by Marie Harte
“You don’t need hands and feet, my sweet wolf. Not to please me. Your pretty face, minus a few eyes and teeth, will suffice. But for the rest of you…” She gave Malem a particularly cruel smile. “I’ll suck the blood and power from your souls. And you”—she pointed to Anson—“I’ll wear as a coat.” The sorceress withdrew a silver dagger from the air with a snap of her fingers.
Anson rushed her, having heard more than enough. He leaped into the air and tore at her with his claws, pushing past the blast of energy she shot his way.
They landed on the ground, a tumble of power and blood and pain. Not sure how much damage he’d done, he only knew he’d pierced flesh. His frenzy made it difficult to do more than smell the tangy scent of blood. Including his own.
Her dagger had stabbed his shoulder, but he continued his attack.
He tore into her shoulders through the silk of her robe and aimed higher. He rent the flesh, muscle and bone of her neck. He thrust hard and fast, cutting tendons before they could rejoin.
“No,” she screamed and fought, but she’d grown weak.
Time seemed to stand still as Danya’s head teetered on her neck. Before the skin could reknit, he shouted and swiped once more, fully severing her head from her body.
Around them, the enemy fell to the ground. Her mage-held, no longer powered by her sorcery, lay still. Danya blinked, her head freed from her body, but still somehow animated. Yet he could see the life slowly leaving her.
Her lips moved, parted, then a dark cloud of smoke shot from both ends of her neck, streaming up and away, dispersed with a swift wind that cleansed the area of all evil.
He felt the rush of bodies hurrying toward him and turned, ready for more battle.
“Easy, Anson.” Malem held up his hands in surrender. “Just wanted to make sure you’re okay.” He and Liam shared a glance.
Anson took several steps closer, needing his mate, and flinched at the burn in his shoulder. The damn dagger protruded, the tip buried into his joint.
“Let me.” Liam pulled the weapon free.
Anson scented blood, death and lust in the air and zeroed in on his mate. “Much better.”
“Now this I don’t want to miss.” Ryder grinned, holding Zain up under his shoulder. The pair had sustained a few injuries, but nothing that looked major.
“You three need to get to the healer, and make sure the others are tended as well. I don’t think we lost anyone, thank the spirits.” Liam glanced around him at the athmae coming out of the woods to rejoin them. He did a head count and sighed with relief. “That’s everyone. All up and still breathing.”
Anson didn’t like so many others around, not when he planned to finally claim Liam as his own.
But his mate must have read his mind, because Liam grabbed hold of him, and the next thing Anson knew, he was in another place. Liam’s room in the heart of the athmae castle.
No longer covered by blood or the mess left by Danya’s evil, they stood clean, pure, healed and undressed.
Liam pulled him into his arms, no longer taller than Anson, but a few inches shorter than Anson’s werewolf form. “I was so worried for you.” Liam pulled back to share a smile and petted Anson’s furry chest. “But I shouldn’t have worried. You saved the day, Anson.”
“Mate,” Anson corrected and licked his teeth. He wanted to bite, to mark Liam. By the glint of Liam’s own lengthening canines, he thought his mate wanted the same. “I want my prize. My reward.”
Without giving Liam time to respond, Anson tackled him to the bed, conscious his mate put up a good fight. The challenge only made him burn brighter.
Liam frowned. “Me first.”
“No.” Anson muscled Liam onto his belly on the bed. The male’s luscious ass was so tight, so well-rounded, Anson had to taste.
He spread Liam’s cheeks wide and shoved his muzzle into the male’s hole, absorbing his scent.
“Fuck.” Liam arched back, rubbing against him, flesh to fur. The contrast was so sexy, the friction perfection. Anson took the opportunity to reach under Liam’s body and grab his stiff, fat cock.
“Nice,” he rumbled. “My mate’s hot for me. You smell like sex, Liam.” Anson growled low in his throat and let Liam go. “Need to fuck you hard. Right now.”
Swiftly losing control, it took him a minute to see Liam pointing to a jar on his nightstand.
Anson grabbed it and slathered oil all over his cock. Without another second to spare, he lifted Liam’s hips and shoved hard and fast.
“Anson.”
Unable to stop, Anson pushed, stretching Liam wide. So much bigger in this form, Anson knew nothing but hunger as he fucked his mate. Such a tight, hot ass. So warm and giving.
Anson pumped hard, ramming faster and deeper as he listened to the voice inside him urging him on. He needed to come, to mark the male as his own. As his mate.
“Yes, yes,” Liam urged, moaning with pleasure. “Finally, mine.”
Man, wolf and werewolf joined to bond with this special male, a demon and wolf, who’d completed Anson’s heart and soul.
The essence of Banathmae and the Wolf in the Forest flowed through the air as Anson took what was meant to be his. He howled with delight as he came in hard spurts, filling his mate and fucking him even harder.
“Again. More,” Anson cried, lost to the lust and affection casting its own spell.
Liam yelled and shuddered under him in pleasure, but Anson couldn’t stop. He rammed his still hard shaft inside Liam’s taut ass, every press of his sac against Liam like a breath of anticipation, making him lightheaded.
When his second climax hit, he raked Liam’s hips with his nails and ground into his mate. But before he finished coming, he pulled out and jetted all over Liam’s back, ass and legs. A werewolf’s release was so much more than a man’s, or even a wolf’s.
“Shit, Anson. Gods, you’re huge.”
Liam shifted under him, and Anson growled at him to remain still. Anson leaned close and rubbed his cum into Liam’s skin, sealing their scents together. Then he bit Liam’s shoulder hard, drawing enough blood to leave a mate mark, a sign that Liam belonged to him and him alone.
As soon as he released his fangs from Liam’s body, he let his werewolf slide deeper into his body, letting the form of the man take over.
Now his normal size again, Anson groaned and sank onto the bed next to Liam, who was a mess.
“You’re covered in me,” Anson murmured, more than satisfied that Liam now smelled like him. He ran his hand over Liam’s back, conscious that his semen had been absorbed into his mate’s body. “My mate.”
Liam sighed and turned onto his side to regard Anson with sleepy eyes. Wolf eyes that were bright despite his clear exhaustion. “My mate.” He kissed Anson, licking his mouth before pressing his tongue between Anson’s lips. “You taste perfect. My wild, golden wolf.”
Taking Anson into his arms, Liam snuggled tight against him. “Sleep, mate. It’s been a long day.”
Anson closed his eyes, content for the first time in a very long while. Man, wolf and werewolf eased into rest, protected by a powerful demon’s love.
* * * *
Too bad he couldn’t have slept through what happened next. Ryder and Zain entered Liam’s—and now Anson’s—bedroom. The room lay empty except for Anson in the middle of the bed. But the demons weren’t content to leave him alone. Not even a thanks for saving their sorry asses.
“Hey,” he protested as they dragged him into Liam’s lavatory, shoved him inside and shut the door behind him. He noticed they’d resumed wearing the traditional blood-ed loincloths all the athmae favored. They’d come out with a few scratches, but all in all, they looked magnificent.
Magnificent?
He hurried in the bathroom, washed his hands and opened the door to exit as the demons pushed their way in. He took a delicate sniff and scented something different about them.
Zain smiled. “Good to see you up and about, Anson.” He glanced at Anson’s coc
k, half stiff from the scent the pair exuded. They were incubi, after all, but he hadn’t been this aroused around them before.
Slightly embarrassed that his mate might find him excited by his guards, Anson tried to ignore his growing desire and leave the room. Ryder and Zain wouldn’t let him.
“Time for your bath, pet.”
Anson grimaced. “Not pet.”
“Would you prefer Prince’s Consort?” Liam asked from behind them.
“How about just Anson?” Anson tried to break free from the grabby guards, but they wouldn’t let him go. Just as he was about to get angry, Malem joined the small gathering. The large guard stood behind Liam wearing nothing at all. And the sight of him took Anson’s breath away. “What the fuck?”
“There we go, pet,” Liam said with no small amount of satisfaction. “Time to collect your pack.” The others chuckled. “Or should I say, time for us to collect you?” Liam stood tall, proud and aroused.
Malem stepped up behind him and circled his large arms around Liam, resting his hands around Liam’s thick cock.
Anson wanted to be angry, but instead he groaned when Ryder and Zain did the same to him. Stroking, petting and fondling until he wanted to burst.
“You see, Anson. This is our pack,” Liam explained, his voice thick. “You’ll play alpha here, in our bedroom, while I see to the running of our compound, under mother’s command of course. Only queens may rule lust demons.”
Anson leaned his head back against Zain’s—or was that Ryder’s?—shoulder. One of the athmae ground an erection against Anson’s backside while the other stroked Anson’s cock with firm hands. The scent of desire frothed against the scent of wild wolf.
Anson was in heaven.
Liam murmured to his guard, “Malem, on your hands and knees.”
Malem let go of Liam and knelt on hands and knees in front of Anson. Before Anson could question anyone, Malem took Anson’s cock to the back of his throat.
“By the Wolf.” Anson jerked when someone shoved a finger up his ass while another cupped his balls. Malem worked his cock, deep-throating him and licking with strokes intended to induce one massive orgasm.
To make it even more intense, Liam watched it all with a pleased smile. His slit beaded with cum and he held himself as he approached the lusty foursome. Then he knelt between Malem’s legs and spread his ass wide.
Anson was on the verge of orgasm. The incredible moment stretched before him, hedonism at its best. “Do it. Fuck him hard,” he rasped as Ryder kissed his shoulder, nipping him with that potent aphrodisiac the athmae possessed in abundance.
Groaning at the burn of desire racing through his bloodstream, Anson watched as Liam pushed forward until his cock disappeared inside Malem.
Malem groaned around Anson, sucking harder and with a furious rhythm as Liam pounded into him.
Then the fingers in Anson’s ass were replaced by something thicker.
“Ah, oh fuck,” Anson moaned as one of the demons shoved inside him and stayed there, adding so much sensation Anson could barely think.
Liam arched back and groaned as he came. Zain rounded to stand before Anson and masturbated.
“My offering,” he gasped and shot all over Malem’s back. Then he reached under Malem and took him in hand.
Ryder started moving, slowly, then faster, at an angle Anson wouldn’t have thought possible. Yet somehow the athmae fucked him.
The pleasure built as he watched his mate and his new pack find their bliss. He groaned as Ryder hit that sweet spot inside him. Then Malem sucked hard and grazed him with sharp teeth.
“Mother Night.” Anson exploded in Malem’s mouth.
The demon greedily sucked his seed just as Ryder pulled out and came over Malem as well.
The scent of sex filled the air, and the group stared at one another with sated smiles.
“Now let’s move this into the bathtub,” Liam suggested. “Anson, that’s just the beginning. With the amount of venom and athmae semen inside you, you’re going to become a lot more like me than you know. Your life is now tied to mine, and you’ll need sex more often.”
“And you’ll be our master until the end of our lives,” Malem said with his head bowed.
Ryder and Zain joined him on the floor, kneeling before Anson. Liam stroked them all, soothing them with his hands. Except his touch had their flagging erections returning with a vengeance.
“Good, then no more of this ‘pet’ nonsense,” Anson said in a thick voice, overwhelmed with love and happiness. He met Liam’s gaze and blurted without thinking, “I love you.”
Liam’s eyes had never been as bright as they were now. “Love me, love my pack. Our pack.”
“I think it’ll be hard not to, even if they are the biggest pains in the ass I’ve ever met.”
“That’s a compliment where we come from.” Malem chuckled. The others joined him. “Now about Liam’s idea of the bathtub. I have a few more tricks up my sleeve to impress our new pet.” He ignored Anson’s frown. “Now, now, Consort. You belong to us just as much as we belong to you. Our loyalty, our lust, our affection.”
“Their love,” Liam added.
Ryder grimaced. “He’s a little too emotional. Probably the wolf in him, but that suits you, doesn’t it? You’ll be good for him, pet.”
“And good for us.” Zain wiggled his brows and motioned to Malem. “Malem looks like he’s about to fall asleep. Must be some sweet cum he swallowed. I want a turn.”
Anson supposed he’d have to get used to their frank talk.
As they filed into the bathtub, it suddenly filled with water. They laughed, teased and fucked once more, and he knew his life was starting anew. But before Anson could grow too emotional, Liam distracted him by bending over the tub’s ledge. Lust fogged all thought. I am becoming more and more like them. Anson ordered the others to hold Liam down while he rimmed that delicious ass, then filled him once more.
Ryder alternated between sucking off Zain and Malem. The sound of fucking, groaning and swearing was as satisfying as the warm water flowing around them in the giant tub that was more like a pool. Anson grunted as he worked his mate, so in lust he couldn’t think straight.
“I’m coming, Liam. Oh fuck, yes, I’m coming.”
Goodbyes to the past could wait until much, much later.
Chapter Eight
The Great Forest, Alaska
“Stay close. Something’s not right.” Anson frowned at the odd scents flooding the Silver Clan holdings. The periphery of the Great Forest used to be empty, but he swore he’d seen a few felines scrambling through the forest away from them.
Two months after he’d first arrived at the athmae keep, Anson, Liam and their small demon pack walked through the woods in the deep of night, when Anson thought it would be safest to travel. His handsome athmae were dark black, their white hair glimmering under the full moon, all dressed in their warrior’s garb. Knee-length black trousers, sleeveless black tunics and their bone blades for defense. They looked raw and dangerous, just the impression Anson wanted them to portray.
He had no idea what his uncle would think, but he knew wolves respected strength. Better to go in looking like killers than puppy dogs begging for forgiveness.
Liam’s gaze glowed in the dark, like Anson’s own eyes, he imagined. So strong and powerful, Liam walked in the Great Forest with wonder on his face.
“It’s sacred,” he whispered. “So full of wolf and animal spirit. I envy you your time here, Anson.” Liam’s gentle smile faded into a frown. “Perhaps we should stay here after all. I would not wish to take you from your true home.”
Anson stopped and dragged Liam into his arms. It still irritated him that Liam stood a few inches taller. He pulled Liam’s handsome face down to stare at him eye to eye. “My home is with you. Not here. Not anymore.” He kissed Liam to make his point and almost forgot himself when their needs surged.
Malem cleared his throat. “Sorry, pet, but we’d best keep moving.”
>
Anson had grown accustomed to the name, knowing they used it to show acceptance. The guards’ devotion was unquestioning, concerned with his welfare and happiness.
He thought perhaps they’d claimed him as much as he’d claimed them. And the Wolf knew, he’d claimed every single one of the demons walking with him, sometimes more than once in a day.
Anson led his small party deeper into the forest. To his dismay, they didn’t run into anyone. “Something’s not right.” He automatically shifted into his werewolf, stretching the magically altered clothing the queen had gifted him as a betrothal present.
Taking their cues from him, Liam stripped with the wave of his hand and turned into a large black wolf. The guards flanked them, ready to defend their prince and his consort to the death.
Anson continued on at a faster pace, listening to the odd whisper of peace on the wind.
The dichotomy of emptiness and ease confused him, so he’d nearly reached the heart of his village when he noticed the blaze of a large bonfire, as well as the clan standing behind it.
They’d all gathered by the alpha’s cabin. Hundreds of wolves waited for him in silence.
Then he spied Fenris. His twin stood next to Uncle Mike on one side, and on the other a beautiful redhead looked proud and eager to battle. He didn’t recognize her, and she wasn’t the type one could easily forget.
“Anson.” Fenris nodded, looking stern. “By the Wolf, it’s about time you returned home.” He strode forward and held out a hand.
Anson took it, and their handshake quickly turned to a hug, with much smiling and laughter. The murmuring in the village grew to a loud cheer as wolves began speculating about Anson’s past whereabouts.
Anson grinned. “You look good, brother.”
“So do you.” Fenris glanced behind Anson, enthralled.
Anson had assumed the athmae would spark notice, but he couldn’t get over Fenris. His twin seemed happy. At one with himself. Fenris had found his mate. Anson automatically glanced at the redhead, who met his gaze without flinching.