by Mina Carter
He hit the arch and skidded around the corner, more agile than a wolf of his size should be. That had always been one of his advantages. He was big, agile and faster than the wind. All of which would help him catch his prey.
She was just ahead of him; her skirts bunched in her hands as she sprinted for the maze. He rumbled amusement deep in his throat, the wolf as amused as the man. Even though she hadn’t a hope in hell of outrunning him, she still wouldn’t just roll over and allow him to win. She wasn’t going down without a fight.
She shot a glance over her shoulder, her eyes widening as she saw him right behind her. The small catch of her breath was one of surprise, and maybe, delight. A small sexy little sound that renewed his determination to catch her. Wrap her in his arms and claim her in the most fundamental way possible. His body over hers, in hers, and his teeth in her shoulder holding her still as he fucked her.
No…no biting, he reminded himself. He couldn’t bite her. The chase was a claiming, not a mating, so he couldn’t. But he wanted to… Grimly, he got the urge under control and beat paw to chase his little prize.
*
Fuck. He was right behind her.
Cyan’s breath caught in her throat. The sound was half sob as her lungs burned and half a squeak of delight, as she dug deep for more speed. She managed it, reaching the entrance to the maze and ducking inside. Straight away, she wheeled to the right.
When she was a child, she’d been a frequent visitor at the court. As pack alpha, her father had often had business here, and he’d bring her and Nick along, leaving then to their own devices while he attended council meetings. They’d gravitated to the gardens, and the maze had been her favorite place. So much so, that it’s layout was imprinted in her memory.
Even though Veyr was the Master of the City, he hadn’t been brought up in the courts. She doubted he’d spent much time exploring the gardens or the maze.
She raced down narrow alley after narrow alley, ducking left and right as she wove through the maze. Fae-wrought, it changed its layout often, but she’d long ago worked out the sequence. Seeing the hedge wall in front of her shimmer, she counted her steps, then stopped dead.
On cue, the stone wall to her left opened, and she sidestepped fast. She grabbed her skirts, pulling them close around her just in time as the wall snapped shut again. ‘Snappers’ she and Nick had called them when they were children, because of the way they snapped shut without warning.
The deep snarl on the other side of the maze made her smile for a second before she was off again. It wouldn’t take him long to track her through scent, so she had to keep moving. Her heart pounded in her chest as she ran. There was no way that she could outrun him, but the unwritten law was that the harder she was to catch, the longer he’d keep her afterward.
The hedges in front of her shifted and she reacted automatically, altering her course. She needed to make it out of the maze, to the other side, then perhaps she could take shelter in the folly on the small rise at the edge of the gardens. A smile curved her lips. Purpose renewing her stride she turned left… Into a clearing that shouldn’t be there.
Skidding to a stop, she looked around in surprise. In all the years she’d played in the maze as a child, she’d never seen this place. Hedges bordered it on all sides. Velvet-like grass carpeted the ground, so sumptuous that her fingers ached to stroke it and see if it was as it looked. In the center was a low stone bower covered in soft cushions and blankets.
“Shit.” She’d taken a step forward without thinking, but stopped herself as she felt the familiar pull of magic. A soft growl snapped her head up, her heart pounding with equal measures of fear and excitement. She knew Veyr, but that didn’t mean her human survival instincts hadn’t kicked in. Being chased by an enormous wolf did that, even though she knew that he wouldn’t eat her. Not in a bad way anyway.
She whirled on her heel and raced back the way she’d come, twisting and turning through the maze. Left, right, under the stone bridge, and the next turn up on the right should bring her in sight of the entrance.
Her steps slowed as she turned, and walked into the same clearing again. Great, the maze itself was working against her. She turned again, meaning to retrace her steps and work out the real way out, and came face to face with a huge wolf, padding up behind her on silent paws.
“Veyr,” she whispered, feeling her eyes widen as she backed up.
This was it, out of time. He’d found her.
Her body hummed with excitement. She was screwed.
Literally.
Chapter Three
Veyr stalked her across the clearing, his big paws silent on the moss-like grass. Heart in her throat and shivers stealing over her limbs, Cyan took a step back for each step forward he made. A little voice in the back of her mind, the human part of her, went into hysterics, yammering on about the predator stalking her.
She ignored it.
She’d been around lycans all her life, and even though she couldn’t shift herself, she felt the pull. The attraction. Veyr’s eyes, solid amber due to his change, watched her with interest and intelligence. Heat blazed in them. Not the feral heat of a wolf tracking prey for a meal, but the dark need of a man tracking a woman he wanted.
Her teeth caught her lower lip, worrying at it. Anything to quell the shivers that wracked her body. As a test, she took a step to the side. Veyr’s lips curled back from his teeth, the low growl a warning. Quickly, she stepped back into line, her hand creeping up to her throat. She knew wolves. She knew Veyr. He’d never hurt her. She wasn’t scared. Not scared at all.
Okay…maybe she was a little apprehensive. Not all lycans had perfect control when shifted. Sometimes the wolf was more in control than the man. Her mind pulled up all the old stories of ‘accidents’. Men who’d gone moon-mad and killed their wives.
Veyr’s snarl disappeared, and he surged forward. She squeaked, scrambled backward and fell on her ass on the cushioned bower. She didn’t have time to process the soft surface at her back because he was over her in a heartbeat. Paws the size of dinner plates hit the cushions by her hips and he prowled up her body.
Her breath came in hard pants, the feral smell of lycan sucking the strength out of her limbs, especially when it swelled and changed with his shift. No one smelled the same as Veyr. It was an addictive, sensual mixture of warm skin and wildness that hit her in the gut and made everything feminine within her sit up and take notice. Racked her arousal up by another couple of notches.
“Thought you could get away from me did you, little wolf?” He asked, his breath warm by her ear. She shivered again, hot and cold chills chasing over her skin as her arousal fought with her need not to give in too soon.
“Not thought. Did.” She twisted to look him straight in the eye, not flinching at the bright amber. She’d never known a lycan powerful enough to keep his wolf so close to the surface and still retain control. But then, he’d had control even fully-shifted. “If the damn maze hadn’t conspired against me, I’d have made it to the folly at the least.”
His lips quirked, the beginnings of a smile, but then it disappeared and the hard expression returned. A mask she realized. Maybe.
“Really?” Reaching out, he captured one of her hands in his, not holding the wrist as she’d expected, but twining his fingers between hers. He leaned down, brushing his lips over hers. “Not a chance, sweetheart. Do you think I don’t control the maze just as much as the rest of the city?”
A whimper broke free of her throat. She didn’t know. Didn’t care. Not when he was touching her like this. Kissing her. She lifted her head, trying to follow his lips and make the butterfly soft kiss into something deeper.
He rumbled approval in the back of his throat, the sound more wolf than man, and gave her what she wanted. His lips crashed down over hers. Hard. Feral. Demanding. He kissed like a man possessed. Like a man who only had a day left to live and planned to spend it all in carnal pursuits.
She gasped when he nipped her lower li
p and used the opportunity to slide his tongue deep into her mouth. Her moan was immediate, unbidden. He stroked and teased, just their mouths and hand touching. The heat of his body caged hers, so close she could almost feel his hardness pressing against her.
Need curled through her body, invading her veins and making her limbs weak. She drove the fingers of her free hand into the short hair at the nape of his neck. Held him close as the kiss became an inferno of torrid strokes and slides interspersed with hot nips of human-blunt teeth. If a man could compress a night's worth of passion and lust into one kiss, then it was Veyr.
“They’ll be here soon.” He broke away to whisper, his hand reaching down to her skirts and slid beneath them.
Her breath caught in her throat, the same throat he kissed his way down, as he headed for the swell of her breasts, highlighted rather than concealed within the tight dress. It was a ‘fuck-me-now’ dress, designed for easy access and a man’s pleasure.
She whimpered and wriggled as his lips blazed a trail of hot kisses across the twin mounds until he reached the center. A simple ribbon held the too-tight bodice together. A ribbon he caught between his teeth.
“Veyr, no!” she exclaimed, but even as she spoke, the ribbon gave, sliced by sharp teeth. The dress parted, and her breasts spilled free, nipples beading in the cooler air. Heat hit her cheeks. She could hear voices and footsteps as the council worked their way through the maze toward them. Any minute now, they’d find the clearing, see everything…
Veyr lifted his head, his eyes glittering, and when he spoke, his voice was rough. Deeper than human. “Claiming Chases are public, little wolf. You know that. The council has to watch as I fuck you. As I claim you in front of them.”
The shiver of arousal hit her low down but spread out like a wildfire through her body. He didn’t wait for her nod. Instead, he bent his head and licked her nipple, a hot, rough brush of his tongue that made her body shiver and her pussy clench in need.
She closed her eyes, ignored the sounds and what they meant as he pulled the nipple into his mouth and sucked. A small cry left her lips, her back arching at the pleasure. His hand stroked up her leg, sliding around to her inner thigh. She opened for him without thinking, parting her legs at his unspoken command. The dress hadn’t come with panties, so she was naked beneath it.
“Good girl,” he whispered, leaving a soft nip against her tender flesh that made her jump then melt. His fingers brushed her pussy lips, already soaked with her arousal, and he chuckled. “Already hot for your Master, aren’t you? Good, because this is mine. This will always be mine.”
Without warning, he drove two fingers deep into her needy cunt, making her arch and moan in deep, dark need. Despite the night they’d had, she needed this. Needed him again already. Needed him driving deep inside her until she shattered apart with pleasure.
She rode it, and his fingers, keeping her eyes closed. If she did, she could pretend that this was just them. That there was no one else here. No one watching them. Veyr’s fingers stroked inside her, sliding and pumping in her slick channel.
“Concentrate on me, little wolf,” he demanded, adding his thumb to rub against her clit. Already aroused as she was, the added stimulation was almost too much. Almost. She was greedy. She wanted more. Always more. Biting her lip, she opened her eyes to meet his, and ground her hips against his hand. His cheeks were flushed; eyes narrowed to thin slits of burning amber as his fingers continued to work under her skirts. He fucked her with the two, thick digits, until she saw sparks beginning behind her eyes.
“Just me, no one else.” He pulled his fingers free of her pussy and slid his lean, muscled body down hers. Hard hands flipped her skirts up, and she sucked a breath in as the colder air invaded, licking over her skin like a lovers caress. Those same hands smoothed up her legs to push her knees further apart. Parting and exposing her to the gaze of the alpha werewolf between her legs.
He rumbled a mixture of approval and desire, but the sound of footsteps entering the clearing broke her concentration. She kept her eyes closed, knowing they could see her spread out under Veyr. Knew that they could see everything she had. Unbidden, her body reacted, trying to close her legs, but a growl stopped her. Then a hot tongue lashed her pussy lips, parting them to seek her clit, and she was lost.
A keen in her throat, she arched her back and rocked her hips. Veyr’s hard hands closed about her hips, holding her still for the attentions of his tongue. He nibbled and licked. Circled her clit until she was ready to beg, the suckled until sparks flew, and she cried out in pleasure. He wouldn’t let her come though. Each time she thought she was near enough to tumble over the edge, he changed tactics. Kept her arousal at a high simmer until she was ready to scream at him. Beg. Plead. Anything to be allowed release.
He used his hands again. One slid up her body to pinch and tease at a nipple as the fingers of the other slid deep into her wet pussy. She gasped and clenched hard around him as he rumbled a chuckle against her clit. The vibration made her toes curl. She gasped, clutching at the cushions as she opened her eyes.
They were all there. The alphas. Watching them. She stilled for a moment, but instead of the horror she thought she’d feel, the fact they were being watched sent a bolt of arousal through her. One so sharp that a liquid wave of arousal flooded her pussy, soaking Veyr’s fingers.
“That’s it, hot and wet. For me.” Veyr whispered. His hand moved, twisted and she jumped when his finger, wet with her juices, slid down to press against her ass. The dark heat sliding through her veins had nothing to do with the men watching them and everything to do with the wicked desires rolling through her mind. With his hand and mouth, Veyr pushed her to the edge.
Then pulled away.
She blinked, so close to the edge her body shook, and looked at him as he rose over her. Her words of complaint died on her lips at the hard, feral look on his face.
“Turn over,” he ordered. Before she could do his bidding though, he’d turned her onto her hands and knees in a casual display of strength that stole the rest of her will. A big hand smoothed over her ass, pushing her dress up so her ass was bare.
She bit her lip, her hands claw-like in the cushions and shoved her ass back against him in eagerness. The men around them were all but forgotten, the need for him to take her blotting out everything else. His fingers dipped into her again, testing the wetness there, testing how ready she was for him and then he moved to fit the broad head of his cock against her.
She whimpered, going still as his cock invaded. Even though he’d taken her before, she still wasn’t used to his girth. Still needed a pause as he slid within her to get used to his breath. But this time he didn’t give it to her. Didn’t give her a warning or a chance to get used to him. Instead, he gripped her hips and shoved inside her in one slick, fast, hard move.
She cried out, a sharp sound of pleasure as he filled her completely. His cock was huge, hard, stretching her cunt until she thought she’d split in two. But it felt good…so good. Pleasure washed over the slight burning and a whimper escaped her as she wriggled on his cock.
“Move,” she begged, her hand covering his where he cupped her breast.
“Your wish is my command, little wolf.” He tweaked her nipple and pulled back, slamming back into her before she could process the withdrawal. Then he did it again, his pace fast and hard. She moaned and gripped the cushions. This wasn’t lovemaking. It wasn’t even the passionate sex they’d had last night. This was hard and dirty fucking as the Master claimed his woman so that all could see.
Growls behind her accompanied the hard thrust of his cock, the slap of his balls against her as his hips slammed against hers. If their ‘bed’ weren't stone, the sheer force he took her would have broken it by now. She whimpered, arching against him. He dropped forward, his chest against her back to reach around her body. This time his fingers against her clit weren’t teasing. He stroked hard and fast, matching his movements within her and driving her upward toward the edg
e.
She gasped when she reached it. Time suspended for a moment as she felt the pleasure harden within her, tightening so much it would take just one more thing, one more stroke of his fingers, or thrust of his cock, to shatter her apart.
He leaned down and kissed her, right there on the side of the neck and the soft touch undid her. She cried out as pleasure exploded outward through her body with the force of a supernova. It invaded every cell of her body, washed through her and over her and under her. She half collapsed on the bed, but Veyr was there. His strong arm wrapped around her, across her breasts to cover her as he pulled her upright against him. His hips still pumped, but the movement was uncoordinated and jerky.
“I claim you, Cyan,” he rasped against her ear, his rough, stubble-covered cheek against her skin. “You’re mine and you always will be.”
And with that, he came, jerking and pulsing deep within her. Her breath came in rough pants, each jerk of his cock stretching the pleasure in her body out further. All around them, the hard gazes of the alphas, all bar her absent brother, watched them.
“Fuck, if I’d known she was such a hot piece…” Jacob took a step forward, and Cyan tensed. If the Master wished, he could share his woman with the council alphas. Would he…
Veyr lifted his head, a snarl on his lips.
“Take one more step, McCauley and I’ll fucking gut you where you stand. No one touches her but me. Ever.”
She turned her head and kissed his neck, contentment radiating through her. She was his, and he wouldn’t share her.