The Midnight Hunt

by L. L. Raand

  “Wait,” Sylvan growled against her mouth. “Let me get what Sophia needs the first time. If I take you, I won’t stop until you’re empty.”

  “Hurry.” Drake propped herself on her elbows and watched Sylvan masturbate her. “Oh yes, like that. Like that. It’s close. Close now.” Her hips jumped and she roared at the first shock of release. Pumping into Sylvan’s hand, she fell back onto the table. Then Sylvan was inside her, thrusting into her, driving her to an even more powerful release.

  She came hard and immediately came again. Then she was being lifted into Sylvan’s arms and her legs locked around Sylvan’s waist. Sylvan’s canines latched on to her shoulder and she was coming all over Sylvan’s belly, flooding her, marking her.

  “Don’t let me bite you,” Drake cried. “Oh God, don’t let me bite you.”

  “Don’t worry.” Sylvan dropped to her knees, her head buried in the curve of Drake’s shoulder, clutching Drake against her chest as she erupted inside her leather pants. She shook uncontrollably and her wolf went wild, howling for Drake’s bite and the final release. “I won’t let you.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  Niki grasped Sophia’s arm and pulled her down the hall and outside the infirmary. “What’s happening in there?”

  Sophia wrapped her arms tightly around her middle and leaned against one of the porch columns. “I think you should ask the Alpha.”

  “I’m asking you.” Niki crowded close behind Sophia, her mouth nearly brushing Sophia’s neck. Sophia shivered, and Niki sensed need and fear and confusion. Instantly protective, she gripped Sophia’s shoulders and pulled her back against her chest. “What happened? Did someone hurt you?”

  Sighing, Sophia relaxed against Niki, as if welcoming the support.

  “No. Nothing like that. It was just…hard.”

  “What did Drake do to you?” Niki remembered her caution to Drake. Find someone else to mate. Drake had coupled with the Alpha just a short while ago, but she could easily be in frenzy again and looking for release. Release with an unmated female like Sophia. Niki rumbled with an unexpected rush of territorial hormones and her sex surged to readiness. She wrapped her arms around Sophia’s waist and whispered hotly in her ear. “Did she tempt you with her call?”

  Sophia arched in Niki’s arms and tilted her head back, whimpering softly when Niki licked her neck. “You know who she wants.”

  “Who do you want?” Niki tugged Sophia’s earlobe with her teeth and rocked her pelvis against Sophia’s ass. “Who do you want, Sophia?”

  “Please.”

  Sophia rubbed against her, her plaintive cries of need forcing Niki’s claws and canines and clitoris to throb. Niki tried to think. She was harder than she should have been so soon, almost as if she’d been running with the Alpha for hours and absorbing her powerful pheromones. Sophia, always so careful not to be caught in a frenzy, even when she ran and hunted with the Pack, was ready. Too ready.

  “It’s the Alpha.” Niki sucked in a breath, understanding why they were both on the verge of full-fledged sex frenzy. Sylvan was broadcasting sex and fury. Every Were in the vicinity was probably feeling the call. “Is she all right?”

  Sophia pulled away abruptly, her chest heaving. “Is she all that matters to you? Don’t you even care what Drake is going through? How much pain she’s in?”

  “No, I don’t care about a Were with the power to hurt the Alpha,” Niki snarled, incensed by Sophia’s need and knowing she couldn’t take her. “I only care about the Alpha, and so should you.”

  “That’s not fair,” Sophia said softly, rubbing her arms as if she were cold when she had to be on fire. “I would do anything for her. All of us would, you know that.” She reached out, but stopped herself before she touched Niki’s cheek. “I know that you would die for her. But maybe that’s not enough.”

  Niki growled. “It’s the best I have to give her.”

  “No,” Sophia said with a gentle shake of her head. “No, it’s not.”

  “Don’t mistake me for someone else,” Niki said darkly. “I wasn’t born for tenderness.”

  Sophia started to protest when the front door slammed open and Sylvan stormed out, shirtless, blood welling from shallow gouges on her shoulders, her face and body in mid-shift.

  “The Rover,” Sylvan ordered, the muscles in her throat and chest straining. “Get it.”

  “Right away,” Niki said, signaling across the Compound to Lara, who stood at wary attention by the side of the vehicle.

  Sylvan rounded on Sophia. “Drake. See to her. Take care of her.”

  “Of course,” Sophia said. “I’m sorry if I hurt—”

  “No,” Sylvan said. “You did nothing wrong.”

  “Wait.” Niki grasped Sophia’s arm, preventing her from going back inside. “If Drake is in frenzy—”

  “She isn’t,” Sylvan snarled. The lacerations on her shoulders had already closed, but the purplish bruise above her left breast remained dark and angry. She threw off Niki’s arm and said to Sophia, “Go to her.”

  “She’ll ask for you,” Sophia said quietly. “What shall I say?”

  Sylvan strode down the stairs as Lara pulled the Rover in front of the building. She yanked open the rear door and Niki jumped in after her. “Tell her I’m gone.”

  ———

  “Home,” Sylvan said from the back of the Rover. She needed to shower and change and leave the Compound until both she and Drake were more in control. With effort, she reversed her shift enough to retract her claws and canines. The thin band of silver pelt persisted down the center of her abdomen; her clitoris and glands remained full and hard. She closed her eyes, ignoring Niki’s worried rumblings, while the Rover tore through the woods. When they reached her cabin, she leapt out and vaulted onto the porch, tearing off her pants as soon as she was inside.

  She groaned as she stepped into the shower. Even the water beating against the bite on her chest was agonizing. The pain of the uncompleted bonding was so excruciating she finally gave in and curled up on the shower floor, her arms wrapped around her middle, knees drawn up to her chest. Her sex was too tense and swollen to even attempt temporary relief. Her body screamed out for Drake, and Drake alone, to finish her. Drake’s bite would force her to release every unique chemical and hormone that defined her. She would flood Drake’s mouth, her skin, her body until they were linked physically as powerfully as they were emotionally.

  But Drake didn’t want that. Don’t let me bite you!

  She’d almost let Drake take her. Another touch, another scrape of Drake’s teeth on her skin, and she would have.

  Forcing herself into a sitting position, Sylvan leaned back against the hard tiles, the cooling water sluicing over her chest and abdomen. Eventually the pain relented enough for her to stand, and she methodically dressed in a dark silk shirt and summer-weight raw linen jacket and trousers. Max and Andrew waited with Lara and Niki by the Rover. Both Max and Andrew had fresh bite marks on their necks. Niki and Lara looked anxious and agitated.

  “Are you all right?” Sylvan asked them quietly.

  “Yes, Alpha,” they both said immediately.

  Sylvan nodded curtly and climbed into the back of the Rover.

  “Take me to my office.”

  ———

  Drake heard the door open and close quietly. She was lying on the treatment table again, covered with the sheet Sylvan had placed over her when she left.

  “Is she all right?” Drake asked.

  “Drake, I…” Sophia sighed. “It’s not something for me to discuss.”

  Drake sat up, tucking the sheet around her waist. “I’m hurting her, aren’t I?”

  Sophia leaned back, her hands flat against the door. She bit her lip, conflicted. “Sylvan’s mother ruled for generations. Many of us don’t remember the last time we had an unmated Alpha. I’m not sure, but I think everything about mating is stronger, fiercer, for the Alpha. Her…”

  She closed her eyes. “She gives us every
thing, and we take everything. She asks only for our loyalty. It’s hard for me to talk about her this way.”

  “You love her,” Drake said gently. “So do I.”

  “I know.”

  “Do you?”

  Sophia smiled. “We all would fight for her. But I’ve never seen anyone, even Niki, who could gentle her. She needs that.”

  “What she needs is a mate who will make her life easier, not harder.” Drake gripped the cold edges of the steel table until they cut into her palms. “I can’t seem to be around her without…arousal seems too mild a word for it.”

  “That’s why we call it frenzy,” Sophia said. “It’s more than desire, more even than need—it’s a biological imperative for us.”

  “But we could bond with others, couldn’t we?” Drake knew she wouldn’t. Couldn’t. She wouldn’t be able to bear it if Sylvan did, but she didn’t want her to be alone, either. Sophia was right—the Pack demanded everything from her and Sylvan needed to give it. But she couldn’t give forever without someone to protect and care for her.

  Drake swallowed around the pain in her throat. “Sylvan could bond with someone else?”

  “I don’t know,” Sophia said. “Even if a Were survives the death of a mate, they never mate again. And I don’t know of anyone who didn’t complete a mate bond once the mating frenzy had begun. Why would they?”

  “Surely some pairings aren’t welcome?”

  “Mating isn’t random. It’s not accidental. The mate bond is only possible when your heart and your mind and your body need only the one.” Sophia shook her head, a sad smile on her face. “Sometimes we go unmated because our wolves can’t recognize each other—because we’ve been injured or damaged somehow or unconsciously block out the call. But when each recognizes the other, no one ever denies the bond. We are born to be mated. It’s the natural way for us.”

  “She’ll be all right if I stay away from her, won’t she?”

  “Will you?”

  Drake didn’t answer, but she didn’t think so. Roger had said she might not be strong enough to deny her need for release, her need to mate. She might lose control completely. At least if she did, she was confident Niki would execute her. Niki would not let her hurt Sylvan or anyone else. But as long as she could think and reason, she had work to do. “I’d like to meet your parents. Will you take me to the lab?”

  Sophia hesitated.

  “Please. I might not know anything about Were physiology, but I do about human. I might be able to help them interpret the results of my tests.”

  Sophia nodded. “I was going to send the specimens by courier, but we can take them ourselves. My car’s outside. I’ll get you something to eat while you get ready.”

  “Thank you,” Drake said. “Thank you for trusting me.”

  “Of course I trust you. You’re the Alpha’s…” Sophia’s expression softened with sympathy. “You are Pack now.”

  ———

  “Come,” Sylvan said when a knock sounded on her door.

  Niki entered and closed the door behind her. “You have visitors.”

  “Who?”

  “Councilors Gates and Thornton.”

  Sylvan grumbled and got to her feet, turning to look out the window. A visit from her Vampire and Fae coalition counterparts was the last thing she wanted to deal with. Her temper was too frayed for diplomacy and her wolf too close to ascending for safety. All she could think about was Drake. She wanted her again. She wanted to be inside her. She ached for Drake to suck her, make her come completely, take all she was. Her glands pumped out pheromones and kinins at a furious rate and her skin was slick with the potent combination.

  “I’ll tell them you can’t see them,” Niki whispered.

  Sylvan spun and leapt over her desk, landing in front of Niki.

  Niki automatically ducked her head and Sylvan grasped the back of her neck, tilting her face up until they were almost nose to nose. Niki’s eyes glazed hunter green, and her canines gleamed like white spikes against her blood-red lower lip. She shuddered in Sylvan’s grip, her breath shallow and fast.

  “And what will you tell them?” Sylvan asked, her voice low and dangerous. “Will you tell them the wolf Alpha is on the edge of frenzy? That she can’t control her beast?”

  “It’s not true.” Niki rubbed her palms over Sylvan’s chest, hoping to soothe her.

  Sylvan growled when Niki inadvertently caressed the bite above her breast. The bruise was exquisitely tender and all she wanted was Drake to bury her canines in it. “Open my shirt.”

  Trembling, Niki obeyed. The muscles in Sylvan’s chest and abdomen stood out as if etched in stone and were just as hard. With a small whimper, Niki trailed her fingertips down the center of Sylvan’s torso, the back of her fingers skimming the inner curve of Sylvan’s breast. A fine dusting of silver marked a path to the top of her pants and would be thicker inside, framing her sex.

  “You still think I have control?” Sylvan growled.

  “You do,” Niki said, rubbing Sylvan’s stomach. “If you didn’t, you would have taken me right here by now.”

  Groaning, Sylvan pulled Niki into her arms and cradled Niki’s head on her shoulder. She rubbed her chin in Niki’s hair, breathing her in, grounding herself in Pack and family. Her agony was not Niki’s fault, nor Niki’s burden to ease.

  “I’m sorry,” Sylvan said.

  “No need.” Niki nuzzled Sylvan’s neck. “But you need to mate. You can’t go on like this.”

  “My wolf wants a mate,” Sylvan said. “I don’t.”

  Niki took a slow breath. “You at least need to stay away from Drake. She’s driving you too clos—”

  “You think I don’t know that?” Sylvan snarled. “You think I want to force this on her?”

  “Then let me remove her from the Compound.”

  Sylvan gripped Niki’s shoulders and stepped back, lowering her head until they were eye to eye. “You won’t touch her. Do you understand?”

  “Yes, Alpha,” Niki said.

  After a moment, Sylvan released her and returned to her desk. She sat down and ruthlessly caged her furious wolf. Then she picked up a pen and pulled a file folder in front of her.

  “Send in the Councilors.”

  A moment later Zachary Gates strode in with the Fae Queen by his side. Cecilia Thornton was a voluptuous blonde with huge green eyes, a delicate face, a sinful mouth, and a quick, calculating mind.

  In her Prada suit, she looked every inch the CEO of the Fifth Avenue marketing powerhouse that she was. When she sat on the Fae throne she traded in her designer suits for gossamer gowns or sleek, body-hugging leathers. Sylvan wasn’t certain the full extent of Cecilia’s power, but she’d seen her reduce a traitorous subject brought before her court to an unrecognizable mass of quivering jelly—literally—with a nonchalant flick of her hand. Like all absolute monarchs, Cecilia craved power and guarded it jealously.

  “Cecilia, I thought you were in Washington.” Sylvan gestured to the chairs in front of her desk. “Please. Sit down.”

  Ever the gentleman, Zachary waited until Cecilia was seated before sitting himself. He wore his Armani well, giving the appearance of a modern-day corporate raider. Which he was. He leaned forward with an unctuous smile. “Forgive this unscheduled visit, Alpha. Since Cecilia arrived unexpectedly for business, it seemed a perfect opportunity to meet with you privately.”

  Cecelia crossed her legs and folded her lovely manicured hands in her lap. “Especially since you seem too busy to schedule time for the full coalition board.”

  “The next meeting isn’t until late next month,” Sylvan pointed out, wondering what Zachary would do if she took him down with her teeth in his neck, which she’d had the urge to do since he walked in the room.

  “True,” Cecilia said, smiling as her eyes slid over Sylvan’s face.

  “But in light of recent events—”

  “Recent events?” Sylvan said.

  “The delay in moving PR-15 out of
Weston’s committee has some of us concerned,” Zachary said. “The bill has substantial economic repercussions—and until we can assure our stockholders that our corporations are solid and secure, our margins are at risk.”

  Sylvan narrowed her eyes and barely suppressed a growl. “I wasn’t aware that the primary goal of the legislation was to preserve your portfolio. We get reports every day of attacks on Praeterns, including homicides—because humans don’t fear prosecution.”

  “Of course,” Cecilia said, “those things are important too, but without an economic advantage, it will be far more difficult for us to convince the humans that it’s important to recognize our place in the world trade structure.”

  “And what about the sanctity of our territories, protection for our young, our right to governing autonomy?” Sylvan shot back.

  “We don’t need the humans’ help to preserve our societies.” Cecilia shrugged. “We’ll let the humans know what we want them to know. That’s always been our way.”

  “That presumes keeping a great many secrets,” Sylvan said.

  “Exactly,” Zachary said. “The less we call attention to our… differences…the better it will be.” He glanced at Cecilia, who nodded almost imperceptibly, then turned back to Sylvan. “You might consider whether you really want to remain as visible as you have been.”

  “It sounds suspiciously as if you’d like to replace me,” Sylvan remarked, leaning back in her chair. She decided that she didn’t really want to tear Zachary’s throat out. It would be messy and unsatisfying in the long run. Parrying Zachary and Cecelia’s mind games actually helped her distract her wolf from her singular goal, which was to find Drake and claim her.

  “Your opinions, of course, are invaluable,” Zachary said, “but I think we all know that the public has the hardest time embracing the concept of others who are…part animal.”

  Sylvan laughed. “And you think they don’t have trouble with bloodsucking Vampires?”

  Zachary’s eyes flared crimson for a moment, and then he smiled thinly. “On the contrary, they seem to like the side effects of bloodhosting quite a lot. As I think you’re aware.”