by Mina Carter
She was in no mood to play games. “You know I have. The man I was with is a hellhound. Where is he? If you’ve hurt him, so help me, I’ll—”
“You’ll what, little wolf?” The hound grinned. “What do you think one little wolf can do against…” He slapped a big hand against his chest, indicating his greater size and more powerful nature.
She arched an eyebrow. Cool, play it cool. Hounds were just like wolves, only larger. And more powerful. And with abilities she didn’t have. Ignoring the tiny whimper in the back of her mind, she and her wolf gave him a stare to look at. One thing she’d learned as mistress was never show fear. Ever.
“One wolf?” She laughed, a light, melodious sound in the cavernous interior of the warehouse. Bigger than she’d thought then. “Whatever makes you think there’s just me? I’m the Mistress of the City.”
The hound shook his head. “Is that supposed to mean something?”
She blinked at that. Allowed surprise to show on her features.
“You’re telling me you didn’t check out the locality before you snatched us? Forgive me, but you appear to be some kind of military unit, so you not preparing seems…odd.”
Or just plain dumb, but she didn’t say that part out loud. She didn’t have a death wish. Not really. Unless they’d hurt Archer, in which case she’d go batshit on their asses.
The leader had the grace to look a little discomforted, but quickly shut it down. “Lycans aren’t my specialty. Tal?”
The hound at the back looked up, red-eyed like the rest, but in his case they were duller, more a banked fire type of red. Shit, were there different types of hellhounds as well? His lips quirked with amusement, apparently at his leader’s expense.
Carefully, she backed up. No sudden moves. Before she got more than a step or two, a tendril of shadow snaked out and wrapped itself around her ankle. She froze, knowing from Archer that the more she struggled, the tighter the bond would wrap. Great. There was no place she could run where they couldn’t get her.
“Looks like you just upped and kidnaped one of their leaders. Mistress of the City?” Putting the cleaned rifle down, he rose to his feet and approached her, looking her up and down with interest. “Aren’t you too small?”
“It’s not how big it is, it’s what you do with it that counts, asshole,” she snapped. Yeah, so pissing off big, mean hellhounds who could end her in a heartbeat wasn’t the wisest plan. But hey, not like they’d kidnaped her and Archer for a cup of tea and a friendly chat.
“Where is Archer? What have you done with him? If you’ve hurt him, then you fuckers are in for a world of pain.” She pulled power from her wolf, the creature all in for taking down as many hellhounds as they could before they got her.
“One wolf? Yeah, you can kill me, but you do and you’ll have to watch your fucking backs because every wolf in this city will gun for you. More than that, you take me, a lycan overlord, down and you’ll have to watch your backs in any lycan city. Because we protect our own, and every single overlord will be after your blood.” She grinned. Nastily. “Believe me, we’re real inventive and we hold a grudge. For years. Centuries in some cases.”
The hellhound in front of her blinked, then smiled. “Yeah, I can see why one of ours would find you attractive. You’re a right little spitfire.”
Okay, so maybe she might get out of this alive. Reena breathed a sigh of relief, one that was short lived as the hound leader stood.
“So, let’s see what you got, wolf. I mean, we should kill you on the spot for cross-species fraternization, but I tell you what, amuse us enough and we might let you both live.”
Reena curled her lips back and snarled at him.
She might be about to die, but there was no way on earth she was going down on her own.
“Bring it on, asshole.”
With that, she let her wolf form rip from her.
The sound of snarls and combat drew Archer to wakefulness. For a moment, he lay in the comfortable darkness, listening. Some dogs outside the barracks, fighting over scraps of trash. But… the snarls and growls were deep. Too low. Those must be some fucking big dogs to make noises like that.
He sighed and tried to turn over, intending to ignore the noise and go back to sleep. The feel of cold concrete against his skin rather than the soft pillow he’d expected made his eyes snap open. Three thoughts filled his mind.
He wasn’t in the army anymore…
Those weren’t dogs he heard…
And he hadn’t been human for weeks.
The monster within him surged to life, feeding him information as he took a breath in. He was in a warehouse, that much he could tell from the stacked crates, and from the smell in the air, they were somewhere near the docks. And he wasn’t alone. There were others like him, at least four, and a lycan.
Reena.
His woman was the owner of the snarl that echoed around the high ceilings of the warehouse. There was a growl followed by a yelp of pain. She was hurt. The roar escaped his throat before the thought was complete and he leaped to his feet. The chains binding his wrists and ankles stopped him for all of a few seconds. Rage burned like a supernova as he clenched his fists. Pushed that heat and power to his skin. The metal wrapped around his limbs bubbled and melted, then fell away.
A voice came from somewhere behind him. “What was that?”
“Nothing. Just an echo from Jed. Shit…she’s fast. Sure she’s not got hound blood?”
The sound of males drew him like a magnet. Crouching, Archer used his powerful thigh muscles to propel him upward to land on the top of the crates separating him from the speakers.
What he saw made his blood boil.
Three men, big men, lounged against packing crates, their attention on a fight in the middle of the floor. This wasn’t an ordinary fight though. Both combatants were shapeshifters morphed into a form somewhere between human and…other. The bigger of the two was a hellhound. Easy to spot with the hardened armor of his skin and the wings that rose from his back as he whirled to slice razor sharp talons through the air where his opponent had been scant moments before.
Without argument, the hound was male. The scent that rose to Archer’s sensitive nose was of a male in his prime, and the overall physique, even in his weird mixed form, resembled a bodybuilder on freakish super-human steroids.
His opponent, though, was smaller and with a curvy shape that screamed female. Unlike the hellhound, she was lycan. Her body was covered in beautiful black fur that made Archer’s hands itch to touch, to see if it was as soft as it looked. She twisted and turned, evading the Hellhound’s blows with the finesse of a prima ballerina. Every so often, she lashed out, her own lethal talons parting the air, and occasionally scoring the hardened skin of her opponent.
Reena. As he’d never seen her before. And from what he’d heard, most of the lycan court hadn’t seen her this way for many years either.
Archer took a moment to appreciate the beauty of her part-shifted form. He’d seen others in the court shift, taking their wolf forms or this part-shifted form, but he had to admit she was something else. She was the biggest damn wolf he’d ever seen. He’d seen plenty of them fight—hell, most fought at the drop of a damn hat—but he’d never seen one with the speed and power she had.
He smiled with pride as she snarled and whipped out a combination move that slammed three solid blows into her opponent before she raked him across the chest with sharp claws. No wonder she’d held the title of Mistress for so long. She was lethality made flesh.
But nothing mortal could stand against a creature pulled from the fiery pit itself.
Seeing the Hellhound pull his arm back for a blow that would end the fight, Archer roared and launched himself from the top of the crates. As he dropped, he allowed his change to rip through him, freeing the creature within. His body tore itself apart, like an all over body shrug and he hissed in pain and pleasure as his hound took form in an instant.
He landed between the hound and Re
ena, in a crouch with his wings extended to protect his woman. His love. He paused for a second, the realization filling him. He loved her. Loved this tiny little woman with the big heart and the bigger she-wolf hidden within her.
The other hound pulled up, wariness in his eyes as he looked at Archer. The others were likewise on their feet, gazes fixed on him. Tension sizzled in the air.
“Shit. He’s big.”
He ignored the mutter from one of the men behind the shifted hound and stood slowly.
“Hurt a hair on her head, and I’ll rip your spine out through your fucking chest.” His fangs made speech difficult, but he didn’t care. They’d kidnaped and hurt his female. That couldn’t be allowed to stand.
The hound in front of him spread his hands, his movements careful. Archer wasn’t fooled. Given a chance, he’d have claws in Archer’s throat within a heartbeat.
“Who the fuck are you?” He’d thought he was the only one of his kind. Even the being within him was surprised to see others…and not. Somehow he felt a sense of kinship with them. Huh. Probably because they were the same species. Couldn’t be anything more than that.
“Jed…” A hound in human form stepped forward, speaking to the shifted hound in front of Archer. “Look at him.”
Archer found himself the subject of intense interest from four sets of eyes; three the red-sheened hue of a hellhound in human form and one the blazing red of a shifted hound. He pulled his lips back from his teeth and snarled. They could look all they liked, there would still be blood spilled tonight.
A small figure stepped up beside him, her claws flexed and ready for battle. Reena. By his side. In danger. Reaching out a hand, he tried to push her behind him, but she growled, holding her ground. Damn woman. Here he was trying to protect her, and she was being awkward. When they got out of here, they were going to have words about that.
“Shit,” Jed hissed, speech compromised by his fangs. “He looks—”
“—just like you,” Reena spoke up, folding her lycan form inside herself to look at the two hounds with interest. “I don’t know how it works for you guys, but if you were lycans, I’d say you were related.”
The hound blinked, and rolled his neck. Between one second and the next, his non-human form disappeared, wings and all, leaving a man standing in front of them. He had brown eyes under the red, Archer realized. Familiar brown eyes.
Taking a step forward the hound narrowed his eyes. “Who are you?”
“Archer Davis. What’s it to you?”
The hound staggered back a step, his face paling. “Fuck me. Archie?”
Archer pulled his hound back inside with a pop and looked along the row of stunned looking hounds. They looked like they’d seen a ghost.
“Okay, does anyone want to tell me what’s going on?”
Archer had…family. Hellhound family?
Keeping a step back and to the side of her lover in case she had to fight again, Reena watched with interest. She could see the family resemblance between the two men. It was more striking when they were shifted as was the case with lycans, but she could see it in human form now. Both were tall, with short dark hair and the same set to their eyes. She’d always thought he looked like a male version of his mother, but now she could see another bloodline at work.
“Holy crap, we never thought…”
Archer lifted one eyebrow, his gaze riveted to the man in front of him. “You never thought what? Who are you?”
“I’m Jed…Davis.” The other hound stepped forward, offering his hand. “Your father was…I’m your uncle, lad.”
Uncle? Reena blinked. Okay, Hellhounds aged well because Jed looked barely a few years older than Archer himself.
“My uncle?” Archer didn’t take the hand, looking around the small group as they crowded closer. “Sorry, bud. After that welcome, you expect that to make it all a-okay and we’ll go off for barbecue and beers? Screw that. You were beating on my woman. You think I’m gonna let that go?”
Jed cleared his throat and looked discomforted. “That I apologize for. If it’s any consolation, she’s a hell of a fighter. Surprised me.” He looked around Archer at Reena and offered a small smile. “You haven’t got hound blood by any chance, have you, my dear?”
She shook her head. “Sorry. Just mean as hell wolf blood.”
He nodded. “Still. Good fight.”
Archer altered position, angling himself between her and Jed. “My father was…whatever you are?”
“A hellhound, yes. Where do you think you got it?” the rifle-cleaning guy who’d assessed Reena earlier spoke up.
Archer curled his lip in a warning snarl. “I got that part. My mother is, was, human. I know this didn’t come from her. I meant this,” he indicated them with a circle of his finger, “ex-military, I know a combat unit when I see one. But who are you with?”
“Hellhounds 359,” Jed supplied. “Let’s just say our country worked out that some of us have… interesting talents beyond that of the average human soldier. And yes, your dad was a soldier, too. Interesting you should end up in the military.”
Jed’s eyes narrowed. “Even more interesting that you passed selection without us being flagged. Anyone with hellhound markers in their blood gets picked up and assessed for a shift possibility. In most, the blood is too weak, but you…” He spread his hands, indicating the shift they’d all seen Archer make.
Archer shrugged. “Until a month ago, I was as human as they come. Got myself a lycan infection and this…thing inside me woke up. At least, that’s what it tells me woke it up.”
“Tal?” Jed asked rifle-guy, who shrugged.
“Anything’s possible. A little dose of the lycan virus could wake a dormant hellhound. But to be so powerful right off the bat. Melting metal chains…that should take years.”
Reena crept closer to Archer’s side. Now the hounds didn’t seem intent on hurting them, all she wanted was to get out of here. Apart from Archer, they freaked her the hell out.
Silence reigned for a few seconds before Jed looked away, perhaps a little uncomfortable. “Okay, well. This is awkward now. We thought you were a rogue hound… we have a mandate to bring in all possible hounds for assessment and training to control their new abilities. Rare as fuck we get a spontaneous but it does happen. But…not like you need training, now is it?”
“No.” Archer’s expression was unreadable.
“I don’t suppose you’d like to accompany us anyway?”
Archer’s reply was the slow snick-snick-snick as his claws descended one by one. “What do you think?”
Tal cleared his throat. “Boss, we could call it in as threat contained, possible asset? Having an in with a lycan court is something the Intel bods have been after for a while.”
“You tell your bosses whatever you like, sunshine,” Archer growled, reaching out a hand for Reena. “Because I’m not going anywhere. My place is here, with my mate. A mate I will walk out of here with right now. And no one will stop me, understand?”
And not one of them did.
3
Archer brooded all the way back to court, which thankfully, was short. Once they’d gotten clear of the warehouse, it had taken mere minutes to reach a café and call a car to fetch them. Reena found herself tugged along behind Archer as he burst through the front doors of their building to find Travis waiting, his arms folded over his chest and his expression tight with concern.
“What happened?” he demanded, but Archer just brushed past him.
“Hey! Wait up.” He whirled around, grabbing Archer’s other arm stopping the hellhound in his tracks. “What the hell happened out there? The restaurant said you were attacked right outside. Then we get a call…” He cut a glance at Reena, perceptive gaze taking in her tattered clothes and the replacement shoes she’d had brought in the car.
“Travis, not now,” she said softly, feeling the heat building in Archer’s skin. The mood he was in, he could easily take Travis apart. Then it would be blood on t
he floor all over again. Hers, since she wouldn't allow anyone to hurt either man. Not even each other. “I’m good. He’s good. We got jumped, but it wasn’t anything we couldn’t handle. Talk later, okay?”
“Bu—”
“Later, Travis.” Her words swelled with authority and he nodded, letting go of Archer’s arm to step back. His set expression said she’d better make the explanation a damn good one.
Archer yanked on her hand, pulling her behind him as he strode through the corridors of the court toward their rooms.
“Archer?” She pulled on his hand, but he didn’t slow. Much taller than her, his long legs ate up the distance, forcing her to trot to keep up. It was that or be dragged. “Archer? Slow down. Talk to me.”
He growled in response, turning a corner to head up the main staircase, but didn’t stop. Finally, she’d had enough.
“No!” Digging in her heels, she yanked on his hand. Made him stop. “Archer, please. Talk to me.”
She knew he was fast and strong, but the speed in which he spun around made her gasp in surprise. His hand whipped out to snag her at the back of her neck and he yanked her against his hard body. The air left her lungs in a rush, her hands spread over his broad chest.
His eyes blazed red as he looked down at her, and the dark look in them sent a shiver down her spine. A little fear and a lot of something else.
“No talking.” His voice was low and thick, dangerous. “I don’t want to talk. I want you. And unless you want me to fuck you right here, you’ll move that sexy little ass.”
She gasped as he let go, and stepped back. His chest heaved, features tight with control, as though he couldn’t touch her for fear of losing it.
“Run, little wolf, because when I catch you, you’re mine. I almost lost you today and that’s unacceptable. I’ll make you mine, totally and utterly. Shove my cock so deep inside, you’ll forget where you end and I begin…” He moved closer, leaning down to whisper in her ear. “And when you’re screaming my name, I’ll sink my fangs into your shoulder and claim you forever.”