Marco closed his eyes and gritted his teeth as Sorin drew the blood from his body and swallowed in large gulps. Unlike he had with her, Sorin wasn’t savoring the blood, taking the time to taste it before swallowing. Instead, he was using his thirst to drain Marco as quickly as possible, no doubt counting on severe blood loss to weaken the other man.
It seemed to last forever. Gia stared, frozen in place as Sorin leeched the strength from her pack mate. Marco’s face twisted in defiance, fighting to remain conscious despite the blood loss. Gia swallowed hard. Marco was strong fighter, but his surprise at Sorin’s identity had cost him. The vampire had gotten the first hit—and he only needed one.
Her stomach turned as she listened to him feed. Even though she knew what he was, and she didn’t want Marco to win, she couldn’t help feeling uneasy as she watched a member of her pack fall victim to a vampire. The lupa in her wanted to intervene—the female in her just waited for the victor.
A wave of dark red spilled down Marco’s body. Sorin had drank his fill, now he was just letting the blood flow to weaken Marco further. Fear for her brethren’s life mixed with a rush of an alpha’s protective instincts and she stepped forward.
“Sorin, enough!”
Sorin pulled his fangs from Marco’s neck and the other man fell to the ground in a boneless heap. Gia ran to Marco’s still body, feeling for a pulse. A vice closed around her heart as she found nothing. She lowered her ear to his chest, straining to pick up even the slightest beat. Her own heart beat so loud, she couldn’t be sure if she heard one or not. Desperation seized her and she put her hands on Marco’s body. Just as she’d done with Sorin earlier, she reached into his body until she found the resting form of his beast, curled in that metaphysical cave that rested in the body of every therianthrope. With a grunt of desperation, she ripped it from his body.
Marco’s flesh erupted in soft brown fur and Gia nearly fell over with relief as his side rose and fell with breath. She lowered her head to his fur, breathing in the scent of her pack and reassuring herself that he was truly all right. When she finally raised her head, she noticed Sorin was no longer standing before her.
She turned to find him watching her from a few yards away. Her breath caught in her throat. He was so beautiful. His flesh had glowed under the moon before, but now that he was full of a werewolf’s invigorating blood he looked like a heavenly body himself. His skin looked even brighter with his dark hair falling in waves around his shoulders. His naked chest gleamed smooth and perfect, its white planes darkened by a sheen of fresh blood that glittered like liquid rubies in the light.
A strange emotion wove through her brain, moving down her body to infuse every muscle, every cell. Her beast rose to fill her body, but she didn’t change. The sensation of her wolf so close to the surface, yet still held inside human skin, sent a ripple of awe through her. She looked at Sorin as if seeing him for the first time.
Her eyes traveled down his tight stomach to his cock hanging heavy and straight between his strong legs. The world seemed hazy, as if it were all a dream. She stood and went to him, each foot drifting out in front of the other until she stood staring up into his face. His gaze traveled over her flesh, lingering on her breasts. Her nipples throbbed as if they could feel his stare. She ached with a physical need to feel him inside her, to let him take what he’d fought for.
He needs us. The thought echoed in her ears from somewhere deep inside her soul. Even under all that blood, all that adrenaline, she could still feel his fear. He’d repressed his beast for so long, suffered such horrible abuse. He needed someone to help him find his way back to harmony with his wolf. She could help him. She wanted to help him.
A warm wave of security washed over her. It melted her resistance. Her arousal took on a sharper edge, no longer dulled by doubt. She needed a strong mate to help her earn back the respect of her pack, to help her protect her pack. Sorin had that strength. He could be a true lycaeon, a true mate. He could help her just as she knew she could help him. A symbiotic relationship with neither forcing their will on the other. A true mated pair.
“Sorin,” she whispered, raising her arms.
He didn’t need further encouragement. He stepped up to her, gathering her body in his arms and running his hands over her back. The feel of his strong fingers kneading her muscles, coaxing her to mold her body to his, sent shivers down her spine. The slickness of the blood coating the front of their bodies touched something primal in her. She tilted her face up to receive his kiss. Liquid pleasure leaked from her body as he plundered her mouth, taking everything she offered. For the first time since Aphrodite had first laid a hand on her, she willingly gave herself over to the desire.
The soft green earth lay like a soothing balm on her back as Sorin lowered her to the forest floor. He was trying to be gentle, but his body vibrated with the effort. He’d just fought a challenge fight, spilled the blood of another man just for the right to mate with her. Between the need to mate and the energy the massive infusion of blood had given him, it was a wonder he wasn’t already pounding her into the ground.
She pulled back from the kiss and his lips fell to her neck. A pang of regret echoed through her that he’d already fed so well and probably wouldn’t be biting her this time. Desire soaked her body, making her pussy ache with the need to be filled.
“Sorin?”
He lifted his head to look at her and the sight of his wolf’s green eyes, lit up with the dark knowledge that his conquest was assured, tightened her body. She had to try twice before she could speak.
“Fuck me.”
A wicked smile curved his lips, flashing the sharp points of his fangs. She gasped as he rose up and locked his hands on her hips, flipping her over in one quick motion. Her heart leapt into her throat as he jerked her hips into the air.
The breeze caressed her soaking entrance and she sucked in a sharp breath. His fingers parted her, sliding through the wetness there and spreading it around. She rocked back, impatient with need. Her arms burned with the urge to thrust herself back, to impale herself on him and fill the emptiness between her legs. When the head of his cock finally pushed inside her, she almost wept with joy.
The feel of her pussy squeezing the head of his cock seemed to undo him. With a desperate cry, he slammed his hips into hers, driving a scream from her throat. She barely had time to breathe before he pulled out and rammed himself inside her again, the force of his thrust a thrilling reminder of his strength and power. Her body ached with a dull reminder that this was the third round of enthusiastic sex in less than twenty-four hours. The thought added to her pleasure, assailed her senses with memories of their previous couplings. Her hands gripped the forest floor, claws sprouting from her fingertips to pierce the ground and hold her still to better receive his thrusts. The scent of blood remained strong in the air, reminding her of his victory, his dominance. The thought turned her on and she lowered her upper body to the ground, holding herself up on her forearms and offering herself up to him. The gesture seemed to please him and he growled his pleasure as he accepted her offer.
Over and over again he pierced her body, every stroked sending a wave of golden heat outwards through her limbs until she burned with it. Pleasure built higher and higher, pulling her upward until the thought of the coming fall almost frightened her. When the orgasm finally hit, she closed her eyes and screamed into the night, holding onto the ground for dear life as wave after wave of bliss crashed down on her back, pounding her into the ground. Sorin roared behind her and his body stiffened as he followed her over the edge into oblivion.
Chapter 8
The cool night air ruffled Sorin’s fur as he ran, pure ecstasy burning through him as he bounded through the trees. His prey’s heart betrayed its location, calling to him even as it struggled to get away. His teeth ached and his mouth watered. So close.
Blood. Red coppery liquid gushed down his throat, bathing his face and fangs as he reveled in his kill, gulping down the sustenance it
provided. The taste of fear lingered in its blood, adding a spice to the meal and making him howl his pleasure to the sky.
A deathly pale face loomed out of the darkness, eyes flashing with fury and its face contorting in disgust. Sorin’s blood turned to ice in his veins as a deafening voice boomed around him.
“Sorin, what have you done? WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?”
He stared down at the carcass before him, horror closing like a vice around his heart. Gia’s face stared up at him, her eyes empty and lifeless. Her body was a pile of gore, a red ruin that reeked of death as only shredded intestines can. Stale blood burned the back of his throat as he shook his head.
“No. No, no, no, no, no, no—”
“No, no, no, no, no NO!”
Sorin bolted upright in bed, cold sweat lying like frost over his flesh. A thud from beside him echoed in his ears and he nearly snapped his neck jerking his head around to see what had made the noise. The sight of his bloody sheets screamed accusations and he leaned over the side of the bed just in time to vomit over the edge.
“What the fuck is going on? Sorin? Are you okay?”
Gia’s voice danced around the haze that surrounded him, his tormented mind struggling to sift through the images and salvage reality from the nightmare. His head swam as he bobbed on a wave of nausea. A sensory memory of wet flesh sliding down his throat overwhelmed him and he lurched over to vomit again.
The bed creaked and swayed as another body settled onto it. A hand tentatively brushed his back. The gesture of gentle affection and empathy touched a part of him that was frightened by the gory images of his dream and he sobbed. The nightmare was no dream. It was a premonition. He was a monster and he would destroy anything good that came into his life. He didn’t deserve her empathy.
“Sorin?” Gia whispered.
“What have I done? God save me, what have I done?”
“Sorin, what are you talking about? You haven’t done anything.”
Macabre images sliced through his mind, leaving bloody trails in their wake. Faces and bodies hovered before his eyes, all covered in blood and in some stage of being disemboweled. His eyes darted around the room, but he couldn’t tell what he was looking at and what was imposed on his surroundings by his memory.
“There is blood everywhere,” he choked. He closed his eyes, begging his mind to release the images of his past and let him forget. “Please, tell me what I have done. Tell me what is real.” He choked and closed his eyes. “Tell me what evidence is lying in this room.”
Gia’s hands closed on his shoulders and he didn’t resist when she pulled him back onto the bed. He opened his eyes, gazing at her face as she climbed into his lap. Even with the feel of her silky skin sliding against him, her soft curves teasing his fingertips, he had to fight not to look at the floor. The smell of blood was everywhere and as much as he didn’t want to know what he’d done, a part of him needed to see.
She settled into his lap, wrapping her legs around his waist and then leaning in to fold her arms around his shoulders. The feel of her lower body nestled so snugly against his own sent hot electricity through his groin, but even that wasn’t enough to tear his mind away from the horror the scent of dried blood inspired inside him.
Gia tucked herself against him, bringing his face to rest on her throat. The steady beat of her pulse so close to his lips made him whimper, awakening his hunger even as he struggled against self-loathing. The weak sound coming from his mouth grated on his nerves, but he didn’t have the strength to pull himself together just yet.
“Last night you honored the bargain you made with me. You defended my body against another man and spilled his blood in a fair fight. No one died, and no one will be any worse for the wear in a few nights time. The blood on our bodies, and on your sheets, is his.”
Her words didn’t convince him, but they gave him the courage he needed to look around. With those words ringing in his brain he could look around his room and see it for the empty space it was. No bodies were strewn about the floor, no lakes of blood held islands of raw flesh, and no trace of foul smelling liquids betrayed the desecration of intestines. They were alone.
Relief crashed over him with the strength of a tidal wave. Sorin banded his arms around her waist, hanging on for dear life. With the truth plain to see before him, the feel of her flesh against his soothed him. He held her tighter, trying to lose himself in the sweet scent of her skin. Underneath the slight fragrance of her soap, he could smell the musk of wolf. She smelled like home.
“It’s normal to have strange dreams after letting your beast out,” Gia said gently. “You made a lot of progress last night.”
“You speak to me as if I’m a new wolf,” Sorin murmured, closing his eyes and resting his forehead on her shoulder. “I was a wolf before you were so much as a sparkle in your father’s eye.”
“You are a new wolf,” Gia corrected him firmly. “You’ve repressed your beast for so long, you have the control of someone who’s never shifted before. And thanks to your twisted sire, you have the same hang-ups as a new wolf too. You think that humanity and your beast are mutually exclusive, but it is possible to find a balance.”
As much as he wanted to accept the comfort her words offered him, his doubt would not let it be so. Pretty words would not give back all the lives that had been lost under the sharpness of his claws. They would not erase the ghosts from his past.
“Letting go felt good,” he admitted, the words almost painful to release. He looked into her eyes. “But it cannot compare to the security of being in control.”
“Control is addictive,” Gia agreed. Her eyes seemed to look right through him, as if her mind meandered down a path he couldn’t see. Almost absentmindedly, her fingers began to play with his hair, curling it around her fingers. “Sharing it with anyone, really sharing it, means giving up some of that control and taking the risk that you’ll get hurt. It . . . isn’t easy. But sometimes trying to control everything only sets you up for a greater fall.”
She wasn’t just talking about him and his beast anymore—he could tell that much from her tone.
“What happened to you to give you this wisdom?” he whispered.
For a second he was certain she would answer him. The tension in her body, the slight intake of breath—all suggested a revelation. Then she snapped her mouth shut and shook her head. Before he could pursue the matter further, she fixed him with a brilliant smile.
“Come hunt with me.”
Sorin raised his eyebrows. “Pardon?”
She rose to her knees and grabbed his hand, pulling him with her as she backed off the bed. “I’m hungry.”
He couldn’t help it that his gaze darted to her neck and his fangs slid from their sheaths in an almost painful burst of anticipation. A sudden burst of doubt furrowed his eyebrows. He shook his head.
“Why do you insist on tempting fate? I’ve told you over and over again, I cannot give my beast the control you want it to have. You say I haven’t killed anyone yet, and I would like to keep it that way.”
“And I told you, if you insist on making the control issue all or nothing, than your beast will continue to fight. And when it wins, it’ll go wild. Trust me, you’ll wish you’d made a different choice then.”
Again, he could hear more in her tone than her words revealed. The pain in her eyes told a story that she’d only hinted at. His mind pulled away from his own troubles, just for a moment, wondering what could have put that pain in her eyes.
Before he could open his mouth to probe her once again for the rest of the story, she seemed to shake off whatever haunted her. A wicked gleam in her eyes was the only warning he got before she leaned in and pressed her mouth to his.
Sensory memories swirled around him, tearing him out of reality and plunging him into a dream world full of breathy moans and kisses tinged with blood. She deepened the kiss, sliding her tongue over one of his fangs. The taste of copper pulled a groan from his throat. Instead of macabre images full
of death and horror, the flavor of her blood reminded him of sex and ecstasy. Something primal stirred inside him and when she finally broke the kiss to pull back, that primal urge growled inside him.
Mine.
His thoughts must have shown on his face because Gia smirked and wagged a finger at him.
“If you’re going to be a wolf, you have to learn one very important lesson,” she told him, gesturing at his fangs. “First you hunt—then you eat.”
His stare locked on her naked curves, running over the swell of her breasts and hips before burning a hole in the patch of auburn curls between her legs. “A hunt hardly seems necessary when the prey wanders so close so willingly.”
Arousal laced the air and he closed his eyes as he sucked it into his lungs. The aroma danced on his taste buds and swirled through his senses until the world spun around him. Blood rushed to fill his cock and he groaned at the intense waves of anticipated pleasure crackling down his spine. He wanted her. He wanted to grab her warm luscious body in his arms and drag her onto his bed so he could plunder her pleasurable flesh until every one of his hungers lay satisfied.
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