by Kresley Cole
“We’ll make time.” Reaching up, she yanked on her shirt collar, busting one of the buttons and exposing even more of her long, creamy neck and the shadowy hint of cleavage. “You need to heal.”
He inhaled deeply, seeking the same patience he’d always summoned when she gnawed on his shoes or hid his socks, but all he got now was the odor of rusting metal, mildew, and ancient layers of dust and rot. This piece-of-shit trailer smelled like the past, which was probably all he and Tehya had now. Even if Hunter didn’t kill him and lock Tehya in a dungeon for harming a pregnant clan member, they couldn’t be together. They were skinwalkers, shunned by most clans and banned from mating each other.
Wouldn’t want to increase the odds of spawning skinwalker offspring, obviously.
Bitterness soured his mouth. He rarely wasted time dwelling on the unfairness of his situation; he was what he was. But now, with his back up against a wall—or in this case, against a filthy mattress—all he could think about was how he’d been robbed of a future.
Of a pleasant future, anyway.
Damn, that pissed him off. The female of his dreams, literally, had finally come into his life; but even if he survived Hunter, Tehya still couldn’t be his because of some bullshit vampire law.
When have I ever obeyed any law?
True enough. He’d lived on the fringes of vampire society since he was born. Why the fuck should he conform now?
Because I’m about to die, and Tehya’s life is in my hands. Well, there was that.
“Lobo!” Still tugging her collar away from her throat with one hand, she used the other to push down on the towel covering his injury. Not hard, but enough to get his attention. “Drink.”
“You know,” he said lightly, hoping to distract her, “you used to nip me when I ignored you.”
She bared her teeth. “I still can.” Another button popped as she yanked on the shirt. “But you first.”
Fuck, that made him instantly, painfully hard. Every instinct screamed to take advantage of what she was offering, ancient instincts passed down from primitive ancestors whose only pleasures in life came from the acts of filling bellies with food and offspring. But in order to eat and mate, they had to stay alive.
“You got us to safety and bought some time,” he said, his gaze lingering on her throat, “but I know Hunter, and he’s a hell of a tracker.” He snapped his eyes up to hers, hoping she’d feel as much as see the inevitable finality of the situation. “He’s going to find us.”
“I know.” Her voice was grim, determined, and her expression reminded him of how she used to plant her paws and refuse to budge when she wanted something.
“You need to go.”
Instead of arguing—or leaving—she yanked on the shirt, destroying another button, and climbed fully onto the mattress. Or, more accurately, she climbed onto him. Oh, she was careful not to hurt him, letting herself lie half on, half off him, one thigh resting on his pelvis, her breasts pressed against the uninjured side of his chest, and her throat only inches from his lips.
“I’m not leaving you.” Her hot breath whispered across his ear, and his groin tightened. “I’d rather die with you than die alone.”
“Run,” he said, his voice rattling as if he’d eaten a load of gravel. “Once they have me, they’ll forget about you.”
Gently, she used the tips of her fingers to tilt his face even closer to her neck. “I can’t survive out here by myself. I don’t know how to be a vampire. Please, Lobo,” she begged. “You took me in when I was starving all those years ago, and you saved my life again just days ago. Let me do this for you. You might not be able to escape from Hunter, but you can face him with as much strength as I can give you.”
Ah, damn. He shouldn’t let himself be swayed, but he was a selfish asshole. He wanted to taste her, to have that connection with someone one more time—for what might be the last time. Besides, she was right. She most likely wouldn’t survive on her own—and while Hunter might punish her for harming a clan member, he wouldn’t kill her, and he wouldn’t turn her out to die. MoonBound’s clan leader might be a son of a bitch who’d learned to govern from a bigger son of a bitch, but he wasn’t a monster.
His hand shook as he threaded his fingers through her hair and pulled her head closer to his. His chest screamed in agony, but he breathed through it, his need to feed distracting him from the pain. Her skin felt like warm satin on his lips, and as he opened his mouth over her jugular, he felt her pulse flutter madly against his tongue.
“Ever been bitten?” He licked at her, tasting the earthy notes of the forest she’d lived in with him for years. “After you became a vampire, I mean.”
She arched against him with a breathy, “No,” and he shivered in anticipation. “Will it hurt?”
“Does a wolf shit in the woods? Never mind, I know the answer to that.” She called him a foul name and nipped his ear, and he grinned before getting serious again. “It’ll only hurt for a second, but it’s a good hurt you’ll want over and over.”
This time it was she who shivered. She shifted even closer, draping her body over his until he could feel the burning heat of her bare legs through his jeans and against his hips.
She’s not wearing any underwear.
His brain fogged at that thought, and before it stopped running the show, he tapped his tongue against the back of his teeth. Instantly his fangs tingled as the glands behind them released a fluid meant to heighten the pleasure of penetration, and his body hardened in anticipation.
Tehya squirmed with equal eagerness, and he didn’t make her wait. Closing his eyes, he sank his fangs into her throat. She gasped and stiffened, but even as he repositioned his mouth and latched on, she relaxed. And when he took his first pull, her silky blood flooding over his tongue, she let out a surprised and husky, “Oh, my.”
Oh, my. Her sultry voice fueled his hunger and made him feel as if he was starving. As if he’d missed a dozen moon fever feedings in a row. It wasn’t the full moon, but his need for blood was nearly as fierce, his need for companionship far more intense. His body grew hotter with every pull on her vein, until he swore his own blood was on fire.
Tehya clung to him, wrapping her leg around his hips as she ground against him the way she had back at his cabin, her teeth in his throat. She’d come beautifully, her soft cries nearly undoing him as well. So when she reached between their bodies now and tore open his fly, he almost moaned with relief.
Her blood rushed through him, and he could practically feel his flesh knitting back together and the pain fading; but even if he’d been at death’s door, he wouldn’t have protested when she took his shaft in her fist. Dropping his hand from the nape of her neck to her hip, he slipped his fingers under her shirt to caress the smooth skin of her firm, round ass. She quivered at his touch, spreading her legs even wider as she straddled him so she could rock against his shaft, coating it in her slippery juices.
Sensation lashed at him, the intensity building with the speed and fury of a forest fire during the dry season. If she didn’t—ah, fuck, yeah. She sank down on his cock in one smooth, hard motion. Impossibly tight, silken heat surrounded him, a powerful combination that made the world around them fade away.
Right now, nothing mattered more than experiencing the best that life had to give.
Tehya pumped her hips to the rhythm of his draws on her vein, connecting them in a circuit of lust and life and warmth he wished could go on forever. No male alive could resist the feel of Tehya sliding up and down on his shaft so furiously that the slap of wet flesh striking wet flesh drowned out everything else, even the sound of his own internal alarms.
What if Hunter and his warriors were, right now, outside the door?
Tehya clenched around him, and, yep, he just hoped Hunter would wait until the trailer stopped rocking before he burst inside.
A harsh cry escaped her, and then she was shuddering, her body spasming as she came. Sloppily he lapped at the punctures he’d made, and flippe
d her, ignoring the fresh pain in his chest.
Damn, she was beautiful, her hair splayed wildly across the mattress, her skin glistening with perspiration as she shouted at the peak of another orgasm. He drove into her, his body taking over as his climax hovered, close and so hot his skin burned.
He shifted, but his injury gave a big hey, I’m still here, you dumbass shout-out that drove his orgasm back behind the imminent line. This was going to be so good—
“Lobo!” The alarm in Tehya’s voice froze him on the very razor edge of pleasure. “I hear them.”
No, no, no! Her hearing as a wolf had been better than his, and apparently that was still the case. Fuck.
Adrenaline punched him like a blast from a cold shower as he rolled to the side and forced his aching cock into his pants. “Whatever you do,” he said urgently, “don’t tell them anything.”
Heart pounding, he leaped off the mattress and wheeled toward the door, keeping Tehya behind him even as she struggled to shove past him. His chest shrieked in agony, and he had to catch himself on the crumbling countertop or he’d have gone down. He must have lost his weapons in the river—not that they’d do him much good at this point. But it would have been nice to have a blade when Hunter tore open the door.
And tear open the door he did—right off its brittle hinges.
“Lobo,” Hunter growled, his body filling the doorway. He smiled, but it wasn’t a smile of amusement. It was one of victory, the smile of a predator that had cornered its prey.
If Tehya hadn’t been there, Lobo would have let rage and unspent lust fuel the first punch. He’d have gone down cursing and fighting. But fighting now would only piss off Hunter more, and there was no way Lobo was going to take risks with Tehya.
So all he said was, “Don’t hurt her,” and when Hunter’s meaty fist came at him, he stood his ground and welcomed the darkness.
8
Whatever you do, don’t tell them anything.
Lobo’s words kept echoing through Tehya’s mind as she was escorted—forcibly—to MoonBound’s headquarters. She supposed she was lucky, though; her wrists were bound, but at least Hunter hadn’t knocked her out for the journey the way he had done to Lobo. No, she just had to walk through the woods wearing nothing but a flannel shirt with three missing buttons.
She glanced over at Lobo, draped over the shoulder of a dark-haired, leather-clad warrior called Baddon, whose gaze turned smoky every time he got a glimpse of her gaping neckline. She’d have been flattered if it weren’t for the fact that he was carrying the man she loved like a slab of meat.
Lobo moaned, and she tensed. Stay still, Lobo. Don’t move. The last time he’d stirred, he’d gotten another blow of silence from the blond asshole she now knew as Aiden.
Tehya had lost her temper in a big way over that, and Aiden wouldn’t soon forget that she could bite. Even now, he rubbed his forearm and slid her silent glares.
The weird thing was that even after she’d attacked him, there had been no retaliation. She’d expected to be beaten, but the dark-skinned female named Katina had merely pulled Tehya off Aiden, and they’d continued on their way.
Unfortunately, her outburst had triggered a volley of questions that had been nonstop for miles.
“Who are you?”
“How do you know Lobo?”
“How did you get into our headquarters?”
“What clan do you belong to?”
“Are you a skinwalker?”
The only thing she’d told them was her name. The one Lobo had given her when he’d found her, starving and weak, in a snowbank.
“Tehya,” Hunter mused from a few feet ahead. “I’ve heard that word before. Is it Sioux? Zuni?” He eyed her over his shoulder, the leather thong around his head holding his hair away from his face. He had a cruel mouth and hard eyes, but his deep voice was deceptively soothing. When she said nothing, he sighed. “We’ll learn the truth about you, you know.”
Anxiety spiked. “With torture?”
Aiden raised his bitten arm. “I vote yes.”
“Jackass,” Katina muttered.
“We’re here,” Hunter announced, and Tehya was actually relieved that they’d arrived at MoonBound—until she realized that he’d never answered the torture question.
As they traversed the maze of hallways, the earthen walls began to close in on her. People stared, maybe because she looked like a half-wild, half-naked waif with leaves and twigs in her hair, or maybe because she was the enemy. Either way, she felt trapped, and a cage was probably in her very near future.
Her heart pounded against her ribs as if typing out a warning. If it could just type out instructions on how to escape, that would be great.
As they entered a four-way intersection, a blond male came from the brightly lit hall to the right, and her stomach bottomed out. It was the guy she’d slammed into in the hall after she’d run out of the lab. She casually inched sideways, hoping to conceal herself behind Baddon.
“Hunt, did you get him—” He broke off, his gaze skipping over Lobo and landing on her. His silver eyes flashed. “You.”
Hunter and Katina moved like vipers, putting themselves between Tehya and the crazy-eyed guy. Still, she bared her teeth and crouched, prepared to defend herself the way she had against countless wolves, cougars, and bobcats over the years. Didn’t matter that her hands were tied—she had strong legs and sharp teeth, and she knew where all the soft spots were.
“Easy, Riker,” Hunter said, slamming his palm into the male’s chest. “She’s not a threat.”
Riker hissed. “Tell that to Nicole.”
Oh, God. Nicole must be the pregnant woman, and Riker must be her mate. Taking a ragged breath, she ratcheted the aggression down a few notches, straightened up, and took a tentative step toward him.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “She startled me, and I didn’t know she was pregnant. Is she okay?”
The guy lost the homicidal glint in his eyes, but they narrowed, as if he wasn’t sure her apology or concern was genuine. “She’s fine,” he said curtly, “for now.” He turned to Hunter. “What’s going on?”
Hunter started moving again, and they all fell in behind him, Aiden bringing up the rear directly behind her. But not too close, she noted.
“Call the senior warriors together and meet us in the conference room. Bring Nicole if she’s up to it.”
Oh, shit. Tehya knew very little about vampire customs, but according to all the government propaganda, vampire clans could be primitive and barbaric. Would Nicole be allowed to exact revenge or determine Tehya’s fate? She glanced over at Lobo, who was starting to stir.
Wake up. Please wake up. I can’t do this alone.
Riker said something to Hunter that Tehya didn’t hear, and then he veered down a tunnel while the rest of them entered a cavernous room filled with an odd collection of artwork and a giant table that could easily seat twenty people. She turned to check on Baddon and Lobo, but they were gone.
A chill ran up her spine. What had they done to him?
She must have looked as panicked as she felt, because as Katina cut the ties around Tehya’s wrists and shoved her into a seat at the table, she said, “Don’t worry. Your lover is just getting a wake-up call. He’ll be here in a minute.”
“He’s not—” My lover. But he was, wasn’t he? Before today, they’d been companions. He’d been her pack leader. But now they were . . . what? A mated pair? And was her wolf-brain ever going to convert back to something resembling a human or vampire brain?
“Not your lover?” Katina jammed her fists on her denim-covered hips and gave Tehya a do you think I’m a dumbass? look. “Girl, we heard you taking it like a whore in an alley from two hundred yards away. I’m thinking of giving Lobo another look after hearing what he did to you—”
A deep growl vibrated the room, and only after Katina laughed and held up her hands in defense did Tehya realize it had come from her.
“Yeah, not your lover.” Katina rol
led her eyes and took a seat next to Tehya. “My ass.”
Tehya ignored the female and got a quick lay of the land. There were four possible exits, if she went by the currents of free-moving air flowing from beneath the doors, each carrying with it a different scent. Another door must be a closet. There were also several weapons available, from a spear propped in one corner to a selection of ceremonial axes and blades on the walls. Not that she knew how to use any of them.
Over the next few minutes, as she plotted a possible escape plan, a dozen more people filed in. Hunter sat at the head of the table. Then, finally, Lobo stumbled through the doorway, his hair dripping wet and clinging to his bare neck and shoulders. Someone had bandaged his wound, the long, white strips slashing across his hard-cut chest and around his muscular back.
Even though he was clearly in pain, he gave her a reassuring look as Baddon shoved him into a seat across the table from her.
Riker was the last to arrive. He entered with Nicole, who, to Tehya’s surprise, merely glanced at her with curiosity as she waddled in, one arm wrapped in bandages and another bandage taped to her temple. She took a seat kitty-corner from Riker, who sat at the end of the table across from Hunter.
It was like a big, formal dinner, and she and Lobo were the main course.
Once everyone was seated, Hunter folded his hands together on the tabletop and looked at Lobo and Tehya in turn. “Who’s going to start?” When neither Tehya nor Lobo spoke up, Hunter gave a resigned nod. “Okay, let’s try this again. Lobo, you shifted into my form, broke into our headquarters, and tried to seduce my mate. Tell me why you shouldn’t die.”
Lobo did what?
Tehya whipped her head around to stare at Lobo, but if he could feel the burn of her glare, he didn’t react. His eyes were locked with Hunter’s, and she swore the air crackled with electricity. Everyone shifted uncomfortably, and a few of the people sitting around the table actually fingered the daggers at their hips.
A low growl rattled in her chest and her hackles rose as the need to protect Lobo consumed her. As a human, she’d felt like a sheep following the herd; but as a wolf, she’d found her footing and her voice. In her wolf-mind, she and Lobo were a pack, and she’d leap across the table and go for Hunter’s throat to protect it.
