by Bonnie Vanak
The faint scent of wolf drifted up from the dead grass. Scent of a powerful Alpha who’d placed his marking scent on this mountain. Matt crouched down, splaying his hand over the dirt path. Not Draicon like him, but not animal, either. Very odd. Almost like a hybrid.
The wolf inside him snarled with possessive intent. Matt unzipped his jeans. He erased the foreign scent by covering it with his own. Marking his territory.
She’s mine. Stay away. The message was clear.
He zipped up, bothered by these intense feelings more than the old scent.
When he returned to the cabin, Sienna was sitting by the fire, staring into the flames. Firelight cast her hair into burnished shades of amber, drawing her face into shadow. She glanced up, uncertainty in her eyes. He felt a twinge of real regret. He’d shut her out, and felt the distance as if a giant chasm yawned between them.
She was right. If he didn’t get this out of his system, it would eat him alive. And he wanted the peace she offered him.
“All right,” he agreed. “Let’s do it.”
She released a deep breath. “I’ll need a photo of Adam.”
They sat on the sofa. Matt dug a worn photo from his leather wallet. He and another man dressed in battle gear faced the camera. One wore a wide grin as he held his gun aloft. Adam. He showed it to her.
“All evidence of Adam’s existence as a SEAL was destroyed. I was allowed to keep one small memento.”
Sienna took his hand, her small palm warm. He wanted the comfort she offered, needed it, but damn, he couldn’t do this. Had to be strong. A tightness settled in his chest. He felt bottled up and wanted to scream.
The palm holding his hand turned larger, stronger and calloused. Matt looked up and recoiled.
Dressed in his BDUs, hefting his gun in that cocky way of his, Adam sat beside him. Matt jerked his hand away.
“Never were the touchy-feely type, were you, Dakota?”
It was Adam’s rasping voice, Adam’s Midwestern twang. He rubbed his eyes, knowing the illusion was a gift.
This was so tough. What did you say to a buddy who sacrificed his life for yours? A SEAL who left behind a grieving widow who thought he died in a car crash because no one had any memory of him as a SEAL?
Except me and the team.
“Wildcat. Damn, you look good for a dead guy.”
Adam sat silently, cocking his head exactly as the photo depicted.
Matt couldn’t look at him. He stared at the carpet instead. Then he sensed the magick shimmer a little. Sienna couldn’t hold the illusion long. So he gathered all his courage.
“I miss you, man. I miss you so much. I miss your stupid jokes, the way you mocked me for being so serious.” Matt gulped down a deep breath.
“How you always watched my six. You were solid. I never trusted anyone like I trusted you, Wildcat. Not even my family. We were tight. I don’t understand why you kept it a secret what was going to happen? You knew, damn it. You knew what we headed into. It was a suicide mission! Gods, you knew one of us was going to die and you never told me. I’ve been thinking and thinking about why you insisted on riding up top and then I realized, it was because you knew what would happen. That’s why you insisted on riding up top. You took the hit and took away the choice from me!”
He slammed a fist into his thigh, feeling his chest constrict. “There’s not a day that’s gone by that I haven’t questioned why you were killed and I was left alive. Not a day when I regret what happened to you. Why you did it, when you had Tatiana to live for and I had no one. I guess I just have to accept that you did it for a reason. And I’m not meant to know that reason. Not now.”
Grief roughened his voice. It poured out of him in a tidal wave of emotion he couldn’t hold back.
“Thank you, Wildcat, for what you did for me, for all those you saved, for all you did for your country. Miss you, man. You’ll always be here—” he touched his chest “—and I’ll never forget you. The world has, but I never will. Until we meet again, on the Other Side.”
Adam’s form began to shimmer. Matt pushed on, knowing he had to get this out. Say it now before he lost his nerve.
“Another thing, Wildcat. You always teased that the teams were everything to me. Being a SEAL meant more to me than anything else. Even a woman.” He smiled a little, remembering Adam’s mocking grin. “It was. But I’ve met someone now. And I understand why you had to have Tatiana. Why you took that risk and fell. I’ve fallen, too. It feels like I’ve taken a HALO jump without a chute, but funny thing, I’m not afraid.”
Tears glistened in Adam’s eyes. Matt never took his gaze off his friend. “Sienna’s gotten to me. She’s special. You once joked that I’d take a hit for the team, but if a woman tried to spend the whole night, I’d be outta there faster than an insurgent facing an army of SEALs. Not anymore. I’d bleed for her. I’ll do anything to keep her safe. She makes me crazy and happy at the same time. I love seeing her smile, love the way she wakes up, with that sexy little smile that makes me tumble off that cliff all over again. I’d do anything to make her happy, give her the moon and the stars.”
He paused, a lump rising in his throat. “I’d give up my life for her, if it came to that.”
Adam’s form shimmered and disappeared. Sienna stared at him, eyes luminous with unshed tears. She cupped his cheek. He turned into her touch, relishing the softness of her palm.
“You’re amazing, Lieutenant Matthew Parker. You have the true heart of a hero. Thank you for everything.” Sienna’s mouth wobbled. “For everything you did, and everything you said. Because you have the courage to say it aloud, what I’m feeling, as well.”
He kissed her. In gratitude partly, but the man in him longed to taste the softness of her wet mouth, chase away tears with pleasure. Matt framed her face with his hands. Keeping the kiss gentle and unhurried, not wanting to startle her. Accustoming her to his touch, breaking down her natural apprehension.
She made a humming sound of pleasure and leaned into him. Beneath the light pressure of his lips, she opened her mouth.
The invitation was there. He plunged on, drinking in the sweetness, tasting everything that was this exotic, sensual Fae-Draicon who’d freed him from a prison of guilt. She was warm and delicious and he wanted to savor her, but the need became hot and pulsing.
When she shyly reached up to toy with his hair, he deepened the kiss. As whisper soft as his mouth had been, it became firm and commanding as he sought to teach her true pleasure. Sienna arched her body as his hands spanned her rib cage. Her breasts were full and lush, and fit perfectly into his palms. Matt gently thumbed her nipples, feeling them harden. Hearing her excited whimper, he kept ravishing her mouth. Loving the sounds she made, catching the surging scent of her arousal. It was heady and spicy and tunneled straight to his cock. He hardened to granite, his body responding to the sweetness of the woman in his arms.
Mercy.
No mercy.
The wolf in him clawed to the surface, demanding and urgent. He was caught in the maelstrom, his feelings spiraling free. He needed Sienna, wanted her so badly he shook from the need.
A growl tore from his throat.
Panting, Sienna pulled away. His body was painfully hard, sexual need sharp as glass. The sounds of their ragged breathing filled the cabin, mingling with the crackling flames in the hearth.
Her eyes were wide and clouded with passion, her mouth smudged and swollen from his passionate kisses. She was scared.
Immediately, he tried to reassure her. “It’s only natural, sweetheart.” He framed her face with his warm palms. “It’s an expression of my desire for you.”
“It’s your wolf coming out…Matt.”
“You can. I know it’s inside you. Don’t fight your nature, Sienna. Let the wolf inside you break free.”
“I don’t know if I can,” she whispered.
Chapter 13
Matt rubbed the back of his neck, struggling with his feelings. Her mouth tasted like ripe berries,
soft and sweet against his. He wanted her badly. He couldn’t get enough of her. The twin ropes of desire and need coiled together like snakes, rubbing against each other. The raw eroticism of his wolf clawed to the surface, demanding to mate with her, mark her as his own.
He had to get out, break free, grab control.
The front door banged behind him as he walked outside, restless and edgy, wolf scratching to the surface. A cool wind caressed his cheeks, ruffled his hair. Wolf smelled the redolent pine, the raw earth and the wildness of forest. Overhead, the silver gleam of the waxing moon filtered through the boughs of tall, thick pines.
Claws erupted on his fingertips. Matt surrendered to the beast.
Up the mountain he ran as wolf, senses exploding with knifelike awareness. He roamed the meadow, bounding off the trail to explore the outcroppings of granite peppering the mountainside. Muscles stretched and flexed with each movement.
He loped through the forest. Leaves and dead undergrowth littered the path, which dipped and curved and led down the mountain. He relished the freedom, the pull of his strong muscles, the sharp awareness of wolf.
After a half mile, the path ended. He ground to a halt, disturbed by an intense tickling in his head. As if someone ran a feather over his muzzle. Matt growled, pawed at the ground and snapped at the air. The tickling bothered his nostrils, dug into his sensitive ears. Hell.
He shifted into human form, clothing himself in soft leather boots, black jeans and a black T-shirt, and the sensations immediately subsided.
Very odd. He must be on the edge of Fae lands. He continued on, finding the path easily, and following it, drawn to it like a lodestone.
Then the path vanished, giving way to thinning trees. Matt looked up at the nearly full moon, large and pregnant in the glittering velvet sky.
Voices rose on the wind, soft and coaxing. Their music enchanted him, wove around him like a cloak. He continued on, hovering on the edges of a large glen.
The clearing was ringed by the forest. In the middle were twelve large granite stones, pointed and phallic, thrusting to the sky.
A dozen people wreathed the stones, their skin luminous and pale. Their ankle-length robes shimmered silver beneath the moon’s caress. Six men and six women were dressed the same. But he saw the men had short hair, and the tips of their ears were pointed. They raised their hands to the sky, chanting lyrical words he could not understand. They pivoted as they chanted, and began to dance, their bodies swaying in sinuous grace. Matt swayed, naturally responding to the music, the sweet melody of the voices. Entranced, he watched the Fae celebrate the approaching full moon.
Suddenly their robes became pale as starlight and vanished. The twelve naked Fae continued to dance, then paired off. Male and female joined together, arms winding around each other, the couples backing up against the stones. The air grew heavy with musk, the erotic scent winding around Matt and holding him immobilized. He could not move, only watch, a helpless prisoner to the sensual play.
One male lifted a female and positioned her against a stone. Moaning, she clung to him as she opened her legs, revealing the glistening pink of her sex. The musk of her arousal floated on the wind. The male smiled with satisfaction, his phallus jutting and strong. He positioned himself against the female’s center and thrust. She flinched, then moaned as he began to piston his hips, pounding hard and fast into her.
His blood ran thick and hot. Matt’s body tightened, his own sexual need pouring through his veins. He closed his eyes, seeing the woman as Sienna, her long, slender limbs spread wide for him, the hot spice of her own arousal perfuming the air. Her eyes would be soft with desire, a flush pinking her cheeks, her mouth swollen and smudged from his hot, possessive kisses.
His erection throbbed with painful intensity as he lifted her by the buttocks, holding her easily against the stone, the symbol of nature’s fertility. Slowly, so slowly, the tip of his arousal prodded the sweet entrance to her body. Then the tight, hot feel of wet silk as he surged forward, feeling her clench tightly around him.
It was heaven, oh, gods, it was intense; he shook with the pleasure of it. It was raw and exciting, the jagged pants of his own breath, her tiny, excited cries…it was…
His eyes snapped open.
The scent had shifted, lined with something foul and dark, like sewer water tainting perfume. Matt’s erection faded.
This was all wrong.
The couples writhed and moaned as they made love, but their moans began to sound like hideous cackles, vacant of the enchanting whispering music they’d created earlier. It was no longer lusty and earthy, but crude and base.
Even the molecules of air shifted, carrying a faintly sinister heaviness. Then he realized what was missing. No night sounds of the forest. Even the crickets were eerily silent.
A cloying metallic scent slammed into him like a freight train. Matt went still.
Blood.
He swept the circle with his gaze, searching for the source. There. In the center of the stones was a pile of furred carcasses. Dead animals. Squirrels, rabbits, beaver. They’d been slaughtered and left like small sacrifices to the stones.
It made no sense. The Fae protected, not killed, the forest animals. Even the rare times when they did kill, it was purely defensive.
This looked sinister, like a blood sacrifice.
Had to do recon while they were distracted. As the Fae couples continued to make love, he slipped among the trees, his feet making no noise.
A crackle of branches. He went still, searching the air. Twenty yards in front of him, something moved in the bushes.
Interesting.
As a SEAL, several missions had involved insertions into enemy territory. He used this training now more than his wolf, trusting in it more than wolf’s abilities to slip through the woods. He made no noise as he followed the odd scent to the base of a tall cliff.
Stunned, he watched the grayish creature fly into a small recess in the cliffs. Suddenly a vivid orange glow came from the recess. A fire?
Matt glanced around, the cold air tightening his muscles. He had no equipment, no resources. And no time, either.
He placed a hand on the rock, feeling it cold and hard beneath his fingertips. He could scale the cliff. Wouldn’t be easy, but he could do it.
And then his blood chilled as he thought of Sienna, alone and vulnerable back in the cabin. Unprotected.
If something sinister were afoot, he had to ensure her safety first. No way in hell could he leave her. He didn’t know their customs or culture that well. But every Draicon instinct warned something was wrong with these Fae.
Torn, he glanced upward, itching to follow. Finally his hand dropped in frustration and he clenched his fists.
Matt turned to find the path to Sienna’s cabin. He trotted through the woods and gained the path. But at the section demarking the Fae territory, he ground to a halt.
And then he stared in shock.
The trees had closed in like a fence, barring the way. Magick.
Heart lodged in his throat, he tried to make his way back, meeting only solid pine trunks, brush lodged between each one, making an effective barricade. Matt kept following the line, trying to find a way past. Brambles scraped through his clothing, cutting his chest and arms. He was forced to turn back.
The Fae’s defense system had detected his presence. His jaw tightened.
No choice. Had to shift.
The change came slow, pain riding his bones. He gritted his teeth, riding through it, realizing Fae magick also prohibited the shift. Finally, success. On four paws, he prowled, muzzle lifted, teeth bared in a snarl.
The trees parted before him like a crowd respectfully making way.
He loped through the woods until finding the dirt path again. Wolf raced through the woods, alert and watchful, as he followed it to the invisible barrier dividing Fae territory from the acres ringing Sienna’s cabin.
Only when he could see the golden glow of lamplight coming from her cab
in did he stop and shift back. Matt ran back to the cabin. Even though he’d barely run two miles, he felt as if he’d raced twenty. Wheezing, he bent over, hands braced on his knees. The Fae magick was powerful and clever, suctioning out his energy.
When he caught his breath, he went into the cabin. Sienna sat in a recliner before the blazing fire. A book was in her lap, but she stared instead at the flames.
She glanced up, her eyes widening at the blood on his shirt.
“I got caught in brambles.”
The book fell to the floor. “Fae brambles. I recognize the markings.”
Matt glanced downward in surprise. The scratches on his bare arms had a distinct outline in the shape of a wolf.
Sienna went to him, gently traced one of the marks. “The woods near the border of Fae territory are warded with magick to allow in all animals, and paranorms who appear as animals. They mark you to identify your animal form. The marks will fade, but reappear if you cross the border again.”
Her touch felt soothing as she ran a finger over the reddened scratch.
“Tell me about the standing stones.”
Her hand rested on his skin. She looked surprised. “You got through that far? The warding must be fading.”
“I saw a ceremony.” He watched her expression. “Fae ringing the stones, chanting, as they danced. Then they removed their robes and made love.”
Her eyes widened. “The autumn harvest moon dance. They celebrate the fecundity of the summer for a final time, planting the seeds that will slumber through winter and awaken in the spring.” Her eyes darkened and he caught the sweet scent of her arousal. “Six couples trying to conceive are chosen for this honor. It’s a celebration of conception. It’s said the standing stones aid in fertility.”
Blood surged, hot and thick, through his veins as he thought of his earlier vision of Sienna. Matt frowned.
“Do they sacrifice animals, as well?”
She blinked. “Never.”
“I saw animal carcasses in the center of the stone circle.”
“Oh, that. They were probably animals killed by predators. We put them in the center of the circle as a symbol of the circle of life and death…as the couples make love, to create new life.”