by Karin Tabke
The only thing unparalyzed was Falon’s mind. She was as clear and coherent as a full moon on an endless night. Wary and powerless to stop it, she watched the dagger rise above Warner’s head, the glinting tip of the blade pointing directly at her heart. With the speed and heat of a laser it burned into her chest. The velocity of the hit forced her backward several feet.
She heard Lucien’s calls to her, but her anger was so thorough, she had eyes and ears only for Warner. Her anger was not at the Slayer, it was at herself for underestimating the Slayer’s power. And overestimating hers.
Her body was numb, no longer in her control. The dagger burrowed deep into her. Twisting and turning, tearing her flesh and bones. Tunneling for her heart.
In her peripheral vision, the thud of hooves on the ground, the clash of steel, snarls, and screams reverberated in her head. The warm spray of Lycan blood spattered her face.
Her knees buckled, her vision clouded. She collapsed to the ground. Falon fought to stay conscious, not to succumb to the cold grayness that engulfed her. What had she done?
Luca…
A strong hand clasped her right hand. Another her left.
The power of three, angel face.
Luca. Rafe.
Focus, Falon! Rafael commanded. Focus.
The power of the alphas infused her with energy. Her eyes flew open. No, she cried out as she watched one Lycan after another fall beneath Slayer swords. The pain of watching them fall was more than the pain of the dagger in her chest. It was her fault they fell.
Lucien and Rafael pulled her to standing as they fought off Slayers. Falon dug deep, knowing the combined power they possessed.
As she had Ian Corbet’s bullets, she forced the dagger from her chest. Mesmerized, she watched it rise above her then turn traitor to its master.
“You swore to accept the outcome of the challenge!” Warner screeched.
Falon shrugged. “I lied.” And she’d do it again. Wasn’t all fair in love and war? Fascinated, she watched the dagger. Like a flash of lightning it flew at Warner just as he wielded his sword above his head to separate Lucien’s head from his shoulders.
Wide-eyed, the Slayer screamed as the blade sliced into the tightly welded metal links of his mail, then found its way home, deep in his chest. Breaking her hold with Rafael, Falon reached for Warner’s sword. Amazingly, it cleaved to her hand as if it recognized her as its new mistress. With power beyond her measure, Falon swung the great weapon high over her head and brought it down on Warner’s neck as he fell from his horse. He hit the ground in two pieces.
Falon cried a feral battle cry when the remaining Slayers turned their horses, spurring them to safety.
“After them!” Lucien cried. As one, the packs shifted and like a nightmare they took off after the Slayers. The Berserkers took the lead, and as they came up over the ridge, they leapt into the air and down upon the remaining horsemen as they hit the bottom of the crevice.
Their powerful jaws bit off several Slayers’ hands, disarming them. Falon grabbed a sword in her jaws from the ground and in full gallop, she flung it at a fleeing Slayer. It sunk deep between the shoulders. As he hit the ground, she pounced on him, tearing him into unrecognizable pieces. The balance of the packs swarmed behind her and soon, every horse was riderless. Quickly, Falon shifted, as did Lucien and Rafe. Along with the others, they made quick permanent work of the remaining Slayers. For long moments Falon stood naked between Rafe and Lucien, blood spattered, chest heaving, her heart rate frantic, and watched in fascinated excitement as each Slayer turned to ash.
Euphoria infused her. She looked up into Lucien’s sparkling eyes and heat swept the length of her. Her nipples tightened and her breathing labored intensely as she sensed his heightened sexual awareness. She could not have turned off the thing between them if she wanted to. There was something about the heat of the battle with Lucien that brought out the most primal part of her. She growled softly, wanting him with an intensity neither one of them could deny.
He slipped his bloody arm around her waist and pulled her tightly against his chest. “I swear by all that is sacred, Falon, if you ever pull another fool stunt like that again, I’ll kill you myself!” His lips crushed against hers. Falon moaned, leaning into him. His skin burned against hers. His cock lengthened against her belly.
Rafael’s possessive growl behind her stoked her primal fire to inferno-grade heat. Lucien’s arm tightened around her waist, his kiss deepened. When Rafe touched the small of her back, Falon cried out. His added touch sent shock waves through the three of them. Lucien snarled and pulled her away, like a dog with his bone, unwilling to share. She understood. She belonged to Lucien.
“Rafael—” a deep accented voice called from several feet away.
Instinctually, Falon knew it belonged to Anja’s sire.
Lucien pulled her away from the fray and into the thick grouping of trees nearby. “Lucien, we can’t—” Falon protested despite her yearning for him.
“As much as I want to lay you down and make love to you right this minute, Falon, I pulled you away so that Rafe could save face with his future in-law.”
Shocked, Falon looked up at him. His passion was still thick and hot against her, but his eyes looked past her to the heated discussion going on between the two alphas. “Why?”
His bright golden eyes turned from the animated conversation going on in the clearing to her. They softened when they rested on her. He raised his hand and gently swept the blood and grime from her cheeks. “Because, once again he came to our aide. I owe him my respect for that if nothing else.”
Falon smiled and pressed her hand to his. Bringing it to her lips, she kissed it. “You never cease to amaze me.”
Lucien smiled and looked past her to the alphas. Falon followed his gaze. They stood toe to toe, nose to nose, their voices low and furious.
“He has called Rafe out,” Lucien said softly.
“What does that mean?”
Lucien’s arm tightened around her possessively. “Rafe either marks the old man’s daughter tonight or fights the old wolf to one of their deaths to preserve her honor.”
Nineteen
LUCIEN TILTED FALON’S head up. Dreading the truth, he asked the question burning his tongue. “Does your heart still long for what you can never have again?”
The tension in Falon’s body tightened. He fought the urge to pull away. He was a fool to have asked, but he would hear her out. He had after all asked the question. Slowly she shook her head, but the glitter of tears in her eyes belied what he knew was in her heart. “I will always love Rafael, and if I said the thought of him making love to Anja would not hurt me, I would be a liar.” She smiled softly and gently touched his fingers on her chin. “But my love for you has filled my heart to full. You have revealed your true self to me, Lucien. You’ve trusted me with your heart. I have entrusted mine to you. That bond cannot be broken. Not by my feelings for Rafe, not by anything.”
Lucien swallowed hard as the truth about Mara surfaced. His gut did a slow, unsteady roll. “Falon, I—I am not the man you think I am.”
She rose on her toes and kissed his lips. “You are much more.”
He gathered her tightly in his arms. Her sweet essence filled his nostrils. “I need to tell you the truth about Mara.”
Falon shook her head and nipped at his shoulder. Heat flared hotter in his loins. She laughed and rubbed her belly against his erection. “If you told me she was the love of your life, it wouldn’t matter. So long as I am the chosen one of your heart, her ghost will never come between us.”
She pulled back just enough to gaze up into his eyes. The truth tasted sour in his mouth. But to cleanse his palate, he needed to tell her. “There is more to it than that.”
Falon’s brows wrinkled. “Is she alive?”
“No!” he hurried to assure her.
“Then there is nothing to discuss.” She looked past his shoulder to the clearing. “The alphas have come to an agreemen
t.”
Lucien turned to see Rafe and the elder alpha begin to address the packs. Falon slid her palm down Lucien’s burgeoning cock and squeezed him, then looked longingly down at the wide bulging head. “The dragon is going to have to wait. The last thing I want to do is to walk out there amongst battle-excited males smelling like the one thing on all of their minds.”
Lucien growled softly and nuzzled his cock deeper into her hand. “I would kill any one of them who so much as sniffed you.”
“After the rising, beat your chest to your heart’s content; until then, behave yourself.”
Falon released him. He hissed in a deep breath, resisting the urge to press her up against the tree and sink balls deep into her. It would always be so with her. The hunger for her body. The need for her heart. The fear of losing her…
Falon grasped his hand and walked with him to the gathered packs. As soon as she was within scent, the males turned hungry eyes on her. She was the only female present, and though walking amongst them naked was commonplace, at that moment, she felt exposed under their hungry eyes. She met their stares with her chin high, refusing to be ashamed of her body. Deep in the combined packs, a wolf snarled and snapped his jaws. A sharp command in Russian squelched it. Rafe dragged reluctant eyes from her and turned away, growling low.
“Mount our wounded on the horses,” Rafe ordered. “Then collect the Slayer swords.”
“What of their dogs?” Falon asked.
Rafe turned stormy eyes on her. “They will be destroyed.”
“No!” she said, striding toward him.
“Their fate is not up for debate.”
“Rafe, please, they’re victims of their masters. You saw how they responded to me. Give them to me. I’ll take full responsibility for them.”
He growled low, shook his head, and turned away from her.
She grabbed his arm to stay him and plead her case. He hissed and jerked away from her. “Don’t touch me,” he ground out.
Falon opened her mouth to tell him to go to hell. To tell him if she could control herself then damn it so could he! But she didn’t. She would not disrespect him that way.
“They’re possessed, Falon,” Lucien said, coming up behind her. “There’s no telling what spells inhabit them.”
“But they are innocent creatures!”
“For all we know they may be Slayers in the guise of hounds. One minute they can be curled up in front of the fireplace and the next slitting our throats.”
“But what if they are what they appear to be? It would be inhumane to destroy them!”
“Would it have been any less inhumane to have been torn apart by them?”
She shook her head, not wanting to agree with Lucien’s rational. In her gut she knew he was right, but they had responded to her! She looked up to the ridge to see them in the exact position as when she commanded them to stay. “Come!” she called.
Rafael snarled, drawing his sword. The packs responded in kind. As the massive dogs charged down the hill their auras flickered black and red. Falon’s heart thundered in her chest. Black auras always meant the same thing: evil. It was the aura of every Slayer she had encountered. Red equaled passion. Whether anger or love was hard to tell, but in this case she could guess. She stepped aside and closed her eyes, allowing Rafe and Lucien to do what they needed to do. She covered her ears until it was over. She turned to see the mutilated dogs materialize into human form, their tattoos identifying them as Vipers.
Dark foreboding stole over her. She had been so easily duped. Not once but several times by Slayer magic. How far would they go? How powerful were their spells?
“Why did they obey me if they were Vipers?” she asked mystified.
“They knew what you were capable of and valued their lives,” Rafael said simply. As he strode angrily past her, he said for her ears only, “Never defy me again.” His tone left no room for rebuttal. Her female wanted to tell his male to go to hell, but she understood his anger. Once again she had challenged him in front of his pack and this time before the visiting packs. It made him look weak, when he was anything but.
Once the horses were collected and the wounded mounted on them, the packs shifted and ran for home. Falon was glad to be gone from the battlefield and the foreboding that haunted her since she was so abruptly awoken that morning. She wanted the sanctity of her and Lucien’s room where she could relax and feel safe. She had mixed feelings about returning to Vulkasin. Anja would be there, and so would her family. She would always consider Vulkasin her family. And in fact, by way of both alphas, they were. Falon shifted with her mate. Side by side they ran with the wind, the day’s victory sending their spirits soaring, but even, Falon thought, if the day had not started so exciting, so long as Lucien ran beside her, even the most mundane of days would be exhilarating.
As they broke through the forest edge into a wide clearing, Vulkasin loomed dark and powerful ahead. The three-story block walls stood like silent sentinels, protecting the pack within. Emotion flooded Falon. So much had happened behind those fortress walls…
Just before the massive gates opened, Falon and Lucien shifted. As they strode hand in hand into the compound yard, they were enthusiastically welcomed by the females of all three packs. Anja, beautiful and ethereal stood center stage, smiling as she caught sight of Rafael. But her smile waned when she saw Falon behind him. It didn’t matter that she was with Lucien—her mere presence was enough to cause distress. Falon understood. She would feel no different, and if truth be told, she had her own demons to deal with each time she encountered the lovely Anja. Jealousy, anger, and oddly enough, pity. While Anja would have most of Rafael, the artic beauty would never have his most cherished part: his heart.
As they made their way into the large log structure that was their main living space, they settled in the large common room. The Vulkasin females swarmed Falon, touching her, stoking her hair and smiling. Their mood shifted from excited welcome to highly-charged fervor once they caught a good whiff of her. They didn’t stop touching Falon. Indeed they touched her more. Guarded but inquisitive. They sniffed her hair, her skin, her breasts. Their attention made her uncomfortable. She looked to Lucien for answers but caught Rafael’s scowl instead.
“Why are they acting like this?” she asked him.
Before Rafe opened his mouth to answer, the males began to circle the group of gathered females. Musk-scented pheromones flew around the room. Clothes were coming off as their musky scents intensified. Rafael’s scowl deepened. Falon moved back from the rutting pack, afraid one of the males would grab her in his lust-induced state. And that’s exactly what it was. The pack was acting just like it had the night Rafael marked her; and the way Mondragon acted when Lucien marked her. The packs had gone into full-blown orgy mode. Except now there was a fierce urgent undertone that had been absent before.
“Cease this now!” Rafael roared above the grunting, moaning packs.
“Ask the sun not to rise, Rafael,” Layla said, pushing her way through the horny throng. “You will have better luck.”
“Why are they in full rut?” Rafael demanded. “I have not marked my chosen one.”
Layla’s dark eyes danced merrily. “Indeed you have and she is fertile. Your pack recognizes what you do not.”
“That’s impossible!” he said, looking at Anja, whose cheeks reddened.
“Not her,” Layla said softly. She turned to gaze at her daughter. “Vulkasin recognizes Falon as your true mate.”
Falon stood stunned by her mother’s words. Her gaze lifted to Rafael’s and saw hope flicker in his deep aqua eyes. Her heart hammered against her chest. It was impossible!
“Then I suggest,” Lucien said tightly to Layla, “that you explain to them that’s not possible.”
Layla shook her head. “Mother nature does not recognize the Blood Law.”
“This is an outrage!” Anja’s sire bellowed, shoving past the half-naked pack. The thick grizzled alpha grabbed his daughter by the arm an
d thrust her into Rafael’s. “Take her now and mark her!”
“Father!” Anja gasped.
His thick bushy eyebrows slammed together. “Return the mark, daughter!”
Falon stood in shocked silence. She thanked all the gods that Lucien, who stood beside her, save for his one comment, kept his seething rage leashed.
When Rafael hesitated, Sasha erupted. The Siberian alpha turned raging eyes on Falon. “How dare you entice one who is promised to another?”
“I—” Falon began indignantly.
The old alpha reached for her.
Growls erupted from Lucien and Rafe. Lucien stepped in front of her just as Rafael set Anja from him.
Vehemently, Falon shook her head and held up her hands. “It’s true!” she admitted. She looked the old man straight in the eye. “Though unintentional.” She bowed her head as a sign of respect to the old alpha, then turned to his daughter. “My apologies, Anja; it has not been my intention to dishonor you or Rafa—er, Rafael.”
She stepped back and looked into her first love’s tortured eyes. It took everything she had not to tell him she loved him.
But what she did next was harder. She had to do what she knew she should have done before now. Taking Anja’s hand, Falon placed it in Rafael’s. “I relinquish all claim on you, Rafe.
“Take her to your bed and mark her. Be content to pair with such a noble woman who loves you.” Falon stepped back, fighting back the tears. “Find love with Anja as I have found love with Lucien.” Her heart wrenched unbearably even though she knew releasing Rafa face-to-face and in public was the right thing to do. And yet, it felt all wrong.
Rafael stood still as stone, his disbelieving eyes locked on Falon’s. There was no chance for them now. It was as it had to be. Time for them both to move forward with their separate lives.
Go, Rafa, be happy.
I will never be happy with another.
Try.
Try, as I try, she thought. Lucien made her happy. But part of her heart would always mourn for Rafe.