by KH LeMoyne
The children with their bellies now filled with fresh, warm meals and more ice cream than any child should be able to eat scampered upstairs to their assigned rooms holding toys and stuffed animals thanks to Shanae and Trevor’s thoughtfulness. Nathan remained the only one not pleased with his assignment of a bodyguard. He’d finagled the small pullout couch in the office of the house from his alpha. Breslin could tell Rayven didn’t want the boy alone, but the youth had earned some privileges, and she’d accepted his compromise.
More important, the grizzlies would keep a close eye on him. Even the most determined challengers wouldn’t get through the grizzly brood to get the boy. They wouldn’t get through him either.
That left Hazel. They couldn’t take her with them tomorrow, couldn’t risk having her anywhere in the vicinity. They’d claimed her as their own child at the tribunal for every alpha to see and for any enemy to catalog her as a prime target.
Breslin sensed her checking constantly between him and Rayven, as if she expected them to disappear. She knew they would. He’d already explained to her that he had another mission. Rayven had explained she needed her little girl to teach Aubrey how to have fun and they would be back together soon. Still, bolstered by too many chocolate chip cookies and promises of bedtime stories, she looked wide-awake, sleep a long time off.
Yeah, they were going to owe Aubrey big time.
Officially, Aubrey and Nathan would watch over her until the challenges concluded and it was safe for her in the sanctuary. Unofficially, the grizzlies joined that duty after the other children left with their parents. But just like Rayven, he had a few tricks he’d learned from Deacon.
“How long do you think she’ll stay awake?” Rayven asked, stroking the clean and shiny golden curls on Hazel’s head.
“Two minutes tops.”
“No way.”
Breslin smiled and leaned in toward Hazel. She grabbed his face and rubbed noses with him. Sharp laughter broke out behind him, but he ignored it. He’d worked hard to get this little bunny to trust him, and a nose rub wasn’t a bad reward. “Be good and sleep tight.”
He brushed his fingertips over her chubby cheeks, sending a long, low purr across the clan constellation to Hazel. In the past, he’d wondered how Deacon had managed to subdue youngsters: scared ones, angry ones, tired ones. Learning about the existence of the alpha access to the constellation was a godsend. “We’ll see you soon, little one.”
Within a few moments, Hazel sighed and her eyelids fluttered shut.
Breslin grinned as Rayven tilted her head in surprise and Aubrey’s jaw dropped. He backed away as Rayven transferred the sleeping child to her enforcer, and then he drew her with him to the back door.
“We can’t leave.”
With a finger to her lips, he stopped any questions and gestured toward the backyard. She bit her lower lip and looked longingly toward freedom, then slid him a heated glance.
He eased them quietly out in to the yard, determined not to let anyone stop them. The private guest cottage behind the house was the perfect spot to worship Rayven’s sweet, hot body and brand her with a mate mark neither of them would ever forget. He intended to leave no doubt in her mind how much he wanted her. Forever.
“We’ll only be fifty feet away. We have guards and alarms in the main house, and can get back in seconds if the need arises.” Not giving her a moment to reconsider, he swept her into his arms and strode over the grass, up the stairs, and across the small porch.
“I could have walked,” she said with a laugh.
“This way, I get to hold my mate sooner.”
He whirled her into the small main room, locking the door behind them with a soft click. As she glanced around at the wide bed and table set with candles and platters of food, her eyes widened, the violet darkening into indigo. “This is lovely.”
“I’m claiming my mate the way she deserves. With hours until dawn, we have the place to ourselves.”
Her lips twitched. “Well. I’m not fighting.”
“Then my plan is working.” He let her legs slide down his body, and they met in a melding of lips and tongues, slow and decadent. He teased with his tongue until she opened beneath him and captured her sigh. He deepened the kiss, tasting the sweet clover honey of her. Fresh, spontaneous, and passionate, she was his home. The last place on earth he’d ever thought to go willingly and the only place he never wanted to leave.
He’d make this the first of their many nights together—one she’d remember forever. Before she put her life on the line and defeated her enemies. Oh, he’d be right there with her, but he didn’t delude himself. While Rayven’s alpha abilities were a recent development, she was a woman in charge of her life. Self-trained and full of grit. Freed of her past and already envisioning her future. The way to keep a woman like that by his side was to have her back and stay out of her way.
But behind closed doors, he could give her his rapt attention, all of him.
“They’ll know we’re in here,” she murmured against his lips, her hands pushing his clothes off with a speed that sent his blood racing. He slid his palms under her shirt and stroked over her satiny skin.
“You’ll just have to be very quiet, sweetheart.” He tossed her shirt and nuzzled beneath her ear. As she arched her neck, giving him more access, he bit there lightly, testing. Both man and cat searched for the perfect location to mark their powerful modern woman. Here? No.
Her breath hitched and her faint puzzlement registered in his thoughts, yet they vaporized as he kissed along her collarbone and traced his tongue across her shoulder. No. Not there.
He wanted somewhere discreet for their personal brand, at least for hers. He enjoyed the fact that anyone could see his mate mark when he worked shirtless. But he wanted to be the only one to see her mark. “These pants need to go.”
She stifled a laugh, kicked off her shoes, and danced backward out of his hold, unbuttoning her jeans. Not fast enough to escape him. He picked her up and softly tossed her into the center of the thick comforter blanketing the bed. Her pants and lacey thong came off in his hands and landed somewhere behind him.
Eyes sparkling, she pulled him to her. “Are you sure you don’t want to eat first?”
“Don’t mind if I do,” he said and licked between her breasts before he ran his nose around each nipple. He headed down an invisible line to the delicate scent calling to him from between her thighs, then settled between her legs and nosed against the crease between her nether lips and thigh. Soft, creamy, and tantalizing. Here?
A quick nip and lick proved delicious, but not quite the right spot. No, too remote.
“I didn’t mean—”
A long slow swipe between her folds ended her words in a gasp. He chuckled against her flesh and licked his fill until she writhed beneath him. She was close, and he looked up at her as he captured her nub between his lips and sucked. Her back arched, her keening echoing in the room, but he continued to gentle her until her climax passed and she went limp.
A small laugh escaped as she shook her head. “With shifter hearing, they are all going to know.”
He shrugged. “Stabilizing and rebuilding your territory will take months. Months in close quarters with your—our people—and I plan on being very persistent about ensuring you have the attention from your mate that you deserve.” He crawled back up her body and ran his tongue around one dusky-rose nipple. “I don’t care whether they know I’m taking care of you or not. Do you?”
Licking her juices from his mouth, he pressed her knees higher and rose over her. Warm heat embraced him, with only a layer of denim between his hardening erection and her sweet core. Yet he could only stare at her. With her face beautifully flushed and full lips pleasantly kissed, she was a meal he never wanted to finish.
It was all he could do not to unzip his jeans and plunge into her. Instead, he took his time. His fingers traced along her skin and over her breasts as he took in every inch of her. “You’re gorgeous.”
> Just to make certain she was ready for more, he licked around her nipples and blew a warm breath over them. Her flesh tightened into rosy buds.
“Please,” she gasped.
“Please what, my alpha?” He captured her mouth before she could answer and filled his hands with her creamy globes. He squeezed, brushing his thumbs across her nipples with the same steady pace that his tongue dueled with hers.
“Missed you.” Her fingers tugged at his belt, pulling him closer as her legs wrapped around his waist. “Don’t want to wait. Claim me again.”
She lifted her wrist toward him.
“No, never there again. Patience.” His fingers moved down over her belly and into the wet heat of her. At her tiny rumble of pleasure, he circled the nub with his thumb and delved two fingers inside her moist heat.
“Need more of you.” She mustered in spite of a groan as he found a spot that made her tremble.
He curled his fingers and played her flesh. “Pretty bear. You’ll have all of me if you come again.”
She tempted him, and he captured her mouth again, in time for her cry as she crested over another peak. He loved the cavern of her mouth. Sliding his tongue against hers, he soothed her through the end of her orgasm. Before she could come down completely, he unzipped his jeans and sheathed himself in her liquid heat.
She’d managed to move enough to lick his chest. “Do it, Rayven. Claim me again.”
The pricks of her teeth didn’t register, but the sizzling streak of pleasure in his blood made it damn hard for him to hold off. He never wanted this to end. He needed the reaffirmation that they were together, bonded and mated.
Determined to drive her to new heights, he forced a slow, lazy pace in direct opposition to the wild beating of his heart.
Rayven clung to him, matching his movements with her fingernails digging into his shoulder urging him faster.
Not happening. He wanted to claim her the right way. Needed to feel his canines sink into her as her pussy milked him dry. It might be the tiny death to some, but with her in his arms, he’d gladly embrace the final reward.
Beneath her lashes, gold dominated her irises, violet only a narrow ring at the edges. She was close. Too close.
“Hold on.” He bent and nuzzled for a sweet taste of her breast. “Yes, here. Perfect.” First with one lick, and then another, he teased. He sucked at her nipple until her muscles convulsed around his cock.
His hips bucked as he pushed into her, abandoning all gentleness, single-minded in his pursuit of her climax. He nuzzled the swell of her breast.
“Now, love. Again.” His balls drew up tight as fire raced down his spine and his canines extended as her hot sheath clenched tight around him. He sank his fangs deep and placed his claim.
“Oh, my…”
He felt her emotions flood across their bond, pulsing with need, hope, and the most addictive—love. She was all he’d ever wanted and more than anything, he wanted her to know, for her to feel him here, deep inside her always.
In bed and out. In good times and bad. No matter how old they became, she was the light that led him from the weight of eternal darkness to freedom and life. “Mine.”
Licking over the mark, he rolled to the side and pulled her against him. Tight and warm for a few hours in this cozy bed, they’d have the illusion of normalcy.
“What made you put the mark there?” she whispered.
As her thoughts came to him in languid, relaxed waves, he brushed the claimed skin, aware it still sent tingles of pleasure through her body. “I’ll be able to see this every time I make love to you. And one day, I’ll see it when you hold our baby to your breast.”
“Don’t you think that’s rushing things?” Yet, her bear rumbled aloud as Breslin tucked her against his warm body.
The more he considered it, the more he liked that idea. Across their bond, he knew she did too. “Someday, when you choose, Rayven.”
She didn’t look at him, but he felt her smile against his chest, before she looked up at him and replied. “Definitely, someday.”
28
Karndottir Stronghold
Kootenay National Park, Canada
Up a couple of hours before dawn, they’d driven until the wasteland bordering Gauthier’s sanctuary came into view. Tumbleweeds and brambles that seemed more like Arizona than British Columbia dominated the scenery. Knowing they still had another thirty minutes of this wasteland, all belonging to the clan, twisted Breslin’s gut. Karndottir owned this property, but it shouldn’t be so barren. Then again, the sanctuary had also been bleak. He could only imagine Rayven’s thoughts. On the tail of his reflection came sadness, followed by anger across their bond.
That’s my girl. Sadness would gain them nothing but anger in the next few hours, but they could both put anger to good use.
“The other alphas want us to be the distraction,” she said. “Let’s work on a plan for reclaiming the territory that will distract everyone from the secret hunt to find a cure.”
He glanced over, uncertain whether her rigid jaw and stiff posture meant she agreed with that direction or not. He didn’t search over the bond. A large part of him wanted familiarity with his mate through an old-fashioned route: discussions, debates, compromise, and in rare cases arguments followed by hot make-up sex. “You don’t have to do what they ask.”
“We all share a goal. The kidnappings, the drugs, the deceit—they undermine those of us who give a damn. And at least for Deacon, Ping, Alarico, and their mates, I feel trust is warranted.”
“Not Sheridan.”
“I can’t fault Whit for doing his job at the tribunal, and I trust Deacon’s instincts with who he chooses as friends. But for now, he’s on my wait-and-see list for how much help we’re willing to give each other.”
“Do you have a preference for where to start with plans?”
“I think we should start with rebuilding our economy.”
Ouch. “Good point.”
Her hand slid over his. “My…father hurt a lot of people. Your approach was less violent than most would have chosen. But you and I are going to help them all rebuild, and I liked your idea of using the visiting heirs for that effort.”
He squeezed her hand gently and voiced several ideas he had for new businesses and how to refurbish old ones. Too soon, the gate to the sanctuary grounds came into view. He stopped the SUV close to the fence and waited with the engine running as Rayven got out of the vehicle, bolt cutters in hand.
They’d agreed earlier to an approach, a strategy. She’d hide her alpha powers until the end. Only the people at the tribunal had witnessed her abilities, and less than a handful had been from Jacob’s team. Grizz and Hansen had rounded those up, detaining them. The rest of the people in the audience were hoping for asylum if everything went to shit after the tribunal. They received detention in a more hospitable way. For two days, they received free room and board at the local inns in Black Haven.
It hardly mattered whether the challengers they faced today had heard details about the tribunal. If Breslin was correct in his suspicions, what powers Rayven exhibited during her challenge was a small percentage of the magic she could wield. Even Deacon had seemed surprised with her quick grasp of the basics, and he wasn’t easily impressed.
As a man used to working project details on his own, Breslin didn’t relish the unease that settled over him with safeguarding Rayven on her home turf from unknown attacks. Her enforcer team was of the same mind. The stubborn group lagged only a few miles behind the SUV, pretending to camouflage themselves so they could be ready at a moment’s notice for their alpha.
He commended such loyalty. However, more bodies increased the risk during this showdown. Sam’s honorless fight days before, meant all the challengers here would play dirty.
More important, if Rayven received help in defeating her opposers, she risked losing her alpha standing with the alpha board. He’d warned the team not to get involved. Now all he could do was hope they understood t
he severity of his order.
Predictably, shots rang out as Rayven approached the gate, spraying the ground around her as she clipped the chains holding it shut.
Breslin opened the driver’s door, ready to lunge and cover her. However, she’d wedged herself against the gate, free from harm. He noticed her claws extending for a second and scoring the wood, then her claws retracted.
One answering shot claimed a muffled grunt, and a human toppled from a sniper’s nest just visible over the fence. Breslin bit back a smile. He’d have to find out who in the clan possessed those fine shooting skills. It certainly wasn’t anyone on Rayven’s alpha teams. They were all fast, tough, and deadly, but all of them refused to use guns. He mentally filed an action item to seek out the ally as a resource. It never hurt to have a diversified team.
Rayven kicked at the gate, flinging the gates wide before she spun away and crouched with her back plastered against the outside of the fencing. More shots hit the dirt, but now shotgun spray peppered the dirt in erratic bursts instead of single deadly rounds.
Yeah, he could see Jacob’s old team resorting to shotguns.
He drove the vehicle to the opening until she could slide into the passenger seat. A feral hyena charged through and lunged at him. Breslin snatched the shifter by his windpipe and crushed him without a second glance.
As soon as the SUV made it through the gates, they slammed closed again. Men moved out from behind trees, first one, then two, then six. All were shifters, and the majority of them older. With a few young ones sprinkled into the mix. Three more waited a quarter of a mile down on the porch of the rickety ranch house. All of them shared a sickly algae-green hue in their eyes.
His instincts warned him that several more hid in the waist-high weeds.
Rayven gripped his hand again on the seat as he narrowed his search for trouble. Huge areas recently mowed and covered with straw stuck out like a sore thumb. “That house looks like a piece of shit, and they’ve landscaped with straw.”
