by Lilly Wilder
Two other wolves advanced, ready to deliver the killing blow but I couldn’t let that happen. “No!” I screamed and ran forward.
I wasn’t thinking. In fact, my mind had gone blank with the pure craziness of this whole thing. But there was one thing I knew — I needed to get to Roman and I needed to make sure that he was alright.
Suddenly, a dark brown wolf with a mask of white around his face came between me and the other three. His upper lip curled upwards in a snarl. His eyes were a deep amber color. Landon.
He barked his warning at the advancing enemy and it seemed enough of a threat to make them hesitate for just a moment. They looked at each other before pouncing all at once. I flinched, thinking for sure that Landon had been unable to avoid the attack but when I looked up, he was no longer where he once was.
A whimper caused my head to jerk towards the left. The smallest wolf was running, tail between its legs.
I blinked and then there was only one wolf remaining.
Frightened, I backed up until I was standing beside Roman. I wanted to help him but I was, really, too scared to move.
Then, Landon emerged from the shadows and stalked forward, advancing on the last remaining wolf. They went at it, standing on their hind legs. They were so ferocious, in the way that they moved, that it sounded like I was right in the middle of a thunderstorm.
I couldn’t tell who was winning.
Suddenly, Landon had the night club goon by the neck. His teeth were digging into the werewolf’s neck and I was sure I was about to see him kill someone.
I turned away, unable to watch.
Thud!
I dared to open my eyes and saw the wolf crumbled into a pile at Landon’s feet. He was breathing hard and there was blood pouring from his neck.
Landon barked something that sounded like a threat. When that wasn’t enough, a violent snarl reverberated through the back of his throat.
That seemed to get the message across because the enemy wolf eventually scuttled away. They had all left their motorcycles behind.
I was slow to turn back around.
The guys were still in their wolf forms. Deep down, I knew that I should probably run, far, far away from them but for some reason, I stayed because I couldn’t walk away.
I didn’t know how and I didn’t know why but these two made me happy.
Besides, I needed some answers.
It’s not every day you come across a couple of random werewolves.
Chapter 12: Roman
Landon had always impressed me with his fighting abilities but this was something else entirely. He had moved with a quickness that shouldn’t have been possible.
“Have you been holding out on me all these years?” I asked.
“No…” He sounded a bit dazed. “I don’t quite know what came over me but I think it had something to do with my need to protect both you and Jane.”
“Well, you did a hell of a job,” I praised, as I slowly made my transformation back to my human form. My white shirt was soaked through with my blood and the gash to my side was one of the most painful injuries I had ever sustained. “And what do these guys have? Poisonous claws or something?”
“You were careless,” reprimanded Landon. “You could have gotten yourself killed.”
“Yeah. But I didn’t and that’s all that matters, right?”
Landon shook his giant wolf head before, he too, joined me in human form.
Before us, Jane was staring like a deer caught in headlights. Her eyes were so wide that I feared they would pop right out of her head.
“Okay. I have questions. Lots of them,” she said, after finally snapping out of her daze. “First of all, when you told me you were a werewolf —”
“Shifter,” I corrected. “I’ve already explained the difference, Jane.”
“Whatever!” She threw up her arms, exasperated by my technicalities. “Shifter. Happy?”
“Well, I’d be happier if we got somewhere, where I could treat myself.” I gestured down at the ever-growing blossom of red.
She gasped. “Oh God! That’s right… You were hurt during the battle.” She was immediately by my side. “May I?” she asked, in the softest of whispers, like she was afraid of voicing the question.
I nodded. “Go ahead.”
Gently, she lifted my shirt. As the fabric peeled away from my flesh, it added even more pain to my already agonized midsection.
“Roman…” she cried. “This is bad.”
“I’ll be… fine.” I held back a grimace, as a particularly deep breath sent a spasm of renewed pain to my every nerve ending.
“We’ll head to the bunker. It is not far from here.” It was the first time that Landon had spoken. He seemed different somehow — I couldn’t quite put my finger on it but there seemed to be a bit more depth to his eyes, like he understood the world a little bit better than I ever would.
“The bunker, huh?” I asked. “We haven’t been there in a while.”
“It should have the supplies we’ll need, should an extended stay be in order.”
I nodded my agreement.
“I’d say you could ride with me but I can’t have your arms around my midsection right now so I guess you’re stuck with Landon.” I tried to make light of the situation but Jane’s expression of distress only deepened.
“Are you going to be able to ride in your current condition? I mean, I can call you an ambulance or something.”
I shook my head. “If you bring me to a hospital, I’ll be locked away in area 51 faster than you can say ‘hot rod.’ Generally, not a good idea.”
“Right. I bet your DNA is pretty different.”
“That’s just the tip of the iceberg.”
“Are we going to stand and chit-chat all night or do we intend to ride any time soon?” asked Landon. That man always had some kind of agenda but, then again, I was probably dying and the longer that I waited, the likelier it became that I would bleed out. It also probably wasn’t a very good thing that I was starting to feel light headed.
“You’re right. Let’s go before I faint.”
Jane frowned but she didn’t have much time to worry because Landon had already towed her towards his motorcycle. I limped over to mine, trying not to breathe too hard.
I turned it on and the vibrations were like literal torture. I had to take a minute to get used to it before I was able to follow Landon towards the bunker. Thankfully, we didn’t have very far to go and in about five minutes’ time, we reached our destination.
Landon took care of hiding our rides, while I fumbled with the old combination lock. After being exposed to the elements, it had rusted a bit. That’s what happens when you trust human invention — more often than not it fails. Unless of course, we’re talking Harley Davidsons. Those things are made to last, which was why the pack had invested in purchasing a few for high ranking individuals. Landon and I had been two of the lucky few, with Landon being the leader’s son and all that.
“What are we going to do about your injury?” Jane asked, almost as soon as we stepped inside. “We can’t just leave it unattended or you’re going to…” she trailed off, unable to continue.
“I’m not going to die,” I said. “There’s a lot more in life that I still have to do, so if you’re gunning to get rid of me, let me just tell you: that’s not happening any time soon.”
She still looked unconvinced so I placed two fingers underneath her chin and lifted it slightly so that she was forced to look me in the eye. Without stopping to think about it, I leaned down and kissed her. It almost killed me to do it. Honestly, just bending my body in that manner was like driving a knife through my midsection and then twisting it back and forth.
But as soon as our lips collided, all that melted away. I could no longer feel an ounce of pain. All I felt was the weightlessness of bliss. If I had any doubt that Jane was our mate, all that doubt was now being eradicated.
Her l
ips were so silky, smooth and sweet. I had only enjoyed them for a few seconds and already I felt like I was completely addicted. Unable to help myself, I wove my fingers into her hair and held her even closer, so that our lips fused together. Even that was not enough to satisfy the hunger that gnawed inside my soul.
My tongue made its way into her mouth and explored everything she had to offer me.
She returned the passion with a fire of her own. Her tongue twisted against mine and she even went so far as to bite my bottom lip.
Big mistake.
That was one of my biggest weaknesses. I loved a girl who wasn’t afraid to bite.
Fueled by lust, I was just about to pick her up by the hips and slam her up against the wall but at that exact moment, Landon came walking through the door. We managed to separate ourselves but not quite quick enough to disguise what we had been doing.
Landon raised his eyebrow in my direction. “Care to explain?” he asked, after a moment.
“It sort of just happened. But let me tell you, man, she’s definitely the one we’ve been waiting for. All I got was a simple kiss and I feel like a brand new man.”
“Looked like more than just a kiss to me.”
“Okay… maybe there was some tongue action thrown in there but hey… can you blame me?”
Landon chuckled.
“What?” Jane spoke up, confused. Of course, she had no idea, the words that had been exchanged during our telepathic conversation but it was probably better that way. The topic of mating her would be a sensitive one and we had to handle it with care or risk losing her. Most humans tended to go running for the hills when they discovered their role as a shifter mate. For some reason, threesome relationships aren’t universally accepted but in our culture, it’s the only way to start a family. “Um… maybe we should do something about your injury now…” she said. “It looked pretty bad.”
“It probably appears worse than it really is.”
“Still, I’d feel better if we had it under control.”
Landon appeared with a medical kit that we kept for emergencies. Shifters had the ability to heal at an accelerated rate but sometimes injuries are so grave that we still need a band-aid or two.
“I hope you’re ready to play nurse,” I said, with a wink. “Unfortunately, there’s no costume for you to wear. That would have made things a thousand times better.”
She punched my arm. “Keep it up and I’ll let you bleed to death.”
“Jeez. Where did you learn to punch like that? Seriously, I think you left behind a bruise.”
“Good. You deserve it.”
“And here I was thinking that you had actually enjoyed our kiss —”
“I did,” she interjected. “But…”
I could see the turmoil playing out on her face. She was troubled by something. “Jane. Talk to me. What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.”
“Jane.”
“It’s nothing. Don’t worry about it.”
But worry about it was exactly what I did because I didn’t want to see such a beautiful girl with sadness in her eyes. “You know you can tell Landon and I anything, right? We will always be here for you.”
She didn’t respond. Instead, she stepped forward and started to cut away my shirt with a pair of scissors. When it came to pulling it away from my wound, I did my absolute best to keep from flinching.
“Am I hurting you?” she asked, her face so close to mine that I was tempted to kiss her a second time but, for some reason, I stopped myself from acting upon that impulse. It didn’t seem fair to me that I would get all the action and Landon none of it. We were mating partners and that meant finding the right balance when it came to sharing.
“I’ll be okay,” I assured her. “Believe it or not, I’m pretty tough.”
“Oh, I don’t doubt it.” She grabbed some peroxide and poured it over my gashes.
I sucked in a lungful of air and squeezed the edge of the table I was currently sitting on.
“You know, when you told me you were a wolf, I thought you were kidding.”
“Of course you did,” I responded. “Humans aren’t open-minded about the supernatural world but I can guarantee that it exists. Most of it is right underneath your nose but you just choose not to see it because it’s easier that way.”
“What else is out there?” she asked.
“Well, there are all different kinds of shifters. There are wolves, bears, tigers, you name it — they exist. There are even rumors that a couple of dragons are still lurking around, hoarding their piles of treasure.”
“Seriously?”
“Seriously,” I confirmed. “And then there are fairies and mermaids and vampires. Pretty much, anything you originally thought of as myth, probably has some degree of truth laced in there.”
“I can’t believe it.”
“I know, crazy isn’t it?”
“No, I mean your injury.” She was examining it with a keen eye. “It’s already healing.”
“Oh, yeah, that happens. Wolves are among the fastest in the healing department among all shifters. It usually takes a day or two for us to recover from something critical.”
“Wait… so why did you have me go through all the trouble of helping you?”
“Because I like the attention,” I admitted. “It’s nice to know that you care about me.”
Her cheeks reddened. “Well, I’m just glad that you’re going to be okay.”
“Yeah, I’ll be as good as new come tomorrow morning.”
“So, can you tell me more about this world of yours? I have so many questions.”
“Fire away.”
“Okay, so, first of all, how does shifting work? I mean do you just think about becoming a wolf and bam, it happens?”
“It’s a little more complicated than that,” Landon had suddenly joined the conversation. I hadn’t realized he had been standing there the entire time. I was so transfixed on my time with Jane that everything else had ceased to exist. “But you will learn about that in due time.”
“What does that mean?” Jane looked at Landon in an attempt to get the answers she so desperately wanted.
“Come on, we’re all a little filthy. There’s a river nearby that we can bathe in and I’m sure it will make all of us feel better,” I suggested. “And any questions you have, we’ll be more than happy to answer so long as you’re willing to listen.” I jumped down from the table and landed lightly upon my feet. “But I must warn you that there might be a few things you won’t want to hear.”
Chapter 13: Jane
There were about a million and one thoughts going through my head. I wanted to make sense of it all but all of a sudden, I had been thrown into a fantasy world and I wasn’t sure whether I’d ever return to reality. I was in too deep.
“So, who were those guys and why were they so keen on killing you guys?”
“Well, first of all, that guy wasn’t very keen on having you off his plate, if you know what I mean,” said Roman.
I shivered at the thought of what might have happened to me if Landon had failed to intercept his advances.
“But that wasn’t enough to start an all-out war, was it?” I turned my head slightly to look at Landon. I had felt his presence before hearing the crunch of his feet against the forest floor. His shoulder gently brushed against my own and the friction was enough to send sparks of electricity shooting through the air.
I stopped and so did they. There was a storm brewing behind Landon’s dark eyes. It pained me to see him this way. Submitting to the yearning I felt, I stepped forward and placed a hand on his arm. “Tell me,” I whispered. “For better or for worse, I have been dragged into this and I believe I have the right to know. I will do my best to keep an open mind.”
Roman stood beside his companion. “She speaks the truth. She has every right to know.”
“We were once part of a pack, Roman and I. We lived in this area an
d kept to ourselves but one day while we were hunting, disaster struck. The werewolves that chased us are a part of the rival pack.”
“You mean…?”
“Yes,” he said with a solemn nod. “They murdered everyone. Women. Children. Newborn pups. They were merciless. We tried to come back and help our people but we didn’t arrive in time. They were already lost to us.”
“That’s terrible…” I whispered, unable to say anything else. “Your pack… they were like family to you, right?”
“More than that,” answered Roman. “Shifters have a special bond with the members of their pack. We can smell when they are in danger. We share happiness. We live and die for each other.”
“And you guys lost it all?”
“Yes.” Landon looked towards the distance like he could see something that I could never imagine. “Roman and I are the only ones left.”
“That is why we were at the nightclub tonight. We thought we could infiltrate and lay our hands on the leader.” Roman took me by the hips and hoisted me over a fallen log. He did so with such fluidity that it felt like I was flying through the air. A feeling of weightlessness washed over me. “Had we succeeded, we could have had a new pack under our wings but —”
“I ruined it by getting myself in trouble,” I said, once I had landed on the other side of the log.
“No.” Landon stopped with such suddenness that I collided right into him. I prepared myself to fall but he pinned me close to his body. He was radiating with heat that wrapped around my entire body like a thick blanket. “You didn’t ruin anything, for we are both glad that you are okay.”
“But I’m just some girl.”
Roman chuckled. “Just some girl?”
“Yeah,” I affirmed. “I work at a hotel desk. I can’t turn into a giant wolf as you guys can. I’m just normal. Honestly, I don’t even know why you bother wasting your time with me.”
Landon cupped my cheeks against his palms, in the gentlest of ways. His eyes softened as he pressed his forehead into mine. His thumb ran circles on my skin, over and over again, like he was trying to leave some invisible mark. Time crept by. I do not know how long we stood there but it didn’t bother me, for I would have stared into his eyes for the rest of my eternity.
