by Lily Luchesi
Anything, she had said.
One small twist of my head brought her wrist within reach.
I opened my jaws.
And bit her.
She jerked back with a pained gasp, her eyes full of incomprehension as they sought mine from beneath a brow deeply creased.
Natural instinct drew my tongue back to the wound, already crimson from her spilling blood, but she pushed back, snatching her trembling hand away.
“What are you doing, Sean?” Her panic could be heard in her voice and seen in her widening eyes, before her lips parted in a startled cry. That, coupled with the clutching of her wounded arm, told me when my venom found home in her bloodstream.
Remaining sentry at her side, refusing to leave her, I forced my reverse change into motion at a speed I would, otherwise, have considered impossible.
Silent screams filled my head from the pressure I put upon my muscles to perform without recuperation from my initial change. The restructure of broken ribs sent waves of nausea through me, but I could only focus on the agony in Jem’s eyes and her gasps, as they grew louder and evolved into whimpering cries.
No matter how much pain she appeared to be in, her gaze never once left mine.
By the time I thrust forth from my change, I was dizzy with adrenaline. Sweat coated my skin as though I had bathed in it.
Ignoring the burning aches and the chill of cool air over my damp body, I crawled to her side and lifted her shuddering body into my arms.
“W-what have you d-done t-to me?” Her teeth clattered with her effort to speak.
“Forgive me, Jem.” Beads of perspiration rose to the surface of her skin, as I brushed hair from her brow. “It was the only way.”
The venom showed in the swelling of her vein when I raised her twitching arm for inspection, and I followed its passage through her bicep to her shoulder, to where the drumming at her neck increased as her body tried to resist the invasion. On a cough, a trickle of white frothy phlegm spilled from her mouth.
I had not expected such an adverse reaction. My rationality had assumed the bite would simply turn her, and she would become like me within minutes, but that did not appear to be happening. However much it affected her, though, we had little choice but to move. The others would soon track my scent and find us, and to remain in the forest, with Jem in such a vulnerable condition, would be dangerous for her.
Scooping her up, I hugged her close to my chest and took off toward home, but we did not get far before violent shaking drew my eyes back down, and my heart seized at the upward rolling of Jem’s eyes.
Thick discharge bubbled past her lips, and a convulsion racked her body, making it impossible to support her, and dropping to my knees, I laid her on the sodden ground.
With my pulse coursing my blood to a panic, I could scarcely think, nor barely see through tears pooling in my eyes.
“So it is not merely a human you choose over your pack, but a sick one at that.”
My head snapped up at James’s voice. When he took a step forward, instinct to protect Jem kicked in, and I threw my body across hers with a snarl ripping from my throat.
His stride faltered, and the scowl wiped from his face.
“Move from my path,” I said through clenched jaw. “I am taking her home.”
His scowl returned. “And I have told you, I will not have a human in my home.”
“Our home!” I roared. “And Jem is no longer human.”
My words must not have immediately registered with James, as he did not react until his gaze fell on the blood and pus weeping from her wrist. Mouth opening, he swept his hands into his hair, remaining that way for seconds before he spoke. “What have you done?” Rage overcame his features, as he lowered his stiffened arms to his sides. “What have you done?”
He flew at me, but I leaped up to meet him before he could draw near Jem. Ramming my shoulder into his body with a snarl, I took him down to collide with the floor and, hands grasping his shirt collar, pinned him there. “Do not take me on over her, James. I will fight you.”
With a further nudge that sprayed mud out from beneath him, I stepped back to Jem.
Her body had ceased to shake, and I cradled her in my arms as I strode away toward home.
The scuff behind me warned of James climbing to his feet. “You must understand you have just killed her yourself, Sean. She cannot possibly survive the bite.”
I turned back to look at him. “You are wrong. Jem possesses strength and determination—they will ensure she awakens.”
“No human has ever survived a bite before.”
Eyes narrowing, I held Jem tighter. “The bites did not kill them—they died because none have ever been permitted to live.”
“For good reason.”
My lips drew back, and another snarl ripped free, the rumbling within my chest vibrating through me even once I paced away.
His footsteps pursued. “Would you dare defy me, Brother?” he shouted.
I peered back over my shoulder to see unexpected desperation in his eyes. “For her?” I nodded. “Yes.”
The walk back to the house took longer than I would have wished, and I passed the rest of the pack on the way. All of them stared at me in disbelief before looking in equal surprise at James, who trailed at my rear.
Through the kitchen I carried her, and up the stairs to my room, where I laid her on my bed. Once settled close enough to protect and comfort her, I awaited the arrival of my mate.
Epilogue
Jem’s grunts from beyond the bush revealed the stage of her change. From our first shared lunar event, every sensation of her changes had tore through me, sharing with me her agony, like a union of heart and soul. As a result, I already knew rapid hair growth bestowed itself upon her body, as did the stretching of her tendons and re-knitting of flesh. Further minutes passed, and I mirrored her progression with that of my own, before matching her snarled triumph upon completion as wolf.
My snorted breaths steamed the chill winter air. Each inhalation drew in the fresh crispness of the forest, enhanced by its frosted layer that coated like sifted sugar, and the banquet of succulent offerings inhabiting our land. Through those, more powerful and important to me than any other, came the warm and comforting scent of my mate.
The pad of my paws made little noise upon the frozen, compacted ground. A peer to my left would have revealed Jem had I wished. The lack of foliage did little to block the paleness of her coat, as it did the moonlight that highlighted her beauty.
Those brief glimpses never seemed enough, however. Only rounding the barrier would offer reprieve to the disquiet in my mind, created by our temporary separation.
As always, she awaited my approach. Her eyes met mine upon emergence and held the glisten of anticipation fed by the presence of foxes—a delicacy Jem had grown a yearning for.
At the brush of my body, a tremor swept through her. As my tongue groomed across her muzzle, her eyes closed, and a low rumble began its tune within her chest. She tilted her face, pushed into the thick ruffle of fur surrounding my throat, until my own body shuddered in response.
It had taken time to reach such a point of acceptance from her. Upon awakening from the bite, only screams of terror had flown from her lips. Placation had not been easy—Jem’s flee for her home resulted in an unwilling change, thanks to the guarding Wolfsbane, and she had to be returned in her collapsed state to where she belonged at my side. Days had passed with Jem’s sobs for her mother, until my words of apology and begging for understanding penetrated her refusal to listen.
She had finally allowed me back into her embrace.
I had scarcely left there since.
At my encouragement, Jem’s integration into the pack had begun. Amongst my brothers, curiosity won out for the new female—something never before heard of within our race—and their interest brought them closer to Jem.
Four full moons later, the pack’s scorn toward Jem no longer existed, nor did their denial of inclusion
. I’d achieved what I would have considered impossible. My brothers within the pack titled her ‘sister’.
At the more than familiar wolf song calling to us from the south in an invitation to unite, Jem’s muzzle withdrew from my throat, and her gaze met mine, before a dance of her paws portrayed her excitement.
From deep within my chest, my response seeded, and the song erupted from my mouth.
The scrape of claws exposed Jem’s action a half breath before she took off. Dirt dislodged with each kick back of her paws and sprayed up to cloud my eyes, whilst her tail waved a teasing farewell.
My growled warning stalled her.
She skidded to a halt and whirled to whine out her complaint.
Laughter bubbled to echo through my mind at the impatience glowing from her eyes. Three steps took me to her, where I paused only a beat before my nudge gave permission.
Through the sparkling surroundings, we raced—together—as I had dreamed of from the first day I laid eyes on her.
Side by side, breath for breath, beat for beat.
ETERNAL
1
Bodies coated in sweat, we clung to each other as we neared climax. Eyes locked. Breaths synchronised. Even our hearts beat to the same rhythm.
With each of his upward thrusts, bark bit into my back, gasps spilling from my lips.
His tongue darted out for a taste as the glaze of desire seeped into his eyes. “Stay with me, Jem.” His voice came out as a breathy murmur, but I heard him clearly.
I always did.
“I am with you always,” I whispered.
My legs tightened around his hips, as his hands found my shoulders. Nose nuzzling against my neck, he suckled, nibbled, raising his lips to my ear. “Now.”
I threw my head back, grasping at him. My cries mingled with his deep growls, and together, our muscles tightened before becoming languid with release.
As he drew back, breaths still slightly erratic, a smile tugged at his lips. “Blood remains upon your cheek.”
“’Tis your own doing.” I raised an eyebrow in blame. “You have failed in your attempts to groom me once too often.”
He chuckled. “Fox becomes you.”
“And rabbit becomes you, Sean. Yet, I see no traces from the hunt upon your face.”
I laughed, as he swung me down to the ground, sobering when he began moving inside me once more.
His mouth returned to mine, his chest brushed my breasts, hands touching me with tenderness even in their urgency. “Hunt with me again, Jem,” he whispered against my lips.
I smiled as my knees lifted, as I pushed up to greet each drive of his hips, the invitation arousing me further. “You know I will.”
“But no more foxes.” His lips twitched.
I shuddered beneath the high shine of his dark eyes and the heat of his body, but gave no response to his order. As Alpha to the pack, we all would obey his word without question—a respect he, himself, had failed to show his brother, the Alpha before him.
“Jem.” His attempt at admonishment stalled the flow of his movements.
I lifted my nose to his throat and inhaled the male musk redolent only of him, feathering my lips across the flesh there.
“Jem.”
As the deep drawn-out growl of my name vibrated against my ear, my lips curved. “I shall not eat the foxes, as you so kindly request ... on the condition that you supply me with an adequate dose of freshly caught rabbits, whilst I bask in the moonlight and groom away the traces you missed.”
His chuckle told me he had taken my words with the humour intended, rather than as a question of his authority. “As you wish.” He claimed my mouth with his usual fervour. “To have you at my side,”—he worked his way along my jawline—“in my arms,”— his teeth nipped at my earlobe—“forever mine ... I shall happily provide you with an endless—”
The stiffening of his body brought immediate tension to my own. “Sean, what is it?”
My whispered words would reach none other than him. Our ability to privately communicate had come as a surprise to us both. Such a bond had not been heard of before—not between humans, not even between wolves.
When he did not answer, I tilted my head to bring his face into view. Although his body remained inert, his eyes traced the forest, and I strained my hearing in an attempt to identify what had disturbed him.
I detected nothing but the calls and music of nature. “Sean?”
He placed a finger to his lips, and the coiling of muscles throughout his body broke his union with mine. “I want you to go straight back home, Jem. Do you understand?”
“I understand.” That did not mean I would comply—I wondered if he realised his words held no direct order.
Before I could say anything further, he lunged forward and broke into a spring.
I spun onto my stomach, scrambling to my feet. For two breaths, I waited, before cutting a path through the forest toward my discarded clothing—away from the house.
From the east, the voice of my pack brother, Giles, carried through on the breeze, calling to Sean for direction.
I continued to run, the nocturnal air refreshing my flesh.
“Get her home, and ensure she stays there.” Sean’s command arrived clearly despite the deep growl suggesting his change had already begun.
I hadn’t much time. The order given to Giles would insist he overrule the lack of one to me.
My soles landed on sharp twigs and leaves crisp enough to slice with each step, and no matter how hard I raced, my pace could not match the beat of Giles’s approach. Inhalations led the way, although I did not need them to. Three years of living with the pack meant I knew the forest well, and in little over a minute, I spotted the pale silver of my dress, the even paler grey of the slip I had removed, and I threw myself toward them.
I fumbled on my step into the cotton underwear, ripping at the shoulder straps in my haste to pull them up. With a glance over my shoulder, I spied Giles’s passage, the tumbling strands of his brown hair buoyant with each of his movements.
“Jem!” Suspicion laced Giles’s call.
I pushed one foot after the other into my gown and drew the fabric to my waist.
“Jem!” He shoved heavily-laden branches from his path, ducking and weaving, picking up speed.
I thrust my arms into the sleeves, fed in my shoulders, and reached behind for the woven fastenings.
“Do not do what I think you are about to!”
Though I doubted my secured bow would last more than a handful of steps, I grasped my skirts and bounded into a sprint to the east.
Giles pounded the dirt behind me. “Damn you, Jem! Come back here!”
My breaths arrived faster, matching the rhythm of my feet.
“You will stop running now!” His growl rumbled a little closer than I would have liked.
In answer, I rounded a hazel tree. When his fingers brushed the back of my arm, I darted forward out of reach, panting as I ran. Perspiration tickled my forehead on its descent.
A howl—the song of my mate—called from the southeast. Recognising the cry as the demand for assistance, I stumbled to a halt.
Giles’s heavy frame thudded into my back and jolted me forward to my palms and knees. A sweep of his hands against my forearms sent me sprawling face first into the earth before he flattened me to the ground with the weight of his bulk.
“Sean will have my hide if I do not deliver you home.”
“Can I be blamed if the order you received does not tally with my own?” I pushed up with my arms, groaning in my effort against one so much stronger than I. “Now, please remove yourself from me.” I ceased to struggle, though my breath remained laboured. “Or shall I tell Sean you manhandled me to the ground?”
His weight disappeared. An instant later, his arms enfolded my waist and drew me back against his chest as he stood. “You and I both know forgiveness would be offered, if I acted out of concern for your safety.”
Whilst I pried at his c
lamping arms, he swung us around with a quiet grunt and began walking.
“Or as a result of an oath given,” he added.
Teeth gritted, I pushed down on his hold. “Never mind your oath. Sean is in trouble.”
“The last time Sean found trouble, she arrived in a package of blonde hair and blue eyes.”
“How amusing you are.” I kicked back against his legs, wriggling like a snake to be free. “But this is no laughing matter.”
His arms tightened until he had me pinned, and his breath hit my ear. “I am sure this would be enjoyable, if I were not the only one of us naked.”
The pummels I had been on the verge of administering diminished to only the twitch of my fingers as the rest of my body stilled.
His chuckle rumbled against my spine. “I imagined that might work. Now, give your mate one less concern, and for goodness sake, do his bidding. Your presence will do no more than distract him, and you know it.”
My fight lessened as his words rang true, and my sigh of acceptance heaved from my chest. “At least allow me the dignity of walking.”
My feet met back with the rough strewn bracken beneath me, yet his hands did not release their hold. “I shall be watching you very closely.”
I tilted my head to the side, meeting his stare over my shoulder. “You sound as though you do not trust me in the slightest, Giles.”
“Then, your hearing does not fail you.” A wide smile accompanied his humoured tone before he let me go and swept his arm in an exaggerated arc. “Shall we?”
Twisting loose of his grip, I gathered my layers and headed for home.
***
A slightly longer swing affected Sean’s right leg in contrast to his left as he paced the kitchen—no doubt he hoped nobody would notice. Tension pulsed from him with every stride, a palpable force clogging the room’s air, whilst some kind of inner rage lent darkness to his eyes, rendering them almost black. Spilling from an open wound to his left shoulder, blood pooled in the dip of his clavicle before escaping to trail across his chest, from where a deep thunder emanated.
Edward, Charles and Philip occupied the central table, their grey, blond and chestnut hair softened by the candlelight. Left to right, their three heads twisted to follow our Alpha’s inane passage.