by Treva Harte
Lowell had already begun to circle. He said nothing, just hummed the lowest of rumbling growls. Dek followed him, his growl matching Lowell’s. Lin licked her lips. This was what Lin had heard of but never wanted to see -- the death circle. The move to find the weak spot. Dear Lord, her family was moving in for the kill.
“You better not mess with us.” Rossi backed up a little.
She saw Lowell noting every move Rossi made. Every mark on Lin’s face. They’d bruised her when she finally came to and tried to struggle.
She knew Lowell. For that alone, they were going to die. For all the rest, they’d die horribly.
“Quietly,” Leila said. “We don’t want any interference from outside.”
“If you don’t do what we say, we’ll --” Dru began.
“You’ll do nothing! Enough!” Lin let the beginnings of her change begin to rip through her, releasing it faster and more painfully than ever before. Rossi took a half-step back, and that was enough for her to spring.
Dru’s face went slack with astonishment and Lin almost laughed. Hadn’t Dru ever seen a were change before?
Perhaps not one who changed while in motion. Lin lashed out with a still-human foot pointed toward Dru’s throat. Dru, the source of all their pain and anger. She’d like to smash her.
Instead, in mid-leap, Lin twisted and launched herself at the person who held the knife.
Rossi’s mouth gaped. “What --?” he began before she landed, knocking over Rossi and herself.
Wait! Lowell barked a warning, much too late.
“What is that half-were bitch doing?” Dru screamed and the glint of a gun flashed in her hands.
Were against loaded weapon. Not a good match. Maybe she should have thought instead of felt. Too late now.
Crack! The bullet hit flesh.
Lin braced herself for pain, even as she swiped at Rossi’s neck and his knife clattered to the floor. They could die together.
Someone screamed. Rossi?
“Hush, child.” Leila’s Southern belle tone rang incongruously through the room. “Lin, girl, next time use your head.”
Her mother pointed her revolver down toward the floor. Dru lay on the floor. She twitched more and more slowly a few feet away, gradually, in her death throes, making her final change back to were.
“Lin! Let the boy go!” Leila shook her shoulder. “He won’t cause any more trouble for us.”
The buzzing in her ears gradually subsided. Lin swallowed.
“Yes, Mama.”
“What --” Rossi tried again after he cleared his throat. “What are you?”
Lin scowled. “What the hell do you mean?”
He seemed to be taking the failure of his plans and the death of his mother in stride. But why the stunned reaction to her transformation?
Lin paused and thought. She had just spoken. Out loud. In English. That couldn’t be. Weres didn’t speak.
“You’re not human. But you’re sure as hell aren’t were.” Rossi backed up, eyes shifting between her and Leila. “Shit, you’re some kind of freak!”
Lin blinked. She forced herself not to look for a mirror. She couldn’t be sidetracked now.
“Get out.” Lin said in a clear, human voice. “Shut up and get out, Rossi.”
Rossi began to walk away faster, but when he did, he took his eyes off the wrong were. With a slow, almost casual swipe, Lowell reached forward and clawed the rogue from cheek to chest. The wound would run deep before it scarred over.
Another scream rang through the room. Rossi clapped a hand to the blood streaming from his face and ran.
Dek crouched, snarled and sprang. For a moment he worried the neck of the now sobbing Rossi and then his arm. A snap of bone rang clearly through the room, before Dek deliberately stood and turned his back, showing how little he cared about a counterattack from Rossi.
Rossi crawled this time, clutching his arm, and managed to stumble to his feet at the door before plunging out. His new life, one where he’d run from the buzz surrounding his reputation, had begun.
Lowell gave a long, lazy yawn of contempt, with all his teeth and tongue showing, and shook the blood from his paw.
No need to make it too easy on him. This will help the fool remember not to fuck up again.
“Will you weres kindly change so we can leave and take care of our girl before anyone arrives? I’d rather all they found was a dead wolf. That’ll look odd, but better than what they’d find right now if they investigate all those screams.” Leila’s voice stayed steady and calm.
“Can you manage, love?” Lowell, half-human and half-were, turned to her.
“I’m all right.” Lin steadied herself.
And Lin’s world slowly transformed back into the more ordinary human one she knew.
When they silently filed out, no one looked behind at the bloodied canine carcass on the floor.
“I’m sorry, Lin.” Mia stood as if she was before an executioner.
Tired. She was so tired and confused. But Lin pushed away the weariness long enough to smile and touch Mia’s worried face.
“There’s nothing to be sorry for, Mia. Between either of us. You stayed with the pack while we dealt with those who tried to tear the pack apart. You’re one of ours. What happened before is done.”
Mia relaxed a little.
“You’re all right, then?” Oscar took a step forward, one eye on the watchful Lowell.
“I will be.” Once I can get all these crazy emotions under control. There was something very wrong that she needed to deal with. “Now that I’m home.”
“Welcome back, boss lady.”
“Back off and let her go sleep. Lin, that’s what you need right now.” Lowell scooped her up as if she was a baby again.
“I -- I’m afraid to sleep.” She whispered it in his ear.
“I’ll watch. You don’t have to be afraid.”
“What did Rossi mean, Lowell? What did I do wrong?”
They were home. Back in their bedroom. He’d watched and waited while she slept, memorizing each breath she took. But now she was awake and alert and he needed to do more than just be thankful she was alive. Lowell tried to figure out how to stop the inevitable.
He shouldn’t have let her take charge. Should have stopped things before she changed.
Almost changed.
“It means nothing, babe. You’re my mate and you’re were enough for me. More than enough.” He ventured a long nuzzle from ear to neck.
She didn’t even twitch. Lin just sat there, eyebrows knit.
“Is that why I get thi--this weird vibe from everyone? I thought my family was unhappy about you. But was it about me? Because I’m a freak? Not were, not human. And I was too stupid to even know before this.”
“You’re not a freak. You’re not stupid -- at least, not unless you keep on talking like this. I told you it doesn’t matter.”
“Don’t try to hide this from me. It obviously does matter. But why are the others so bothered? We’re happy. We’re mated. Some weres change once in a decade and no one wonders about them. So why am I wrong? I look a little different. I might grow into being more were someday. Right? Don’t you think so?” She turned to him.
“Why not? I never heard we were on a schedule.” Lowell wanted to put his arm around her but she’d snap at him. The wave of misery emanating from her wasn’t even needed. He could see from her narrowed glance and restless movements how she felt. He couldn’t tell her what her own parents believed. He wouldn’t let her know barrenness was a good possibility.
“Right. So why --?” She gasped. “Lowell, no!”
Too late. He tried to shut his mind down, but too late. Idiot. Moron. He’d forgotten how close their bond was. She’d heard him.
She crouched on the bed, as if she was going to spring for his throat. Shit, maybe she was. He braced himself.
“What do you mean, barren? We’ve barely started to even try for kids.”
“It doesn’t matter. It’s j
ust a crazy theory and it doesn’t matter. We’re mated. Bonded, sealed together. Children or no children, that’s what is. If you left, there still would be no children, because I’d never mate with anyone else. But we’d be separate. Alone.” Christ, he hated to argue with an angry woman. His angry woman. There was no way to win this one.
If only the sadness wasn’t seeping out from her and leaching into him. It was taking away all the annoyance and leaving nothing but grief.
He was going to have to do something.
“I love you, Lin. Human or were or something in between. I want to marry you. We can promise to be together in sickness and health ...”
“Yes!” Lin stopped. “But I shouldn’t. Not if I’m not meant to be here.”
So much for understanding. Lowell snarled, the sound reverberating through the room.
“Shut up. Just. Shut up.” He gripped her hair, pulled her head back. “Mine. That’s all you need to know. Believe. You’re mine.”
Eyes wide, she looked like she might argue. He tightened the grip and stared her down.
When her gaze fell, he pulled her tight against him. His cock was already hardening against her.
“Stupid. Rossi and Dru were so stupid. If they’d known I was so useless, they’d never have kidnapped me as if I were some sort of prize --”
“Take your clothes off, before I rip them off.” He showed his teeth, already lengthened and sharp. “Looks like I have to show you who you belong to and who’s prize you are.”
“Dominating sub.”
“Oh, no. We don’t play if you’re going to be an idiot. This isn’t a game now. You’re going to have to find out who is really boss in this relationship.”
Indecision. Deep unhappiness. And desire. Were lust, running hot inside her. He could feel all of it warring in her body and he hung on. She’d been through so much that she deserved some peace. Instead she had to make a tough choice right now. And she had to decide the right way. She had to stay with him.
Her lips pursed and then quirked into a smile. Her body relaxed against his. She scraped her teeth against his chin before she whispered, “I already know who is.”
He smiled, too. He wanted to do more than smile. He wanted to laugh or weep with relief. She was back. His Lin was back again. “I guess we’ll just have to see about that.”
“And we’ll have to talk to the pack. Let them decide what to do about me.”
No. Lowell swallowed the instant reaction and skimmed his hand down her arms instead. Lin was right. She was always right about what was needed for the pack. He was the one who didn’t always care what was best for the others.
“All right. We’ll talk. But what they say will make no difference between us, Lin. Believe it.”
“Just -- let’s fuck first. I need that. I need you. I needed you for so long and you weren’t there.” Lin looked near tears.
“We’ll fuck any way you want, babe, just so long as we do.”
“Shut up and lie down. I need to let some energy out and you need to stop giving the orders and just feel.” Lin wondered why she even bothered with the second sentence. Lowell was already unbuttoning his jeans with her first words.
“I want you to do something special for me. Please.”
Was this what was called topping from below? Lin scowled down at him. She was at a disadvantage because while she might have a hell of an imagination, her mate knew about many different ways to pleasure, all very intimate.
And both of them wanted to forget about everything but pleasure for just a moment. The rest was too overwhelming. Too hopeless. She wanted the oblivion that sex would bring to them.
When in doubt, weres fucked. Wasn’t that the rule? During her ordeal, whenever she was conscious and able to think, she’d craved Lowell’s body. Trapped, hopeless, wanting him.
“I give the orders this time,” Lin growled.
Now she was with him and the situation still seemed hopeless. It didn’t matter. She didn’t want it to matter. She wanted him. She wanted to be in charge of him and his body, making them both shudder and climax.
“But we’ll both like this. Look in my drawer.” Lowell was stripped down completely and her breath caught once she took the time to see him properly.
Lean and hard and just lightly furred. No male were should be so hairless even though she loved the feel of his skin under her palm. She tickled his skin with her tongue. Tasty.
Then she leaned over to see what he had wanted in the nightstand. Dear Lord. She couldn’t even imagine what half of these things were meant for. Lin fumbled with the contents, drawing something out almost at random.
“Ohhh.” Lin held up the metal and leather ornament. “Will you wear my ring, darling?”
“Cuffs first.” His face was tight with longing, well beyond jokes. Lin ached at the sight.
She ached more by the time she finished with the cuffs, making sure his wrists were tight against the headboard, his legs stretched out underneath her body, restrained and helpless and all hers.
“You do as I say. In bed, you’re mine.” Lin kept her inflection precise and cold. He was going to trust her and then follow her, no matter how inexperienced she was, or the game wasn’t worth starting.
It hadn’t ever been a game, really.
She fastened the ring around his cock, testing the snugness and inwardly rejoicing that she’d done it with a minimum of fumbling.
“I don’t do this much. It’s dangerous.” His eyes gleamed up at her. “If I change ...”
Wolf, cock ring, tethered. Not a good image. And what about Lowell, whose swollen cock showed how much he was enjoying his restraints? What was it like to never be able to do what you want because you had no one to back you up, no one to tell? It made her want to kiss it better for him, but she knew this wasn’t the time to baby him.
Lin bent over and, instead of kissing him, she scraped her teeth just lightly over his cock. He writhed underneath her.
The hum of excitement inside her upped a notch.
“What do you want now, fella?” She whispered it. “What haven’t you told me yet?”
They shouldn’t know each other so well so soon. But they did. She was going to know him better yet. Every dirty thing he had kept secret from everyone else. She was going to get it out of him. And it was there, waiting. Lin could almost hear the secret he was crushing back on his tongue.
What could he still be keeping inside?
She looked back into the drawer. His personal little stash of treasures. Then she smiled.
“This. You want this.”
The vibrator buzzed as she held it up in her hand.
“It’s big and powerful.” She set the speed up a notch. “How often have you pleasured yourself with it, Lowell? How often did you want the real thing up inside you while you did yourself?”
“Maybe that toy was for ... others.” Lowell licked his lips as he watched.
“Maybe that’s what you told them.” She smiled. “I suppose I should give you at least a little lube before I use this.”
Despite the tight bond against his cock, a small drop of precum glittered on his cock’s head. So pretty. So were the sounds he made when she slicked lube between his ass cheeks, probing for the hole.
He sucked in his breath when she slipped a finger inside. Was this how she felt to him? He was hot and tight. Mysterious. Something she wanted to explore. She inserted her finger up just a bit higher, working her way up carefully past the initial resistance.
“My balls are turning blue, babe.” He gritted the words out.
“They’ll be deep, dark navy blue before we’re done.” They were both gulping for air. Lin had never seen anything quite so arousing as a man with his body quivering and his face set in a grimace of combined pain and pleasure. Hers. Her man. Her pain and pleasure to mete out, a gift to him.
“What do you want, Lowell?” She ran a finger over those blue balls. “I need to know. Even more, you need to tell me.”
Lin ges
tured and he arched his back up, as high as the restraints allowed. She laid the vibrator between the cheeks of his ass, and he shuddered along with the toy.
“You don’t need to know all my sick fantasies, babe. You seem to do fine on your own.” Lowell’s voice still held a thread of amusement through the lust.
In fact, he still sounded much too much in control.
She inserted the toy suddenly and he jumped. Then, with it buzzing inside, his ass now flat down on the bed, she pushed her full weight up against him.
Her face was a quarter inch from his when she hissed, “I said to tell me.”
His muscles were so tightly locked that they shook. She wasn’t sure if he was tensed to keep the toy caught inside his body or the words bound inside his head.
“Why?” he gasped.
“I could sense it, but this time you have to give me the words. You have to give me everything.” Lin stroked the sides of his throat. “Because I want it, Lowell. Because I’m ordering it. And because you are meant to obey me.”
“I want ... you. Doing whatever you want to me.”
“But that’s not all.” Glimpses of impossible, erotic images began to dance at the edge of her mind. She licked his chin. “You want more.”
“There is no more. Nothing more than you.”
“I like that response, Lowell.” She eased away, up onto her elbows so just the tips of her breasts rested against his chest. His lungs were pumping as fiercely as if they were having sex. She edged her sex to fit against his rigid cock.
“Mistress.” He mouthed it, almost beyond speech.
The images tumbled into her mind, stronger and wilder. Heat. Sweat and groans, tangled arms and legs. So many arms and legs. So many ...
Her fingernails bit into the flesh near his flat nipples and he shut his eyes.
“But you’re lying. What. Do. You. Want?”
“You. Others. You standing, me kneeling and sucking you, someone else taking me. Taking me hard.” Sweat beaded down Lowell’s face. “Me fucking you while someone fucks me. Letting go. More. Being overpowered. Overcome. Jesus God, Lin!”