by Cara Carnes
Relief and joy filled me upon seeing Stephan. Nothing beyond him being safe and back home with his alphas mattered. Again I longed for a moment alone with him so my hands could run along his body and offer me first-hand proof he was all right.
My pulse raced when I saw him. Fiery embers flared in his eyes, visible to me from ten wide paces. My soul soured.
Fallon escorted my father toward the other men of my village, who clustered farthest from Stephan. Evil glinted from his face, and his mouth turned upwards into the grin that always coiled my stomach for…
Danger.
The thought tumbled from my mind in a scream. Alphas moved to encircle Stephan. I felt his gaze on mine as he maneuvered from the pack toward me. I shook my head. Fear for him and his people burned my insides. Somehow my father expected his diabolical double-cross to be fulfilled.
I glanced though the thick mass of fighters. Desperation consumed me while I tried to recall the faces of all the villagers. I might know why my father seemed enthralled by the scene before him. Faces blended in my mind and distorted my fear into a raging inferno of consummate desperation.
Fallon was at my side. Stephan’s booming command to release him reverberated through the glade.
“Answer me, Hannah.”
I hadn’t heard Fallon’s question.
“You must calm yourself. Your agitation erupts Stephan’s protectiveness and that of our alphas sworn to protect him. What frightens you?”
“My father…his face.” I continued to search.
Nothing.
A bustle of movement to my left drew my attention. I moved toward Xavier and the Timbrian leader. From there I could see the remaining faces.
I hoped.
I had to figure out what my father’s diabolical plan was. These people had allowed me to remain with them when I had nowhere else to turn. Their warriors had saved me from a horrendous fate I refused to fathom. I owed them my protection. Even if it was from my kin.
Michael.
He lives!
I blinked and he was gone. Fallon and Xavier moved swiftly. Only I knew my brother’s face. I and my father. Finding my brother was paramount.
He lives.
Surely that was my father’s insidious plan. Michael served the Timbrian. Their leader was at my side along with Xavier, whose words mimicked my thoughts.
“Have you any new among your men—any strangers?”
“Only one. He came from Tash and swore his allegiance just two risings past.” The man glanced at the thick mass of bodies. “I don’t see him.”
Something within me stirred to life when my gaze met Michael’s. An evil grin etched his face into a sinister reminder of my father’s. I screamed his name when his arms moved. An arrow aimed toward Stephan—who’d broken from the crush of alphas determined to confine him to the safety of the inner circle.
Xavier and Fallon moved toward where I stared, but many had drawn their bows, ready to strike whoever amongst them dared to assault the king.
Stephan.
I leaped when the arrow fired, unsure of my plan. I doubted my mind ever formed anything beyond the overwhelming need to protect Stephan and his people from my flesh and blood.
Pain slammed into my shoulder and leg where I fell to the ground. Menacing growls severed Michael’s enraged cry. Dizziness assailed me, and my hand moved from my wound then above my face to where I could see the crimson droplets falling onto me.
Chapter Eight
I grabbed the arrow, but a steady hand pried my fingers from it. Someone lifted and embraced me. I blinked, trying to focus on Stephan.
“Nalla!”
“Easy, brother. She comes already with her potions.” Fallon’s steady voice filled my ears, his tone a forced calm to offset Stephan’s pained cry.
“Oh, Hannah. My heart can’t bear your loss. You must fight.”
I squeezed his arm and moved my hand to his face when my vision finally obeyed my confused mind and focused. Golden eyes filled with grey flecks peered back at me, their sadness tugging at my flailing heart.
“We need an elder to walk our king through the passage.” Gasps followed Fallon’s shouted statement.
“I will journey with our king.”
“As will I.”
Their voices drifted through my mind. I swallowed back my turbulent emotions and focused on Stephan.
“Stay with me, Hannah.”
“Go.” Fallon removed Stephan’s hand from me and I moved to reestablish contact. “Prepare yourself for the journey. I will see to Hannah and aid Nalla.”
“But she cannot journey.” His voice was low and pained, not the Stephan I loved.
Love.
I choked on the realization and hoped Stephan knew the depth of my devotion to him.
“She can. She has. We both know this,” Fallon said. Silence filled the air around us. “Go, Stephan.”
My lips moved to express my love, but I knew he wouldn’t hear, wouldn’t know what he meant to me.
“He does.” Fallon lifted my head. “Calm your mind. Nalla’s meddling has given us hope for a joyful end.”
How?
Blackness descended, and I held on to Fallon as my hearing abandoned me. My limbs grew weak, but something within me continued to trickle morsels of life to my faltering body.
My senses returned and Fallon patted Stephan’s back. “She has the resilience of a queen.”
“And the passion of a mate.” Stephan’s lips grazed mine. “Never will I find a way to repay Nalla for the gift she’s given me.”
Confusion befuddled my ability to speak.
“Don’t thank me yet. Much resides on the connection you two have and its strength to remain on your journey.”
Journey? I wasn’t fit to move—couldn’t speak or see clearly.
“Ease yourself, child. The tonic I’ve been giving you was to awaken your inner animal. We’re all gifted with one by the maker, but your people’s remain dormant. I’ve been waking her for you.” The woman’s whispered. “For Stephan.”
Stephan. I clung to the name since it was all that made sense to my mind.
“We begin now. Her animal is still weak and too young for such pain. She’s consumed the blood and tears of an elder,” Nalla stated.
“As have I,” Stephan replied.
“Let us begin.” Fallon stood.
“Drink, child.” I choked on the liquid streaming down my constricting throat. Something massaged me there, and I swallowed. “That’s it, child. Drink it all and sleep the sleep of the lovelorn.”
I sighed as she set my head down. Her words drifted through a hazy delirium.
“You must take the brunt of the journey, Stephan. Draw her out. Hold on to her inner animal and grow the love between you. Hannah is too weak to do aught but respond.”
“I will not fail her.”
“Restrain your inner wolf. It is strong, more powerful than any other. It could frighten her animal away.”
“He will be restrained.”
“Then drink.”
My senses detached from all but the colorless cloud of bliss drifting me through my headiest notions. Stephan. My eyes adjusted to the sterile surroundings as shards of color formed around me. Fiery crimson swirled, and hues of blue and purple jutted from the surface near me.
Stephan.
The colors reminded me of the game we played as children to pass the bitter cold night we’d been lost in.
“I take blue and purple and green.” His voice wrapped around me like fine silk. Gone was the youthful voice of the past.
“You’re here.” I wrapped myself in his arms, able to move only enough to secure a place against his body. I couldn’t see him, but I knew it was him. My Stephan. “Rest with me.”
“There’ll be eternities to spend here resting, Hannah. Let’s weave our souls’ home. Together.” Pleasure spiraled through my weary frame. My limbs were hardened and unmoving.
“Later.” I hissed my displeasure and nestled my he
ad into the crook of his arm. “Let us rest.”
“Come, Hannah. Create our world with me—build a home for our souls to slumber in together each night.”
I sighed my contentment. “Were it our home, slumber would never be.”
His breath fell hot against my neck. “Your passion tempts me, but this is a journey of our souls to grow together. Join with me, Hannah, as you did once before. Let us rebuild what time stole from us.”
His laugh tugged at my desire to share this with him. Color continued to erupt around me. Hues of purple, blue and green spread. Lush furniture draped in pelts and materials formed around me.
“You make this place dreary with darkness.”
“Show me how you wish it to be.”
The challenge consumed my mind. I focused on the beauty of the sunrise and the warmth of the waning sunset. Tapestries of orange, yellow and vibrant red wove with his colors.
I nestled against his arm and wiggled my ass against his cock. My pulse began to beat more strongly, my breathing stabilized. “There.”
“Tell me of our bed.”
I moaned. “Big, hard and all mine. Just like my Stephan.”
A massive bed appeared beneath us. I whimpered at the loss of lush comfort I’d had. Stephan’s hands moved to cup my breasts.
“I wish our bed to be soft, silken and sensual just like you.” Pillows formed beneath me, enveloping me in their warmth.
“Were this our bed, I would ride your cock every night, for not having you each night would pain my soul.”
“As it would mine.”
Silence fell between us as my eyes focused. The buzzing in my mind dissipated.
“But we would need more than a bed to feed our souls, Hannah. Tell me of your every desire.”
No one had ever asked that of me. I chewed on my lips and possibilities ran through my exhausted mind. “A garden for my herbs and roots so that I may be like Nalla and mend the broken. Like me.”
His hands moved down my body, fueling a hunger within me. “What else?”
I sighed and settled against him.
“Tell me.”
“What of your desires?”
“I desire a hearth filled with the crafts of our young.” His hand rested on my belly, which had begun to mend. “You wish to bear my children?”
“Aye, many. And may they all have your fiery golden eyes.” My fingers splayed across his. “I wish to always feel our child within me.”
He groaned. “Were it possible, you would.”
“I wish for no anger to separate us when we slumber. And may we never strike in fury.”
“Never. I vow to you.”
I believed him. The love within me spread, cleaning my soul of the scorn and negativity I’d experienced. The future with him would be different. Filled with laughter, joy and love.
I sighed. A rustling under my skin made me stir. “I feel as if something in me wants to crawl from me, Stephan.”
“Don’t force her. She’ll come to me when she’s ready—when she feels the love my inner wolf offers.”
Confusion and sorrow filled me. “I have no animal. I’m not like you.”
“You do, Hannah. Nalla awakened her for me. Tell me what she needs to feel safe. Tell me what she desires to feel loved.”
I thought of acceptance, and his people. “What of your people, Stephan? My presence troubles them and I don’t wish to wedge myself between you and your pack.”
His hand cupped my chin. Warmth spread through me when his lips feathered mine. “You are the light in my soul. You always have been.”
The truth reflected in his eyes. “But how?”
“You built my soul’s home. You poked and prodded and created it where it should reside when I was at death’s door. You dragged me into my soul’s home and breathed life into me with your kindness and pure heart. Were it not for you, my soul would’ve been eternally darkened by the misery and pain of my journey that day. You brought me life. Hope. Light. Joy. Love.” His lips grazed mine. “Live with me, Hannah. Love me.”
Streams of light filled my mind. Something stirred within me. I held to Stephan and tasted his mouth. He loved me.
My skin glistened with life, and a low growl tumbled from my lips. His responding growl melded with mine and echoed around us.
He drew my body against his, and he groaned. “Your animal moves to welcome mine. I feel her heart beating in time to mine.”
“You do?” I longed to sense it too.
“You will. Give her time to grow and you’ll soon sense me, no matter the distance. It’s how soul mates are within our people, and you are my soul.”
“Soul?”
“Unions within our people are different than they are with yours. Our souls become bound to one another. Our inner animals rejoice in a mutual love and strengthen the home our hearts will share. Nothing will sever our love. You are my soul, Hannah.”
“And you mine.”
Sunlight streamed across the glade when I opened my eyes and observed the gathering of Stephan’s pack. He stirred beside me, and the crowd cheered wildly as he rose and lifted me.
His lips captured mine as he set me down gently to stand at his side. Happiness filled me. Fallon clapped Stephan’s back. “It was a beautiful journey, brother. You have found a worthy soul mate.”
“Aye, I have.”
My heart swelled with his love. I clasped his hand.
“Welcome to our family and our pack, Hannah.” Fallon hugged me. “I can only hope to find a mate such as you.”
The change within everyone startled me and filled me with confusion. Stephan smiled and moved to sequester me from the mass of people vying for my attention.
“Your joy for us overwhelms and fills our hearts. Please, let us celebrate at another time—after my mate has had time to absorb today’s events.”
Nalla moved to my side. “You were remarkable, child. You’ve gained the hearts of our pack with your willingness to die for the king. You proved your soul is that of a queen.”
Queen. I smiled. What I’d done had always been for the man. He knew.
I took a deep breath. “We’re mated?”
“There will be a ceremony, but it’s more for celebration. The upcoming weeks will be filled with you meeting the pack.”
The pack. I’d never envisioned so many wanting to know me. It was all because of Stephan. How could we keep them safe now that so many knew of them?
The Timbrian leader stepped forward and extended his hand. “I’m Rall. Your bravery on this day fills me with pride for my brethren fighter. He is a lucky man to have a woman such as you.”
“Thank you.” The man clasped Stephan’s hand.
“We will tell a mighty tale of a young girl who got lost in the woods and that of a dastardly wolf. It will become the pastime story for our children, to instill their respect for the forest and incite fear in anyone who dare venture here.”
“That’s a fine plan,” Stephan said.
Fallon and Xavier worked to restrain the crush of people as they moved toward their king. My pulse raced and my breathing became labored at the concern pressing in me. How could I think to be a queen to these people?
“Don’t let this all overwhelm you, Hannah, for at the end of the day we are but one man and one woman eternally in love.”
I sighed and wrapped my arms around him. “Show me.”
Had I known the virility of their fairy tale rivaled that of my Stephan, perhaps I would’ve altered a few details. Red never suited me, and Stephan’s luscious, golden eyes deserve their own place within history. Even after all these centuries, his eyes still burn with passionate fiery embers, just as my heart continues to beat in time to his.
I might not have been graced with a Prince Charming on a white steed, or been gifted with a fairy godmother with the power to turn a pumpkin into a golden chariot. But what I, the mighty pirate of Lost Woods, managed to scour from my chest of wares is far more valuable—a love which has strengthened
each day and a family so large it defies belief.
I pray if you recall only one thing from this true tale, it is that happily-ever-after does exist.
Know that Stephan and I flourish. Our pack has evolved, and many have left the forest we call home. Some live among you. Others carry on the more traditional lifestyle within the remotest regions possible. We laugh, love and share our knowledge with our brethren shifters—the jaguars.
May we all hold to our happily-ever-after and relish the knowledge that the conventional trappings of the fairy tales which enthrall us as children aren’t the morsels which feed our soul. It’s not the grandness of our life or love that unites us.
It’s that we love.
About the Author
To learn more about Cara Carnes, please visit www.caracarnes.com. Send an email to Cara Carnes at [email protected] or join her Yahoo! group to join in the fun with other readers as well as Cara! http://groups.yahoo.com/group/caracarnes
Love can be a force of nature.
Serengeti Lightning
© 2010 Vivi Andrews
Serengeti Shifters, Book 3
Mara Leonard is through hitting the snooze button on her biological clock. The Three Rocks Pride schoolteacher is ready to get serious about starting a family, and she needs a serious man to make that happen.
Regrettably, that means crossing less-than-serious Michael Minor off her list of potential mates. Michael is impulsive and passionate, but his spontaneity leaks into shapeshifting whenever his emotions run high—a tendency he should have outgrown long ago. As a sex buddy, he’s delicious. Daddy material? Disqualified.
Michael is blindsided by Mara’s rejection. Nine years separate them, and his genetic malady means no one in the pride treats him as an adult. But if she thinks he’ll simply slink away to lick his wounds while she steps into the arms of another man, she has seriously underestimated him.
The tricky part will be convincing his over-analytical lover that he’s more than a disposable sex toy. That real bravery means tearing up her damn checklist and following her heart. And doing it without letting their explosive sexual chemistry expose the Pride’s secrets to the outside world.