by Zoey Marcel
“That was nothing.”
“I stayed up late the other night and looked through that book about you. It was too thick to read the whole thing, but I got the gist of it. I know you.”
The soulless darkness in his eyes scared her. “You have no idea what I’m capable of.”
She stepped closer. “I don’t care.”
“I know what you’re trying to do.”
She froze, trying to hide her apprehension. “What?”
“That spell the witch is doing—it won’t work. Nex will shut her out of his head and be able to locate her that much faster, or he’ll allow it to work to give her a false sense of security until he traces her.”
“That’s why I’m here. I can’t keep putting everyone’s lives in jeopardy because I’m too selfish to face my destiny. I’m going with you, Jack. If you promise not to hurt the others, I’ll follow you to hell.”
His eyes piqued with interest. “Well, this is a fascinating turn of events.”
“I just need you to do something for me. If I’m going to suffer in torment for all eternity, I want to have sex with you one last time. I want to carry that with me.”
He studied her long and hard before laughing. “You think I don’t know what you’re doing? I’m not going to claim you, Morrigan. I’ve been around since the beginning of time. I’m not getting my soul back and you’re not my true mate. It won’t work.”
Her heart bled, but she mustered a tough facade. “Then if that’s true, you have nothing to worry about and I don’t have to have sex with you in your wolf form. The thought sickened me anyway. I just want to sleep with the man I love one last time. You don’t have to claim me, just touch me. I need it.”
His dark-chocolate eyes became molten like fondue. His grin was wicked and dirty. “Get in here.”
Morrigan became ethereal and floated through the bars into the cage with him. The thought of becoming flesh again and being subdued by him alarmed and titillated her.
“Are you scared?”
“No,” she lied in a shaky voice.
“Then materialize.” His husky tone dripped with testosterone.
She became corporeal again and he ravaged her mouth with wanton need. Her hands mirrored his and traveled all over his body as his did hers. She felt like they had been apart for eons and realized just how badly she missed him. She cried out in pain when he slammed her up against the bars.
“You filthy slut.” He growled as he ripped at her clothes.
“Please don’t tear my top. I’ll take it off for you.”
He snarled and grabbed her by the throat. “You’ve already made one too many demands. You’re in way over your head. We’re doing this my way.”
At least this outfit wasn’t her favorite. It was a turn-on the way he tore the clothes from her body while they made out and threw her onto the cool grass. She divested him of his clothes with a savagery that made her hot and seemed to drive him mad with hedonism.
“You like this, don’t you, slut?”
“Oh god, yes, this feels so good. I’m in heaven.”
He grinned as he rubbed his crotch against hers, teasing her. “You’ll never see heaven again. I’m going to drag you down to hell and torture you forever. Others will, too. Would you like to hear all the terrible things you will suffer?”
“Not really.” She winced at the horrible possibilities swimming in her head, crying out with pleasure when Jack plunged into her soaked pussy.
He let out a long, drug-out moan when he was situated inside of her. “Fuck, you feel so good. Many creatures will torture and fuck you.”
She didn’t really want to hear about denizens of hell while they coupled, but if it distracted him or turned him on then maybe he would lose control and slip like she needed him to.
“You’ll be ravaged until you can no longer walk or scream,” Jack rasped.
She trembled at his words and then in delight when he massaged her clit. Her mew of ecstasy put a smile on his face.
“You’ll be beaten, cut, burned, and tormented in every way you can think of and then in all the ways you can’t. You’ll lose your mind, Morrigan, and when you do you’ll join us rather than suffer another minute. You’ll be evil like you were always meant to be.”
The subject terrified her, but she was a heartbeat away from a powerful orgasm.
“Come for me, my darling bitch.”
He called her that a few times during sex back when he loved her, before he turned sadistic. The pressure in her nether region and the nostalgia of his words sent her over. She nearly screamed her climax, but the sound melted into his hand. Her cunt rippled and clenched onto his erection, extracting euphoric sounds from him.
“I’m not holding back with you anymore.” He growled, withdrawing his penis and flipping her onto her stomach.
Her heart pounded like a sledgehammer in her chest. “Are you shifting?”
“Yes, but don’t get excited. I’m not claiming you. I’m going to fuck you in my true form for my pleasure and your trauma.”
“Please don’t,” she squeaked. She wasn’t sure if she was still using reverse psychology or if the reality of the fire she was playing with had just sunk in and burned her.
“Hold still.” He propped her on her elbows and knees, holding her in place as he turned.
She heard bones popping and his manly sounds became feral as the beast within emerged. The arms around her were now by her side holding him up and were now wolf legs. She glanced over her shoulder and saw the massive, black wolf staring back at her. He moved closer and wrapped his front legs around her middle to hold her still for his penetration. She couldn’t feel the skin of his torso against her back. All she felt was soft, thick fur resting against her bare flesh.
“I can smell your fear,” his mind taunted.
She trembled beneath him, arms wobbly with uncertainty. “I want to sleep with the real Jack.”
He raked his teeth up her arm just enough to feel good without puncturing the skin. “This is the real Jack. Do you still love me, Morrigan?”
Morrigan bit back a scream when he pushed against her cunt until he joined his body to hers. She was amazed and guilty to feel herself creaming all over his shaft. It was shaped a little differently and created a unique sensation inside of her, but she realized man or wolf it was still her Jack. She wanted every part of him. Even the wild, dark, untamed parts, though she could do without the evil, sadistic parts.
“Yes,” she breathed, “I still love you. I always will.”
“You say that now, but once you’ve had a taste of real suffering, you’ll curse my name.”
“Never. I love you, Jack.”
“Shut up!”
He jabbed into her, humping her crazily and frantically like they were the only male and female in mating season. His grunts and low, throaty growls betrayed his extreme pleasure in her body. It astonished her that she too found enjoyment in this. It was Jack, and while this was definitely the strangest, darkest kink she’d ever tried, it was still one of her mates. It didn’t matter what he’d done or what form he embodied. What mattered was getting him back and never letting him go again.
The fur felt nice and soft rubbing against her skin as he thrust. It was like doing it all over a bear rug by a cozy fire. He licked the skin between her neck and shoulder on the side Mark hadn’t bitten her on. Would he claim her now?
Jack nipped at her arm in reproof for trying to tempt him into the sacred bond, enjoying her yip of pain. Regardless of his tough exterior, she felt his struggle. Good and evil warred inside of him. He felt the enticing pull of darkness while at the same time heard her voice calling him home.
Morrigan deliberately recalled some of the harrowing truths she had learned about his past and after each one, she said I love you to him in her heart and shoved his transgressions from her head, replacing them with fond memories of him that she adored.
She could tell this made his battle for control that much harder. He cursed
her in his head and commanded her to stop loving him, but she wouldn’t. She was in awe when she felt his heart melt and beat, completely moved by her adoration of him. She loved him without condition. No evil or claim of Death had any power over that.
“Damn it, Morrigan, you are my mate. I love you so much.”
Morrigan heard a commotion in the distance like the rest of the pack was running over to save her. Jack’s canines clamped down on the fleshy part he licked earlier, sending a storm of misery in that bite that was quickly followed by heaven. She screamed at the maddening orgasm that slammed into her and he made his final plunges hard and deep as he emptied himself into her receptive body. Blood trickled down the front of her from the bite, but she didn’t care. He put his mark on her and now she was his forever.
He unlocked his jaw from her and slipped from her vagina, yelping as if in tremendous pain. She rolled over, trying to find her strength. Light entered his eyes and mouth, filling him until he glowed like a halo. It seeped into him before disappearing. He fell over on his side. She crawled over to him, stroking his fur in worry.
“Jack, please wake up. I need you. We all do.” She tried to shake him to his feet, but he didn’t budge. Tears filled her eyes. “What have I done?”
She wept into his fur, running her fingers over it and kissing his fuzzy face. She squealed in surprise when a slobbery, wet tongue licked a tear from her cheek. She threw her arms around the wolf tightly as he nuzzled her.
Quinn shook his head in relief and aggravation. “If you were my slave, I’d beat your ass for defiance.”
Damon smiled as he watched Morrigan and Jack cuddling in the cage. “But her plan worked. Sometimes rebellion is a good thing.”
Quinn shot him a warning glance, smiling when he saw the playful, teasing smile on his sub’s face. “Don’t get any ideas.”
Damon took his arm in his own. “Maybe you should punish them out of me.”
“Maybe I should.”
Hilary looked relieved as well. “I’m glad you have your homicidal mate back to a more manageable condition, but I must be going. The spell backfired. Nex got into my head and discovered my location. I have to leave.”
“I’m really sorry about that,” Quinn said. “You should at least let us make or buy you dinner to make up for it before you leave. You’ve done a lot for us.”
“I gave you information. Morrigan is the one who put it to good use.”
He smiled. “She is. You saved Jack, Morrigan.”
She smiled and held her wolf closer. “We all did.”
Damon appeared concerned. “What if Samael finds out about this?”
“It’s too late now,” Hilary explained, “Once the mating bond is forged it is set in stone. Even Samael cannot undo or break what the fates hold as sacred. The connection is eternal. It transcends everything, even death.”
Only Mark kept silent.
Chapter Eight:
Gothic Angel
Jack felt relieved to have a soul again so they could get back to the way things used to be, but things weren’t back to normal. Certainly they were between him and Morrigan as well as his friendship with Damon and even Quinn, but Mark acted different toward him. He was civil and respectful, but he seemed distant, and Jack knew why. He also knew the pack would be better off without him.
He got up before dawn one morning and saddled his favorite horse in the stable. His heart felt heavy and the man inside him was crying, but his exterior remained tearless and unmoved like a boulder.
“Where are you going?”
He turned to see Mark standing in the doorway. Something moved through Jack when he saw him. Mark was the only man he knew who could make a simple, navy-blue hoodie, white T-shirt, and jeans look like sex on a stick. He was sheer perfection.
“You’re up a little early,” Jack evaded, continuing to ready his steed.
“So are you. Why do you have a bunch of clothes and food with you?”
“A man needs to eat to survive and to clothe himself so he doesn’t get arrested.”
“You’re leaving, aren’t you?”
“I am.”
A deafening silence passed between them. “Why?”
“Does there have to be a reason?” Jack placed the saddle on top of the blanket he already situated on the bay horse.
“There does if you’re abandoning your family.”
“I’m doing what’s best for you. The pack is better off without me.”
“How do you figure?”
How dense was his beta? “I’m not sure, but I think it might have something to do with the way I tried to kill you all a few weeks ago.”
“That wasn’t you. It was Eversor. We know that.”
“It was me. That’s half the reason you’re distant toward me now. You saw what I really was and you didn’t like it. I don’t blame you. Jack Dillinger was a mask.” Jack tightened the cinch around the horse’s girth.
Mark sighed, hands in his pockets and eyes lowered in the heavy silence. “You did some terrible things, Jack. Things I didn’t even know a man or beast could be capable of. I hated what I saw of you. I hate Eversor because he muddied everything I believed about my best friend.”
If only he had gotten up a few minutes earlier, he could have ridden out of here before Mark woke up, or maybe if he’d been quieter somehow he wouldn’t have to listen to the words he never wanted to hear.
Mark took a few steps closer. “But you’re wrong when you say Jack Dillinger was just a mask. Maybe it started that way, but he became a part of you. Yes, getting a soul made you a better man, but you loved with all your heart before you even had one. That says something, Jack. Sometimes it’s hard to do what’s right, but you do it anyway even when every fiber of your being is screaming out to do what you know is wrong.”
Jack looked up from the cinch and caught the longing depth in his chocolate irises. “If only.”
“We’re not okay,” Mark said seriously. “You bit me against my will and made me…you ruined me.”
Jack rested his arm against the saddle and lowered his eyes to the horse’s barrel. Lady Fury was looking a little plump. He’d best snap out of his brooding and get back to riding and lunging her. Mark’s words were painful, but Jack knew he deserved them. “I had no right. If I could take it back—”
“You can’t. The damage is done. You can’t go back and fix this and I can’t go back to the way things were before. I’m scarred for life. I thought it was a spell, but…I was wrong. I want you to stay. It’s what Morrigan would want and the others.”
“And you?”
Mark closed his eyes and heaved a sigh. “I don’t know what I want. I only know I can’t be around you.”
Jack retrieved the bridle, cursing the ache in his chest. “As I said, Mark, I’m leaving. You can marry Morrigan and stop feeling guilty for having premarital sex.”
“But she’ll miss you.”
“She has you.”
“She’s her happiest when she has both of us. I thought the plan was that she would take your name, but consider me her husband as well.”
Jack slipped the bit into the mare’s mouth and fitted the bridle over her ears. “Immorality has never bothered me, but it always does you, so you should be the one she’s legally married to.”
“That’s generous of you, but you’re still saddling your horse. Why are you even leaving on horseback? This isn’t cowboy times.”
“The vehicles belong to you and Quinn. I’m only taking what’s mine.”
Mark pointed behind him with his thumb. “In that case, you left some of your things inside, most importantly Morrigan, and don’t forget the rest of the pack and half this ranch and the herd.”
Jack shook his head, forehead resting against his stroking fingers. Why was this so hard? All he really wanted to do was eat a big breakfast and have a full-contact three-way with Morrigan and Mark, in no particular order. He held his arms out in agitation as he faced his confused lover. “What do you want, Ma
rk? Do you want me to leave, or do you want me to stay?”
“I don’t know.”
“Bullshit, just say it or I’m riding out of here for good.”
Mark’s face twisted in anguish. “I don’t know what I want! You’ve got me so screwed up now I can’t even think straight. It’s like I’m someone else and it’s your fault.”
“Are you mad because I turned you into someone you’re not, or because I showed you who you really were all along?”
His eyes closed tightly. “Fuck you, Jack. You can’t turn on your pack, claim me without my consent, and then leave without saying good-bye.”
“I left a note.”
“A note,” he snorted. “What the hell is that?”
Jack rolled his eyes. “What the fuck do you want from me?”
“I want you to stay.”
“Why, so you can be haunted every day by the face of the one who molded you into something that goes against your conscience?”
Mark shifted on his feet, looking uncomfortable. “Fine, you’re a martyr, but regardless, leaving is still selfish.”
Jack shook his head incredulously. “No, you know what’s selfish, Mark, you expecting me to hang around while you wrestle with yourself forever and cause unneeded stress for Morrigan. I want you both to be happy. That’s why I’m leaving. I have always put you first…with the exception of a few weeks back, but that aside, the two of you were my top priority.”
“What changed?”
“You changed. Do you really think this triad relationship can work with you resenting me for everything I did? I don’t deserve forgiveness. I know that. Somehow I obtained Morrigan’s. I’m not sure how, but it changed me. You don’t even share her with me anymore.”
“Yes, I do. You’ve slept with her a ton since you came back to us, even last night.”
“Yes, but not together. You have her one night and I get her the next. We’re like a divorced couple and I hate it. I don’t want a polygamous relationship, I want a ménage.”
“Well, too frigging bad! You can’t screw someone up permanently and then expect everything to go back to the way it was. It will never be that way again.”
