by J. K. Snow
Jordan had forgotten to change. She smiled and her canines gleamed in the dark making Sonja look even more frightened...and then she morphed back into her human form. Sonja watched wide-eyed as it happened and then she passed out.
Chapter 2
By the time Sonja woke up, Asher and Deacon were both in the room with them. Judging from the look on her face when she saw the two giant, naked men, Jordan was afraid her sister was ready to pass out again.
“Who the hell are they? Why are you all naked? Jordan, what the hell is going on?”
Jordan was crouched down next to her. She brushed her sister’s long blonde hair back out of her face and looking into her pretty blue/green eyes, she said, “Everything’s going to be okay now...but you need to come with us. We have to get out of here, quickly.”
“What? No! You need to tell me what’s going on, Jordan. What was that thing that broke down my door?”
“That was me honey. I shifted.”
“But...you couldn’t...the night you mated with Jude...” She heard the low growl rumble from Asher’s chest.
“Jude wasn’t my true mate, Sonja. You were right about that...about waiting for your true soulmate. I’ve found him at last. This is Asher...and Declan. Do you remember them, at all?”
Sonja shook her head and pressed herself further into the wall. The poor thing looked terrified and having been through these same feelings herself not too long ago, Jordan felt only empathy for her sister.
“We have to go,” Asher said. Sonja glared at him and then at his brother who was looking at her with awe.
“Who is he to give orders and why is the other one looking at me like that?” Sonja whispered.
“Honey...I promise I’ll explain everything, but we really do have to go.” Sonja started to argue again. Asher flicked his head at his brother and Declan moved in and scooped her up as if she weighed no more than a doll.
“Stop it! Put me down!” He threw her over his shoulder and held her legs tightly to keep her from kicking him. That didn’t stop her from pounding her fists into his back, but he only seemed amused by it. She found her sister and said, “Jordan! Why are you letting them do this to me? What have they done to you?”
“It’s for your own good, Sonja...I promise.” The three of them, with Sonja in tow, moved quickly down the stairs. When Sonja saw Mamma Sable lying incapacitated in the floor she began to kick and scream again, scratching at Declan’s back with her fingernails.
“Mamma Sable! What have you done to her? Jordan!” Jordan was trying to talk to her sister and get her to calm down but Sonja wasn’t listening. She kept screaming Mamma Sable’s name. Declan didn’t pause, he kept going until they were out of the house and on the front porch. Once they were outside Declan sat her down and with his face only inches from hers he said,
“I prefer you keep your claws put away until we’re ready to mate. It’s hard for me to concentrate when you’re digging them into my back. That’s something best reserved for when I have my cock buried deep inside of my mate.”
“Your what?”
“You heard me.”
“How dare you?” Sonja said, but her voice was shaky and her face was flushed. She wasn’t as brave as she was trying to sound and her sister could tell by the way she was looking at Declan it wasn’t all fear either. Declan only smiled and said,
“Would you like to walk now or am I going to have to carry you all the way back to the plane?”
“I can walk!” she spat at him. Meanwhile, Jordan was surveying the carnage. At least ten of Lennox’s men lay dead around the yard and meadow. Cyprus and Sage waited for them at the edge of the clearing but she didn’t see Micah. She looked at Asher and he said,
“Micah didn’t make it,” sadly. They made their way over to Cyprus and the others. Cyprus had his eyes trained on Sonja and she was looking at him, suspiciously.
“Sonja,” he said with a smile. “You’ve grown up as lovely as I knew you would.”
“Who are you?”
Cyprus didn’t look fazed by her rude tone. “I’m your Alpha,” he said.
“No! Lennox is the Alpha,” she looked at Jordan and said, “And Jude is second in command. He’s out of his mind looking for you Jordan...”
“No honey, he’s known where I was all along. He was out of his mind because he knew that he wouldn’t live if he tried to come get me. They knew I would come back for you though and they thought they could take both of us...again.”
“What do you mean, again? What the fuck is going on?”
Cyprus took her arm and said, “We will explain it all in due time, Sonja. Now, we have to go.”
He didn’t raise his voice, but even Sonja got from his tone that was going to be the final word on the subject. She did pull her arm away from him, but Cyprus only looked amused. She let Jordan take her arm as they walked through the deep brush. The walk back to the airplane was a lot longer on two legs.
Once they were all on the plane Jordan looked at Asher and said, “Were Jude and Lennox there?”
Asher snorted. “I didn’t see either of them. It seems the pack was sent in to fight while the “Alpha” and his cub stayed tucked away safely somewhere.”
“He’s afraid of losing his bloodline. We have to be ready for a counter-attack,” Cyprus said. “He will be back and it will be with a vengeance.”
Asher put his arm around Jordan and she snuggled into it. Poor Sonja was looking at her like she’d lost her mind and sitting as far away from Declan as she possibly could. He hadn’t taken his eyes off of her. Jordan felt for her sister, but she wasn’t worried. Just like she had, Sonja would come to understand what had happened to them and that they were finally where they belonged.
Chapter 3
“You mated with him? You just mated with Jude...”
“Stop making it sound so sordid. I’m telling you, the reason I couldn’t change after I mated with Jude was because he wasn’t my true mate. Asher is, and Declan is yours.”
“Huh uh! No way am I mating with a panther!”
Jordan giggled. “Finish dressing and we’ll go down and see Erza and Mamma Crone. They’ll help you understand.” She left the room and Sonja sat back down on the bed.
She sighed. It had been a long night and an even longer morning. She’d gone to bed the night before and cried for her sister and then once she’d fallen asleep she had dreamed of blood and tears and two little girls lost in the snow. The only comforting part of her dream had been seeing Jordan and Mamma Sable finding them and taking them home. Home to Willow. Home to the Warren’s where they belonged. Then she’d been ripped out of her dream by the sounds of gunshots and growls and when she tried to get out of her room to find out what was happening, she’d found the door locked. She’s so afraid for Mamma Sable. She’d looked so old and frail lying on the floor of the sitting room...what if she died?
Jordan got up and went to her. She sat down next to her and took her sister’s hand in her own. Before she began she said, “Just remember that you and I have always stuck together and I’ve always taken care of you. I would never hurt you and I would never lie to you, okay?” Sonja nodded. The fact her sister would hurt or lie to her never crossed her mind...what she feared was that they’d done something to her to make her believe all of this nonsense. Jordan stood up and pulled up her shirt. Sonja was looking at her sister’s flat stomach and the birthmark they both had near their navels. “Do you remember when we were teenagers and we talked about how strange it was that we had the same mark in exactly the same place?” Sonja didn’t trust her voice at the moment. She nodded and Jordan went on. “It is a birthmark, Sonja. It’s the mark of our people...we’re Kodiak.”
“No! No! They killed our parents. They slaughtered our family...”
Jordan shook her head. “No honey, that’s what we were told, but it wasn’t true.”
“Mamma Sable wouldn’t have lied to us. She loves us.”
“Mamma Sable was forced by Lennox to take us that
day. She put a spell on us, Sonja and made us lose all our memories.”
“I don’t believe you!”
“Why would I lie?” Jordan was calm. She knew her sister was going through the same thing she was when she found out. Sonja’s eyes went to the others, lingering on Declan before she said,
“They did something to you!”
“No honey, they’re our family.”
“No!” Sonja was shaking her head. Jordan signaled at the others to stand. They all did and they lifted their shirts. Sonja looked from one to the next at the birthmarks that were identical to their own. All of them except for the one old woman on the end, the one with the Jade eyes. “Where is yours?” she asked, defiantly.
Erza smiled and her pretty green eyes almost disappeared into her wrinkles as she did. “I’m a witch, like Sable. Only I’m a white witch. I do what I can to help the good...and trust me young one, these people are good.”
Sonja looked over at Declan again. It was fascinating to her how extremely masculine he was...and almost, dangerous. Yet, there was something in his eyes that let her know that like her sister, he would never harm her. She told herself that was ridiculous, she didn’t even know him...but her instincts were urging her to believe them. She let her eyes run over the rest of them. Asher looked at her sister like the sun set and the moon rose on her. That was the way she’d always told Jordan it was supposed to be when she met her “true mate.” The older man, Cypress had a regal look to him, he was very obviously used to giving orders and having them followed...but she could also see the kindness in his face. Then there were the two old women. The one with the Jade eyes was still smiling and the other one with eyes like Jordan’s still looked on the verge of tears. She looked back at her sister and she knew her only chance was to trust the one person who had always been there for her.
“Okay, what do I need to do?”
Chapter 4
“Hey,” Asher found Jordan pacing outside her sister’s door. Sonja had drunk the potion Erza gave her and she had recited the chant to break the spell. Then not longer than half an hour afterwards, she’d run screaming up to her room and she refuses to come out.
“Hey. I’m going in there.” Asher stepped closer and pulled her into his arms. With his sexy lips close to her ear he said,
“She just needs time, like you did. She’s in there immersed in memories that were stolen from her. Why don’t you and I go for a run in the woods and let her have some time alone to sort it all out.”
“I can’t leave her here alone.”
He smiled and kissed the side of her face. That small gesture made her shiver. “You’re such an amazing sister to her. But you’ve done what you can and Erza and Mamma Crone are here...and Declan.”
“Declan is still here?”
“He won’t leave. He’s sitting down there in the same spot he was earlier. He says until he knows that she’s okay, he’s not going anywhere. Come for a walk with me.”
She nodded and took his hand. When they got downstairs they heard the old women talking in the kitchen and passed Declan sitting forlornly on the couch. He looked up sharply when he saw them. “Is she ready to come out?”
“I’m afraid not yet,” Jordan said. “I’m sure she will be soon.”
Declan nodded and went back to staring at his spot on the wall. Asher grinned and put his arm around Jordan as he led her out of the house. Once they were outside he said, “It’s killing him to wait. His nature is telling him to just go up those stairs and take her, but he’s afraid of traumatizing her further.” Jordan nodded and snuggled into her mate’s side as they walked. She was glad that Declan was willing to wait. Sonja was a lot more obstinate than she was. If he went in before she was ready, he would definitely have a fight on his hands.
They walked until they came to a meadow. It was glrious.
The meadow was a glorious breadth of grass and colorful wild flowers. The grass rustled gently in the breeze. There was a slim brook that flowed through it and the sound that it made as the water flowed across the smooth rocks was almost tranquilizing. Asher sat down alongside it and reached up for Jordan. She let herself be pulled down next to him. He kissed the side of her face and said,
“Things will be the way they should be again soon.”
“I’ve been so wrapped up in Sonja that I haven’t thought about Lennox and Jude. What is Cyprus planning on doing about them?”
“He’s working on a plan. He’ll let us know when he’s ready. He’s not going to let them live, Jordan. They’re too much of a threat at this point. Are you okay with that?”
She looked up into his crystal blue eyes and said, “Absolutely...as long as I get to be there when it happens.” He brought his mouth down and caught her lips with his. Their tongues danced seductively and she held on to him tightly. The thought that she might have spent her life with someone else suddenly occurred to her and she shuddered hard. He pulled his head back and looked at her.
“Do you want me Jordan?”
She grinned, “More than life,” she said, hoarsely. He let the hand that rested on her hip gather the material of her dress and without a word; he ripped it from her body. Cupping her chin and tilting her face up towards his he kissed her again, sucking her bottom lip into his mouth and nibbling on it. He felt her smile against his lips as her hands gathered the front of his shirt. With little effort, she ripped it from his body. He grinned too, especially when he felt her hands snaking down to his pants and unfastening them. As she did that, she brought her mouth down to his chest and latched her teeth onto one of his nipples. He growled and wrapped her hair up into his fists, pulling her deeper into his chest. While she bit and sucked at his nipples her hands went back down to his waist and he lifted up and allowed her to slide his pants down over his hips. She didn’t hesitate, taking his long, thick cock between both of her hands and beginning to stroke it.
“Oh baby...put your mouth on me.”
She made her way down, licking and sucking at the flesh across his hard abs until her lips met the tip of his already dripping cock. She sucked him into her mouth and the taste of him awakened more of the beast inside of her. She sucked and licked with reckless abandon, causing him to moan and groan and growl in ecstasy. Finally, unable to take it any longer he reached down and pulled her up to straddle him. He cupped her face again and kissed her long and deep and then he pulled her up towards his head, settling her down over his face. His hands caressed her legs as she felt him breathing in the scent of her. Then his tongue reached out and slipped between the lips of her pussy and it began a little dance up inside of her. She had her eyes closed and her head thrown back, her long blonde hair shimmered in the sun as Asher pleasured her with his expert mouth and tongue. He sucked her clit into his mouth and bit down on it, making her scream. She reached down and grabbed his hair, raking her fingernails across his scalp as she shoved his face deeper into her. He sucked harder on her clit as she rocked back and forth on his face. Her breaths were growing shorter and her moans had turned into sharp little desperate whimpers. He reached up and slipped a thick finger inside of her while he sucked her clit and that was what sent her hurtling over the edge. A growl rose up out of his chest as the animal in him took over and he began to lap at her wildly. She had an orgasm like nothing she’d ever felt before, it left her shuddering and shaking violently, inside and out.
When she stopped shaking and her breathing began to return to normal, he slid her back down to his waist and then grabbing her back, he rolled them over in the grass so he was on top of her and then he bent her head down and began to lick and suck and bite at her neck. She felt like her head would explode as she kept raising her hips up, wanting him to shove his cock up inside of her. She wrapped her arms around him, loving his warmth and feeling more safe and protected than she ever had in her life...and highly aroused at the same time. She let out a pleading whimper and without hesitation he buried himself up inside of her. He groaned loudly and she yelped in pleasure. She began ro
cking her hips against him as he plunged his hard cock in and out of her. They fell into a perfect rhythm and she pressed her head back into the deep grass, completely enthralled with the feelings he was evoking in her.
After a bit he rolled them again so that she was on top. She rested her hands on his hard chest and clenched down tightly on him. He growled and pulled her down into his chest and their arms tangled up together as her hips rose up and down on his throbbing cock. She felt his body tense and he let out a long, primal sounding groan as he released himself into her. Then he pulled her back down into his chest and they lay there entwined in each other’s arms, hearts beating in time with each other and panting in orgasmic pleasure.
Chapter 5
Sonja stood looking at the man everyone was suddenly telling her she was supposed to mate with. She’d completely rejected the idea of mating with anyone not of her choosing ...but something about the memories that were coming to her in bits and pieces told her that perhaps she had chosen him...a long time ago. He’d looked up as soon as she stepped into his line of vision and for several minutes, they’d just been staring at each other. Finally she walked over and sat down next to him, not close enough to touch, but close enough that she wanted to. He looked at her with those sexy blue eyes and waited patiently for her to speak.
“I remember...things.”
He smiled. “That’s great. What do you remember?”
She looked down at her hands in her lap and said, “I remember Alpha Papa and Alpha Mamma. I remember how much they loved me and Jordan and how happy we used to be.”
When she didn’t say anything else he asked her, “Is this the first you’ve remembered of them?”
She shook her head. “No, I’ve always had memories of them, but they were sketchy and kind of foggy. Today I remembered the entire day leading up to...” She sucked in a shaky breath and when she let it out, the tears she’d been holding onto all day broke loose and began to spill down her cheeks. “I miss them so much!” Declan cautiously moved closer to her and put his arm around her. She laid her head into his chest and he held her while she cried. “I remember being with Jordan, picking berries and then hearing her call out for them over and over. Lennox and Sable were suddenly there and we were taken to Willow and after that it was like they wanted us to forget our lives before them existed. But they did exist. I remember turning and running with my sister...” she pushed against him gently so she could sit up and she looked at his face. “And you...I remember you and Asher, running and playing with us in the fields.” He reached down and cupped her face.