by S Cinders
“Where are you going?” Jules was scared and it showed.
“I need some time alone, Jules. I need to think.”
Jess began walking into the darkness. Outrage and hurt spurring her on, she walked a fair distance until she noticed that the trees all started to look familiar and the path that she had taken was no longer clear.
She would get lost. It was just her luck to come this far to help Trix and then screw everything up over a fight with Jules. This is how things always went. When their mother had tried to teach them magic it always ended in screaming matches between Jess and Jules.
Jess had the spark at the beginning, but it seemed to fade the older that she got. Jules had assured her that they were better off without it. But now, seeing as Trix was in trouble, Jess desperately wished she had learned from their mother.
The spellbook still in her hand, she sat down in a small clearing wishing that the light was bright enough so that she could at least read her mother’s words. A tear escaped her eye and she prayed to the Moon Goddess that if she were ever meant to have the gift to please give her another try.
Jess wasn’t sure how long she remained in the clearing. But when a warm snout nuzzled her arm her eyes popped open to see Greggor and Strike’s wolves looking at her with concern.
They shifted back into their human forms and Jess tried not to notice their massive cocks and naked bodies that were covered in thick muscle and scars.
“What happened, mate?” Greggor tipped her chin up.
Jess sniffed as she used the back of her hand to wipe her face. “How did you know that I was here?”
“You called to us,” Strike answered.
“I did?” Jess didn’t understand.
“Our bond, while it is not as strong as it could be with the mating ritual completed, it still exists. We could feel your sadness and worry and came immediately. Where is Jules?”
“She called me a… a whore.”
Greggor growled low in his throat.
“You are nothing of the kind,” Strike assured her and gathered her in his arms. She was stiff at first when she came in contact with his naked body. But as he stroked her back, she sank into him.
“I feel what you are talking about,” her words were soft, nearly a whisper.
“The bond?” Greggor took her hand.
Jess nodded. “Is it wrong?”
Greggor closed his eyes, almost as if he was in pain. “Without our mate, we will perish. It was designed by the Moon Goddess, ordained so that we can continue our race. With no disrespect to your twin, Strike is right; she is wrong.”
Feeling brave, Jess leaned forward and took his hand, placing it against her cheek. Greggor growled and she felt Strike’s erection pulse against her bottom.
“May I kiss you?” Greggor’s voice held more than a hint of the wolf behind it.
Jess nodded, and Strike allowed her to sit up so that Greggor could take her cheeks in his hand and place a tender kiss on her lips.
Desire and need swirled within her gut, but more than that, she felt a sense of completeness that she had never experienced before.
Greggor didn’t take advantage although he desperately wanted to be with his mate. Breaking the sweet kiss, he looked at Strike.
“What about…”
He didn’t need to finish his statement because Jess had turned and lifted her lips for Strike to kiss her.
Again desire licked at her veins and Jess felt the overwhelming knowledge that this was right. These two men who were so different from her had somehow come to mean a great deal in only a few days. Her heart knew that this was right.
Strike licked the seam of her lips and Jess gasped, giving him the entrance that he needed. The feelings intensified a thousandfold when his tongue stroked hers. Her hands flew into his hair and she clung to him as her body responded to the mate it had longed for.
Strike knew that things were quickly getting out of control. And that Ryker would kill Greggor and himself if they mated with Jess before he had even met her. But never had he ever been so incredibly turned on.
Reluctantly he backed away, only to hear Greggor rasp, “My turn.”
Chapter Eighteen
Juliana
I can’t allow my sister to be fooled. She is too trusting, too easy to go along with strangers. The longer I sat near the boulders alone the more I was able to convince myself of how right I was. Jess was always the daring one.
I tried not to resent her, the Goddess knew that I loved her. But in my heart, I knew that I was only a copy of the real thing. Jess was vibrant and no matter how hard I tried I never lived up to her. My mother favored her. She said Jess had the gift and I didn’t. I knew that Jess pretended not to have it either, so that my feelings would be spared. But I saw her, many times, look longingly at our sister Trix. I hated that they shared something so amazing between them.
She was my twin. Mine.
I sprang to my feet and began to walk toward the city below. It was filthy and hot. The dirt blew in the wind and I felt it on my skin and even on my teeth. I hadn’t walked more than a half a mile when I heard growling. Turning around, I saw a wolf, but it didn’t look like Greggor or Strike. His teeth were bared to me, long sharp fangs and eyes that were a sickly white.
“I need to speak with the leader,” my voice shook and the wolf’s hackles raised as if he were about to attack.
Then I heard two men speaking and I screamed, “Help! Please help me!”
The men ran over to where I was, the larger man frowning at me. “Who are you and why are you here?”
“I have some information.” I was near to tears, but managed to continue speaking, “But first I need your assurance that my sister and I can leave this place without harm.”
The two men looked at each other before turning back to me.
“I am Wayne. What is your name?”
I swallowed. “Juliana.”
The other man nodded. “My name is Bruce. Juliana, what is your sister’s name?”
“J-Jessica,” I stuttered.
Bruce made a disgusted face and went to turn around, but Wayne stopped him.
“Who is Beatrix to you?”
“Trix? She is my younger sister. Have you seen her?” I felt so relieved that they knew Trix. Perhaps I could get us all free and then we would never have to worry about the wolves again.
“Well, Juliana, it looks like you had better come with us.”
I held a hand up and told him, “ First, I need your promise.”
Bruce shrugged. “Sure, you and your sister will be fine.”
“Sisters,” I raised my chin trying to look meaner than I was.
Wayne smiled. “I think the alpha is going to like you.”
He grabbed my arm and started dragging me toward a large building.
“Wait!” I called out while struggling, but he wouldn’t listen to me.
I was taken into a dark room and thrown in. The latch on the door sounded, telling me I was alone. I went and felt around for the doorknob but I couldn’t find it. Sitting on the ground I huddled into myself and started to cry. I was stupid to come here thinking I could change things.
The door swung open and this time it was a beast of a man. The temperature of the room dropped and suddenly I felt chilled. I could barely make him out in the darkness but from what I could see, he was easily the most frightening individual I had ever encountered.
“Juliana, sister of Beatrix,” his gravelly voice reached across the space. It was oddly mesmerizing and I found myself wanting to hear what he had to say. “Why did you come here?”
Before I knew it, I was telling him the entire story. I told him about my twin sister and my family. I told him about Trix going out in the night. I explained about the magic, and how I hadn’t any. I told this man about Greggor and Strike coming for Jess and how they didn’t want me. It was as if I had been given a truth serum and couldn’t stop telling him everything until my throat hurt and I was horribly weak.
When I could not speak anymore he nodded and went to close the door.
“Wait!” I pleaded with him, my voice hoarse from all of the talking I had done. “My sisters and I, the men promised that we would be set free.”
A sinister smile crossed his face. “In time, Juliana, in time.”
Jessica
My lips crashed again with Greggor’s and I loved the feeling of him against me. I had climbed into his lap and Strike was molding my breasts from behind me, teasing the tips until I was frantic with need.
I knew I wanted some relief from the aching in my core. But I didn’t understand it. I started tearing at my clothing, desperate to have it off, be naked like these two men were .
I suddenly appreciated the nakedness that they were so accustomed to. And I loved seeing their thick cocks rising up against their massive bodies.
Strike helped me remove my clothes and both men gasped as they took in my form for the first time.
“You are so bloody beautiful, mate,” Greggor reached out as if to touch my skin but then dropped his hand.
“Please.” I took his larger hand in mine and placed it on my stomach. “Please touch me.”
I turned my head so that I could kiss Strike again and Greggor began to touch my breasts. If the ache in my center had been bad before, it was nothing compared to what it felt like when Greggor’s mouth claimed my breast and Strike’s finger stroked my pussy for the first time.
I felt like I was on the edge of something powerful, life-changing. I just didn’t know how to get there. My body undulated under their lovemaking and I couldn’t get enough of either of them. Their kisses felt like a drug, like each one was sending me further and further under their spell.
I reached out and touched the wet tip of Greggor’s cock and brought my finger to my lips, tasting him. It was salty and manly, something that I knew I wanted more of. I licked my fingers clean and then reached out to touch Strike’s cock.
They were different, and yet each one was delicious to me.
Strike laid me back against his chest. I could feel his massive length against my bottom. Turning my head to the side he kissed me as he stroked and played with my breasts. Greggor pushed my thighs apart. I thought he meant to touch me, but when I felt the first stroke of his tongue I came unglued.
It seemed as if the earth shattered around me, my body shaking with pleasure as I came with a warmth between my thighs. My wolves did not stop, their mouths and hands continued to pleasure me until I came again, harder this time.
I hadn’t known such pleasure was even possible and now I felt like I was drowning in it. They placed small kisses on my body as I tried to gain some semblance of normalcy and then they switched places and Strike was licking my pussy and I was kissing Greggor, tasting my musk on his tongue.
I don’t know how many times I came, I only know that eventually, darkness overtook me.
Trix
I could see Juliana in the place where I had left her. She was agitated and talking to herself. She rose to her feet and started to walk into the Badlands without us. I cried out, trying to get her to stop, but she wouldn’t listen to me or couldn’t hear me.
I saw as the wolf of Abaddon cornered her, and I could sense her fear. What was she doing? I didn’t understand. She cried out and two human males came to her aid. But when I saw them I knew that they were not good men. Their aurae were dark.
It struck me that I hadn’t been able to see aurae before. But I knew what it was and that the purplish-black was not something that we should ever be near.
I looked down to see I was a pale blue, this surprised me because Juliana wasn’t the same as I was. Her aura was red tinged with purple. I watched as she told the men that she had information for them. How could she betray us?
They dragged her off and threw her into a dark room. I couldn’t comfort her and sensed her sorrow. And then the door opened and the man that entered, his aura was black as night. I could feel the evil radiating off of him in waves.
I screamed at Juliana to run, but she started talking.
It was as if she was compelled, everything spilling out of her in rapid fire. She told of her jealousy and often hatred of me. I had sensed the former, but the hatred stuck in my gut like a knife. I begged for her to stop talking. This man was evil. She was ruining everything.
And then when she was finally done, she pleaded once again that we would be set free. I had to hold in my heart that she meant well. Because my sister had just offered up the biggest betrayal in my life and I wasn’t sure I could ever forgive her.
This man didn’t believe in mercy. If he got us all in his grasp we would be destroyed.
Chapter Nineteen
Trix
Something was dreadfully wrong. Wayne and Bruce came in, yanked me off the floor and had something over my mouth smelling of noxious gas, and then everything went black. When I awakened, I had been stripped of my clothing and was tied to a large table. The ropes wound around my chest and arms making it impossible to move.
My legs were tied together and then against the table, but I had a feeling it wouldn’t be for long. There was a lot of activity around me but I couldn’t see much from my vantage point. My mouth was gagged and I tried to reach out to my mates but felt nothing.
Yet still, I felt a sliver of hope. I can’t explain or even rationalize why. Maybe it was because of the Moon Goddess and her prophecy of what I would mean to these wolves. But I still held on to the belief that good would conquer evil.
A cold drop of water settled on my skin, someone was bathing me! I struggled to get away but the ropes held fast. When the person got close enough for me to see the face, my heart stopped. It couldn’t be, I had to be in the midst of a terrible nightmare.
It was my sister, Juliana. Her golden hair just a shade darker than my own was fashioned in that familiar braid that I myself had done for her many times. Her faded blue eyes seemed dazed and unfocused.
I screamed against the gag, feeling the ropes cutting into my skin as I tried to get away. But she couldn’t hear me, couldn’t even see me. It was as if she was…
And then comprehension so horrifying and complete came over me and I knew just what had happened. My sister Juliana was being compelled. They finished the elixir and now they were going to mate me.
We had lost.
The feeling of abandonment filled me as Voltar came into my line of vision. He lifted a hand and stroked my cheek. I felt bile crawling up the back of my throat and for a moment wished that I would choke on it. I would rather be dead than a part of this evil regime.
“It won’t be long now, when the moon is full we will perform the mating ceremony and all will be as it ought to be.”
I struggled again against the ropes, desperate to be away from him. But as they continued to cut and abraid my skin, he laughed.
“I like a little fire in my woman; you will do nicely.” And then he turned to my sister Juliana whose head was bent in supplication. “Well done, you may go back to the harem.”
My gut clenched. He had subjected my innocent sister to the harem? How many wolves had harmed her? Did she even know? Tears coursed down my cheeks and I felt power well within me, but every time I tried to lash out it seemed that the power just went into the stone below me.
I was helpless without my magic, and until I was freed from this stone, I could do nothing about it.
Voltar called some wolves over to us. “She is ready. Remove her to the mating grounds.”
The wolves shifted into men and then the large table was being lifted off the ground and taken somewhere. My body hurt from the tight ropes and I felt shame that these wolves were seeing my naked flesh.
However, they didn’t even look at me, their main desire was to serve Voltar. I was carried outside on the stone table and then placed in a ring of stones not so very different from the magical ring of stones that Tobias had shown me all of those weeks ago, Annwyn.
This place didn’t have the goo
d feelings that I felt when I was on the spot when I first had that vision. I felt a deep seed of fear rising up inside of me like a tidal wave. This was what came before the horrible things that I saw. This was the beginning of the end.
Morgan
Morgan jerked awake the moment that Trix was taken from the prison. She knew that this time her new friend would not be returning. It was time to do something drastic, something that might end in madness or even death.
She grabbed a sharp object and sliced through the delicate skin on her hand. And then, Morgan began to chant the old words in a language long forgotten. This was considered dark magic, blood magic, but it was their last chance.
Morgan had no illusions that she was to be the hero in this scenario, more than likely she would end up the martyr. But she was resigned to her fate. The rest of her coven was already slain and Morgan knew that when the Moon Goddess accepted her spirit she would know that Morgan did all that she could to save the others.
Her body began to glow, her limbs to shake and she was lifted off the cold floor of the prison as the light shone out of her eyes and mouth. With a loud crash, every cage and manacle burst into millions of pieces so small that they didn’t even cut the wolves inside the cages.
With loud howls, they rose to their feet, some transitioning into their human forms and some staying in their wolf forms. She pushed every ounce of strength and power inside of her and dispersed it into the hearts of these wolves.
And then she fell to the earth and for the briefest of moments saw the Moon Goddess before everything melted into nothingness.
Tobias ran to the girl that had just risked her life in saving them. She was alive, but only by a fraction.
Another wolf from the outsider pack came up. “Let me take her; she is my mate.”
Tobias nodded and handed the limp girl into the man’s arms. “She is incredibly brave and we are all indebted to her.”
The man nodded. “I am proud to be her mate, even if she never knew it to be true.”