by Emma Dawn
Where were all the other werewolves? Where were the women? Not that I thought they could help me, so much as I was worried about what Raider had done to make them flee, or worse, had he hurt them?
I flung myself through the doorway into the dining hall, grabbing the edge of the door and using it to propel me to the left, toward the kitchens.
My ears caught the edges of the human cooks’ laughter and chatter. I headed straight for it, slamming into a large pair of steel doors that swung open with my weight. I landed in a crouch inside the kitchen proper, breathing hard.
A dozen pairs of eyes stared at me as if I had sprouted a second head. “Run!” I screamed the word at them, breaking their paralysis. They scattered like leaves ahead of a wild storm. The last thing I wanted was Raider injuring, or worse, biting one of them.
I ran to the first counter I could and grabbed a meat cleaver. My training with weapons was small, it had been on my to-do list. But still I felt better with the heavy knife in my hands.
I stared at the steel doors, waiting for Raider to bolt through, teeth bared and bright red fur standing on end.
Nothing. I made my way slowly to the door and pressed my ear against it, waiting for the sounds of heavy breathing. Something that would indicate he was still there.
Taking a deep breath, I held the meat cleaver high and pushed through the door.
The figure in front of me, though, was Willow, not Raider. She collapsed away from me, her clothing rumpled like she’d only just dressed. “Please don’t hurt me!”
I lowered the cleaver. “Willow, I thought you were Raider. He rushed me.” I shook my head. “Where is everyone, did he hurt them?”
She swallowed with difficulty. “Bianca was making a push into our territory again. We all went to back up the Alphas. Why weren’t you there?” Her eyes held no judgment. I offered her a hand up but she scooted back further. So much for making progress with the women.
I crouched, a thought rolling through me. “You’re telling me you didn’t see Raider?”
An acrid, sharp tangy smell whispered around her as she shook her head. “No. I didn’t.”
My wolf grumbled inside that she was lying. But why would she lie about Raider?
I stood and made sure to give her plenty of room as I moved around her. Something was up with Willow, I just didn’t know what.
I made my way back to the courtyard, following a smell that was Raider’s, and one that I couldn’t place except to call it burnt ashes. The scent made me wrinkle my nose, but at least it was easy to follow. I was all the way to the courtyard before anyone else caught up with me.
Tarack and Colt were there in the courtyard, and I could see by the looks on their faces that they had been coming to find me. I waved the cleaver at them. “How was your morning?”
Colt brought me my coat and boots. “Obviously not as interesting as yours.”
I told them both quickly about my encounter with Raider, about him blocking my ability to reach them.
They both shook their heads at the same time. “Not possible. His gift is one of fear. He can impose your greatest fear on you, not stop you from reaching those you are bonded with.”
I frowned. “I know it was him. There was a smell of ashes and I followed it back here.” I pointed to the courtyard and again they shook their heads.
“Raider smells like the ocean,” Colt said softly. “I don’t know any Alpha that smells like burnt ashes.”
Well, shit, that blew my theory out of the water and left me feeling more than a little off balance.
I rubbed my hand over my face. I didn’t know what to do, yet again, and I didn’t like the feeling.
That wasn’t true. I knew what I could do. I could speed up some of the process so we could focus on what was coming. If Raider was truly trying to disrupt what we were doing, then I had to make sure he didn’t.
“Colt, can you bring Havoc to us here, please?” I asked. He gave me a quick nod and when Tarack moved to follow, I stopped him.
“No, stay here.” I laid my hand on his arm. “You are a part of this conversation with Havoc.”
His eyes narrowed. “I see wheels turning in that pretty head of yours. What are you up to, Cassie?”
I gave him a smile, one that grew the more I thought about what I was about to suggest to the men. “I have a plan, Tarack, a sexy, wicked plan.”
His eyebrows shot up and he laughed softly. “Sounds like my kind of plan.”
“That’s what I was hoping. As long as Havoc agrees.”
The man of the hour stepped up into the courtyard, his dark brown eyes full of concern. Havoc was every inch the Alpha as he strode to us, and it made the wolf in me tremble with anticipation. His eyes flicked between me and Tarack.
“What is it I need to agree to?”
Chapter 18
Tarack’s amber-gold eyes flickered as he looked me up and down, caressing my naked skin. I shivered as if he were indeed touching me. I’d convinced Havoc to let me spend the day with Tarack, and the night with him. That would do two things. I would have an Alpha with me at all times, and it would speed up my time with the men, which might buy us more time to plan. If Raider was truly trying to separate me from the pack, then this was the best way to thwart him.
The Alpha in front of me took a step in my direction, and then another and another. “I didn’t have time to plan anything special for you, Cassandra. There are no flowers, no food, no wine or candlelight.”
“No clothes,” I pointed out. I’d stripped the second we stepped into his bedroom.
His jaw tightened and flexed. “I don’t like you doing this because it is a chore to you.”
My shoulders slumped. “Seriously, what is it with all you moody men lately? Lighten the fuck up and take your clothes off so I can jump all over you and make us both come over and over.”
His previously tight jaw dropped open and he just stared at me. “Are you serious?”
“Look,” I reached up and ran a hand from the side of his neck down to his shoulder, “I have been seriously stressed, and I am done being freaked out. I’m a fun-loving girl who thrives on danger. This is about as dangerous as things get, with people out to get me, people out to hurt those I love. And if I’m honest with myself, it makes my blood sing hot and horny.”
He burst out laughing. “Hot and horny?”
I lifted one shoulder and did my best to look coquettish. “Well, you can add honest to that if you want.”
Tarack finally lifted his hands and brushed one over each side of my face, then down lower so that he skimmed the edge of my breast, waist, and upper thigh. “I’ve wanted you from the moment Havoc told me to take you away from the pack. I didn’t understand it, and I didn’t want you to leave.”
“None of us realized what I was,” I said softly. “Maybe if I did, none of this would have happened. Maybe I would have ended up with another pack if I’d let my wolf out to play.”
Those words rang so true inside my ears I actually stumbled forward, forcing Tarack to catch me. This process I was going through was meant to be; I wasn’t meant for any other pack. My fate was tied with the Windrun wolves and had been from the moment I’d been bitten so many years ago.
I looked up at Tarack. “Kiss me, please.”
His answer came swift and hard as he held me against his body, one hand on my upper back, the other scooping low to catch me just under the ass. I wrapped my arms around him, not caring that I didn’t know everything about him. I didn’t have to.
My wolf knew these Alphas as if they had run the woods together in the past, and my wolf loved them all.
Which made it easy for me to fall into their arms and know I was safe, to feel loved and love them in return.
Tarack and I tumbled to the bed, laughing and kissing, giggling over things that were ridiculous. The weight of what was happening around us slid from my shoulders as I remembered that I was a fighter. I was a survivor and a bad-ass in my own right.
Tar
ack’s hands slid over my body, discovering pieces of me that I had no idea were so sensitive to touch. Like the inside of my elbow, or the top of my ass cheeks, the hollow of my ankle and the very back of my neck. No, check that, my neck had always been a hot spot for me, so when Tarack flipped me over onto my belly and nipped the back of my neck I all but came right there. I gasped and squirmed, thrusting my ass back into his hard cock, begging for more with my body.
Like with Colt, there was a frantic need to be with this man that was partly bent on the knowledge that we didn’t have a lot of time.
A need to have him be a part of my body and join with me even if it was just for right now, and not forever.
He had his hands on my hips as if he would still my movements. “Shit, Cassie, don’t wiggle so much, I’m going to lose my load right here.”
“Can’t help it.” I looked over my shoulder at him, peeking through the strands of my hair.
His eyes dilated with desire as he leaned over me once more, the tip of his cock pressing into my already soaking wet pussy. I groaned, every part of me tingling and wanting him as I tried to thrust back onto his length, but his hands kept me still.
“Not yet,” he groaned. “I’m trying to make this last, we have all day.”
Except I suddenly knew we wouldn’t. “No, we don’t.”
We both went still and I found myself listening to that instinct that had saved me so many times. My wolf was trying to tell me that we had to hurry.
I believed her. “Fuck me hard and fast, Tarack. Bianca is coming tonight and we have to be ready.”
His eyes locked on mine. “You’re sure?”
I nodded. “Positive. Because it’s what I’d do if everyone expected me in two days. I’d show up early and try to pull a fast one on us.”
He pulled my hips back and slid into me with a single hard thrust that made me throw my head back and howl. Howl?
He joined me in the howl and somewhere there was an echo of our passion carried out. I didn’t want to hurry with him. I wanted to take my time and see his golden eyes glow from the inside out as we came over and over together.
He pounded into me, faster and faster, and my breath hitched as my heart fought to keep up with the pace he set. He leaned forward, so I took the weight of his body as his hips kept thrusting. His hand slid around and cupped my breasts, letting the weight of them fill his hands.
“So fucking amazing,” he groaned. “Gods, Cassie, I didn’t ever think—”
I grinned back at him as he rolled my nipples between his thumb and fingers. I gasped, tried to speak and managed a squeak that turned into a long low moan. The pressure in my belly, the feel of him inside me, the terror that this would be the last time he touched me, sent pulse after pulse of desire rolling through my limbs.
His breathing started to shift, growing edgy and out of sync as his body tightened around mine. “Fuck me,” I whispered, and the climax roared over us both.
My body seemed to shatter in that pulsing need, my pussy wrapping tightly around his length, squeezing him over and over as he spent himself inside me. Sweat dripped from us both. I’m not sure who was more out of breath. I collapsed and he stayed on top of me, a delicious weight that for the moment was nothing but good.
I hitched my hips back a few times, feeling his cock slide in and out of my pussy, and in seconds he was growing hard again.
Only . . . I knew something was wrong.
I lifted my head and looked to the window. “Tarack.”
He pressed his cheek between my shoulder blades. “What is it?”
I felt it then, a shot through my heart as if it were my body being attacked and not one of my men.
“Lyric has been hurt.” I threw Tarack off me and scrambled for clothes. I ignored the boots, and ran out of the room barefoot, Tarack right behind me. We all but flew out of the castle, headed toward the south side where Bianca had been making her push into our territory.
A snarl rippled from my lips and I was bolting through the snow, barefoot, the other women of the Windrun pack stepping out of my way as I raced toward the interloper.
She’d hurt Lyric; the only question was how badly? Did it matter how bad? I wasn’t even sure anymore.
Bianca had hurt one of my men and I was going to gut her for it.
The territory ended on a cliff edge that slid down into a ravine with steep sides and loose rocks. I didn’t stop, just let the momentum of my anger and wolf take me into that space that I rode when I skydived or fought.
I leapt off the edge of the ravine, heard the gasps of the pack behind and in front of me. The air kissed my cheeks, caressed my hair as I fell. Part of my brain screamed that the drop off was too big.
My wolf had other ideas.
I felt her rising through me, begging for the shift, pleading to be a part of me. I let the fear slide away, and she was there, I was her.
We were one.
I landed on the sliding rocks on four paws, still running flat out. Behind me a cheer rose through the air that swept into a chorus of howls and then they were there, behind me, running with me—the other females flanking me first—as we cascaded down the mountain like an avalanche of fur, teeth, and claws.
The Bloodfire pack raced up to meet us, teeth bared, snarls on their lips. But they didn’t understand that they would lose. They fought for a leader who thought nothing of another’s life.
I fought to save those I loved.
I crashed into the first big wolf, head on, and scooted under him, flipping him over on his back. My teeth snapped and my claws slashed at any who drew too close. Because I wasn’t here for them.
My eyes were locked on Bianca and Lyric laying at her feet, far too still. Not my music man; I wouldn’t let her steal him from me.
I flattened my body, faster and faster, dodging those that would slow me down, letting my pack behind me fight.
A silver-gray blur shot beside me and then I was not alone anymore, Havoc was with me. I felt my men form a protective grouping around me. Tarack, Colt, Brennan, Keenan, and even Wilder.
My heart leapt. They were with me.
We could do this.
At the last second, as I shot toward Bianca, the dirty bitch showed her hand. Or in this case, her gun.
She aimed it right at me, and I knew without a doubt I was going to die. But I was not going to die easily.
I leapt up at her, my mouth aimed for her throat, my teeth clamped around her slender neck. I bit down hard, the hot rush of blood spilling over my teeth and tongue as her spine snapped beneath my teeth.
The gun went off and my body jerked, but I didn’t let go. I closed my eyes and bit down harder, driving my teeth deep and cutting off her oxygen, taking her with me.
If it was the last thing I did, I would save my pack from her. I would keep them safe.
I would keep my men safe.
Chapter 19
In the fog of death, I wondered if I was going to heaven or hell. Heaven would be here in the Windrun pack, and I would get to keep all my men. I realized that as I’d raced down the ravine’s edge to face Bianca. I didn’t want to choose, I wanted all the men I’d bedded and the two I hadn’t. I felt a connection to them all, and I understood Ally’s need to keep her harem, her need to have them all in her life.
Harem, I wanted to snort at the word, but it was the most fitting. Maybe reverse harem would be better. The snort turned into a groan as my belly lit on fire from within. And not the good, sexy kind of fire, but the burning, eating a hole through my middle with glass shards kind of fire.
“Lie still,” Ralph snapped at me. “I am getting the last of the silver shot out of you.”
Silver shot . . . so maybe that part of being a werewolf was true then? Vaguely, I recalled something about silver sickness, but it was distant in my foggy brain. I tried to open my eyes but found myself sliding back into the dark of unconsciousness. That was fine. There at least I could . . . see my wolf.
The big black body of her w
alked out of the shadows of my mind, her green eyes on mine. It was like a dream, a place where it was just her and I, meeting for the first time.
“We are not two separate beings.” She spoke but her mouth didn’t move. “You can refer to me as your wolf, but I am you. You are me. And for the first time, we worked in tandem and it was a beautiful thing. We saved them all.”
I reached out and let my hand touch the top of her head. “We saved our Alphas?”
“We did. Even if we die, they will go on. The pack will find a new Alpha. Bianca is dead.” Her lips curled over that last name.
“But what about Raider?” I crouched beside her and threw an arm around her thick shoulders. The sensation was strange because I could feel both sides of the embrace. Like I was hugging myself. My wolf leaned into me.
“He will try to hurt the pack, but they are stronger than he realizes.”
I looked into her eyes, my face reflecting in their depths. “I am sorry I didn’t trust you sooner.”
She gave me a wolfy grin, her tongue lolling out through the big white teeth. “You had reason. The first time I emerged, you were a child, and your grandfather was with you. He beat you badly until you shifted back.”
Vaguely, the memory stole forward and I buried my face in the thick fur of her coat. “I remember bits and pieces.”
“He almost killed you,” she said softly. “You were saved—in a way—by the one who bit you. If he had not, I’m not sure you would have survived.”
Confusion and denial flickered through me in equal measures. “What do you mean? My grandfather would not have beaten me if I hadn’t shifted.”
Her eyes were sad and a slow breath whispered past her teeth. “Your grandfather hated you, and him beating you after you shifted was not the first time he laid hands on you. Though you have blocked many of those memories.”
I squeezed my eyes shut, and tried to breathe through the sudden pain and onslaught of new/old memories. Those beatings were a dark and dangerous place in my mind.
