The Midnight Hunt

by L. L. Raand

  “Someone wants to create panic among the humans and discredit the Weres,” Sylvan said. “Maybe they think they’ll have a better chance of doing that if they also eliminate the leadership.”

  “It may not just be a movement against Weres,” Jody said. “There may be a much larger assault coming on all of us.”

  “Then it’s a good thing we’re on the same side.”

  “It’s fortunate we have an alliance,” Jody said smoothly. “What do you plan to do?”

  “My Pack has been challenged. That cannot stand.” Sylvan smiled, her canines fully exposed. “I intend to go hunting.”

  “I didn’t report the shooting.” Jody shrugged. “I am a detective, but this is Praetern business. Let me know if you need assistance.”

  “Just take care of Lara.” Sylvan nodded. “I’ll expect to hear from you soon about your search on the human victims, Vampire.”

  “And I’ll await your report from your scientists.”

  “Take care of my centuri.”

  “Don’t insult me, Wolf,” Jody said.

  “Good night, Vampire.” Sylvan strode rapidly toward the adjacent wing, eager to find her mate. She’d been away from her for too long.

  Her wolf was restless and edgy. She didn’t want her mate out of her sight. She needed to touch her. She needed to taste her again. She needed to assert her claim.

  Sylvan knew before she reached the other side of the building that Drake was no longer in their room. When she encountered Andrew talking to Niki in the center of the infirmary building, her eyes were completely gold and her face honed to a knife’s edge.

  “You left the Prima unprotected?” Sylvan growled.

  Andrew flinched. “She’s in the building, Alpha.”

  “That’s not what I asked you.” Sylvan stalked him and he backed up.

  “I’m sorry, Alpha. I should have gone with her.” Andrew turned his head away as Sylvan crowded him up against the wall.

  She slid her claws into his abdomen, just deep enough to make him shudder. With her mouth against his ear, she warned, “Don’t ever do that again.”

  “Alpha,” Niki said softly, carefully not touching Sylvan. “She’s all right. We won’t let anything happen to her.”

  Sylvan swung her head around, her canines gleaming. “She doesn’t understand Pack ways yet. She doesn’t understand the dangers from outside.”

  “She doesn’t need to,” Niki said. “She’s the Prima. It’s in her blood.”

  Andrew ran his mouth along the underside of Sylvan’s jaw. “We’re hers as we are yours.”

  “Thank you.” Sylvan leaned her forehead against Andrew and stroked the back of his neck, withdrawing her claws. He sighed and closed his eyes. Niki sidled up against Sylvan and wrapped her arm around Sylvan’s waist.

  “How is Lara?” Niki asked.

  “She’s alive.” Sylvan draped her arm over Niki’s shoulder so Niki could rest against her chest. “We’ll need a temporary replacement for her in the guard. You two discuss it with Max and let me know your candidates.”

  “I sent Max back with Jace and Jonathan to track the shooter’s scent,” Niki said, referring to the twin dominants—sister and brother—who were already lieutenants and prime candidates to be elevated to centuri.

  “Good.” Sylvan’s blue eyes sparked gold. “We’ll leave as soon as I’ve seen to my mate.”

  “Yes, Alpha,” Niki and Andrew said together.

  Sylvan followed Drake’s scent through the building, her impatient hunger escalating until all she wanted was Drake under her, inside her, over her. When she pushed open the door to the lab, the only thing she saw was Sophia with her hand on Drake’s bare shoulder. With a roar, she leapt for them.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

  Drake swept Sophia behind her with one arm, blocking her from Sylvan, whose wolf rode so close to the surface that her eyes and face had partially shifted. The shimmering sheen of arousal on Sylvan’s bare torso misted Drake’s skin and her sex swelled, readying for her mate.

  “Back away from her,” Sylvan snarled in Sophia’s direction, her whole body shuddering with the effort not to tear Sophia apart.

  “Sylvan,” Drake murmured, pressing her mouth to the bite on Sylvan’s chest. She had felt Sylvan calling out to her long before she’d reached the room, had felt her power—hungry and demanding. Her own need had grown in the short time they’d been separated until she could barely remain in the lab. She’d wanted to stalk through the Compound until she found Sylvan and reminded the Alpha and anyone near her exactly who Sylvan belonged to. She scraped her teeth over the bite and Sylvan shuddered. “I’ve missed you.”

  Growling ominously, Sylvan grasped Drake behind the head and yanked her forward, covering her mouth in a ferocious kiss. Sylvan’s nipples were hot and hard as diamonds as they chafed Drake’s chest through her thin shirt. Drake pressed her hips into Sylvan’s and raked her blunt claws down the center of Sylvan’s abdomen. She drew Sylvan in, welcomed her questing tongue, her demanding mouth. The more she gave—the more she took—the calmer Sylvan became, until finally Sylvan released her mouth. Sylvan dragged her canines down Drake’s neck and kissed the bite on Drake’s shoulder. Heat washed through Drake and her stomach clenched.

  “You have nothing to growl over,” Drake murmured. “I hunger only for you.”

  “She was touching you,” Sylvan said fiercely, her arm around Drake’s waist, her pelvis tight against Drake’s.

  “I needed her to draw blood for some tests,” Drake said, stroking Sylvan’s face.

  Sophia, who had quietly withdrawn to the far side of the room, said, “It’s my fault, Alpha. I know better than to be alone with her now.”

  “What tests?” Sylvan whipped her head around, fixing Sophia with a flat, hard stare.

  “We want to repeat the mitochondrial DNA analysis,” Sophia said.

  “Why?” Sylvan’s body coiled tightly, driven by a primal force stronger than any other to protect her mate. She would allow nothing to harm her.

  Drake smoothed her hands up and down Sylvan’s back and kissed her neck. “I need to be sure the changes in my cells are stable. That I’m not carrying any kind of mutagen that could be a danger to you or—”

  “You’re fine,” Sylvan snarled. “You’re my mate. Do you think I couldn’t tell if there’s something wrong?”

  “I’m not a born Were,” Drake said gently, knowing this barrier could prevent the rest of the Pack from accepting her as Sylvan’s mate, even if Sylvan refused to acknowledge the problem. “We don’t know if you’ll be able to sense everything about me as you would if I were regii.”

  “I know.” Sylvan nipped Drake’s chin hard enough to make Drake grumble. “You’re my mate and I say you’re fine.”

  “If you don’t mind, Alpha,” Drake said, digging her claws into Sylvan’s ass through the denim of her jeans, “I’d like to verify that with some tests. We need the information.”

  Sylvan’s eyes narrowed and flared molten gold, but she rubbed her forehead over Drake’s and murmured, “As you wish, Prima.”

  Drake slanted her mouth over Sylvan’s and teased her with a quick flick of her tongue inside her lower lip. “It won’t take long.”

  “Good.” Sylvan stepped behind Drake and wrapped her arms around Drake’s middle, resting her chin on the top of Drake’s shoulder. Running her hands up and down Drake’s belly under her shirt, she glanced over at Sophia, who was studiously not looking at them but was labeling a row of multicolored blood vials. “Go ahead, Sophia. Be quick.”

  “We should have the results of these and yesterday’s biopsies in a few hours,” Sophia said as she wrapped a tourniquet around Drake’s upper arm.

  “What biopsies?” Sylvan demanded.

  Sophia remained silent.

  Drake turned her head and gently bit Sylvan’s jaw. “I’ll explain in a few minutes. Let Sophia work.”

  Sylvan rumbled and nuzzled Drake’s neck. “All right.”

 
Smiling, Sophia filled the tubes and removed the tourniquet from Drake’s arm. She gathered the vials and stepped well out of Drake and Sylvan’s sphere. “I’ll drive these over to the lab myself.”

  “Call me as soon as you get the results?” Drake asked.

  “Of course.”

  “Lock the door behind you,” Sylvan said, sliding her hand down to the button on Drake’s jeans. She traced her mouth over Drake’s ear and nudged Drake toward the counter with the thrust of her hips against Drake’s ass. “You smell hungry.”

  “So do you.” Drake grabbed the counter with both hands as Sylvan cleaved to her back. When Sylvan reached down into her jeans and squeezed, the sweet pressure ramped her toward release. “Maybe you should take care of that.”

  “I’m going to.” Sylvan lightly bit Drake’s earlobe.

  Drake pushed off her pants and kicked them away, then spread her legs. “In me now.”

  Sylvan milked Drake’s clitoris between her fingers, making it jump and swell. Drake groaned and Sylvan rumbled with satisfaction.

  “You’re so hard and wet for me.”

  “All the time.” Drake covered Sylvan’s hand and directed her fingers where she needed them. “I wanted you when I woke up.”

  “I know. You keep me ready to burst.” Sylvan shredded Drake’s T-shirt and sucked the mating mark on her shoulder, letting Drake guide her caresses over her swollen sex. “Good?”

  “I’m going to come,” Drake said breathlessly, guiding Sylvan’s fingers lower. “Please, I need to feel you.”

  Sylvan eased back a fraction and quickly shed her pants. Naked, she rubbed her clitoris in the cleft of Drake’s ass and buried her fingers in Drake’s core. Drake rolled her hips and Sylvan groaned. “I want to come all over you.”

  “Oh yes.” Drake reached behind her and dug her claws into Sylvan’s ass, tensing her muscles around Sylvan. “Your clit’s so hot. Does that feel good, love? Is that what you need?”

  Sylvan’s hips bucked and she bared her canines, silver spreading like summer lightning over her belly. “Mine. Say it.”

  “Yours.”

  “Say it again,” Sylvan panted, one hand around Drake’s throat, the other inside her.

  “I love being yours.” Drake turned her head and bit Sylvan’s lip.

  Sylvan thrust inside her and Drake clamped down hard on her. “I’m coming for you. Can you feel me coming?”

  Sylvan pushed deeper between Drake’s legs and Drake jackknifed forward over the bench, flooding Sylvan’s hand. Sylvan’s clitoris stiffened on the cusp of release.

  “More,” Sylvan groaned and bit Drake’s shoulder.

  Drake’s ass clenched as she emptied violently and Sylvan spent with a roar. Drake’s claws gouged deep trenches across the bench as her mate rode her back in a frenzy of teeth and claws, and still she felt Sylvan’s call. Sylvan needed more. Sylvan needed completion.

  Sylvan needed her. A rush of furious possession arced through her and Drake swept her arm over the counter, shoving file folders and trays of instruments aside. Spinning around, she lifted onto the counter and gripped Sylvan’s hips. Dragging Sylvan between her thighs, she scissored her legs around Sylvan’s waist. Sylvan’s clitoris slotted under hers, sliding between her folds and teasing her entrance. The pressure was so intense, the pleasure so exquisite, she immediately readied again.

  “Fuck me,” Drake demanded and sank her canines into Sylvan’s chest.

  Sylvan’s wolf erupted in a fury. Hips thrusting hard and fast, Sylvan gripped the back of Drake’s neck, her claws just breaking skin.

  Drake drove her mating bite deeper into the muscle above Sylvan’s breast, forcing Sylvan into the ultimate release.

  “Say it,” Drake cried.

  “Yours,” Sylvan roared, pouring her essence into the very heart of Drake’s being.

  Drake clasped her mate tightly until Sylvan’s last tremor subsided, then soothed the bite she’d made with her tongue. “I love the way you come for me.”

  “You didn’t come.” Sylvan rested her head on Drake’s shoulder, her breath coming in shallow pants. “I’m sorry. I needed you so much.”

  Laughing, Drake played her fingers through Sylvan’s hair. “Oh, I think I can forgive you for losing control, Alpha.”

  Sylvan kissed Drake’s neck. “Only you could do that to me.”

  Drake’s heart seized. She had allowed the mate bond, even though she knew she was being selfish. “I love you so much.”

  “Then why are you unhappy?” Sylvan leaned back and studied Drake’s face, a frown marring the smooth skin between her golden brows. When Drake looked away, Sylvan gently clasped her chin and forced Drake to meet her gaze. “Tell me.”

  Drake smoothed her palms back and forth over Sylvan’s broad, strong chest, then settled her arms loosely around Sylvan’s waist. “Even if I’m completely healthy, I’m not the right mate for you.”

  Sylvan snarled, her canines lengthening.

  “No,” Drake said gently, rubbing her thumb over Sylvan’s lower lip. “I’m not Pack born. The other Alphas, even some of your own Pack, will not accept a Prima who is not regii.”

  “The Timberwolf Pack will accept what I tell them to accept,” Sylvan said darkly.

  “Maybe. And maybe some will try to challenge you.”

  “Let them.”

  “Now is not the time for unrest in the Pack. Not now, when so much depends on your negotiations in Washington.” Drake’s hand shook where it rested on Sylvan’s face. “Not now, when someone is trying to kill you. You need all your allies behind you. You don’t need anything—anyone—to make you vulnerable.”

  Sylvan’s eyes narrowed. “Who told you this?”

  “It doesn’t matter. It’s true, isn’t it?”

  “Niki,” Sylvan grumbled. “She needs to learn—”

  “She loves you.” Drake kissed Sylvan softly. “And you love her. Stop snarling.”

  Sylvan gripped Drake’s shoulders and leaned close until all Drake could see were Sylvan’s eyes. “Listen to me, Prima. I am the Alpha of this Pack and I choose who I mate. My wolf chooses you. I choose you.”

  “Sylvan,” Drake whispered. “I can’t give you young.”

  “You know how we breed? Roger told you?”

  “No. Sophia’s parents explained some of it to me yesterday.”

  Drake shivered, thinking that she had been discussing science while someone had been lying in wait to assassinate Sylvan. “I know a dominant female can breed another receptive female. That the kinins released by the mating bite when you come contain carrier proteins that deliver the mitochondrial DNA-signature to the egg and activate it.”

  Sylvan smiled, a supremely satisfied smile. “Yes. Exactly what we just did. Didn’t you feel me empty into you?”

  Drake’s hips jerked and her breasts tightened. “Of course I felt you.” She ran her tongue down the center of Sylvan’s throat and bit the thick muscle above her collarbone. “I can feel you inside me now.

  Everywhere.” She laughed unsteadily. “I can hardly believe it, but I’m ready for you again.”

  “I’m full for you again too.” Sylvan cupped Drake’s jaw. “This is more than mating frenzy. Your transformation has accelerated everything. This is breeding frenzy.”

  “But mutia can’t—”

  “Stop.” With infinite tenderness, Sylvan kissed Drake’s forehead, her eyes, her mouth. “You are my mate. My instincts tell me we are breeding now. If we have no young of our own—this time, or ever, I will name a successor from among the strongest of the Pack when the time comes.”

  Drake caressed Sylvan’s face with trembling fingers. “I can’t keep you from fulfilling your destiny. You were born to be Alpha, and you should be able to see your daughter—”

  “So you’ll give me up to another?” Sylvan asked. “Have me breed with another fem—”

  Drake’s wolf burst out so quickly she didn’t have time to reason or react. Her face shifted, her jaws elongated, and a
thick line of dark pelt streamed down the center of her belly. Her claws raked Sylvan’s shoulders. In a voice guttural with possessive rage, she rasped, “Mine!”

  “Yours.” Sylvan tilted her head back and gave Drake her neck. Drake gripped Sylvan’s throat in her jaws and shook her hard. With a cry, Sylvan came on Drake’s stomach.

  When Sylvan sagged, Drake caught Sylvan to her and kissed her.

  Cradling Sylvan’s head against her shoulder, she whispered, “Did I hurt you?”

  “You will never hurt me as long as you never leave me.” Sylvan gasped as another spasm shook her. “Say you won’t leave me.”

  “I won’t. I can’t.” Drake leaned her head against Sylvan’s. “I’ll die before I leave you.”

  “You’ll be in danger because you are my mate. The attack last night—that might be just the beginning.”

  “I’m not afraid.” Drake’s only fear was losing Sylvan, and she would do anything and everything in her power to protect her.

  “I didn’t think I needed a mate. I thought a mate would make me weak. I was wrong.” Sylvan straightened, her blue eyes ringed with wolf-gold. Her face was calm, strong, certain. “I love you. I need you, and not just because a Pack is always stronger with an Alpha pair to lead them.” She brushed the backs of her fingers over Drake’s cheek.

  “I never knew how lonely I was until I wasn’t lonely anymore. You already run with me in my dreams. Soon, we’ll run together on our land, with our Pack. Say you love me. Say you will run by my side.”

  “I love you, Sylvan,” Drake said, joy eclipsing all regrets. She would live, no matter what demons inside her or enemies outside threatened her. She would fight, because she would not leave Sylvan alone. Sylvan was hers, forever, to love and cherish and protect. “You’re my heart, my mate. I will always be by your side.”

  Sylvan pulled her close and buried her face in Drake’s neck. When Drake realized Sylvan was shaking, she stroked her hair. “What is it?”

  “I need to leave for a few hours.” Sylvan drew deeply of Drake’s scent. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

  “You just asked me to run by your side,” Drake said, her mouth against Sylvan’s neck. She couldn’t ask her not to go. Sylvan was the Alpha. She had to lead. But she didn’t have to lead alone any longer.