by Hettie Ivers
“No. Fucking. Way.” Kai muttered with a look of awe as the pure black wolf was sent crashing straight through a window.
The black wolf quickly returned through that same broken window to attack the black and grey wolf who had thrown him.
I knew Alex’s wolf was the black and grey one, so Alcaeus’ had to be the pure black. I didn’t relish seeing such violence, but I was too stunned and disoriented to voice that thought.
“Milena, they’ll be fine,” Kai assured. “Let me have a look at your neck, please?” Setting me down in Remy’s broken chair, he reverted to doctor mode, tilting my face away from the fight so that he could get a better view of Alcaeus’ handiwork.
Instinctively, my hand flew up to finger the wound first, as it occurred to me I definitely had to be bleeding. I felt a little dampness at the spot where he’d bitten me, but nothing more. It didn’t hurt, and my skin seemed unbroken—smooth and uninjured beneath my fingertips.
“Let me see, please?” Kai requested more firmly, kneeling on the floor in front of me and drawing my hand away.
“There’s … nothing …” I mumbled as he leaned closer, his fingers trailing gingerly over the point of contact.
“Mm-hmm,” he confirmed, pulling back and gifting me with the sweetest of half-smiles that I was sure I’d never seen him wear before. “Not even a scratch,” he said, a curious reverence in his tone.
“Guess that means I’m healing like a werelock already, huh?” I assessed shyly.
He shook his head. “It means you are without question our vessel. A vessel can’t be marked.”
“Marked?”
“Werewolves mark their mates with a special bite that is permanent. One that will leave a definitive scar, regardless of any supernatural healing capabilities.”
“Oh.” I frowned. “So then Alex thought … and that’s why …” I fumbled and stopped short as Remy stomped over to us, still buck-naked, his big dick literally swinging back and forth as he went.
“Are you two fucking nuts?” Remy berated Kai. “What if she hadn’t been the vessel, huh? What the fuck then?” he demanded, coming to stand right next to where I was seated. And in doing so placing his penis directly in my line of vision.
Kai shrugged. “We were ninety-nine percent certain.”
“Oh, well, that’s just great. Real cool fucking trick, Al!” Remy yelled at the battling wolves. “She’s the vessel, Alex, she wasn’t marked!”
I cringed as the snarls and the sound of snapping jaws seemed to grow louder. The sound of shattering glass followed, and I looked back to see them both soar through another window. Guadalupe screamed after them to fucking stay outside.
“Good God, are you all right, Milena?” Remy fretted over me, getting a little too close for comfort, considering he had his penis on full display. “Did he hurt you?”
“I’m good,” I managed to rasp, keeping my eyes averted.
“Are you sure?”
I nodded vigorously, thinking I’d be positively perfect if he’d just step back and put some pants on already.
“You’re a bastard for going along with that stunt,” Remy scolded Kai, whacking him on the back of the head.
“Well, it was you who gave Al the idea,” Kai responded.
“What? Fucking hell, I know he’s an asshole most of the time, but do you have any idea what that shit did to Alex? Christ, I can’t remember when I’ve ever sensed him get so weepy emotional about anything,” Remy remarked with a shake of his head. “And right before he went ballistic it felt like his powers virtually doubled in intensity.”
“Exactly,” Kai said with a raised brow. “That was the whole trick. How do you think you both got off the wall? How do you think Alex is still holding his own against Alcaeus and the power of Joaquin Salvatella’s blood magic right now?”
Comprehension lit Remy’s features.
“Alcaeus proved your theory. Alex did inherit Renata’s power as well as Antonio’s. He’s just chosen to willfully neglect and deny any proclivities toward emotional awareness—and consequently the power that would be drawn from such ability.”
Grinning, Remy smacked Kai on the back of the head again. “Well played.”
Before I could ask Kai to translate his last statement into human-speak for me, I heard a female voice reprimand from outside the broken front windows, “Boys, boys! Stop it! Stop it this instant! What the fuck is wrong with you two?”
My heart leapt with excitement as I realized it was Alessandra who had just dared pose the ultimate of rhetorical questions to her Cujo brothers outside.
CHAPTER TWO
“Lupe!” Alessandra called out as she strode into the house. “Bring those assholes shorts, please?”
She was wearing black yoga pants and a tank top, her hair pulled back into a long, messy ponytail that made her look even more radiant and youthful than she had the first night I’d met her. And tired and harried as she appeared to be at the moment, she was still unquestionably gorgeous. No doubt she was the type of woman who rolled out of bed looking stunning.
“Lessa, thank God you’re here,” Remy greeted.
“Milena, hey! Oh, you poor thing, are you okay? Did it hurt?” Alessandra gushed the moment her eyes alighted upon me. “May I see your neck? You’re related to the Salvatella? How did this happen?” She interrogated in random, rapid-fire succession as she glided gracefully across the room in my direction over damaged, torn up chairs, demolished end tables, and other debris to where I was seated in Remy’s broken chair, Kai still kneeling in front of me.
“Lord sakes, Remy, put your prick away,” she chastised. “You’re wagging your dick in poor Milena’s face!”
She’d almost reached me when Alex’s ginormous black and grey wolf bounded back through the front door at supernatural speed, hip-checking her out of his way and into Remy’s naked arms. He was moving so fast I didn’t even have time to scream as he leapt over a fallen chair directly at me.
But his massive canine body twisted midair at the last moment as he lunged, his open muzzle aiming for Kai, who barely had enough time to swear before Alex’s jaws sank into his shoulder, eliciting a pained howl from the doctor, his features warping in agony and his muted brown eyes flashing into an iridescent, pale blue as the black and grey wolf whipped his head, violently tossing Kai by his bloodied shoulder across the polished wooden floor to smash hard against the stone fireplace.
Kai’s battered human body morphed a split second later into a huge, pure white wolf, his clothes shredding and falling from his werewolf form as he staggered to his four legs—just in time to be tackled by Alex’s wolf, whose mammoth jaw went for his throat this time.
“Alex, no!” Alessandra’s high-pitched scream squashed any doubts my stunned eyes were hoping to harbor as to the true danger Kai’s white wolf was in as the black and grey wolf’s yawning muzzle engulfed his neck, clamping down and aggressively taking the white wolf to the ground, whimpering in pain.
“Alex!” Alessandra shrieked again, “I told you, no more violence in front of Milena!”
What?
“Fuck, Alex, cut it out, already,” Remy interjected, sounding more vexed than he did concerned as the dark wolf growled and gnawed over the immobilized white wolf’s exposed throat. Bright red blood stained the white wolf’s fur as it began to seep from his neck.
“Alex, you can’t kill him. We need Kai,” Alessandra reasoned.
My mouth fell agape. A sick panic settled in my gut as I recalled the siblings’ similarly half-assed attempts at intervention when I’d been the one immobilized on the cold marble floor at Alex’s complete mercy that first night.
Alcaeus waltzed into the house then, clad in a fresh pair of basketball shorts. He took in the scene with a chortle of amusement, planting his hands on his hips and tsking, “Kai, you’re not even trying, man.”
What the fuck? What was wrong with all of them? Was no one going to intervene and save Kai?
I knew for certain it wouldn’t
be Kaleb’s brown wolf, who was still standing stupidly at attention on the sidelines. And neither Alcaeus, Remy, nor Alessandra seemed concerned enough to jump into the fray. Was it all another ruse? Like Alcaeus biting my neck had been?
But Kai’s wolf was bleeding! And the black and grey wolf’s rage was … palpable. I could smell it. Feel it. And it chilled me to my bones.
I scanned the room for the only other human barometer, Guadalupe, and I was alarmed to note that she appeared distressed as well by the situation, her eyes flitting from Kai’s wolf to Alcaeus, as if wondering how far he was going to allow this to go.
The white wolf whimpered again. I had to do something!
Fuck it. I jumped from my seat and sprinted straight for Alex’s wolf, knowing full well that if I wasn’t quick enough about it, Remy and Alessandra would surely stop me. I hadn’t planned on tripping over broken pieces of furniture, though, as shouts of warning rang out across the room at me. As it was, I crashed gracelessly to the ground about four feet from Kai’s and Alex’s wolves, knocking the wind from my lungs.
I cringed when initially my attempt to intercede seemed to do more harm than good, as the dark wolf jerked his muzzle in my direction, taking the white wolf’s neck with him, eliciting a whine of agony in the process.
I gasped. “No, Alex!”
I heard Alessandra pleading with me to stay out of it, followed by Alcaeus shushing her. Alex’s black and grey wolf snarled at me.
“Oh, shut it!” I barked right back before I could think better of it. “Don’t you dare hurt Kai!”
Alex’s wolf ears perked up at my challenging tone, his feral eyes pinning me in a manner that could be described only as unsettling. Then a low growl echoed from his huge chest.
Shit. They really were freakishly mammoth in their wolf forms.
I held his gaze and refused to back down. “Let. Him. Go.” I spoke calmly, despite the trembling adrenaline coursing through me; but in no way did I phrase it as a request.
The black and grey wolf blinked. He stopped growling. To my dismay, he didn’t relinquish his hold over the white wolf’s sorely abused throat. But his energy felt less angry to me. Or was it my imagination? He looked pensive. Perhaps he was considering my demand?
I arose shakily to my hands and knees, intending to crawl closer.
“Down, Milena!” Alcaeus’ command hit me like a dead weight to the small of my back, flattening me to the floor on my belly.
The white wolf was abruptly released, and it took all of my willpower to stifle the scream that lodged in my throat as the dark wolf yipped and leapt for me. I squeezed my eyes tightly shut, covering my head with my hands as four paws landed with a resounding thud on all sides of me. I tried to quell my complete and immediate panic, telling myself Alex’s wolf would never harm me, reminding myself how I’d felt safer with Alex’s wolf nature than I had the man.
I had, right? Why had I thought that again?
Fuck, sensing his inner wolf nature while he was in human form was one thing, but physically getting up close and personal with his snarling, freakishly enormous, and terrifying beast form was something else entirely.
“You’re safe, Milena. He won’t harm you.” It was Alcaeus’ voice I heard inside my head, accompanied by waves of his calming energy throughout my system, making me feel warm and languid all over, just as something soft and furry brushed overtop of me. A cool snout nuzzled against the back of my head before snuffling into the crook of my shoulder.
I held perfectly still as Alex’s wolf proceeded to ghost his muzzle in what felt like a soothing gesture back and forth along my spine and atop my head, whining somberly. As I relaxed enough to breathe deeply, I inhaled the most heavenly aroma my she-wolf and I had ever scented, and I’m pretty sure I actually purred aloud.
The black and grey wolf purred back.
Well, technically speaking, it was probably still a growl. But it was a gentler growl, the vibration accompanying it feeling distinctly more like a purr to me. Or at least that’s what I convinced myself.
He prodded at me with his snout until I rolled over for him. As I peeked my eyes open, his nose pressed into my belly, tickling against me as he sniffed, nudging my shirt up slightly in the process.
“Cut it out!” I squealed when a hot, long tongue lolled out to lick across the expanse of my exposed lower belly. He repeated the action again and again, until I was giggling and squirming beneath him, oblivious to the gawking spectators surrounding us.
My hands that had lowered in defense of my belly were thoroughly laved as well. He continued on, scenting his way down each of my jean-covered legs, stopping to thoroughly lick over my ankles, bare feet and toes before moving back up again. My cheeks ached from laughing so hard by the time he made it back up to my exposed stomach to tickle-torment me there again.
I heard Alessandra titter softly and coo a protracted “Awww.”
Great.
The snuffling, wheezing noises Alex’s wolf was making started to sound suspiciously like laughter as he pressed his snout into my armpit, causing me to shriek and cackle. He seemed more like a giant, playful puppy to me now than he did a killer Cujo.
“Stop, stop!” I panted. “No more tickling!”
My laughter abated when his immense muzzle came to hover right above my face, his big paws padding down on either side of my head. Okay, perhaps “puppy” wasn’t the best descriptor. His snout lowered, his feral eyes studying me. It was only his glorious scent and the soft purring noise vibrating deep within his chest that kept me from panicking again. That, and the small, insane fact that my senseless, giddy she-wolf already seemed to trust him with our lives.
“Offer him your neck,” Alcaeus telepathically instructed. “Turn your head so he can access the side where I bit you.”
I slowly did as advised, my fingertips cautiously reaching up to draw my hair out of the way, so that the black and grey wolf would see that I was uninjured. But his delightful purring-growl morphed into an unexpected and quite menacing growl then, and I feared I’d made a grave mistake. My heart bolted, my face scrunching up in fear as every human instinct begged me to cover my throat again and cower into a tight ball on the floor.
“Stay still!” Alcaeus ordered. “He won’t hurt you. His anger is for me and Kai.”
I held still, and my big, bad playmate soon commenced whining softly once more, as he had before when he’d been running his muzzle over my spine. And it clicked for me as it had earlier on the terrace: Alex’s wolf didn’t want me to be afraid of him.
He wanted me to feel safe with him. He wanted me to be confident. Happy. But maybe most of all, he wanted me to trust him, I realized. And I got the distinct sense it was the complete and unconditional, no reservations kind of trust he was angling for. Crap.
I willed my tensed facial features to relax. I focused on breathing evenly in and out. I was rewarded and freaked out for my efforts when I felt his hot breath blanket my face, just before his rough-textured tongue licked up the length of my neck from my clavicle to my ear. I squirmed and bit my lip to stifle a nervous giggle. He growled.
I stiffened. Shoot, was that meant to be a serious lick that time? Was there a difference? Had I disrespected his lick?
“He doesn’t like my scent on you,” Alcaeus counseled. “Relax. Ignore the growling, it’s not directed at you.”
I wanted to argue that it was directed at me, in fact, considering his snout was straight up pressed into my ear at present. But I closed my eyes and did my best to do as Alcaeus suggested as Alex’s wolf licked me again. And then again … and again … over and over, until he had thoroughly laved every inch of skin covering my neck.
I lost count of how many licks he administered, and eventually I did genuinely relax and submit to his ministrations, even willingly offering him the other side of my neck when he seemed content with his attentions to the left side. He rumbled his approval and moved on to diligently lap at the right side of my throat. It felt good. It didn’t t
ickle so much anymore. It felt strangely … sensual. Stimulating. My inner bitch was euphoric.
I wasn’t sure what insanity prompted me to do it, but at some point I raised a tentative, curious hand and ghosted trembling, sweaty fingers over the soft patch of fur covering the right side of his muzzle. Alex had given me permission to touch him whenever I wanted, right? His majestic head lifted from my neck and he panted down at me, his tongue lolling out between his mammoth jaws. I froze. Those teeth were big … and sharp.
Alcaeus chuckled inside my head. “Don’t stop now, honey.”
When I still hadn’t moved, had barely breathed, Alcaeus coached, “Don’t overthink. Follow your instinct.”
Slowly, I lifted my left hand to graze the opposite side of his muzzle. And as I held his gaze, those golden irises of his seemed to blaze comforting warmth clear through to my soul. I proceeded to lightly rake my fingers into the smooth, thicker fur on either side of his head, eventually working my way higher up, extending my arms as far as I could reach them in order to bury my fingers into the dense fur around his neck. He accommodated my awkward, shy embrace by crouching closer, bending his forelegs and ultimately lowering his head until he was once more purr-growling against the crook of my neck.
He was practically lying on top of me now, though assiduously holding his weight from me. My brain struggled to reconcile the overpowering, perplexing emotions surfacing. I felt so safe, so perfectly perfect tucked securely beneath Alex’s massive wolf.
I reasoned it had to be the leftover opiates in my system, or the combined stress of being bitten and seeing Kai attacked—or perhaps the fact that I had a crazy inner dog excitedly wagging her tail right now. Because I couldn’t shake the bizarre notion that I’d just stumbled upon some mythical sanctuary—somehow located the idyllic haven I’d been searching for my entire existence—lying intertwined with Alex’s wolf.
