We landed just as Darrel’s huge wolf charged toward us, heading for the fight. Before Darrel could cross the distance, the fae dove onto Lance’s back, his blade slashing across Lance’s throat. I threw myself at him, sinking my teeth into the man’s shoulder and ripping him free of my mate.
The fae spun, his wide smile dripping blood. Behind him, Lance’s body slumped to the ground.
I’d been trying to handle this conflict peacefully, but now?
My wolf pulled me under and took control. The world faded in and out of focus. One moment, the cat-like fae screamed in pain as my claws opened furrows in his flesh, then the world faded to blackness. Blood filled my mouth and washed over my paws. The fae’s silver blade sank into my shoulder, burning through my tissue and bone. I howled in pain as Darrel’s wolf slammed into the fae’s side, his teeth clamping down and ripping his head from his neck.
It was over.
My wolf and I attempted to hobble toward Lance, but we collapsed to the ground feet away. He wasn’t moving. Whines and whimpers escaped my throat as I watched his still form. White-hot fire burned inside me, and agony was all I knew.
“Maybe we should carry her in first,” Jane said from somewhere close by.
“If we try, she’ll attack us. We need to move. That one was probably the fastest hunter, not the only one. Let’s go.” Darrel scooped up Lance while he talked, carrying him out of my line of sight. “We’ll load Lance in the back. You pad his body with blankets while I grab Scarlet. I’ll hold her while you drive to the packhouse.”
Hands wrapped around my side, and a new bout of pain set every cell in my body on fire. I let out one more whimper, and then the world faded into darkness.
Chapter Twenty-One
Scarlet
“Lance,” I called out, my voice waking me from a daze. A familiar room took form around me, the same old wallpaper from childhood, the same framed photos of me performing with my high school dance team. The infirmary bed’s plastic liner squeaked under me. “Lance,” I said again, sitting up.
“He’ll be okay,” Darrel rumbled from a seat beside the bed. “He’s right next to you. Zane’s mother said it was helping both of you heal.”
I sank back.
Someone had pushed two of the cots together and lowered the bar between Lance and me. His chest was rising and falling, and his eyes moved side to side beneath his eyelids. A silver slash cut across his tattoos from one side of his neck to the other.
The fae had slit his throat. Tears pricked at my eyes, and a sob caught in my chest.
Darrel leaned over me. “You have a couple of your own now, too. The healer says that they’re closing up the best that silver wounds can, but she’s monitoring them.”
Squeezing my eyes closed I pressed my palm to Lance’s chest, taking comfort in the strength of his heartbeat. He was headstrong, infuriating, and impossible. He couldn’t go out so soon. I didn’t even know for sure if he was my mate.
That was a lie. I knew it. My wolf had been screaming it at me from the moment Lance walked through my office door and asked for an apartment in my building.
“Oh, honey, it’ll be all right,” Mom said hours later, pulling me into an embrace. When she pulled back, she cupped my cheek in the palm of her hand. “How are you feeling, Scar?”
“Finally living up to my nickname,” I said with a wince. Silver scars snaked down my side and up to my shoulder. The fae had managed to land two deep stabs and dozens of shallow slices. In my frequent bathroom breaks, I glimpsed the damage to my shoulders and side, but not wanting to leave Lance for a prolonged period of time, I hadn’t inspected them closely.
My father and mother had come to report near midday. We had lost a full sixteen hours, but thankfully, they were weekend hours. Otherwise, Marie would have fired me for sure.
“We’ve moved the submissive wolves to a safe house,” Dad said. “The dominant ones await your commands. For whatever reason, Queen Titania hasn’t attacked yet.”
I wanted to tell him to take them all to the safe house, but the fae would only hunt us down and pen us in. This way, at least we had a snowball’s chance in hell.
Mack and Aaron stood in the doorway. Mack’s aquamarine gaze searched my mine for probably the hundredth time. “What can we do to help?”
“Just keep looking for Zeezee and Necro-Nancy,” I said as my stomach plummeted. “That’s all we can do.”
Between the demon and the fae hunters, I was starting to really worry about my sister.
“And we need to prepare this place for an attack,” I added.
It had taken three alpha werewolves and my wolf falling into her berserker mode to take down one fae hunter. One. Fucking. Hunter.
I had known fae hunters and werewolves were unevenly matched, but I hadn’t realized how severely outmatched we were. The very idea that Zane managed to kill twenty-two fae was so laughable, I didn’t even understand how I could have considered it. Queen Titania either had a very distorted view of werewolf capabilities, or she was knowingly framing the pack for the murders. If the later were true, the Knight Brothers were right in guessing that she had found a way to slip her curse.
“I’m giving temporary pack status to the Knight brothers and Mack—”
“Scarlet,” my father said, leaning in. “We would all like to welcome Mack, but that might be a little fast moving.”
“No, Jack, you’re wrong,” my mother said, sitting straight and turning toward the doorway where Mack was still leaning. “Mack and Scarlet are in a healthy sexual relationship, and the pack will need to embrace that sooner rather than later. If the fae are attacking us at any minute, it’s best we all accept him now. Otherwise we might never get the chance.”
“Thanks, Allyson,” Mack said with a huge grin.
“Please, Mack, call me Mom,” she said.
“Thanks, Mom,” I whispered. I’d never really been in doubt that she’d be on the Mack and Scarlet ship, but it felt good to have her captain the fleet. Hopefully my wolves wouldn’t take this opportunity to call a mutiny.
Having their orders, everyone dispersed. Mack and Aaron each gave me a gentle kiss before disappearing, for which I was grateful. After the attack at the airport, each minute felt precious, as if it could be the last.
For the next several hours, I directed the preparations for the attack from my conjoined sick bed. Brenda and Mari, two dominant wolves who were in charge of stocking the submissive compound sorted through our supplies, leaving the major trauma gear here and taking the rest to the compound. They all nodded as they passed my bed, giving me a little more respect than they had when I’d just been Scarlet, the alpha’s daughter. Now that I was Scarlet the Alpha, their nods were deeper, almost bowing their heads as they greeted me with the respectful title, “Alpha.”
Then I had the dominants to worry about. Jacob Knight and his father had amassed great quantities of iron bullets and knives during their times as alpha, but in a show of peace, my father and Queen Titania had agreed to melt their weapons down and bury them in the forest.
It was a decision I would have never made, and if I’d been here at the time when my father made it, I’d have grabbed his shoulders and shook him. I’d have shouted into his face that there was no way in this fiery red earth that the fae queen melted down her silver. Destroying our weapons was the act of a man so desperate for peace that he’d believe anything.
It wasn’t fair to condemn my father’s choices as alpha. He’d stepped up. I hadn’t. It was as simple as that.
Darrel’s wolves were heading this way with their weaponry, but it wasn’t enough. My only hope was exonerating the pack and hoping that the Queen would be bound to pull back the hunt. It was a fragile hope.
Pushing my grim thoughts aside, I turned to my mother, “Thanks for your support back there. ”
“Scarlet.” My mother folded her hands in her lap and regarded me with her therapist expression. “You need to seal your mate bond with Lance Knight.”
&
nbsp; I groaned, rubbing my face. “Seriously, Mom, not now.”
“Well, not until I leave the room, of course.”
The look I leveled on her made her pause, and then she sighed. “Your four mates—and I include Mack in that number, because he has always been your soul mate—are your balance points.”
“Mom, please don’t psychoanalyze my sex life right now. Just please, no.”
She kept talking as if she couldn’t hear me at all. “I don’t really know the other three alpha boys, but from the little I’ve seen of them, I’d compare Aaron to fire. He’s passionate and fun, but also comforting. Darrel reminds me of water. He’s intense, nourishing, and powerful—and yes, I am talking about sex.”
I squeezed my eyes shut. “Mother, speaking as your alpha. Stop talking.”
“Don’t be ridiculous, Scarlet. You’re speaking as my daughter, and while you’re my daughter, you still have to listen to me.”
Why did my mother always have to pull this shit while I was stuck in the infirmary?
I sighed. “And Mack is earth because of his Summer magic?”
If I let her finish, she’d get it over with.
“Mack is air, and that’s why you’ll lose him if you’re not careful. But I’m not here to talk about your other mates, Scarlet. I want to talk about Lance. Lance is earth, and that’s why you need him. He’s stability. He’s limitless abundance and love. He’s the grounding force your wolf needs, just like you’re the enlivening force his wolf needs.”
I glanced at my sleeping mate. As infuriating as he could be, I knew he was our mate, no matter what my stubborn human brain thought.
“It was the same way with your father and me,” Mom said. “Lance is the one who needs you the most, aside from Mack. But as I said, I’m not talking about your fae lover. If you and Lance keep the wall between you for long enough, both your wolves will starve.”
“Me?” I asked. “I’m the one keeping the wall between us? Mom, have you met Lance? He’s impossible.”
“Sometimes you have to be the bigger alpha,” she said, patting my hand. “Everyone knows that your wolves are desperate for each other. Deep inside, I believe you’re as desperate for Lance as your wolf is. If you put aside your pride for him, even if he can’t do the same for you, you’ll see. You can’t wait for him to do what’s right. He has his own growing to do, but you can’t let that hold you back from your own growth.” She lifted her hands in surrender. “That’s all I wanted to say.”
“Thanks, Mom,” I said dryly, “I’ll have my insurance send you a check. Can you bill it under talk therapy instead of family sex therapy just in case there’s a mail mix up?”
She rolled her eyes. “You joke, but I know that you listened to what I said, so I’m satisfied.”
She left me after that, only giving me a quick kiss on the forehead and a promise that she’d leave the house for a few hours with my dad and lock the infirmary door.
Jeez, Mom. Way to put on the pressure.
Lance shifted on the mattress, squinting one eye up at me.
“You listened to all that?” I whispered, blinking to make out his features in the moonlight streaming in the window.
“No,” Lance said, his voice low but holding a smile. “I heard something about earth and how your mother wants us to fuck.”
“Of course that’s all you heard,” I muttered. “One day, I swear that I’m going to snap with that woman. That is, if she doesn’t kill me from humiliation first.”
His eyes slipped closed. “I like your mom. She’s a wealth of information on you.”
“Oh, I’ll bet she is. What has she told you?”
Lance grumbled something unintelligible, then turned toward me in the dark. His blanket slipped down to his waist, and the play of the moonlight over his bare chest made me catch my breath.
Focus, Scarlet. Not the most pressing issue right now.
“Thank you for saving my life,” Lance said quietly, his eyes finding mine. His hand slid over my cheek, thumb caressing my skin. My heart picked up speed at his touch. I was very aware of the fact that he was only wearing a blanket and boxers.
“Lance,” I whispered, heat rising to my cheeks. “Are you still injured?”
“I’m fine,” he said, his thumb brushing over my lower lip.
My wolf preened under his touch, wanting more. I pushed her down, but I couldn’t ignore the pull of my body toward Lance. My breath came faster as his hand moved back, burying itself in my hair. He tugged my head forward, and our lips met. A jolt of electricity went through me, and wetness sprang to life between my thighs as his tongue prodded my lips, drawing them open and sliding in.
I sighed, my hands moving over the planes of his taut body. His skin trembled under my fingers, and I couldn’t help but revel in the effect my touch had on him, too. He may be able to smell my arousal, but I could feel every inch of his as it pressed into my thigh. A groan escaped him, and he pulled back, breaking our kiss.
“Is this what you want, Scarlet?” he asked, rocking his hips slowly against mine.
“I don’t know,” I admitted. My body wanted it for damn sure, and it was letting him know. My mind was a little slower on the uptake.
“What would make you sure?” he asked.
If he wasn’t such an insufferable ass ninety percent of the time? If he didn’t have a shield up that kept me always at arm’s length? My mom said that I built a wall between us, but he had a wall twice as high as mine... with spikes. Was I just supposed to let him in and be okay with the fact that he might never reciprocate?
“Maybe if we connected on some other level besides cycling between fighting and making out nonstop,” I offered.
“That’s why I wanted you to go back to school,” he said. “So we’d have something together. Something that you don’t have with anyone else.”
“Lance Knight,” I said, keeping my voice light. “Are you telling me that you can’t even ask me to spend time with you without insulting me?”
He gave me a small smile. “Unfortunately.”
We lay there staring at each other for a long minute, the moonlight illuminating the tattoos that covered him from the top of his neck and all the way down his chest and back.
“I’ve been trying to find ways so we can connect in normal life. Chemistry—that’s not our problem.” He lifted his brows.
I smiled and made a face. “Maybe not.”
Lance gave me a look that communicated I was full of shit. Leaning in, he whispered, “But, as much as I want to fuck you all day, every day, we need to have a connection outside of that. I was thinking that going to school together would work. You and I both studied business. You were forced to leave pursuing your degree in order to take care of your family. I thought it would make you happy. But I realized that school would just be one more thing on your overflowing plate. So, I’ve been trying to think of other things we can share, activities that would help relieve your stress instead of adding to it.”
My heart swelled at his confession. “Really?”
He nodded, his hand sliding down my head to my neck, drawing me in again. “I was thinking of buying a house on Crescent Lake.”
My mind immediately pictured the glimmering water and the long line of docks. “Are you talking about a lakefront property?”
“Yeah. We could swim or float on the lake and have drinks by the shore. At night, we’d lay by the fire or relax in the jacuzzi.”
“I love that idea.” I gave him a teasing smile. “By ‘we’ do you mean just you and me?”
His brows lifted, like he hadn’t considered that. “I meant all of us—me, Darrel, Aaron, and Mack. But maybe sometimes it could be just the two of us.”
He had me at his acceptance of Mack. I cut him off, pressing my lips to his, the warmth of our kiss curling through me and heating my core from within. My thighs slickened as his tongue caressed mine, more gently than the other times he’d kissed me. I didn’t expect gentleness from Lance, the dirty-talki
ng rich asshole. Yet, his mouth moved over mine with care and hunger, gently consuming me until I was so wet I couldn’t stand it. I climbed onto him, straddling his hips. He ran hands over my waist and up my body, pushing my shirt with them.
In seconds, he’d tugged the material off over my head. His hands found my breasts, bared for his touch. His thumbs caressed my nipples, which hardened to rigid peaks beneath his gentle fingers. I ran my hands over his pecs, pinching his nipples at the same time that I rocked slowly against his cock. Lance’s hands caressed over my sides to my hips again, and he rolled down the waistband of my pajama pants.
“Scarlet?”
“Yeah?”
“Take these off.”
“I knew you couldn’t go five minutes without bossing me around.”
I hopped off the bed and ditched the pants, then swung my leg over him, settling astride his hips. The heat of his cock against my wet sex made me gasp, and I rolled my hips, coating his rigid length with my wetness. His grip on my hips tightened, and he lifted his hips, groaning with pleasure. I leaned down, pressing my lips to his again. Lance’s hand slid up my back, cradling my body against his. His bare skin burned into mine, his lips parting for my tongue.
“Climb on my dick,” he growled. “I want to fill you up, first with my cock and then with my cum.”
I reached back, grasping his cock and guiding it to my entrance. A tremor of longing gripped my body, and I pushed down on the head of his cock. I pushed up on my hands to watch Lance’s face as his cock slid into me for the first time. The look of pure, helpless lust that washed over his face filled my body with a wave of power, and with it, an almost unbearable pleasure.
“Fuck me with that perfect pussy of yours,” he panted. “I can’t do what I want to you right now, so do what I tell you.”
“Oh, fuck,” I whispered as I sat up fully, sinking onto Lance’s shaft and taking in his full length. He gripped my thighs, spreading them wider as I rode him, rising and falling in rhythm with the motion of his hips.
Filthy Fae: A Dirty Alphas Novel (Heartland Forest Book 2) Page 17