Lycan's Promise: Book 3
Page 4
“Never leave me,” Beryx muttered into her ear, “I couldn’t survive it.”
“Never love,” Sanda whispered back, “I’ll never leave you.”
Stars bejeweled the ceiling above in vast numbers. Far off, a pale pink slit on the horizon was all that remained of the day. Sanda couldn’t think of any better place to cement their bond.
Sanda stood in front of the fireplace watching the last embers of a dying fire. Jurisa hadn’t bothered to put more wood on the flames during the course of the several meetings she had that day and the fire was almost out.
First, Cami had been summoned to the Alpha’s cottage to receive punishment for participating in the crazy trek down to Ekras. Sanda peeked out the window from the kitchen to watch the woman walk down the street escorted by Dragos. She entered the building with her nose in the air and her shoulders back, and left after a very short period of time looking quite smug. Sanda supposed that she’d used her pregnancy as leverage to get a better outcome.
Next came Garrett, slinking into and out of the cottage, worn and tired both ways. Then, came Mouse, small and hurried as she kept up with the much taller Dragos.
After their wonderful run up the mountain, Sanda and Beryx talked, and he’d alerted her to be prepared for a summons that day. She was tense the whole morning. At least, it didn’t look like the others were being sent away from the community. Beryx would not have let her go into that unprepared.
Now, she waited for Jurisa to pass judgment on her actions, certainly the most rash and dangerous of the four of them.
“We understand going after your mate,” Jurisa said. The leader shared a glance with her own mate before continuing. “I would do the same. I was prepared to do the same for Beryx. However,” Jurisa said. She turned to face Sanda, walking slowly forward.
“You acted without regard for your own imminent transition. An action that resulted in damage to property and which harmed humans.” Jurisa stopped to come within a hair’s breath of Sanda. “I will not tolerate behavior that puts the contract between humans and Lycans in danger.”
Sanda swallowed. The Alpha was a lot more intimidating up close. No wonder Dragos took a back seat when she was around.
“Understand?” Jurisa asked, her voice quiet, but firm.
Sanda nodded. She breathed a sigh of relief when the Alpha backed off, giving her breathing room once more.
“Everyone is valuable, human or Lycan. To help you understand that, I’m apprenticing you to Mouse,” Jurisa said, placing her hands on her hips and smiling at Sanda with obvious satisfaction. “You will follow her directions, and you will learn how to heal the damage caused by careless action.”
Sanda gaped for a moment, managing to just rein in a surprised outburst. Mouse must have been planning this all along. “I understand,” she said, realizing that Jurisa was waiting for a response.
“Good.” The leader clapped her hands together, signaling the end of their meeting. “Go home and rest. You start tomorrow.”
Sanda left the leader and her mate in a much relieved mood. She’d stay here in the community. She’d have work and a purpose. She still had Beryx too.
He called out to her from where he was waiting by the fence post on the street. Sanda embraced her mate with a happy kiss.
“You knew didn’t you,” Sanda said.
“I had an inkling,” he admitted. “Are you pleased?”
“Yes, very pleased and relieved.”
“Me too,” Beryx said, clasping her hand in his larger one. They walked together down the street of their small community. Fellow passersby greeted them, everyone wrapped tightly in their heavy cloaks. Snow started to fall in great big fat clumps, a rarity for the Cold Mountains. Sanda decided to take it as a good sign. When she got home, Sanda also decided she would show her mate exactly how pleased she was to have him.
The end.
Sample: Predator on the Rim
Kerry followed her lead into the darkened corridor of the space station. A small outpost of the far rim of the sector, the tiny station was a tin can floating next to a pockmarked asteroid. It served only as a listening post for radio communications between ships and the sol system. The occupants long since dead. She and Marcus found what was left of them strewn across the control room when they arrived.
The hallway was particularly small and cramped and dark with the lights out. The damn thing they were hunting had gotten into the wiring system and ripped it apart. She and Marcus were working only by the flashlights affixed to the muzzles of their weapons. They had to stay alert, but the humidity and extreme heat in the small space made Kerry feel fuzzy. It had also gotten into the temp control system and seemed to prefer the atmosphere inside be much like its own environment. Tropical and sticky.
Sweat ran down Kerry's face and neck, pooling between her breasts and the armor plating she wore to protect herself from the creatures they hunted. She was sweating all over underneath her suit. If this lasted much longer she swore she’d just pull the damn thing off and walk around in her tank and underwear. She’d probably have an easier time maneuvering anyway.
Marcus took the next turn ahead after stopping to peer around the corner with their mirror. A handy little device and extremely low-tech, it certainly helped them avoid walking into any number of traps. From her vantage point pressed up against him, as they moved along the hallways, checking each and every sound, each and every corner with their lights, Kerry could see the reflection from her flashlight bouncing off of the armor covering Marcus’ firm ass and corded thighs. He had thighs like a rugby player, built up from years of chasing down escaped creatures for their employers. His whole body was a well-toned machine. Each muscle and fiber worked repeatedly in the company gyms with one goal in mind, monster hunting.
That was what they called it, this never-ending hunt through space around the sol system for biological oddities, experiments gone wrong or even just dangerous xenos that threatened traffic in the area. Xenos were alien animals from other planets and moons. Most of them were okay, adapted perfectly to their own environment and dangerous only to their own prey. Some were sharp and strong and clever and in Kerry's opinion, utterly homicidal. Occasionally, these dangerous beasts snuck onto cargo ships when they landed or made their way into poorly guarded outposts to try out new human snacks. They had to be at the top of their game to keep up with these creatures. So they trained, and they hunted and they trained for more.
Kerry enjoyed watching Marcus train, enjoyed working out with him since they had been partnered together. He was entirely too focused on his job in her opinion. That strength, those muscles, and skin needed more than danger and death. They needed to be licked and stroked and even scratched. Sometimes, she just wanted to pin him to the gym mat and grind lewdly against his crotch until she felt some sort of response.
It's not that she hadn't made her attraction to him clear. Hell, the first week she never presented so much to one man in her life. She'd never been rejected so much either. He never pointed it out to her, just ignored it or pretended not to notice her come ons. It made her so irritated, bruised her ego too. Kerry gave up out of frustration. In the months since that first week she hadn't seen him so much as glance at another person’s chest or crotch or other assets. Half the time, she wondered if he were even human.
In front of her, Marcus slowed to stop halfway down the hallway. He didn't move, his muscles bunched up in readiness, waiting, feeling out the atmosphere around them. Kerry knew what this meant. The creature they were hunting was very close, hiding. Possibly somewhere in the darkened corners. Confident in her lead’s abilities, she waited while Marcus felt out the area, quietly analyzing potential threats, mentally casting them aside before moving onto the next.
The high-pitched whine warned her before the creature’s attack, so she barely had enough time to get down, put her weapon up and start firing. It shot out over top of them from an air vent way up in the back of the darkened corner. It was tucked between the bulkh
eads in the wall. They couldn't possibly have seen it.
Her shots, without enough time to target, flew wildly past the long limbed, long clawed humanoid. It swiped down with one of those clawed hands connecting with the vulnerable flesh between her lead’s helmet and his body armor as it thumped to the ground opposite. Marcus’ sharp cry burst through her receiver in an earsplitting crackle.
It ran at them, tackling Marcus without stopping, raising its arms back for another swipe at the vulnerable flesh of his neck, a second from tearing open his jugular. Not thinking, only reacting in response to her training, Kerry raised her weapon and fired repeatedly at the beast despite its close proximity to Marcus. Better to be shot to death than to have one's throat slit and bled out like a pig.
The creature’s high-pitched whines burst out with each impact of a bullet into its torso, pushing it off of Marcus. It scrambled up. Leapt away on long limbs, turned a corner at the end of the hallway and disappeared.
“Go after it,” Marcus yelled at her through the comm. Kerry turned to Marcus, half ready to argue with him. He was down, but he screamed at her again. Threatened to shoot her himself if she didn't do her job and go after the creature. That was all the impetus Kerry needed.
Adrenaline rushing through her system and sweat pouring down her skin, Kerry tore off down the hallway after it. The high-pitched whine was gone. All she could hear was her heart pounding in her ears and the thumping of her feet on the metal grating beneath and Marcus’ heavy breathing on the other end of the comm.
“Update Kerry,” Marcus demanded to their comm.
“It's gone. Fuck, it's gone.”
Other Books in the Lycan's Series by Chandler Dee:
Lycan's Sacrifice
Lycan's Love
Lycan's Mate
Lycan's Secret
Bounty Hunter Series:
Predator on the Rim
The Immortality Backup
The Chimera Problem
The Hidden Planet
Check out more about the series at: Chandler Dee