. “Now shut up.”
Sylvan’s lip curled, but she rested her forehead against Drake’s and contented herself with holding her.
Lara said, “We’re approaching the junction with the main road. Where do you want me to go?”
“Head to Jody’s town house,” Sylvan said. “As soon as we can get a cell signal, we’ll call the Compound and have them send a vehicle to intercept us. You need to get Jody home.”
“Yes, Alpha,” Lara said, flooring the accelerator as burning trees crashed around them. Branches and bushes like flaming torches scraped and slapped at the car, but she maneuvered through the last obstacles and bounced out onto a paved surface. She followed the road around the perimeter of the burning complex and up into the mountains.
Sylvan caught sight of flickering lights in the sky. “Helicopters. Probably news and police.”
“We can’t afford to be detained—not with these girls in the car,” Drake said. “If they’re infected, we don’t want them in a human hospital.”
“We don’t want to be associated with this sabotage either,” Jody said.
“They’ll block these roads before long,” Sylvan said.
“Call Becca,” Jody said. “She has an emergency scanner. She’ll be able to track which highways are open.”
“Give me the car phone,” Sylvan said, reaching into the front seat. “And activate the vehicle’s GPS.”
Lara handed the phone to Sylvan, and Sylvan punched in Becca’s number.
“Yes?” Becca answered instantly.
“Becca,” Sylvan said. “Jody’s with me. We’re in the middle of a forest fire, and we need to get out of here quickly before the police close the roads.”
“Give me your location.”
Sylvan checked the GPS reading on the dashboard and told her.
“One minute. Is Jody all right?”
“She’s injured. She’ll need bonded blood as soon as she arrives home.”
Jody snarled and tried to grab the phone.
“She’s not happy I told you that,” Sylvan said.
“No, I imagine she isn’t,” Becca said, her voice steady but crackling with urgency. “Thank you.”
“None needed.”
“If you take 22 through the mountains south, you’ll be clear.”
“Rafe and Lara will see she gets home soon.”
“Tell them to be careful.”
Sylvan disconnected, ignoring the look of cold fury on Jody’s sheet-white face, and called the Compound. Callan answered. “Is everything secure?”
“Yes, Alpha.”
“Good. Have Dasha fix on our vehicle and meet us with the Rover en route. We have injured.”
“Yes, Alpha.”
Jody snarled, “You forget yourself, Wolf.”
Sylvan tossed the phone into the front seat and shrugged. “You told me that’s what you needed. She has a right to know.”
“She doesn’t have to worry—”
“She has that right too.”
Jody’s eyes ignited.
“Enough,” Drake muttered. “The both of you.”
Sylvan grinned, glad to see Jody’s fire returning. “If you were a little quicker and managed to stay out of trouble, Vampire, I wouldn’t have to interfere.”
“I should have drained you.”
Sylvan leaned back and pulled Drake closer. Her back and shoulders were torn and bleeding, her legs and abdomen bruised from the rockfall, but she was alive, and Drake was next to her. The life force of her young beat through her blood, steady and strong. Her allies—her friends—had survived.
She glanced at the emaciated, feverish young
girls stretched out on the floor of the car and frowned. She felt them, the way she felt her wolves, but they were not Weres. They weren’t human anymore either. Until she knew what they were, they were hers.
Drake circled her palm over Sylvan’s abdomen, her claws lightly scoring her skin. She kissed Sylvan’s neck. “I love you.”
Sylvan kissed her. “I love you too.”
“You need healing when we return.”
“That’s not what I need.”
Drake smiled and kissed the shadow of the mate bite on Sylvan’s chest. “I know. That too.”
Chapter Twenty-three
Niki rolled over and propped her back against the door, pulling Sophia against her side. They were still on the floor, and when Sophia made a soft rumbling sound in the back of her throat and draped herself over Niki’s torso, Niki wanted to take her again. Sophia’s skin was damp with a coating of the blended pheromones that enveloped them both. She smelled rich and powerful, like a hidden glade deep in the forest filled with ancient trees and untouched earth. Niki wanted to roll with her in soft fragrant leaves beneath towering pines and mate in the hot summer sun. She kissed her, stroked her bare shoulder and down her arm. She feared if she left her, Sophia would disappear. “I need to check with Callan on the status of our defenses.”
“I know. You also need to see Gray,” Sophia said, circling her fingertips over Niki’s chest. “She needs guidance right now, from someone like you.”
“Like me?”
Sophia kissed her neck, scraped her teeth along the thick muscle that ran down to Niki’s shoulder. “Someone she looks up to. A dominant, aggressive wolf—like she will be one day very soon.”
“There are plenty of those around.”
“But none who just put her down for encroaching on their territory.” Sophia smiled and rubbed her cheek on Niki’s breast. “She needs to understand that what she was doing—what she was feeling—wasn’t wrong. They’re confused, both of them, by what was done to them and how they responded. Heightened emotions—anger, fear, pain—often produce a sexual response. You and I know it, but the young have a hard time sorting it all out. Let her know she’s not the only one who’s felt that way.”