by A Lonergan
It wasn’t until we were inside that Carden stopped me and I pulled the flask from my clutch. I took a long burning swig before I gave it to him. His fingers brushed mine as he took it and his lips turned down into a frown. He took a long chug before he tucked it back into my bag. “Wolfsbane is the nastiest shit.”
I shrugged. “Do you want to get drunk or watch the drunks?”
His lips stretched across his teeth in amusement. “I suppose I would like to get drunk. It has been a long time since I tried. Wolfsbane is too expensive for our pack.”
The music thumped around us and shook the walls but I had no trouble hearing my date over it. He still grabbed my waist and yanked me to him. I didn’t know if it was the music or the Wolfsbane in the works but I didn’t mind one bit. It had been too long since I had male attention like this.
The flask was empty within an hour and I could feel the effects of it lulling me into a comfortable stupor. Rafe and Tracey were nowhere to be seen and I honestly didn’t care. I felt betrayed that she hadn’t even warned me. Just as I was starting to taste anger in my mouth, Carden grabbed my hands in his and yanked me to the middle of the living room. The floors were spotted with different kinds of drying liquids and there was a slight scent of vomit in the air. But for a moment, I felt like I was normal again. Like I wasn’t turned and I didn’t have to worry about animal instincts or stupid alphas. For once I felt like I was me again and that was all that mattered.
Carden kept his hands on my waist while we bumped and ground to the music. My eyes slowly fell closed as he pulled me closer to him. Sweat dotted my brow but I didn’t dare stop. It felt too good to be pressed against his warmth. His scent wrapped around me and drowned out the sweat of the other bodies around me. A hum worked its way up my throat and I felt a rumble of approval at my back.
Carden’s arms tightened around me and my mouth went dry. The effects of the Wolfsbane were starting to wear off but that was the last thing I was worried about. A delicious heat had started to tug at my lower belly and the last thing I was worried about was whether or not I was going to leave this party drunk. The only thing that I was worried about was leaving the party with him.
A gentle touch on my arm had my eyes snapping open. My body stopped its gyrating, even as Carden continued to pull on me and rub on me. The pooling in my stomach hadn’t stopped but it wasn’t as strong as I stared into the yellow eyes of my friend.
I frowned. “What is it?”
She swallowed hard and shook her head.
I pressed her. She wasn’t going to interrupt this if it wasn’t important. Her hair was a wild mess around her head and for a minute, a little one, I wondered if she had gone another level with Rafe. If they had left the friend territory she promised they were hardly in.
“Can I talk to you?” I looked over my shoulder to ask Carden if he was ready to go but Tracey’s hand on mine had me looking back at her. “Alone?”
I blinked through the lusty haze that had wrapped around me and told Carden I would be right back. He left the dance floor with us but leaned against the wall in the kitchen as Tracey yanked me out into the backyard, where a dying garden awaited us.
“I don’t think this double date was such a good idea,” Tracey muttered as she ran her hands down her face.
I ground my teeth together. “Did Rafe hurt you? Are you okay?”
Tracey’s head snapped up and her mouth went into an O shape. “No, never. He would never do anything like that. I agreed to be his date tonight because he was going to come alone. I figured it would be better to keep my eyes on him.”
I nodded my head. “Okay, so what’s wrong?”
“Do you feel anything with Carden?” I blinked at her.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“Like do you feel a connection with him or a mate’s pull?”
My eyebrows pushed together as I shook my head. “I don’t think so, but I am insanely attracted to him.”
“I just think if you aren’t feeling a mate’s pull, then maybe you should tread carefully.”
It hit me then, why Rafe was here. “Did Rafe put you up to this?”
Tracey bit her lip. I had never seen her so nervous before. “No, but he’s not doing very good tonight and I don’t know what to do.”
“Then maybe he needs to leave.” I shrugged my shoulders. I hated to cut the party short for her, but I wasn’t the one that brought the deranged wolf as my date.
Tracey’s eyes flicked to something behind me and my back went straight. I wasn’t going to back down on this. Slowly, ever so slowly, my arms crossed over my chest. Tracey shook her head. “This isn’t going to end well, I think I need to call someone to bring some more spiked booze.” She laughed nervously but I didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t let Rafe continue to ruin my life. I had to live and I was going to do whatever it took to do so.
Chapter 30
Jade Rivers
It had been hours since I had seen Tracey and her extra spiked booze. We hadn’t gone through it quickly this time. Carden had a flask in his pocket and I had one in my bag. We took turns sipping on it slowly, savoring the nasty burn it created down our throats.
This time we weren’t dancing, which was fine, I didn’t really care about that too much. I just wanted to be. I wanted to feel like I had before I had been turned. I wanted to feel normal again, even if this wasn’t normal at all. I could try.
So when Carden’s arm wrapped around my shoulders, I let myself feel the excitement. When his fingers rubbed lazy circles over my collarbone, warmth pooled deep within my belly. When his lips found the shell of my ear, my body went liquid. A deep sigh escaped me.
His whisper sent shivers down my back. “Why don’t we get out of here.”
My breath hitched in my throat and I nodded as he wrapped his fingers around mine. He pulled me through the throngs of people that had only gotten thicker as the minutes had passed. When we broke through the threshold, the night air was crisper than it had been before and it caused my skin to pebble with the chill. When we made it to the lawn Carden stopped in his tracks. I was about to ask him what was wrong when he whipped around, and yanked me toward him. His hand found the hollow of my throat and shoulder. His eyes looked like liquid honey as he gazed down at my eyes then my lips. The corners of his mouth picked up slightly.
“I’ve been thinking about doing this all night,” and then his lips were on mine and I couldn’t think straight. Whether it was the physical contact and my heightened senses or the spiked booze, I didn’t know. But my body melted all the same. A growl rumbled through Carden’s chest and I shivered in response. His lips moved against mine and it was torture. It had never felt like this before. His mouth tasted like rum, wolfsbane, and that citrus undertone again. His tongue slid against the seam of my lips and I didn’t know why we had started this in front of the frat house but I needed this to be in the car, anywhere but here. Where I felt the eyes of someone or multiple people watching. Not that it mattered, there were worse things happening inside but the last thing I wanted was to give a show. Maybe once upon a time I would have been interested in such a thing, but not today, not now. Not with my wolf so out of my grasp I never knew what would happen next.
He parted my lips with his own and I could feel the hunger growing within me. I couldn’t control it but I pulled away all the same. Carden’s lips were red and swollen, his eyes were now bright yellow. I would have to ask Tracey about that later. His hand reached up and he ran rough fingers down my cheek before he grabbed my hand again and pulled me to his car.
My heart raced and my body felt light and airy. I touched my lips with my free hand, they were just as swollen and sensitive as Carden’s looked to be. The usual nerves or awkwardness that hit me when we got to the car didn’t happen this time. It was a smooth, comfortable silence. One that I wasn’t prepared for as the door clicked closed and we were zooming away from the party. I didn’t feel like it had only been a few hours, at least that was what the c
lock said on the dash. We hadn’t been there very long but I didn’t care anymore. Especially when his hand slipped over my leg and gripped my thigh. Delicious heat washed over me again. I had to fight myself to keep my eyes open. But through the lust-filled haze on my brain, I remembered Tracey. My back straightened as I peered over my shoulder at the frat house fading.
“I forgot to tell Tracey we were leaving,” I muttered sadly. I hadn’t meant to leave without her but I had completely forgotten about her since we had started slowly sipping on the spiked booze. My heart sank slightly. I had told myself I had wanted to be a better friend, but this was not that. I wasn’t being a good friend to her at all. I had left her with the psycho. My shoulders slumped.
Carden squeezed my leg. “She left hours ago,”
I frowned. That didn’t sound right, that didn’t sound like Tracey but maybe she had brought Rafe home. I had encouraged her to do that. Did she really listen?
Carden squeezed my leg again and I was brought back to the present and away from my thoughts. “Maybe she wanted you to enjoy your night if she wasn’t going to.”
He had a point. My lips pulled into a small smile as his grip tightened on my leg. I didn’t recognize where we were headed and a part of me was slightly worried. The girl that I had been before I was turned would have been terrified. But this girl didn’t feel that way. I knew that I could hold my own more than I could have before. I knew that I could kill with my bare hands if I needed to, not that I wanted to. But desperate times called for desperate measures. So I let myself relax because I deserved to have a good time tonight and find someone that would take care of me. Mind. Body. Soul. I didn’t know if Carden was that person but I was about to figure out if he could take care of my body, that was for sure. He turned down the road that led to the children’s park on the other side of town and I had to bite my lip to keep myself from smiling. I had heard of people coming here to park but had never experienced it myself. It was dark, zero street lights, and woods surrounded it. I wondered if he had chosen it for that reason for his wolf or because there was no one else here. His windows were blacked out enough that it really didn’t matter if there was an entire parking lot full but I liked that we were alone. My ears were starting to become sensitive again. A squirrel was running through the trees above us. If there had been people around, it would have been a mood killer.
He pulled into a parking spot that faced the woods and flicked the headlights off. When he leaned across the center console I was putty. All rational thought flew straight out the window. I leaned into him and when our lips met that hunger ramped up inside of me. My hands went to his neck and his grip on my leg shifted to my waist. All while our lips explored each other and my heart pounded in my chest. My fingers trembled slightly as I dragged them down the front of his shirt then grabbed either side of his jacket. My lips didn’t leave his as he shrugged the clothing off. His tongue slid along my lips again and this time I opened up for him.
The taste of Carden exploded in my mouth and a growl rumbled through my chest this time. Carden pulled away and I opened my eyes to find him surprised. His eyes weren’t as yellow as they had been before. When he grinned it was completely wolfish. All rational thought left my head again as I launched myself at him. We were a tangle of hands, claws?, and pants of air.
He shoved me back into my seat and climbed over the center console. Everything inside of me stopped working as he knelt in front of me and looked into my eyes. I didn’t know how either of us even fit like this but no rational thought or logic could come into play now. He leaned over me and my heart skipped a beat. His hands grasped my waist and I didn’t know if I was even breathing anymore. One of the hottest men was kneeling in front of me. This was dangerous but I liked it. No, I craved it. Dangerous men like this kneeling was something I didn’t know I wanted. Didn’t know I needed.
My head tilted back to give him better access as his lips grazed my neck. A breathy sigh escaped my lips and Carden gave me a growl of approval. How I knew it was approval was beyond me, I could hardly think straight but it was like my wolf knew.
But when his teeth grazed my neck, my wolf didn’t like it. I could instantly tell. My back straightened and my heart pounded in my chest. I knew Carden could hear it. I tried to angle away from him but he didn’t care. His body was now pinning mine down and then his teeth did it again, right in the hollow of my throat. The place Rafe had sniffed. This wasn’t right, something was wrong. A whimper escaped my lips and the wolf inside of me felt like she shrunk away. I wanted to scream at her to not leave me, I needed her. I needed her strength.
Carden’s body shifted and his teeth became sharper on my neck. This wasn’t right. All desire was gone now.
“Carden,” I gasped as I tried to angle my neck away from his sharp teeth. He didn’t stop. Panic flared inside of my chest. This had to stop. I pressed my hands into his chest and pushed. He only leaned into me more. “Carden, please, something isn’t right.”
He snarled inside and when his eyes peeked up at me they were bright yellow. They were the brightest I had ever seen them or anyone else’s. I swallowed and shook my head against the seat.
I am strong. I am a she-wolf. I can do the hard things. I won’t let this wolf get the best of me. I repeated this over and over in my head as I tried to push his body off of mine. His body was a lot stronger than mine. I pressed my hands into his chest again.
“I don’t want to do this Carden, I don’t think I’m ready.” My voice shook but I was determined. I wasn’t going to let whatever he was doing happen. He wasn’t going to put his teeth on me. It was wrong. My wolf hated it. I hated it. But more than those things, I hated that he wasn’t listening.
His teeth latched onto my neck and fight lifted my limbs. Whatever he had planned wasn’t going to continue. I punched and kicked, every single blow hit him but he didn’t move. His teeth just continued to press into the sensitive skin on my neck and I knew that no matter how hard I fought, I was going to lose. Nausea rolled through me.
One minute Carden’s teeth were pressed into my neck and then the next there was a rush of cold air as the car door was ripped open and then Carden’s body was off of mine. I breathed a sigh of relief. Maybe his wolf had gotten out of control and he didn’t know what to do. I hadn’t asked Tracey about that. She said that sometimes the wolf side of them- us- got out of control and there was little they could do to stop it. I took a deep breath and then I realized that Carden hadn’t gotten back in the car and that my door was still open and the cold air was hitting me.
My breath left me as I opened my eyes. The door hadn’t been opened, it had been ripped off. I swallowed hard and pressed my trembling hands into my lap. Had Carden done that?
A growl sounded on the other side of the car and I knew immediately that it wasn’t Carden that had done that to his car. It wasn’t Carden that had willingly removed himself from me. Something wet trickled down the side of my neck and I pressed my fingers into it. All at once, my senses snapped back to me like a rubber band popping.
The scent of copper was heavy in the air and I didn’t know if it was from my bleeding neck or something else. There was a tugging within my chest and for a moment, I knew it was my wolf perking up at the sounds around us.
A little late there. I wanted to scold her.
The growling grew louder and then there was a snapping of teeth. I peeled myself from the wrecked vehicle and approached the sounds. My eyes adjusted to the darkness immediately and I saw it. Two wolves circling each other on the other side of Carden’s mustang. One was a blur of midnight fur and the other was the color of sand. I immediately knew who the sandy-colored one was but the midnight wolf was one I couldn’t figure out. Had he heard my pleas for help from the woods and came to investigate?
My fingers stayed on my bleeding neck while the midnight wolf circled Carden’s wolf. They both let out menacing growls at each other before the black wolf’s eyes met mine. They were blood red.
Crims
on.
Chapter 31
Jade Rivers
A silver Volvo’s headlights appeared down the street and the panic I had been feeling in the car amped up. A human couldn’t see what was happening here. I had to distract them. I had to do something. Maybe I could call Tracey. I had to call Tracey. I gazed down at the wrecked vehicle and quickly extracted my purse from the passenger seat. I rushed to the car as it grew closer and it slammed into park. I looked into the wild eyes of my best friend behind the wheel. Relief crushed my chest and my knees wobbled.
I wrapped my arms around myself to keep the shaking from starting. What was with these wolves? Why did they have to keep ruining the fun I was trying to have? A life I was trying to live? Couldn’t I have a normal life? What did fate have against me?
Tracey’s door swung open and before I could blink she had her arms wrapped around me. Then she threw her head back and pushed me at arm’s length to inspect the bite on my neck. She breathed out a sigh of relief before she yanked me back into her arms.
“How did you know?” I found myself saying into her hair.
She stiffened. “I’m not sure if you’re ready for that conversation.”
I looked over at the two wolves fighting and I believed her. I didn’t want to know right now because I knew it was going to make me angry enough to get in between the two monsters hashing it out.
My body was still trembling when we pulled into the Crimson Pack’s lands. The Bruiser Pack’s vehicles and trucks were still parked everywhere but I couldn’t hear the chatter of their conversations. I chalked it up to my nerves and adrenaline still pumping through my system.
“What happened?” Tracey finally asked as she put the car in park.
Where did I even start? “Everything was going great and the chemistry was there. I swear I had never felt like I did in that car. No man or boy or anything had ever made me feel so good.” I paused to swallow and get my wits about me.
