by Sam Hall
My jaws snapped down, my fangs piercing his flesh, and my venom flowed over his skin and mine, matting in his fur and filling the wound. It sounded agonising, but it was the opposite. I could feel him, this had been something missing from my mating with Slade due to being in human form. All that was Finn came rushing at me, swamping me, drowning me in him.
Love, that was the overwhelming thing. He’d kept it all locked up in a place inside him, a warm glow to keep him moving forward, but now it flared hard. Burning me up and bathing me in its heat, as my own carefully tended flames joined his. For a moment, the fact that humans spent so much energy hiding these kinds of feelings seemed ridiculous. I was burning, and I would not have changed that for anything.
Tirian form was almost always partially incorporeal, half smoke, half wolf. But as the fiery sensation swelled, paws, fur, tail all dropped away. We rose, twin streams of smoke, grey and white, twining around each other as we soared. Finn was the pulse in my veins, the air that I breathed, all that pushed and pulled through me, keeping me alive, and I was his.
Jules.
My name was little more than a murmur, a slight sound against the rush of us spiralling upwards, but I replied. As if summoned by the label, I found myself in human form within Finn’s arms, hanging in the twilight of this alien world, and he laughed when he realised what had happened. His eyes, grey again, sparkled with a light I’d only ever seen hints of, as if the venom had burned away all boundaries, all reservations.
“We’ll be coming soon.”
“What?”
He nodded off to one side, and when I turned, I saw that we looked down into the photocopier room as if from a massive height, the struggling, striving bodies almost incomprehensible in their attempts to feel even a tiny sliver of the completion we felt right now. But as I watched, the prickles of physical pleasure tugged me back.
“We have to go back?” I asked, and he nodded. “I love you,” I said, not wanting to lose this without sharing that. The words held worlds of meaning within them, the symbols so puny in the face of it, but they were all I had. The grasping human psyche was infecting me already, replacing communion with desire.
“I love you with everything I have, and more besides.” He glanced over at the black sun sinking down to the horizon in the distance. “Everything I have, all that I am is yours.” He pulled me close and kissed the top of my head. At the connection, I could feel the pull as we descended, dropping faster and faster until I slammed back into my body.
Heavy, redolent pleasure smashed into me, I was screaming as my body spasmed around Finn’s, the swelling in his cock prolonging the waves of ecstasy swamping me. I struggled to find myself within it; it was all so intense, so overwhelming. It was no great shock when my vision started to go dark at the edges, the blackness creeping in as I jerked on top of the photocopier.
Very good, little queen, I heard the black wolf say, just before the shadow swallowed me whole.
17
I'd just taken my second mate, endured some kind of psychic attack and survived, and then passed out from having a super O, so the last place I expected to wake up was strapped to a chair, my wrists cuffed, and surrounded by women.
"She wakes."
I blinked, bleary-eyed, the room slowly coming into focus. It was circular with platform-like rings spreading out from the centre, each one slightly higher than the others. Women on chairs looked down at me, some with expressions of concern, irritation, boredom, and even disgust. I frowned, my eyes jerking down as I noticed the cuffs and the corresponding ache in my shoulders caused by them.
"What... what's going on?"
"It's OK, Julie," Kelly said, coming closer. "We've had to restrain you for the moment, just until we get to the bottom of what's been happening."
Her voice was soothing, all 'stop Julie from jumping off the ledge', but I didn't want to be soothed. "And that required handcuffs? What are you worried I'm going to do? Where's Slade and Finn?"
"We don't think you should see—"
"Making a bloody nuisance of themselves outside. You're going to have to do something soon, alpha. You've got a newly bonded male out there with considerable power over the other men. Unless you want him rallying the troops and storming the castle to save the fair maiden, you’ll need him in here."
Ophelia strode in, the doors slamming shut behind her. Her eyes raked over the seated women as gasps went around the room.
"We do not let men into the Women's Council."
I turned to see that the speaker was Asher, one of the matriarchs from Slade’s and my party. We all looked back when there was a huge thud on the door, then another.
"Then we will need to send his mate out to him. Finn is incredibly powerful. Kelly has kept him on a short leash for some time, but that may now change." Her eyes landed on me, and she smiled, something I wasn't sure was at or with me.
"I always said that one should go through the gate to the other side," another matriarch I didn't recognise muttered.
"A pure white?" Nancy, Slade's grandmother said. "No, he has to be kept as breeding stock at the very least, though the nature of his children now he's taken a mate..." She exhaled a long plume of grey smoke, looking for all the world like a dragon, not wolf shifter. "It looks strong, their bond."
Kelly nodded. "He loves the girl, quite desperately."
"Well, then, we better find out what is happening with her then hadn't we?" Ophelia said.
Kelly turned to the assembled women and projected her voice louder so those in the back could hear. "Today, an incident took place outside the Stores building. As the men were unloading the truck, Julie arrived, wanting to speak to Brandon." She paused for a moment as the murmuring started. She held out a placating hand, waiting for everyone to settle. "Reports from the men vary. Some say that Julie smelled much the same as any of us do when in heat: extremely sexually receptive. Others assert that there was something else afoot, that both Julie and others found themselves responding in what felt like an artificially induced state, as if some form of psychic attack had taken place."
"You better believe it!" one woman said, shooting to her feet. "My James was there, and he would never respond to some other woman like that."
"Is that why he kissed Nerida at the winter solstice?" another drawled.
"James loves me. Our bond is strong."
"OK, OK, I don't want this to devolve into wild speculation," Kelly said. "At the moment, I'm sharing the eye witness reports."
"She's right," I said. I felt every eye swivel around to focus on me. "I'm sorry, I don't know your name, James' partner?"
"Molly," the woman said stiffly.
"Hey, Molly. Is James an older guy, supervises the Stores team? Would have had a clipboard?" She nodded. "Look, you're right. He was absolutely horrified to be affected. I don't remember him getting involved in the debacle that took place. He was on his phone, probably calling you."
She nodded, her eyes shining before taking her seat again and glaring over at the woman who'd made a comment.
"Thank you, Julie. So as I was saying—"
"It's the black wolf," I said. I wasn't going to play whatever game they had going here. Chaining me up, talking about stopping Finn from coming in, and sending him through the gate—that wasn't how this shit was going to go down. "I heard him in my mind throughout the incident."
I saw then why Kelly was trying to take another tack. My information was the fox and the Women's Council were the chickens, all squawking and twittering. She looked at me steadily for a moment, and said, "If you'd let me deal with this."
I nodded slowly and then flexed my wrists within the cuffs, meaningfully.
"You may as well uncuff her. From all accounts, she didn't touch anyone before setting off the men, so keeping her bound is just adding insult to injury," Ophelia said. Kelly and the other matriarchs all looked at one another for the moment, making me wonder if there wasn't some sort of psychic component to being Tirian. "Are you afraid all of you
are unable to overcome one woman? Because that's what you're saying to the rest of the council."
Kelly sighed and produced keys from her pockets. Asher went to say something, and Kelly froze, then looked back at the woman. She fell silent at the glance from her alpha.
"Stay in your seat," Kelly said, and then removed the cuffs.
I rubbed at my wrists as she recounted what had happened. In some ways, it was an interesting process to watch, as the different stories were added to and discussed by the women until most people were satisfied they had the truth of it. It was hard for me to judge, being kinda out of it for most of the event. But not others, evidently. Some women looked down at me with narrowed eyes at tales of the infectious sexual rampage I'd apparently gone on.
"Is this part of the human taint?" one woman stood and asked. "We know the weaker hybrids seem to have no discrete times for the heat, choosing to mate on impulse."
"I have the 'taint'," Carissa said, standing next. "This has not happened to me, nor any of the other members of the diaspora who made it back to Sanctuary. Julie mentioned the black wolf. What has been done with him? The fact he got past our defences for one has never been sufficiently addressed, nor what will be done with him other than leave him in his jail cell. Has there been an attempt to interrogate him?"
Kelly wanted the attention of the group, well now she had it.
"Attempts have been made, but with little success."
“Why should we bother with this? Execute the black wolf and exile the girl. If her mates decide to go with her, then more fool them,” another woman said.
“Because we need women,” Nancy said. “We excluded many just as you say, creating the diaspora, and now our problems have come home to roost. Your sons, my sons, all of our sons do not have enough mates to choose from, some even deciding to embrace their female-less existence.” It felt like every woman’s eyes slid towards Kelly. “We need women, no matter what form they take, along with whatever problems they bring, or we lose our strength, our children.”
A silence settled over the room, the last few women taking their seats.
"Let me," I said. Kelly's eyes snapped down to meet mine. I saw the fire raging within them, but I needed to get to the bottom of this. "He spoke to me when I went to his cell. Has he spoken to any others?" The matriarchs were curiously quiet. "He hasn't, has he? Look, I'm sorry for what happened. That has to have been your sons, your husbands, your grandsons, cousins, brothers that were involved in the incident at Stores. I was horrified by the whole thing. Imagine if there'd been kids around..." I looked down for a moment at the red marks on my wrists. "I felt completely out of control of my body. I didn't want to do what I did, but it was as if someone else was calling the shots. Not hormonal crazy like the heat, like an alien consciousness was inside my head, pushing me to one side. No one wants to get to the bottom of this more than me, no one. He spoke to me throughout it, said I needed to lure men to my side." Murmuring started at that but quickly died away. "And when I asked him what he wanted, he said, me." I scanned the women around the room. "Cuff me, bind me, do it in the company of whoever you want, but let me get the answers we need from him, so we can ensure this doesn't happen again."
"Sounds like a motion is being put to the floor," Ophelia said. "Alpha?"
Kelly nodded. "We'll have a fifteen-minute discussion of the motion and then put it to the vote."
18
"We'll set up the interrogation for tomorrow," Kelly said as we all walked out. "I need to give the commanding officers some time to set things up. In the meantime, you will remain inside your house." She looked up when Finn, Slade, Brandon, and Aaron came rushing over. "Aaron, some of your unit mates will be guarding the house tonight. She can't leave under any circumstances. Just giving you a heads up."
"Guess you get out of dinner tonight, love," he said to me. He tried smiling, but I could see the tension around his eyes. The rest held their tongues, with some effort.
"No bonding party for you," I said to Finn. I wanted to smile, but my face wouldn’t obey. This wasn't fair, none of it was. "You deserve better than this."
He smiled despite my expression, putting an arm around me. There it was, thrumming hard, like my heartbeat. I closed my eyes for a second and let it all fall away. Finn held me, all of me. Just then, I didn't need to strive, try, or act on anything. I was just seen, felt, heard. It was almost timeless, the moment could have gone on for seconds or hours, I couldn't tell, my defences were momentarily down. Which is perhaps why the black wolf chose to reach out to me now.
Soon, little queen.
My eyes jerked open, Finn's arm tightening around me as he stared at me, eyes wide.
"I'll be attending," he said to Kelly, staring at her until she nodded slowly.
"Just you, and perhaps Aaron,” she replied. “I’ll be by around 8 tomorrow morning. Be ready to go when I arrive. Julie.” She nodded to me before turning on her heel and walking away.
"Give her here," Brandon said as soon as she was gone. He threw his arms around me, hugging me tight. "You came to see me."
I heard the catch in his voice, felt the bite of his fingers. "It's not your fault."
"I was out doing a fucking delivery for the queens, and you had to go through that? Fuck, Jules. One of us needs to be with you at all times until we've got this sorted. You've got two mates, now."
"Mates, not bodyguards or jailers." I looked up as Aaron crossed his arms over his broad chest. "I can't live in everyone's pockets."
"Jules..." Brandon's grey eyes were stark against his pale skin. "I'm on indefinite leave because they know the moment I go back to Stores, I'm going to rip Sonny's fucking head off."
"Not if I get there first," Finn growled.
"Those fucking bastards. They had to know that there was something wrong, that she wasn't in her right mind."
"I don't think they were either, mate." The two of them stared at Slade. "You think I don't know what you feel? I was lying on the bed, stroking one off, half out of my mind with heat fever while my bloody mate walked right into a pack of rabid wolves. But I felt it, Aaron felt it. It was like heat, but so much more. It was... fucking alienating in its intensity. I would have done anything right then to get off, anything." He shook his head then patted his pockets for a cigarette. "Let’s get our mate home, where we can contain whatever the fuck is going on, and get ready to pound that interloping bastard into the ground if he doesn't start giving us some answers."
And that was that. Everyone nodded and started to walk over to the cars.
"The boys will keep you safe," Aaron said as we went, clasping my hand in his. "Don't worry."
I was worried. Of course, I was worried. I could almost feel him on my shoulder, the black wolf, a monkey on my back ready to steer me in whatever direction he wanted, and I didn't know why. Why was he so keen for me to bond with the guys? I looked at Finn's strong back as we walked, his eyes flicking back to me, unable to let me out of sight for more than a few minutes. That would have happened anyway, wouldn't it? I hated the feeling I was always on someone else's timetable—the black wolf's, my heat, whatever.
When we got home, men in khaki were stationed around the house, and Aaron stopped to talk to a few of them, perfectly comfortable with the big guns they were toting. I stayed with him, holding his hand. He'd had the least of my time, this was not how we did things when he was off roster. He noted this with a shy smile, something that kept going throughout a subdued dinner.
"This is lovely," I said belatedly as we ate.
"The little woman does know how to put on a fine spread," Jack said, patting his knee as Hawk passed around yet more dishes. "C'mere and give Daddy some sugar."
"Fuck off, Jack," Hawk said. "I'm glad you like it. We'll have leftovers for days. I figured there'd be more people around."
A knock came from the front door before I could reply. Buddy scrambled to his feet, bounding over to the door with his tail wagging.
"I'll get it," Aaron
said, getting to his feet and pulling a gun from his waistband. When had he put that there?
"I'm sorry this is unannounced, but we wanted to come and congratulate the happy couple."
We all turned to see Ophelia and another woman come through the door, toting casserole dishes.
"Finn, darling," Ophelia said, holding out her arms to him.
"Hey, Nana, thanks for coming," Finn said as he wrapped his arms around her.
Nana? My eyebrows shot up. I looked across at Jack who just rolled his eyes and nodded. They were cousins?
"And my clever Jack. How are you finding your new situation?" He stepped up to take his hug, his usually acerbic expression softening for a moment.
"Hawk's happy, so I am."
She nodded, despite his close-mouthed declaration.
"And the ever-patient Hawk. Give me a hug."
"Nice to see you, Auntie," he said, enfolding the women in his arms.
"I'm Grace, Finn's mum," a beautiful woman with long auburn hair and grey eyes said. I got to my feet and took the dish she held out.
"Hi, I'm Jules. This smells delicious! Come and sit down. We need to find some more chairs."
"On it," Brandon said, disappearing down the hallway.