by Bonnie Vanak
This forest wasn’t dark and sinister, but welcoming. Her wolf howled with delight.
Tiny fairies the size of moths fluttered around the water, skirting the gurgling stream. Iridescent blue, green, citrine, and magenta lights glowed around them like lamplight.
Owls hooted in the distance and insects hummed. The air was thick with the delicious smells of freshness, evergreen and…her nose twitched.
Fresh game. It smelled like her favorite—rabbit. Goodness, she hadn’t realized how hungry she was.
Grayson put his hands on her shoulders. She could feel the tension gone from him, but only slightly. “Welcome to Wolf Haven. It’s a Lupine sanctuary in the Dark Kingdom, where we can live in relative safety.”
“Why relative?”
He squeezed her shoulders lightly. “We are safe from Others, especially Dark Fae, but we still must live with each other. It isn’t an easy thing, Katy. Not like your Mitchell pack. Lupines here are more…fierce and savage.”
Grayson dropped his hands, and as she turned, his expression became shuttered. But he fisted his hands. “Especially when it comes time to mate.”
She wondered what he meant by that comment. Ever since the battle with the Night Riders, Grayson seemed wound taut as a coil, and it wasn’t from the threat of the Fae or centaurs.
But something different, and much more primitive.
He adjusted the pack on his shoulders. “Come on.”
They set out for a pathway through the forest. The path cut through a thick swath of trees and brush, bordering the stream. The fairies flew alongside them, zipping playfully before her, fanning the air with their wings.
“Are the fairies safe or do they have teeth and fangs?”
“They’re safe. One reason they live here. Those are evergreen fairies. They lack most of the defenses of Others in the Dark Kingdom, so they live amongst the Lupines in a symbiotic relationship. The fairies keep the water supply fresh, tend to the trees and plants, and in return, we provide protection,” he told her.
After walking through the thick forest for a good mile, she felt ready to collapse from the nerve-wracking fight and her depleted energy.
They came upon a small glen surrounded by evergreen and oak trees. In the midst was a wooden cottage. Straight out of a fairy tale, it had sparkling clear windows and a thick oak door. On the wraparound front porch sat two white rocking chairs. A rug by the door read Welcome.
Ancient runes were carved into the doorpost. Weariness forgotten, she bounded up the steps, curious to read the runes. But the marks were faded and nearly undecipherable.
She turned to Grayson, who trudged up the steps behind her. “Is this your home? Your real home?”
His real home, where he had been born.
Grayson nodded. “My refuge in the woods. My family built it years ago. No one has lived here for a long time, but someone I know returns to keep it clean.” He looked around, as if expecting visitors. “I marked it with my scent to protect my turf.”
Something like a dim memory pricked in her mind. “Because if you did not, intruders would take it over, claim it for themselves. You must scent mark every six months to warn them off.”
Blinking, he shoved his hands into his jeans pockets. “Yup.”
It made no sense. How could she know anything about this strange, new world? “I don’t understand. It feels…”
She looked around at the evergreen trees, which turned out not to be evergreens after closer study. They were a mixture of dark green with purple, with thick trunks and sheltering branches.
“I remember this place, as if I’ve been here in my dreams. How is that possible?”
He reached over the door and fumbled with an ornate silver key and unlocked the front door. “I’ll tell you later, after we’ve settled in, had some chow.”
Katy wondered what “chow” was in this world.
The cottage’s interior was clean, with a sofa, twin armchairs set before a rock fireplace, and bookcases filled with reading material. Over the fireplace mantel hung a silver sword.
She turned to Grayson. “No rifle?” It was hard to imagine Grayson without his rifle, always carried in a leather holder on his horse.
Equally odd to see him here, without his black Stetson. His brown hair, cropped short, looked soft to the touch. She longed to run her fingers through it.
Katy put her hands behind her, aware of the thrumming in her blood indicating that soon she’d come into her heat. Terrific. All she needed to worry about, and now her body was tingling with sexual demands. Blame the kiss in the cavern. It cranked up all her body’s needs.
Forget the evil and threats. Sex came first. She nearly laughed at that thought.
“No rifle. No guns in this world. We use ancient weapons, forged by the Dark Fae. Much more deadly than a rifle. Skin weapons don’t function well here.”
An opened door showed a king-sized four-poster bed with rough-hewn timbers for a headboard. Katy avoided looking at that room, though her wolf nudged her to take a peek.
And maybe assess the bed for later use with him…
It had to be a very sturdy bed for what her body wanted him to do to her.
Flushing, she turned away, but not before she caught Grayson’s mouth twitch, as if he read her mind.
“Food first,” he announced. “Freezer’s fully stocked with game. Won’t take long to defrost.”
She frowned. “You have electricity here?”
“Not power in the traditional Skin sense. Magick.” Using his forefinger, Grayson traced the air. Purple and pink runes danced in the air in the patterns he drew. “Magick’s all around us, Katy. Just need to know how to harness it.”
In the kitchen, he showed her the refrigerator/freezer. It was a gray box with a humming motor just like that in the Skin world, but it emitted a soft purple light. She ran her hands over it, and felt a slight tingle.
Grayson showed her a silver line snaking from the box to the wall. “This is the outlet, which is rigged to wiring throughout the house, which is fed by the earth beneath the cottage. Long as Wolf Haven exists, we have all the power we’ll ever need.”
In no time, he’d defrosted two steaks and grilled them on the gas range. They ate beneath the light of an antler chandelier that glowed bright yellow. Conversation revolved around their favorite meals, but he told her nothing about this strange, new world, nor did he mention the Dark Forest.
Katy finished her steak, and sipped from her water glass. “Thank you,” she said. “I appreciate this, Grayson.”
His ice blue gaze met hers across the dining table. “I’ll always take care of your needs, Katy.”
It sounded as if he wanted to address all her needs. Her hormones sighed in agreement. Oh yeah, you can take care of them right on that big bed of yours…
Pushing back from the table, she murmured an excuse and went to find the bathroom. When she was finished, she stared at her reflection in the mirror over the sink. Her skin looked more delicate, almost pale, and her eyes were bigger and lashes longer.
She almost looked pretty. Was it this place doing this to her?
Hard to imagine.
Katy joined Grayson outside on the front porch. Insects buzzed in the trees and an owl hooted nearby. As she sat in the rocker beside his, she could almost imagine they were on his front porch back in Montana, not in some strange Other kingdom where centaurs slashed and killed with their hooves.
“You okay, Katy?” he asked.
“Now that I’ve had dinner and we’re out of that damn cave, I’m much better.”
Grayson laughed. Enchanted by the sound, she left her rocking chair and climbed into his lap. At first he flinched again, but when she pillowed her head against his chest, he sighed and slid an arm around her.
“I’ve dreamed about this,” he admitted. “You, in my arms, and we’re just watching the world pass by.”
He slid his fingers through her hair, rubbing her head and she made a humming sound deep in her thr
oat, like a contented cat. A large predator cat, not a house pet.
“Feels great,” she murmured.
“You’re purring. Thought you were a wolf, not a lil ole pussycat,” he teased.
She bared her fangs at him. “I am, silly. Think a housecat has these?”
He wasn’t immune to the simmering sexuality between them, for she felt the hardness in his jeans beneath her bottom. Smiling, she sat, watching the sunset. Katy marveled at the changing colors. Vibrant, iridescent and lovely.
So unlike this kingdom of darkness and danger.
Grayson pointed to the sky. “Colors representing all the species here of Others. Green for the forest fairies and sprites, red for Fae, blue for Lupine, orange for trolls, citrine for ogres, and pink and purple for all the Others who reside here. Purple for the magick, pink for the earth.”
So different from her world of Skins, where she galloped through the pastures and could easily pretend she was normal. Either a Skin or a Lupine. On Earth, it was easy to blend. Here, it presented a real challenge. She had to call upon her unique Lupine powers to survive.
Her stomach growled, as if she hadn’t eaten an entire steak.
He watched her, as if gauging her reaction. “How do you feel? Truth now.”
“I’m still hungry,” she admitted. “I don’t want to seem ungrateful…”
“Reckon you would still need chow. Fresh, raw meat, not frozen. You’re approaching your time, and that uses up a lot of Lupine magick. And in this world, Lupines require more raw meat to fuel their magick. Get up.”
She did. Grayson stood, stretching, and she admired the play of his biceps as they flexed.
“Is there game nearby?”
“Close enough so we don’t have to run far.” He held out his hand. She took it, the energy between them arcing in purple and pink streaks. He studied the sparks.
“Feel that?” he asked softly.
She nodded. “Sexual chemistry.”
“Here, it’s a living thing, not as subtle as in the Skin world. Lupines make their intentions known early on, because our instincts run deeper and our urges are fiercer.” He drew in a deep breath and tugged her down the porch stairs.
Silver moonlight gilded the nearby trees as they shifted into their wolf forms. Gone was the tension she felt seeing his large wolf, which easily outweighed hers by 150 pounds. Instead she felt alive, aware and very, very female.
Grayson led her through the glade into the forest. Her nostrils twitched with the delicious smells of rabbit and deer. Haven, indeed, she thought as he caught the scent of a nearby deer and she followed, stalking the creature.
Soon the deer was dead, a merciful, swift death. She held back, letting Grayson eat first. Back on the ranch when she ran with the others in the Mitchell pack, Lupine etiquette demanded the alpha pair and all pregnant females eat first, but here, she went on instinct.
The male who brought down the kill had his choice.
Katy watched Grayson eat his fill of the prey. Then he turned, and nudged her toward the deer, urging her to eat.
A primitive thrill raced through her. This was living life as wolf, nothing to block her from her instincts. No threat of Skins, no worries about getting caught doing something that the pack—and Aiden—would frown upon. Nothing but pure wildness, nature and her own deep-set instincts guiding her.
No wonder Fae like Ninnea preferred the Dark Kingdom. Without the restrictions of the earthly world, they could live free and do as they chose.
Grayson shifted back to Skin, and wiped his mouth with the back of one hand. “Don’t think like that, Katy. Life here isn’t all pleasure and fun and games. It can be unpredictable and raw, so raw that if you stay here, you could lose yourself forever.”
Again, reading her mind. By now she was accustomed to the intrusion. Instinct nudged her to block him by thinking of a brick wall. Katy shifted back and called to mind the image of dozens of bricks, solid and strong.
Grayson frowned. “You know how to keep me away from reading you. That’s good, but it won’t stop me from telling it like it is. The Dark Kingdom is not Tír Na Nog.” He went to the nearby stream and dipped his hands into it, drinking.
Water dripped down his face as he turned to her. “Wolf Haven isn’t heaven for Lupines. It’s a sanctuary away from Dark Fae and Others, but it can be hell if you wander into the wrong places. Hell for females, especially. We run on pure instinct and males can scent a female coming into her heat for miles away. You’re ripe for the taking, Katy.”
A chill raced down her spine. “There are no packs?”
Grayson frowned. “Yes, but there are fewer females of breeding age, which is why males fight over females so viciously. A female outside her pack, or one who doesn’t carry a mating mark, can be taken against her will and there’s little the alpha can do to save her. Don’t ever stray far from me when you’re outside the cottage. Cottage is warded against intruders.”
The idea of being raped by a strange Lupine made her ill. But Grayson’s closeness was another matter. For years, she’d suppressed her sexuality and her baser wolf nature. Afraid of displeasing her parents, or making them worry needlessly. Now, the Dark Kingdom magick was working on her, making her sexually aware of Grayson and needing more than their friendship.
“The males just do as they please and rape the females? No wonder there are few females here!”
He gave her a steady look. “The females here are as savage and tough as the males. They are fully aware of their powers, and fight back effectively. Few males succeed at overpowering them. You’re vulnerable, Katy. You’re an outsider. For now.”
She didn’t know what to make of this. For now? Did he want her to remain here, with him?
“And what about you, Grayson? You’ve lived here before. Are you as savage as the other males?”
He rubbed a hand over the stubble on his chin. “I never take a female against her will, but I’m no gentleman. When I ride a female, it’s a rough ride. It’s the beast inside me. Get it?”
The idea intrigued her. An image sprang to mind, Grayson pinning her to the bed as she struggled, and then pounding into her as he made her cry out in pleasure and the headboard banged against the wall.
Headboard-banging sex sounded real good right now.
He shuddered as she lightly touched his wrist, feeling the hairs upon his skin. Grayson stepped back. “Let’s get back to the cottage, get you settled for the night.”
“Alone?” She thrust out her breasts, her nipples hard as pearls. “Or will you keep me company…all night?”
“You don’t know what you’re asking,” he said softly, a dangerous look on his face. “Don’t tempt me, Katy. I have only so much restraint.”
Deep inside, she knew she should be asking questions, demanding answers. She knew this place somehow, this dark world with all its mysteries. Yet the hot desire building inside her pushed aside those nagging questions, making her forget all else but her female need.
“Don’t you want me? I want you, Grayson. And I’m not afraid of what you can give me, however much it is.” Disappointment filled her. She wanted her first time with Grayson, here, in this wild and wicked place where magick ruled all.
“I want you. And I will have you, and when I do, it will not be all hearts and flowers. But first, I want to be sure you’re safe from what the hell ever is after you.”
“And then?”
His gaze gleamed. “And then, you’ll find out exactly what I plan.”
He wanted her badly. Enough to throw caution to the wind, sweep her into his arms and satisfy his raging lust. Throw her down on the bed and not let her go until they lay exhausted and spent from making love.
Grayson took a deep breath and went outside the cottage, leaving Katy inside to sleep. His wolf howled and snarled to remain with the woman, to satisfy the beast’s urgent need to mate. His Skin half had trouble controlling the wolf, much like a human struggling to leash a wild beast.
In the Skin w
orld, it was easier to tame his savage nature. Here, where the forces of dark magick swirled in seductive tendrils, rousing his own powers, each hour became a true test of will. The only way he could quell his primitive desire for sex was to focus on Katy and his own need to protect her.
Moonlight on his naked shoulders, Grayson stretched and felt the power humming in the air. He must find out who ordered her kidnapped and brought into the Dark Kingdom.
Those Night Riders hadn’t been powered on their own magick. Someone fed them strength, enough to overcome the sun and become as strong during the day as they were at night.
He doubted it was Gerner. The owner of the brothel and breeding den had limited interest in Lupines, other than what profit they could provide for him.
No, whoever wanted Katy wanted her badly enough to yank her away from the safety of her world into this one.
He didn’t want to leave Katy in the cottage alone. But his pack was far away, and they wouldn’t arrive until tomorrow. Taking her with him after midnight, when the dark magick was at its most powerful, would be foolhardy. Other males would scent her and want her. He could fight them off, but it would be a damn hard battle, and while he was fighting, one could slip away, pin her down and rape her as the others distracted him.
Rape her and claim her, and keep her prisoner here in the Dark Kingdom.
Better to leave her in the cottage with the magick he used to ward his territory. No male Lupine, unless he had a death wish, would dare to violate another male’s boundaries.
Grayson shifted and lifted his muzzle to the full moon in the ink dark sky and began pacing through the nearby woods. He turned his massive head, picking out the strange smells. Silver moonlight slanted through the thick firs and oaks, their leaves pale in the night. Decaying leaves mixed with soft moss covered the forest floor. The air was cool, but an oppressive heaviness lingered. No sounds of life echoed around him. No owls hooting softly from overhead branches or even a small animal rustling in the undergrowth.
Not like it had been earlier, when he’d sat on the porch with Katy.
Bad news. It meant something nasty had recently visited. Something that had taken the dark magick and embraced evil. Wolf Haven hadn’t seen a truly evil Lupine in many decades.
