Soul of the Pack

by Jenny Frame

  “Jesus, Ky. I…it wants to bite you, fuck you, and be with you forever.” Ripp gasped.

  Kyra was taken aback by that last admission. The fog of want and sex was allowing Ripp to be more honest than she probably would be otherwise.

  Kyra’s claws lengthened, and her fangs burst from her gums. “That’s what I want—I want all of that. Look at me.”

  A dazed looking Ripp looked at her claws, her teeth, and her yellow eyes. “You’re beautiful, Ky. You and your wolf. Can I kiss you?”

  Kyra responded by pouncing on Ripp and kissing her mouth with all the passion she had held inside for so long. Ripp seemed startled at first, but then pushed her back with a growl and took control of the kiss.

  Kyra never imagined love and sex would feel like this. Kissing and touching Ripp felt like finding something she had been missing her whole life, something essential, like a need for air or water. Teasing the dominant out of her was about as far as her advice from friends went, and she was now following her own instincts, just like Ripp.

  She swept her hands over Ripp’s sculpted arms and shoulders, over the tattoos she so admired. Kyra groaned loudly and grasped at Ripp’s hair when Ripp ran her hand up her thigh and squeezed her ass.

  Kyra’s wolf wanted to play. She wasn’t going to submit that easily. Using her superior strength she pushed Ripp back.

  “Ky?”

  Kyra traced her finger slowly over Ripp’s chest tattoo, all around her breasts and across her nipples. “This is the wolf that’s been inside you your whole life, and I’ve been waiting for you both, but…Can you catch me?”

  Kyra scratched her claws across Ripp’s chest. Then she was gone in an instant.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Ripp staggered out of the car, her shirt open to the waist and two scratches scraped across her chest. She knew enough about wolf behavior to recognize a challenge from a submissive to a dominant. Kyra was asking if she was wolf enough to catch her, to meet her challenge.

  She started to run, hoping the night air would help cool her body that was burning with need and want. Kyra had played with her so much that she had forgotten her doubts and fears. Now all that mattered was Kyra.

  As she reached the end of the parking lot and the beginning of the forest, she began to worry about Kyra being alone in there. It was late and dark, and the whole of Wolfgang County was worried about the Lupa pack striking again.

  Despite the fact Kyra was a werewolf and could handle most foes, she felt this intense need to protect her. She needed to find her, and now. Instead of blindly running, she stopped, closed her eyes. Her senses seemed to become ever more wolflike with each day she stayed on Wolfgang land, but tonight most of all.

  It was as if Kyra had turned on a part of her that she had been suppressing through shame. Kyra accepted her and told her she was normal. For the first time in her life, she could embrace the feelings inside her, embrace the wolf. Tonight her wolf had prey to catch.

  When she finally gave in to the feelings, she caught the scent of her prey.

  “Ky, I’m coming for you,” Ripp growled.

  She ran in the direction of the forest and experienced a new energy. Her muscles and lungs didn’t burn. They felt full of inexhaustible energy. It was exhilarating, stoking up her desire for Kyra.

  As she entered the forest, she could scent Kyra wasn’t too far away, only a few hundred yards. She ran toward the scent, and her body was consumed with finding her mate, her prey.

  Ripp’s body was on fire, and nothing had ever mattered as much as catching Kyra and marking her as her own. She saw the big old tree Kyra had hidden behind on their first visit to the lookout and slowed down.

  A bit obvious, Ky.

  Ripp prowled closer and was confused because she could scent Kyra in two directions. Just as she approached the tree, everything slowed down, as if someone had pressed the slow-motion button. She became aware of something pouncing at her from the right. Ripp just reacted, dodged Kyra’s attack, caught her, and pushed her against the old tree. Kyra looked at her, openmouthed with shock.

  “How did you do that? I’m a werewolf, I’m too fast, too—”

  Ripp surprised her by going nose to nose with her. “I caught you, Wolf—submit.”

  Kyra had no idea what had happened. She was against the tree trunk, with Ripp holding her tight and grinning at her hungrily. She was so taken off guard and turned on by Ripp’s dominance, that she immediately turned her head to the side, offering her neck.

  Ripp growled and rubbed her lips all over her neck, and Kyra melted inside. Every part of her ached for Ripp. She got her hands free and grasped Ripp’s hair tightly.

  “Kiss me, Ripp.”

  The touch of Ripp’s lips was soft, slow, and tender. It was as if she had found her missing piece. This was what she had been waiting for all these years. Kyra’s hunger for Ripp grew desperate. She dug her claws into Ripp’s neck and used her strength to flip their positions so Ripp was against the tree, and before she knew it, Ripp flipped her back.

  Where was Ripp getting the strength from?

  Ripp grinned. “Uh-uh, Wolf. You’re mine.” Ripp threw her head back and howled loud and long.

  Ripp appeared to be imbued with a new energy, a strength that was bursting to get out. When Ripp brought her head down, Kyra gasped. Ripp’s eyes were flashing yellow, a sign of sexual maturity in wolves.

  “Ripp? Your eyes are yellow. How can that—”

  She was silenced by a deep passionate kiss. Ripp’s hands were everywhere, on her breasts, her thighs, and Kyra’s body responded to her with equal passion.

  She tore open the final few buttons on Ripp’s shirt and ran her hands all over her neck, chest, and shoulders, while they kissed desperately, trying to touch and taste everything that was her mate.

  Ripp lifted Kyraoff her feet, so that her legs encircled Ripp’s waist. Kyra moaned and slid her hands down the back of Ripp’s jeans, pulling their pelvises together. Ripp broke away from the kiss and licked the length of Kyra’s neck, while her hips began to thrust.

  “Ky, it feels too much. I can’t control—” Ripp appeared to be struggling with her intense werewolf emotions and needs, but Kyra didn’t want her to fear what was happening. Her wolf was clearly closer to the surface than it ever had been.

  She pulled Ripp’s head up to look in her eyes. “It’s not, Ripp.” She caressed her lover’s face tenderly. “What you’re feeling is normal. Don’t be afraid of the wolf in you. You won’t hurt me.”

  Ripp let Kyra slip from her grasp so her feet were back on the ground. She let out a cry and Kyra was shocked to see wolf canines had pushed their way through her gums.

  “You’re shifting, Ripp,” Kyra said.

  There was a renewed sparkle and confidence in Ripp’s eyes, brought about, Kyra was sure, by her wolf’s dominant nature. Ripp ran her tongue over her newly erupted canines and looked at her like she was a prime piece of steak.

  “Mine, say you’re mine, Ky,” Ripp said.

  Kyra growled softly and rubbed noses with Ripp. “I’ve been waiting for you my whole life. Of course I’m yours.” Kyra teasingly unbuckled Ripp’s belt and popped her jeans open. “The Great Mother said so.”

  Ripp growled fiercely, and in one swift move bit down into Kyra’s shoulder. Kyra gasped in surprise and knew without looking that the bite wasn’t a playful nip, just marking her chosen mate, as all wolves did before their mating ceremony. It was a mate bite.

  * * *

  Through the cloud of desperate want, Ripp tasted blood. She looked down at Kyra’s shoulder and recoiled when she saw a deep bite mark.

  “God no. Not again,” Ripp said.

  The fear of what was bad inside her, and the worry that she was just as out of control as her father crashed down upon her, and she began to shake. She backed away from Kyra, saying repeatedly, “I’m so sorry, Ky. I never meant to hurt you.”

  Kyra took steps toward her. “It’s okay, Ripp. You haven’t hurt me. It
’s just a bite. I wanted you to.”

  But the blood on her shoulder told a different story to Ripp. “I’m not safe.”

  Ripp roared to the sky, angry that she had hurt the only woman to ever mean anything to her, then was hit with the same intense pain she had experienced before, only much worse.

  Every joint in her screamed with agony. Her neck, spine, fingers, knees all popped and crunched, and she fell to the ground.

  “Ripp! What’s wrong?” she heard Kyra say as she doubled over in pain.

  “Sorry…” Ripp said. She felt Kyra’s hand on her shoulder and she snarled. Ripp had to get away. If her wolf was trying to get out, then Kyra was in danger. She used all her strength to push to her feet.

  When she looked at Kyra, all she could think of was sex and claiming her. Ripp couldn’t allow herself to hurt anyone anymore. “Don’t touch me, and don’t follow me.”

  It took everything inside her to run out of sight, and her heart broke at the sound of Kyra’s cries.

  * * *

  Ripp lay behind an old tree stump, trying to keep out of view of predators. The intensity of her pain was matched by the sharpness of her senses. Everything was heightened exponentially, and so every little movement or sound the forest made was loud, confusing, and overwhelming. She huddled over, clasping her knees to her chest, rocking and trying to keep control.

  Her wolf was trying its best to break free. Her thoughts were consumed with finding Kyra, who was out there alone without her.

  Find your mate, find your mate, her wolf demanded.

  But Ripp fought against that urge with every fiber of her being. She was frightened she would hurt her, because just like her father, she didn’t have control. She groaned with pain, and wondered if it would ever end. She was so frightened.

  Ripp became aware of a scent…no, more than one wolf’s scent. She jumped onto all fours and adopted a defensive position. Two large wolves walked into the clearing and sniffed the air. Dante and Caden.

  Kyra must have been frightened of her and called them.

  Caden whined, trying to communicate with her, but the whine was a sharp high-pitched noise that was almost painful. She covered her ears and closed her eyes until it stopped.

  How could she live with this pain. It was too much. Ripp felt trapped in her body.

  “Ripp?” The whine changed to Caden’s human voice. “Don’t be scared. We’re here to help you.”

  Ripp looked over the tree stump, and where there had been a wolf, Caden sat, shifted to skin, down on one knee, and in a nonthreatening stance. Dante was behind her, still in wolf form.

  “I promise you can trust me. We will help you, but you have to trust in me, trust in the pack.”

  Ripp wanted to trust, but the only one she had ever trusted was Kyra.

  Find Kyra, Kyra is all you need. Kyra could fix her. No, you’ll hurt her, her mind repeated over and over.

  Caden shuffled forward another few paces. “Ripp, I know you’ve always had to rely on yourself. If the pack had known you were out there, we would have come. Please, believe me.”

  Ripp’s thoughts were transported back to the time, not that long ago, when she was in Caden’s position, asking for Apollo’s trust at Willow Creek. Apollo was scared and confused, and she had asked him to take a leap of faith and trust her, because she was pack.

  Now she was in need of help, and Caden asked for her trust. She looked to the side. There lay her escape route and a pathway to find Kyra.

  The pain in her joints was increasing by the minute, and she feared she would lose control anytime now. Ripp looked back to Caden and saw a safer path. Caden wouldn’t allow her to hurt Kyra.

  Ripp crawled a few feet from behind the rock, and before she knew it, Caden held her in her arms. She struggled at first, but then the pain overcame her, and Caden rocked her.

  “I’m here,” Caden said.

  Then Dante was beside her, shifted to skin. Dante placed her hand on her cheek and said with reassuring authority, “Calm your wolf, Ripp. We will help you.”

  The natural dominance and control of the Alpha, and Caden as pack Second, naturally calmed her wolf, as she relinquished control to them.

  “I don’t know what’s happening to me,” Ripp said. “I hurt Kyra. I’m just like Ansel—”

  Then the most incredible pain hit her. She screamed as the bones in her head pulled and shifted from the inside.

  She howled in pain, until her body couldn’t cope and lost consciousness.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Kyra paced up and down the hospital waiting room growing more frustrated and angry by the second. She had to get in to see Ripp.

  “What is taking so long?”

  Eden, Lena, and Ava were waiting with her. Eden stood and took her hands. “Listen, whatever time it takes, we’ll wait till she is better. The doctors and Dante and Caden are with her.” The Mater’s touch calmed just as much as the Alpha’s. Eden’s warm maternal care of her pack was so important to them all. “All this time the pack was missing one of our own. Now we’ve found her, and we will never give up on her. I promise you that.”

  Lena joined Eden. “Caden will take every care with her and help her.”

  Kyra looked to her sister Ava, who had remained very quiet since she’d arrived at the hospital and seen the mate bite on her shoulder.

  “Ava?” Kyra said hopefully.

  Ava sighed and said nothing.

  Kyra’s tears started to fall, and Eden looked to her friend. “Ava, Ripp is one of us.”

  Ava stood and said, “She gave you a mate bite. That’s not right. She’s out of control, just like her father.”

  “Ava,” Eden replied, “how many wolves lose a bit of control and give each other the bite before their mating ceremony?”

  “I love her, Ava,” Kyra confessed. “She needs me, needs us.”

  “I’m sorry, Kyra. I can’t condone this relationship. I don’t want you to see her. I just can’t—” Ava was overcome with tears and walked out.

  “She’ll come around,” Lena said.

  “Yes,” Eden said. “Just concentrate on Ripp for now.”

  The waiting room door opened and Dante, Caden, and Dr. Jaycen walked in. Dante immediately went to Eden’s side, and Caden to Lena’s.

  “Doctor? How is she?” Kyra asked.

  “She’s resting now. I’ve given her a sedative to let her sleep. I think Ripp is a lot closer to being a full werewolf than we first thought. It seems to have been lying dormant inside her, and when she came here, her homeland, her wolf genes came alive.”

  “But,” Kyra asked, “can she shift?”

  “No. That’s the problem. Her body is trying to shift, every wolf sense she has is alive and loud, but physiologically she can’t shift. She’ll continue to have these problems if she stays here.”

  Dr. Jaycen looked down. Kyra looked to Dante, and Caden. “Tell me, please?”

  Dante stepped forward and held Kyra in her arms. “If she stays, she must go through the change, or she will continue to react and have episodes of extreme pain like this.”

  “But a human changing to a were is so dangerous,” Kyra said.

  “It’s a big choice for anyone,” Caden said.

  Dr. Jaycen said, “But she’s young and strong and already has wolf DNA, so she has a good chance.”

  “Wait a minute. As long as she’s here?” Kyra wiped away fresh tears. “You mean if she leaves here, she won’t have these problems and won’t have to change?”

  Dr. Jaycen nodded. Kyra felt her chest tighten like it was going to burst.

  “Can I see her?” she managed to croak.

  “Yes. Follow me, Kyra,” Dr. Jaycen said.

  Lena took her hand as she went to leave. “Sweetie, we’re here for you. You’re not alone, both of you.”

  When Kyra walked into the hospital room she stopped short and stopped breathing when she saw Ripp. Even though she was sedated, her body still twitched and jerked around. Even in sle
ep, Ripp’s wolf was bursting to get out.

  The throbbing mate bite on her shoulder reminded her that to be with Ripp, she would be part of Ripp’s decision.

  How could Ripp live like this? How could Kyra live if Ripp didn’t survive the change? Ripp would have to leave Wolfgang County, but could Kyra leave her pack to stay with her, and would Ripp want her to?

  After the first few days, Kyra left Ripp’s bedside, because she didn’t want her presence to cause her any more pain. It was so hard staying away. The mate bite she carried screamed for her to find Ripp and consummate the bite.

  Lena and Caden had said it was best to give Ripp time to think and work out what her best choices were. Each evening Kyra sat by her bedroom window hoping that her mate might come to her, but she didn’t go out running anymore. The sadness her wolf felt made her want to hide away in her den forever. What frightened Kyra more than anything was Ripp leaving without saying good-bye. How could she go on without her mate?

  There was a knock at her bedroom door and Ava walked in. “How are you, honey?”

  “What do you care?” Kyra snapped. Their close relationship had been strained since their argument at the hospital.

  “Of course I care. You know that.” Ava sat across from her on the wide windowsill.

  “I’m just scared you’ll get hurt. She bit you without asking, Ky,” Ava said.

  Kyra’d had enough. “You don’t know anything about what we shared, and I’m not having you make me feel like Ripp forced me into something against my will. She didn’t. You didn’t see the scratches and marks all over her, but you don’t want to hear about that, Ava.”

  “Tell me what happened,” Ava said.

  “I challenged her to trust her wolf. She thought there was something broken inside her, all her life. That there was something bad about her feelings and what she wanted. I was trying to show her what was normal for wolves. That there was nothing wrong with her.”

  “And she met your challenge?” Ava asked.

  Kyra nodded and let her head fall back against the wall behind her. “Once she bit me, she fell, overcome with the pain of trying to shift and horrified because she thought she had done something terrible. Ripp’s never had anyone, no dominant mentor to teach her what is normal for a wolf. She’s so confused about her feelings, but if she hadn’t had problems trying to shift, I’d have bitten her back, mating ceremony or not. I love her, Ava.”