by Brenna Lyons
As if that pushed the alpha male past his limits, Darian shifted, and Nolan did the same. Darian, focused on Nolan, then turned his attention on Aurora.
Nolan's fury rose like a tsunami. Darian intended to attack Aurora. It was beyond contempt. Everything he was doing was nothing short of treason and foul play.
"Me and me alone," Nolan barked at him in wolf language.
Darian offered a tip of his head and attacked.
What Nolan lacked in practice, he made up for in speed and agility. He worked for a living, and it showed in how they fought.
When Darian tried to attack his feet and come up at his belly from below, Nolan pushed off his back, driving the larger wolf into the dirt as he leapt away, leading his enemy further from Aurora. Darian tried to attack from above, and Nolan jumped, powering his shoulder into Darian's rib cage to send him sprawling.
I have to end this quickly. Aurora is bleeding from her wounds.
Nolan came down over Darian before the other wolf could right himself. He used his claws to dig furrows in his enemy's chest and belly. When Darian tried to push him off with his paws, Nolan clamped down hard on a forepaw, snapping bones.
Darian yelped like a frightened pup, then started pleading for mercy in whines and cries. Though it galled him to let the bastard go, Nolan backed off and shifted back to human form.
He ranged his gaze along the horrified students watching them, savoring the blood in his mouth. "You all heard him. He conceded to me."
Several nodded, and Darian whipped away. He lifted Aurora gently from the ground and cradled her to his chest.
Then he took off at a run.
"Where are we going?" she asked. "Nolan, you're not dressed."
"You're injured. I don't give a damn about my clothes."
She smiled. "I think I may love you."
You better. Even with witnesses, the Alphas might ruin him over this.
* * * *
Aurora pressed harder at the gouges in her cheek, trying not to panic. She'd never had a wound that bled for more than a few minutes; she'd never had one that bled this much.
"It will be all right," Nolan soothed her. He kicked the clinic door open before them. "Injured Alpha," he shouted at the top of his lungs.
Doctors came running. They showed him to the Alpha treatment room and started to work on Aurora.
As she'd feared, the claw marks were deep, requiring not one but rather two layers of stitching to close them appropriately. The doctors assured her more than once that they were unlikely to scar...or scar deeply, at any rate.
"Alpha injured," someone shouted from the hall.
Darian's whining was impossible to miss, and Aurora winced as it grated at her nerves.
Two of the doctors started to move toward him.
Nolan stared at them, his features flexing and tightening between forms. "If any of you see to that traitor before Aurora is taken care of, I will deliver your hide to her parents myself."
They looked at each other as if they weren't sure what to make of the threat.
"Darian attacked us and did this." She pointed to her cheek. "Then he challenged Nolan...and lost."
The eldest of the doctors sighed. "Put him in a room. We'll get to him next." His order shook the walls and sent tremors through Aurora's body.
The other two returned to their places, handing supplies off to the elder doctor and cleaning the spilled blood from Aurora as best they could without changing her clothing.
Nolan didn't thank them, though he seemed content with the response.
Putting in the stitches seemed to take an inordinately long time, and the initial shot of painkillers wore off. The doctors spoke between themselves and gave her a shot of pain relief mixed with a mild sedative to finish the job.
She relaxed on the wide bed, the doctors' voices buzzing in the background, as they discussed her condition with Nolan.
At last, the door closed behind them. Nolan came to the bed and sat on the edge. He trailed his fingertips over the thick bandage on her cheek.
Aurora opened her eyes and smiled up at him.
He managed a strained smile in return. "I know you're not ready to make a permanent decision, but when you are, I want you to know I feel the same way about you."
That was enough to clear some of the fog in her head. Aurora wrapped a hand around Nolan's neck and urged him closer. He didn't fight the move, and in moments, they were engaged in another heated kiss.
His cock rose between them, taunting her with what she wanted.
She didn't ask. She didn't formally invite him. Aurora pulled up at her gown, trying to free her legs so she could straddle him or spread her legs further. Or something. Anything to make what I want clear.
Nolan rose and turned, keeping his mouth meshed with hers. In the next coherent moment, he was lodged deep inside her.
The itch of shifting tissues stole Aurora's breath.
Nolan didn't bother to immobilize her, as she was told males did. He stared at her, his eyes golden, his expression starkly serious. "Do you want to hurt me, Aurora?"
She shook her head, a solemn promise that she wanted nothing of the sort. Instead, she raked her claws lightly down his body, leaving trails that would heal in minutes.
The move inflamed him, as she'd heard it would. One thrust became two...then three... His muscles tightened and released with each shift forward and backward, his cock blazing a trail within her.
Claiming me as his.
Her breathing went ragged, and she bowed up from the mattress, seeking more of him. Nolan grasped at her hips, positioning her for deeper thrusts.
The tightening inside her unraveled with a snap of sensation. Aurora screamed in the release of climax, and Nolan growled, his teeth sharpening.
He let loose a wave of heat into her that stole her breath and set off aftershocks. Nolan's howl of triumph echoed off the walls.
He didn't move again until his cock subsided, and she moaned a protest when Nolan slid free of her body.
"Shhh," he soothed her. "You need some rest."
* * * *
It was all Nolan could do to rein in the need to laugh aloud. He was nestled under the quilts with Aurora, both of them nude and her dress thrown haphazardly over the bedside chair, surely ruined by blood and dirt stains. The lady in question slept peacefully in his arms, full of his seed. It was everything he wanted.
Nearly. Nolan hadn't lied when he'd told Aurora he had plans, but he was no longer certain those plans had to exclude her until he attained a position with her family.
Voices rose in the clinic entryway, and Nolan glared at the door. Why wasn't anyone stopping them from causing such a ruckus when it was clear Koukla needed to sleep?
It took a few moments for him to realize what they were saying.
"You don't understand, Marietta. She warned me. Koukla told me Darian meant her harm, and I ignored her. This is all my fault."
"Hush, child. It is Darian's fault and no one else's."
"But—"
"Hush!"
The bark of order surprised him. He knew the Alpha mates were attending to business in America, which meant they couldn't have arrived so quickly.
Who else would dare speak to Talia Trudale that way?
A whispered conversation followed, probably the doctors reporting to the women who'd just been arguing.
The door opened slowly, and Nolan forced his muscles not to tense. There was nothing wrong with what they were doing, whether they were enjoying each other's company or more.
Talia came around the door first, moving fast. She took one look at Nolan and went stock-still, her mouth agape.
Under other circumstances he might have laughed, but one considered his life carefully before laughing at the eldest child of the Alpha mates, female or not. Instead he smiled and motioned her in.
She looked nothing like Aurora, but he'd known that already. Talia had raven black hair that reached her backside and dark brown eyes. She was the per
fect female complement to her twin brother.
Talia didn't question him. Instead, she came directly to Aurora's side of the bed and reached for her sister. She stopped short, working her lip between her teeth, seemingly in indecision.
"They gave her something to help her sleep," Nolan informed her in a whisper.
"I know, but I don't want to wake her."
"She's awake," Aurora grumbled.
Talia touched her uninjured cheek with a shaking hand. Tears dotted her lashes. "Oh, Koukla. I am so sorry. I should have listened."
"Please stop calling me baby." A wide yawn followed, and Aurora winced and hissed, probably at the pull of the stitches.
Before she could demand more pain relief for her younger sister, an older woman came into the room, trailed by two of the doctors. One of the doctors administered another shot, but Nolan focused on the servant who'd been with Koukla at Matriculation.
By the looks of her, she had seen more than a few generations of work with the royals. Her fur was silver, though he didn't doubt she could carry out her duties, even now.
She handed paperwork back to the doctors, then focused on the group on the bed. She tipped her head low in a practiced move, though it was unclear who she was bowing to.
Most likely Talia.
"Lord Nolan, I presume," she greeted him.
"I'm no Lord, grandmother wolf." Nolan wasn't certain he'd found the correct reverent address for her, but he'd tried. No one could fault him that.
She chuckled. "More like great-grandmother. And, I believe I have addressed you correctly, Lord Nolan. It was my understanding that you bested Darian in a challenge?"
"I...suppose, but I was only protecting Koukla from him." His cheeks heated at the truth of it.
I'm admitting what Aurora is to me.
Surprisingly, no one seemed upset by it.
The old wolf nodded. "Then you have proven yourself an alpha. It isn't unusual for a beta wolf to take his place as an alpha when the situation arises to spur him to motion. With your permission, I will have your belongings moved to Regina Hall." She said it as if there wasn't a question in the world that it would happen.
"I'm not sure I want to move. I like my friends at Paris Hall." It sounded lame, even to himself.
"You must," Talia decided. "You can spend more time with Koukla that way, and you'll be living right next to the gardens."
"Stop calling me baby." She was more vehement every time he heard her say it.
She did say she was sick of the name. But she doesn't complain when I use it.
"I'm not sure some of the alphas will welcome me with open arms." Nolan tried for a diplomatic response instead of an emotional one.
Talia let loose a very unladylike snort and rolled her eyes. "Just because my twin brother chose that adult-sized bratty toddler as his den brother—"
"Which has been remedied," a male voice spoke up from the doorway.
Tyler Trudale was impossible to mistake for anyone else. He wore his dark hair in a mane, not cropped short like most male wolves did. Moreover, he carried himself like the future leader he was.
He made his way to the bed, and proffered his hand. Nolan took it, stunned by the move.
"I've made a lot of mistakes, not the least of which was making Darian my den brother. They say hindsight is twenty-twenty, but I should have seen what he was sooner. I doubt my parents will allow him to stay here after the attack on the two of you, but I've already kicked him out of the suite." He shrugged. "It's yours, if you want it."
Nolan considered that. If Talia and her den sister were on the top floor and Tyler had the floor below... "No. It's not right."
Tyler cocked his head to one side. "Why?"
"Koukla isn't on Alpha level. I shouldn't be either."
Talia laughed shortly. "She will be. Something tells me you two are going to be spending a lot of time together."
Aurora smacked lightly at her sister's arm, her face going crimson at the insinuation.
"What? Do you think I can't smell it?"
Nolan shot a sideward glance at Tyler, but the young prince was smiling broadly.
The male in question started talking. "There is another advantage to you and Koukla—"
"Stop calling me Koukla!" she shouted at her brother.
Tyler motioned for her to calm down. When she did, he continued. "The advantage to you and...Aurora using the room is that our guards have established security already. There's no guesswork."
Nolan couldn't argue that. "It's up to Koukla," he deferred to her.
"I say we take the suite and make my brother and sister lose sleep."
Nolan considered that. "On one condition."
"I'm listening."
Was that disappointment in her voice? "Only I get to call you Koukla."
An smile pulled up the uninjured side of her face, and her eyes glittered. "I can live with that."
The End
About the Author
Brenna Lyons wears many hats, sometimes all on the same day: former president of EPIC, author of more than 100 published works, owner of Fireborn Publishing, columnist, special needs teacher, wife, mother...and member in good standing of more than 60 writing advocacy groups.
In her first ten years published in novel-length, she's won 3 EPIC e-Book Awards (out of 15 finalists) and finaled for 3 PEARLS (including one Honorable Mention, second to NY Times Bestseller Angela Knight), 2 CAPAS, and a Dream Realm Award. She's also taken Spinetingler's Book of the Year for 2007.
Brenna writes in 26 established worlds plus stand-alones, poetry, articles and essays. She's a bestseller in indie/e fantasy and horror, straight genre and cross-genres thereof. Brenna has been termed "one of the most deviant erotic minds in the publishing world…not for the weak." (Rachelle for Fallen Angels Reviews) Milieu-heavy dark work is practically Brenna's calling card, with or without the erotic content.
She teaches classes in everything from POV studies to advanced editing, networking to marketing. Brenna enjoys hearing from people who read her work and can be reached by e-mail.
Website: http://www.brennalyons.com/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/brenna.lyons
Email: [email protected]
Also by this Author
Available from Fireborn Publishing
KEIF'S DEN AND PACK
Keif's Pack
Mother of the Keif
Keif's Den (Coming Soon)
PROPHECY
Prophecy: Revelations
Prophecy: Rapture
The Prophet's Mate
Prophecy: Rampage - Meet Gavin
Prophecy: Rampage (Coming Soon)
THE FANTASY CLUB
The Consort
WEREWOLF U
Werewolf U
Younger Daughter
Alpha Son
Beyond the Veil
Fairy Wishes (Coming Soon)
Mine for the Night
Once in a Blue Moon
Overtime Pay
Stay With Me
The Fire God's Woman
The Punishment of Phoebus Apollo
Available from Fireborn Publishing in PRINT ONLY
NIGHT WARRIORS
Night Warriors
Will of the Stone
Bearing Armen
Hunter's Moon
Veriel's Tales I: Crossbearer Turned
Veriel's Tales II: Losing Regana
The Blutjagdfrau Chronicles
Bride Ball
Fire and Ice
Lovers' Kiss anthology
Monsters and Mayhem anthology
Paranormal Paramours anthology
Available from Phaze Books
ANGEL-WING SAGA
Sons of Heaven: Beldon
Daughters of Man: Prize Match
Sons of Heaven: Unexpected Mates
Daughters of Man: Claiming a Princess
BRIDE BALL
Bride Ball
Poison, Lies, and No-Win Choices
> COLOR OF LOVE
The Color of Love
FIRE AND ICE
Magmon's Hunger
Magmon's Lover
INSTINCT SERIES
Animal Instincts
KEGIN SERIES
Conquest
The Last of Fion's Daughters
Last Chance for Love
Rites of Mating
In Her Ladyship's Service
Matchmaker's Misery
KIELAN SERIES
The Lady's Lowborn Lover
Time Currents
Cubed
NIGHT WARRIORS
Night Warriors
Will of the Stone
Bearing Armen
Hunter's Moon
Maher Men
Choosing a Mate/Starting a War
Raised to Be His Own
Veriel's Tales I: Crossbearer Turned
Veriel's Tales II: Losing Regana
Blutjagdfrau Lost
The Warrior's Man
Damsel in Distress
STAR MAGES
The Master's Lover
XXAN WAR
Daahan Rising
Crossbred Son
Raashh Decisions
Enslaved
All I Want for Christmas is You
Fates Magic
All's Fair…
Black Sail
Mama's Tales
Dream Walk
Unexpected Daddy
Phaze in Verse
We Shall Live Again
May the Best Man Win
Nevermore
Marked
And It Was Good
Available from Mundania Press
STAR MAGES
Written in the Stars
Fairy Dreams
Monsters of Myth Anthology
Available from Under the Moon
RENEGADES SERIES