Furbidden Mate

by Jessica Snow

  “It’s Liam!” Crystal yelled. “He stood me up on our mating night!” She paused, glaring suspiciously at her brother. “Where in the flying fuck were you tonight? You were supposed to be there!”

  Zack glanced guiltily at McKenzie. “I was busy being, a guy. You know, doing what teenage guys do.”

  Crystal turned her glare on McKenzie. “Who is she?”

  “My girlfriend.”

  “Low standards,” Crystal muttered dismissively.

  McKenzie instantly resented that.

  “Hey, how about having some respect?” Zack demanded. “It’s not her fault Liam stood you up.” He looked around. “Where are Mom and Dad anyway?”

  “They’re out looking for Liam.” Crystal began muttering angrily to herself, pacing back and forth. “The damn traitor!”

  “Correct me if I’m wrong, but how does Liam standing you up make him a traitor?” asked Zack.

  “Because he left me for a were—” Crystal paused, looking like she had been about to say something she shouldn’t. She calmed slightly and nodded at McKenzie. “She needs to go home.”

  Zack’s face turned red with anger. “Hold up! She doesn’t have to go anywhere just because—”

  “It’s okay, Zack,” McKenzie interrupted, rising to her feet and gathering her things. “I’ll let you two sort things out. I can tell you’re having family issues.” Except it’s going to absolutely suck walking home in the dark. Good thing I brought a good jacket.

  McKenzie made it halfway to the door when Crystal suddenly said, “Wait.”

  Raising an eyebrow, McKenzie turned back to look at Crystal, who was staring hard at her face.

  “You look very familiar,” the blonde muttered. “Like I’ve seen you somewhere.” She glanced at her brother. “Who is she?”

  “Is this a joke?” Zack asked. “She’s my girlfriend.”

  “I know that dumb ass, but what’s her name?”

  Zack studied his sister, trying to see where she was heading with her questioning. “McKenzie.”

  Crystal suddenly smiled. Not a nice smile; it showed all her teeth, and above it, her eyes blazed eerily. “McKenzie, do you have an older sister perchance? Big girl? Dark hair?”

  Confused, McKenzie nodded.

  “Name?” The light in Crystal’s eyes just got more and more manic.

  McKenzie paused, puzzled. She had no idea why Zack’s sister was asking her these questions. “Katerina. Why?”

  McKenzie was not sure what happened next. One minute Crystal was standing several feet away, and in the next, she had her by the throat, lifted several feet off the floor. She gagged, her air almost cut off, and clawed at Crystal’s hands, but the woman was inhumanly strong.

  “Crystal!” Zack shouted. “Put her down now!”

  “Your sister took something very important from me,” Crystal snarled in McKenzie’s face, ignoring her young brother.

  McKenzie could not respond to the out of control girl. She simply choked, staring down at her in horror.

  Zack moved in for his sister, his face twisted with rage. Still holding McKenzie, Crystal casually slapped Zack across the face. McKenzie’s eyes widened with complete surprise when Zack went flying into the wall, knocking over family portraits. He slumped to the floor and lay alarmingly still. There was a crack in the wall and a smear of blood where his head had hit.

  Holy shit thought McKenzie dimly with shock. Is this bitch on steroids?

  Crystal turned her malicious gaze back on McKenzie. McKenzie was surprised to see Crystal’s eyes were the same as her brother’s. Gold specks floated within them. But she had no time to ponder her eye color. The room was slowly spinning around as Crystal squeezed harder. Her vision was darkening, her breathing growing faint.

  “You’re going to make the perfect gift for the dark ones,” Crystal whispered to her. Then she choked off the last of McKenzie’s air, and that was the last thing she remembered before the darkness claimed her.

  Epilogue

  Kat was filled with unbridled joy as she bounded up the driveway to the front doorstep of her home. She had a new life and a new sexy man. Even better, she had had the best sex of her life that night.

  Floppy dick Kevin could eat his heart out.

  She opened the door to the Headley house. She’d come back to gather her things. Liam said they needed to get away for a while until the pack cooled down and might be convinced to listen to reason.

  An heir to a fortune, Liam had several large bank accounts stuffed with cash, so flying anywhere in the world and staying there for an open-ended amount of time would not be a problem. Kat was all for it. She really needed a vacation after all the hell she had been through.

  “Anyone home?” she called happily. She wanted to tell her father the good news, though she was unsure how he would react to her mating with a wolf.

  If Kat had to guess, Big Mike would not approve. He’d probably tell her to end the courtship immediately. After all, the wolves had slaughtered most of their people. It could not be helped, however. Kat intended to go wherever Liam wished. She was confident that with him helping her unlock her inner bear, and their combined strength, they would be more than enough of a match for any threat that came their way. Including crazy Crystal and her bitch patrol.

  McKenzie still did not know about the family secret. Kat and her father were still indecisive on whether they should tell her or not. After the depression McKenzie, had gone through, Kat had no wish to tell her something that shocking while she was still vulnerable.

  There was no answer. The house seemed empty, devoid of life.

  “Dad?” No answer. If her father was home, he was in a deep sleep, but usually, when he was, he snored so loudly that he shook the house. He must not be home.

  Kat went down to McKenzie’s room and pounded on the door. “McKenzie, you in there?”

  When her usually sarcastic sister did not respond, Kat pushed open the door and flipped the light switch. Kenzie’s room was spotless, which was odd because Kenzie was one of the messiest people that Kat knew. The place looked like she had hired a maid service, or had a friend over with a really bad neatness compulsion.

  Kat was about to leave the room when she spotted a white envelope on the bed. Curious, she went over and opened it. And realized at once that Kenzie’s neatnik visitor had been anything but a friend.

  You stole something important from me. Now I have stolen something just as important from you. It’s too bad, you should have minded your own damn business, instead of stealing men who are way out of your league.

  If you ever want to see your little sister again, ditch the traitor and surrender yourself to me at the stone circle in the forest. I am certain that that coward Liam showed it to you.

  You have twenty-four hours before she becomes a personal blood bank to the dark ones.

  -C

  Kat stood there in silence for a moment. Then a powerful rage hit her stomach like a steel fist. Agony filled her body as her face began to contort and shift.

  She lunged around the room, clawing and swiping with the talons now poking from her hands, praying for the pain to go away. But her limbs still throbbed with agony, and her heart still burned like a hot coal in her chest. Kenzie. Feathers rained down upon her head as she ripped her sister’s bed to shreds, wishing it was Crystal she was tearing apart.

  “Kat?” Her father stood in the doorway, a look of horror on his face. “Kat listen to me! You can stop the transformation. Just focus on my voice.”

  But Kat was beyond hearing. Rage was her only emotion. She fell down and rolled around on the floor, her bones popping and contorting. Her body expanded, searing agony filling her bones. Finally, Kat let out a roar of tremendous pain as the transformation finished.

  “Kat!”

  Unthinking, Kat rushed head-first in the direction of her father’s voice. She veered off at the last second, dimly recognizing a loved one, and slammed into the wall next to him instead, breaking through. Dust shower
ed her head as she lumbered her way to the front of the Headley house.

  “Kat, come back here!” her father cried with alarm. “You can’t go out there like that and let people see you. Police will be called and they’ll have guns—”

  That was the last thing Kat heard as she barreled outside into the night. Several screams went up from the surrounding homes as people saw the huge bear running in the street.

  Kat did not care who she scared. She was on a mission to rescue her sister...and to bite the head off a skinny wolf bitch.

  Part II

  Prologue

  The ghostly moon hung overhead, as big as a pregnant belly, partially concealed by dark gray clouds. An airy breeze swept through the area, scattering debris and causing goose bumps to rise on McKenzie Headley’s flesh. A skinny girl, shorter and paler than herself, force-marched her along, her spindly hand locked around the taller blonde’s wrist like a manacle. She dragged McKenzie through an abandoned alley, the pungent smell of refuse filling her captive’s nostrils and making her gag.

  "Where are you taking me?" McKenzie tried to remain calm, and keep the fear out of her voice.

  "Don’t worry about it," Crystal shot over her shoulder in a voice as sharp as shattered glass.

  But McKenzie could not help but worry. It was all so strange, after all. One moment she had been making out with her hot new boyfriend, Zack Lilly, on his parents’ couch. The next she had been dragged away by his psychotic sister, who had the strength of a crackhead in need of a fix. After forty minutes of being hauled around like this, her hand was numb from the tightness of Crystal’s grip.

  When they had left the Lilly home, Crystal had made McKenzie show her where she and her sister lived. Once at the Headley home, Crystal had made McKenzie sneak through her bedroom window and leave a note on her bed for Kat to find.

  There had been no reason given as to why Crystal made her do it, but McKenzie supposed that psychos did not need any reasons. They were just fucking crazy. In the middle of everything, Crystal had gone on a rant about how cluttered McKenzie’s bedroom was and had started cleaning it with all the compulsiveness of a fifties housewife on speed. If Kenzie hadn’t thought she was crazy before that, Crystal had really set off alarm bells then.

  She thought, and not for the first time that night, about trying to make a run for it. It should have been such a simple thing. Crystal looked like she might weigh ninety pounds, and was sickly-looking on top of that. Surely the younger McKenzie could break away and outrun her. If it were only that simple.

  McKenzie had seen Crystal move with a speed that defied belief...saw her knock her brother, Zack, across the room as if he had been a rag doll. Not only that, she held on to McKenzie’s arm with the strength of Rogue from X-men, making it impossible for her to escape.

  But McKenzie had to do something. There was no telling what the crazy bitch had in store for her. Probably something involving manacles and a chainsaw. Maybe I can find something to knock her upside the head with.

  McKenzie’s eyes fell upon a cracked beer bottle that they were about to pass. If she could bend down fast enough and grab it, maybe she could smash the whacked-out platinum blonde upside the head and make her escape. But thoughts of attacking her captor were suddenly ended when Crystal yanked viciously on her arm, sending sparks of pain shooting up her shoulder. "Ow!" McKenzie cried with pain. "What the hell is your problem?"

  Suddenly, Crystal spun on McKenzie with a furious glare. Like her younger brother, Crystal had gold specks floating around in her eyes. "My problem," Crystal snarled, "is your fucking sister stole my mate!" For some reason, the girl’s face reminded McKenzie of a wild animal.

  Lady, McKenzie thought, if you make ugly faces like that all the time, I can’t blame your boyfriend for dropping you like a hot potato, for Kat or not.

  Instead of voicing her opinion on Crystal’s haggard looks, McKenzie crinkled her brow with confusion. "Kat? She just got out of a really bad relationship. I really doubt she would do something like that." Besides, taking men who are in a relationship isn’t Kat’s style.

  "Except for the fact that I saw them together," Crystal hissed. She shook her pale, straggly hair angrily. "I can’t believe he would give up our future, for a bear of all things, throwing our clans to war."

  "Huh?" McKenzie asked with confusion. "What the hell are you talking about? A bear? Your clans into war?"

  Crystal stared at her for a moment before yanking her arm again. "Enough of your stupid questions." She dragged her through the reeking alley until they came upon a door. Still holding onto McKenzie, Crystal pawed at the door in an odd manner.

  "Um, if there is anyone inside, I don’t think they will hear you," McKenzie criticized.

  "Shut up, before I rip your stupid head off!" Crystal half-yelled.

  Fearing the unhinged blonde would follow through with her threat, McKenzie quickly fell silent.

  Several moments later, the door creaked open and a girl with porcelain-pale skin stuck her head out. Her hair was cropped in a short side-bob, she was dressed in a purple shirt and black skirt, fishnet stockings wrapped her creamy-white legs, and purple, spiked stilettos adorned her feet.

  She stared at Crystal with naked suspicion before turning her gaze to McKenzie.

  McKenzie held back a surprised gasp. The woman’s eyes were startling. They were an amethyst purple. The way she stared at McKenzie made her uncomfortable as if she was peering into her soul.

  Do not look into her eyes.

  McKenzie looked around the alley with surprise. The voice that had just spoken in her mind was not her own. She was sure of it. What in the hell? she thought with amazement. Who’s there?

  There was no answer.

  Maybe I’m just hearing voices. She certainly had witnessed enough crazy things in the past hour. It wasn’t a stretch to believe that under the stress of the moment that she had started hallucinating.

  The woman finally tore her unnerving gaze away from McKenzie and focused on Crystal. "So, you really were not lying wolf woman." Her voice was soft and mellow.

  "I have brought your master a gift...as I promised," Crystal replied proudly.

  The woman eyed Crystal warily. "I still do not know why you are doing this."

  "Because my mate betrayed me!" Crystal yelled. She took a threatening step towards the woman, her face an angry mask. For a moment, McKenzie thought she saw fangs and foam in Crystal’s mouth. "And this is my revenge."

  My god thought McKenzie, she looks like she needs a rabies shot.

  The woman scowled at Crystal, annoyed by her outburst.

  "Um, hello?" McKenzie broke in. "I don’t know what you two ladies are on, talking about wolves, revenge and the like, but I’m not some toy to be traded around for your amusement. If you just let me go now, I won’t call the cops on you two, I promise."

  Both women ignored her, intent on staring each other down. Finally, Purple Eyes took a step back. "Though I would love nothing more than to rip your feral head from your shoulders, I realize that could be seen as an act of war to those who would undoubtedly find your corpse." She nodded at McKenzie. "My master will accept your gift." Then she stepped forward and grabbed McKenzie by the arm. McKenzie let out a shocked gasp. Her touch was as cold as ice.

  "Let me go!" shivered McKenzie. But she might as well have been talking to a stone wall. The woman’s grip was as strong as Crystal’s had been.

  A triumphant note entered Crystal’s voice. "Good. I’m glad you saw it my way. But just a quick FYI; you would have gotten your purple-eyed ass torn to shreds had you tried to attack me."

  Purple Eyes looked bored with Crystal already. "Perhaps."

  Crystal opened her mouth as if to spew more incendiary boasts, but instead said, "Tell your master to enjoy his meal."

  The malice in her words sent a chill shooting up McKenzie’s spine.

  "Oh, he will," the woman replied coldly. For a moment, she looked like she would forget herself and attack the psycho blo
nde. Then with an angry hiss, she snatched McKenzie inside and quickly shut the door.

  It was very dark. McKenzie could hardly see, but that didn’t seem to matter to the woman, who navigated through the dark building as if it were broad daylight.

  "Where are you taking me?" McKenzie demanded, her body shivering from the cold of the woman’s icy touch. The purple-eyed woman refused to answer. They continued moving through the darkened interior until they came up to a door at the end of a long hallway. The woman tossed a warning glance behind her before she opened it, revealing a stone staircase that stank of stale air and old earth.

  Slowly, they began to descend the steep steps, with McKenzie feeling along the wall to keep her footing. Down and down they went until finally they reached a hallway illuminated by torch light—and lined with cages.

  McKenzie could hardly contain her horror at the sight before her. It was some sort of ancient dungeon made from stone, complete with empty cells and torture racks. The woman took her several doors down before she found a cell to her liking: bare and empty, with just a single sleeping mat. Producing an iron key from a pocket on her shirt, she deftly unlocked the door with a twist of her wrist.

  "Please let me go!" Her heart pounding in her chest with fright, McKenzie tried to jerk away from the woman. It was hopeless; she couldn’t break the woman’s grip.

  Her captor laughed with contempt at McKenzie’s weak effort. Then she shoved her into the cell, sending McKenzie flying across the room with surprising force. A pained cry escaped McKenzie’s lips as her knobby knees scraped across the stone floor before she came to a stop in front of the sleeping mat.

  Is every girl around here wired on meth? McKenzie thought with disbelief, stunned by how Purple Eyes had tossed her across the room as if she weighed nothing. First Zack’s sister has the strength of Hercules, now this Goth chick.

  Steel creaked, and the door closed with an echoing clang. The sound of doom.