Warning:
The following material contains strong sexual content meant for mature readers. BITTEN has been rated NC17, erotic, by three individual reviewers. We strongly suggest storing this electronic file in a place where young readers not meant to view this ebook are unlikely to happen upon it. That said, enjoy…
Prologue
Ivan Basileus laid his hand over the firm roundness of his wife’s very pregnant stomach. He growled low in his throat, a deep sound of satisfaction and contentment, as he felt his child nestled safely beneath his hand. Brianna, his wife and lifelong mate, smiled and placed her hand over his, entwining their fingers to strengthen the bond. He couldn’t resist giving in to the lure of her nearness. He leaned in and kissed her fervently in the curve of her neck and shoulder, marveling anew at how lucky he was to have found the perfect match to his soul in her. He loved her so very much.
Brianna’s breath caught audibly and her eyes burned with awakening desire as she turned to look at him. But she seemed to remember when he did not, why they were gathered in the pack’s meeting house. So she shooed away his attentions with a small smile and a whispered promise that there would be time for more serious play after the meeting. Ivan reluctantly pulled back, eyes smoldering, but he kept her held close within the protective circle of his arms.
Gathering around them in the dimly fire lit room, were the adult members of his large family. Cousins, uncles, aunts, nieces, and nephews…they would all be in attendance. Ivan was thankful for each and every one of them, as he knew his wife was. Brianna was over seven months pregnant and heavy with the new life that grew within her. She had emigrated from the United States less than a year ago in order to be his mate—his wife—sacrificing much to be at his side in the wilderness of his homeland. But she had left unfinished business behind her in the country of her birth, business issues with her uncle’s company, which she had inherited upon his death. This meeting among family and pack mates was to decide the outcome of some of those issues.
Ivan’s mother, Servinaa, cleared her throat and addressed the group at large. She spoke in English for the benefit of Brianna, who had only just begun to learn their native Russian tongue. “It is obvious that Brianna cannot go. Her time is too near. What if she were to birth the baby early? We cannot afford to let a human doctor attend the birth of one of our own. She must remain here, so that we may see to her care properly, as only our kind know how.” The proud Russian tones in her voice brooked no argument.
“Yes Mama, I agree with you. But what can we do? Whom can we send to take care of this business with her company? The board members of The Living Forest conservation group asked that she arrive in person for this new proposal they have come up with. It will take much persuasion to let them accept someone else in her stead. And who among us could even act with the authority that will be necessary among the professionals of New York?” Ivan argued, feeling the futility of the situation set in upon him.
“Well she cannot go. Not until after the birth of her cub, at any rate,” Servinaa said.
“I could go for a few days only. They’ll understand why I can’t stay long after signing the necessary papers,” Brianna said.
“No.” From out of a darkened corner of the room came an authoritative and serious masculine voice.
There was a ripple of motion and a face appeared from the shadows. Nikolai stepped into the illumination of the fire lit room. His movements held an alien grace, full of danger, mystery and above all, power. It was no wonder why he was the most respected and feared of their kind—the Wawkalak, the Bodark, the werewolf.
Everyone in the room was moved to silence. It wasn’t often that they saw Nikolai indoors like this. He was usually out in the wilderness, seeing to the protection and safety of the village and the people who dwelled within it. He was a lone wolf, a protector of their family and way of life. He was the alpha Bodark…the pack leader.
“No. Brianna, you will stay within the safety of our borders. We cannot risk you or the child that you carry.” Nikolai’s voice was firm and unyielding.
“Then what shall we do, Nikolai? Her people need her signed approval to continue their efforts to save the ancient American forests. We must not stand in the way of such a noble endeavor. It is our duty to care for the Earth mother, whether in our own borders or across the sea.”
“You are right, Ivan. These legal papers must be signed. The ancient forests of the world must be saved,” Nikolai agreed somberly.
“But the board won’t send me the papers to sign. They want someone there in person to hear the proposal and to clear up the rest of my uncle’s unfinished business within the company. I’ve put it off for so long that they’re not taking any excuses this time. I have to go,” Brianna pointed out.
“You will not go, and that is final.” Nikolai waited a long beat before he spoke again. It seemed that he waged some internal battle before phrasing the words, “I will go.” There was an audible intake of breath at his declaration.
“No! You must not leave us,” interjected one of the men, a second cousin to Ivan. “You are our alpha Bodark, our leader. You cannot leave us unprotected.”
“Calm yourself, Dimitri.” Nikolai gave the man a hard look and Dimitri immediately shrank back into himself. He slowly, cautiously, retreated back into the shadows, obeying the compulsion in Nikolai’s tone and showing his subservience to his leader. “The pack will not be unprotected. Ivan and Hugh are the pack’s beta males, my seconds. They will see to things while I am away.”
“I’ll give you power of attorney for this project, and I will try to convince the board to let you sign in my stead. If it will make them feel safer, I can promise to attend the board meetings through speakerphone while you’re in New York. I’ll have to make the arrangements, but surely they would understand the necessity in this instance,” Brianna said, eager to find some resolution to the problem.
“Call your people. Let them know I am coming.” Nikolai’s tone was final.
His word was law.
* * * * *
“Something troubles you, Niki.”
Nikolai turned with a soft exhalation of breath and smiled at his grandmother, Elizabet. She had addressed him in their native language of Russian and he responded in kind. “You know me too well, Grandmamma. But I am not overburdened so rest your worried mind on that.”
Elizabet sank next to him on the giant rock that overlooked their village. Though she was eighty-four years old, she still possessed the athletic prowess of her race, and was pleased to note that her bones only creaked a little bit as she sat. She wrapped him in her arms and sighed.
Ever since the age of twelve, when he had saved his two younger brothers from death at the hands of hunters and been thrust into manhood, Nikolai had been a silent strength that guarded over her and the people of their village. It wasn’t often that he seemed in need of her guidance. It both worried and pleased her that he seemed to need her now, whether he wanted to admit his need or not.
“Tell me what has you up here brooding,” she urged with a small smile.
“It is difficult to explain…even to myself. I am not exactly certain that there is even a need for my—brooding—as you named it,” he said with a small chuckle, drawing her closer to him. “I will be leaving these shores for the first time in my life. I have not left the pack since I became alpha and I am uneasy,” he admitted quietly. “There is an unsettled restlessness in my heart and I do not know the cause. Perhaps it is the moon and nothing more.” They both looked up into the starlit sky and the new moon which, even though unseen, still pulled at them.
“Do you perhaps fear that Ivan and Hugh will not be able to protect the village?”
“No. They are both my second
s in command, by right of strength and cunning. They will not fail our people, or me. That is not what concerns me, be at ease on that score.” His words were spoken firmly, as if the very suggestion that Ivan or Hugh would fail at their duties was unacceptable.
They were both silent for a long moment, watching the flickering lights in the log homes down below their lofty perch.
“Why do you go, Niki? Why do you feel the need to go to this strange American city and be amongst so many humans? It is not merely to protect Brianna and her babe. That much I can see.”
Nikolai seemed to weigh his words carefully before answering. “I feel that I am being led by a power that is beyond me. I have had dreams. Visions. I have had them for some time now, but only recently have they plagued me with increasing frequency. I am growing more and more restless as each night passes, and the dreams are to blame, I am sure of it. These dreams tell me now to go to America and find what destiny has in store for me there. I have to go. I will not be able to rest until I do.”
“If you have had visions then you have no choice but to go where they lead you. As alpha, you have a greater gift of the far-seeing eye than any other in our pack. But what do you think you will find in America? What could possibly await you there but heartache in the midst of so many strangers? So many humans? Have your dreams told you that much?”
“I do not know what I will find. But I must leave this place and I must leave it soon. I feel that something is waiting for me, across the sea. It has been waiting for a long time and I must go to find it.” His voice was nearly a whisper, but still firm in resolve.
Elizabet had never seen her grandson so determined. He was always sure of himself, and perhaps more than a little arrogant as alpha male of their pack. But this was something else entirely. She smiled and kissed his hair lightly. “You will do what you must, as you always have. But be careful, my grandson. You yourself have admitted that you know not what is waiting for you across the sea. Beware of danger on all sides, Nikolai. The world is not often kind, especially to beings like us. Be wary of the moon’s phases—act like a human—but do not forget who and what you are. Come back to us soon.”
“I will Grandmama,” he promised. His pale blue eyes glittered dangerously in the moonlight. “Very soon. I promise you.”
Chapter One
Waxing Moon
One month later
Julia Thurman rubbed at her aching temples with a weary and heartfelt sigh. She’d been working for over twelve hours without a break, seeing to the registration of several new hotel guests, as was her job. But today she was alone at the front desk, her two co-workers having called in sick with the flu…or the twenty-four hour plague, as she liked to refer to it. Friday was a busy day for her at work on a normal day, but when so many of her co-workers called in sick, as was often the case, it was a stressful endeavor at best. She hadn’t even found time to eat lunch, as her rumbling tummy reminded her vociferously.
What she wanted, more than anything, was to take a vacation. A vacation to some far off place, where no one could bother her. A place where she could sit down with her favorite romance novel and read undisturbed until her heart was content. But, alas, she couldn’t afford it—not on her meager salary—and especially not after her semester dues came in from the New York School of Visual Arts. It wasn’t cheap, training to be a professional sculptor and painter.
Julia sighed and imagined herself back at home with her parents on their Pennsylvania ranch. When she’d lived there she had taken the quiet solitude of country living for granted, but now, after five years of living in the big city, she found she sorely missed it. The rolling hills of the pasture land, the sweet pungent odor of the manure covered cornfields, the husky aroma of the horses’ stables—they were all a treasured memory now. How she wished she could return.
But her parents were dead, both from strokes only one year apart, and the ranch had been auctioned to clear their debts. What little money had remained, she’d used to move to the big city—a lifelong dream—and now, at the age of 25, after much hard work and penny pinching, she was enrolled in one of the best art schools in the United States. It was costly, but it was enriching and the dream of one day being a professional artist was all that kept her going on days such as this one.
Julia sighed again and bent back to her work, brushing away the brooding thoughts that could only serve to make her more frustrated. Her dark, dishwater blonde hair chose that moment to fall over her face and she gritted her teeth in frustration. Her hair was so thick its weight often escaped from the clips she used to secure it back from her face. She’d thought more than once of getting her waist-length tresses cut short, but knew her natural curl would only spring around her head in an Afro if she did. With practiced ease she refastened her unruly hair into its alligator clip, all the while wishing futilely for a straight, sleek mane. That thought led to another, then another, and before long Julia remembered the one thing she’d been avoiding thinking about all week.
Tomorrow night at nine she would be drink hostess at The Living Forest reception party. It was to be a formal affair and she wouldn’t be able to get away with wearing her usual work livery of black slacks and a black sports jacket. She would have to dig up a formal dress somewhere.
Julia didn’t do formal affairs. Not very well, at any rate.
But the extra money for the three hours spent in the hotel’s ballroom would see her through the next month’s rent on her tiny efficiency apartment. And the tips! She’d worked a similar soiree a few months past with the conservation group and the tips alone were a wonderful bonus. She might be able to afford that large set of Windsor and Newton oils she’d been eying at the art supply store, as well as some much needed stretched canvas and Plaster of Paris. The money she earned should make all the trouble of prepping herself for the event worthwhile.
She’d have to have her hair done in a way that would hold well for a few hours—if that were even possible. The cost for that would be thirty bucks plus a tip at her local beauty parlor, if she was lucky. And she would have to stop by a department store to have her make-up applied at one of the cosmetic make over counters. The cost for that should be nil, as long as she didn’t give in to the sales-persons urgings to buy the products they used on her face. That wouldn’t be too hard. Julia rarely if ever wore make up. She couldn’t even put the stuff on properly, a shameful thing for her artist’s pride to admit, even if only to herself. The thought made her grimace with a bit of shame in her lack of femininity.
It wasn’t easy being a plain Jane. But not everyone could be drop-dead gorgeous like half the ladies in New York City seemed to be. Julia just wished that for once she could feel like an attractive woman, instead of an awkward bookworm with paint and plaster under her nails more often than not. For once she wanted to be the woman pursued by all the eager men. To see what it was like to be wanted by a lusty male. But, she reminded herself, it would be harder to reassume her role as the lonely dowd if she were to have that one, decadent, taste. Harder to shrink back into the shadows of her anonymity after knowing the carnal pleasures to be had in a man’s arms.
It was best not to dwell on that daydream. No matter how pleasant the images in her mind might be.
Better to live vicariously through her romance novels. The reality of a great romance was just not for her. That was something she was most definitely sure of. Dominant, virile men did not go for the plain-faced, large breasted, thick-hipped woman. In stories they might, but not in real life. And while she’d had her opportunities for affairs with a string of nerd jerks, small-minded simpletons, or weak-willed mama’s boys, Julia just couldn’t bring herself to accept their offers. She was a little more discerning in her choice of bed partners at this point in her life. She just wasn’t ready to settle her expectations so low quite yet.
Perhaps after another few lonely years, she would be more amiable to the idea. But not now. While her expectations weren’t too high—she would be more than content to hook up w
ith a shy, brainy type like herself after all—it seemed that for now what she wanted could not be found in the great city in which she lived. Men like that had been taken long ago, and all the good-looking, stud-muffin ones were either gay or off chasing the seemingly endless supply of sleek model types. She would have to be content to stay on her own…or submit to the greasy, pawing types that were always, not surprisingly, available.
The phone rang at her elbow, startling her out of her musings.
“Thank you for calling Drayton Towers Hotel. This is Julia. How may I help you?”
“Julia, I’m so glad you answered instead of the boss. Listen, I’m coming down with something so I won’t be able to make it in tonight. Can you cover for me?”
Julia gritted her teeth. “George, you called in last Friday. Don’t you think it’s a little unfair to do this again?”
“I wasn’t sick last Friday. I had a dentist appointment,” George said in a cajoling whine.
“And I have yet to see that dentist’s written excuse you promised me.”
“Aw, quit acting like a shift manager and be a pal. I really do feel bad.” George gave some very obviously fake coughs to back up his claim.
“Why don’t I believe you, George?” Julia asked in exasperation. “Wait a minute—is that music I hear playing in the background?” She listened harder and heard the low murmur of several people. “And are those voices I hear, too? I thought you lived alone?”
“I can’t get by you, can I Julia? You’re too smart for me. Look, you’re right, I’m not sick. But I really do need you to cover for me tonight. I’m at this party and there’s this girl, oh man is she hot—“
“Listen, George, I’ve been here since seven this morning. Seven! I was supposed to get off work at three this afternoon. Betty called in and Tom called in—I’ve been working by myself all day. I’m tired, I’m hungry and I have a portrait due in class on Monday. I need my free time, George, just like you do. Now get your butt in here and work or so help me—“
Bitten: Moon Lust 2 Page 1
