by Lexy Timms
“Surely you can understand,” I say flatly. “Especially given the sins of my tribe.”
His eyes turn back to Sebastian, and I see Clarissa peeking out from beyond his legs. Warm by the fire but curious as to what’s going on. I can see recognition pour over her face, and she backs away. Scrambling for the wall as Sebastian backs up with her.
Keeping the wall up between her and the Chief, and ready to try and kill the most powerful Bear alive to protect her.
For all Sebastian’s roughness, he’s a good man.
When he wants to be.
“Her existence won’t be tolerated,” Chief says.
“She saved you from the warriors that killed her husband,”
Sebastian says.
“After attempting to slaughter all of us.”
“After you put her in lead chains depleting her of her energy stores and her abilities,” he says.
“I’m not here to debate who was wrong first,” Chief says. “I’m here to deliver a message to all of you.”
“Why?” Toshi asks. “You’re one of the ones she attacked. I can tell by the way you’re limping.”
“She’s strong,” Chief says. “But she’s an abomination.”
“You take that back,” Sebastian growls.
“Project Eden was an abomination. A faction of Cats that split from their entire race to do what they thought was necessary to protect their race. Not all of ours. That was simply the mirror they used to project the image and protect what they were doing.
Hundreds of human females, slaughtered to find a way to preserve us. It wasn’t right.”
“And neither is killing her,” Toshi says.
“I’m not saying I agree with the Council,” Chief says. “Not with what the prophecy says. But I can assure you, the Council will come after her. Despite her efforts to save us when those clan of miscreants descended on us, she will be hunted.”
“Prophecy?” Sebastian asks.
“What prophecy?” Toshi asks.
The Chief shoots me a look before condemning me with his eyes.
“You can lie to them, and you can lie to me. But you can never lie to yourself, Theo. That is the most dangerous of all,” Chief says.
“Will someone speak the fuck up?” Sebastian growls.
“There’s a prophecy. Spoken by one of the most revered of the Bear clan members. It speaks of a woman who has been brought to save the entire Primal race, but at a cost,” Chief says.
“You mean Clarissa?” Toshi asks.
“The prophecy doesn’t specify, but what it does specify is war.
Factions of Primals and their different species coming out of the woodwork and fighting both for and against this woman. To protect her. To preserve her. But not just her.”
Chief looks at me, and I beg him not to say anything. Not with Clarissa and my history. Not with Sebastian in the type of protection mode he’s in.
I’ll be fighting for my life if he does.
“What?” Sebastian asks. “Say it!”
“The prophecy boasts of protecting a child as well,” Chief says.
I feel Toshi and Sebastian both turn their gazes to me.
“I’m here to give you a running start,” Chief says. “You have to leave. You have to get out of here. If you wish to protect Clarissa and whatever comes from this prophecy. But know this.
Death, destruction, and war stand in your way. In some interpretations, the child is even more important than the mother herself.”
Toshi’s eyes are glaring at me, and Sebastian is slowly making his way for me. Sniffing the air and clocking the veins in my neck as my eyes hold Chief. Watching him stand against his cane as his eyes bore into me.
Speaking to me, despite anyone else in the room.
“Do not lie to yourselves, and do not keep her here. I can wield as much power in the Council as I have, but then there is nothing more I can do.”
“Thank you, Chief. For everything,” I say.
“What about Kyle?”
Clarissa’s voice pierces through the heat of the conversation, and we all turn toward her. She’s staring into the fire, her back hunching over and her knees drawing into her chest. I can hear the sadness in her voice. The defeat. The unanswered questions of who really killed Kyle, and the retribution she wished to get for him.
“May I offer you a word of advice?” Chief asks.
Clarissa turns her teary eyes to him, and I can see the force of her emotion slap him across the face. I can see instantaneous regret pour over his features. Sebastian’s nostrils are flaring, and Toshi is physically startled by the change of the emotion in the room.
“How will I figure out who killed my husband?” Clarissa asks.
“Child, the loss of a mate is devastating. But Igo was simply a pawn in a much grander scheme the Council has been afraid of for centuries. Rebellion is coming. Mutiny is lurking in the shadows.
I don’t know how your Kyle plays into all of this but know this.
If you still hurt this badly, and you still yearn for him this much, then he loved you as a mate should. And if you decide to take another, use that power and that dedication as your deciding compass. But this cannot sink you,” Chief says.
“I think it already has.”
“That’s not what I witnessed moments ago,” he says. “I witnessed a power stronger than anything that has ever sat on that Council.
Now more than ever, I believe you are the woman in the prophecy.
Now more than ever, I believe you are worth protecting. But if you allow the loss of your mate to swallow you whole, you doom not only us, but yourself.”
Sebastian’s growl is low, and Toshi hisses at the Chief. He casts one more glance upon Clarissa’s body, then puts his hand on my shoulder. He squeezes it tightly. Like he had the last time we had seen one another. And somehow, we come to an understanding that we will not see one another again.
At least, not standing on the same side.
We all watch him as he walks to the door. Without looking back, he opens it up and a harsh cold rushes in. The door closes behind him and leaves the four of us sitting in the abandoned shack, turning his words over in our head.
“Did you know about this?” Sebastian asks.
I draw in a deep breath as I nod my head.
“And you didn’t think about telling us?” he growls.
“There were more important things in play,” I say.
“Like you fucking Clarissa so your child could be the one in the prophecy!?”
“Do you know how ridiculous you sound right now?” Toshi asks. “It could easily be Kyle’s child.”
“We were careful,” I say. “Not that it’s any of your business.”
“I’m not pregnant,” Clarissa says weakly.
We turn around and find Clarissa standing and staring at us.
She’s still shivering, and it breaks my heart. I walk over to her and wrap my arms around her, burying her in my warmth. I hold her until she stops shivering, then I feel her tip her face up to find mine.
“I’m hungry,” she says.
“We can get you some food in a car or on the train. But we have to leave. The Council will come looking for us,” I say.
“She’s going to need better clothes if we aren’t going to attract attention getting home,” Toshi says.
“Then go find her some,” Sebastian grumbles.
“If he’s got time to look for clothes, you’ve got time to look for food,” Clarissa says.
She pats my chest, and I’m reluctant to let her go.
“I’m warm now. It’s okay,” she says.
“I don’t want to leave you here alone,” I say.
“I won’t be. I’ll be with Sebastian,” she says.
I look warily over at the Wolf as he stands perching in a corner.
“We’ll be quick,” I say.
“I wouldn’t expect anything less. Once I have better clothes and something to eat, we can head out,” she says.
“No
w go,” Sebastian says.
I bite down on the inside of my cheek to keep from spitting back.
“Would you like some coffee too?” I ask.
“That would be nice, actually,” Clarissa says.
“Then a coffee and a sandwich it is,” I say.
Chapter 29
~ Sebastian
The moment the door closes Clarissa crumbles to her knees. I rush to her and scoop her up, holding her crying form close to my chest. Her mind is swirling with emotions that are hard to stomach. I run my fingers through her hair and feel her shiver against me. I don’t want to use these traits against her. I don’t want to form a bond that is easy for me to exploit. But feeling her cry against me conjures a feeling I don’t like. A feeling that leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
Helplessness.
I feel helpless in her quest for resolution.
“I can’t believe what I just did,” Clarissa says breathlessly. “I almost killed them.”
“But you didn’t,” I say. “You didn’t kill them.”
“But I killed those warriors. I heard their bones cracking.”
“I can’t honestly say they didn’t deserve it.”
“I’m a murderer, Sebastian. I’m not better than the Primals who took Kyle from me.”
“Hey,” I say harshly. “You shut that talk down right now.”
I hold Clarissa out from my body and crook my finger underneath her chin. I guide her face to me and take in her beautiful eyes.
Their wetness kills me. Tugs at my anger and my fierce want to rid her of all that is debilitating her. Gazing into her eyes leaves me speechless, and my hand slides to cup her cheek. Her hand wraps around my wrist, and I watch her nuzzle into my palm, her mind begging me to say something.
Anything.
“You are no monster,” I say. “Nor are you anything like those rebels. Those archaic excuses for Primals.”
“I couldn’t control it. I lost my cool, and I couldn't snap out of it.”
“But you did,” I say. “When you heard my voice, and you saw the danger everyone else was in, you snapped out of it. They trapped you, Clarissa. Like an animal. You had every right to lash out at them.”
“But no right to kill them.”
“You killed no one,” I say.
Her lip is trembling, and I graze my thumb over it. Willing it with my entire mind to stop. She pulls it between her teeth and lets it go, and I watch as every petal of her skin unfurls. I can feel her veins pulsing against my skin. I can feel the electricity coursing behind her eyes. I feel that tug in my groin. Those veins rising to life and pumping a yearning want between my legs.
Then, I see it.
A wound on her arm that isn’t healing.
“Does that hurt?” I ask.
The baggy shirt Clarissa’s wearing falls farther down her shoulder as she takes a look at it.
“No,” she says. “Should it?”
“It depends. Do you know how you got it?” I ask.
“Nothing stands out,” she says. “Why isn’t it healing?”
I wrap my hand around her arm and bring it up to my face so I can inspect the wound. I can see the sparkling of saliva in the teeth indentations. I sniff it deeply as a familiar scent fills my nostrils. My chest fills with an angry rage as my eyes whip up to Clarissa’s.
“What is it?” she asks.
“Lord Wesley,” I say. “This is from him.”
“Then why doesn’t it hurt? And why isn’t it healing?”
“He’s injected you with his saliva, but it has erased your memory of it.”
“Wolves can do that?”
“Some of the more powerful can. After a while, a Wolf’s saliva numbs. And if it gets infected, it’s untreatable with human medications.”
“Can you fix it?” she asks. “Can you heal me?”
“Not without—”
I grit my teeth and bite back a growl as I close my eyes. I can smell her scent. Taste her blood on the tip of my tongue. My mind is going blank, and my cock is rising to life. The simple idea of licking her again is throwing me out of control. Spiraling me into a darkness that only knows two things.
My strength and her curves.
“Sebastian.”
Clarissa’s voice reaches into the recesses of my mind and pulls me to life.
“I can heal it,” I say. “But it’s—”
“You’ll have to stop me, Clarissa. Even if it means morphing.”
She nods her head, and my hand grips her arm. I pull the wound to my face, sniffing it deeply and allowing the ruddy smell to swirl around my head. My tongue settles against her skin and licks, rumbling over the openness of her body. My cock is leaking.
Pulsing with the aching want to sink into her heat. My body is trembling, and I can feel every atom of my being firing with electricity. My grip on her tightens as I lick. Press. Growl into her skin. The wound closes underneath my ministrations, but my tongue doesn’t stop.
It works up her body, encompassing her neck as we fall into the wall.
“More.”
That small little word echoing off the corners of my mind.
I’m losing myself to the darkness. To the primal heat coursing through my veins as my tongue laps against her lips.
“So much more.”
Clarissa’s hands wrap into the tendrils of my hair. I can no longer contain myself. I can no longer peel myself away from her.
I rip her tattered clothes from her body, feeling the shirt fall to the floor at my feet. My tongue slips to the back of her mouth, raking over her cheeks and coating her with my saliva.
She’s shaking. Trembling as she gives herself over to me. As the bond we created so many months ago takes over her entire being.
She’s whimpering. Biting back her howls as I suck on her lower lip.
I open my eyes and find hers filling with lust.
“More,” she says breathlessly.
Her hands reach down to my pants and rip them down my body.
“More,” she says with a growl.
Her lips around my dripping cock send me into a primal spiral. My hand twists in her hair as I shove myself back into her throat.
My claws are growing as I watch her kneel to me. Give herself over to me.
Servicing me in ways females always do their alphas.
She swallows me back, and my cock leaks down her throat. Her tongue swirls and her cheeks hollow out, and my hips are bucking ravenously into her mouth. My toes are curling into the wood, scraping against the rotting foundation as I rip her away from my dick. I bring her back up to me and crash our lips together as my claws wrap into the fabric of her pants.
I tear them away from her body as she jumps up, wrapping her legs around my waist.
I sink us to the floor beside the fire and stare into her eyes.
Half-hooded with lust and dripping with my scent. I sniff along her pulsing artery, watching her open her neck to me. I feel her hand twisting in my hair and dropping my lips to her neck.
Begging me to mark her.
But that isn’t where I want my mark.
Nowhere close.
My tongue laps down her body, twisting around her nipples. She’s whimpering and growling, bucking her heated hips furiously against my body. She is losing herself to the same darkness. I can hear the carnal thoughts rolling around in her head. Every word she thinks sends shivers to my dick, and it takes another second for me to regain control of myself.
My lips hover over her hip, and our eyes connect. My cock is leaking a thick stream of cum all the way to the floor. Her chest is covered in a beautiful red sheen and the firelight in her eyes accents how much she wants this.
I have no more reservations.
Clarissa is mine.
My teeth sharpen, and I bite into her skin. I inject my saliva as her howls fill the corners of the abandoned shack. My tongue laps at her wounds and a sensation fills me. My entire being is pulsing with the need to move. The need to mate.
I lick her wounds clean, allowing the scent of her body to permeate my mind. All I can see is her. All I can think is her.
All I can smell is her. I rush up her body and press my cock against her swollen heat, feeling how much she’s dripping for me.
I thrust my tongue between her lips and open her one last time to me, then I sink my thick girth into her beautiful body.
I’m gone.
Lost.
Unavailable for any other female who should want me.
“Fuck me, Sebastian. Please. Don’t make me wait another second.”
I growl and bury my claws into the wooden floor as I slam into her hips. She arches her beautiful tits into my body, and I can feel every curve of her pulsing. I feel her walls fluttering around me, cradling me close and pulling me further into her.
Craving me as I have craved her for so long.
Our hips roll together as her body shakes underneath me. Her hands wrap around my back and dig into my skin. I can feel her claws emerging. Sinking into my skin. Growls are falling from her lips, and I can see the heated want of release in her eyes. I toss my head back and howl as her claws eject, burrowing into me and locking me close to her.
I pound into her as her soft curves fill the crevices of my body.
We are fire. Stoking one another to raging flames. My heart is pumping, and my muscles are twitching, and my toes are curling deeper into themselves. Her body is jumping with every thrust I deal, and yet her legs lock me in tighter. There’s passion in her eyes and love in mine, and I can feel her heart beating in time with mine. With her claws marking me and our bodies forever connected with the shared bond of healing.
Marking.
Attachment.
My cock bursts and empties into her as I watch her lean back. Her body is massaging me, drawing out of me every last ounce I have for her. Her claws slip from my ribcage and dig into the floor beside her as her legs draw me in further. Bury me closer between her legs as she opens her mouth.
The sound of her howling as her body flushes with red in an intense orgasm is a sound I will never forget. A moment which will always hold dear to my heart even in the most treacherous of times.
I collapse on top of her, and she rolls us over. I can feel her climbing over me, her eyes searching for the wounds she dealt.
Blood is trickling down my skin, and I try to tell her to wait.
