She drew him deeper into her mouth. He tasted different from Justice but no less delicious. She ground her sheath down on Justice’s groin, rocking her hips back and forth. She suckled on Drew, working him over her tongue, holding him in place with her hands wrapped around the base of his member.
Justice bucked under her. She imagined it would be hard to unseat the woman you loved when your cock was embedded in her channel.
She pleasured both men, her scent driving them toward completion. The quivering of Drew’s thighs and the convulsive clasp of his hands around her head told her he was near. Justice’s thighs quivered under her and Saffa could tell he wasn’t far behind.
Drew grunted, spewed come over her tongue and collapsed on the mattress, panting hard.
She clamped her inner muscles around Justice and milked him of his seed, her sheath clenching and unclenching as fluid jetted into her, flooding her cervix.
The smell of her fertility, though alluring, was the faint scent of an unopened bud in comparison to the vibrant, lush aroma of the inception of her pregnancy.
Justice frowned and sniffed the air in disbelief. “It’s not possible.”
She grinned at him. “Does your nose deceive you?”
Drew’s laugh dragged their attention over to him. “Congratulations, brother. I’m happy for you both. Reaching up, he pressed a kiss on Saffa’s lips. “I’m going to check the perimeter.”
Saffa grinned down into Justice’s incredulous face. “You had yours. Now give me mine.” She eased her hips from side to side, using the bulk of him to ease the ache deep inside her that was yet to be appeased.
“Gladly, I’ll give you the world.” He rolled her over onto her back and gave her what she demanded and what he promised. A world of bliss.
Chapter Eleven
“Saffa, Saffa, wake up!”
She slapped at the hand shaking her shoulder with annoying persistence. “G’way. I’m sleeping here.” She buried her face deeper into the pillow.
“Sorry, babe. Drew went out to scout the area and we have company coming, fast.” He hauled her up and shoved sweats into her hand.
“Is it your father?” she asked hopefully. She rolled over and sat on the edge of the bed, looking at him sleepily.
Justice shook his head. “He wouldn’t be making a silent approach.”
Drew trotted into the room, his skin ruddy from the cold.
“How far out?” Justice asked, hauling Saffa to her feet.
Drew’s eyes shifted to her. “No more than five miles, tops. By the smell of them, it’s the Redmavens, and they have some of those pumped-up cubs with them.”
Justice scooped her up, walked into the bathroom and slipped through a slender opening in the glass-paneled wall. Drew pulled the panel shut behind him, sending them into a tomb-like, all-encompassing blackness, broken only by the chirpy flow of running water.
She blinked until her eyes adjusted to the darkness. Luminous lichen that clung to the walls glowed eerily. Saffa was pulled purposefully over the slippery smoothness of the water-hewn tunnel. Her hand grasped Justice’s as he guided them through the meandering passage.
The moist sauna-like heat wafted hotly over her, making a fine sheen of sweat over her body. Wind whistled eerily through the channel.
Justice’s usually smooth gait had a hitch in it. Even so, she had to walk double time to keep up with the ground-eating strides of the men.
Finally, a gust of icy air dispersed the sulfurous smell and cooled her heated flesh.
Justice motioned for Drew to go ahead without them. Justice stared down at her intently, an odd look of regret in his eyes. Saffa embraced her mate and looked questioningly into his gaze.
“My timing is lousy.” He rested his forehead on hers.
“Yeah, we’re going to have to work on your procrastination.” Her voice caught in her throat.
“I’ve wasted dozens of opportunities to say what I should have. Now there’s no time to express it fully. I’ve loved you with my whole heart, I wanted you to know.”
“Justice?”
He placed a finger over her lips. “You are a gift I cherish. Our cub is a miracle I never expected or hoped for.” He kissed her passionately and with a desperation that made her heart thunder with her fear. He released her mouth, but he held on to her forearms. “Listen, we’re going to be outnumbered. There’s no room for hesitation or emotion. Your survival is all that matters, yours and the baby’s. Do something for me, please.”
“But—”
“No, no buts. I want your word.”
She sighed and nodded reluctantly. The flinty stare he pinned her with left no room for an argument. Crap, he wasn’t going to budge one inch, and the grip he had on her arms meant he wouldn’t let her go until she agreed.
“When I ask you to, I want you to shift into a bird and fly home.”
“Justice—”
“No arguments. I’d tell you to do it now, but I know it’s draining. You will fly to safety if there is a chance of them catching up with us.”
“Fine,” she said through trembling lips.
With a fluid elegance, he shifted seamlessly. She followed suit, taking the form of a wolf in deference to his base animal.
He nuzzled her neck, nipped her ear affectionately and bounded ahead of her, leaping up on a rock to slip from the cave.
His short growl called her to his side.
The cold air tousled the fur on her face when she stuck her head out. It wasn’t snowing, but a blustery wind blew icily down on them with a cutting briskness. No avian could take to the air in this. The wind sheer would be murder.
Justice sniffed the air, touched his damp nose to hers and took off at a muscle-stretching lope. She raced after him, reveling in the exhilaration of the chase.
The Redmavens might be hot on their tails, but she refused to let them ruin the moment. Justice ran at measured pace to allow her to stay with him. Drew had lagged behind to warn them of the approach of their pursuers.
The trees grew sparser the higher they climbed. The thinness of the air combined with the cold made it hard to breathe.
Finally, they stopped to quench their thirst at a snow-fed stream. She slumped onto her belly while Justice listened acutely and sniffed the air for any out-of-the-ordinary scents carried on the wind.
Justice stiffened into alertness. He stood between her and the downward flow of the frigid wind ruffling his fur. Saffa burrowed her head into the warmth of his underbelly.
A baying in the distance changed the stance of his body from cautious vigilance to lethal readiness. He used his nose to nudge her onto her feet as Drew raced up the mountain. A pair of weres pursued him, growling their triumph of a sure kill. Several wolves followed in their wake. They gained on him with a speed way beyond the capability of a normal were.
Justice growled demandingly in her ear.
Hell, how could she leave him knowing she left him to his death? Saffa whimpered her resistance to his demand. She could shift to a tiger—they outweighed wolves by a hundred pounds.
He growled threateningly at her.
Saffa stood torn between her mate and the barely discernable scrap of life growing inside her.
A second cry in a different timbre came from farther up the mountain. The tension eased perceptibly from Justice’s body and he returned the call. Howls followed his, repeated over and over in a joyous cacophony. It was the Ambervanes. She sighed in relief.
A fast-moving pack of multi-colored wolves broke over the ridge in a menacing avalanche of lupine bodies. Saffa stepped back skittishly. Justice’s father must’ve called every able-bodied male. They were like a swarm of locusts, though she was sure her father-in-law wouldn’t appreciate the comparison.
Hawkin let out a growl of challenge and the pack flowed down the hill past them to enclose the smaller Redmaven pack.
Maxime metamorphosed into the state between man and were and rose up on his legs. “Your son killed my kin without justifica
tion. By law his life is mine to take.”
Not at all intimidated, Hawkin rose to his imposing height as a man. “In a den unsanctioned by the council and for an unnatural purpose.”
“No matter. He killed a boy who had not attained maturity.” There was no hint of grief in his voice, only the triumph of someone who was sure he had an upper hand.
“A boy whose body you corrupted with drugs,” Hawkin retorted scornfully. Condemnation rippled through the crowd and the Redmavens crouched under the weight of the other packs’ disgust.
Maxime’s eyes glittered with an insane zeal. “The law is on my side. I’m entitled to the letting of blood for the murder of my kin. If not, Justice Ambervane forfeits all he owns.” Maxime faced the crowd and spread his arms wide. “Are the Ambervanes above the law? We Redmavens are expected to adhere to the laws, yet you don’t hold them accountable? The law is clear; no full-grown male can fight an underage cub. Furthermore, he killed him, an egregious offence in the eyes of the law.”
Justice trotted forward, changing into a man when he reached his father’s side. “You twist the law, choosing to adhere to it when it suits your goals. I sensed a trap when we took out your den. You used an innocent to bait your trap. We’ll settle this now, Maxime. When it’s done you’ll take your pack and leave the area. Permanent banishment.”
Maxime scoffed. “You don’t have the right to make such an edict yet. Step up like a man and answer for your crime. I intend to hold your still-beating heart in my fist.” Maxime looked for Saffa and found her in the crowd. He bared his fangs at her to provoke Justice. “Pity you won’t live to see your cub. Your mate will be free once again. Maybe Bardo isn’t man enough for her. I’d douse the fire in her eyes soon enough,” Maxime goaded.
“I have a designated sec, and he’ll choose one of his own should the need arise. You’ll never touch her.” Justice’s declaration made Maxime’s smile slip momentarily.
“I’ll meet you in blood battle. I accept your challenge.” Justice pulled back his shoulders, faced the sky and howled his acceptance, to be heard by all.
The blood flowing in her veins slowed to a fear-stricken trickle. The madness she saw in Maxime eyes sent an ominous chill over her senses. Justice was at a disadvantage since his leg hadn’t healed properly.
Justice shimmered into half-man, half-beast. A halfling, brought into being for a fight to the death. The pure, unfiltered light of the early morning hit his silver-tipped fur, circling him with a shimmering white corona. Justice appeared much larger, more dangerous and dauntingly unconquerable.
Maxime smirked maliciously. “Oh, it won’t be easy. I can choose a champion from my bloodline, and I choose…” He turned to look over his followers. “Mal, to avenge his pack mate.”
A wolf separated himself from the rest of the Redmavens. Massive was the only way to describe this beast. His torso and forelegs were unnaturally bulky. Absent was the triangular sleekness of a wolf’s head. His crown had an unnatural roundness to it. There was no gracefulness to his movements. He lumbered toward the fighting circle to meet Justice.
His eyes skimmed over Justice rancorously. “I heed the call of my alpha.” Mal’s voice grated on the nerves, guttural and clipped.
Saffa’s heart sank. She moved toward her mate, but Justice’s four blocked her path.
Damn pack protocol. She needed to touch him, hold him. Her belief in Justice was unwavering, but Maxime wouldn’t have chosen Mal unless he had a chance of defeating a fighter of Justice’s caliber. Fear for him clawed at her insides with razor-sharp talons.
Mal reared up, shifted in preparation for the fight and Saffa gasped. His body had the bulk of a black bear. He charged and slammed Justice to the ground.
Saffa cringed as if she were the one who bore the brunt of the blow.
Wasting no time, Justice slammed his fist into Mal’s throat, planted his feet into the younger wolf’s stomach and heaved him over onto his back. Justice pounced, swiped his claws across the vulnerable underbelly of his opponent.
Mal’s enraged roar resounded over the tense silence. In retaliation, he aimed for Justice’s eyes, but Justice dodged the blow and sank his teeth into Mal’s neck.
Mal rolled to his feet, shook him off and sunk his teeth into Justice’s calf, his serrated teeth ripping into the flesh.
The scent of Justice’s blood made Saffa lose control and slip into her base form, the wintry weather inconsequential to her mate’s dire situation.
“Justice,” she screamed, tears streaking down her cheeks.
“Yes, you bitch, scream. Your tears will go a long way to soothe the blow you dealt to my pack’s pride.” Maxime’s mockery was too much. She flew at him.
Hawkin grabbed her. “Don’t you shame my son. Comport yourself as the mate of my heir,” he whispered harshly in her ear.
Saffa had forgotten how brutal these battles could be.
Justice slammed his foot into Mal’s nose, forcing the steroid-maddened wolf to release Justice’s limb.
Then the fight began in earnest. She flinched at every blow that landed on Justice’s body. He was a mass of yellow-purple bruises and claw marks. It wasn’t much of a consolation Mal looked as battered from the beating he took.
Mal caught Justice’s fist in one of his ham-sized paws and moved to clamp his teeth over Justice’s jugular.
Mal was mere centimeters from ripping out the vital vein when Justice stopped him by deliberately ramming his forearm into Mal’s mouth. With straining muscles bulging in his back and arm, Justice levered Mal’s head back, exposing his neck.
Realizing his vulnerability, Mal made a fatal mistake and let go of Justice’s fist. Claws extended fully, Justice ripped into a vital blood-bearing artery, sending a spray of blood pumping unchecked from the killing wound.
Shocked, Mal stumbled back.
Justice grabbed his head, applied pressure and twisted it sharply. Mal’s neck snapped like a twig. It was a swift, merciful end rather than letting him bleed out slowly.
Panting, Justice stood over his dead opponent and howled. It was no cry of victory, but a marking of the passage of one of their kind.
Overwrought by defeat, Maxime snarled and rushed Justice. But the Ambervanes and their allies wouldn’t allow such treachery. Justice had won the challenge fairly and by charging the victor Maxime had signed his own death warrant. He was taken down by several wolves for a short and vicious execution.
The Redmavens rushed to Maxime’s aid, but it was too late. Their alpha was dead. They hovered over him like a rudderless ship.
Bardo shifted into a man and stared down at his father’s corpse. He turned a hostile glare on Justice. “This is not over, Ambervane.”
“It can be. Accept banishment or we will do away with your pack.”
Frustrated rage flitted across Bardo’s face. He looked at the circle of wolves poised to mete out their punishment. “We’ll go, but watch you and yours with a keen eye.” With one last look at his father’s remains, he reverted into his animal and trotted off, his slow pace a last act of defiance.
Justice turned to her and gave her a shaky smile. “Shift. You’re turning blue.”
With a soft, relieved laugh, she did as he ordered, and he did the same.
He lowered his head to nuzzle her belly. The happy yaps fell into a reverent silence. The pack raised their muzzles to the sky and emitted a communal howl of celebration as the sun shed it first rays of the day in pinks and smoky blue-tinged grays through the peaks.
Epilogue
Saffa forced herself to lie still, but the broad hand curved around her full breast was hard to ignore. Nimble fingers unerringly found her hardening nipple, and she arched her back as the tantalizing caresses increased.
“Your mate needs a little of your attention. I’m feeling a bit neglected.” The hint of Justice’s laughter belied the complaint. “I finally got them to go to sleep.”
Saffa rolled onto her back and looked into her mate’s face, her lips purs
ed. “How did you manage it?”
His eyes alight with laughter, Justice bent down and kissed her. “I laid down the law.”
“Pull the other leg, pal.”
“They listen to their old man,” he lied shamelessly.
She rolled her eyes at the blatant fallacy. The three little girls had their doting father wrapped around their tiny fingers.
“Okay, I bribed them with the promise of blueberry pancakes for breakfast.”
“I don’t know if bribery is a recommendation in those parenting books you read.” It was her turn to laugh at his dismissive snort.
“I was desperate. Do you have any idea how long it’s been since I’ve made love to you?”
Saffa’s brows rose at his outrageous statement. “Oh, wasn’t it you doing those wicked things to me with your tongue this morning?”
“Can’t remember. It happened so fast the memory didn’t stick.” He replaced his fingers with his mouth over the tip of her breast. “What I intend to do to you during the next few hours will linger in our minds for a long time.”
“Hmm, I don’t know. You’d have to do something amazing to outdo the night of your induction as supreme alpha.”
“Then be prepared to be amazed.” He moved over her to take her mouth but was halted by the strident peal of his despised cell phone. “If it’s Rick, I’m going to kill him.”
Justice flipped the phone open. “What?” The annoyance on his face melted into grave dread.
“What’s happened, Justice?” she asked fearfully.
Justice snapped the phone shut, his face grim. “It was Drew. Aimee has been taken, and there is evidence it was the Redmavens.”
Saffa’s mouth fell open. She raised her eyes to Justice’s and saw a reflection of what she felt—anger, fear and determination.
She swallowed the painful lump in her throat. “I’d hoped the war was over when Maxime died.”
Justice took her into his arms. “They’ve had time to gather their strength. And after being not welcome anywhere or by anyone of their kind all this time, the Redmavens are thirsty for revenge.”
“We have to get her back.” Saffa shuddered as she allowed herself to imagine what Aimee might be going through.
Her Chosen Wolf: The Were Chronicles, Book 1 Page 10