by Lola Gabriel
Brianna felt her spine arching, her back coming up off the bed. Her muscles went rigid, and for a second, she couldn’t breathe or think. She could do nothing except feel the way Archer made her body come to throbbing, agonizing life. She moaned his name as another wave washed over her. Her muscles relaxed, and she flopped back onto the mattress, her eyes rolling back in her head. The world flashed red, and she was floating above her body, looking down on herself, writhing with ecstasy. The effect was fleeting, and she was back inside of herself within seconds, Archer’s lips playing over hers, breathing life back into her.
She released the balls of the duvet cover from her fists and moved her hands to Archer’s back, roaming them up and down his body, caressing and kneading his skin, wanting to be one with him. He kissed down the side of her neck and nibbled on her ear lobe. He pressed his mouth to hers, a desperate kiss that told her he was as ready for her as she was for him.
Archer pulled away from her, and Brianna opened her eyes. He looked down at her, lust making his eyes darker, showing her the animal inside of him. She felt no fear, only excitement. He reached down to her glistening center again, running his fingers through her lips. The tip of his cock pressed against her, and she opened her thighs wider, opening herself up to him and inviting him in. He pushed into her, stretching her and filling her up, and she moaned as pleasure filled her body.
He began to move, slowly at first, making sweet, tender love to her. She wrapped her legs around his waist, pushing him in deeper and spurring him on. His thrusts began to quicken, and Brianna met each one with a desperate, eager thrust of her own. She felt her orgasm coming over her again, listening to Archer moan his pleasure into her ear. His breath puffed against her hair, tickling her skin and sending goosebumps rushing down her neck and over her chest.
Archer slammed into Brianna and unleashed her orgasm. She clenched around Archer’s cock, reminding her of how big he was, how he filled her up completely. Her pussy spasmed in time with the pleasure that pulsed through her body, turning her to jelly once more. She wanted to scream, to shout Archer’s name, but all she could do was whimper his name in a series of desperate pants. He moaned, a tortured sound at being held back, and when her spasm released her muscles, he slammed into her so hard, she cried out from the sweet pain of his connection.
He continued to thrust for a few seconds more before he shook and his warm seed filled her. He buried his face in the crook of her neck, whispering her name. She clung to him, holding his chest against hers, savoring the closeness of their bodies.
Finally, he rolled off her, and they lay side by side, panting. When Archer’s breathing had slowed down almost to normal, he turned onto his side, and Brianna forced her too heavy body to roll to face him. He smiled at her, a lazy, sated smile, and stroked her cheek. She could feel her eyes closing and made no effort to fight it. She loved falling asleep in Archer’s arms, feeling happy and safe and content with the world.
16
Archer startled awake. The room was dark, silent except for the deep and even breaths of Brianna next to him, but somehow, he instantly knew they weren’t alone in the room. He tried to sit up, but he couldn’t move. It was like invisible hands were holding him down. All he could move was his head, like he was paralyzed from the neck down.
Panic flooded him, but he resisted the urge to succumb to it. He turned his head from side to side, frantically trying to work out what was happening. As his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he saw a shadowy outline standing at the end of the bed, watching him and Brianna.
“Who’s there?” he demanded in a voice barely above a whisper.
He didn’t want to wake Brianna and scare her half to death until he knew what the hell was going on. The shadow began to move from the end of the bed, and Archer tried desperately to force his body to move, but it was useless.
The shadow reached the door of the room. Instead of leaving, it reached up and flicked the light on. Archer recoiled when the figure turned to face him. It was a woman, soaked from head to toe in streaks of blood. She smiled at him, and he felt panic grip him once more. Her smile was so out of place in this scene.
The woman looked to be around the same age as him. She wore a long black cloak over black trousers and a white blouse. Long blonde curls hung out from beneath the hood of her cloak, which she pushed back.
“I suppose you’re wondering who I am and what’s going on,” she said. Her voice was too loud, and Archer cringed, afraid Brianna would wake up and have a heart attack when she saw the scene around her. The woman smiled again. “Relax. She won’t be waking up for a good few hours yet.”
“What did you do to her?” Archer demanded, trying and failing again to move his body.
“It’s just an enchantment. And for the record, in case you haven’t worked it out, you’re under one, too. But don’t worry, it’ll break in a couple of hours. I don’t have any intention of harming you. It’s not really my style.” She laughed softly and indicated the blood stains on her front. They stood out, vivid red against the white of her blouse. “I know this implies otherwise, but I never would have killed your guard if he hadn’t ambushed me. I didn’t have time to pull the sleeping powder out, so he had to go, I’m afraid.”
“Who are you? What the hell do you want from me?” Archer hissed.
“My name is Maria. I’m a witch. And I don’t want anything from you. I want her,” the woman said, nodding to Brianna. “I’ve traveled a long way to find her. After her friends killed Chester, I knew she was a prize and a half. Did she tell you what happened in New York?”
Archer nodded grudgingly, trying to buy himself some time to work out what the hell he was going to do to get Brianna out of this mess while he couldn’t even move so much as a toe or a finger.
“Chester was a Matchmaker. A damned good one. Her friends killed him, and I took over his turf. I found out about this one from a mutual doctor friend, and I’ve been hunting for her ever since. She doesn’t learn, does she? She comes all the way out to the back end of Nebraska to run from her past, and then she ends up in bed with a wolf.”
“So you’re a Matchmaker?” Archer asked.
Maria nodded. While it made Archer’s blood boil to know a Matchmaker was here trying to take Brianna away from him, it gave him hope in another way. Matchmakers just wanted money. He could pay for Brianna’s safety by purchasing her himself. And then when this damned spell wore off, he would make Maria pay.
“Name your price, and I’ll pay it myself. You don’t have to hurt her,” he said.
“I have no intention of hurting her. I don’t sell bruised goods. But I do already have a buyer lined up who is willing to pay me over ten million dollars. Let’s not pretend you can match that. If I thought you could, we would be having this conversation in your office.”
Archer felt his heart skip a beat. That was a lot of money, and it was more than he had. Maria took a step towards Brianna, and while he didn’t want to pull the rest of the pack into this and put them in the line of danger, he had no other choice now. He began to bellow at the top of his lungs, screaming for his pack. Maria glared at him as she snatched the duvet off Brianna.
“You’re going to get them all killed,” she snapped. She dug in her pocket and pulled out a bloodstained knife, pressing it to Brianna’s throat. “Stop, or she dies.”
Archer was almost certain she wouldn’t kill Brianna. She was worth too much money to her, but he couldn’t risk Brianna’s life on that theory. His mind was already ticking over. Maria had said the paralysis potion would wear off in a couple of hours. Surely, she wouldn’t be able to do much in that time. She would have to get Brianna back to New York to complete her deal, and dragging an unconscious woman around the country wasn’t a great plan. She would hole up somewhere, and Archer had her scent. He would find her and rescue Brianna before it was too late.
The door burst open as Maria reached down to gather up Brianna. Sven and Michael burst in.
“What’s—” Sv
en started. His words trailed off when he took in the scene before him. He and Michael exchanged a glance, and then Michael turned, throwing himself at the witch in wolf form.
In a flash, Maria ran her blade across Brianna’s throat. Hot blood spurted from the wound, dousing Archer’s face. His scream of anguish filled the room as Maria spun around, grabbing a lamp from Brianna’s bedside cabinet and snatching the plug from the socket. She swung the lamp and caught Michael square in the temple. He whimpered and fell to the ground, his body limp.
Archer felt as though the whole world had stopped turning. He could only watch, helpless, as Brianna bled out beside him and Maria advanced on Sven. Sven waited for Maria to come closer. He held his hands up beside his head.
“Look, lady, I only came to see what was going on. I’ve seen, it’s none of my business, and I’m not getting in the middle of this shit. Do your thing,” he said. He turned and began to walk away.
Archer couldn’t even bring himself to be angry. There was nothing Sven could do except die alongside them now. Maria wore an ugly smirk as she turned back towards the bed.
Archer felt a surge of hope when he heard a growl. Before Maria had a chance to react, Sven’s wolf jumped on her back, knocking her to the ground. He leaned his head down and tore through the back of her neck until she was decapitated. When she took her last breath, Archer felt the spell on him lift, and he could move again. He bolted upright as the spell faded from Brianna, too, and her eyes flew open, wild with panic.
He had only seconds left to save her. Already, he could see the light in her eyes fading. The geyser of blood was down to a trickle. She had only one chance now.
“Please forgive me, my love,” Archer whispered.
He reached out, starting to turn. He clawed a big gash across Brianna’s arm, and then he leaned down and bit her beside the scratch. He threw his head back and howled, returning to his human form. He waited and watched Brianna desperately for some sign that he had saved her, hardly daring to breathe as he prayed that she would live.
He only allowed himself to believe this had worked when he saw the slit across Brianna’s throat starting to heal. He had tears in his eyes as he watched tufts of jet-black fur begin to sprout over her body. He heard the first crack of one of her bones breaking, and that was when the screaming began.
He turned to see Sven in his human form again, watching in silence.
“Sven, please take Michael and make sure he’s okay,” Archer instructed. “And get rid of that body before Brianna comes back to her senses, please.”
Sven nodded and jumped into action, giving Archer the momentary illusion he was in control. He didn’t believe it, though. Not really.
17
Brianna felt the scream being wrenched from her throat as pain erupted through her whole body. She didn’t know what was going on. All she knew was that she had woken up, barely able to breathe. She had felt a deep, stinging pain in her arm, and then she could breathe normally again. She had relaxed for a second, thinking something had gone wrong with her recovery but that a doctor had given her a shot, and she was going to be okay.
Then the pain increased. Every bit of skin felt like it was tearing. Just when she thought she could cope with the level of pain, it intensified even more, and she felt the bones in her arms snapping, like they were growing or shrinking or doing something she couldn’t quite comprehend. The agony took over her thought processes, rendering her thoughtless. Finally, the pain stopped, and Brianna opened her mouth to ask what the hell had happened. Instead of her voice, a low growl sounded, and she paused, looking around. The growl came again, and with horror, Brianna realized it was her doing. She looked down at her body, and instead of skin, she saw thick black fur.
That was when she knew. Archer had turned her against her will. She was a wolf now.
She looked up and saw Archer standing at the end of the bed where she lay. She got to her feet and growled, letting the wolf she had become take over her. She leapt towards Archer, her fangs bared, her claws extended. He cried out as she clashed with him, digging her claws into his forearms. She felt her claws slicing through him like he was made of ice cream.
He fell to the floor, and she jumped clear of him and then turned back. He was on his back, and she pounced before he could stand up. She could see the claw marks already healing, but her wolf was far from done with him. She would kill him for what he had done to her.
She stood with her front paws on his shoulders, her jaws snapping inches from his face. She felt a moment of regret; there was still a human part of her in there that loved him. Her wolf raised its head for a moment and made a whimpering sound. Her animal side knew Archer was meant to be her mate, but how could she be with someone who had betrayed her so badly?
She snapped her jaws closed again, narrowly missing biting off Archer’s nose. He reached up, his hands on her chest, holding her off as best as he could. Hot saliva dripped from her fangs and landed on Archer’s face, but if it bothered him, he hid it well.
“Brianna. Brianna. Stop. Listen to me. I had no choice. You would have died if I hadn’t turned you. Please let me explain,” Archer said. Brianna ignored him, her wolf in control now. She snapped again, snarling and growling. “Brianna, I know you’re still in there, and I know you’re strong enough to control your wolf. Come back to me. Please.”
This time, something in Archer’s tone broke through Brianna. He didn’t sound afraid. He sounded broken, like seeing her like this was the thing that was breaking him. Her wolf had no such worries, and her paw swiped out, clawing him across the face.
“Please don’t do this, Brianna. Listen to your heart instead of your wolf.”
Brianna found herself wanting to hear Archer out. She didn’t know how to calm down the wolf side of her, though, but her hesitation was enough for Archer to really reach her.
“Just come back to me, Brianna. Push out with your humanity and banish the wolf down inside of yourself. Swallow the anger down.”
Archer’s words made no sense on a rational level, but Brianna found that somehow, she understood what she had to do. She reached out with the essence of what made her herself and pushed the wolf away. Her wolf growled, ready to fight her, but Brianna was stronger.
She was human again, straddling Archer, her hands on his shoulders. She gasped and jumped away from him when she saw the deep claw marks on his face. She scooted backwards until she was pressed up against the wall and she couldn’t crawl any further away.
“It’s okay,” Archer told her, getting to his feet and coming towards her.
“Stay back!” Brianna cried. “I… I hurt you.”
Archer smiled down at her. “It’s already healing. Look.”
Brianna watched the scratch marks begin to slowly close up and fade. Only when they were fully gone did she allow herself to breathe again. Archer reached down, and reluctantly, Brianna took his hand, and he helped her to her feet. He led her to the bed and wrapped a sheet around her before he gently sat her down, taking a seat beside her.
“What the hell happened?” she asked, taking in the smashed lamp on the ground.
“There was a witch. A Matchmaker. She wanted to take you. She enchanted me so I couldn’t move. I screamed for help, and she cut your throat. Sven and Michael managed to overpower her, and the enchantment broke just in time for me to save you.”
“By turning me into a wolf,” Brianna said.
Archer nodded. “I’m sorry, Brianna. It was the only way to keep you alive.”
“But why? What right did you have to make this decision for me?”
“I had no right at all. I had seconds to decide what to do, and the only thing that went through my mind was that I would rather have you live hating me than die loving me.”
Brianna felt tears fill her eyes, and hearing Archer’s words, hearing his voice break as he said them, she knew he had done the right thing.
“I get it,” she said. “I’m sorry I overreacted. And I’m really sorry a
bout your face.”
“So what happens now?” Archer asked warily.
Brianna smiled. “Now I guess we start our forever together.”
“Oh, Brianna,” Archer breathed. “I know this is the worst timing, but I have to say this. I love you with everything I am and everything I will ever be. Will you be my mate?”
“Yes,” Brianna said simply.
It was all that was needed. She leaned forward and fell into Archer’s arms, and as their lips moved as one, the thought of being immortal suddenly didn’t scare her anymore. The thought of getting to be with Archer forever excited her, and she realized she had never been happier than she was in that moment.
Epilogue
Three Months Later
“I told you I didn’t want to be disturbed,” Archer said in irritation, not looking up as his office door opened.
“Shame. I’ll go then, shall I?” Brianna laughed.
Archer glanced up, and his breath caught in his throat when he saw his beautiful mate standing before him, her eyes dancing with laughter at his brusque greeting.
“Sorry, I thought you were Sven,” he apologized.
“You’re not making this any better.”
“No, I don’t suppose I am,” Archer said, chuckling. He stood up and moved around his desk to pull her into his arms. He kissed her deeply on the mouth. She returned his kiss, her hands roaming over his back. When he finally pulled away, she smiled up at him with mischief in her eyes.
“I hope you don’t greet Sven like that,” she said.