by L. L. Raand
Chris rubbed her muzzle against Sylvan’s thigh and whined softly. A few seconds later she shifted into skin. “I’m all right, Alpha. I have to organize my teams. We’ll need to transport wounded—a lot of debris fell in the crowd—and we need to secure the building.”
“There may be other charges set to go off when the first responders are inside,” Sylvan said, fury boiling in her chest. Someone had tried to destroy her Pack. And to set those charges inside her research facility without being detected—that required intimate knowledge of the layout as well as access. The saboteurs had inside help. One hundred percent of the civilian employees at Mir Industries were her wolves. She refused to believe one of her Pack had betrayed her. The pain of contemplating such treachery cut deep into her heart. “Organize search teams, but only bomb-detecting units enter—make a quadrant search, and be careful.”
“Yes, Alpha,” Chris said, signaling to officers nearby. “We’ll set up a command center here and I’ll report to you myself. I’ll send another detail to establish a field hospital for the injured.”
“Good. The Prima will be in charge there,” Sylvan said. Chris saluted and disappeared, and Sylvan turned to Sophia. Her eyes were bleak and dazed. Sylvan cupped Sophia’s face and kissed her forehead. “I need you to search inside yourself. If she’s alive, you might be the only one who can sense her. Your connection to her is even stronger than mine.”
Sophia’s expression blanked and then her eyes grew wide. She shimmered into pelt, leapt over the barricade, and raced toward the smoking destruction. Sylvan bounded after her, closing the distance in long, powerful strides.
Instead of heading for the area where the entrance had been, now identifiable only by the skeletal remains of the elevator shaft pointing skyward like an accusing finger, Sophia swerved around a pile of rubble and pounded through the detritus-covered parking lot until she reached a heap of smoking debris near the far end of what had once been the research wing. Whining, she paced and circled the heap of twisted beams and broken glass.
Sylvan shed pelt and stood, growling in her chest as she surveyed the damage. She sniffed, felt a twinge in her chest, and sniffed again. Packmate—somewhere close—
Sophia burst into skin and pointed. “There!” Sophia began clawing at chunks of rubble and flinging them aside until she uncovered a red-gray wolf lying motionless amidst hunks of concrete and smoldering wood. “Oh no, oh no, nonono. Niki!”
Sylvan scooped up her injured wolf and pulled her tight to her chest. “I have her. Let’s get out of here.”
Sophia’s eyes blazed. “I’ll take her.”
“You can have her as soon as you’re both somewhere safe.” Sylvan understood a mate’s need to protect, but she had to protect them both. “She needs your strength to survive, Sophia.”
“Then hurry, Alpha. I’m not losing her now.”
Chapter Thirty-six
Sophia curled up around the red-gray wolf and wrapped her arms around the powerful shoulders. She rested her cheek against Niki’s neck and ran her fingers through the thick ruff, absorbing the heat of Niki’s body and sending all her strength and healing force into her mate. She drifted, feeling the spirit of the Pack close in around them, knowing the Alpha was near. She was frightened, but she felt safe too. She was home.
She hadn’t meant to sleep, but she must have, for when she opened her eyes, twilight silvered the sky outside the open window. She blinked and focused on the green-gold eyes studying hers. Niki was awake.
“Hi,” Sophia said softly, stroking the soft muzzle.
The wolf blinked and nosed her neck. Sophia laughed.
“How are you feeling?”
Better. Are you all right?
Sophia caught her breath, never having realized how intimate, how very special the silent communion between mates could be. “I’m all right. I wasn’t hurt. Everyone is fine.”
Niki’s ears flickered.
“Really. Quite a few had cuts and bruises and a broken bone or two. Nothing that didn’t heal with the first shift. You were the one who was hurt the most.”
Niki rumbled and stretched against Sophia.
“I know you think you’re indestructible, but you’re really not. And since you’ve decided to be mated, you’re going to have to be more careful from now on.”
Niki drew back her lips in a half smile, looking as supremely contented as a wolf ever could.
Sophia rested her forehead against Niki’s neck. “I was really scared. I don’t know what I would do if I lost you now. I’ve waited so long—” She stopped, feeling the powerful body in her arms shudder, shift, and change until suddenly she was holding a very naked, very warm Niki. Niki’s lips moved over her temple and down her cheek to her mouth. The kiss was soft, almost apologetic. Sophia eased away and searched Niki’s face. Her forest-green eyes were clear and bright. And so beautiful.
“Hi. Welcome back.”
“Hi,” Niki said. “Sorry I scared you.”
“I know why you did it, I know that you had to, but next time, try not to leave things until the last second.”
“Did you find the jump drive?” Niki asked.
Sophia laughed. “Drake was examining you and you sneezed it out at her.”
“Well I couldn’t think of any place else to put it when I got ready to shift, except in my mouth,” Niki said. “I thought my wolf would have a better chance of jumping clear.”
Sophia’s heart trip-hammered. “She did, although not completely clear. Don’t ever do that again.”
“Hey,” Niki said, kissing her again. “It’s just a little bump on the head. I’m fine. The Alpha? The Prima? Everyone is okay?”
“Really. Everyone is fine.”
“How long have I been asleep?”
“Just about ten hours.”
“Does the Alpha have any idea who was behind this?”
“I don’t know. I know she and the Prima have been sequestered at headquarters all day. I’m sure she’ll fill you in soon.”
Niki rolled onto her back and pulled Sophia into the curve of her arms. “I’ll find her soon. Right now, I just want to hold you. You scared me too.”
“I’m sorry. I wanted my parents to test me again.” Sophia smoothed her hand down the valley between Niki’s breasts. “I want to be a complete mate for you.”
Niki squeezed her. “You already are. I’ve already told you that. There isn’t a single thing I want you haven’t given me.”
“You know that’s not true,” Sophia said softly. “Without the mate bite, we’ll never be completely connected. You deserve that.”
Niki cradled Sophia’s face. “Deserve? I don’t even deserve you at all. But I love you, and I want you. You. You’ve already given me everything I want and need. If the rest comes, I’ll welcome it. But I don’t need it. Will you believe me?”
Sophia looked deep into Niki’s eyes and found only truth. She sighed. “I do believe you.” She laughed shakily. “But I want more—everything. I want to bite you, mark you, join our scents, our bodies.”
“That time will come, I know it,” Niki said firmly.
Sophia stroked Niki’s face. “As much as I want to be able to give you everything, I won’t take a chance on harming you. Until we can reestablish my parents’ lab and complete the testing, I won’t bite you.”
“Do you accept me as your mate?” Niki asked.
“Yes—with all my being.”
“As I accept you—with all my being.” Niki caught Sophia’s hand and held it to her breast. “Will you promise me right now that you will never leave me?”
“I love you,” Sophia whispered, kissing her long and deep. “I will never leave you.”
“Then I am yours.”
With a low, fierce growl, Sophia pushed Niki onto her back and climbed atop her. She entwined her legs with Niki’s, coating her with her essence, marking her with her scent. “Yes,” she said, her canines just grazing Niki’s neck, making her arch and moan. “You are mine.”
*
Niki pulled the sheet up over Sophia. “The Alpha is coming.”
Sophia laughed softly. “You don’t want her to see me naked?”
“I don’t want anyone to see you naked,” Niki grumbled.
“We’re Weres, sweetheart. Plenty of Pack members are going to see me naked.”
Growling, Niki pulled Sophia close, wrapping her arms around her waist from behind, resting her chin in the curve of Sophia’s shoulder. She kissed the side of her jaw. “That may be so, but not when you’re still in heat.”
“I’m mated, remember,” Sophia whispered. “Everyone will respect that.”
“I’m not taking any chances,” Niki muttered.
The door swung open and Sylvan strode in. “Don’t look for fights where there are none, Imperator. You’ll have plenty of chances to do battle before long.”
Niki pushed up on one elbow. “Have you found out anything about the orchestrators of the explosion?”
“Not yet. How are you feeling?”
“I’m fine. I healed while I was sleeping.”
“It looked to me as if your wolf had broken a foreleg. Is your shoulder all right?”
Niki rolled her arm forward and back. “No pain. I’m fit for duty.”
“Good, because I need you.”
Niki kissed Sophia and slid out from under the covers. “There’s something I need to tell you first.”
Sophia sat up, letting the sheet drop to her waist, and grasped Niki’s hand. “There’s something we need to tell you.”
Sylvan folded her arms across her chest and waited.
Sophia took a deep breath. “My parents explained something to me about my birth that they didn’t tell your mother, or you.”
“Something they kept from the Pack?” Sylvan’s voice was even and calm. Dangerously calm. Her eyes were stormy.
Niki rumbled low in her chest, and Sylvan shot her a look that warned her to stand down. Niki tensed, unwilling to have her mate upset. She did not want Sophia to be afraid or anxious, not even at the hands of the Alpha.
A smile flickered across Sylvan’s face. “For a Were who never wanted a mate, Imperator, you’ve assumed the mantle without reservation.”
“Sophia deserves nothing less.”
“And I deserve nothing less than your respect, so hold your temper and let your mate talk.”
Niki dipped her head a fraction. “Yes, Alpha.”
“Go ahead, Sophia.”
“It’s about my turning.” Sophia lifted her chin and focused on Sylvan’s face, meeting her eyes for a second so the Alpha could read the pride in hers. “My parents love the Pack and you, as they loved your mother. But they love me more.”
“As they should. But when the love for an individual endangers the Pack, it’s my job to decide the proper course. They know that. You all know that.”
“Yes, Alpha,” Sophia said softly. “And I hope that you will be generous in your decision when you hear all the facts.”
“What do I need to know?”
“I wasn’t turned by a rabid Were—I was infected with a synthetic virus manufactured to induce Were fever. Like the girls you rescued.”
Sylvan’s eyes narrowed and her lips pulled back, revealing lethal canines. “Girls like the human who infected the Prima?”
Sophia nodded. “We believe the early experiments were carried out in a human laboratory where my parents worked with a team of human researchers—my biologic parents. Leo and Nadia didn’t know about the secret experiments until it was far too late to do anything except save me.”
“And they made up the story that you were turned by a bite?”
“Yes.”
“And all this time they’ve kept it a secret?”
“To protect me,” Sophia said anxiously. “They’ve been working all this time to discover what was done to me and to find a cure.”
“And whatever was done to you possibly also affects the Prima?”
Sophia nodded.
“Your parents had a difficult decision to make,” Sylvan said, “but to protect the Pack, I cannot allow Weres to live among us who willingly endanger—”
Sophia gasped and Niki jumped to her feet.
“If you banish the Revniks,” Niki said, “I go with them.”
Sylvan moved so quickly, Niki didn’t have time to flinch. The Alpha’s hand was around her throat, claws just puncturing her skin, before she could raise a hand to defend herself, not that she would have. One did not raise a hand to the Alpha and live. Sylvan’s face so close to hers she could smell the power rolling off her. Niki whimpered and tried to lick Sylvan’s hand, but Sylvan’s grip was iron.
“I recognize your responsibility to your mate, but my duty is to the Pack, and your duty is to serve me. Until I make a decision on this matter, you will hold your tongue.”
“Please, Alpha,” Sophia said, “I do not want her hurt because of my situation. I would not have her banished from the Pack even if I am to lea—”
Sylvan whipped her head around, her hand still on Niki’s throat, and silenced Sophia with a glare. “You trust me so little, Sophia, that you think I would destroy four lives so easily? I will speak to your parents when the more critical issues facing us have been settled. Until then, I need my imperator’s loyalties to be undivided. We have business this night.”
“Yes, Alpha,” Sophia said, resting her hand on Niki’s bare shoulder. “We are your wolves and will do our duty.”
Sylvan released her hold. “Well, Niki?”
“I have ever been and will always be yours to command,” Niki said solemnly.
“Then meet me outside in ten minutes. Arm the centuri for this mission and instruct Callan to order all free-living wolves back to the Compound.”
“Yes, Alpha.”
“Where are you going?” Sophia asked, looking from Sylvan to Niki.
“To visit the Viceregal,” Sylvan said. “I suspect the rumor she heard was a little more than that. I want to know who is behind this, and tonight I am not asking.”
Sophia grabbed her pants from the floor and pulled them on. Niki handed her a shirt, and she dropped it over her head. “I want to go with you.”
“No,” Niki said instantly.
Sophia’s eyes flashed. “Whenever the Pack goes to war, the Alpha always travels with a medic. The Prima is pregnant. If something happens to either one of them—”
“You’re right,” Sylvan said to Sophia. “We’re stopping to pick up Liege Gates and her warlord on the way to Nocturne. Tonight will gauge the true strength of our alliances. You’d better gather your gear, Medicus.”
“Alpha,” Niki protested.
“We’re at war, Imperator. Your mate is one of our two medics. She travels with the centuri from now on.”
“The Viceregal may consider our appearance in her territory with a war party an act of aggression,” Niki said. “We could be in a fight before the night is out.”
“We didn’t start the war,” Sylvan said, “but tonight everyone—Praetern and human—will know we show no mercy to those who threaten the Pack.”
“Yes, Alpha,” Niki said.
Sylvan clasped Niki behind the head and shook her lightly. “Your mate will be fine. She knows her duty. Trust her.”
As soon as Sylvan strode out the door, Niki grabbed Sophia and buried her face in the curve of Sophia’s neck. “I do trust you. I just don’t want anything to happen to you. I love you so much.”
“Nothing is going to happen to me.” Sophia stroked Niki’s hair. “I love you too—and whatever comes, I’ll be with you. I can’t imagine a safer place to be.”
About the Author
Radclyffe has written over thirty-five romance and romantic intrigue novels, dozens of short stories, and, writing as L.L. Raand, has authored a paranormal romance series, The Midnight Hunters.
She is an eight-time Lambda Literary Award finalist in romance, mystery, and erotica—winning in both romance (Distant Shores, Silent Thu
nder) and erotica (Erotic Interludes 2: Stolen Moments edited with Stacia Seaman and In Deep Waters 2: Cruising the Strip written with Karin Kallmaker). A member of the Saints and Sinners Literary Hall of Fame, she is also a 2010 RWA / FF&P Prism award winner for Secrets in the Stone. Her 2010 titles were finalists for the Benjamin Franklin award (Desire by Starlight), the ForeWord Review Book of the Year award (Trauma Alert and writing as LL Raand, The Midnight Hunt), and the RWA Passionate Plume award (The Midnight Hunt). She is also the president of Bold Strokes Books, one of the world’s largest independent LGBT publishing companies.
Books Available from Bold Strokes Books
Night Hunt by L.L. Raand. When dormant powers ignite, the wolf Were pack is thrown into violent upheaval, and Sylvan’s pregnant mate is at the center of the turmoil. A Midnight Hunters novel. (978-1-60282-647-2)
Demons are Forever by Kim Baldwin and Xenia Alexiou. Elite Operative Landis “Chase” Coolidge enlists the help of high-class call girl Heather Snyder to track down a kidnapped colleague embroiled in a global black market organ-harvesting ring. (978-1-60282-648-9)
Runaway by Anne Laughlin. When Jan Roberts is hired to find a teenager who has run away to live with a group of anti-government survivalists, she’s forced to return to the life she escaped when she was a teenager herself. (978-1-60282-649-6)
Street Dreams by Tama Wise. Tyson Rua has more than his fair share of problems growing up in New Zealand—he’s gay, he’s falling in love, and he’s run afoul of the local hip-hop crew leader just as he’s trying to make it as a graffiti artist. (978-1-60282-650-2)
Women of the Dark Streets: Lesbian Paranormal edited by Radclyffe and Stacia Seaman. Erotic tales of the supernatural—a world of vampires, werewolves, witches, ghosts, and demons—by the authors of Bold Strokes Books. (978-1-60282-651-9)
Tyger, Tyger, Burning Bright by Justine Saracen. Love does not conquer all, but when all of Europe is on fire, it’s better than going to hell alone. (978-1-60282-652-6)