by A. C. Mason
She turned from him, not sure how she’d live with herself for enjoying his touch. “I consent.” Tears mixed with blood, tingeing her vision with a rosy color. If only this were seeing the world through rose-colored glasses. The world had gone mad and she was on a descent into hell. A decadent, hedonistic journey of pleasure. Cathen knew his way around a woman’s body. That she couldn’t deny.
He swooped her into his arms. “I’m sorry that it must be this way for you, coquette.” His words were sincere. The warmth of his cheek pressed to the side of her face, and he released her legs.
As his hands moved over her, she trembled. She grabbed hold of his forearms. “I have one condition. You mustn’t enter my mind during.”
“I know you don’t want me, and I will understand if you need to close your eyes and imagine him touching you to get through this. You have no need to hide this from me. I will not judge you or hold this against you.”
“Cathen, please do this for me.” If only that were what she feared would happen in her mind. “It is I who is now pleading with you.”
“As you wish.” He exhaled deeply.
The heaviness of his thoughts withdrew from her psyche. Lost in the sea of her own mind, she relaxed into his muscular form. It was him knowing the pleasure she took in being touched by him she feared. He wouldn’t understand this. Nor her resistance to him when she enjoyed him.
“Begin…” She relinquished herself to his touch.
Cathen caressed her neck with his lips, his kisses moving over her skin like a gentle summer breeze. He slid his hand over her breast, coaxing her nipple to a peak. Each breath in and out grew deeper. She gasped.
He grew stiff against her bottom, groaned and held her to him tighter. Heat swirled inside her. Water rushed over her body as he ducked beneath the stream from the showerhead with her and ground his need against her. She placed her palms flat on the tile in front of her. This was madness. She shivered and forced her eyelids closed. He covered her hands with his own larger ones and slid them above her head. His breathing deepened, the gruffness of his groan echoed in the small space. The scent of him engulfed her in all that was him. Warm, tender and loving, he cocooned her with his strong muscular frame.
“I won’t enter you, coquette.” He slipped his cock between her thighs and pumped.
Doing so would seal his hold on her. Even she understood that.
The shaft of his cock teased her labia.
“I promise.” His cheek pressed to hers tenderly.
She shivered in delight.
How he’d manage to withhold once her body prepared for him, she didn’t comprehend. The silky flesh of his penis rubbed her wet folds. Slick moisture rushed between her thighs. Her heart ached at the way her body responded to his touch. He glided between her inner lips and the head pushed to her nub. Back and forth, he teased her soaked crease. The opening to her grew wetter, and she wanted to feel him inside her. She gritted her teeth for desiring such a thing. Despite not wanting to enjoy him, she took great pleasure from him.
“Cathen.” She moaned. Waves of hunger crashed through her. She rocked to the motion of his rhythm to feel the satiny touch of his penis.
As his fingers slid past her curls, he pumped faster and circled her clit.
Fire ravaged her. She cried out shamelessly, surrendering to the sensations he invoked in her. “Please…Cathen.” The madness needed to end.
“Soon, coquette.” He pressed his lips to her ear. “Soon.” With quickened thrusts, he hurried his movements. “We are almost there.”
She squeezed her thighs to help draw his release.
Her inner legs quivered, but she was supported by his strong forearm, and succumbed to the delight, gushing her climax on his stroking length and fingers. The throbbing of her pulsating clit thumped in rhythm to his cock. He wrapped his other arm around her torso and jerked against her with a growl, which moved through her. He brought his fingers from between her folds to his mouth.
His seed spilled between her thighs. “Mmm.” With a few more pumps, he slowed his movement until he stopped.
The rise and fall of his torso brought her comfort.
Water ran down, washing away the evidence of what they had shared. As fast as it had begun, it was over. Guilt settled in her for having climaxed.
“Je t’adore,” he whispered with his lips pressed to her hairline. I adore you. “Thank you, coquette.”
It pained her to know he meant the words, even if only because of the forced bond between them, and that she could not respond to his emotions with equal feeling. She feared how she felt drawn to him. She didn’t trust herself.
He stepped back from her, picked up the soap and lathered his body. She cleaned away the evidence of her excitement from between her thighs. Her clit was still swollen from his masterful ministration to her body’s need for him. As she escaped the shower, she could not meet his gaze, and wrapped a towel around her body.
When VanWolf had taken her as his mate, she could not have pictured her world turning out like this. Nothing she’d been taught in her youth could have prepared her for this. Him leaving her, them having to live on without him. He’d known she’d endured more than her share of pain. How could he have left them behind while he died. Hadn’t he loved her?
“That is the reason he had to.” Cathen entered the room with a towel around his waist, his lean upper body exposed. “His duty to you and the pack.”
She turned away from him and covered up in the clothing left folded on the bed for them. “I know.” She forced a smile. “They aren’t real questions. Just me trying to make sense of what has happened.”
“There is no sense in any of it. Not the slaughter of the pack, my brother’s refusal to act. VanWolf’s death. Only pain and sadness. And yet the world keeps turning. Morning comes and so does night, oblivious to what we are going through.” He was right.
She’d expected it all to stop. For it to end.
* * * *
Alexia sat next to Cathen at the table. A feast was laid out for them. Good thing too, because she was so hungry she could eat a horse. It was one of the things she was glad about, she’d yet to eat while in wolf-spirit form. She’d been warned that she might take to eating rabbits. Not very appetizing.
Tyra and Varor sat across from them. They had elegant features, hair like corn silk and bright blue eyes. The cozy farmhouse held warmth and love.
“Please help yourselves.” The beautiful blonde gestured to the assortment. “You must both be hungry and tired.”
Cathen placed his hand on Alexia’s. “We are grateful that you’ve welcomed us into your home.” Though he spoke the words, he would rather they were out in the barn away from anyone, where he could be sure no other male was so close to her.
She didn’t want his touch, but did not move. He needed to assert their bond in front of the other male. A territorial thing. Outside was a frozen landscape with the nearly full moon in the sky.
“The blue full moon is coming.” Tyra looked out the window. “Does it affect you?”
“Why wouldn’t it affect her?” Cathen raised his voice. “She’s Shunu.”
The truth was it was difficult for her to know how much she was affected by the moon, since the heightened energy levels of the pack spun her round and round. “She hadn’t meant anything by it.” Alexia placed her hand on Cathen’s lap and stroked to calm him.
His shoulders relaxed. “I won’t tolerate anyone questioning you as if you aren’t fully one of us.”
“I apologize if my question offended either of you.” Tyra ate a piece of meat from her plate.
“What is a blue moon, and what happens?” Alexia did not know what the difference was.
“It is a celestial phenomenon when the moon is full, appears blue and is a thirteenth full moon in a calendar year. The last one is said to have scattered the Shunu packs to the wind,” Cathen explained. That could only take place on the last night of a leap year.
“It is said tha
t under this one, a leader shall rise to reconnect the packs back to each other,” Tyra added in.
Cathen finished the bite in his mouth. “Why aren’t you among a pack?”
“The other members were slaughtered. For a number of years afterward we searched for one to join, but came upon only werewolf packs. They do not live under the ancient ways. They make up rules as they go and change them as they see fit. So we settle here and live like humans.” Varor turned his attention to his plate.
Hiding their nature couldn’t be easy. Nor living out a human life when an animal hid inside.
Cathen’s hand covered hers, which had been twirling a path on his lap. “If you continue, the effect will change from calming to arousing me.”
She pulled her hand back. “I’m sorry.” That wasn’t what she wanted. She had been rubbing his leg unconsciously, and that scared her.
“So am I.” He didn’t turn to her, rather he focused on the food.
What did his comment mean exactly? Was he sorry she couldn’t touch him without needs waking, or that she didn’t want to elicit such a reaction? The conversation had died from the tension in the room. She too concentrated on the meal in front of her. Yet she couldn’t help but note how Tyra’s gaze lingered on Cathen. Did it bother her? Of course it didn’t. Besides, he was Alpha, which meant he could frequent as many females as pleased him. VanWolf’s attention had never wandered. Nor had he seemed to desire playing with the other mated pack members. But maybe that was because he feared it would wound her, or he had no interest in others. Would Cathen want to see other females, or join the others in their sexual games? There was no reason for her to be even thinking of these things, given that he’d agreed to set her free. It didn’t matter to her.
Once the pit in her stomach was filled, she excused herself to the room they had provided them. Tyra would not let her go until she took food she’d wrapped in cheese cloth for them.
Chapter 10
Cathen turned from the bedroom door, which Alexia had just closed. She stood on the other side contemplating if she should reopen it. But he knew she wouldn’t. She couldn’t. For her that would be giving into the growing connection between them, and she refused.
Varor waited outside, smoking his pipe. The sweet stench of the tobacco evoked memories of simpler times.
Alexia turned and walked away from the door to the bedroom. Cathen huffed, marched to the front and stepped out into the night. His breath misted in the cool air. He wasn’t making progress with her, and wasn’t sure how to.
“Would you like some?” Varor gestured to the other pipe set on the window ledge next to his glass of brandy.
Cathen shook his head. Until he sealed the bond with her nothing would feel right to him.
“A drink then?”
He wasn’t sure he should risk mixing alcohol with the state he was in. What if he did something rash that hurt Alexia? It was too dangerous. He was too dangerous.
He shook his head.
“Suit yourself.” Varor exhaled thick tobacco smoke, which was carried off in the cold wind.
If only it were possible, he’d be in the room making love to his mate. When VanWolf had taken her as his, Cathen hadn’t thought there was any more hurt to be had. But her rejection pained him far worse.
“You are edgy. It’s is because you’ve yet to seal your bond.” Varor slid the pipe along his lip.
Cathen clenched his jaw. Of course other Shunus could sense her mark on him and the tension from the fact that he’d yet to claim her. He didn’t want to admit that she didn’t want him.
“She was passed to you when your Alpha died and you became leader.”
Cathen nodded. It was a rare occurrence for such a pairing to happen. Painful for them both to be thrust together under this circumstance.
“I’ve only seen it happen once.”
Though it was pack law, Cathen had never seen the Alpha’s mate pass to another.
“It is difficult for those born like us to understand, and they know our ways. I can’t imagine what it would be like for someone who is only just turned.”
The man’s thoughts echoed Cathen’s fear. In so many ways, he knew this was too much for her to accept.
The door behind him opened and closed. Tyra smiled, walking to her brother. Filling a glass, she sucked back the contents.
“Excuse me.” Varor headed around the side of the house.
The air didn’t even chill the heat burning him from the inside out.
“There are ways I can ease the tension.” The pitch of her voice was low–sultry. She sauntered closer, her hips swaying. Her arousal filled the air around him.
Cathen glanced at the house.
“She’s asleep and need never know.” Tyra’s eyes glowed bright blue with hunger.
But he’d know. She reached for him, elegant fingers extended. Yes, he was in need of easing, but only one woman could provide that for him.
“Goodnight, Tyra.” He turned, entered, walked to their room and went in.
Alexia lay huddled under a pile of blankets asleep. He made his way around the other side of the bed and climbed in behind her.
She flinched away. “No…please don’t. I can’t. Let me go, Cathen,” she muttered softly. “VanWolf, come back.”
Cathen’s heart ached for her. There was no time for mourning in the Shunu way. No space for her to cope with her grief, just him, needing and wanting to possess her. No wonder she desperately wanted to run.
* * * *
Cathen brushed the curls from Alexia’s sleeping face. She moved away from his touch. His mate wanted him physically, but that knowledge pained her. Ideals and values she’d been taught told her that her growing connection to Cathen was wrong. Immoral. She’d gone to bed fully clothed, not to entice his need for her. But the connection ran deeper than an outer attraction. His soul needed her to survive.
The sun rose on the horizon outside the window next to the bed. Guilt weighted him for the growing need and what he’d asked of her last night. And what he would continue to need of her to control him.
Scratching came from the door. It was Varor. Something wasn’t right.
Cathen rose and opened it.
The white wolf looked up at him. “Tyra sensed those after you. So she put on Alexia’s jacket and is drawing them away for your escape.” He’d dropped another coat at Cathen’s feet.
That was insanity. They would kill her if she were lucky, or take her captive and torture her. “You must stop her.”
“I can’t. She has the gift of knowing and has sealed her death. We knew what we were doing when we took you both in last night. Don’t make her death be in vain. We must go.” The urgency in his tone was raw.
Cathen had yet to decide if he trusted Varor, but at this point he didn’t have much choice. The energy of the animals in the area was disturbed, which meant something was amiss. Werewolves. Every death that occurred would only drive Alexia closer to her own. At this point he could not conceive of a way of saving her from the downward slope she traveled.
“Give me a moment and we shall go.” Cathen picked up the jacket and closed the door.
Alexia sat up, put on her boots and rose. All of them were used to escaping on a moment’s notice. Even she’d learnt that lesson.
Cathen shoved the clothing Varor had provided him in the leather bag. “I will transform into Shunu and you shall ride.”
It wasn’t a question. He didn’t have time for her to ponder the options they didn’t have. She had yet to master her Shunu abilities and was cold in wolf form. The best solution was given to her.
She nodded, grabbed the coat and bag, opened the door and headed out the back.
With each stride behind her, man became beast without pause in his step. Light and fur coated his skin as his hands and legs became paws.
“East to the ocean,” Cathen informed the other Shunu.
“That leaves a pretty big target. Can you be more specific?” Varor glanced back at him.
Not if he didn’t have to. What if this were all a ploy to gain their trust and capture Alexia?
“Venezia, Italy.” She spoke telepathically to both of them.
Did she know speaking to someone not of their pack through the souls’ link was forbidden? “Alexia,” Cathen scolded her on their private pathway.
She didn’t even turn to him. “The man cannot help us if he doesn’t know where we are headed. Besides, you could take him out no problem, but I’ve sensed nothing dark or sinister in their past. His sister is going to die to save my life.”
He hadn’t wanted her to know that. It didn’t matter if she’d overheard them talking, or her abilities had revealed the sister’s actions to her. She’d carry more guilt for what Tyra had done, pushing her farther from his arms.
“I know what this means to our race. If they catch me and create more monsters with my abilities, they will exterminate Shunus once and for all. I won’t let that happen, either, Cathen. The pack is my family too, you know.” She looped the strap of the bag over her shoulder.
Cathen pulled up next to her, and she mounted his back, holding onto his fur. She placed one leg on each side of him.
“We have two options, a difficult trek through wilderness, which is much shorter, or we can stay by the roadways. But they are patrolled,” Varor explained to him.
“The direct route it is.” The Nazis would probably anticipate this move if they figured out where they were going. As long as Varor wasn’t out to betray them, they could keep Alexia out of Gestapo hands.
Varor nodded his snout and sprinted off.
Cathen followed close behind.
A gunshot went off. A wretched cry sent the birds into the sky. One of the birds told him the enemy had taken Tyra, but rather than be tortured, she’d gone for one of the soldier’s weapons and the other had shot her.
“You should tell him that his sister did not suffer. It will ease his heart’s burden,” Alexia instructed him.
Death and pain found little comfort in facts. Part of him was bothered at how she could show compassion for others and yet he could not reach her heart. Did she hate him? And if so, which of his actions had earned this distaste from her? Could she really blame him for struggling with cordiality after she’d paired with VanWolf? Maybe it was because he hadn’t fought for her. Another reason might be that he had not let her return to VanWolf on the train. His hands were tied. Just as she had her values, Shunus lived by different beliefs. He needed to figure out where their values merged. If he didn’t find a way into her heart by the time they reached the pack, he would hold to his promise to her and free her.
