The apparition appeared at the corner of her vision almost distracting her, but she refused to look in that direction. If she did, it would be over. The wolf would rip her apart before she got a chance to move.
A crippling pain brought Marley to her knees. The scream was automatic. She waited for an attack, but one never came. Looking up, the wolf was gone. Screams came back to back while the pain twisted insufferably.
While she dug her fingers deep into the dirt, Marley tried to think of a distraction. She began hitting the ground as hard as she could, welcoming the small pain. Compared to what her body was going through, it didn’t even faze her. Fire poured through every inch of every limb.
“Zachary!”
She needed help. She needed anything besides the urge to rip her own skin apart. Her husband was right. The pain went beyond anything she’d ever felt before. “Zachary!” Marley repeatedly screamed.
Not three minutes had gone by, but Marley was sure two eternities already passed. Her body collapsed to the ground pulling itself into a fetal position. The sound of one of her ribs cracking allowed her to let out the most piecing, agonizing scream she could manage. Then her world went black.
* * * *
Zachary awoke covered in sweat. Something was wrong, he could feel it. Aches covered every muscle in his body, and it wasn’t sickness. Werewolves didn’t get sick.
“Marley?”
Confused, he got out of bed. He ran, bursting through the door to Demetri’s room. Kylie was feeding the baby, looking at him in alarm.
“Zachary, what’s wrong? You can’t just burst in here. Do you know how bad you scared me? Where’s Marley?”
Tightening collected in his chest. “You mean you haven’t seen her this morning?”
“No, Zachary. I heard the baby crying and made him a bottle. I figured she was still sleeping.”
A scream so faint he could barely hear it had his head snapping toward Demetri’s window. He knew beyond a doubt it was Marley’s voice.
“Call my men. Tell them Marley’s somewhere behind the house. You do not leave Demetri for a second. That’s an order, Kylie.”
Zachary didn’t even bother to go downstairs. He opened Demetri’s second story window and dropped down to the ground. Silence eerily greeted him. He began running to the forest aligning the back of the house.
Marley’s scent crashed into him, and he took off, running faster to find it. Something moved out of the corner of his eye, and he stopped abruptly. The apparition he heard so much about danced along the edge of the trees. As hard as he could, he focused on Marley’s scent, trying to ignore the translucent figure. He wasn’t going to count on it being Cole. It was in the opposite direction Marley’s scent was taking him.
A small color of red caught his attention on the ground just on the outskirts of the trees. Feeling his heart drop, he took off toward the color. The smell of his pack in the distance hardly registered as Marley’s tiny, curled body came directly into view. Fear penetrated his mind while he bent down toward her.
“Marley, love.” The sound of his voice breaking made the tears in his eyes cloud more of his vision.
“Marley, what happened to you?”
Zachary slid his arms under her head and knees and prepared to lift her, but he didn’t even get her off the ground. Her screams echoed through the trees. His whole body froze in terror at what might be wrong with her.
“Don’t move me!” she sobbed.
“Honey, talk to me. Are you hurt? What’s wrong? Why are you out here in the forest?” A million thoughts were going through his mind. He was popping out questions—too many questions. The quickness of his heart rate decreased as he tried to calm himself.
A shuddering breath left her lips while she clawed at the ground with her nails. “I was running. I saw…ghost, but it’s not Cole.”
Another scream came from her mouth while she kicked her legs out only to curl them back into a ball.
“A red wolf...I had to protect Demetri, but the pain.”
“Pain?” He took a good look at her body. She was completely covered in sweat, but he didn’t smell blood. Knowing she wasn’t physically harmed, the realization dawned on him. “Shit, you’re changing already?”
Zachary ran his hands down her body. As his fingers traced over her ribs, she screamed, causing him to flinch. A handful of wolves and men stood waiting for his commands.
“I want every inch of these woods searched. It seems we’re not alone. We’re looking for a red wolf and an apparition that looks like a ghost. The apparition you won’t be able to touch, but bring the wolf to me.” Zachary looked at all of them, making sure they knew he meant business.
“Marley, this is going to hurt worse than anything you’ve ever felt, but I’m going to have to lift you to carry you inside.”
A growl actually burst past Marley’s lips. Zachary watched in horror as her green eyes began to glow brightly. Every hope he harbored, that maybe his wife had more time, vanished with her appearance. She wasn’t any more human than he. All that was left for her to do was shift, and that would be here sooner than he wanted to think about.
“I will not be carried yet.” The sound of her voice was so much stronger than her previous state. “I think it’s going away. Just give me time.”
Another cry passed from her throat while her nails formed into claws. The snapping sound of the bones in her fingers made Zachary wince.
“Fuck!” Marley screamed, pushing herself to her feet. She clutched desperately to her ribcage while she began to walk toward the estate. Zachary stared at her, amazed. With her eyes glowing and her hands protruding razor sharp claws, she looked unnerving.
Like a flash of lightening, she was gone. The quickness with which she took off made him trip over his own feet. Even he couldn’t run that fast. What in the hell was his wife turning into?
Chapter 9
Nausea threatened Marley as she crawled into the shower. Her whole body felt contorted. It took everything she had to make it inside. The first thing she did was check on Demetri. She would never forget the expression Kylie gave her. Pure horror filled her face while she clutched to Demetri and Aria almost as if Marley was a threat.
The warm water soothed the tightness covering her. Zachary barreled through the door, running to the shower.
“Marley, dammit, why didn’t you let me help you? Did you know sometimes you can be so damn stubborn? Here, let me take off your wet nightgown.”
“Seriously, Zachary? Just tear the damn thing off. I would, but I’d probably take out of chunk of my skin with these claws. It’s going away. The pain has already subsided increasingly.”
The red silk tore away from her body gently. He was trying to be careful. At the pop inside of her, Marley sucked in a deep breath. Her rib fixing itself left her laughing.
“What the hell was that?” Zachary held his hands completely still over her, looking almost afraid to move.
“That would be my ribs popping back into place.”
Marley shifted slightly to test the pain and then pulled herself to her feet. She felt fine now. Like nothing had ever happened to begin with. Trying to focus on the events with the wolf, she pushed the memories of the pain from her mind. She didn’t want to think about the way her hands had just looked or the excruciating way her insides turned in her stomach. Thank God she projected most of the night instead of sleeping. She would have nightmares for sure if that was the case.
“As I was saying in the forest, I saw the apparition, but I don’t think its Cole. This figure was trying to lure me to go in. Like I’m stupid enough to do that,” Marley snorted. “Anyway, I started telling it I wasn’t going any farther. That’s when a damn red wolf tried to knock me down, but I wasn’t falling for that trick again. I ducked and it sailed right over me. We were circling each other,”
“Wait, you what?” He stood there looking astounded. The slight part of his full lips made her proceed cautiously. The last thing she wanted to do was up
set him further.
“We were circling each other. I couldn’t let it get to the house, Zachary.”
“Wait, wait, wait. You’re telling me you were going to try to take on a wolf. Marley, have you lost your mind? It would have slaughtered you! Tell me again, what in the hell you were doing outside at the crack of dawn?”
Twisting her mouth at his rising temper, Marley lathered her body with soap. “I was running. I awoke in a ball of energy. What can I say? Plus, I could have possibly kicked that wolf’s ass. If it wouldn’t have been for my own wolf trying to come out then it might have been possible. I guess now we’ll never know.”
A laugh made her look up. Zachary stood there shaking his head. “You cannot be serious, Marley. Jesus! You know what? We’re going to find out just how powerful you are. Hurry up, get out and get dressed. I’m going to show you first hand that you can’t beat a wolf in human form. It’s impossible.”
Marley smiled. “Great! I need all the practice I can get. Who do I fight? Nikolas, Mark, oh, I know, Magnus.”
“No, Marley. You’re fighting me.”
The smile melted off of her face. “Well, shit.” Making sure all of the soap was gone, she turned the water off. “You’re not going to be a sorry loser if you get beat by a girl, right? Because if that’s the case, then I’m calling it off right now. I don’t want to argue with you.”
Fuck, she was so getting her ass whipped!
* * * *
“Cole, I hope you know what you’re doing. We’ve been to three different places this morning, and now we’re in the same town we live in, again! Do you have any idea how pissed Zach is going to be?”
Gilbert’s voice barely broke through Cole’s thoughts. “Probably extremely pissed, but I can’t help it. I don’t want to waste our time traveling around when I feel no need to look for a mate.”
“What about her?” Gilbert asked, pointing to a petite blonde walking along the main street.
Cole rolled his eyes and fought not to grind his teeth. “Pull the car over,” he snapped.
Not even caring about what the girl generally looked like, he got out, approaching her. Curiously, she looked up at him with big brown eyes. Her heart-shaped face was decent enough, Cole thought as he fought the need to get back in the car.
“Hello, I’m Cole. I’m sorry to stop you like this, but would you like to get dinner sometime? I know you don’t know me, but I figured it wouldn’t hurt to ask.”
The blonde genuinely smiled at him, outstretching her hand. “I’m Josephine, Josie for short. I’d love to have dinner with you.”
Cole’s felt like he was going to be sick. He did not want to do this. Why couldn’t she have just said no? “Great, are you free tonight? My family always has big dinners. We could kill two birds with one stone.”
Her laugh grated his ears. It wasn’t anything like Marley’s.
“Sounds great, Cole. Here, let me give you my number. You can call me when you’ve chosen a time to pick me up.”
Forcing a smile, he tried to look into her eyes and see the person inside. He got absolutely nothing. “Dinner’s always at seven, so let’s say I pick you up a little after six. I’ll call to get the address later.”
He left her with an extra bounce in her step. She was cute, but typically not his type. Of course, he couldn’t remember what his type was anymore. Since he’d first laid eyes on Marley, every idea image of a mate went right out of the window.
“See, was that so bad? Now that the hard part is over with, we can go home,” Gilbert said from the front seat.
“Yes, home.” Cole smiled. There was no faking that one. Now, he could go back home where he belonged. Things were looking up.
The cell phone ringing caught him off guard. His alpha’s name appeared on the outside almost as if he knew what Cole was doing.
“What’s up, Zach?”
“You need to come home. Marley was attacked this morning, and I need you here.”
The mix between rage and fear caused his free hand to grip to the seat for control. He had to fight not to shift into werewolf form. “What do you mean Marley was attacked? Is she okay? Who attacked her?”
“Yes, she’s fine. We’re not sure who it was. A red wolf was followed by someone projecting much like Jordan used to do. We thought at first it was you. Was it? I completely forgot to ask while you were here.”
“Wasn’t me. I don’t know how to project in that form. The only time I projected was last night when I came to Marley. I left before the sun even came up.”
“Ah, that makes sense. Marley said she was a ball of energy this morning. I take it things got steamy without me. Shit, if I wouldn’t have been so tired, I would have joined you both. Maybe then this wouldn’t have happened.”
“Don’t blame yourself because you felt tired.” Cole took a deep breath and prepared to mention the one question he felt needed to be asked. He didn’t want to for fear of getting the wrong answer, but his loyalty made him. “Zachary, are you sure what Marley and I have is all right with you? If you want me to stop, I will. You were my best friend before you were ever my leader.”
“No worries. I trust you won’t challenge to take her away from me. Plus, you make Marley happy when she and I aren’t together. It really doesn’t bother me.”
Relief filled every crevice of Cole’s body. The reaction left him short of breath. Hell, he’d probably stopped breathing while awaiting Zach’s response. “All right, thank you. Oh, by the way, I potentially found my mate. She’s coming over to dinner tonight.”
“That’s great, Cole. Where are you? I figured you’d be in New York by now.”
He wiped the sweat off of his brow. Zachary would be so pissed if he knew he planned on taking the easy way out. The fact that he was about to lie only made the guilt eat at him even more, but he couldn’t tell his friend he didn’t want to look for a mate because Cole wanted his.
“I told you she was close to home. All’s good.”
“Great! I’ll see you soon then.”
Cole sat looking at the phone for endless minutes. Fuck, what was he going to do? Things were never supposed to happen this way. Why would fate make him love a woman he couldn’t have? It was so unfair. Worse, even, than taking candy from a child. The child would always have the opportunity to receive more candy, but love, this kind of love, never came around twice. Never.
Looking up, the trees surrounding the estate broke away to the long drive of the mansion. Dread and excitement both filled him. First, he’d see the woman who’d stolen his heart, and then he’d worry about dinner and the girl he would need to portray as his mate. Just thinking about her put a bad taste in his mouth, a taste he knew he’d have to get used to.
Chapter 10
Marley walked into the large gym with Zachary and abruptly stopped when she noticed it was completely full. The pack had obviously heard about the incident and wanted to see for themselves.
Shit! This wasn’t good.
“All right, Marley,” Zachary said while they stepped into the middle of the court. “All I’m going to do is pin you. I won’t hurt you, but I don’t want you to hold back on me, either. Give me everything you got. Just imagine Demetri is in danger and you need to protect him.”
She nodded, thinking about Zachary stopping the car on the road and the red wolf she felt threatened by earlier. Instinctively, Marley crouched down in a defensive position. Her husband morphed so quickly it looked like he exploded in front of her. Before she could get over the awe of his wolf form, he lunged at her.
The adrenaline began to thrum through her body while she pivoted out of his way. She concentrated on imagining him as the red wolf. The harder she focused, the more Zachary’s black and white coat turned to all black and she saw Jordan.
He stalked around her in a circle, growling viciously. Fear mirroring her moments in the woods so long ago began to consume every rational part of her brain. Jordan stood so clearly in front of her, his eyes glowing a bright yellow. An
d he wanted her son. The thought and his words echoed in her mind.
“It belongs with me! I want it to lead my pack. I will have that baby, Marley. With the lycanthropy in your veins mixed with Zachary’s, I will rule the north! You can die once the baby is born for all I care.”
She could not let him have Demetri!
“No!” She screamed, lunging to meet Zachary in midair.
They both hit the gym floor hard, but Marley never felt a thing. Her body began to contort inside, and she let it, embracing the pain as it took over. Heat rushed through her limbs at a pace so fast she could barely process the feeling. A weird pulling sensation jerked at her insides, and Marley felt herself burst into what felt like a million pieces. Suddenly, there was no pain, just a rage so overpowering she jumped up on her white paws. Everything was clouded and uncertain. She couldn’t think straight as her instincts took over.
A growl reverberated through her throat while she felt all the hair on her new body stand up. Zachary and Cole standing before her was the only thing that made her stop from lunging forward. When had her husband changed back to a human? How long had it taken her to get control on her wolf form? So many questions and concerns entered her fuzzy mind.
If Zachary would have been a wolf, she would have killed him without a second thought. The fear at the notion shook her to the core.
Her body morphed easily back into human form, and she stood staring at the two stunned men she loved. She wasn’t sure how she just changed, but a part of her felt more complete now that she finally had. Fear still made her uneasy, but Cole being there helped to calm her a small amount.
“How did you do that? You shouldn’t have been able to change before the full moon.”
“What the hell is going on? Since when has Marley been a wolf?” Cole exploded.
“I don’t know how I changed. I thought you were Jordan. Demetri needed to stay safe,” Marley whispered.
Projected Pleasure Page 5
