SixBarkPackTabooMobi

by Carys Weldon

  Just hearing him say that word made me wet.

  He groaned. Then he licked. Just a tongue flick, that curled up inside of me--ever so briefly--before he said, “I have an urge to piss all over you.”

  So, okay. That made me blink and wrinkle my nose, and hiss, “Get off of me, you stupid, rutting dog!”

  It bugged the hell out of me to lie on my back in full cougar. Hated being belly up like that. At his mercy.

  Not that I’d minded it before, but he wasn’t getting off. Literally.

  Only seconds had passed, but I think my fragrance befuddled him, had him hung--snicker--up so bad he just crouched over me, his tongue out of his mouth, looking at the way my lips swelled in instant readiness. Yep. The lower ones.

  I can’t help what my body does when he’s near me. When I know he’s turned on.

  But somebody had to think. One of us had to do something before we both ended up dead. It didn’t matter which side caught up with us. His relatives, or mine, we were in trouble. And I couldn’t do anything, on my back, in full cougar.

  So I began to shift.

  That knocked him out of his little stupor. Might have given him a panic, because he held me down while I went through the crinos--though I wasn’t moving otherwise. I could have slashed him, though. He was that close to me--literally on top of me.

  He gave me the inch-space I needed to do the shifting. When my face blinked to a more human appearance, he let go of my jaw.

  Again, he said, “You run. I chase, cat.”

  Swallowing hard, I whispered, “K.”

  He kissed me!

  Of course, I gasped in surprise.

  My family is much more attuned to rustling bushes than I am. Definitely do more ‘woodsy hunting’ than I do. Men. Why are they always into the killing? They headed straight for us. We heard the car doors slamming, yelling.

  Yes, they opened the gate. The extra vehicles, (all except the one that had taken Daddy, and Tommy to the house,) came out, took off in different directions. Leo had to be in one of them.

  I didn’t need Bark to tell me that they were surrounding the area they’d heard me hiss from.

  Bark, however, looked pointedly down at my body and said, “Cat. You gotta shift.”

  Shift to cougar? I frowned.

  He grinned, very wolfishly. “Fast cat, puss.” In a blink, he shifted to full lupine, his ears flicking one way, then another. And he said, “Go north.”

  I shook my head, afraid to say a word, for fear someone, anyone, would hear us.

  Bark insisted, “North. You run. I chase.”

  “Bastets.” My eyes flashed, trying to get the point across. “Everywhere up there.”

  He smiled. Let his tongue hang. And his eyes flashed. “I know.”

  I had to kiss him, then. A quick, pecky, lick and lip press against the side of his muzzle. It was the one direction they’d never expect us to go. All we had to do is get out of there, first.

  Turning, I perked my ears, listened, thought hard. This part wasn’t so tough--if he’d follow my lead. I mean, I got through, escaped, all the time. I’d just never done it with somebody behind me. A little unsure that I could do it without getting him caught, I looked over my shoulder at him.

  Confident, he waggled his eyebrows, the finely burnished hood that now covered his forehead, saying, “You run. I chase.” Quieter, he whispered, “Don’t look back, puss.”

  I tried, “I go. You wait until I lead them off.”

  He squinted at me like he thought I was nuts, shook his head, and started to argue--and repeat his now favorite phrase. “You ru--”

  “K.” I cut in. I mean--I got it. I didn’t stand around talking about it any more. I took off.

  Truth is, I don’t know how the heck we got out of there. When I started running, I didn’t look back. I just let my wits take me. I headed due north.

  I’m sure my family, when they picked up my trail, took some relief at the common sense of my heading straight for bastet territory, even if they knew I had a werewolf on my tail.

  Here again, geography screwed me. Promising myself to pay more attention to maps, globes and world reports in the future. I ran us right to a lake. A big, fucking-ass lake that looked like it was as wide as the day is long.

  Instinct? My nose led me to water. I was dying of thirst. A sip later, I’m thinking again, Did they catch Bark? I’d lost him.

  I considered going back, looking for him. Started to. Paced back and forth all over the side of that lake. Before, finally, I decided that I needed to get moving again.

  It took forever to get around that lake. I’m a cat. I don’t swim. But I ran most of the time, hopping into the shallow edge for lengths at a time--hoping that would throw anyone following me off my trail.

  I don’t know how long it took. On the far side of the lake, I started climbing. Mountainous outback region with lots of trees and boulders. Natural cat habitat. Lots of old lairs, but nobody in sight--or within scent. I crawled upward until I, honestly, could not move any more. And then I holed up, licked my heart.

  There was a surety in my soul that I would not be welcome at the compound ever again, for what I’d done. I could not face ‘my family.’ And I worried whether or not they’d even live through it all.

  Oh, I wanted those painkillers right then, but I didn’t think they’d help my heart. Just...take some of the thinking away. I faced something there, though. The fact that my actions do affect others.

  Yeah. I cried myself to sleep.

  I was so sorry.

  When I woke up, I didn’t feel any better. Restlessness had returned to my bones. I decided to keep moving. For days, I slunk through the country, never looking back. Not stopping for much. Staying out of sight, ahead of the wind.

  Wandered aimlessly, really, knowing I couldn’t go home.

  I don’t know how long I would have kept that up, if Bark hadn’t found me. Maybe forever.

  This is how much I’d stopped caring about things...In the light of day, I walked out into the open, shifted full human, stepped into a lake--they were all over up there--up to my breasts. Any deeper makes me nervous.

  But I was far enough in to be stuck.

  I heard something in the bushes. Just a little noise. The snap of a twig.

  That put a panic on my face, had my gaze darting, and my heart racing. There was a little funny to it, when you think about it. I’m sure it looked like something to watch. Nipples skimming the water’s surface, erect the minute fear zipped through me.

  So tense, and afraid to move. I remember that.

  My throat kept me from calling out. It wasn’t working at all. Not letting me swallow. I was so scared I couldn’t even bring myself to sniff for a scent.

  A stranger? Gaia, I prayed not.

  Bark? Surely, if it were him, he’d have come right out?

  Leo? I know he’d have come out, probably chewing on me. No. He wouldn’t have wasted a second that he could have been showing me his fury.

  Tommy? My heart lurched. I suddenly wanted to cry. I knew it wouldn’t be Tommy.

  Tears welled up. All I wanted right then was Tommy to walk out and say, “Move, Le.” Sniff.

  But no. It was Daddy.

  Of all the people, I never expected him to show up. I tipped my head, and let the tears fall.

  He looked at my hair, and I saw the hurt in his eyes, the tremble of his lips. And the way he didn’t let his gaze stray lower.

  I felt suddenly naked. I know that sounds silly. But I covered my breasts with my arms and tentatively said, “Daddy?”

  I couldn’t judge his mood. He stared at me for ageless minutes.

  Finally, he said, “Letha.” That’s all. He didn’t hold his arms out to me, to invite me into his embrace. Not that I expected that, exactly. But he wasn’t looking at me with the hated, horrid disapproval that he’d always shown before. In fact, there was a deadness in his gaze.

  I repeated, “Daddy?” I wanted him to tell me I could come out
of the water. That he’d take me home.

  When he did speak, it was very calm. Deadly quiet. “I thought I couldn’t die twice, but I was wrong.”

  I didn’t know what he meant. Confusion had to be spread across my features. I took a step toward him, swishing the water. But he shook his head--not wanting me to come closer.

  “I can’t let you do this to Tommy and Leo any more.” Wooden monotone. Bleak nothingness.

  “Daddy?”

  “They aren’t coming for you this time, Le.”

  Arrow to my heart.

  Belly spasm to my soul.

  I couldn’t bring myself to ask if they were all right. I didn’t question what he said. I knew the stone cold truth. I was on my own.

  I couldn’t even ask how he’d found me. How long he’d watched me.

  And I couldn’t bring myself to beg--for what I knew I didn’t deserve.

  Daddy surprised me, though, by saying, “I don’t hate you, Le. I want you to know that.”

  For bringing the dogs down on us. For getting Tommy hurt. For leaving?

  He left me standing there. And as much as I wanted to chase after him, I couldn’t bring myself to do it. I just stood there, aching, sniffling, sucking it up, knowing I deserved...what?

  The nothing he’d left me with.

  I couldn’t blame him. I’d done the unforgivable. Run with a garou, and not come home. I wondered if...no, I knew. They’d picked up my trail, sniffed Bark behind me, following. Probably had plenty of time to check out that hill, and add up all the facts. And see that I’d made a choice when I ran from the compound.

  It may have looked like I was saving my own ass, but I’d really been running so Barklay would chase me. So they wouldn’t kill him.

  That lake drew cold around me. My skin puckered, made me shrivel like my heart.

  If Daddy had followed my trail to the lake, he surely had come across Bark at some point. To say I felt totally bereft is an understatement. Total stillness surrounded me. The water didn’t ripple. The wind didn’t blow. Not even a breeze.

  No dragonflies buzzed. No birds squawked.

  Part of me understood the deadness that had been in Daddy’s eyes, then. How many times I’d tried to shock that out of him, or make him laugh, or anything. Anything that would make him feel for me. Make him forget my mother, and what she’d done.

  How she’d left us all aching.

  I dragged myself from the lake, when I was shivering so much that I couldn’t stand it--when it finally sunk in. But once I got to the bank, I didn’t know where to go, so I stood there dripping.

  Looking around.

  Thinking aloud, “What are you gonna do now, Le?”

  Chapter Eight

  “What do you wanna do?” Bark’s voice came out of nowhere, startled the hell out of me.

  I looked for him, but couldn’t see him. My pulse picked up. “Bark?”

  Hoarse dog laugh, a little pained. “Were you expecting someone else?”

  Peering into the shadows, I shook my head. “No, but--”

  “From what I understand...when Lionel Felini says something, it’s usually true.”

  “It is.” I frowned, tipping my head. “What do you mean?”

  “He said they weren’t coming for you.”

  Can you be cut to the breastbone twice from the same arrow? Yes.

  Tears welled up more. What could I say?

  “You want them to come.” It came out on a growl, accompanied by a red flash from Bark’s eyes. I saw him then, by a tree. One hand wrapped. He sagged into it, letting the strength of one arm, and an old Oak, hold him up.

  In crinos.

  Covered in blood. Raw wounds. Fresh.

  At first I was in too much shock to move. Then too horrified...for him. When I got my legs to work, and started toward him, I had a sudden thought. Had he fought with Daddy? That made me pause.

  His gaze narrowed. He knew what I was thinking.

  My eyes went over him. The gashes were deep. Cat strikes. The claw marks were unmistakable.

  “Oh, Bark...” Bile rose inside my throat.

  He waited for me to ask about Daddy. Or to say something more. Truth? I didn’t want to know. I’d faced enough honesty for a lifetime.

  Had a new take on that. Maybe all that lying my family had done wasn’t so bad after all. I mean, if it was to stop me from feeling--

  Bark closed his eyes. Pain? Blood dribbled, the wounds were so fresh. He whispered, as if completely out of strength. “Lie to me, Le,” and he fell forward, landing at my feet.

  Of course, I scrambled backward, so he wouldn’t take me down, too, before I dropped to my knees, saying, “Oh, Gaia. Oh, Gaia. Bark!”

  He groaned, trying to push himself up. I was pulling, trying to roll him over. Together, we managed to get him on his side. The fall caused blood to pool in small, fist-sized puddles. I didn’t know where to touch him, without hurting him.

  “Oh, Bark. Bark.” I kept repeating his name. “I’m so sorry.”

  I kissed his face, rather desperately. Squeezed my cheek to his temple. Realized he was partially shifting beneath me. The minute he started to morph, he whined in pain.

  That set me off on a whole new set of ‘Oh, Bark. I’m so sorrys’.

  His head fell, tiredly, resting on my bare knees. I swear, I thought he was dying. Almost dead. His eyes closed. He let out a groan.

  I smoothed my fingers through his hair. Dropped another kiss. Arched over him. That’s one of the great things about being a cat. We’re very limber. Able to do things that seem--

  Very poignant, that touching moment. Losing him.

  That heart I thought had been broken in two by Daddy?

  Shattered.

  I don’t know how long I leaned over him, stroking his head, kissing his temple, whispering how much I loved him, begging him not to die--sure that he was in the grasp of death already.

  So, it was a bit of a shock when he moved, with another groan, and looked up at me--yes, with a wolfish grin--to say, “I died and went to heaven, right?”

  Straightening my back, lifting my hand without thinking, I blinked. “What?”

  I hadn’t processed that he was reviving, not dying.

  That son of a bitch’s tongue flicked out...licking my fur in a devilish swoop, and he rolled nose first into my thighs, muttering, “Don’t move, Le.”

  To say I was too stunned at first to think...?

  Master Tongue reached into me, lapped, slipped right into the folds of my womanhood and then rumbled from his chest.

  I put my hands on the side of his face, but didn’t pull him up. It felt too good to make him quit. I did say, “Gaia. You are such a dog.”

  Epilogue

  We never went back. How could we?

  His pack would have killed him--for bringing on the war--because he was chasing pussy, literally.

  And you know how things are with my--well, you know.

  Doesn’t mean I don’t think about them, or worry, or wonder what they do for entertainment these days, without me to chase around.

  I did find out what Bark had been doing in the lane that night we met. Said he’d got a tip about an embezzler. I guess Wolf Enterprises has internal problems. He wanted to go back and fix them, but?

  He’s got a brother, Mark. And he’s pretty confident that he’ll come home and take care of things, figure out the mess he left behind. Not that Mark would understand about us.

  It doesn’t seem to bother Bark, though.

  He just laps up the attention I give him. Says he’d rather spend a day with me than a lifetime somewhere else. I’m so grateful that he doesn’t make me feel bad for taking him away from everything.

  We don’t talk about my family. He never brings them up and neither do I. Sometimes I think about that moment before he fell at my feet, and I wonder...what, exactly, did he mean?

  Do I want them to come for me?

  But I don’t dwell on that much--because his next words, when I though
t he was dying--mean so much more. “Lie to me.”

  He doesn’t want to know the answer to his question. Which is probably why I dwelt on it until I finally figured out the answer.

  No.

  I don’t want anyone to come for me, ever again, except Bark.

  Here’s something that’s funny...after he licked me...? You know, when I thought he was dying...? He lifted his head and said, “You are so lucky.”

  Of course, I was thinking and how.

  But he elaborated with, “I am too worn out to hunt down anybody else...today.” Exhausted, he dropped his nose back between my legs, sighed with pleasure.

  I squeezed my thighs. I know he likes the feel of my skin on the sides of his face.

  Okay. Giggle. He was talking about the fact that he’d come--snicker--to the realization that he didn’t want me with other men--as much a turn-on as that had been the first time we were together. He’d been making himself crazy, as he followed my trail, with the thought that I might have sex with someone else before he got to me.

  Isn’t that funny?

  So he huffed out air, warming my twat with his want.

  “Oh,” I melted internally, became liquid instantly. Had to give in. Like that was a sacrifice, ha! Laid back, spread my legs, and let him really nose up. After a moan or two of pleasure, I had to ask, “What do you mean?” I swear, it’s hard to think when he’s doing that. Takes my brain a few minutes to process.

  Growling rumbles. His.

  “I’m serious, Bark. What are you talking about?”

  Moaning. Hissing gasps of pleasure. Those were mine.

  “Mm.”

  Orgasmic aahing. Arching. Reaching.

  As pained as he was, he pawed his way up and over me, pinned me, and looked down at my face, demanding, “Do that again, cat.”

  “Wha--what?”

  You know how it is after you’ve hit the chasm. You’re not thinking at all.

  “Oh.” I smiled. “I fully intend to.” But I needed to rest up first. “Right after I collapse here.”

  Exasperated, he asked, “Am I gonna have to--”