by Unknown
Carl scooped up the bullets near his feet. Then the human grunted and bent, shoving his arm beneath the vehicle in search of the missing bullet. His menacing fingers groped closer and closer to Josephine, threatening discovery.
Ears flattened, she issued a silent hiss and batted the bullet with her paw, sending it into Carl’s open hand. The man released a rumble of satisfaction and closed his fingers around the prize.
The offending hand withdrew, and a second later Josephine heard the distinct click of the bolt sliding into place.
Carl moved away from the vehicle, his footsteps loud and then fading as he headed back toward the house. Josephine agonized for several vital seconds. She had a good idea what Carl intended, and a vengeful part of her wanted to let it happen. But ultimately, she couldn’t stand by and do nothing. Josephine shot out from under the vehicle and followed Carl, catching up and keeping pace.
As she rounded the corner of the house, Josephine caught sight of Jared. The werewolf had a male vampire pinned against the side of the house. An assortment of broken furniture littered the ground, the remains of a patio set. A body floated face down in the pool, darkening the pale blue water with fresh blood.
The vampire hissed and slugged Jared in the throat, causing the werewolf to gag and stagger. Carl stopped short of the fighting pair and brought the rifle up, aiming the gun at Jared’s back.
Josephine did not hesitate. She shifted to half-cat, half-human and leapt on Carl’s back. The muzzle of the rifle swung to the right, and the shot went wide. Carl lurched beneath Josephine’s weight, cursing a blue streak.
The vampire leapt at Jared, attempting to secure a bite hold on the werewolf’s throat, attacking with hands extended and jaws parted wide to reveal gleaming fangs. One of Jared’s hands caught the vampire’s face, hooking his mouth. The undead creature screamed in agony as dagger-like werewolf claws punched holes in the vampire’s cheek and ripped his face in half.
Carl bucked and twisted, attempting to retain his hold on the rifle as Josephine forced his arms down. Her heart raced with the excitement of the hunt and kill. Her feline nature had been too long denied. The man’s mouth dropped open, and he shouted when he realized the identity of his attacker.
“What the fuck,” Carl shouted. “What the hell is your problem, cat? He betrayed you. I’m trying to take care of both our problems.”
Jared’s claw punched into the vampire’s chest, reaching for his heart. The vampire’s life ended with a sickening slosh—a sound rather like a flesh bag full of fluids bursting. Jared’s triumphant howl announced his victory for all within hearing range.
Josephine glared at Carl with glittering blue eyes and released a long drawn hiss. “Three years of your abuse—do you recall that cattle prod? And you have to ask why?”
She drew back her arms and lashed out with extended claws. Her cat reflexes were superior to the human’s reactions. Her claws sliced parallel cuts through Carl’s throat, and he died with a stunned murmur. His body fell forward to the ground.
For several seconds, dead silence reigned. She stared at Jared, and he at her across a small divide. With a snarl, Josephine tossed back her hair and whirled upon her heel. She beat a hasty retreat toward the parking lot, tail held high.
She might have saved Jared’s life, but he had not been forgiven.
Josephine watched the remainder of the carnage from a juniper bush, crouching on bark dust next to a sprinkler head. She moved through the grounds, following Jared from a safe distance and watching as the werewolf left a pile of bodies—human and vampire—in his wake. She saw him return to the house and emerge a short time later wearing his blue jeans.
Josephine ambushed him near the garage; an eleven-pound cat sprang out to deal a punishing bite to the werewolf’s calf through his pants. His blue jeans smelled of sweat and sex and blood from a week’s wearing without washing. He had reverted to human form. All of the vampires were dead or fled, and maybe it was difficult for a full size wolfman to fit behind a steering wheel.
She wanted—no, needed—his attention, so she leapt out and bit him and then sprang away. Hers was a sprightly spring charged with enthusiasm for revenge.
“Damn cat,” Jared said and stopped. He bent and peered into the bush where Josie had taken refuge. His smile infuriated her, and at least he had the sense not to “here kitty kitty” her.
He waited and time passed. She debated whether to come out and wondered how long he would wait. He remained, kneeling on the ground and watching her with his topaz wolf eyes.
Finally, he heaved a sigh and sat on the ground. “Josie,” he said in that fuck-me voice that she both adored and despised. “Josie, Josie, Josie—you’re pissed. I get that, I do. You have every right to be.
“I made choices without asking you. It’s a habit, I suppose, and maybe it doesn’t seem fair or right to you. But I’m used to making decisions for the people under my protection. It’s who I am. I am the Alpha of my pack.
“Everything about you fucks me up and twists me around inside until I have no idea which direction is up. I never wanted to hurt you, Josie Cat. The first thing to draw me to you was your fear—I wanted to save you. I wanted to protect you—from me, from life, from everything.”
And still he waited. At least an hour had passed before he stood, dangling his car keys from his fingers. He started to walk away when Josie came at him, shifting to her cat-woman form which facilitated speech. She rushed Jared in a flurry of claws and fangs, leaping straight at him. She gouged scratches on his chest and lacerated his face without the slightest regard for his sight or his beauty. She fought him with all of her might, uncaring of whether he chose to retaliate and take her life.
Jared subdued her, pinning Josie to the ground, her wrists secured at her sides and her lower body beneath his. It was just like old times. His blood got all over her; her tears on him. He kissed her face and licked away the tears. “I’m so sorry, baby. Please believe me; forgive me. I never wanted to hurt you.”
“Liar,” she screamed and sobbed. “Liar! You deceived me. You tricked me, and then, when I finally trusted you, you betrayed me. Do you have any idea what it took for me to trust again?”
“You told that vampire I had it coming,” she said through her tears. He had broken her heart. “You set out to find the worst possible way to hurt me and then took revenge.”
Jared released her hands. “I owe you,” he said, “a debt of honor. Do you want my eyes, Josie? My throat? My life?” He rolled, bringing her with him so she was lying on top. He raised his arms, hands beside his head, and assumed a position of submission.
Her skin vibrated with the force of his power. Josie stared at Jared, disbelieving, and her claw snaked out to caress his cheek. Pliant, he turned his head to the side. He did not flinch when she passed a razor sharp claw over his eye. She rested the needle point of her nail against his closed eyelid. She could blind him. Such injuries did not regenerate.
“You’re an Alpha—leader of your pack. Not just a dominant wolf, but a fucking Alpha,” she said. “Seven days and you never saw fit to mention it?”
He did not turn his head and kept his threatened eye closed. Jared’s heart rate remained slow and steady; she could not scent a hint of fear. He wasn’t afraid of her at all.
“I’m an Alpha wolf; you’re a cat,” he said. “You don’t like being told what to do; issuing orders is what I’m accustomed to. I didn’t want to make you feel more threatened.”
“Where is your pack now?”
He flashed his teeth in a wolf smile. “By now, they’ve noticed I’m missing. The pack is probably somewhere between here and Virginia, shredding everything in their path. See, there was a degree of urgency to getting out of there on my own. Being rescued would’ve been damn embarrassing.”
“I see.” Her laugh emerged as a bitter sound. Her claws retracted, and his eyelid twitched beneath her fingertip. She stroked the silky lashes.
Josie couldn’t stand to gouge one of t
hose beautiful eyes. She reached for his throat instead and settled all of her claws against vital points, considering…It was so much more appropriate. She could bite him, but she doubted her mouth could damage his thick neck.
“When did you decide to play Russian roulette with my life?” she demanded. “Seven days ago?”
He turned his head and looked up at her. “Tonight, when Carl told me about the vampires who would accompany him and that he wanted out,” Jared replied. His answer had the ring of honesty.
“I knew then I had a chance to get you out, so I improvised. If they thought you were dead then there was no reason to lock the cell behind me. The wound was severe but not lethal. I know how to bite without striking a major artery.”
She sucked in a sharp breath and tightened her grip on his throat. “You trust your judgment that fucking much that you’d risk my life?”
Jared met her eyes and never blinked or wavered. “Yes.”
Her confidence faltered. Tears resurged along with doubt and fear and desire. She despised her weakness and his strength. Damn it! Damn him! She needed something more than this wolf’s unshakeable confidence in his own judgment and ability.
“There’s more, isn’t there?” she asked, furious with him again. She allowed the tips of her claws to pierce his throat opening eight pinpricks, each shedding a single drop of blood. Abruptly, the werewolf’s entire body tensed as he took her threat seriously this time.
He shook his head once. “There’s only this,” he said. He braced and waited to see if she’d rip out his throat.
“This…this…What is this?” Her claws sank deeper, and he flinched, sucking down a hard breath. Beneath her hands, his pulse raced. Still he waited, and finally, she understood.
This was dominance and submission. He was a wolf; he was Alpha. And he had rolled onto his back, offering his eyes, his throat, and his life to an unpredictable Siamese cat. Josie had seen what submission to Evangeline had cost him—how it made him feel. He had endured the vampire’s blood rape for Josie’s sake.
Her breath exhaled in a whoosh, and she removed her claws from his throat, settling her palms against his bare chest. Josephine did not surrender her position astride him. “I betrayed you twice; you got me once bad,” she said. “Can we be even now?”
The tension bled out of Jared’s body. “I forgave you days ago. Can you forgive me?”
“Maybe,” she said. She had already forgiven him but had no intention of telling him that. He could suffer for a while first. He had it coming.
“Josie,” he scolded. Those topaz eyes allowed no evasion.
“I need for you to be sorry! Not right.”
His head tilted forward. “I’m so damn sorry I hurt you, Josie, I don’t have the words.”
She blinked back tears. “Fine, I forgive you.”
He smiled. “Can you trust me again?”
“I don’t know,” she said. She glanced to where the cars were parked. “Were you going to leave me?”
“No. I was going to call my pack, regroup, get some new clothes, and then find you,” Jared said. “I figured I’d give you some time to cool off and then try to apologize. To explain.”
“You were walking away,” Josephine said, choking on grief and uncertainty. “I thought you were leaving me.”
“Josie.” He met her gaze. “I wouldn’t leave you like that. You matter too much to me.”
“Honest?” Josephine marshaled a smile. She despised her own whininess, the part of her still living inside a cage.
“Honest.” He grinned. “Besides, walking off was just a ruse to draw you out. I was getting tired of sitting there.”
“Oh!” She smacked him on the chest. “Don’t pretend for a second that I’m predictable.”
“Not for a second.” His smile turned to laughter, and she joined him, laughing until she gasped for air. Their humor was short-lived, but she breathed easier afterward.
“What next?” Josephine asked.
“How are you feeling?”
The question took more courage to pose than Josie possessed. The reality of life outside of a cage wasn’t something she’d fully grasped or considered just yet. She searched her heart and found both fear and hope for the future…with him.
“I’m frightened.” She felt uncertain and fragile. The world was a huge scary place after three years in captivity. Jared, a complete stranger and a werewolf she’d known for a week, represented her only link to the outside world. “I don’t have anywhere to go.”
“I don’t want you coming with me because you have no other options. That’s just another cage,” he said. “I’ll take you wherever you want, help you get settled. Or I can give you money if you want to go on your own.”
His offer hurt more than she’d have thought possible. Either he wanted to be rid of her or he believed she couldn’t stand him. Her emotions were battered, and her body exhausted. She could not expend any more energy on these games.
The werecat’s shoulders slumped, and she crossed her arms, sliding backward and off Jared. “Whatever you want,” she said. “I can take care of myself.”
He sat up. Rough arms halted her retreat and hauled her back. Jared placed Josie on his lap and wrapped his arms around her, creating a cage and a sanctuary. “If it’s up to me, then I’m keeping you. Josie Cat, you’ve turned my whole world upside down in just a week, and I very much want you to stay,” he said, pure male in his assertion of his rights.
Josie stiffened her spine and her resolve. “I want more than to be some werewolf’s fuck toy,” she told him, narrowing her blue eyes. “As if it’s a step up from being a vampire’s blood donor.”
His hands framed her face and did something he hadn’t done in their week together: he kissed her. His lips were full and firm. Her wolf kissed with his heart and his soul, transforming it into a simple act of honesty. Desperate to believe it was real, Josie grasped at his chest with her hands, kneading the solid muscle of his pecs.
Jared broke contact and nuzzled the side of her face, still more wolf than man. His gaze reflected a powerful, scary devotion. “Josie, you’re so much more to me than that.”
Josephine already understood that Jared put more stock in actions than words, but it also created uncertainty. She needed to believe it could be real.
“No more secrets? No more lies?” Josephine asked.
Jared hesitated to answer, and the look on his face set off alarms. “Oh no,” she moaned, fighting down a tide of panic. “What else? What aren’t you telling me now?”
Jared exhaled, slow and hard, so his nostrils flared. “I don’t want to scare you away.”
Josephine opened her mouth, but before she made a reply, a tsunami of energy engulfed her, the same as she’d experienced before but a thousand times more powerful. The air crackled, causing her fur to rise, her skin to tingle, and her entire body to vibrate.
She fell against Jared’s chest, gasping for air. A connection opened between them. The metaphysical link gave her a window straight into his heart. She knew him—his unshakeable self-confidence, his sense of honor and fair play, his protectiveness and playfulness, and even his wicked humor and horniness.
“What is that?” Josephine demanded.
“That’s the mate bond,” Jared explained. “Wolves mate for life. It’s your guarantee that I could never act against you or harm you in any way.”
She trembled and stared at him with great rounded eyes. “How did this happen?”
His lips twisted in a sardonic smile. “I’m not sure. At some point along the way, my wolf chose you. By the time I figured out what had happened, we’d already had sex and sealed the bond.”
He stared at her with that uncanny perception, no doubt reading her fear and apprehension. “You don’t have to be afraid, Josie. You can walk away any time you want. You’re not a wolf.”
“What about you?” Josephine asked. “What happens to you if I leave?”
His mouth set in a grim line; his eyes were sorr
owful. “If you leave, I’m screwed. Wolves mate for life. There will never be anyone else who can replace you in my heart or in my bed.”
The truth of his words resonated through the connection. Feeling ill, Josephine looked away and then back at him. She bit her lower lip. “I don’t want you to be bound to me, Jared. You’ve already lost enough of your freedom because of me.”
The tension around his eyes eased. “The mate bond is a choice made of free will, Josie. I chose to tie myself to you, even if I wasn’t consciously aware of doing so at the time.”
Her eyes brimmed with tears. She refused to blink and shed them. “Will you let me go?”
His vast hurt and disappointment reached her through their empathic bond. “Yes,” Jared said, and he meant it.
“Josie, I’d love for you to stay with me, because I believe together we have something real, something worth fighting for. But more than that, I want for you to be free. If that means you want a job or to drive or to fly, then I’ll do whatever I can to help you. Even if it means letting you go.”
She stiffened in disbelief, and then turned into him, safe within his arms. Josie thrust her face against her wolf’s neck, nipping at his throat with sharp teeth. Her great big badass werewolf. A purr of pleasure erupted from her chest.
“Okay, then,” she said, “I guess being a werewolf’s fuck toy isn’t so bad.” She loved him. She couldn’t say it yet. Maybe she didn’t need to thanks to an unshakeable bond and unlimited trust.
Besides, she was sure that he knew.
Her wolf threw back his head and roared with laughter. Then he climbed to his feet and gathered her in his arms, carrying her…wherever. So long as they wound up there together.
ALSO AVAILABLE
The Mating Game
by Melissa Snark
ISBN(s):
978-1-62830-378-0 Paperback
978-1-62830-379-7 Digital
Two males…two friends…a competition for the right to claim The Heart of the Iron Stone Pack.
