Psyche Shield

by Chrissie Buhr

  I’m ready to leave this place and my old life behind, I commented as she turned the engine off.

  “Are you ready to move in with me?” she asked practically.

  “Yes.” I met her eyes. “I belong with you, and I belong in your pack. Maybe it’s completely insane since I’m a Mage, but it’s true. I want to move in with you and build a life together.”

  She kissed me softly, running a finger down the side of my neck. “I want to build a life with you too. And I refuse to wait until the insanity is over. I’m not putting our life on hold, no matter what’s going on.”

  Her finger reached the hem of my simple tank top, tugging at it suggestively. I shuddered and my voice came out husky. “Let’s go inside.”

  We barely made it through the front door before Billie pressed me against a wall and buried her head in my neck, kissing and biting gently. Her hands pressed against the wall on either side of me, her body leaning against mine. I threaded one hand through her hair, removing the clip and dropping it on the floor. Her red curls fell loose around her shoulders, framing her face. The other hand slipped under her shirt to the bare skin beneath it. She reached for my tank top and pulled it over my head.

  “Gods, you smell good,” she breathed against my neck, and my bra fell to the floor. Her enthusiasm infected me, and I responded in kind. As usual, she wore no bra, her breasts bare when her shirt hit the floor. I pinched one of her nipples quick and hard, and it spurred her on. She pressed a thigh between mine, and even through our clothes, it hit just right. Heat spread throughout my body, and I moaned.

  “Are you going to fuck me against the wall again or take me to bed?” I asked roughly.

  “I love having you against the wall with your legs over my shoulders. It’s tempting. But I can’t give you a massage like that.” Her voice rumbled against my throat, and I no longer cared about the massage. She chuckled at my thought and lifted me by the ass. I wrapped my legs around her waist and looked down into her green eyes.

  “Your eyes are so full of life. Did you know they’re the same whether they’re green or blue?” The vivid green color changed to crystal blue when in her wolf form.

  “I didn’t know that,” she murmured as she carried me towards the bedroom.

  With one hand, I gripped her hair at the base of her neck, and it steadied me. Fortunately she didn’t have to watch her step. My bare breasts near her face invited her to nibble on them, and I arched my back to move them into better reach. She assisted by lifting me a little higher and ran her tongue across one nipple. I shuddered and through our bond, she felt the ecstasy she caused in me. Her fingers gripped my ass tighter, and I gasped her name out loud.

  We reached the bed and somehow she had me flat on my back, kneeling between my thighs. She held my wrists against the bed beside my shoulders, pushing my breasts towards her. She went for the other nipple, wetting it with her tongue before blowing on it gently. My nipples hardened and my back arched automatically, pressing my breasts closer to her. “Mmm. I like it when that happens.”

  “Then do it again,” I begged. She nibbled her way across my chest and repeated the favored sensation on the other nipple. “Oh, God. Don’t stop.”

  “Never,” she promised. Letting my wrists go, she removed my shorts easily followed by my blue lacy underwear. She finally had me naked and devoured me with her eyes as I lay completely exposed to her. I didn’t even move my hands from where she left them beside my shoulders.

  “I promised you twice today,” I breathed heavily with anticipation. “Anything you want.”

  “Anything?” she replied huskily.

  I nodded and warmed at the idea. “I can’t imagine disliking anything from you.”

  She looked at me thoughtfully, her eyes glowing. You’re not Wolf. It’s not in your nature to submit to anyone. You’re the most powerful Mage in the world. That probably makes you the most powerful person in the world of any race. Why do you submit to me?

  The answer came naturally from my lips without thinking. “I love you and I trust you. When you’re in control, I feel safe.”

  Slowly she stood and removed the rest of her clothes, dropping them on the floor. I soaked in the view of her perfect, muscled body. She moved with strength and power. She kneeled between my feet, touching my toes lightly. It sent a shock through my body unexpectedly, and I gasped, closing my eyes to feel it more deeply.

  Her fingers traced my legs, one on each side, traveling up the length of my body until they paused so close to my labia I could feel the heat radiating from her hands. “Spread your legs more for me,” she requested, and I did, raising my knees to push my feet against the bed and give her more room. “Perfect. You are perfect, my love. Naked or clothed, spread open to me or at any other time. You are perfect.” She breathed against my clit as she murmured affectations, the light breeze she created causing my wet pussy to tingle and pulse. “I’ll show you how perfect we are, my mate.” Her lips grazed against the sensitive skin as she spoke, and I almost orgasmed right there. I held it at bay, waiting and anticipating. She knew I struggled against the release, and I sensed her smile between my legs.

  Lightly, delicately, she touched me with her fingers, tracing the edges of my labia and grazing my clit unexpectedly. Instead of anticipating her moves through our bond, I set thought aside. I allowed myself to experience our lovemaking through my body alone. Without sensing her actions in advance, each new touch came with surprise.

  Her teeth grazed along the delicate folds, and I screamed in pleasure. When her tongue entered me for the first time, the orgasm spread from my clit through my entire body. Toes curled into the sheets. My back arched, pressing my shoulders against the bed. The orgasm lifted me into her, pressing her tongue deeper. She pressed her fingers against my labia, spreading me wider as the intensity built. Fingers replaced her tongue, rushing to fill me and pulling out slowly. Each time she entered me with sudden movements, a cry startled from my throat. Every teasingly slow withdrawal left me moaning for more.

  She gave me no reprieve. As soon as the climax began to wane, she grazed my clit with her teeth, and it began to build in me again. My strength waned, and I couldn’t push into her like I wanted. “Harder!” I begged. “God, Billie. You’re torturing me.”

  She chuckled low, and the rumble of her happiness teased my fiery pussy. “My mate. My love,” she murmured loud enough for me to hear and entered me hard, giving me what I asked for. She bit me between the thighs, gently at first, nibbles that sent shivers throughout my body. “I’m yours, forever,” she declared and bit me hard on the inner thigh. I peaked into climax, the bite sending electricity down past my knee and upwards to curl around one breast.

  The orgasm gripped me quickly this time, rushing through me violently and ending suddenly. I collapsed into panting. Her silence drew my attention, and I opened my eyes. She gazed transfixed on my left inner thigh, her lips parted slightly in wonder. When she touched the spot gently, a current spread outward, and she jerked her hand back in surprise.

  “What was that?” I could barely form words.

  She kissed the spot and crawled over me so that she lay to my side. I rolled to face her and wrapped one hand around the back of her head. Fervently, I pulled her towards me to meet her lips with mine. Her arm slipped around my lower back, pulling me gently against her and we lay together, kissing softly for a time. When we paused, I saw tears threatening to spill from her eyes, and she answered my unspoken question. You carry my matebite.

  My hand flew to my thigh, and I touched the tender spot where she bit me, the skin barely broken. Your matebite. It shocked me when I touched it, I replied in amazement.

  I’ve never heard of that reaction. She leaned in to kiss me softly. “I love you.”

  I carry your matebite. I didn’t know I could. I said proudly, stroking her face.

  I didn’t know if you ever would, she confessed, showing how much she’d wanted it for me.

  Your matebite! Now you’re never g
oing to be rid of me, I laughed and rolled on top of her playfully.

  She ran a hand through my hair as she looked up at me. “I never want to. I will love you, cherish you, and protect you to the end. Whatever comes, we’ll face it together. Mates.”

  * * *

  Illusion protected my backyard as high as I could send it. A small fire burned in an old pit I hadn’t used in a very long time, the smoke visible only from a great distance. We fed Jazz’s research into the hot flames piece by piece, ensuring that every piece of it burned.

  With the last item destroyed beyond recognition, we sat together in the waning light and watched the fire die into embers. “You didn’t do anything wrong,” she told me after a long silence.

  I countered her statement. “What I did was necessary. Everything about being Kratos is wrong.”

  Anger flared briefly like one of the flames that danced in front of us. It cooled as quickly as it rose. “No. I wish you didn’t think that.” We hadn’t had a chance to discuss our ongoing dilemma since we came home. A Mage capable of controlling other Mages stood apart among my people. Other Mages feared us and called us Kratos. Only a few existed in the world, and Kato had named me highest of all Kratos, the most powerful Mage in the world. My people didn’t know I existed and believed that title belonged to my grandmother, Beatrice.

  “When I read Cassandra, I saw a couple of the other Kratos. My grandmother is ruthless, powerful, and completely insane. Cassandra’s son, Emel, is turning into the same thing.”

  “Cassandra’s son is Kratos?” Billie startled at the new knowledge.

  “Yes. There are more, but not many. She died before I saw the details. She thinks about her son a lot.”

  “Any mother would. Even one as twisted as Cassandra.”

  I watched the flames as I explained, their dancing light making it easier to find the words. “She was worried about him and scared of him all at the same time. She hated Beatrice for taking her son away from her. She said sometimes Kratos go a little crazy. So maybe sometimes we don’t. Or maybe she’s just holding onto hope for her son.”

  Billie hadn’t mentioned Cassandra’s statement. She didn’t believe it possible for me to become like the others. “Being Kratos doesn’t sound much different than being a Wolf like me or Jason or Matthew, innately dominant and powerful. We’re different from other Wolves in some ways. It’s more difficult for us to find balance in our lives.”

  “How is it more difficult?” I knew about her internal struggles of becoming Wolf. She was forcibly bitten, unprepared for the changes within her. She’d lived without Pack for months before Kathryn found her.

  She responded to both the spoken question and the thought. “It was worse for me because I was made Wolf by force. It would have been more difficult than most even if I hadn’t been. John became Wolf a few months after I came to the Pack. It was so much easier for him. He adjusted quickly, leading a normal life by the time he was two months old. I was a year old before I had the balance John had. Jason told me it took him six months and Matthew nearly as long. Wolves like us are led by instinct more than others, and it isn’t easy to find the balance. We have stronger impulses, and we have to learn to control them. Matthew’s alive because he’s incredibly powerful and dominant. But he isn’t whole either. He lost his balance.” I didn’t see much difference between Matthew and Jason. Billie chuckled at my thought. “Jason has that balance. He doesn’t like you, so you don’t get to see it very much.”

  “I don’t know if it’s the same. If it is, I don’t know what that balance is for me,” I admitted. The flames danced in front of me and I studied the way they consumed whatever we fed it. Being Kratos felt like that, an uncontrollable force that consumed and destroyed everything it touched. “Maybe if I can accept the good side of being Kratos, I can accept being Kratos.”

  I could feel her gaze on me as I compared myself to the fire. “You barely know what it means to be Kratos. You barely know what it means to be a Mage. You haven’t had enough time to sort it out yet.”

  “I can’t wait until I sort it out. Beatrice will figure out I’m still alive soon, and she’ll come for me. When she does I have to be ready.”

  She threw a twig in the fire and it burst into flame. “Don’t forget the prophecy.”

  “What do you mean?” The prophecy about me never strayed far from my thoughts. A century before my birth, Sages foretold that I would change the course of destiny for Mages and Wolves. My grandmother, misunderstanding the meaning, tried to kill me in the womb. My parents died to protect me. Right after my birth, my mother handed me to a Human stranger and disappeared. I was adopted into a Human family with no knowledge of my heritage or understanding of my abilities.

  “The prophecy is a heavy burden to carry. I feel how much it weighs on you. Your choices have an enormous impact on all of us: Wolves, Mages, Sages, and Humans. The war between Mages and Wolves will continue or end depending on what we do. We. You carry my matebite now, which should be all the proof you need. We’re in this together. Kato said I’m part of the prophecy, and three others are coming to help us. I am the best fighter around and Beta of the strongest pack in the region. You may not have Pack Status, but you are Pack in the ways that matter most. We can’t tell our packmates a lot of what’s going on, but we’re not alone. Not in the slightest.”

  “How can you be so optimistic?” I asked skeptically.

  She held me tighter and rested her chin on my shoulder. “I’ve had family or Pack my entire life. I’ve never been alone. Until recently you’ve never known anything else. You haven’t figured out what it means to be Pack yet. You will. It’s not something that can be explained. It has to be felt in here.” She tapped my heart with a finger.

  I considered what she said silently, Kato’s advice coming back to me. What you fear will not come if you accept yourself as Pack and your packmates as family. Billie didn’t hear his statement, and she had in essence said the same thing. As had Nathan. Ya disappeared ’cause ya couldn’t face us, didn’t ya? Don’t ever run away from us, Sadie. We’re Pack.

  I still didn’t know what it meant. The last of the embers winked out as I contemplated all of it. Billie let me ponder in silence, following some of my thoughts. Others I hid from her. When the coals finally cooled, I lowered the shield and illusion so we could go home.

  Chapter 5

  Jason didn’t knock and blew through the front door like a thunderclap. “You should have called me before bringing her here.” Silence descended in the house as he confronted his Beta. Every Wolf except Billie stilled when they heard his mood. Only she seemed immune to his temperament, and she faced his ire easily.

  He walked right past me without acknowledging my presence, and I folded my arms across my chest at his rudeness. I wasn’t immune to his moods, but I didn’t react like a Wolf. My instincts did not tell me to back down or defer to his authority.

  “You should have called me the moment you knew about her.” A vein on his neck kept time with his bad temper. Tattoos littered his arms and neck, a simple T-shirt covering the rest of his ink.

  Billie expressed disagreement without challenging his authority, a skill she’d perfected since becoming Wolf. “I’ve always brought Pack visitors home. You don’t even have a spare room because you don’t want them. I’ve hosted almost every guest since you named me Beta, and you’ve never complained before.”

  “You didn’t have a Mage girlfriend to scare the shit out of them before.” He ignored me even as he insulted me. I chewed on my lip to stop the snippy comeback that tried to come out. My packmates and Sierra noticed the effort it took to stay quiet, and I could almost hear their silent laughter.

  “Mate, Alpha. She’s my mate,” Billie spat, one hand cutting through the air demonstratively. Almost as tall as Jason, she only had to raise her chin slightly to look him in the eyes. The gesture looked more defiant than submissive whenever she defended me. She deferred to her Alpha regarding everything else.

 
He curled his lip as he stared her down, and she met his gaze steadily. He still hadn’t acknowledged my presence. “Don’t rub it in. You didn’t just find a Mage mate, you brought home the most insufferable Mage mate possible.”

  “I don’t need Wolf ears to hear you when I’m standing five feet away,” I snapped at him, losing the battle of self-control. Behind him, Sierra watched attentively, Kathryn sitting by her side. She’d expected an interrogation from the intimidating Alpha. She stifled her gratitude that someone else drew his fire.

  I may as well have been invisible. If I’d had hackles, they would have stood on end as he studiously ignored me. “Bringing a strange Wolf into your home with her here is only going to cause problems with her Alpha. You should have known better.” He punctuated his statement by shoving a finger in my direction.

  Billie didn’t back down. She felt as strongly about it as she had when they initially discussed it. The resolute Beta gave her opinion respectfully but firmly. “Hiding Sadie would make matters worse. It would look like we have something to hide, and we don’t. The other packs are going to find out she’s here eventually, and when they do, they need to see her like we see her. When people get to know her, they actually like her.”

  “Not everyone,” he growled, his eyebrows nearly meeting over his nose.

  “Well, at least we agree on something,” I blurted and raised my chin, daring him to reply.

  Billie closed her eyes and pinched her nose, exasperated with the endless passive aggressive sparring between us. She refused to get caught in the crossfire this time. Meeting her Alpha’s gaze once again, she returned to her argument. “Sierra’s getting to know her. Once other Wolves figure out she’s not a threat, we won’t have this problem anymore.”

  Jason shook his head in frustration. He couldn’t erase the problem about to arise with Sierra’s Alpha. He turned a cold eye on me, finally acknowledging my presence. He looked down his nose as he would a bug crawling on his dinner plate. “Are you ever going to be anything but a pain in my ass?”