by JJ King
I froze in place, trying to pull back my wolf, to assure the mountain lion that I wasn’t a threat to her kittens, but she saw the truth in my stance, in my eyes. She smelled it in my blood and leaped with a powerful roar.
She flew through the air, straight towards me, her jaws wide, teeth bared, and claws extended. I flattened myself out, covering Connor completely, then whirled around, crouched and ready to fight the moment she landed with a thud several feet from me.
She prowled, staying low, poised to leap, while I stayed over Connor, unwilling to leave him defenseless and unable to move him away from the cave so she’d feel less threatened. We were at a standstill, neither of us willing to back down, which meant she’d attack.
So, I made the first move.
The few lessons I’d gotten from Anthony and Connor flashed like lightning through my mind, spurring my body into action. I needed to use my best asset, my brain, because she had teeth and claws and I didn’t.
She was stronger than me, possibly even faster since I was held back by my human body, but I was a fucking apex predator and would damn well use what I had to protect my own.
I didn’t have time to think about the fact that I’d thought of Connor as my own. Adrenaline pumped through my veins, chasing away the exhaustion. I launched myself towards the cave wall, which formed an angled hill covered with bushes and moss.
She followed me, chasing like I knew she would, leaping past Connor without a second thought. I was her prey now, her only desire. Her breath was hot on my heels.
My feet hit the rocks, which were devoid of snow thanks to the risen run, and pushed me up higher. When I was several feet up the rock wall, I threw my entire body weight into a pivot and rotated my right hip, following through with the kick as Anthony had taught me, making sure to keep my toes pointed.
My foot, covered only in woolen sock and plastic bag, hit the mountain lion in the side of the head with a loud crack of bone. A searing pain shot up my leg, then I was landing on the other foot and tumbling to the ground to absorb the landing.
The pain was brutal, but I’d been through worse and did my best to ignore it. I had precious seconds to move, to get a weapon, something I could use to defend myself and Connor.
The mountain lion shook its head slowly, stunned by my spinning hook kick almost as much as I was, and swayed for a moment. With my mind screaming “Move!” I scrambled to Connor and pushed him over onto his stomach, praying I didn’t sever his spinal cord or something with the movement, and ripped the long zipper of the pack he still wore slung across his back down.
Behind me, the mountain lion growled, low and dangerous, as she got her balance back. My fingers closed over the gun and a beautiful stillness descended over me, calming my racing heart, and focusing my mind. I pulled it free, wishing this wasn’t the answer, and swung it around in one continuous motion, as I flicked off the safety from memory.
Horrible memories. Ones that replayed in my nightmares most nights. I’d survived then and I’d survive now, I thought as her claws connected like a Mack truck with my shoulders and pushed me to the ground.
For an instant, she leaned over me, teeth bared, eyes wild, then she went for my throat and I squeezed my finger.
The report was muffled by her body, but it still echoed through the air loud enough that my first thought was that we’d just given our location away. Connor was unconscious, I was now bleeding profusely from both shoulders, which were probably broken or dislocated, and my foot was definitely in need of repair.
But I’d had no other choice.
That thought comforted me as the mountain lion’s weight sagged and her blood coated my clothes. Her claws bit deeper into my skin as she fought to stave off death, to stay alive for her kittens like any good mother would do, then relaxed as her eyes went dim and dark.
Tears wet my eyes.
Part of me wanted to just stay beneath her bulk, warmed by her fading body heat. She was pressing the air from my lungs, though, and I needed to move or my body would give into fatigue and I’d pass out then asphyxiate beneath her. So, I rocked back and forth, careful to keep the gun’s muzzle pointed away from me, until I could shimmy free. With each movement, her claws tore at my flesh and muscle, but it was worth the price. When I was free, I lay panting on the snow beside her, staring up at the sky and wondering how I was still alive.
I’d say I was blessed if such horrible fucking things didn’t keep happening to me.
Not just to me, I reminded myself. Horrible things kept happening to those around me, too. I turned my head towards Connor’s body with my heart thudding, praying he was still alive and went utterly still when he turned his head towards me, blinked slowly, and shifted his gaze to my cheek.
“Hey,” he said in the softest of whispers. “Why are you crying?” His hand lifted like in a dream and brushed the tears from my cheek. Then he cupped my face softly and rubbed this thumb over my skin, just like he used to.
It was so familiar, like a dream I’d had once upon a time, that my heart ached just from the barest of touches. I closed my eyes against the sight of him, looking at me with those icy blues and crooked smile that had always made my heart melt.
He’s like he used to be, I thought with a breathy gasp, as the past resurfaced out of nowhere, digging its claws into me as surely as the lion’s claws had left wounds in my flesh. Love and pain I’d put to bed long ago dredged up, scraping through me, exposing raw nerves. I tried locking them out but I was too weak, too tired. So, I looked into the eyes of the first boy I’d ever loved and smiled because he looked so young and innocent, so free, that I couldn’t help it.
He smiled again and there was nothing of the ice wall he’d erected between us, the flat hard looks he’d mastered since walking away from our relationship with no answers. Thrown, I forced myself to focus and sit up, then froze as fresh pain coursed through my shoulders and foot. I rode the pain out for a moment, breathing through it, then shifted my gaze back to his eyes. They were unfocused and his pupils were too large to be normal, I realized. He was conscious, which was a good sign, but he wasn’t lucid.
All I could think was, thank the Old Ones I hadn’t killed him.
“You’re all dirty,” he said in the voice of a child about to fall into slumber.
I rubbed at my face, which was covered in grime and blood and shrugged. “It’s been a bit of a day,” I said, struggling to speak as if we still talked easily about our day to one another. We hadn’t done that in many years.
“Your mom is going to freak if she sees you like that,” Connor said with a chuckle then frowned and closed his eyes. Fine lines on his forehead told me the laughter had caused pain.
“Shhh,” I soothed. Unable to stop myself, I reached out and smoothed back his hair from his face. “Just lie still.” His face relaxed under the gentle touch of my fingers.
My exhausted brain betrayed me then, casting me back, bringing it all into focus too vividly to shut off. I remembered lying in the grass on the bank overlooking the harbor, the sun overhead and the scent of blueberries heavy in the summer air.
We’d lain on our sides, looking at one another, sharing our dreams and hopes, falling deeper and deeper in love. I’d been sixteen and so innocent. I’d held nothing back, saved nothing of myself because I’d had no idea of what would come.
I’d smoothed his hair back that day, too, to look into the eyes that made my knees go weak. He’d leaned into my touch like he did now and just stared into me like I was the only one he wanted to ever look at again.
He’d walked away from me two months later. No, I thought, squeezing my eyes shut. It would have been better if he’d walked away, gone away, left town, whatever. But, instead, he’d stayed, just out of reach. There, but not mine anymore.
And when I’d cried and pleaded for him to tell me why, that glass wall had gone up and he’d turned his back on me. On us.
The pain felt so fresh, it tore at me. Compared to it, the wounds in my shoulders and fo
ot felt like childhood scrapes and bumps. It twisted inside me like a virus, poisoning my blood, bringing me back to the state of dejection I’d lived in for months.
The past still had the power to hurt, but, I thought, setting my shoulders, not to destroy. Not anymore. I’d found love again, real love. The selfless kind that bonded me to Bash and him to me. I closed my eyes and focused on that, on the way Bash made me feel, and let the endlessness of it wash away the past.
When I opened my eyes, Connor was watching me again.
“What?” I asked, offering him a smile. I’d damaged his brain. A smile was the least I could give him, I figured with a twist of dark humor.
“You’re so beautiful.” His hand snaked out, faster than I would have thought possible in his current state, and slipped through my hair to the back of my neck. With a tug, he pulled me down and fit his lips to mine.
I gasped in shock and felt the tip of his tongue delve into my mouth, tasting, exploring, the way it used to. He moaned into the kiss and pulled me closer, tumbling me into his arms, unable to hold myself up.
My mind went fuzzy as his heat poured into me and his lips danced over mine, so urgently, as if he’d die without me. He murmured my name into the kiss and fisted my hair.
For a split second I sunk into him and it was like coming home. After all I’d been through, home felt right.
But his taste was wrong and the feel of his lips on mine was wrong. He wasn’t Bash. He wasn’t my soul mate. I frowned and brought my hands between us to break his hold on me.
Connor slumped back on the ground, completely unaware that I’d pushed him away. A smile played on his lips as he fought to catch his breath. I frowned, wanting to punch him, but knowing that it was my actions that had left him confused enough to kiss me. I didn’t have the heart to punch a brain-damaged idiot.
I also didn’t have the heart to tell him that we’d soon be dead.
I’d heard them approaching, too fast to deny, too close to run. They’d found us and we would soon be dead. I let my eyelids flutter shut and thought for just a moment that it would be nice to not be afraid anymore.
The crunch of footsteps over branches and men’s voices broke through the peace of the forest, wrapping my heart in a frozen vice. It squeezed painfully as images of everyone I loved ran through my mind. It was like drowning, I thought absently. They said when you drown, your entire life flashes before your eyes.
Mine came to me now, vivid and heartbreaking. I raised my hand to my chest and clutched at my shirt as memories of my family and friends spun through my mind. Tears stung my eyes but I held them back, unwilling to let Viktor see me cry.
I knew the moment they stepped into the clearing and saw me. I felt it in my gut. I knelt with my back to them with Connor lying on the ground at my knees.
“Elena?”
The sound of Bash’s voice broke my heart. He’d feel my death, I knew it like I knew I loved him more than life itself. I exhaled and pushed to my feet, then turned to face Viktor.
Bash raced across the clearing, his face twisted in desperation and love, and swept me into his arms, crushing me against him as my mind rebelled and fought against this new and horrific betrayal. I struggled, pushing away from him, and stumbled back when he let go.
“Elena,” he urged, keeping his voice calm and low. His fingers reached for mine and found them. They linked and he brought them to his chest. “Look at me,” Bash whispered. “It’s me. You’re alright.”
I stared at him for a moment, desperately wanting to believe the lie. My vision wavered then righted and the feel of his heartbeat thumping under our entwined hands pushed through my confusion.
“Bash?” My breath squeezed out of me and I made the strangled sound of a wounded animal. Then I was back in his arms, burying my face in his neck and weeping. “You’re real?” I asked, breathing the scent of him in.
“I’m real,” he whispered over and over, rocking me as I sagged into him and sobbed.
He cradled my head when I pulled back enough to gaze up at him, still in partial disbelief that he was actually here. His thumb moved gently over my dirty cheek and he smiled down at me with such love and relief that my heart swelled and threatened to burst in my chest. Slowly, as if not to spook me, he lowered his lips to mine and kissed me.
I sighed into his kiss and melted into him, lifting my tired arms around his neck to pull him even closer. I would sleep soon, I told my exhausted brain, but first I would kiss my mate.
I blinked in confusion when his body stiffened against me and pulled back.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, stifling a yawn. I looked up at him and felt my heart take a dip when he lifted a hand to his lips and shifted his gaze from my face to where Connor was being helped off the ground.
Slowly, Bash leaned into me, inhaling deeply and my heart seized painfully as I realized what he was smelling on me.
Connor.
Next In Alpha Wolf Academy…
Will Connor come between Elena and Bash, and will Viktor finally sink his teeth into Elena’s throat? Find out in Blood Moon, the third book in the Alpha Wolf Academy series.
GET IT NOW!
A troubled relationship, a political attack, a backstabbing traitor, and a whole shitload of trouble.
Elena Jensen is done being the victim. She’s stronger now and ready to begin training her most valuable asset, her natural born Alpha powers. Life would actually be looking up, if it weren’t for the price on her head and her soul mate’s inability to move past the moment she’d shared with Connor during the plane crash.
When she begins training with someone uniquely qualified to help with her new powers, Elena starts to think that maybe she has a chance against her psychotic uncle and that maybe she could one day reclaim what is rightfully hers.
Elena’s hopes and plans come crashing down when The Sisterhood is attacked on multiple fronts, leaving her new allies reeling and vengeful against those who would harm them. Caught up in the rush of political upheaval, Elena never sees the hand that betrays her or the blow that threatens her life.
You’ll never know how much strength you have until you’re given the choice to fight or die.
Before There Was Alpha Wolf Academy…
If you want to start at the beginning and meet Katherine LaFlamme, why not grab a copy of Blood of Eden, book one of The Guardians trilogy. GRAB IT HERE!
Trouble's brewing in the pack... and Katherine is willing to risk her life if that's what it takes to save her family.
When Katherine LaFlamme is summoned home by her father, the Alpha of the North American wolf pack, she drops everything and answers the call. Despite her desire to experience the human world before she settles down, Katherine is fiercely loyal and, as the pack's best tracker, she's an essential part of stopping the darkness encroaching on their territory.
A hunter has invaded their territory and murdered several of their kind, while a rogue wolf has been stalking the female members of the LaFlamme family. To make matters worse, a secondary claim to the Alphaship of North America has risen, setting the entire pack on edge.
Then Katherine meets a mysterious wolf named Quinn and things begin to get interesting... and very deadly. Katherine and Quinn are swept up in a puzzle of ancient rites, prophecies, and mythic lore which reveals that there's more to both of them than first meets the eye.
GRAB IT HERE!
About the Author
JJ King is the paranormal loving alter-ego of author Janice Godin. She was born and raised on the beautiful island of Newfoundland and makes her home there still with her amazing son. She attributes her love for the supernatural to Buffy and is thankful there are so many other people, like her, who love a little otherness with their romance.
Oh, and she loves sushi and cats!
To find out more about JJ King and all her upcoming projects, check out her website at http://janice.godin.com
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