***
Naked, sweat dripping down his temple, Aiden Mitchell watched in incredulous disbelief. She was leaving? He was getting his ass kicked, doing some fine ass kicking of his own, and the female leader of the Blakemore pack walked out, her heels clicking sharply on the floor.
As if all this blood and violence bored her.
Well, when all this fighting was over, he’d punish her for the insult. Again and again. Give her five orgasms worth of punishment so she’d never turn from him again. Keep her occupied in bed and Nikita wouldn’t walk away.
His blood surged, testosterone racing through his system. He forced a calming breath. No good getting cranked up sexually when he needed his strength to win.
Taking advantage of Aiden’s momentary stupor, Richard sprang to his feet and swung hard. His bruised fist connected with Aiden’s chin, sending him staggering backwards.
Recovering, he tackled his opponent. Playtime was over. Richard fought because he wanted Nikita’s forest rich territory, and he thought she was cute.
The stakes were much higher for Aiden. He needed the unmated, fertile females in her pack to breed with his pack’s strong, very lusty males. Every day brought them closer to the edge, bringing about more testosterone-driven fights to relieve their sexual frustration. They needed the soft, gentle influence of a woman, needed to breed and make the pack stronger.
He craved Nikita like a junkie needing a fix. He lusted to have her. Soon, she would be his exclusively.
He released the full fury of his 200 pounds of muscled strength, enough to let Richard know he meant business, but not enough to mortally wound.
With a low grunt, Richard collapsed on the floor. Panting, Aiden stood over him, fists bloodied and bruised.
Then he extended a hand to his rival. Bewilderment shone in Richard’s swollen and bruised eyes.
“Nikita has left the room. I’m calling a formal time out until she returns.”
He helped the other werewolf to his feet. Richard looked around. “We’re wasting time.”
“Rules are rules. We can’t fight until she’s present.” Aiden rubbed his nape.
“Fine. Then I’m shifting.”
Startled he watched the man stretch out his arms and shapeshift into a large gray timber wolf.
The hell with this. Aiden shifted into wolf too, more muscled and larger. He circled around his rival, watching him warily. Lupines healed faster in wolf form and Richard, the bastard, was taking unfair advantage of Nikita’s absence.
Around them, the males in Aiden’s pack shifted as well, not wanting to leave their alpha vulnerable. But Richard’s pack did not, only looked nervously at their leader.
Pacing the ballroom floor, Aiden studied the Blakemore pack females. Only females. Were the few remaining males, out of deference to their female leader, discreetly out of sight? Were there any males on this ranch?
He didn’t trust Roxanne’s explanation. Too much testosterone already with the competition, she’d told him.
He wondered.
Aiden inhaled the delectable fragrance of soft skin and faint arousal. Some were in heat already, and the male Lupines, with their heightened sense of smell, knew it.
Shit. He trotted over to his pack, issued a warning growl as a few males began stalking over to the females. The males stopped, watching their alpha in perfect obedience.
On the sidelines, Darius, Aiden’s beta, paced restlessly in wolf form. Sam, his mate, remained the only female in the room who was not part of the Blakemore pack. As the rules dictated, she stood in a neutral area with the Blakemore females.
Roxanne addressed the crowd. “Nikita has been delayed. She begs your patience while she attends to a matter of urgent pack business.”
The males began moving around restlessly. One of Richard’s Lupines sauntered over to Sam. He braced a hand against the wall and leaned close to her.
Savage fury arose in Aiden, but he tamped it down and glanced at Darius. Aiden gave a brief nod.
In wolf form, Darius trotted over to Sam and rubbed his muzzle against her leg. She stroked Darius’ head almost absently. Then his second in command gave her hand a gentle nip, enough to mark the skin, but not tear it. She cried out, seemingly more surprised than pained.
With a low growl, Darius thrust his nose between her legs. Sam ran her fingers through his fur. Then she looked up at the male who had tried to make the moves on her.
“Go away,” she stated clearly.
The male laughed. “He can’t do anything to me. House rules. No males other than the alphas in the challenge are allowed to touch each other.”
Sam flicked out a hand. Sharp claws tipped each fingertip. “But I can. Now go away before I turn your pretty face into road kill.”
Aiden gave an approving nod to Sam as the male scrambled away. Darius shifted back. During the Challenge, he wasn’t allowed to touch her in Skin form, only as Lupine. Then his beta turned, nodded at Aiden, and jogged back to join his pack.
Darius had Sam. Soon as Aiden won the Challenge, Nikita would be his, and his males would finally select mates.
Desire heated his blood as he envisioned the lovely Nikita female naked on all fours for the joining ceremony, her lush curves finally bared for him… For five years, he’d craved her. Other females had briefly sated his lust, but his passion for Nikita would not end. Until he claimed her in the flesh, Aiden would never be satisfied.
All the more reason for him to fight harder for her hand.
Tension knotted his spine as he prowled the ballroom. Where the hell was Nikita and why did his instincts warn trouble brewed ahead?
CHAPTER 2
Upstairs, Nia closed and locked the door to her private study. Nikita and Mandy stood near the French doors leading to the lodge’s wrap-around balcony. Beyond the balcony, gray morning mist layered the meadows stretching out to the jagged, white-capped mountain peaks ringing the valley. The Blakemore ranch boasted thousands of acres of fertile wilderness.
And no longer a single adult male in the pack to tend them. All the men had died.
Nia picked up an apple from the wood bowl on the side table, her fingers stroking the glossy surface. Hunger rumbled in her stomach. The pack had grabbed a hasty meal before all the males arrived for the competition, but as usual, Nia was last and didn’t even gulp down a single bite.
Mandy looked at Nia and sighed.
“No lunch, again? Are you ever going to take care of yourself?”
Nia set the apple down, her stomach too tense to tolerate food. “Food doesn’t matter now. Tell me what’s wrong.”
“I can’t take this anymore, Nia. They have to know the truth about us,” her twin burst out.
“No!”
She went to her sister, and laced her fingers around her wrists. “Just a while longer, sweetie. You can fake it a while longer.”
“And after? When Aiden wins? What then?” Nikita collapsed onto the sofa.
Her long gold hair, as silky and luxurious as Nia’s, was swept up into a French braid. They had the same arresting blue eyes, plump figures and full breasts, and heart-shaped faces.
There, the differences ended. Nikita was gentle and sweet, with a disposition that soothed her pack when she left her hiding place to walk among them.
Nia could be an utter bitch to everyone, except for her twin. Everything she did, she did to keep her twin safe and hidden. Even after their beloved father died from the parvolupus disease and their two older brothers succumbed to it, she stayed strong. Five years after Pandora’s Chest was opened, releasing the disease, she stayed strong.
Some days, she wished she had a little help. Gods, she was tired of being in charge and having everyone rely on her. Having a little help would be nice. But she had to keep it together, keep the pack surviving.
Keep her twin hidden and safe.
Mandy, their aunt, sat next to Nikita and stroked her hair. “It’s okay, Niki. Everything’s going to be okay.”
But it wasn’t
. “What’s going on, Mandy?”
Mandy pointed at the apple. “Eat, before you faint.”
Another loud grumble from her empty stomach. The hell with it. Nia bit into the apple and perched on the edge of a nearby chair. She swallowed a few bites and studied her aunt.
“Now, tell me what was so important you had to drag me out of there, in the middle of the challenge. What is it? The weather? Any reports of the Banshee Winds?”
Anxiety churned in her stomach. The Banshee Winds were brutal, magick winds that destroyed their crops and killed Lupines. But the winds had not shown up in a long time, for they were brought about by young boys experiencing their first shift into wolf.
“No winds. We’re safe for now. Good news. I know where Pandora’s Chest is hidden.”
The apple tumbled from her hands to the carpet. Nikita leapt up at the same time Nia did. “Are you sure?” Nia asked.
“I’m sure I know where the map is that shows where your father buried the chest, which is as good as finding the chest itself.”
“Tell me,” Nia demanded.
“I was patrolling near the pond and stumbled over the old well. And then I remember how your father filled in the well shortly after he got the chest. I’m sure he buried the map there. When we were growing up on the ranch, he used to bury his penny jars near the well. I needed to tell you this before the challenge ended and the winner formally took over the ranch.”
“So close,” Nia cried out. “All these years we’ve searched and-”
“It was right under our noses,” Nikita finished.
The twins looked at each other and then hugged. Tears formed in Nikita’s eyes and a lump clogged Nia’s throat as her twin released her.
“The boys will be saved now,” Nia whispered. “They’ll be safe.”
So much strain and heartache these past few months. Nia had done all she could to save the boys. She’d travel to hell if it meant the pack’s remaining male children could be saved. She’d travel even further to save her twin.
Ten years ago, Niki ate poisonous berries, fell ill and was close to death. Desperate to save her, their father had procured Pandora’s Chest from a wizard. The chest granted the dearest wishes of the person who opened it. Niki was saved, but the chest released a horrible plague they nicknamed parvolupus. It infected all adult male Lupines and killed them, including boys who reached puberty and experienced their first shift into wolf, while women remained immune and uninfected.
Soon, two more boys celebrated their 13th birthday and were doomed to the same fate. Aiden and the other males present today were safe for now, for the parvolupus targeted males who lived on the ranch for longer than two weeks.
Nikita had spent years studying the ancient Lupine texts and trying to find a cure, while Nia, Mandy, and Roxanne searched the grounds for the buried chest.
“You know what this means,” Nikita said slowly. “Once we find the chest, it must be returned to the Silver Wizard in order to lift the curse and give us the cure for the parvolupus. He is the rightful guardian of Pandora’s Chest. I am the one who should return it.”
Nia’s stomach clenched. “No.”
“You can’t protect me from him forever, little sister. Tristan will find me eventually. He is a powerful wizard and I’m certain he knows we have practiced deceit all these years.” Nikita shivered and the blood drained from her face.
Fear ruled her twin’s life. Fear of the dreaded Silver Wizard finding her and taking her away. It would not happen, Nia vowed. No matter what she had to do.
“How could he know? Dad’s mystics warded our ranch years ago to reinforce the illusion that only the younger twin survived at birth,” she pointed out.
“The magick has eroded by now, I’m sure,” Nikita countered.
“We can’t believe that. We have to keep positive or else he’ll come here and take you away and you’ll die. The prophecy…”
“It could be wrong.” Nikita looked hopeful.
Nia gave a bitter laugh. “I’m not gambling with your life. When we find the chest, and we will find it, I’m giving it to him in exchange for a cure, but you are not part of the package. Mandy, return to the well. I’ll join you and we’ll start digging.”
“Aren’t you forgetting something?” Her twin pantomimed boxing. “Aiden is waiting for you.”
Damn. “You’ll have to wait until tonight, Mandy. Make sure no one else is around. We can’t risk outsiders knowing what you’re doing. Especially if it’s Mitchell who wins. His men are smarter than Richard’s Lupines.”
“Aiden will win and claim his prize,” Nikita told her. “You, disguised as me. You will share Aiden’s bed. It’s you he’s wanted all these years.”
The thought made her body tingle with anticipation. Nia shook her head. “I should tell him the truth about the chest, the disease and our men-”
“No!” Nikita shook her head. “And forget your promise to Father on his deathbed? Never, ever tell outsiders of our secrets. You promised, Nia. You promised him in blood. You can’t trust anyone.”
Nia fell silent, knowing her twin was right. A deathbed promise was sacred, but one made in blood even more so.
Sometimes she wondered what her life would have been like had their father told the truth 25 years ago. She had been denied a life, even denied her name. Their father had gotten their names mixed up after they were born, announcing the surviving twin was named Nikita.
Nia glanced at her gentler, frailer twin and felt a stab of guilt. At least she hadn’t been hidden away her entire life, her existence a deep secret.
“Fine. I won’t tell Aiden. But we’ve dragged these males into a deathtrap if they decide to live here instead of the Mitchell Ranch. Our only hope is to get them out of here as quickly as possible. The longer they remain here, the more they risk exposure to the disease.”
She gave her twin a pointed look. “And if Aiden wins and finds out I’m not the true alpha, there may be hell to pay. He might foreclose on the ranch. You sure you want me to take your place and carry this through?”
Blood drained from Nikita’s face. “I can’t do it, Nia. You have to mate with Aiden. You’re the one he’s determined to claim. How can I have sex with a male who makes me physically ill?”
Ever since her twin started experiencing vivid dreams of a mysterious lover a few weeks ago, Nikita got sick each time she came near Aiden Mitchell.
“The dreams are worse?”
Nikita nodded. “Even a sleeping potion can’t help me. That man keeps appearing to me every night. He loves me so deeply and then he leaves, screaming, and I wake up crying.”
Nia had begun to wonder if the dreams were memories from a past life, a love that ran so deep, it haunted her sister.
“Even if he didn’t make me sick, I couldn’t pretend to be you in bed, Nia. Aiden is too overwhelming. He called yesterday while you were sleeping. When he asked what kind of sheets I like to sleep on naked, I called him names and hung up on him. Just like you would.”
Nia gurgled with laughter. She found the question sweet, and typically arrogant of Mitchell. She tilted her head. “We could still pull it off. Aiden may not win. Richard would be easier to fool.”
“Aiden will win. You know it,” her twin said softly. “And he is not so easily fooled.”
Nikita pulled her over to the full-length mirror on the wall.
Two identical women with full, lush lips and high cheekbones stared back. The only discernible difference remained in their clear blue eyes. Nia’s were filled with confidence and hope. Fear and doubt shadowed her twin’s. Despite being the eldest, Nikita had always been more fragile.
It was easy enough in the past to deceive fellow Lupines, and Skins, the word Others used to describe humans. But fooling Aiden Mitchell in bed?
Niki was right.
Mandy joined them at the mirror. She gave a critical look at Nia and pointed. “Make sure you wear more cover-up. Your scar is showing.”
Nia turned her hea
d and saw with dismay her aunt was right. She went to the desk and retrieved a bottle of makeup, returned to the mirror and put it on.
“Men are men. They desire a pretty, fertile mate to bed and breed, and her lands to join their own. They think more with their cocks than their brains,” Mandy said.
But Nia didn’t agree. She’d seen the sharpened awareness of Aiden Mitchell. Aiden was an alpha who handled duplicity by killing his betrayer.
Nia shivered. The male was powerful and virile and his searing sexuality and strength hinted of many long sessions in bed.
“Go back to the challenge. I’ll return to my room.” Nikita looked wistful. “I found a passage in the ancient texts last night that mentioned using hawthorne and mint mixed with other herbs to reinforce a Lupine’s immune system. I want to study it.”
“I still don’t understand. If the parvolupus is a bacteria, then why can’t it be killed with the right medicine? We have antibiotics for Lupines. You’re the smart one, Niki. Explain it to me.”
Nikita gazed into the distance. “Initially it spreads like a bacteria, similar to how tuberculous infects Skins. It’s spread from person to another through the air. And then once it infects mature male Lupines, it targets the cells in their DNA that allow them turn into wolves at will. And then the parvolupus affects their immune system. With the women, we get infected, but our immune system is able to fight it off. We don’t even get sick. The parvolupus in us is like latent TB. We never develop the disease.”
Worry filled Nia. “If it’s like latent TB, we’re still infected and can be carriers and spread it to the Mitchell males. Can I infect Aiden if I sleep with him?”
“No. Just like latent TB can’t be passed to another person.”
“Great. Then all we have to worry about is trying to get all these men off our ranch before they get sick.” Nia thought about the dozens of males milling about in the lodge and shuddered.
“If it were a normal disease, and didn’t carry strains of magick, I could defeat it through antibiotics strong enough for Lupines, just like certain antibiotics can cure TB. But it keeps mutating. I thought when the last mature male Lupine died, the disease would die. But it remained active. Like mold spores.”
Bad Boys of the Night: Eight Sizzling Paranormal Romances: Paranormal Romance Boxed Set Page 125