by Karin Tabke
She reached up and traced her fingertip along the curve of his lips. “You should smile more often.”
He nipped at her finger, then sucked it into his mouth. Heat shot straight to her womb. He sucked her finger deeper into his mouth, swirling his tongue around it. Falon squeezed her eyes shut and fought the intense sensations crashing through her body. Every cell in her had lit up like a freakin’ Roman candle.
With her free hand she dug her fingers into his thick hair, amazed how soft it was. Lucien pulled her finger from his mouth and placed her hand on the other side of his head. She dug her fingers in. He pressed his forehead to hers and looked down at her swollen breasts. His fingers tightened around her arms.
What he did next stunned her. Carefully, he buttoned up her vest and then stood back from her. He held out his hand to her. Dumbfounded, she took it. He led her through the heaving, gasping, humping pack up the metal stairway to his room.
Quietly, he shut the door behind them. “Get some sleep, Falon. Your body isn’t as strong as you think it is.”
He walked past her into the bathroom.
Speechless, she stood there in the middle of the bedroom, her body on fire while he—he did what? Brushed his teeth?
Five
AFTER WHAT SEEMED an eternity, Lucien exited the bathroom. The low glow of the candlelight flickered across the smooth skin of his broad chest and defined belly. Falon’s eyes dipped lower to the thick ridge tenting his black boxer briefs. Swallowing hard she looked up into two blazing eyes above his set jaw. “Do what you need to do, Falon. I have an early day tomorrow.”
She moved past him into the bathroom and closed the door softly behind her. For a long minute, Falon stood flat against the door, slowly inhaled, then more slowly exhaled as she tried to calm the electrical storm in her body and the turbulence in her heart.
She missed Rafa. At one time, she had thought she would give anything to be with him, but yet here she was. Yes, mostly she was here for the benefit of Rafa and the Lycan she’d come to love. But part of her knew she was also here because of Lucien. He had a crazy chemical combustive hold on her. Was it simply a Lycan thing? Lord knew it was as basic as basic could be. She wanted to mate. With Lucien. Like down and dirty, crazy animal mating. She felt like a damn bitch in heat around him. And if he wasn’t snubbing her, he was telling her how much he wanted to fuck her. Not make love. Fuck. Fuck, she strongly suspected like she wanted to be fucked. Gloves off, no holds barred. And what made it all worse was that the embarrassment that usually followed such lurid Lucien thoughts were barely a blimp on her propriety radar. Not that she was a prude. But what Lucien promised was miles outside of her comfort zone. What next? She’d beg him for it?
He drove her crazy! He pushed and pulled her into his seductive web, only to let her free-fall to the ground.
Rafa would never treat her so… haphazardly. Rafael was direct. He treated her as the equal she was. Lucien was a puppeteer. One minute yanking one string, the next minute pulling another string until she was all twisted and caught up in them. Was this his way of teasing and tempting her to the point of capitulation? Did he think if he could work her up into a sexual frenzy, she would throw herself at him for succor?
Falon bit her bottom lip. He had come perilously close to doing just that tonight. She should be thanking him for saving her from herself instead of damning him for it. Falon took another deep breath and slowly exhaled. She could do this. She could resist Lucien Mondragon’s sensual sway. Her beast did not rule her; she ruled her beast. She stripped down to her panties and blushed. She could not wear them now, they were so damp. She tossed them into the large laundry hamper. What did he think of her? Because she knew what she thought of herself. And she didn’t like how it made her feel as if she were being unfaithful to Rafa.
She washed her face, brushed her teeth, and grabbed a big fluffy bath towel. Wrapping it around her naked body, Falon inhaled deeply then slowly exhaled. Back straight, chin up, she strode confidently into the bedroom. Expecting to go a few verbal rounds with Lucien, she was disappointed to find him lying in bed with his back to her. Falon dropped the towel and grabbed a pair of panties from the stack on the table along with a skimpy camisole, quickly dressed, and then slid into the big bed beside Lucien.
On her back, she stared at the ceiling. Her mind ran rampant with wild thoughts and roller-coaster emotions. All of them centered around one complex man she could not quite get out of her thoughts. She rolled over, back to back with Lucien.
“Good night,” she said softly.
Good night.
“LUCIEN!” TALIA SHOUTED, bursting into the bedroom. “Hurry before they kill each other!”
Lucien shot out of bed and went flying down to the common room. He felt more than saw Falon behind him.
The sight that greeted him sent every hair on his body straight up. Joachim, his second in command, and Darius, his third in command and captain of his night guard, had shifted and were literally tearing each other apart. He looked past their snarling to Lisette, a pretty, young thing wringing her hands with worry, and understood immediately what the cause of the friction was.
Darius was challenging Joachim for second seat. If he prevailed, he would have first pick. If Joachim set the youngster on his ass, Joachim would walk away not only with the continued respect of the pack but the girl, too.
“Make them stop!” Falon screamed, grabbing his arm.
Lucien whistled sharply and strode toward their heaving bodies. “Shift!” he commanded.
Both men shifted to human form but remained on all fours. “Fight as you are now or end it,” Lucien said.
Joachim swept his leg around, dumping Darius on his back and dove onto him. The pack widened around the two warriors, giving them room. Brutally they punched and kicked each other. Just as one got the advantage, the other took control.
After what seemed a brutally long time but was less than ten minutes, Joachim finally got the edge over Darius. The younger man stumbled backward as Joachim drilled him with one vicious punch to the face after another. He landed on his back, and Joachim went for the knockout punch. As his brawny arm flew into Darius’s face, the younger man shifted and bit Joachim’s arm at the elbow, crushing his bones, snapping it in half. The pack growled at the cowardly act.
Lucien did not hesitate to stop the mauling and mete out the stiff punishment for Darius’s blatant disobedience. He jumped in and grabbed the snarling Darius by the scruff of his neck. “Release him!” Lucien roared.
Darius’s eyes blazed defiantly; he growled viciously at Lucien and savagely sunk his fangs deeper into Joachim’s arm. Shaking his head, Darius severed the arm at the elbow.
“You will not defy me again,” Lucien thundered.
The pack snarled, closing in. Lucien threw his head back and roared his rage. Violently, he shook Darius, and then shifted himself. In less than a minute, it was over. Darius lay dead on the floor, his tattered human body replacing that of his dead wolf.
Lucien shifted, pulling his shorts on. “Talia!” he shouted. “See to Joachim!”
But she was already applying pressure to the bloody wound. The big sergeant at arms listed on his feet as he stared at his bloody stump as if it did not belong to him.
As second, this was a devastating blow to the proud warrior. Lucien was sick to his stomach, not by the sight, but because his friend’s life would never be the same. The damage to Joachim’s arm was extensive. He doubted even the most skilled surgeon could save it.
“The damage is too severe to your severed arm for any hope of reattaching it, Joachim,” Talia said softly, visually inspecting the limb. She looked up at the big Lycan. “I can triage you here to get you to the hospital where they will sew you up, or I can do what needs to be done. It’s your call.”
“I don’t trust those quacks,” Joachim muttered, the color leeching from his face. “Do what you need to do here.”
Talia ripped off the sleeve of her shirt, hastily making a tou
rniquet above Joachim’s elbow. She guided the giant of a man to an overturned chair. Falon hurried to turn it upright. Then, gently, she helped Talia seat him. Lise pushed her way through the crowd to his side.
“I’m so sorry, precioso. I told Darius I wanted only the sergeant at arms. I did not mean the position, I meant I wanted you!”
Joachim raised his glazed eyes to the girl and tried to smile. It came across as a grimace. “Do you still want me? A three-legged wolf?”
With a sob, she dropped to her knees before him and grabbed his only hand. “I want whatever part you are willing to share.” She touched his cheek and smiled. “It’s always been you, all of you, part of you, I don’t care. Just don’t change.”
A week ago, Lucien would not have understood such unconditional love between a man and a woman. A mother and child, yes. But this? If Joachim could not find a way to use his disability to his advantage, he would be ostracized and relegated to socialize with the omegas of the pack. Would Lise want him then?
Lucien’s gaze rose past Joachim to Falon, who stood quietly watching him. The tightness in his gut intensified. He would give his own right arm to have Falon show the kind of affection for him that Lise showed Joachim.
“Don’t move, Joachim,” Talia said, breaking Lucien’s spell. “The tourniquet isn’t working; you’re still losing blood too fast. I’m going to have to cauterize the main artery before I can heal you.” Talia hurried from the room to the kitchen where the hearth fire burned hot.
Joachim’s face paled considerably, not, Lucien knew, from what Talia said she must do, but because of the blood loss. Lucien gently nudged Lise to the side and picked up Joachim’s stump, raising it above the man’s head. “Steady, brother. The tourniquet is helping. Stay calm and breathe evenly or you’re going to bleed out and poor little Lise is going to cry.”
The pack chuckled but there was no mirth behind it.
Losing Darius was going to hurt. He was one of the strongest men Lucien had the pleasure of knowing, a proud Mondragon. His Slayer kill count was nearly as high as Lucien’s. He had not intended to kill him, punish him for his initial defiance, yes, but when Darius purposely, after being commanded to release Joachim, maimed him, Lucien knew if he allowed Darius to live, he would become a cancer in the pack.
But losing Joachim would have been devastating. His sergeant at arms had been with him since the day the pack split, never once wavering in his allegiance to Lucien.
Joachim grimaced through his pain and held up his good arm. “At least it wasn’t my right arm.” He reached out with it and swept the startled Lisette into his embrace. “And I still have my most important arm!” He pulled her down onto his bare lap and forced a lopsided grin. “I won’t let you down, Lise, I promise.”
She cupped his face in her hands and kissed him. “Trust me, I will never let you go down!”
Lucien smiled. Perhaps with the love of this woman, the one-armed Joachim would surprise them all and retain his position within the pack. For the sake of the pack, Lucien would do everything possible to make that happen.
His grip on Joachim’s stump tightened as Talia hurried back into the room holding a glowing red-hot knife in the air. “Look at me, precioso,” Lise whispered against Joachim’s lips. She kissed him just as Talia inserted the blade an inch into the bloody stump, then withdrew it, and as if she were icing a cupcake, she cauterized every milli-meter of his exposed flesh. Sweat poured off Joachim’s face, down his chest to his thighs. His lips were white tight, his hand fisted at Lisette’s back, but he did not move. Not even when Talia stood back and the scent of burned flesh thickened putridly around them. Joachim did not so much as flinch a muscle. Falon put her hand delicately to her face and coughed behind him, but the pack stood rigid and watchful. Joachim was a pack favorite. Like Lucien, he did not command anything he was not willing to do himself.
Lucien clasped him on the shoulder with his free hand, but his words were directed at Talia. “Have one of the betas prepare one of the guest rooms.”
“They are always ready, Lucien,” Talia said, not looking up as she inspected her handiwork.
Lucien looked down at his friend’s strained brown eyes. “Once you’re healed, we’ll have Hector make you the mother of all prosthetic hands.”
Joachim nodded, his skin fish-belly white and just as clammy. Lucien squatted down beside him, carefully continuing to hold up the stump, then gently put his shoulder beneath Joachim’s armpit and helped him to rise. Falon sprang into action and came around to Joachim’s good side, and wrapped his beefy arm around her shoulder. Lise placed a calming hand on his chest. Carefully they lifted him to standing, and moved him out of the great room, and then down the hall to one of the comfortable guest rooms. Here Joachim would be under Talia’s watchful eye, not stuck in the barracks.
As the big Lycan was laid back onto the mattress, he let out a long groaning breath and closed his eyes.
Lucien raised worried eyes to his cousin. “He’ll be fine,” she said. “The bleeding has slowed enough that I can work on him without fear he’ll bleed out.”
Boulder-sized relief rolled off Lucien’s shoulders. Fatigue replaced it. He was physically and emotionally wiped out. But he kept his mask of strength firmly in place. If he exuded anything less than total confidence, his pack would run in circles chasing their tails.
“Take care of him, Talia,” Lucien said. “If you need anything, do not hesitate to wake me.”
He grabbed Falon’s hand and withdrew from the room, quietly closing the door behind them.
He stopped just inside the hallway and looked down at her pale face. “You okay?”
She let out a long breath and nodded. “That was terrifying and amazing, Lucien. It all happened so fast, and you just—handled it.”
He smiled slowly not feeling any joy in destroying not only a formidable soldier but also a friend. “I had no other choice.”
She squeezed his hand. “I understand why you did what you had to do.”
“Do you?”
Vigorously she nodded. “Had you not acted when and how you did, you would have sent the message it was okay to ignore your command.”
“The price came too high tonight, Falon. Darius was a good man. But tonight, he could not control his beast. Lose control once, it becomes a habit.”
He tugged her arm and walked back to the common room where the scent of sex, blood, and burned flesh infused the heavy air. The pack moved restlessly about.
“I want your attention,” Lucien said quietly. The pack responded as if he had blasted it over a bullhorn. All movement stopped, every eye in the room, riveted on him. “You saw what happened to Darius. His beast got the better of him tonight. Either control your beast or the same will happen to any one of you who defies me or attacks another, regardless of reason, in wolf form. Am I clear?”
“Yes, Lucien,” the pack said as one.
He nodded and looked at Dax. “You will assume all of Darius’s duties and pick up the slack for Joachim until he is healed.”
Dax nodded, stepping forward. “I will not let you down, Lucien.”
“I don’t expect that you will, Dax. Joachim was to leave on an errand for me early tomorrow morning, but he cannot and since Darius is unavailable, I’m putting the chore in your hands.”
“I am ready,” the anxious Lycan said.
Lucien gauged the mood of the pack before he proceeded, looking for the slightest hint of negativity. There was none. Mondragon trusted their alpha and in so doing trusted his choices.
“Put together a hunting and gathering party.” Lucien smiled; the women were going to love this. “Eight male, two female.” His smile widened as the women swarmed Dax as if he were a rock star, begging to be chosen.
What the females lacked in strength they made up for in ferocity. It had been too long since he had allowed any of them to hunt. They were too valuable to the pack to risk in battle. But they had become restless and bored. It was time to let the girls out.<
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Dax all but wagged his tail, he was so excited. “The black van is loaded with the tools and weapons you’ll need, but take your swords; you’re going to need them,” Lucien said. “Prepare to depart by three a.m. You’re going shopping in Lodi. Balor has a new munitions supplier. A ’Nam vet by the name of Skeet Yoder. The old man fronts his arms business with a junkyard just on the Highway 99 edge of town. He has a dozen rotties and pits running the yard after hours. While they are a nonissue for us, he does have cameras everywhere. Via my computer, I’ve scheduled them to disarm at four a.m. You’ll be clear to access the rear of the property via the back gates. Once in, you’ll have plenty of time to get the lay of the land and take position. There are detailed maps and schematics of the property in the van.”
“Does he sleep on the property?” Dax asked.
“No, he usually comes in around nine, doesn’t open to the public until ten. But as a precaution, shift first and check it out. I know he has a big morning planned.”
Lucien smiled down at Falon, who raised questioning eyes to his. He turned back to Dax. “I hacked into Skeet’s computer last week and discovered there’s a scheduled pickup at eight tomorrow morning. Corbet is stocking up arms. You need to be set up no later than six. I want the guns, the cash, and the Slayers who show up put out of their misery. Tie the old man up until it’s all over, then let him go.”
Dax nodded.
“Any questions?” Lucien asked.
Dax looked behind him to the gauntlet of females who were just waiting to pounce, then back at Lucien. “How do I choose?”
Despite the pall that hung around them, Lucien laughed, shaking his head. Taking Falon’s hand into his, he started for the stairway. “That will be your first official act as captain of the night guard.”
The females squealed. “Ladies!” Dax shouted.
Lucien laughed louder, as Dax’s voice was drowned out by those of the demanding females.
As they slowly walked up the three flights of stairs, Lucien felt Falon’s desire to talk more about what just happened, but there was nothing to be said. What could be said that wasn’t already said? He opened the door and allowed her to walk through first. He followed her in and shut the door closed behind them.