One of the smaller wolves raked his claws over Rafe's back leg, drawing blood dangerously close to the artery. Sara let loose a banshee howl. Sheer reflex sent her vaulting straight up into the air. She dropped down directly onto the other wolf's back and closed her jaws over the back of his shoulders and neck. He screeched and flung himself from side to side, trying to shake her off. Her jaws slipped and she tumbled off backward, but not before she saw dark blood dripping from his ruff.
“Take that.” She laughed with a wild, cracking edge. The other wolves paused for a split second, the injured one a step or two behind the others. Good. She'd thrown them off balance by her half-crazed strength and attitude.
She took the brief window of opportunity to plunge toward the large wolf, snapping her teeth at him. He reared back before crashing forward again, jaws open and snarling. She leapt away, nimble on her feet and driven by pure, frenetic energy.
Leap, snap, thrust, parry, spring back. Over and over, Sara danced and whirled and slashed and bit at them. They landed a few stinging swipes on her she knew drew blood, but she was so fast they couldn't pin her down. She sensed, too, they didn't really want to hurt her. They wanted to keep her alive and take her.
Rafe, however, they would kill if given half a chance.
Despite the burn in her lungs and the strain just starting to be felt in her legs, she refused to back down. These nasty, ugly rogues would not take her mate away from her. Not when she'd just realized she'd already claimed him and had just been too scared to admit it.
“Never,” she snarled at the big wolf just before charging him again. Over and over, she slammed into him and flipped away, her paws seeming lighter than air. The advantage of her remarkable flexibility and speed served her well now. These wolves had never met another wolf so swift. Nor one so desperately motivated to keep the advantage.
Despite the adrenaline pumping through her, she eventually flagged. Three large male wolves against one small female one was no true match for long.
I'll die before I let them kill him, her human snarled with distinctly inhuman wrath. She struggled on, pushing past the growing exhaustion and occasional fumbles.
Then, in the distance, a chorus of outraged howls spiraled up. Sara's hope surged. The Black Mesa Pack members had arrived.
The rogue wolves paused, ears pricked. The smaller ones looked to the dark, white-flecked one. He shook his massive head and fell into a crouch, bright sulphur-yellow eyes locked on Sara's. The others mimicked him. They all sprang toward her at once.
Goaded on by renewed energy and the certainty of having the pack behind her, she threw herself into lunging, leaping, growling, and landing as many vicious bites and devastating kicks with her hind legs as she could. She spun and circled, staying as close to Rafe as she could.
The longest moments of her life passed in a blur of rage-filled shrieks and growls. When she missed a step and landed awkwardly after a stumbling twist away from snapping jaws, the large one leaped again and finally managed to pin her down, heaving his foul breath into her face. She snarled up at him.
The oncoming Black Mesa wolves howled again, close enough Sara knew they would be there within seconds. The large wolf flicked his ears back, glared down at her, and rumbled out a nasty promise.
“This isn't finished yet. Give Licas our regards.”
With that bizarre message, he jumped off and charged away at a dead run. Confused, the other wolves swung anxious heads between his disappearing tail and Sara's fearsome growl as she staggered back up again.
Too late. The rest of the pack had arrived. The tiny battleground filled with wolves, at least twenty-five of them pouring in. Energy and anger crackled through the air as they descended.
Within a few chaotic seconds, it was over. The two rogue wolves were easily subdued and each held down by several pack members. Alpha stalked among them all, his stark expression boding no tolerance for any more bloodshed.
Sara saw Caleb take a swipe at one of the rogues, his lethal claw tip stopping just short of taking out an eyeball. Like a coward, the rogue wolf yelped and tried to duck his head rather than fight back, now that he was totally outnumbered and his pseudo leader had fled.
She turned her back, knowing Caleb wouldn't dare do anything more brutal, not with his father there. She vaguely sensed a small contingent head out after the speckled rogue wolf who'd escaped, but she no longer cared. The only thing still holding her attention lay motionless on the ground.
She flung herself beside Rafe, nosing him, licking at the small wounds he seemed to have everywhere despite her efforts to protect him. Sand and dirt coated some of them. Crushed sage flooded her sensitive nose, along with the alarming coppery scent of his blood. Nudging his face very gently, she whined.
“Get up, Rafe. Get up, I love you, don't you dare do this to me now.” Her scratchy wolf voice half-howled, half-whined, setting other pack members to howling along with her in distress.
She barely heard Alpha issuing terse commands to the rest of the Guardians. Curling her body around Rafe's, she aligned her heartbeat with his, drew her breaths with his, sent every damn ounce of healing strength into him she could.
A woman with dark reddish-brown hair pushed through the wolves, who immediately parted for her. Otsana Bardou knelt beside by her son and ran quick, practiced hands over his body, checking his wounds. Face grim, she gently felt his limbs for breaks. She paused at the lump on his head. Using the lightest touch, she grazed it with her fingertips.
Rafe groaned.
Another chorus of howls and yips ricocheted around, this time encouraging and excited. Sara pushed herself into Rafe's body.
Slowly, his eyes opened. Glassy with pain, they blinked. He groaned again, panting a bit and flexing one paw. Carefully, he reached out and touched his mother's human hand with it.
Otsana smiled.
Sara cried and whined and wrapped herself around her mate as tightly as she dared. He leaned back into her, weak but sure.
Her heart expanded to overflowing, she cried over his head from sheer relief, soaking her mate with a rush of grateful tears.
Epilogue
One Week Later
“Ow! That still hurts.” Accompanied by a smile, Rafe's complaint dissolved into a tease.
Sara giggled at him and proceeded to keep gently pulling away the bandage on his upper thigh. Seven days of enforced bed rest at the den, mostly in his faster-healing wolf form, had brought Rafe back to fighting shape. Almost. He still felt a wincing pull in his left leg where one of the rogues had nearly ended his life by slicing him deeply about a centimeter from his femoral artery. The wound had mostly healed, as had the concussion from getting solidly knocked on his head.
Most importantly, something inside had healed in an staggering rush. Rafe wasn't one to dwell on emotions. But he was pretty sure this was a damn big emotion rippling through him every day whenever he looked at Sara, thought about her, talked to her, heard her voice, felt her tender yet very promising kiss on his lips.
Better yet, his mate was at peace. Something changed in her after the fight. Calm, centered, and sure of herself, Sara now carried herself with the assurance he'd already believed in. It made her even more stunning in his eyes.
Still angry at himself for being careless enough to get jumped and knocked out by the rogues, leaving her to handle them on her own, he also kicked himself for missing Sara in action. Apparently she'd been at the top of a game no one else had thought her capable of.
“Thing of beauty, bro,” Caleb had told him with enthusiastic admiration, after Rafe had been with it enough to receive visitors and hear stories. “We came charging in to save the day, and I was so sure she'd be dead or at least ripped to pieces by those bastards.” Rafe's mouth tightened into a thin line at the thought, but Caleb hadn't noticed, engrossed as he was in recreating the scene. “But there she was, and I swear, for a second I actually didn't recognize her. You wouldn't have either, man. She was this fierce she-devil thing. Total
ly possessed. I have never seen a wolf just sort of—float—over the ground the way she was. She was fighting like some sort of ninja! I might have been scared of her if I had to go up against her myself.
“Now she's probably the best Guardian we have, and you're stealing her away.” His brother had shaken his head. “Oh, well. Good thing, since she probably would have handed my ass to me if we sparred on the mat.” Caleb laughed.
The large rogue wolf, the one Rafe intended someday to rip apart limb from limb, had managed to escape. His final warning message to Sara promised more darkness to come, which boded more fighting.
For right now, though, Rafe had only one very sexy thing on his mind.
He looked at his mate, letting his frank appreciation and admiration show on his face. She noticed, despite keeping her hands busy removing the bandage, because that rosy flush he loved to see crept up from her delicate neck to her adorable little nose.
“What?” she asked, smiling. He reached out a hand to tuck a few golden strands behind her ear.
“Just thinking what an amazing mate you'll be. What a strong pack we're going to have. And how every single wolf in it would die for you, knowing how tough and fearless you are.”
She pulled the bandage off, face completely flushed now.
“It's all because of you,” she said. The crystal blue eyes finally looked up at him. She was so beautiful it snagged his breath.
“And I'm what I am all because of you,” he said back. The truth of that statement hammered in his chest. He leaned forward to pull her closer for a long, wet kiss that ignited his skin and sent a message straight down to his stirring cock.
Sara sighed into her mouth, then pulled back a bit. Her breathless laugh brushed sweetly over his lips.
“You're not healed all the way yet.” The murmur of her voice stroked his every nerve ending.
“I'm healed enough, my beautiful wolf. Besides,” he said as he ran a finger along her bare thigh and enjoyed her gasped breath and the way little goosebumps popped out on her skin. “It's about time I have my mate in an actual bed, isn't it?”
She laughed softly, although the ragged note in it promised a hot, panting tussle in his very near future.
“If you insist. Mate,” she said, drawing out the word long and firm.
“As your alpha wolf, I definitely insist.” He grinned at her. “I've got to make up for lost time.”
“I like the sound of that,” she said, and proceeded to prove she could kiss him senseless.
the end
What's next? Read Caleb and Rielle's story in Hunting Wolf, Book 3 in the Black Mesa Wolves series. To find out when it's released, sign up for the newsletter.
ALPHA WOLF
Copyright © November 2013 by J.K. Harper
Cover by LFD Designs
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the copyright owner except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
J.K. Harper writes about paranormal romance and urban fantasy because despite a lifetime of wishing, all the cool supernatural book characters of her childhood just don't seem to be real. Besides, it's really fun to make stuff up.
Julie is owned by three cats, two horses, and a dog. She lives in the rugged, gorgeous canyon country of the Southwest, which is a great place to let her imagination run wild.
If you are interested in finding out more about Julie and her latest writing projects, please visit her website: http://www.jkharper.com/
J.K. Harper Books:
Guardian Wolf: Black Mesa Wolves Book 1
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Alpha Wolf: Black Mesa Wolves #2 (Werewolf Shifter Paranormal Romance) Page 12