“Kill her!”
William jerked, instantly taking a protective stance over Rachel’s body.
“I said kill her now! Why did you stop? You shouldn’t have stopped.” St. Joan stood a few feet away. The overbearingly strong scent of fairy urine radiated from her, masking her scent completely. He ignored the odor as he faced her. She stepped to the side to get a better view of Rachel. Her feral eyes shone with victory. “Mm, that is a nasty cut. No worries, Chief, she’ll die soon. Very soon.” Her mouth parted and she made a biting gesture into the air. “Just in time for the Duncanis to say goodbye and see what you have done.”
William didn’t think. He charged forth. St. Joan squeaked and leapt backward, as if surprised at the attack.
Desperate and hungry, William didn’t think. He shifted in the air seconds before taking the treacherous woman by her throat. St. Joan shifted beneath his teeth and he bit harder. Scratching fingernails turned to claws as she fought him. Her blood assuaged the beast in him as he tore flesh. The mindless hunger would be appeased.
Chapter Eleven
“William! What has happened here?” Douglas took in the bloody battlefield of the clearing. Around them the forest was quiet, as if the fray had scared away all living creatures.
When William transformed, he was sitting on the ground next to the corpse of the mountain lion. “Rachel. Heal Rachel.”
Douglas was already on his way to her side. She moaned softly when he touched her. “What the hell happened here?”
Her face was barely recognizable beneath the wild, tangled hair and dirty skin. He didn’t care. Relief rose up in him. He had found her. Only the emotion didn’t last long as he realized she wasn’t moving. Without thinking, he kissed her, willing her to respond, to take whatever she needed from his body.
“My forest is not a toilet, St. Joan!” came Rara’s voice.
He opened his eyes but didn’t stop kissing Rachel. Her lips became warmer against his, but still didn’t respond as they should have. Rara kicked the dead mountain lion on the ground, ignoring William. The Cononious chief did not move from his place as he stared at Rachel.
“And I did not save her to kill her,” Rara continued, kicking the body again. “This is my forest.”
Douglas pulled back, unable to get Rachel to answer him. “Rara, please, can you undo what was done.”
Rara stopped mid-kick and moved to Douglas and Rachel. She stood over them. “I did not save her to kill her, so I will save her again.”
The fairy leaned over and touched Douglas’s upturned face. “But first, you must kiss me.”
“There is no time. We—” Douglas protested, only to stop.
“Agree to pay my price,” Rara demanded. He nodded in agreement. She looked at William and demanded the same. William gave a weak nod, not seeming to really hear her. The Cononious chief didn’t move.
“Mm,” Rara moaned as she went to her knees. She wrapped her arms around Douglas and pressed an open-mouthed kiss to him. He felt her tongue slide into his mouth, probing. Everywhere she touched, he tingled. His heart began to beat hard. Fairy pheromones were impossible to resist. His cock thickened.
Rara pulled away first. Douglas tried to follow her with his mouth. She gave him one last peck and then turned her attention to the woman on the ground. Douglas watched as Rara moved to kiss Rachel’s still mouth as she had him. That’s when he realized his hand was on Rachel’s breast, massaging it. Rachel moaned and moved beneath his hand. Her naked legs stirred against him.
Rara pulled away, breathing hard. Her body shimmered with translucent blue. “Mm, shifters. So much power.”
When Rachel looked up at him, her eyes swam with the same translucent blue light Rara illuminated. It mixed with the shifter’s silver. Unable to resist the woman he loved, Douglas kissed her. This time she responded. One hand lifted to his face, holding him to her kiss. Her lips parted wide to let him devour her. The injured limb did not move from the ground.
They were already naked from running wildly about the forest. When her legs opened wider, he didn’t need more of an invite. He drew his hips along her thighs and thrust into her. His cock slid into her wet sex, slamming hard. Fuck, but it felt nice. All the fear and desperation of the last several days poured out of him into her. With each thrust, her body became stronger in its responses. Her injured limb bumped along his arm briefly before falling to the ground.
Douglas lifted up. The grit of dirt slid between them. He didn’t care. Rachel met his thrusts with her own. She bucked off the ground. Her eyes fairly glowed with the fairy’s transferred power. Douglas felt Rara’s fingers glide down his spine. The tingling sensation was too much. He jerked his release into her, giving Rachel all the energy he could spare. She cried out softly.
As soon as he’d finished, Rachel pushed on his arm with a low growl. He rolled onto his back, completely drained and unable to move.
*
William watched Douglas heal Rachel, torn between the normal jealousies he felt each time the other two were together and the desire for the Duncanis chief to save the woman they loved. The fairy, Rara, tried to kiss him too, but he’d jerked his head away from her. Not to be denied her fun, the fairy exploded into her tiny counterparts and began swarming his chest, back, hips and legs. They concentrated on his cock and the tingling caused the shaft to lift. He stared intently at Rachel and Douglas, as the fairy lights stroked him.
William tried to swat them away, but they merely scattered and returned in full force. They centered their efforts on his cock and balls. Their touches were as light as air and as potent as one of the best blow jobs he’d ever gotten. He tried to resist. His fingers dug into the dirt of the forest floor. Unbidden, his hips lifted off the ground. His body mimicked the motion of Douglas’s thrusts. Then, as the Duncanis chief found his release, so too did William. The fairy lights left his body, having gotten what they wanted off him. Had circumstances been different, had he been stronger, their attentions would have caused him to ravish Rara until there was nothing left.
Rachel shoved the Duncanis chief off her body and instantly crawled towards William on her hands and knees. Her injured arm gave out a little bit when she put weight on it, but that did not hamper her progress. Her glowing, blue eyes pierced him.
Behind Rachel, Douglas didn’t move. The fairy lights went to his drained body and took advantage, just as they had with the Cononious chief. Rara formed into full body and straddled the man’s waist. Douglas tried to push her off, but Rara said, “Fight if you will, but it is not rape. You agreed to pay my price in return for saving the shifter woman, and I aim to collect what is due, Duncanis.”
Douglas was too weak as the fairy stroked his cock to full length and began to ride him like the airy, free spirit she was.
William drew his eyes back to Rachel as she instantly grabbed his spent cock. With a few strokes, she had it lifted to full capacity. He tried to touch her cheek gently, looking past the euphoric fire in her eyes. “Rachel, I’m sorry. I didn’t want to hurt you. I’ll never forgive myself for—”
Rachel cut off his words with a passionate kiss. She pushed him onto his back, rolling down with him. When she lifted up, she reached between their bodies to stroke his cock before moving it to her pussy. The glide of her body on his was too much. No part of him wanted to protest. Anything she wanted from him, she would have. He had not been strong enough to save her earlier, so now he would let her drain every last bit of life he had left if she so wanted it.
For a long moment, the sounds of a dirty orgy filled the forest. The women rode the men beneath them like wild creatures. William grabbed hold of Rachel’s breasts, only to glide his fingers down to her hips to help drive her onto his cock. Douglas tried to fight Rara, but his energy-drained body was no match for her fairy pheromones.
William’s ass slid on the ground. Twigs and stones from the forest floor bit into his flesh. He let the wild woman on his cock do what she wanted. Fuck, but she was beautiful! It wa
s all he could to do to hold back his release as he waited for her to find her climax. Suddenly, Rachel tensed. Her sex clamped down on him hard. It was all the invitation he needed. He came inside her, filling her with his seed and with his very life force. The wounds on her injured arm healed completely. Her glowing eyes began to dim. She didn’t move off his cock, as she sat on his waist.
“Do summon me again should you need a favor,” Rara said from atop Douglas. “And do not think I have forgotten the audience you promised to give me with the vampire king. Do not make me wait long, or I will come to our court and ensorcel all shifters within my reach.”
The fairy burst into bright lights and floated away on the breeze. Douglas rolled onto his hands and knees and crawled towards the others. Rachel finally pulled off William’s cock and moved to sit beside him. She rubbed her arm. For a moment, no one spoke.
*
“What happened?” Rachel asked, confused. Her words broke the silence as she turned her eyes to where the fairy lights were disappearing overhead. She gave an accusing look at Douglas. Had she just imagined what she saw? Much of their current situation was a blur, but she was pretty sure she just saw Douglas fucking another woman. “You—”
She stopped herself. What right did she have to demand he not fuck anyone but her? She’d just been riding William a few feet away. Yet, somehow, her riding William was different. William had been a part of their arrangement from the very beginning.
“It’s not what you think,” Douglas said.
“He did not have a choice,” William added. “He had to.”
Rachel stepped away from both of them. She glanced at Douglas’s cock and frowned.
“We had to,” Douglas corrected in irritation. He shot William a hard look. “It was the only way to get her to agree to help us save you.”
“It changes nothing,” William said.
She rubbed her arm again. The deep ache would not go away. It was strange considering she’d just had sex—twice, if she was remembering correctly. First Douglas fucked her, then she fucked William. And apparently, they both fucked a fairy whore. Douglas tried to reach for her but she jerked from him, again glancing at his cock. She imagined she could still see the fairy’s pleasure moistening it. The thought stung. On one hand it was erotic as hell, on another it caused a fierce, possessive jealousy to well up inside her. And William. He was just as bad. She looked down at him on the ground. His cock had touched the fairy as well.
“We should have claimed her, then Rara wouldn’t have been able to seduce us,” William said.
“You should have kept your jaws shut, wolf,” Douglas growled.
William couldn’t meet her gaze. She rubbed her arm again, and asked, “You did this to me, William?”
“St. Joan drugged me. I did not mean…I did not…” William looked behind him to where the dead, mountain lion body of St. Joan had fallen. “I have no excuse for what happened. I would give my life never to have harmed you. I love you, Rachel. I could never willingly harm you.”
“We love you, Rachel,” Douglas asserted. “We should have married you the second we found you.”
“You mean the second you found out I was an omni-shifter.” Rachel wrapped her arms around her naked chest. She became aware of their surroundings, of her dirty flesh, of the dead cat on the ground. The men were no better off with their filthy, bloodstained bodies. Before they could protest, she said, “I don’t feel so well. I haven’t eaten. My arm hurts and my head is throbbing. Can we just get out of here?”
“Yes,” William said, standing. “Anything you desire.”
“Of course,” Douglas said. “Can you run? Or shall we carry you?”
As much as the idea of running sounded like a horrible plan, she didn’t want them touching her until she had time to think clearly. “I can walk.”
Chapter Twelve
Rachel was sure she’d never been so happy to see a bed in her life. She fell into it and intended to never move. After the threesome appeared through the servant’s entrance of William’s home, naked and covered in forest litter, the entire estate had become abuzz with activity. She felt it around them, pouring through the walls with gossipy excitement.
Magda had been less than pleased to see them. Her pursed lips and pruned expression only worsened with each passing second. She’d quickly ushered them into separate rooms to bathe and change. In fact, before slamming the door behind Rachel, the woman had ordered her to bathe the wild off and to not leave the room as food would be brought to her.
Rachel hardly cared. Shower, food, bed, that’s all she wanted at the moment. The rest of it could wait until later.
*
William looked at Magda as she stood in the center of his bedroom. Her hands were placed disapprovingly on her hips. He knew she had been worried about him, even if she would never show it. The old woman wanted every detail of his kidnapping, details he refused to give.
“I told you, I was drugged most of the time. It doesn’t matter now anyway. St. Joan is no longer a threat.” William tossed his towel aside and opened the wardrobe where he kept his sweatpants. He pulled them on, not caring that Magda saw him naked. “We are all safely returned. That is all that matters.”
He didn’t believe his own words. What happened did matter. Drugged or not, he’d almost killed Rachel. Fear gripped him. He wouldn’t have been able to live with the guilt, or the loss. The fact only cemented what he had known since first seeing her—he loved her, he wanted her, and she would be his chieftess.
“But St. Joan? Did she say who hired her?” Magda insisted.
“Only that it was a woman,” William answered absently, as he reached for a T-shirt. Instead of grabbing it, he let his hand drop.
“Do you suspect anyone?”
He slowly closed the wardrobe. “Should I?”
“No,” she answered, a little too quickly. He turned to look at her, studying her emotionless face. “I suppose it could be one of the old families. Plenty of women wish to be your bride. You have turned down meeting many of the eligible women from some very powerful families. I warned you that they might feel slighted.”
“Or perhaps it is someone here at court,” he said. “Someone close.”
“Who do you think?” Magda pondered. “Ginger? She always seemed a bit reckless and wild to me.”
“Then why do you continually try to get me to marry her?” William crossed his arms over his chest. He was tired and not in the mood to discuss anything. Yet duty forced him to remain on his feet and to listen.
“Her father is influential and wildness can be tamed with persistence,” Magda said.
“Then why do you oppose to Rachel? You said she was wild.”
“Feral more like it,” Magda mumbled before quickly amending, “Wildness can be tamed with persistence so long as the proper breeding and background is there to support it. Rachel is an American. They have a different kind of wildness to them. She was raised in the woods. If you would have read my report I gave you when you landed, you would have seen the kind of shifters she comes from. Elvie Dunne had a reputation for bedding down with several men. She never mated to one. That is who raised Rachel. It is hard enough sharing a bride and getting our natural instincts to accept a three-way mate, but there is always a risk if the bride is promiscuous by nature.”
“Promiscuous? Rachel is not Elvie.” Anger boiled inside him that Magda would dare to say such a thing.
He thought of the first time he’d met Rachel. Within seconds she’d been in his arms and on his cock. He pushed the thought aside. It meant nothing beyond that their desire for each other was natural. Plus, she’d been so tight on him. He would have known if she’d had sex recently, especially promiscuous sex with numerous partners, right?
“And she is also not a lady. This is our chance to put an English rose on the shifter throne, a Cononious bride. Rachel is Duncanis. We need a Cononious bride, William. Why not choose Lisbetha? She is willing. She is pretty. She is meek. Her shift i
s rare. And she is one of us in all things, by birthright, by clan, by ancestry.”
“And she does nothing to my blood,” William growled. “She would be a pretty ornament I would quickly grow tired of looking at.”
“What does a chief’s marriage have to do with boiling blood? You have a duty to your people, a duty beyond petty sex. If you must know the truth of it, if you grow weary of Lisbetha, then you can take a lover. Chiefs have done it in the past. Great lengths must be taken to keep the affairs quiet for the sake of peace, but it has been done. There are protocols in place. I had hoped it would not be necessary to have this conversation with you so soon, but there it is.”
Her words did little to comfort him. The idea of a loveless life tore at his soul. Well, loveless wasn’t exactly true. He would have the love of his people, and his love for them. Would that be enough?
“We have decided, Magda. We want Rachel.” William had never been so sure of anything in his life. “Perhaps the American blood will do the old clans some good and bring the American shifters back to us.”
Her face tightened in shock. She gave a small shake of her head, as if the gesture could take back the certainty of his words. Finally, she managed, “You have had a long ordeal. I will leave you to rest and we will discuss this at a later time. Nothing has to be announced tonight. Now that you are back I will reschedule the ball. Lisbetha has been a great help in the planning.” She gave a small nod. “My chief.”
As Magda left the room, William moved to sit on the edge of his bed. His bare feet dug into the thick carpet and he curled his toes against it. Perhaps sleep was the best thing for him at the moment.
*
“She did not speak the entire way home,” William said, his voice weary.
“I know, I was there,” Douglas answered. He’d come to William’s room after his shower just as Magda was leaving it. William wore a pair of sweatpants and Douglas a pair of pajama pants. It was rare they allowed themselves to sit so comfortably attired in the presence of another person, aside from the nakedness caused by shifting. However, this situation was anything but comfortable.
Let the Wild Out Page 11