Beast Within (Loup-Garou Series Book 3)

by Sheritta Bitikofer

  Logan opened his mouth, but the words didn’t come right away. After a few seconds of silence, he began, “You know how I’ve always loved you. You know how I’ve wanted nothing more than to be with you from the very beginning. Now that we’re here, I can only promise that I will protect you, honor you, and run with you wherever you go. As long as you’ll have me, I’ll never leave you. As long as it’s within my power, you’ll never be unhappy again. After this night, you’ll be my mate for life, and I can’t wait to start that life with you.”

  Katey pressed her lips together to keep the wild giggles of delight from bubbling out.

  John nodded. “Well said. And now, the wife will speak her vows to her intended mate.”

  The words she had intended to say fell straight out of her brain, and she stood speechless, just as he had for a few panicked seconds. “Logan, you have given me the best gift I could ever ask for. When I was lost in darkness, you showed me the light. When I couldn’t see the end, you gave me a new beginning. Though the journey here hasn’t been easy, it’s been worth it, and I can’t imagine sharing this life with anyone else. You’ve given me hope and love that I never dreamed was possible. You’ve given me a family and a home I can love. You’ve been more than a friend and a lover. You’ve been my angel, and I hope you don’t think that’s too cheesy, but it’s true.” Katey kissed the back of his hand. “I vow to be your mate, your wife, and your companion for the rest of my days, no matter how long that is.”

  John gave his approving nod again and reached behind him to a table that had been set up. He produced a primitive looking dagger with a bone handle and presented it to the crowd.

  “The couple will now join in the blood covenant that will bind their souls for eternity.”

  Katey and Logan held out their arms and turned them over to expose their wrists to the officiate. With two quick actions, he sliced into their skin and blood seeped from the cuts. As they had practiced, they twisted their wrists around until the open cuts were pressed together, loose blood flowing from one body to another.

  Katey hadn’t expected to feel anything, but as the warmth of his blood blended with hers, she felt it infiltrate her body. His essence flowed through her and mingled with her soul, just as John said. The bond they shared before the ceremony intensified and sparked into a new sensation. Their hearts began to beat in synchronous union, and she couldn’t help but grin at the feeling of total oneness with Logan.

  He smiled too, and she knew the feeling had to be mutual. They were the first loup-garou couple to undergo this ceremony in thousands of years, but she wondered if other wives felt the bond in the same way. Could a human body possibly feel so attuned to a loup-garou?

  The wounds healed quickly, and they separated their wrists. They didn’t bother to clean off the blood or wipe it on their clothes.

  John turned to the table again and unfolded a fur pelt. Katey and Logan stepped closer together as it was swathed over them and held together by John. Katey swallowed hard, knowing what was to come next.

  “Disrobe,” John instructed.

  Logan did so without hesitation, but Katey was a little slower to untie her belt and let the robe drop around her ankles. She had never been naked in front of Logan. All the times she had changed, Katey had made sure to keep herself covered until the last possible moment so none of her pack would see her nakedness.

  Their nudity had become something rather normal and expected. They felt no shame in stripping in front of her every time they were ready to change, but Katey had never been that willing.

  As she stood there, naked before Logan, he understood her modesty and kept his eyes locked on hers. From their angle, John could not see her below the shoulders, which eased her discomfort.

  “The couple will now present their true selves to one another and seal the bond of their matehood.”

  Katey and Logan nodded to one another and held their hands tighter as they brought on the change. The pain that came with the shift could not outdo the immense bliss that flowed in Katey. From what she could sense in Logan, there was little pain in his change as well.

  It took only a few moments for them to stand together on the deck of the gazebo, golden eyes gazing at one another and the fur pelt of union dropped to their feet. One black and one white loup-garou faced each other for the first time as a mated couple.

  Their souls acknowledged one another and Katey licked the bottom side of Logan’s muzzle. He returned the gesture and nudged against her head in a show of acceptance and affection.

  The audience clapped and cheered, but neither loup-garou paid them any attention.

  Katey tucked her head under Logan’s as he protectively enveloped her in an embrace that claimed her as his own. With bursting exultation, she nuzzled into Logan’s dense fur, savoring the scent of forest and freedom.

  Sneak Peek into Precedence

  Coming January, 2018

  Darren threaded his fingers through his dark, matted hair, willing his nerves to settle. He sat alone at the glass dinette table, a cup of herbal tea steaming in front of him. With his elbows propped on either side of the mug, he bowed his head to breath in the chamomile. The morning sun slanted through the bay window, and filtered through the thin curtains. One panel was drawn back, giving him a perfect view of the carport beyond. Everyone’s vehicle was accounted for, except Dustin’s.

  Upstairs, he could hear Katey and Logan in their bedroom, their bodies shifting slightly against the sheets as one or both of them were getting comfortable. The only sign that they weren’t making love was their gentle breathing and steady, slow heartbeats.

  In a house of loups-garous, sex was not a private thing. Ever since their first night as a mated couple, Darren, Dustin, and Ben had to invest in a package of earplugs. Other nights, they left the house completely and took to the woods.

  Nearly all the mornings after were awkward, nonetheless, when Katey would come downstairs, her hair a tangled mess and cheeks bright red. Dustin had joked for the first few weeks that he didn’t know Logan had it in him, or that he certainly inherited something good from his grandfather. That was months ago and the two newlyweds hadn’t grown out of their honeymoon phase yet.

  Darren lifted his spoon and stirred the water, pushing around the cordless teabag as the herbs steeped to make amber plumes blend in the hot liquid. The last few nights had been quiet, which was an oddity in itself, but Darren still found no rest.

  Over the last month or so, Dustin had found a third option besides running with his pack in the woods or wearing earplugs to escape the slightly intrusive sexual practices of their only mated couple. Quite unexpectedly, Dustin took to the town and wouldn’t come back until morning. More often than not, Darren was unaware that Dustin had left until he came back the following day. This time, with Darren’s senses uninhibited and the house not rocking, he heard his beta leave shortly after midnight.

  He still hadn’t come back.

  Soft, whispered voices came from upstairs, telling him that Katey and Logan were awakening, but they had learned the exact volume level that would escape Darren’s keen ears. He anxiously waited for any signs that they would decide to get in an early morning romp, but there was nothing.

  Apart from their heated love making, Katey and Logan seemed to be adjusting well to married life. Perhaps it was too soon to tell. Darren had known plenty of couples, like Katey and Logan, who were so caught up in their courting phase that they were mated far too soon and immediately regretted the decision. Being loups-garous and spiritually bonded through their wolves was a definite helper in keeping them so in love, but Darren wondered how long it would last before they settled into a – hopefully quieter – routine.

  He brought the mug to his lips and sipped on the calming brew.

  Katey’s grandfather, much to the unease of all the pack, came to visit every couple of weeks to give her detailed reports on their progress in making plans for the council. True to his word, he kept a vigilant detail of vampire guards
posted around the city to watch for hunters or anyone that would want to harm his granddaughter. After the fiasco in January, Michael was taking no chances, and their scent infiltrated the town. Darren couldn’t go out without catching a whiff of them on the wind.

  So far, the roster of loups-garous for the council had grown to a total of seventy-four, but this also included their betas and other entourage members. Only Michael was surprised by the low turnout. John, Darren’s former mentor and the appointed head of the loup-garou delegation of the council, was startled to find more vampires were interested in the prospect of peace. Of course, this was a cause for alarm in Darren. If any of these vampires were anything like Yaverik, who was brazen enough to try and fan the flames of war, then they might have their own agendas that didn’t involve peace.

  Darren had often wondered if the council would turn out as everyone hoped. His skeptical nature concocted images of betray, and assassination; anything but peace. With Katey at the center of it all, they all had reason to fear for her life. After nearly being hunted down by both vampires and humans, it was clear, now more than ever, that Katey was a prime target in this grand scheme.

  She was the one who was supposed to herald in an era of peace between vampires and werewolves. She served as the host for the spirit of peace, Tanatia, who was an ancient princess that was assassinated millennia ago for being the offspring of a werewolf and vampire union.

  Darren shook his head as he let the tea warm his throat. He still couldn’t believe that Katey was the daughter of Adam and Jane. He had known them both, especially Adam. Every day, something of the wise and powerful loup-garou shined through that reminded the alpha of better days when he was a man without a pack and without responsibilities.

  Then, there were times that a little of her mother came out. A sassy look, a flip of her hair, the determined set of her jaw when Darren said something that displeased her, all of it came straight from Jane.

  He didn’t spend a lot time with her on that late night in France, back when he was a young and inexperienced loup-garou, but he never forgot the impression the vampire left on him. Jane became somewhat of a template for all the women he loved from that day forward. Even Eleanor mirrored Jane in some respects.

  When Katey wasn’t busy with Logan in the bedroom or on the phone with Michael and John to discuss council meeting details, she spent her days down at the ballroom dance studio on Main Street with Lily and Forrest.

  After the incident in Louisiana with the hunters, it took the loups-garous of Crestucky a while to get back into the flow of normal life once more. Some families had lost loved ones. Fathers, brothers, uncles, and husbands had been killed in the raid on the safehouse in Alabama. Though Forrest and his alpha, Jacob, had survived the onslaught, there was still plenty of rebuilding to do.

  The Devians were not the only ones effected by the tragedy. Within Darren’s pack, biases and doubt had been formed. Ben, after decades of mystery and silence about his past, finally filled in the gaps of the missing years when they weren’t all together. The omega’s distrust of his own pack prompted Darren to question what else the loup-garou had been hiding.

  The old wounds of the past had been opened anew when he found out that Dustin was the cause of his family’s murder. Dustin couldn’t have possibly known that his father-in-law would send hunters after him, all the way from Ireland. Still, Darren couldn’t shake the idea that if he hadn’t been so eager to help a fellow loup-garou, his wife and daughter might have lived a few more years with him. Because they were human, they would have died anyway, but he had long treasured the day when he would see his daughter blossom into womanhood and find love. Now, she never would.

  Darren had to forgive Dustin for his own sanity’s sake, but it would take time.

  Logan, on the other hand, was in a far darker place than any of them expected. When he turned in Louisiana, Darren knew it wasn’t any normal transformation.

  Whatever the spirit of Tanatia did, or whatever roadblock the voodoo potion had obliterated, Logan could change into his wolf or loup-garou form at will now. He was a more balanced loup-garou than ever before, but Darren had a feeling there was more to what happened between his young ward and Tanatia. He couldn’t quite put his finger on it, or put a name to it, but something was still not right. Darren kept a close eye on Logan, regardless.

  Katey seemed to know exactly what it was, but she wasn’t telling anyone any time soon. She had more on her plate than ever before, as a fresh high school graduate and less than a year into her loup-garou training. They had seen no sign of Tanatia since Louisiana, but they had learned that it took a lot for the ancient princess to make a grand appearance. Darren crossed his fingers that they would never have to see her again, because that meant things would never get so bad.

  It took quite a bit of trust to let Katey return to work. Having her brooding around the house and bored out of her mind during the summer months was a little more than they could handle. It was a chore to keep her occupied and Darren regretted the decision to not take the pack on a European vacation as he usually did during the summer months. With Katey still deep in training, he thought they wouldn’t have time to travel. He was wrong.

  Against his better judgment, Darren bought a game console and collection of video games to keep her and Logan engaged. He had seen how the contraptions sucked the sense out of his students and even some grown adults, but he was running out of options when Katey complained about working in the backyard garden and having watched every movie in the house, twice. He thought the game console would keep her from changing into her wolf form and running in the woods to burn off her restlessness. To his dismay, Dustin and Logan played co-op on the shooter games more than anyone, and Katey didn’t seem interested in learning how to handle the controller.

  They let her go back to work on a probationary arrangement in June and now it was early November. Thankfully, there had been no incidents, no hunter activity, and no whisper of assassination. Either the vampire guards were doing an exceptional job, or their location had remained a secret. Forrest and a few of those in his pack, the Devians, kept watch over Katey when Darren and the others couldn’t be there for her. With both loups-garous and vampires on patrol, she might have been the safest young lady on the planet.

  With the addition of Katey into their pack, Lily also became a frequent visitor to the house. After her grounding restriction had been lifted at the beginning of summer, Lily came to see Katey nearly every other day. They were close friends, but Katey was also her maid of honor and Lily’s wedding with Forrest was set for early next year. It was still a fair ways out, but Lily loved to plan ahead and Katey was more than happy to help.

  Under Katey’s encouragement, Logan had taken to putting his carving skills to good use. At the weekly farmer’s market in town, Logan set up a booth with some pieces he had crafted. A few figurines, a table, rocker, and a small headboard perfect for a child’s bed. He sold out on the first day, making a fair sum of money, enough to buy more wood and create more masterpieces.

  Darren helped him create business cards and soon, he was receiving calls from affluent families all across northwest Florida who wanted his hand-carved beds and other furniture pieces. If the pack had known his work would be so prized, they would have put his projects on the market a lot sooner.

  Of course, Logan maintained his wrestling hobby and retained the title of northside champion. Katey went to every show, and sometimes Dustin joined her. The boy who started wrestling so long ago in Chicago had become quite a contender, but he only fought when there was a challenger, which didn’t happen often.

  Ben and Dustin had made the choice to leave teaching behind them after the school year was over. Dustin had taken up a job in a hardware store across town and Ben found satisfying work at one of the gun shops. The omega’s knowledge of ammunition and various gun models made him a valuable employee and Darren couldn’t have been prouder. Most of all, Ben was happy. He connected with fellow veterans and s
eemed to find his niche, which had been a rather difficult task in itself over the decades.

  It was Saturday, and Darren had finished grading the essays from the week before. He continued on at the high school, educating a new batch of students and preparing them for the real world that awaited them in the following summer. Katey’s graduation was bittersweet. It wasn’t as if she was going anywhere, but he enjoyed seeing her at the school every day. It was easier to keep an eye on her.

  He flinched when one of the young loups-garous jumped from the bed and shuffled across the floor in a hurry. A droplet of his tea sloshed over the edge of the mug and dripped onto his flannel pajama pants.

  Darren let out a thick sigh just as Logan sped down the stairs in his sleeping pants and a dark gray, hooded sweatshirt. The boy had put on a pair of tennis shoes, but no socks.

  “Be right back,” he shouted before dashing out the front door.

  Darren opened his mouth to holler back at him, but Logan was already out the door. He looked outside the window, but Logan’s motorcycle was still there. Where could he be running to?

  Just as he set down his mug and braced himself against the back of the chair to help him stand, he heard the familiar popping and rumbling of an old truck engine make its way down the dirt driveway up to the house.

  Not wanting to miss his beta’s arrival, Darren eased himself back down and rued the way his muscles ached slightly with the effort. He wrapped his hands around the smooth porcelain and listened as Dustin hopped out of his red pickup and came in through the back door to the billiard room.

  From halfway across the house, Darren could already smell the cheap perfume, alcohol, and cigar smoke on his beta. Dustin came down the hall and stood in the entryway to the kitchen and dinette area.

  Loups-garous couldn’t become intoxicated, but there was a groggy and bleary-eyed look about Dustin that disturbed the alpha more than he would have liked.