by L. L. Raand
Enough! Drake growled. Stand down.
Niki snapped her jaws closed on Dasha’s foreleg, and Dasha whimpered, thrashing and struggling to escape. Claws raked Niki’s muzzle, tearing open the flesh beneath her eye. Pain exploded through her, but her fury blunted the agony. She was close now, close to a kill.
Drake charged. Sophia tried to intercept her, racing into the melee, but the other wolves were larger, heavier, and she was no fighter. Drake landed heavily on Niki’s back, her huge jaws closing on Niki’s neck. Her weight rolled Niki for an instant and Niki let go of Dasha’s leg. Drake dragged her down and mounted her, and Niki snapped and clawed, lashing out, wild to get out from under the big black wolf.
Niki, hold your wolf. Niki! Drake roared, pinning Niki down by her throat. Stand down!
Niki’s senses filled with the power of the Prima, and the command echoed in her blood and her bones and her every cell—demanding she obey. She struggled to calm her wolf but she was too far gone, too wild for Sophia, too enraged by Dasha’s challenge. She thrashed and bucked and her canines caught Drake’s shoulder. Blood sprayed in her face and she tasted life. Rich, sweet, strong, and pure. Young. The Alpha’s young.
Niki howled and gave up her throat, prepared to die.
Chapter Seven
Niki went limp, tilting her muzzle back to surrender her throat. Drake relaxed her jaws but continued to straddle her, her heart pounding wildly, her breath coming in sharp gasps. She wasn’t certain she could trust Niki not to go after Dasha or someone else if she released her. She wasn’t sure Niki was in control of her wolf, or even in control of her own mind. The scent of pheromones and sex frenzy and mating heat blanketed the clearing with a thick cloud of stimulants that would make any wolf in the vicinity lose control. Add to that which female was in heat, and she was surprised Niki had been able to bring her wolf to heel at all. From behind her a chorus of growls signaled the arrival of the centuri, racing from all corners of the Compound to coalesce in a snarling circle around her. If she didn’t settle them down before they smelled her blood under all the blood spilled by Niki and Dasha, they would tear Niki apart. Beneath her, Niki panted, her stomach board-rigid, her sex, hot and full to bursting, pressed to Drake’s belly.
Drake started to ease her weight away, hoping if Niki felt less threatened she’d recover her sanity. A rush of fevered power washed over her and she halted midstride, her body going rigid. Sylvan.
Sylvan was racing toward the clearing, broadcasting mindless fury. The crack of trees branches snapping as Sylvan forged a path straight to Drake ricocheted through the Compound like gunshots. Her roar split the air like thunder. Drake shuddered under the mental onslaught of her mate’s wrath. She reached out to touch Sylvan’s mind, to reassure her, but met only red-hot rage. Sylvan’s wolf was in total control—no semblance of reason remained in Sylvan’s consciousness. Niki was about to die, and Niki’s blood spilled in the heart of their Pack land would destroy Sylvan. Beneath her, Niki lay on her back, neck extended, silent. Resigned. Next to her, Sophia inched closer—as if to put her body between Niki and the Alpha. Seconds, even less, and the Pack would be torn apart. Drake had no time. She lunged, caught Niki’s throat in her jaws, and squeezed. She clamped down slowly, relentlessly, until Niki shuddered and lay still.
Sophia nosed Niki’s still form and howled, a broken cry that shattered the sky.
An enormous silver wolf burst into the clearing and surged toward them, jaws wide, snarling viciously. Drake straddled Niki, keeping the defenseless wolf in the protective shadow of her body. She’d compressed the arteries in Niki’s neck until she’d lost consciousness, but she wasn’t sure how long Niki would remain unconscious. If Niki woke now, she would die.
Sylvan! I’m all right. It’s done.
Sophia, so much smaller, vaulted into Sylvan’s path and Sylvan swung her heavy head at her with a sharp growl, knocking her aside. Sophia landed ten feet away with a whimper. Sylvan gathered her powerful shoulders and went airborne, aiming for Niki’s throat.
Sylvan! No! Drake lowered herself over Niki’s motionless body. She couldn’t challenge Sylvan in front of her Pack, nor would she if she could. Sylvan was driven by the prime instinct—to protect her mate and her young. Drake would do the same.
Mine, Sylvan. She is mine to kill.
Sylvan twisted in midlunge and landed facing Drake, her gaping jaws hovering over Niki’s head. Saliva dripped from her canines, madness rode in her gold eyes. You’re bleeding. She dies.
No. Drake nosed Sylvan’s face. It’s nothing. A scratch. An accident.
Beneath her, Niki twitched and whimpered. Sylvan snarled.
She submitted to me. I put her down. Let your wolves see I am truly Prima.
Niki shuddered and shifted to skin, and Drake eased forward, sidling up to Sylvan. She licked Sylvan’s muzzle and rubbed her nose under Sylvan’s jaw.
Rumbling, Sylvan rested her head on Drake’s neck. You’re all right?
Drake flicked her ears. Fine. But our wolves need attention.
Niki pushed up to her knees on the hard-packed earth, blood running between her clenched hands down her abdomen and onto her naked thighs. Head bowed, she waited for Sylvan to tear her throat out, and Drake was not going to let that happen. She would lose both of them then. She shifted to skin and Sylvan morphed instantly, catching Drake around the waist and pulling her roughly against her bare chest.
Sylvan sniffed her, licked her throat, kissed her bruisingly. Her canines scraped Drake’s lip. “What happened?”
Drake kissed her. “I’m fine. It was an accident. I promise you.”
“What happened? Why were you fighting? Where are your guards?” Sylvan threw her head back and howled in fury. “Who hurt you?”
“I did, Alpha,” Niki said hollowly.
Sylvan grabbed her by the neck and pulled her to her feet, her face millimeters from Niki’s. “I should kill you.”
“I know.”
Sylvan shuddered, her wolf coursing just below her skin. She panted, the muscles in her chest and abdomen rippling beneath a dusting of silver. She was still half-wolf and more than half-mad.
Drake ran a hand down her back. “Sylvan, she was fighting with Dasha. I put myself in the middle. Niki did not attack me. And I put her down.”
Sylvan growled continuously, struggling not to rip Niki’s throat out. Her claws punctured Niki’s neck. Crimson streaked Niki’s throat.
The centuri crept closer, Jace and Jonathan snarling wildly. They were young dominants, less capable of controlling their wolves than the others, and they were both nearly frenzied from the scent of sex and blood and the Alpha’s rage. In another minute they’d attack any wolf in their path.
“Sylvan,” Drake murmured, caressing her chest. “We have injured. Dasha needs medical attention. So does Niki.”
“So do you,” Sylvan snapped.
“I’m all right, it’s a scratch.”
“You’re bleeding.” Agony contorted Sylvan’s face and Drake gripped her hair, pulled her head close.
“You came when I needed you. You always do.” She kissed Sylvan hard, bit her lip, stroked the small puncture with her tongue. She rubbed against Sylvan, letting her essence mingle with Sylvan’s. “I am not hurt.”
Sylvan shuddered. “If you were—if the young…”
“We’re fine.” Drake kissed her again. “Calm your wolves, Alpha.”
Sylvan breathed in Drake’s scent and closed her eyes. Broadcasting her power, she settled her Pack. One by one the wolves in the clearing shimmered and took skin form. Dasha lay on the ground groaning softly, holding her twisted and bleeding right arm against her chest. Sophia got unsteadily to her feet, a purplish bruise on her jaw. Niki slumped to the ground, cradling her midsection. Blood seeped between her fingers.
“Max,” Drake called. “Clothes.”
Max bounded into the barracks and returned with an armful of T-shirts and pants. Sophia pulled on a navy blue T-shirt and jeans. Most of
the others just took pants.
“Take Dasha to the infirmary,” Drake said to Max, pulling on jeans.
“Yes, Prima.”
Max lifted Dasha and carried her inside. Sophia crouched beside Niki, gripped her arm, and murmured, “Let me see your stomach.”
“Leave me,” Niki rasped.
“No.” Sophia stroked Niki’s blood-soaked hair. “I won’t.”
Sylvan stared down at Niki, her eyes flat arid plains. “Isolate her.”
Sophia spun around on her knees, but her head was up and her eyes challenging. “No! She needs medical attention.”
Sylvan towered over Sophia, her anger raising the hair on Drake’s arms. “You challenge me?”
“I am a medic.” Sophia took a shuddering breath. “She can’t be left alone. I…This is my fault, Alpha.”
Niki moaned and tried to rise. “No. I am at fault.”
Sylvan paced. “Until I know what happened, Niki is confined to the infirmary.” She signaled Andrew. “Guard the door. She does not leave the room.”
Andrew’s eyes widened but he nodded curtly. “Yes, Alpha.”
Drake didn’t object. Sylvan had no choice. She had to restore order, and she could not appear indecisive when surrounded by dominant wolves. If she wavered, she would be challenged, and although she would undoubtedly be victorious, the Pack would be unsettled. Now, with the threat of outside enemies, the Pack must stand strong.
“I want to go with her,” Sophia said.
“You can tend to her injuries,” Sylvan said.
“Thank you,” Sophia said, running trembling fingers through Niki’s hair, an unconscious movement Drake was certain she had no awareness of.
“I’ll look in on her in a few minutes,” Drake said to Sophia, “just to be sure you don’t need help.”
“Thank you, Prima,” Sophia said softly. She wrapped her arm around Niki’s shoulder. “I’m not sure she can walk.”
Niki pushed to her knees. “I don’t need help.”
Drake leaned over and picked her up. “Your life is mine now, Imperator. Don’t forget it.”
“Yes, Prima,” Niki murmured, her eyes closed.
Rest now. Drake carried her up the steps of the infirmary. Let us help you.
*
Niki burned with the agony of failure. Drake had laid her down on the treatment table and left her with Sophia. “I don’t need treatment. I’ll heal.”
“You need these wounds cleaned,” Sophia said.
She didn’t want Sophia to touch her. She didn’t deserve her care. She had lost in battle, she had dishonored her rank, she had threatened the Prima. She didn’t know why she was still alive.
“This is going to hurt,” Sophia said, taking Niki’s hands from her belly and placing them by her sides on the table, exposing her torn abdomen. Four jagged parallel lacerations stretched from just below her breastbone on the right side across her belly to her left hip, deep gouges that penetrated through the muscles and verged on opening her abdominal cavity. Ragged bits of flesh protruded from the wounds. Gently, Sophia rinsed the blood away with saline-soaked gauze. Then, because local anesthetics had no effect on Were physiology, she trimmed the damaged tissue without anesthetic. Even when she lifted the jagged flap on Niki’s face to remove the grit from the tear beneath her eye, Niki lay still, a low rumble reverberating in her chest. Niki stared at the ceiling as if she were blind, but Sophia knew her gaze had turned inward where she was examining herself and finding only fault.
“What happened out there was my fault,” Sophia said. “I’m so sorry.”
“You’re not to blame,” Niki said, her voice echoing hollowly. “You’re in heat. You have the right to say no when a Were answers your call and you don’t want them.”
Sophia’s hands trembled and she set the instruments down. “You don’t understand.”
Finally, Niki looked at her, her eyes bleak. “I understand. You want Dasha. Not me. You’ve never wanted me.”
“I don’t want anyone,” Sophia said.
“That’s not what your wolf says. Your call is stronger every time. Don’t you think I’ve felt it before, when you fought it and lost? When you finally tangled with someone else?” Niki gripped the table, her claws scoring the honed wood surface. “Why do you fight what’s natural, deny what you need?”
Sophia placed a clean bandage over Niki’s belly. “Once you’ve rested, you should shift. You’ll heal these wounds faster. Right now, you’ve lost a lot of blood and your wolf will be weak if you shift. In the morning—”
“I am not weak.” Niki grabbed Sophia’s wrist, her strength astounding after all she’d been through. “And you are avoiding the answer. Why do you resist?”
Sophia licked her lips. She’d never told anyone. The only ones who knew were the Alpha and Elena, and they only knew because the Alpha knew everything that happened in the Pack, even the things that had happened before she assumed leadership. And Elena knew because Elena had saved her life. Holding so many secrets was so hard. “I don’t want to mate. When I’m in heat—I can’t control my wolf.”
“Every wolf wants to mate.”
“Really? You don’t.”
Niki looked away, the gesture so astounding Sophia caught her breath. She gripped Niki’s hand. “Why is that, Imperator?”
Niki’s head snapped around. “Don’t call me that.”
“Why? You think because the Alpha is angry that changes anything? You are who you are, Niki. While you breathe, there will never be another imperator.”
“Sylvan will never trust me now.”
Niki’s desolation bruised Sophia’s heart. “You don’t know what the Alpha will do. The Prima is pregnant, you know that, don’t you?”
Niki’s eyes gleamed, pride and joy glowing in them. “Yes. I know.”
“Then you know everything is changing. The Alpha will be unpredictable until after the young are born. She won’t be able to control her wolf as easily. She needs us—you—now more than ever. She needs us to be strong.”
Niki shuddered. “I don’t know how to help her.”
“Yes, you do. You need to do what you’ve always done—give her good counsel, protect her Pack.”
“She doesn’t need that from me now. She has the Prima.”
“Niki, don’t you see?” Sophia shook her head and skimmed her fingers through Niki’s hair. “She needs to be free to protect her mate, and you can help her by uncovering our enemies, by ensuring we are all safe. She needs her general in command.”
Niki couldn’t let herself hope, and she was so weary. The soothing touch of Sophia’s hand in her hair was the only thing keeping her from shifting and fighting her way out of the cage Sylvan had closed around her. She brushed her cheek over Sophia’s palm. “Are you going to tell me why you don’t want a mate?”
Sophia answered because Niki’s need was too strong to deny. “I can’t bear young.”
Niki’s eyes narrowed. “What? How do you know that?”
Sophia looked away. “I’ve always known. An injury—when I was very young. Before I came here.”
Niki snarled. “Who hurt you?”
“It doesn’t matter. My parents got me away before the other Alpha had me killed for being…defective. Sylvan’s mother took us into this Pack.”
“Killed you?” Niki tried to rise, her wolf in a fury. “Who—”
“Niki, Niki…don’t.” Sophia pulled Niki’s head to her chest, stroking her face. “It’s over—long ago.”
Niki closed her eyes and pressed her face to Sophia’s breast. Sophia’s scent was so pure, so clean and sharp. Niki’s blood surged and her clitoris tightened. Someone had hurt Sophia, tried to destroy her. Niki growled.
“It’s all right.” Sophia kissed the top of her head, stroked her neck and her back, soothing her. “Don’t rage for me. I’m alive, I have the Pack. I have my parents.” She straightened her shoulders, took a deep breath. “But it’s not fair to any other Were to risk a mate bond with me.
When I’m in heat, when the frenzy is overpowering, I can’t control my need. And if I lose control and bite, I might accidentally invite a bond.”
“What if your mate doesn’t care about not having young?”
Sophia’s heart leapt. What was Niki saying? What was she offering? But there was more, more than she could ever reveal to anyone, even Niki. So she smiled and shook her head. “Why have a mate when you can’t produce young? I would rather tangle without being tied to any one Were.”
Niki looked up, searching her face. “That’s what you want? To tangle with whoever happens to be available?”
Sophia forced herself to shrug, feigning nonchalance. “Why not, as long as they’re not interested in mating? Isn’t that what you do? With Anya and the others?”
“I don’t want a mate either,” Niki said. She didn’t tangle with susceptible females in heat who might want a mate, and she was careful not to bite at critical moments and accidentally induce a bond. She wouldn’t have answered Sophia’s call while she was in heat if she’d been able to help herself, but she couldn’t stop. Sophia’s need was too great, and her wolf too set on answering. She wanted her still. Sophia’s heat had waned from all the stress of the last few hours, but when it returned, Niki knew she would want her. She didn’t care. She wasn’t worried about a mate bond. She’d never been compelled to induce one, and Sophia’s fear of not being able to have young meant nothing to her. She never planned on having young. She was a soldier, and she didn’t plan on orphaning young the way she had been orphaned. Her only role was to guard the Alpha. Let others bear the responsibility of raising young.
“Then you understand.”
Niki growled. She didn’t want Sophia tangling with other Weres. “So you’re going to tangle with Dasha?”
