“Ahhh.” She was tired, too, so rather than wake them, she’d decided to snuggle into their heat and fall asleep wrapped in their scents.
Of course, her men had other ideas. No sooner had she closed her eyes than she heard a low growling rumble from one side of her and a matching one from the other. Her eyes popped open as she was lifted up over Jack, his cock pressing hard against her as she settled against him. She looked down into his sleepy eyes and took in the sensual curve of his lips. Then, she looked over at Hunter, who stared back at her, suddenly wide awake, his expression filled with heat.
Mikayla lowered her lips to Jack’s, her body temperature soaring at his touch. Yes, she was tired. But there’d be time to sleep…later. Much later.
Chapter 6
One night turned into two, as she wanted to help the women dry meat for their trip and Jack wanted to help rig up some harnesses the pack could use to carry their belongings. Jack had offered to help the pack procure vehicles. How, Mikayla didn’t know and didn’t think she wanted to know. The alpha refused them anyway. Some wolves had a thing against cars. Mikayla didn’t get it. At all. If there was a human device that could make life easier, why not use it?
Jensen and the other men were also resistant to the idea of carrying harness bags on their backs. But finally Brooke’s father said he was man enough to carry them, and a few of the females agreed to wear harnesses as well. For his part, Hunter had spent much of their second day there working out the best route for the pack to follow. They would stay far away from any known wolf shifter territories on the way. Ulric’s pack didn’t just wander aimlessly. They went looking for recruits, usually among those without the numbers to successfully fight back.
Mikayla helped the women pack up the things they had room to take, which wasn’t a hell of a lot, and spent the rest of her time trying to convince Brooke that the move really was a good thing. As troubling as the pack’s position was, the girl seemed to hate change. That and the loss of Lucas, who would return to the underground.
Mikayla couldn’t say she really blamed the girl. She wasn’t a huge lover of change either, preferring to remain as much in control of everything as she could at all times. As for Lucas, he and Brooke were too young to be true mates. Fate never connected two so young, but pup love could be strong. Secretly she was glad she wouldn’t have to travel with Brooke to her cousin’s pack. She could already anticipate the crying and obsessing the girl would do along the way. No. No thanks.
This time, she was the first one to collapse onto their pallet and fall asleep. Jack and Hunter must not have wanted to wake her because when she opened her eyes, it was pitch-black in the family room, the fire had gone out, and her men snored softly on either side of her. Oh, and her bladder was full, uncomfortably so.
Not wanting to wake her men, and perhaps never make it out to empty her bladder after all, Mikayla slowly extricated herself from their warm bodies and tiptoed across the room. At one point, Jack turned in his sleep, grumbling, and she thought he would wake, but he was soon breathing deeply again. Smiling to herself, she quietly let herself out of the cabin for the short, brisk walk to the outhouse. Far off in the distance, she saw the outline of a wolf, whoever had lookout duty that night, sitting very still. There would be another male posted elsewhere, but even without their presence, she wouldn’t have been afraid. Being out in the woods was just a fact of life for her.
After making quick work of her business, Mikayla hurried back out of the outhouse, anxious to get back to her men and their warmth. She didn’t manage more than a couple of steps, though, before it hit her. The silence was just too deep, too complete, eerie really, and the hairs on the back of her neck stood to attention. She turned around too late. Before she could do more than wonder where he’d come from, he was upon her, covering her mouth with a huge, hot, dirty palm and pulling her behind the outhouse and into the woods.
Mikayla fought at first in a full-on panic, scratching, punching, kicking, and trying to free her mouth as if her life depended on it, because it just might. She got nowhere with the brute that way, though, and forced herself to stop, stop and think.
The link! That was the first thing she should have done. Help! she thought, desperately trying to push the thought to her mates. An attack. Help. Help me! She had no way to know if the link was strong enough to work at a distance yet. Those things took time, but she had to try, and in the meantime she had to fight. She had to hope.
Relaxing her body, she let him drag her. Deadweight was harder to move, and she needed to conserve her energy for whenever he stopped. She alternated between chanting Help! in her head, hoping her mates would wake and catch it and figuring out what to do next. There was no doubt he was a wolf shifter. She could tell by his scent. But shifting wouldn’t help, not yet. He, bigger and stronger, would have even more of an advantage in that form. Like this, she could use some of the moves she’d learned.
He moved swiftly and dragged her deep into woods, finally stopping among a cluster of tall bushes and weeds. Branches, leaves, and thorns had torn at the long T-shirt she’d worn to bed, and the skin on her legs felt like someone had whipped her. She couldn’t think of that, though. The moment he came to a stop, she reached up and clawed at the hand over her mouth.
“You scream, and I’ll kill you.”
Mikayla began to struggle again in earnest, but not really in the hopes of getting him to release her. She needed to distract him long enough to get a grip on his pinky. Her friend Hope had taught her what a weak point it was, even on a man of considerable size. He thought she fought to pry his whole hand off and she took advantage of that, grabbing his pinky finger viciously and yanking the wrong way as hard as she could. If she could have torn the digit off, she would have.
He howled in pain, but not as loudly as she wished. He shoved her away, calling her three different types of bitches, and she calculated her chances of making it if she shifted and ran back toward camp. Maybe she hadn’t broken the finger like she’d tried to because he wasted no time in lunging forward and grabbing her by the shirt.
“You fucking bitch!” He yelled in her face so explosively she could feel the heat of his breath and the spittle that accompanied his words. “I’m gonna fuck your dumb ass up for that.”
Not really thinking, just reacting at that point, she grabbed fistfuls of his shirt in her hands and yanked. Forget about trying to shove him away from her. She pulled him closer, at the same time dropping her weight hard, hard and fast. Dropping her center of gravity like that caused him to lose his balance, his own momentum making him fall forward. She tucked and rolled, allowing him to fall over her to the ground. Then she took advantage of his surprise, jumping to her feet and shifting in one fluid motion. Not at all interested in waiting to see how quickly he recovered, she took off like a shot.
He was after her faster than she liked and as she dodged and jumped over random logs and overgrown bushes, he was right behind her. She cursed herself as she ran, thinking if she had only just kicked him while he down, maybe he’d still be down. As things stood, his growls sounded way too close, and she could practically feel his breath on her tail.
Mikayla’s panicked brain barely worked as she put her all into running, but she wasn’t fast enough. She could no longer just practically feel his breath on her, she could really feel it on her as he landed on her, sinking his teeth into her back. Yelping, she struggled to throw him off, so focused on trying to dislodge him that she didn’t notice the huge missile of dark fur and angry teeth until it flew into her attacker and knocked him several feet into the brush. She did, however, notice the next growling wolf who went barreling past, joining the jumping, tumbling, snarling, ball of fur.
Standing a bit shakily, she trotted closer to get a better view. Mikayla let out a piercing howl, then another and another to alert the others, just in case Jack and Hunter needed help subduing the wolf who’d attacked her.
It rapidly became apparent that help wouldn’t be necessary as Jac
k emerged from the brush holding her attacker’s throat in his jaws and Hunter came next, tossing aside what could only be the other wolf’s innards.
* * * *
Jack had shifted and carried Mikayla back to camp as quickly as he could. He wouldn’t allow her to walk another step until they’d checked her out and made sure she was okay. The bite, he found, was deep, and though she tried to be brave, he was sure it was painful. Hunter cleaned it while she winced and groaned, explaining that infection could slow her healing process. Jack guessed she already knew that, but it seemed to make Hunter feel better to explain, so he let him, reminding himself that it would heal by morning.
Jack had wrapped her in a blanket from their pallet as soon as they’d gotten back. But once Hunter finished tending to her bite wound and various scrapes, he stood and ordered more than asked no one in particular to find something else for his mate to sleep in. The women had been standing around wide-eyed, and Jack thought they were happy to have something to do.
The alpha and the other men were outside somewhere. It seemed one lookout had been hit over the head in his human form and knocked out and the other had simply fallen asleep. Jensen had mentioned something about punishing both men. Jack didn’t know what he had in mind for punishment, but he hoped it was slow and extremely painful.
From what Mikayla had been able to tell them, she had barely seen her attacker’s face, and he hadn’t done much more than call her a bitch and drag her into the woods. She couldn’t identify him, and they had no idea if he was a rogue wolf or one of Ulric’s. Jack was betting on the former. Ulric’s men weren’t sloppy or particularly stealthy in their attack. When they came after a woman, they usually got her and killed or seriously injured anyone who got in their way. And they always seemed to leave someone behind to tell the story. Jack guessed spreading fear helped their cause. No, he was willing to bet this was a rogue wolf, but either way, he couldn’t let anything like that happen again.
He looked down at the woman who slept beside him on the pallet. Brooke’s mother had given her some sort of herbal sedative in her tea, so she could sleep despite the night’s upheaval. It had worked like a charm, and she slept with her hand curled under her chin, looking altogether too vulnerable.
Sighing, he looked over at Hunter, who’d also been staring at their mate. “We have to…” He hesitated, angry but not sure where to direct his anger. They’d already killed the enemy, but his rage still boiled just under the surface.
“It’s time to take her back to her clan,” Hunter finished for him.
“Yeah, and not in a week or even a couple of days. As soon as daylight comes.”
It had been the plan anyway, to take her back to her clan in a couple of weeks. And Jack had been all right with that, back when it was really just an idea of something to be done…eventually. Now, the reality weighed heavily on his mind, making his head hurt. It would take less than a day to get her home, and they could spend a few days there with her, seeing her through whatever punishment her alphas ordered. But then, they’d have to return to the underground and their mission, whether they’d managed to convince her of that need or not.
Hunter nodded, looking less than happy but determined. “No matter what happens, we have to keep her safe. Nothing like this can ever happen again. If anything had happened to her…”
“If we hadn’t heard her…” Jack clenched his fists remembering the way her desperate pleas had penetrated his mind, waking him from a deep sleep. The memory of their frantic search for her coupled with the disbelief that they’d slept through her leaving in the first place. “I can’t think about that. Nothing can happen to our mate, so we’ll take her back to her clan and make sure nothing does.”
Mikayla had told them about the size of her clan and the security its alphas had in place. As much as he was going to hate leaving her there, she’d be safe. And he needed her safe while they finished their mission. Once the vampires were dead, he’d find a way to help the underground and still have his mate by his side.
* * * *
Mikayla woke between two heavily sleeping wolves. Everything felt right when she lay between them, her head on Jack’s chest and Hunter’s arm around her. She looked up at Jack’s sleeping face. He radiated strength, even in his sleep, and she was thankful that he was as deadly as he looked. It had been stupid of her to go to the outhouse alone, but of course, hindsight was always clearer. She’d truly believed herself safe enough, what with the lookouts positioned around the camp and their remote location. Ulric wasn’t known to strike the smaller clans twice, so what did she have to fear?
Apparently plenty. If Jack and Hunter hadn’t come along when they did… She didn’t even want to think about what could have happened. Neither did she want to imagine how she would feel if that rogue wolf had managed to kill one of her men, or if he hadn’t been alone. Mikayla embraced her life and had never once wished she was human. She did, however, wish shifter life wasn’t so uncertain. Those she loved could be taken from her in the split of an eye, and she hated that with a passion.
Mikayla wondered at the peacefulness she felt upon waking. She should feel traumatized after the attack, but for some reason she didn’t. Her bite wound no longer hurt, and she was pretty sure it had healed. All she managed to feel was happy that she was there, safe, with her men.
She turned, trying to move as little as possible to avoid waking the men, whose sleep she’d disturbed enough last night. Hunter’s sleeping face made her insides flutter. With his long, thick mane of hair, he reminded her of a male lion, despite the fact that he was all wolf. He had that regal beauty male lions projected, even in sleep.
Jack moved behind her, putting his arm around her and tightening it in a death grip at the same time as Hunter’s eyes opened and fixed her with a questioning look. “Where are you going?” Jack asked, his voice thick with sleep.
“Nowhere.” She was going nowhere at all. Not without them. “It’s okay. Go back to sleep.”
Jack sighed and shifted, pressing his cock against her ass. The man was hard as a rock, already. “Hunter can go back to sleep. I’m not tired.” His voice was low, gravely, and if his cock hadn’t already made it clear what was on his mind, the sound of his voice surely did.
Mikayla’s breasts tightened, her nipples hardening at the sound of it and the thoughts it provoked.
Hunter’s questioning look turned into a sexy smile. “I’m wide awake.” His voice rumbled through her body and centered on her clit.
“We’ll get caught.” It was half a protest that she gave as Jack kissed her neck, his hand pulling up her night shirt and squeezing her thigh. Hunter reached up to cup her breast and stroke his thumb across her nipple.
She stifled a moan as her pussy practically purred in anticipation, ready and wet for them already. One more time. She’d try once more. “We could get caught. The sun’s already up.”
Hunter moved lower, taking the nipple he’d been stroking into his mouth just as Jack’s fingers found her pussy and dipped into her ever-growing wetness.
Jack pushed a finger into her pussy and pumped it a few times before pulling it out and making her whimper. He found her clit then, spreading her slick moisture on the hard, needy nub. “Want us to stop?”
So many answers to that question came to mind. So. Many. Thoughts. But Mikayla could only think of one that expressed her feelings perfectly. “Hell no. Don’t you dare.”
* * * *
After fucking her gently, her men had kissed and stroked her until she practically purred in their arms on her way back to sleep. Then, they seemed to decide, abruptly if you asked her, that playtime was over, jumping up and going to wake the others. Before she even really had a chance to process it all, they’d managed to corral the whole pack and send them on their way, a day earlier than planned. It made sense. Whether the wolf who’d attacked her was a rouge or one of Ulric’s, they could no longer afford to stay in the area.
Jack and Hunter had sent the others from
the underground with them as protection, a fact that had overjoyed Brooke since that meant she had Lucas a little longer. They’d return to the safe house once the pack had safely reached its destination.
Mikayla returned to the safe house, too, but only long enough to say good-bye to Liz and the others there and wait while Jack went to retrieve her car from its hiding place. Then, she was hustled back out to Hunter’s car. They met Jack on the road and sped toward River’s Bend. And yes, sped was the appropriate word. They made the trip in record time, with only one stop for gas.
She phoned Nikki and Robyn to tell them she was on her way back, and with not one but two men with her. Nikki had promised to try smoothing things over with the alphas before she got there. Robyn had expressed excitement over meeting her mates yet still managed to tease her over what the alphas were going to do to her when she got home.
Mikayla wasn’t nervous at first, or at least that was what she told herself for most of the trip. But as they drew closer to home, her home, the magnitude of what she had done in disobeying the alphas hit her full-on, and she found it difficult to keep still and calm. For as much as she’d told her men, she didn’t think they’d be too hard on her, she was no longer certain of that.
Of course Zion would choose something unpleasant as a punishment. He had to. His job as alpha required him to keep order. But Grey. That wild card was one she could do without, especially since she suddenly knew with complete sureness that he would want his pound of flesh.
Chapter 7
Ulric didn’t usually mind waiting. Too many alphas let impatience drive them to make mistakes. Not Ulric. He’d waited years to get to this point, to command the pack that would help him get his revenge on Grey Andres, co-alpha of Clan Liekos and the vampires. They’d even help him get that bitch, the one whose name he could hardly bear to think, even after all of these years. He didn’t let the wait convince him to move rashly either. He’d slowly formed his plan and waited for the right time to see it through.
Fated for Mikayla [Wolves of River's Bend 3] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) Page 14
