by Lynn Red
He blinked back the stars in his vision, snarling at the bear above as he batted its talons away. He was bleeding from numerous gashes and slices, but his wolf physiology was healing them as fast as the other were could inflict them. His own teeth flashed, snapping in the air as he fought to turn the bear. Seeing the danger, it yanked its head back. Too late. Max’s teeth closed around it’s muzzle and with a heave, he tore it’s top jaw clean from its face.
“Oh my god. Baby, are you okay?” Bethany asked, the bear lifting off him as he heaved, her expression one of concern and caring. Max’s lips rolled back from his teeth as his hand shot out to close around her throat. He rose up from the ground, the bear carcass next to him still jerking and twitching as its lifeblood poured from the ruins of its face to stain the dirt, and lifted her high in the air above him.
The blood drained from her face, her skin turning as pale as a sheet. She scrabbled at his hand and wrist, trying to loosen his grip as he slowly crushed her throat.
“I needed to be free of her?” His voice was little more than a growl, the tones too low for anyone other than another were to hear, the words skewed by the vicious teeth that filled his mouth.
Not many could attain a half-form, and most couldn’t talk at the same time but Max had always been unique. Qualities he’d hoped to pass onto his children. But with Kelli gone, that was it. There would be no children. Not now. He’d avenge her, then it would be all over. He’d give up the pack and take the midnight run, ask her brother for permission to be buried beside her.
Bethany couldn’t answer, her face purple as she gasped for air and struggled in his hold.
“Free of her? The only one I need to be free of is you,” he growled as he tightened his grip further. “I should never have let you and your cousin join the pack. Should have put you down like the feral creatures you are.”
Anger made his grip brutal and the pain of losing his mate added a rough shake as he held Bethany high, her feet dancing a jig. Something in her throat under his hand cracked sharply. She gasped, her body rigid before her eyes rolled back in her head and she slumped.
“Please...don’t kill her. She’s not worth it.”
The whispered gasp made him whirl, dropping the woman in his hands like a hot cake to see Kelli, bruised and bloody, crawling over the lip of the cliff. Her hands, the nails ragged and torn, scrabbled for purchase on the rocks as she hauled herself over to safety inch by inch, climbing up the root system that latticed the side of the rocks. Within an instant Max was by her side, his half form lost in the mere second it took to reach her. He grabbed her wrist, hands human but no less strong as he hauled her up and into his arms.
“Oh God, Kelli. I thought I’d lost you.”
The words were torn from the depths of his soul as he crushed her against him, holding her tightly to his chest. She trembled, her delicate frame shuddering as he dropped kisses on her hair, over her temple, anywhere he could reach until she tilted her face up to his. Taking her lips, he kissed her with the ferocity of a drowning man claiming an air source.
“Please, don’t ever do that to me again,” he begged, breaking the kiss to look at her again. “The moment I saw you go ov...” The words paused, stilled in his throat, his eyes closing for a second as he re-lived that terrible moment again.
She chuckled, the soft sound of amusement snapping his eyes open again to gaze on her. Her smile was small and wry, her lips bracketed with pain as she lifted a hand to stroke her fingertips over his.
“Sure, I’ll avoid crazy psychotic bitches who are after my mate like the plague. Promise.”
My mate.
The words hit him like a juggernaut. His bigger body held still, he looked at her, trying not to let hope run away with him.
“Mate?” The words came out as a strangled whisper, but he didn’t care. “You mean... You’ll stay?”
She smiled, pulling his head down until his lips were a bare whisper from hers. “Midsummer...you’re mine, Alpha.”
Chapter Nine
The soft breeze carried the warm scent of the night forest and the wilderness. Kelli stepped out onto the back veranda of her childhood home, naked and totally unselfconscious. Unlike most women of her age she was comfortable in her skin. Perhaps it had something to do with the fact she had another, completely different one hidden beneath. One that she was so in tune with that when the moon was high she had trouble picking which she preferred.
Carefully she picked her way around Riley’s boots and stepped down onto the lawn. The grass felt good against her skin, the earth below still warm from the recently set sun. Wriggling her toes, she let out a small sigh at the simple pleasure. She'd missed this back in the city. Even though her apartment overlooked a park, it wasn’t the same as being able to walk out of your back garden and be in the countryside.
Closing her eyes, she expanded her senses into the non-human and drank everything in. Scents washed over her, an explosion for the senses as if a veil had been lifted like a cover from food to allow her to appreciate the aroma beneath. A soft moan escaped her lips as she absorbed it all, letting her enhanced sense of smell gather information about her surroundings. She wrinkled her nose. The next door neighbors’ cat had a dicey stomach, obviously the result of pilfering the remains of a garlic chicken dinner from the trash, and Mr. Harrett two doors down had painted his fence again.
One scent stood out amongst them all though. Another wolf. Her brother. Her eyes snapped open, her world painted in shades of black and grey where smell became colour. She walked down the garden, ignoring Riley’s clothes where they were scattered. One day he’d learn to get naked before he shifted, rather that destroy his clothing.
The sultry midsummer breeze washed over her skin as she reached the back fence. To the left, in the corner, was a purpose built gap, hidden beneath a clump of bushes she’d never bothered to learn the name for. A smile curved her lips as she brushed her hand through the leaves. Her father, a wolf himself, had designed the garden with wolves in mind. A long lawn, high bushes and fences either side so the garden wasn’t overlooked, and a way out.
Slipping through the gap she emerged into the scrub beyond and breathed in the scent of freedom. The night sky was still pink on the horizon and the moon was yet to rise but she felt its presence. Energy crawled and danced over her, through her, the feeling of fur brushing against the inside of her skin as the smell of the forest was carried to her on the breeze.
She picked up a scent near the fence and smiled. Jenna. The newlyweds had decided to wait until the midsummer run for Jenna, still human, to take the bite. Turned out her brother was a closet romantic after all, sealing their union in the most permanent way possible for wolves.
Rubbing her shoulder she paused for a moment, her face turned up to the sky. The wounds were healed, had been as soon as Max had pulled free the spikes Bethany had driven into her flesh, but she’d always carry a scar from the silver. The woman herself had gone, disappeared while Max was tending to her, her and her cousin gone from the town that very night. From the looks on the faces of the wolves who’d gathered, Kelli doubted either would be much missed.
She dropped her head and gathered the energy within her, reaching deep inside for the connection with the wolf inside. Finding it, she opened the door, letting the change roll over her. She dropped forward to her hands and knees as the creature roared free. Bones popped, changed shape. Skin slid and sprouted silky fur. Her hands became paws before they hit the dirt, the she-wolf standing there in place of the woman.
She lifted her head and howled, exuberance ringing in her voice. She was alive, the wilderness stretched before her and she was wolf. The air around her filled with answering howls. The calls of the pack enticing her to run, to join them. A wuff of joy fell from her lips as she launched herself into a run and headed toward them.
The ground blurred beneath her paws as she raced through the scrub-lands, the moon rising above her. Her lupine form moved so fast and easily and exhilaration fi
lled her. This was what she’d been born for, to run fast and free, the feeling so wonderful that she felt sorry for those who were simply human. To never know the call of the wild, to never feel this connection to nature...she would wither and die.
The dark line of the forest rose in front of her, the sight lifting her heart yet more. Inside its depths was her pack. Her family. Reaching the small rise before it, she scrambled up the rocks, her claws rattling against them and biting deep into the rich, dark earth. Satisfaction filled her as she made the top, pausing on a large, flat ledge to howl again. This was where she belonged, not the city. Here, now, she knew she’d made the right decision to resign from her job and move back. There was nothing for her there. It was all here, in Stratton. It always had been.
A presence to her left got her attention and she dropped her head. Another wolf, a big male, padded out of the shadow, his bright amber gaze fixed on her with interest. She sidled sideways as she checked him out. It was a wolf she’d never seen before, almost as big as Max in this form but with darker, almost black fur. They circled each other, Kelli baring her teeth in warning before he cocked his head and memory took her back to the night she’d arrived back home and at Katy’s bar.
Kyle Roberts. It had to be. Only he had that cute little tilt of the head and laughing expression, and he was as impressive in his grown up wolf form as he had been on two legs. She grinned, chuffing to show her pleasure at seeing him, and danced around his bigger form on agile feet. Unable to resist, she snapped at his hindquarters, just grazing the fur, and skittered away, laughing.
He joined the game, leaping like a cub and pretending to attack, the two forgetting for a moment that they were supposed to be adults and that the Midsummer Run was the most serious night of the pack’s calendar.
A low growl broke through their games, a new scent reaching them on the breeze. Both their heads snapped up as Max stepped from the tree-line, his massive grey-furred wolf bigger than either hers or Kyle’s. Frivolity was dampened as the alpha approached, imposing and so severe that her body stiffened warily. Something was wrong.
She was proved right as a low rumble of warning trickled from Max’s lips. He squared up to the younger wolf, the meaning unmistakable. Kelli was his, pure and simple. From the way his fur bristled, he didn’t like the younger wolf anywhere near her, even though they’d already had this confrontation in human form days ago back in Honey’s bar.
Fuck, fuck, fuck.
Pack lore said a fight on midsummer was a bad omen for the year ahead. An old superstition but she didn’t care. She moved in toward Max, muzzle lowered submissively. He carried on snarling, gaze fixed on Kyle as she reached him, whining softly and licking at his face.
Anything to get his attention on her and off the younger wolf, or there would be bloodshed tonight. As big as he’d gotten now he was an adult, Kyle was no match for Max in a straight fight. He had to know that but he growled back anyway.
She shot Kyle a warning look, feeling the tension rolling through Max’s body against hers. He shifted slightly as she pressed him back but stood his ground, the snarl getting deeper and louder as Kyle refused to back down.
At a loss for what to do with two mule-headed males intent on fighting each other, Kelli did the only thing she could. Gathering power in her smaller frame she stepped away then shoved back into Max. Hard. The bigger wolf swayed to the side, taking a small half-step for balance at the small attack. The snarl stopped but she didn’t. Launching herself forward, she nipped at Max’s heels.
Then ran.
She ran like the hounds of hell themselves were following her, all the while hoping that she hadn’t read the situation wrong and left Kyle to face an enraged alpha on his own. But, she knew Max. He wasn’t the kind of alpha who would beat up on one of the pack just for the hell of it, or because he’d been playing chase with a female like a cub, even if that female was Max’s mate. Well, soon to be mate. He had to follow and claim her for that. If he followed her.
Not hearing the sounds of pursuit, she slowed from her sprint to a run, then a jog and finally pulled to a stop. Ears up, she listened. There was nothing. Just the sounds of the night-darkened forest around her. No snarling and howls of anger or pain as he and Kyle went head to head, nor the sound of him crashing through the trees after her.
Brows furrowing, she stopped in the middle of a moonlit clearing. Something was wrong. Dread hit her deep in her chest. What if he’d killed Kyle? Her knees wobbled, suddenly weak as she turned to go back the way she’d come. If he had killed the younger wolf over their game, she’d never forgive herself, or him. He really wasn’t the kind of man she thought he was if he could do something like that.
She didn’t get more than three steps before something huge and furry barreled out of the trees ahead. Yipping in surprise she wheeled around and tried to run but she was too late. Within a heartbeat his breath was hot on the back of her neck as he ran her down. Using his greater bodyweight, he took her off her feet, the two of them rolling and tumbling across the soft grass between the trees. At some point his change triggered hers so by the time they stopped, they were both in human form and as naked as the day they’d been born.
Expression just this side of feral, Max looped his hands around her wrists and dragged them above her head, pinning her to the ground beneath his harder body. Her heart-rate doubled, no trebled at the feeling of his hard body pressed against hers. Automatically hers softened, wet heat slipping from her channel to scent the air around them with her arousal. His eyes darkened, a rumble of approval in the back of his throat as he leaned down to press a kiss to the side of her throat. Right over the point he’d bite to mark her.
Her moan was instinctive and primal as she arched against him. She wanted him to bite her, complete the ritual and claim her as his own, but she couldn’t give into those desires yet. Not until she was sure he hadn’t hurt Kyle. Her eyes searched his face, then his shoulders. He hadn’t smelled of blood before he’d changed and she couldn’t see any now.
“Is he... You didn’t hurt him, did you?” she whispered, her human voice seeming loud and out of place here in the wild. “We were only playing.”
“What do you think I am?”
He looked down at her, his expression serious but amusement lurking in his eyes. The moon above bathed him in shades of silver and grey, the amber of his eyes rendered monotone. His wolf still rode him, especially with the midsummer moon so high, but she knew without asking that the man was in control.
“Much as he thinks he’s an adult, he’s still a big pup. One day he’ll learn, but not today. I have bigger fish to fry.”
“Oi! You’re calling me a fat fish now?” she demanded, wriggling under him. Not to try and get loose, but to press as much of herself against him as she could. His cock, hard and heavy, prodded against her, leaving a slick trail of pre-cum across her soft belly. A bolt of lust rolled through her, so strong that if she’d been standing, she’d have had to clutch at him for support, or she’d have been a boneless puddle at his feet.
“Never fat.” He transferred both her wrists to one large hand and freed up the other to stroke down her side. His face fell around them as he whispered a kiss over her upturned lips. “But I’m more than happy to eat you.”
He paused and pulled back to rest his forehead against hers with a sigh. His big body all but vibrated with tension as he slowly released her wrists and planted his hands either side of her shoulders. His gaze sought hers, expression serious.
“Last chance to change your mind, Kelli. Run with me and that’s it, you’re mine.”
“You’d let me go?” She frowned, not understanding as her heart stuttered in her chest. After everything, he didn’t want her anyway?
“Not willingly.” He reached out and wound a strand of her hair around his finger before sighing and rolling off her to sit, arms looped over his knees as he looked into the trees. “But that’s what they say, isn’t it? If you love something...let it go?”
&nb
sp; She sat up, tears on her cheeks, even now he was concerned about her. Heart swelling, she looped her arms around him from behind and kissed the side of his neck. Her lips curved against his skin. “Yeah, they do. You know what I say?”
“Hmmm?” His big hand moved hesitantly, covering hers on his chest.
“If it bites you, it’s yours.”
Then she nipped his neck, drew blood and claimed her alpha.
The End
About the Author: Mina Carter
Mina was born and raised in the East Farthing of Middle Earth (otherwise known as the Midlands, England) and spend her childhood learning all the sorts of things generally required of a professional adventurer. Able to ride, box, shoot, make and read maps, make chainmail and use a broadsword (with varying degrees of efficiency) she was disgusted to find that adventuring is not considered a suitable occupation these days.
So, instead of slaying dragons and hunting vampires and the like, Mina spends her days writing about hot shifters, government conspiracies and vampire lords with more than their fair share of RAWR. Turns out wanna-be adventurers have quite the turn of imagination after all...
(But she keeps that sword sharp, just in case the writing career is just a dream and she really *is* an adventurer.)
The boring part: A full time author and cover artist, Mina can usually be found hunched over a keyboard or graphics tablet, frantically trying to get the images and words in her head out and onto the screen before they drive her mad. She's addicted to coffee and would like to be addicted to chocolate, but unfortunately chocolate dislikes her.
http://mina-carter.com
If you liked this story, you might also enjoy:
Sex, Wolves and Rock 'n Roll (1Night Stand)
Karlan Rixx is the epitome of the playboy rocker. Sexy and gorgeous, with the feral edge of a werewolf. And Trent Savage has been in love with him for years. The trouble is, K has a new woman in his bed every night, so he’s straight as they come. Unable to bear it anymore, Sav makes plans to leave the band, even though it will break his heart in the process. But anything's better than seeing the man he loves—his mate—and not being able to touch. Ever.
