by Tabke, Karin
“No, of course not,” the ancient said, suddenly sounding frail.
Maleek stood and looked at Sharia, then at Lucien. “Then it is the council’s decision that you die the true death before sunset today.”
“No!” Falon shrieked, breaking her connection with Rafe and Lucien.
Falon! Rafe warned.
“He will not die!” She shoved her hands harshly at Sasha, sending him flying into the dais, shattering the front steps to kindling. “Not today! Not tomorrow!” she shrieked, shoving her hands above the heads of the council, tearing a huge hole through the pelts comprising the large back wall of the dome. “Or any day because you said so!”
“Falon!” Rafe shouted. “Stop now!” he commanded her.
Tears tracked down her cheeks. He resisted the urge to take her in his arms and soothe her fears away. “Don’t let them hurt him,” she cried.
“No one is touching him,” he assured her.
“Are you king of the nation now, Vulkasin?” Sasha sneered, dragging himself up from the dais.
“It has been expected for years despite the blood feud between me and my brother that together we would lead the nation against the Slayers on the night of the rising. I cannot do that with Lucien dead.” His voice lowered dangerously. “The power of the three has been foretold.” He reached a hand to Falon, drawing her to his side, and she turned to Lucien who took her other hand and stood to her left. “We are the power of the three. As such we have united in heart, body, and soul. We will lead the nation against Thomas Corbet and Fenrir. If one part of the whole is missing, we all die.”
The ring on his finger flared angrily. Sasha’s eyes fixated on it. Furious that the council was so obtuse to see they fucked with the truth, Rafe looked past the indignant Sasha to Sharia and the elders who flanked her. “How could any of you with so much to lose condemn even one Lycan to death much less one as powerful and revered as Mondragon?” His voice rose with his anger. “You condemn my brother, you condemn me, and I will fight for his life to my last breath,” he promised. He turned and faced the gathered packs. Half of the nation filled the dome or crowded outside of it.
“The morning after the rising, when we stand together, triumphant and free of the scourge that has persecuted us for nearly millennia, many of the old laws will be obsolete. We will create a new covenant based on our new nation.” He glared at Sasha. “There will be no punishment by death for lying with a Slayer after the rising, because they will be extinct.”
Rafe looked up at the council who stood rigid and pale. “With all due respect, Lucien’s fate is no longer in your hands but mine. He lives because I say he lives.”
Sharia’s old brown eyes glittered with youthful excitement. She nodded and once again stood with assistance to rise from the elders sitting on either side of her. “It has been foretold that the power of three is the only power to defeat Fenrir. For that to be, all three must be.” She smiled and fist pumped the air as much as an ancient could. “The fate of the Lycan nation sits squarely on your shoulders. Do not let us down.”
Rafe nodded respectfully. He wanted the hell out of there before anyone else could voice opposition. As they turned to leave, screams from outside the lodge filtered in to them. Lycan scrambled to move out of the way as the shocking sight of Anja, naked and disheveled, stumbled toward them. Her bright pale eyes fixed on Rafael.
“My god,” Rafe whispered, taking a step toward her.
A nasty smile twisted her lips as she teetered before him. Fenrir’s musky scent swirled off her body accosting anyone who stood too close. “You were not worthy of me!” she spat. “But I found one who is!”
“Anja!” Sasha cried, running toward his daughter as she collapsed in his arms.
He turned with her limp body so that all could see the deep bloody mark on her chest.
“Fenrir’s mark,” Falon whispered. Her fingers tightened around Rafe’s.
Turning with his naked, bleeding daughter in his arms, Sasha held her out to Rafael. “You did this Vulkasin!” Ivanov shrieked. “You did this, and for it you will pay with the life of your bitch!”
He strode from the dome, his pack falling in behind him.
Guilt, anger, frustration, and finally compassion collided inside Rafael.
It’s not your fault, Rafa, Falon said from beside him. It’s mine. Had I not hurt her, she would have made it to her pack.
You gave her the opportunity to return to the cabin to recuperate, Rafa, Lucien added. She refused.
The repercussions of what this meant hit Rafael in stunning clarity. Anja had been fertile when she left that day, Rafa said.
Falon gasped beside him, and Lucien groaned.
If she carries that beast’s spawn she must die.
Oh, Rafa! Falon cried. It can’t be true! He’s so grotesque! She would have had to accept him. How could she do such a terrible thing?
To get back at me.
Then she is a fool! Falon said.
I must know if the mark was consummated. He looked down at Falon’s worried eyes, then to his brother’s equally trouble eyes. I have no choice in the matter.
As always, Brother, you will do what is right.
And as it oftentimes was, the right thing was the hardest thing to do.
“Come,” Rafe said, thinking not of this tragedy but of another tragedy avoided. “The world is not complete doom and gloom. The nation has accepted our arrangement and Lucien’s hide is safe from persecution. We have much to be thankful for and much that needs our attention.”
Twenty-four
FALON’S HEART WAS still fibrillating as the three walked hand in hand through the gathered packs that parted for them like the Red Sea had for Moses. Not because of the tragedy that befell Anja. While she had compassion for the she-wolf, and accepted her part in her plight, Falon’s lingering heart palpitations stemmed from the threat against Lucien’s life.
She had never been more terrified than at the moment the council handed down Lucien’s death sentence. Her entire body went numb in disbelief. Had she eaten breakfast she would have vomited. But that quickly passed. Because there was no way in hell she was going to allow anyone to hurt one hair on Lucien’s precious head. Not while she was alive.
But Rafael had come to the rescue.
He had been amazing. His command presence before the council and the convened alphas left no question who was in control. Falon’s heart fluttered like a nervous schoolgirl’s. He had been her first knight in shining armor. He would always be her hero. She squeezed his hand and when he looked down at her with those gorgeous aqua-colored eyes, so full of love, she melted. She did every time.
Heat flushed her cheeks.
His lips quirked. “What?” he asked.
“Every time you look at me that way, I melt.”
Despite the shock and grave repercussions of what happened to Anja, it could not spoil what they shared. Rafa’s lips slid into a warm easy smile. He had dazzling white teeth and, she sighed, beautiful lips that were more familiar with her body than hers were with his. She wanted to remedy that. Soon.
“Keep looking at me like that, sweetheart, and I’m going to give the nation a show they won’t soon forget.”
Falon opened her mouth to respond but couldn’t. Emotion choked her throat. She loved him so much. She swallowed. What he had done for Lucien. Standing up for him against the council and the packs was suicide, but he risked it all for his brother.
“I am in awe of you Rafa,” she said softly. “I feel so much right now, I don’t have words to describe it.”
“No words are necessary, love. We did what needed to be done.”
“You did it.”
“You called that, Rafe,” Lucien said excitedly.
“Called what?” Falon asked, still trying to get her overflowing
emotions under control.
She hadn’t been prepared for any of what had just happened. She thought they were just going to discuss the arrangement between she and her alphas, not Lucien’s trespass with Mara, and certainly no one expected Anja’s shocking appearance.
“While you languished in bed this morning, the three of us were summoned by the council to appear before them for a hearing of sorts. Rafe and I hashed and rehashed every possible scenario of what could happen before we got there.”
Falon socked him in the arm. “I was not languishing!”
“Don’t forget the snoring,” Rafe said.
Falon shook her head as Rafe opened the flap to their lodge for her. As she passed in front of him he smacked her on the ass. She turned around in a huff.
He was grinning like a teenager. “I’ve wanted to do that all morning.”
Falon giggled, and moved into the space. It was kind of a mess. She was a lousy beta.
“You could have at least let me know what you anticipated instead of just telling me to keep my cool no matter what.”
“I wasn’t sure what would happen, and didn’t want to worry you needlessly,” Rafe said as he slung his double scabbards onto one of the low sofas.
The gem-encrusted mount of the Cross caught the morning sunlight that filtered through the open vents. Her belly did a slow uneven roll. Its presence reminded her of what she must do with it.
“I don’t know if I should thank you for that or not. It would have been nice to know your plans in advance.”
“But your reaction was the perfect segue for what I had to do,” Rafe said, moving toward her.
Falon softly gasped as the energy dramatically shifted.
Suddenly nervous, she moved over to the little kitchenette and stared, not seeing the mess from dinner last night.
“I was proud of you, angel face.” Lucien’s deep voice sunk like warm honey into her bones. Slowly she turned and faced both alphas that stood hungrily staring at her. She blushed.
“I—ah— Are you hungry?” she asked, backing up into the stacked coolers. They both took a step toward her.
“Very,” Rafa crooned.
Her chest rose and fell in short harsh rasps as moisture seeped between her thighs.
Lucien’s nostrils flared, and that wicked smile that disarmed her every time he flashed it took what little breath was left in her lungs.
“You made every alpha and beta in that dome cream themselves when you stood up for me the way you did,” Luca said.
Falon’s eyes widened.
“Yeah, they’ll be talking about you for the next century, angel face,” Lucien said, extending his hand to her. She took it and he wrapped her in his arms and passionately kissed her. As she always did when he touched her, she melted. What he did next astounded her. Gently he pushed her out of his embrace, placed her hand in Rafa’s, winked at them both and without a word, left them alone.
Stunned she looked up into Rafa’s equally surprised eyes. “Are you okay with this?” he asked tentatively.
Astonished that he would even question it, she rose on her toes and slipped her arms around his neck. “Do you even have to ask?” She kissed him hard on the lips proving how she felt about being left alone with him.
He picked her up into his arms and strode over to the bed and sunk to his knees, still holding her. Their kiss deepened and Falon sighed.
I have missed our time like this.
He broke free of her lips and stared at her. “Are you having second thoughts about the arrangement?”
“No,” she said, caressing his cheek. “I have no regrets, but I like this, too. Just you and me.”
He smiled and pulled her shirt over her head tossing it to the floor. Cupping her breasts, he nipped at an impudent nipple through her bra. “So do I,” he agreed. Pulling down the lacy cups of her bra, Rafael squeezed her breasts together. Then sucked a taut nipple deeply into his mouth.
“Rafa,” she moaned, writhing beneath his big body. “That feels so good.”
Tearing his lips from her nipple, he rose, sliding his hands deep into her thick hair. His eyes blazed with brilliant passion holding her gaze. “Do you have any idea how damn much I love you?”
She swallowed, suddenly afraid of his fervor. Rafael was calm, cool, controlled. Rarely did he display such visceral emotion.
“What I would do to any man or woman who tried to hurt you?”
“Rafa—”
He snarled tightening his fingers around her scalp. “I’d tear them apart, Falon. I’d tear them into so many pieces they would be unrecognizable.”
His lips swooped down on hers as his body swelled against her. Gasping for air, his ardor taking her by surprise, Falon turned slightly away from him so that she could catch her breath. “No,” he said roughly against her lips. “Never refuse me this, Falon.” An edge of desperation clung to his words. Did he think she could ever refuse him? Not as long as she breathed. Pulling her hair, bending her head back, he deepened his raging kiss.
In her heart she knew Rafa was not going to hurt her but his explosive passion alarmed her. What had come over him? Was this thing between the three of them too much? Did he fear she would favor Lucien over him? Or had Anja’s desperate act provoked some deep-seated fear in him?
Tearing her lips from his, she gasped for air. “Rafa—”
His lips slid from her lips down her jaw to her neck, his teeth scraping along her jugular. “I’ll kill them,” he said fiercely, peeling his clothes off, and then roughly undressing her.
Naked Falon sat up on her knees hoping to slow him down just a little bit. The intensity of his stare told her he had no such plans to pull back. He dropped to his knees before her.
His eyes blazed with a preternatural glint she had never seen before. “Rafa—you’re scaring me.”
Nodding, he crawled on all fours to her. “You should be afraid, Falon.” He moved over her pushing her into the soft, furry pelts, nudging her thighs apart with his knee. With his left hand he pulled her right leg up and around his hip. “Because I am going to fuck you like you’ve never been fucked before.” He slid his right hand around her neck and lifted her head to his lips. Nipping her bottom lip, she flinched when the scent of her blood wafted between them.
Despite Rafa’s dominance, she was soaking wet. He smiled wickedly catching her wanton scent. “You should see your face. Your eyes are dark with desire. Your creamy skin is flushed red with excitement, your nostrils flaring for more air.” His gaze dropped to her parted lips. “I love your lips. The way they pout.” He slid his tongue along her bottom one. “The way they look locked around my cock.”
Her skin flushed warm and sultry just as her breath hitched so high in her chest, her lungs could not accommodate their increased need for air.
His full lips slid into a sly smile. “And after I fuck you?” He thrust deeply into her hot, wet pussy, and all bets were off. She loved the feel of him inside her. God he felt good. Once with Rafa was never enough. “I’m going to fuck you again.” He thrust deeper into her. So deep he hit the tip of her womb.
“Rafa—” She gasped, rising against his lips hungry for his mouth on hers. “Kiss me like it’s the last time.”
His chest rumbled with emotion. Tears stung her eyes when she saw his glistening with his own tears. “There will never be a last time.”
Gathering her tightly against him, Rafa kissed her. Slowly, deeply, with maddening passion, he kissed her. Deep within her, Falon’s orgasm built. With each deep thrust, with each rise of her hips meeting Rafa’s, as his tongue tangled with hers, and their soft erotic sounds as their bodies connected, floated around them, it built. What had begun as a slow burn, ignited into a firestorm.
She had all of him but wanted more. Sensing her need, because it was his, too, Rafa’s bo
dy spiraled out of control pushing hers past the brink of coherency. In a wild, blinding emotional rush, their bodies hung suspended in time, then crashed in a cacophony of explosions as their orgasms tore through them with epic intensity.
They fell apart, their bodies no longer theirs to control. In a sweaty, heaving tangle of limbs, they held on to each other as wave after wave of aftershocks rocked through them.
Barely able to draw a deep breath, Falon licked her dry lips and closed her eyes, leaving the support of her body to Rafa. She was completely depleted. Emotionally, physically, sexually. If her life depended on her moving one more muscle, she would die where she lay.
Rafa groaned and rolled over onto his back bringing her limp body against his, settling her head against his chest.
“I can’t move,” she said slowly, speaking the words an effort in her state.
Rafael tightened his arm around her, and kissed the top of her head. “I’ve got you, baby,” he said softly.
Hot tears stung her eyes. Her love for Rafael had never been more profound than it was at that moment. He did have her. He loved her with everything he had, and she never wanted to hurt him. Not for anything or anyone.
She refused to think of their future and his reaction if he learned of her relationship to Thomas Corbet. Closing her eyes, Falon cleared her mind, allowing only her love to shine through.
She woke to the strong steady cadence of Rafael’s heartbeat beneath her hand. Feeling safe, and well loved, Falon traced her fingers along the hard swell of Rafa’s pectorals then down his washboard abs. “Keep going in that direction, sweetheart, and you’ll never get out of this bed.”
She smiled against his neck where she had tucked her head. “I could stay in this bed with you forever.” She pulled slightly away and looked up into his hooded gaze. He looked as well sexed as she felt. “That was amazing, Rafa.”
He grinned, and it made her grin. “Epic would be a better word.”
Her grin widened. Nodding, she said, “Yes, epic.” And kissed his lips before settling back against his chest.
“Do you have any regrets?” she asked, wanting to know exactly how he felt about the arrangement. She knew it wasn’t easy for either of them. But she didn’t know how any one of them could be completely happy if it were less.
