The Marked and the Broken

by Ivy Asher

  I go through all the shit with my Chosen and Enoch’s coven, playing back every stupid fight and snipe they’ve made at each other. I tap into Silva and his disgust, and then shovel Lachlan’s hate onto my pile of burning fury. I pick at every question I have that I’ll probably never get the answers to, until they open up and bleed frustration into me. And when I repeat over and over again how this bitch is trying to steal what’s mine, my game face slams down, my beastmode in full effect, and my soul cries out for blood and penance.

  I go still on my side of the clearing and wait to be set loose. Fedor announces a bunch of shit I don’t pay attention to because, instead, I’m picturing ripping this chick’s head off on repeat in my mind. I’m so fucking keyed up that as soon as Fedor whistles, indicating the start of the fight, I charge.

  I sprint toward Brun, who seems shocked by my move, but that’s exactly why I did it. This big ass woman is probably used to fighting others who take their time and look for an opening to counteract her strength and size. But I don’t fucking care if she hurts me, because I know I’m going to hurt her a hell of a lot worse. When I’m a couple feet away from Brun, who is now also running full speed toward me, I bend down as low as I can and tackle her around the thighs. We fall to the ground, and as her back slams into the dirt, I knee her between the legs.

  Guys think they hold the pain rights to that move, but it fucking hurts for women, too. Brun shouts out and then growls at me. She uses her brute strength to roll me over, switching our positions, and tries to claim the advantage of being on top. I manage to get my bent legs between us, and when I feel the grit of dirt against my back, I push to straighten my legs and move Brun’s big ass body away from me. I can’t throw her completely off, but I can get her far enough away from me to land some head shots.

  I hold her in the air with my legs, in some fucked up Superman pose, and pummel her face and neck with punches. She can’t even manage a swipe in my direction because she’s too busy guarding her head from my attack. She scrambles off of me, and I kip up onto my feet. She wipes blood from her nose and mouth with the sleeve of her shirt and spits blood at me, enraged. The insult falls short of where I’m standing, and I smirk at her. She comes for me, and I crouch down, making it look like I’m going for her legs again. She bends lower so as not to give me the advantage again, but at the last minute, I spring up and throw my arm out to clothesline her.

  The hit rattles me, and I’m pretty sure I just fucked up my shoulder and forearm. Brun screams and scrubs at her face, trying to get her eyes clear of the dirt I just threw at her. I’m flung around onto her back from the momentum caused by Brun running and me throwing an unmoving arm in her way. I was trying to get her to go down again, but I can work with this too. I wrap my fucked up arm around her neck, my inner elbow tucked under her chin, and use my good arm to pull the headlock tighter. It fucking hurts, and I’m about seventy percent sure I’ve broken something, but I’ll ride the pain in order to fucking end this bitch.

  Brun scratches at my arms, and I bring up my legs to pin her arms down as she falls to her knees. I squeeze harder and feel a couple taps on my calf, but I ignore them. If she thinks I’m going to release her after she tried to take my motherfucking wolf, she’s in for a rude fucking awakening. Brun falls to her side, and I go with her, but I’m locked in tight, and there’s no way she’s getting out of this. I squeeze until I feel her start to go limp, and then I move my hand under her chin so I can snap her neck.

  “Witch!” Torrez yells at me, and I look up to find him only a couple feet away. “Stop. You won. This isn’t a fight to the death; you can let her go,” he tells me, but his words swim slowly in my brain, not making much sense.

  He takes a step toward me, and I narrow my eyes at him and practically growl. Gasps sound off around me, but Torrez just smiles.

  “You forget, Witch, the kill is not the prize tonight. I am. Let’s do something else with all that aggression streaming through you.” Torrez’s tongue darts out to lick his full lips, and I track the movement and find myself mirroring it. His molten brown eyes dip down to my mouth, and he gives a little growl of approval. He offers his arm, and I debate for a second, my hand gripping Brun’s chin, before letting go and setting my palm inside Torrez’s.

  “That’s my girl,” he coos at me before he throws me over his shoulder and slaps my ass hard. “Now, let’s go make you mine.”

  12

  Torrez practically kicks the door down, but I don’t say anything about it since I find it hot as fuck. The den the Volkovs have provided is a small log cabin tucked back in the trees, away from all the other houses. I try not to think of it as the house of fuck, even though it’s clear that’s all this place is used for. I’d guess every mated pair in this pack sealed the deal in this place, and I try to not get the heebie-jeebies. I take in the rustic furniture and the big wood-framed bed and try not to think about what a blacklight would find in this place.

  Torrez sets me on my feet and closes the door. He turns back to me, and that same predatory gleam is in his eyes that was there the other day when I ran from him. It once again sends flurries of anticipation and excitement blazing through me. He scents my emotions in the air immediately, and the corners of his mouth tilt up in a smirk.

  “You going to run from me again, Witch? Let me show you how dominant I can be?” he asks, and my stomach flip flops at the gravel in his tone and the images his questions conjure.

  “You want me to make you work for it, Wolf? Is that what you need?” I ask curiously, hunger in my voice and wetness pooling between my thighs.

  “I think you need me to earn it,” he counters.

  I contemplate those words and realize he might be right. I’m not sure why that is. I haven’t felt that way with the others, but my relationship with Torrez has been different from the start. More aggressive. He brings out this side of me that I usually tuck away when I’m not fighting, and I like it. I eye him up and down and then meet his gaze with a teasing smile.

  “So earn it then,” I tell him, and then I leap toward the bed in an effort to get away from him.

  I want the higher ground that the bed provides to defend myself better, but I clearly need to come up with a plan B because Torrez plucks me out of the air like a fucking frisbee and pulls me into him. Excitement squeaks out of me, but I bite down on it and push to get out of Torrez’s arms. He nips at my neck in response to my half-hearted efforts, and my nipples grow hard. I bite him on the shoulder, and he growls and proceeds to back me into the wall.

  “Sure you don’t have any shifter in you?” Torrez asks me huskily.

  “No idea,” I answer, just as breathless.

  Torrez licks the shell of my ear and then whispers, “You’re about to.”

  I laugh at the awful pick-up line, and his eyes light up with mirth.

  “Now kiss me, Witch,” he orders as his hands skim up my sides, and he pins me against the wall with his hips. He pulls up the bottom of my tank top and whips it off over my head. I grab the back of his neck and pull his lips to mine. We fight for control of the kiss and battle for dominance over each other’s mouths. I bite Torrez’s lip, but he doesn’t even flinch when I draw a small amount of blood. He just growls into my mouth and grinds up into my spread thighs.

  He paws the front of my bra and tugs it away from my body. I wore actual clothes for this dinner instead of workout gear and, therefore, a proper bra, clasps and all. I pull away from his bruising kiss. “Don’t fucking rip it,” I warn him. “I only have so many good bras on this trip.”

  He groans and kisses his way across my jaw. “I’ve never been good at these evil little contraptions,” he tells me between kisses, pulling on the front of it again.

  I laugh. “You’re telling me the big bad wolf has been bested by a bra?”

  Torrez smiles at my teasing challenge and then rips the bra off me in one quick pull. “Not anymore,” he tells me with a smirk.

  “You fucking prick,” I yell at him and p
ush off against the wall with my good arm in an effort to unpin myself. “You did not just do that after I told you not to!” I try to push him away from me, needing adequate distance so I can yell at him, but he fights to keep me pinned. I ignore how much I like that and focus on my outrage over the battered garment that’s been flung to the ground. We wrestle back and forth, me gaining some space between us, and him slamming me back against the wall and pressing into me.

  I realize I’ve been duped into thinking I’m going to gain the upper hand, when I shimmy up high on the wall and try to kick out at Torrez. He simply smiles the epitome of a wolfish grin, grabs my leg, puts his big hands under my ass and pulls my center right to his face. He nuzzles my wet panties and sniffs deeply.

  I slap his arm. “Quit being fucking weird,” I growl at him and then bite back a moan when the tip of his nose circles my needy clit.

  He brings one hand out from where it’s supporting me high upon the wall and grabs the side of my panties and rips them off too. This motherfucker better believe he’s buying me new underwear. Torrez latches onto my clit and starts to suck on it, and all thoughts of underwear shopping go flying out of my sex-hazed brain.

  I crack my head against the log wall when I throw it back to shout out a “fuck yes!” Torrez eats, sucks, and licks me like he’s trying to win a pie eating contest, and my pussy is the pie. And not just any pie, like the best pie he’s ever tasted, and he’s determined that no morsel should be left behind. I come so hard that I unashamedly grab Torrez by the back of his neck and grind against his greedy mouth as I ride out my orgasm. He growls in approval, and the vibration of it sends me up and over into another orgasm that leaves me jelly-like and has me practically melting into the wall with satisfaction.

  Torrez slides my body down his, and I realize he’s still completely dressed. I’m two orgasms in and blissed out, and I haven’t even managed to get him naked yet. I reach for his shirt and pull it off, needing to feel his warm skin against mine immediately. I hurry to unbutton his pants, ignoring the twinge it causes in my shoulder and forearm. I push them down his hips, and his erection springs out like an aggressive beacon of promised pleasure. I blame my post-orgasm brain, because the next thing I know, I’m kissing the tip of Torrez’s cock and thanking it in advance for what it’s about to do.

  “Did you just thank my cock?” Torrez asks on a choked laugh.

  I pause for a minute and try to come up with some logical explanation for what I just did, but there just isn’t one.

  “I did,” I admit as I straighten up to admire my handiwork.

  Naked Torrez is a feast for the eyes. Silky bronze skin, muscles for days, a smattering of black chest hair that trails down to a cock apparently worthy of worship. My mouth and vagina water as I take him in. He stands proudly, an amused smile on his face, happy for me to eye fuck him for as long as I want. He trails a finger down the runes on my sternum, and my nipples get even harder at the soft touch.

  “Turn around, my Witch, and face the wall.”

  I spend about three milliseconds debating if I’m going to fight his command, but who am I kidding, I’m fucking dripping I’m so into what’s happening right now. So I do as I’m told and turn to face the wall, delicious anticipation unfurling in my stomach. Torrez pushes all my hair over my right shoulder and skims his lips over the runes on the top of my left shoulder. Sentinel magic flashes to life on my arms, and Torrez tenses for a moment.

  “It’s okay,” I reassure him. “It’s part of completing the bond. It won’t hurt.”

  I reach back and take Torrez’s hand and slowly bring it in contact with a flash of purple magic. It does what it has with the rest of my Chosen and sinks into him, eliciting a pleasure-filled groan from Torrez’s full lips.

  “See,” I tell him, and he nips at my neck, making me moan in response.

  Torrez trails his hands up the runes on my arms, soaking in all the violet strikes of magic that flash from me to him. He traces the runes on my ribs and then runs a hand up the runes that frame my spine. I’m so worked up that I’m on the verge of begging by the time he places a large palm between my shoulder blades and applies pressure. He pushes my upper back forward with one hand and pulls my hips back toward him with the other. My ass is now pressed even more snuggly against his hard cock, and I rub against the length, not able to help myself.

  “I’ve been dreaming about bending you over just like this and fucking you just like this since you sauntered into the ring and challenged me.”

  Torrez thrusts into me hard on the word “fucking,” and I have to press my hands against the wall to keep from careening into it. He buries himself deep inside of me, and we both groan appreciatively. Torrez doesn’t move right away, and I’m torn between needing him to and trying to figure out what he’s going to do next. He keeps one hand on my hip, and the other trails around my side, up my ribs, and stops at my throat. He bows my body until my back is flush with his powerful chest and then whispers into my ear.

  “You feel even better than I thought you would, mate,” and with that, he starts to piston in and out of me at a perfect, punishing pace.

  I reach one hand back and sink my fingers into his thick short black hair as he arches my body and fucks me so hard and so good that I can only hold on for the ride. His hand drops from my throat and cups my heavy breasts, kneading and pinching each one, sending more strikes of pleasure through me as he does. My whole body ripples in pleasure with each deep thrust Torrez perfectly delivers, and I’m torn between never wanting him to stop and begging for the building orgasm inside of me to pull me under already.

  His hand drops from my breasts, and he reaches down and starts playing with my clit. I shout out, and Torrez growls encouragingly in my ear. “Scream for me, Witch. Scream your mate’s name while I mark you and make you mine forever.”

  I open my mouth to call him a bossy fucker, but pain tears through the top of my left shoulder, and then an orgasm slams into me like a freight train. I scream Torrez’s name, not able to help it, and I have no idea if it’s from the pain he’s responsible for or the pleasure. He slams into me one last time, calling out my name as his release flashes through him. We both ride our waves of pleasure, connected by body and now soul, and I sag against him as my release ebbs and my body tingles with satisfaction. He licks at my shoulder, and it soothes some of the pain he just inflicted there.

  I look down to figure out what the hell hurt so bad. “Did you fucking bite me, Wolf?” I demand, swiping at my shoulder and the blood that’s seeping out of the puncture wounds there.

  “It’s part of mating with a shifter,” he tells me casually as he kisses over the wounds that must be on the back of my shoulder too. “I have to mark you in order for our magic to blend and the bond on my side to be complete.”

  “Well, warn a girl next time, will ya? That’s the second time you’ve bitten me, and it fucking hurts.”

  Torrez chuckles and runs the fingers he still has buried in my folds in a slow circle around my clit. I squirm to get away from him, feeling oversensitive, like any touch is just too much right now.

  “You’ll like it now that the bond is sealed,” he tells me, absently pulling my face to his for a soft kiss. “My wolf instincts will push me to mark you, but it won’t hurt you now. Many mated females say it makes them orgasm right away.”

  Torrez pulls out of me, and I clench around the absence of him, a little sore. We both move to the ensuite bathroom to clean up, and I run my eyes over the runes on his sternum and swallow down the worry that starts to bubble up inside of me. I’m not sure if I fucked something up when I marked him. I hope that Ryker’s orgasm theory is right and what we just did together solidifies the connection just like it has with the others, but I can’t help but worry that it might not. I take the appearance of my Sentinel magic while we were together as a good thing and figure it’s all a waiting game at this point. One way or another, we’ll know soon enough.

  I look up from where I’m washing
my hands in the sink, and Torrez is watching me in the mirror.

  “What?” I ask, my eyes bouncing back and forth between his deep brown irises.

  “I just can’t believe that I found you. That I finally have a mate,” he tells me, his eyes soft and his voice filled with wonder.

  I give him a sweet smile. “Am I up to snuff, everything you hoped I’d be and more?” I tease.

  Torrez chuckles and runs a soft finger over the bite I now sport on my left shoulder. “You know, it’s weird, but I never could picture what my mate might be like or if I would ever find one. I felt inside like I was meant for more. That probably makes no sense, but I just felt like there was more out there for me than pack life and raising pups. I used to think maybe that was just my ego talking, but now, as I sit here staring at you, it all just makes sense to me.”

  Torrez’s words soak into me, and they spread warmth as they move from my mind to my soul.

  “It makes sense to me too,” I admit. “I never fit in any kind of way in the non world. I saw glimpses of more, and I knew I was meant for that; I just couldn’t seem to get there.”

  Torrez nods his head, and I can feel the understanding radiating off of him.

  “It’s strange that I’m all over here, like don’t mind me and my six mates, and somehow none of that actually feels weird to me at all. Is it weird for you?” I ask, watching him in the mirror. “You thought you’d have one mate and probably never thought that you’d have to share her with five other guys.”

  He shrugs. “So you’re greedy. There are worse traits in a mate.”

  I laugh and turn to punch him in the shoulder. He captures my hand and pulls me out of the bathroom and toward the bed.