by Kamryn Hart
The bull roared, suddenly standing, and charged for me again. At the last second, I veered to the left. I kicked back on the ground and smashed into his side, offsetting his balance. I wasted no time ramming into him again, charging myself with even more moonlight to make sure it hurt, and knocked him over. I latched my jaws onto a flailing foreleg, at the joint just above his hoof, dug in my claws, and yanked. Thanks to my moonlight, I dislocated his foreleg at the shoulder joint. He wouldn’t be charging me again. He squealed like a pig as he writhed.
I should have jumped back, but I was determined to rip his foreleg clean off. My jaws were locked, and that was my second mistake. I thought I was safe since his back legs couldn’t reach me and his other foreleg was bound by the weight of his body, but the bull was ruthless. Somehow, by using his horn and his trapped limbs, he flipped over, right on top of me.
I yelped as the weight of his body crushed me into the ground, squeezing the air out of my lungs and threatening to break every bone in my body if I didn’t reinforce my bones with my moonlight on full blast. I lit up like a blue bonfire. It was all I could do to keep from being crushed. Blood was oozing out of cuts I could barely feel because of the immense weight on top of me. If I couldn’t think of a way out of this, all the bull would have to do was wait for my moonlight to run out, and I’d be a werewolf pancake. Why couldn’t I find the strength to throw him off?
Because I fucked up. I underestimated this beast’s resolve to keep his herd safe, and now I was going to be smothered to death. Pathetic.
Did I think I was that good, or did I go into this planning to lose? Maybe I could get him off of me. Maybe I didn’t want to.
The gray clouds cleared without pouring rain or summoning lightning, revealing the moon and stars. I wondered if this would be the last time I saw the night sky. Then, out of nowhere, black streaked into the night. The bull jerked when it blasted into him. The shock reverberated through him and into my own body. Then the pressure was gone. He wasn’t crushing me anymore. I got on my paws and ran forward before looking back at the bull to see him once again planted on his back. A black wolf stood on his chest, teeth bared, trails of blue fire coming off her fur and out of her mouth. Her vibrant eyes found me, shades of blue cascading through them.
Sorissa.
She jumped off the bull when the shock wore off, and he was once again thrashing wildly. One foreleg was limp and useless, swinging around like a boneless chunk of flesh. The cows were mewling down the rocky mountain behind us, distressed. They’d likely turn into a stampede any second now.
Three other wolves I knew very well rushed in to help, biting at the bull, corralling him, keeping him on his back. They all came for me. But I didn’t want them here. I was putting them in danger.
But they came for me.
I growled out my frustration. The cows’ mewling was getting louder. I either killed this bull now or we turned tail with nothing to show for this. I had maimed him already. Not finishing him off would be an insult. It would be cruel. I had already been cruel enough, selfish enough.
It was time to finish this.
I exchanged looks with Sorissa, hoping she’d understand what I was about to do. She seemed to because she mirrored my hunched down position and bolted forward the same time I did. She went straight for the bull’s chest as Aerre, Rodrick, and Todd kept him busy. I tore into him with moonlight-reinforced teeth at the same time she snapped his damn horn right off the base of his skull like it was nothing, like it wasn’t as hard as fucking diamonds. My teeth hurt just thinking about it as I tore through the bull’s heart, rendering him motionless once and for all.
The cows mewled and squealed in alarm followed by the thundering of hooves.
I howled to get my pack’s attention and pointed my nose toward the roader I parked up the mountain. I didn’t want to leave it to get crushed, and I didn’t want to waste more moonlight by running all the way back to Howling Sky. It seemed like the best option. I dashed forward, intending to take the lead, but Sorissa was much faster than I was—even with the hardskull horn clamped in between her teeth. The thundering of hooves grew louder, but there was no time to look back. We’d either make it, or we wouldn’t. Every second counted.
When we were close to the vehicle, each of us shifted mid-run. Todd nearly toppled over since he wasn’t used to this, but he caught himself, thank the Gods. Sorissa dropped that big-ass horn half inside the cargo bed since it was too big to fit snuggly, and we all piled in through the doors, adrenaline on high. Todd hopped into the front and twisted the key in the ignition. The roader roared to life and the tires squealed against the earth and kicked up dirt. Then we were off at top speed, making our way back to traveled roads instead of plowing through grass and rocks. Thanks to the mountainous terrain, the cows got split every which way. And Todd was a good driver. Within minutes, it was safe to say we were in the clear.
Aside from Todd, the rest of us had ended up in a haphazard position. Aerre, Rodrick, Sorissa, and I were in the back of the roader with no one in the front beside Todd. We were a tangle of limbs and skin and sweat and dirt and blood. I didn’t know who I was touching where.
“What are you doing in the back?!” Aerre demanded as he shoved me, trying to get into his seat, which I had apparently stolen. He ended up going for the middle. “You never sit in the back. We were expecting you to go for the front.”
“Crawl in front, Sorissa,” Rodrick demanded as he shoved Aerre. “You’re on top, and you’re the smallest. It’ll be easiest for you.”
Instead of doing that, Sorissa crawled over each of our laps when we had managed to sit somewhere. She stopped when she had reached me. Then she sat down, straddling me, knees to either side of my hips, one pressing against the door of the roader, the other pressing against Aerre’s thigh. She inched forward until the heat between her legs came into contact with my suddenly eager cock. Gods, she was soft, wet, and hot. I thought I was going to die.
And then she started lecturing me. “Caspian, what in the hell were you thinking?” she growled, fingers curled on my shoulders.
I could hardly focus on her words because of the way she was touching me. There was nothing but bare skin. It was the best feeling, but I was also acutely aware of everyone else around us, and I didn’t know what to think. I couldn’t think.
“We are going back to Babaga. We’re going to do what she says so you can defeat Philip without question. No more of this running away and doing stuff on your own. You heard her. We have to do this together.” Sorissa’s eyes softened, and her lips quivered. “You can’t run off like that. How am I supposed to keep you safe if you do that?”
She took my face in her hands, cupping my cheeks, making sure I was looking right at her. “I love you, Caspian. Each one of you. Don’t leave me.”
She bit her lip and her eyes shimmered with tears. She must have been fighting to hold them back. She brushed my face with her fingers before reaching over to Aerre and Rodrick. They each took one of her hands as she twisted in my lap. I was sure she hadn’t intended to, but the action hit me just right. Gods, I could almost be inside of her. I was buried in the wet folds of her sex. I couldn’t stop the involuntary shudder that racked my body.
“You can count on me,” she said. “Trust me. I won’t let you down. I promise.”
“We do count on and trust you, Sorissa,” Aerre said quietly. “I think I speak for all of us when I say I’m not really sure what we would do without you anymore. It’s amazing we functioned at all before you ended up with us. We were always on the verge of self-destructing.”
“Good words, Aerre,” Rodrick agreed.
Sorissa righted herself on my lap, easing back only slightly to relieve the tension she must have felt too; her eyes were dilated. I suppressed another shudder and said what needed to be said. “I’m sorry for making you worry. I don’t know what I was thinking.”
That wasn’t true. I did.
Sorissa moved forward again and kissed me gently o
n the lips. “Stay with us, Caspian. All of us. It’ll work out. You’ll see.”
I kissed her back. My hands involuntarily went to her hips. I needed to be inside of her, to move against her. My gums were burning. I could taste the crackling energy of moonlight on my tongue. My body was begging me to bite her, to seal her.
“You’re not playing fair,” I said, my voice strained. “You can’t make demands while kissing me and sitting naked on top of me. I’ll say and do anything you want like this.”
“Then say it. Say you’ll stay with us.”
“I’ll stay with you.” I buried my face into her shoulder and confessed, “I want to stay with you all more than you could possibly know.”
“And so you left?” Aerre chided. “Don’t do that again, Caspian. Next time you run off like that without saying anything, I am going to punch you in the fucking balls. You’re covered in blood again.”
I rested my head back against the seat and caught Aerre glaring at me from my peripheral. His eyes were blazing blue. I swore I could almost sense something, emotion coming from him and into me. Anger. Concern. Maybe I was remembering the pain screaming out from him when Gala slit my throat and almost killed me. Pain. I definitely felt it from him then because of Sorissa connecting us all. But he hadn’t been hurt. Was he really that worried about me?
He grabbed my arm, inspecting a place I had been previously cut on a rock or something when the bull had body slammed me. I wasn’t bleeding anymore. I had healed with moonlight, but he seemed to be intent on making sure of that. I didn’t know what that touch meant. I didn’t know why it made me irritated and relieved at the same time. Aerre didn’t typically go out of his way to touch me. Thankfully, his hand was only there for a couple seconds, and I could go back to only worrying about Sorissa on top of me with my aching dick pushing against her, begging me to move.
Rodrick bent over Aerre and smacked my shoulder. “You’re a better fighter than that, but you’re always distracted. You could’ve taken that thing down on your own, but you didn’t. You have the breeding. Stop hiding in your head already. And maybe stop attacking creatures you have no intention of finishing off.”
“What are you talking about? I think you might be overestimating my breeding, and I had every intention of finishing that bull off. I did it, didn’t I?”
He shook his head. “Go on, keep lying to yourself. You hate killing. You’d avoid it if you could.”
“It’s like Babaga said,” Todd interjected after being so quiet. “We want to win? We have to work together. What happens after Caspian becomes King of Wolf Bridge? More trouble. If we’re going to have any chance of surviving this change, we’ll have to stick together. Because it’s going to be big, no matter how you look at it.
“This thing between us isn’t really about thinking. It isn’t about all the things I can pick apart with science. It’s about feeling. It’s about emotion. Not that I know much about that, but apparently I know more than you do.” He smiled as he looked into the rearview mirror. “I can feel you all right now.”
Now that he mentioned it, so could I. I could feel this invisible force tying us together, a thread that attached to all of us. It was warm. A collective relief. Contentment in knowing we were safe together. And it wasn’t just me. It wasn’t my own wishful thinking. They felt it.
They were glad I was safe.
“Didn’t you feel that the first time we connected, Caspian?” Sorissa’s voice floated in my head like it had on that unforgettable full-moon night.
Maybe I did, but I wasn’t ready to believe it. I wasn’t ready to fully recognize it.
For the first time since my mother’s death, I was wanted. Maybe I was loved after all.
I pressed my nose into Sorissa’s neck, taking in her warmth along with this “spiritual” connection to everyone in the roader. Maybe it was possible they needed me as much as I needed them.
CHAPTER 24
SORISSA
I GRASPED THE BLANKET covering me. It was coarse but warm, one of the blankets we had brought with us to Howling Sky. I searched underneath it for the warm bodies I fell asleep between. I was at least hoping to grasp a shirt or pants or something attached to a warm body. We had all thrown on some clothes after we returned and before collapsing onto the floor in exhaustion; I wouldn’t have bothered getting dressed at all, but it was a bit cold. Now there was no one here but me wearing an oversized shirt.
Letting out a tired groan, I opened my eyes. I was lying down on a lump of blankets, pillows, random bags, and supplies. The king’s purple bed remained untouched in the center of the room. My… father’s bed. It was a thought I immediately dismissed as my mind returned to Phantom Fangs. My werewolves were nowhere to be seen.
Dying light seeped into and through the curtains drawn over the glass doors leading out to the balcony. It was evening already. I slept most of the day away. Why hadn’t anyone woken me up?
“Todd?” I thought, trying to reach out to our connection. I could sense him, but it was a bit strained. Distance probably had something to do with that.
“Busy,” his voice brushed across my consciousness, distant, distracted.
“Where are you?”
“Courtyard. Behind the castle. The Moon Mirror. Can’t miss it.”
After getting dressed in a tunic, breeches, and boots for optimal mobility, I went out to the balcony. I caught sight of Phantom Fangs sparring on a huge circular slab of fractured lunalite—what had to be the Moon Mirror—in the center of the courtyard, past the overgrown gardens. Babaga was on the sidelines, shouting. I rushed down the stairs to catch up to them. A few of the steps were missing, but I had no problem hopping over them.
“Can you feel each other?!” Babaga barked.
I watched in wonder as Phantom Fangs dodged and slashed like leaves dancing in a spiraling wind. One would get close to landing a hit, but then the other would drift away like they had been caught in an updraft. And I understood why. As I watched them, I knew where each of them would move. It was mapped out inside of me as if I were making the decisions myself.
“Look who decided to wake up,” Babaga commented. Her hazel eyes were dark like a storm.
I spotted the hardskull bull’s horn lying against a half-standing lunalite bench outside of the Moon Mirror. It was probably six feet in length. It was solid bone, bone that was much like and harder than most metals, and very heavy. I doubted I could pick it up without moonlight. “I see you took my prize out of the roader,” I said.
“You’re lucky it stayed in the roader. It wasn’t tied down and your drive up the mountain was rather reckless. But yes, it intrigued me. What are you going to do with it?”
I shrugged. “The bull needed to be put down after the damage Caspian did. He wouldn’t have healed quickly enough on his own to take care of his herd, so Caspian killed him, and I took his horn, so the herd would be free to find a new bull. Now I’m the pack hero.”
Babaga laughed. “Then you’ll forge the horn into a sword like the old tales? You could manage it under my instruction. There’s a forge here that will work nicely once it has been fixed up. Your werewolves can help you. It’ll be a good addition to your training.”
I clapped my hands together. “Yes, please!”
The brawling stopped, and Phantom Fangs joined us outside of the Moon Mirror. I could feel their eyes on me and the warmth radiating from them. It wasn’t only Todd. He was the clearest, but we came to some sort of understanding last night. This was proof. I met each of their gazes in return, invisible sparks of energy heating the air. I liked it when I had their full attention.
“Want to craft a gigantic sword that can only be wielded with moonlight?” I asked. I knew the answer without any of them having to say a word. I knew the answer without taking in the changes of facial expressions. They replied with a resounding, “Yes.”
“Can you feel them all?” Babaga asked. I had a hunch she already knew the answer.
“I can,” I replied.
“Then join the fray, Sorissa. I’ll have you all run errands for forging your sword soon after, including retrieving that poor beast’s carcass.”
I jumped into the large lunalite circle. Plants were growing through the cracks, little pink and blue flowers. It had probably been whole once, but now it was fractured many times over. Certain areas were nothing more than dust resembling snow. I gave Phantom Fangs the opportunity to join me, and then I struck quickly and suddenly, aiming for Rodrick since I had a score to settle with him.
My hit didn’t land. I tried again, but it was just as unsuccessful. He smirked at me. “Nice try.”
I decided to go for Aerre, but as soon as I made the decision, he knew he was my new target and dodged effortlessly. “Impulsive,” he teased.
I was grinning like a fool. This was exhilarating, a new challenge. Maybe the only way to land a hit would be to team up and target only one. That would make dodging near impossible, right?
“That’s cheating,” Todd said. “And I’ll lose.” I laughed and got a smile out of him.
I caught Caspian smiling at me, too. It was nice to see him smile after last night. He had been upset. While I wasn’t exactly sure why he had been upset, I was glad he was content at the moment. There was a lot I didn’t know about my werewolves, but I wanted to learn. I wanted to know everything about them.
None of us teamed up in the end, but we went at each other for a solid twenty minutes without anyone succeeding at landing a hit.
I hadn’t felt this refreshed in days. I had been constantly plagued by this need to join my other werewolves. My body needed to be sealed. Todd wasn’t enough. Though he had made it bearable, the ache was everywhere. This was the worst game I had to play with patience yet, and my werewolves seemed oblivious to it—outside of Todd. Maybe because they didn’t want to see it.
“All right,” Babaga announced, clapping her hands. “That’s enough. I’ve seen all I need to see. You’ve passed the first stage. The hard part is going to be keeping up this level of resonance. You may be feeling perfect and happy right now, but emotions change like the wind. You’ll have to learn to weather the storm. Now, let’s eat breakfast so you have plenty of energy for what’s coming.” The corners of her lips quirked up into a crooked smile. “I’m going to run you ragged.”
