Marriage Claws

by Paige Cuccaro

  “Are you?” he asked. “They’re expecting you?”

  I eyed him sideways, suspicious. “Yeah. Eventually.”

  “Ah. Well that’s different.”

  “Whatever.” The guy was acting weird—even for a werewolf. “I just wanted to make sure we’re clear about the loan you offered. And no matter what you may have heard, even from Jack, we’re together. He’s going to be alpha and I’ll be alpha female. So . . . as your future . . . queen, I need you to back off on the campaign for becoming the next alpha instead of Jack. Okay?”

  “As you wish . . . my queen,” he said stepping closer. Instinct stiffened my body, something inside me warning me to raise my guard—be ready. “You’re absolutely right. The opportunity for campaigning has passed. Time to take action.”

  I lifted my chin. “What do you mean?”

  He sighed. “Y’know, I’d hoped to keep this civilized. Present a reasonable argument, persuade the pack to see the absurdity of auto-ascension and birth rank. But no one would listen. They’re all stuck in their ways, blind to the pitfalls of accepting the status quo.”

  I chuckled and casually shuffled back a step. I wanted distance between us, but I didn’t want to make an obvious retreat. Power—it’s all about perception. “I seriously don’t know what you’re talking about. Remember, I’m new to all this werewolf stuff. But I’m glad to hear we’re on the same page about Jack becoming alpha.”

  “Oh, Jack won’t be alpha,” he said. “And you . . . well, I’d hoped you’d see things my way.”

  “What things?” I asked. “Did you really think I’d go against my fiancé?”

  It was Marcus’ turn to chuckle. “Come now, Kate. You and Jack were never a real couple. Anyone with a nose could smell that you were unattached at the pack house last weekend. Why do you think I bothered approaching you? I hoped I could seduce you—”

  “Seduce me?” I barked out a laugh before I couldn’t stop myself. “That wasn’t going to happen.”

  He dropped his arms to his side, standing straighter so he loomed over me. “It was only an option.”

  “Why?” I asked. “I mean, why bother with me at all? You have Alexia. You don’t need me.”

  “Need you? Of course not. Alexia is a born wolf, stronger, with a hereditary knowledge of our people. She’s a far better mate.” He propped his hands on his hips. “I just wanted to keep you from Jack. Make him unacceptable to the pack, despite his birth rank.”

  “Wow, you’re really hung up on this birth rank stuff,” I said. “You’d think by your age you would’ve learned to deal with it.”

  “Easy for a human to say. You have no idea what it’s like to want more out of life, want more for your family, for your children, and be refused even the chance because of who gave birth to you.” His shoulders were stiff, hands balling to fists. “If you were told you could never own the Sweet Spot, but only wait tables there because your parents were waiters and their parents. Would you just accept it? Deal with it?”

  “Maybe if you’d made a good case to the pack, proved yourself—”

  “I am twice the alpha Jack is, superior in every way,” he said. “Since we were pups, I fought to rise in rank, to be recognized as the stronger wolf, to show the pack his inferiority. I am the better fighter, the better wolf, the kind of alpha this pack needs. Alexia saw it. She was drawn to me, to the alpha she sensed in me. She knew I was a better choice than Jack.”

  “She went to you because Jack didn’t want her and she knew it,” I said. “Real classy going after another guy’s girlfriend, by the way.”

  “Jack likes to believe he let her go rather than admitting that he lost her to me,” Marcus said. “It doesn’t matter. He lost his mate. I claimed her. The alpha spot was mine. And then you came along.”

  “Ever consider that I came along because I was meant to?” I asked, finally understanding their belief in fate and mates that were meant to be. “I was born to be with him, Marcus. And he was born to be alpha. Not you. There’s nothing you can do to change that. You’ve tried everything.”

  “Not everything,” He said. “But I will give fate a slim chance to intervene.”

  “What do you mean?”

  He stretched his neck, cartilage cracking when he turned his head one way then the other. Bones down his back rolled under his skin, pushing against his t-shirt, forcing him to bend forward. His dark eyes flicked up to mine and a wicked grin curved his mouth.

  “Run,” he said, voice low, gravelly. “Run, before I rip your legs off.”

  “Oh, shit.” He was shifting. I spun on the balls of my toes and sprinted down the twisting path. The sound of bones snapping and cracking bounced off the trees. A low growl rumbled behind me, chasing me.

  My heart kicked faster, the forest streaking past me. I couldn’t focus, couldn’t think, panic driving my pace.

  A voice that was barely human scratched up my back. “Jack Pensione will not be alpha. Not after I’ve killed his mate.”

  The world fell away and all that was left was the icy chill of my fear pulsing through my veins. Instinct took hold, and something stirred inside me like a second consciousness, an awareness that enhanced my own. It spoke to me, not with words but with feelings, warning me about sights and sounds and smells I couldn’t think to notice on my own.

  Marcus growled behind me, the scrape of his claws on the paved path pushing me faster. He’d completed the shift and was catching up. I had to get away. Everything inside me screamed that capture would mean death. I couldn’t let him catch me.

  So I ran, following the path until I spotted a group of people up ahead. A part of me, that part that I’d always known as me, told me to go to them—they’d help, they’d call someone, they’d scare him off. But the other part of me, the new part, the part that sensed Marcus coming behind me without looking, a part that saw humans as unpredictable, dangerous, and untrustworthy, told me to cut into forest, to leave the path and find shelter in the woods.

  I cut left, slicing through high weeds and low branches, stumbling over tree roots and hidden stones. He was getting closer. I could hear the heavy pound of his paws when he moved from pavement to soft earth, the loud rustle as his body drove through the underbrush. I was running blind, desperate, frantic, with no clear escape in sight. And then suddenly, it was too late.

  Marcus’ massive fangs pierced my calf, hauling me off my feet and slamming me to the ground. Pain bolted through me white hot, screaming through my head, burning through my veins. He wrenched his head, jerking my body toward him like I was a lumpy feather pillow, and he was ready to tear out my stuffing.

  I screamed and kicked, my fingers digging into the ground, trying to get away. Marcus opened his big mouth. I had a split second of hope before his sharp teeth clamped down on me again.

  This time he bit into the back of my right thigh, shredding muscle and meat, shaking his head to try to break the flesh free. He was going to eat me alive.

  My screams set a huge flock of birds to flight from the surrounding trees. But Marcus didn’t care, didn’t stop. I twisted underneath him, turning to sit as best I could, straining to reach his big tawny face. Searing pain lanced through my body, but I grit my teeth, scratching at his eye, trying to gouge out the only vulnerable part of him I could reach.

  It worked, insomuch as he let go of his hold on my leg, abandoning the bite of flesh he’d meant to rip off and eat. But he only moved higher up my body, his muzzle bloody, quivering with his growl, flashing impossibly long sharp teeth.

  I flailed at him, smacking and punching his face, kicking at his wide chest, at his powerful legs. But I was like a gnat buzzing around him, a nuisance he could easily ignore. His dark eyes fell onto my belly, his flesh drawing back from him teeth in a snarl. And then he took another bite.

  I shrieked in pain, the agony unlike anything I’d ever known. Fire radiated from the center of my body, consuming my thoughts, my ability to breathe. I grabbed his thick ears, fighting to push him off me,
to pull his mouth from my bloody stomach. My thoughts dizzied, my vision blurring in and out of focus, sounds growing muffled.

  Marcus only growled, settling his heavy body over mine, his massive paws on either side of me. He lifted his head, eyeing the damage, then lapped at the gushing blood with a long rough tongue. His licks were warm against my cooling skin. I shivered, feeling my energy drain away with my blood. Exhaustion, blood loss and shock were taking their toll.

  “Hey,” someone yelled an instant before a rock bounced off the back of Marcus’ head. The big wolf flinched, shook his head then ran his tongue over the gaping wound again.

  “Hey, get! Get outta there. Leave her alone,” the person yelled again and another rock thunked against the big wolf’s back.

  Marcus rose, a rumbling growl vibrating through his body. He glanced back in the direction we’d come, snarling louder then sounding off two loud barks. He turned back to me, his too intelligent eyes scanning my body, the damage he’d done, as though weighing his options. I could see the change in his eyes when the decision was made.

  “Marcus, no. Please,” I said, instinct warning me before my brain could wholly understand. I wanted to scoot away, but I hardly had the energy to lift my head.

  He stepped closer just as another rocked sailed inches above his shoulder. His eyes met mine, muzzle quivering with his growl, blood and drool dripping from the corners of his mouth. He lunged at me, and I flinched away, his massive jaws sinking his teeth into the side of my neck where it met my shoulder.

  Bone’s snapped and my vision went blinding white, the pain stealing my breath, my voice. He closed his jaws, determined to bite through until his teeth met. He’d take a piece of me this time, I knew it.

  The corners of my vision dimmed. Blistering pain swam through my mind, dizzying and disorienting. Someone was coming, even as Marcus shook his head, tearing at my flesh, thrashing my body this way and that. I tried to push him off me, fingers digging deep into his thick fur, pulling fistfuls of hair from his neck and head. But Marcus wouldn’t relent, each shake of his head tore meat from bone, jolting electric bolts of pain through my body, zapping my strength.

  The darkness closed in, sounds muffling. I couldn’t raise my arms to push at him. Someone screamed. It wasn’t me. I could hardly keep my eyes from fluttering closed. Muscles trembled, fatigue and pain making my limbs heavy. Pin pricks of soft light flitter through my closing lids. A hard thumb sounded just above me, more voices, something rustling near my feet.

  And then the sharp teeth withdrew, the heavy weight of the wolf lifted. Someone took my hand, felt my pulse. No. Get back. Get away. I couldn’t make my mouth work.

  Where was Marcus? He’d kill them too. They had to go, run. Run!

  I tried to lift my head, warn them that he wasn’t just an instinct driven animal. The wolf they’d seen was smart and cunning and ruthless. I had to make them understand. But someone pressed my shoulder, forcing me back against damp earth.

  “Oh my God, call an ambulance,” someone said. “Is she still alive?”

  Was I? I wanted to know. Was I dying? I tried to listen for a clue, but the pinprick of light grew smaller and smaller. Sound and sensation slipped away until there was only cool, soothing darkness. Nothing else.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  “They said it was one of those stray dogs people keep seeing in the park,” a woman whispered. “She’s lucky to be alive. The thing had actually started eating her.”

  I opened my eyes. It wasn’t easy. My lids were heavy and clung to each other, but I finally managed to flutter them open.

  “Hey, sis. You’re awake. How are you feeling?” George was sitting in the high-back faux leather hospital chair, and he looked like crap. He had dark circles under his eyes, and his hair was pushed up in back like he’d been sleeping where he sat.

  “What . . .” My voice cracked, my throat burning. I swallowed the dry stickiness in my mouth and tried again at a whisper. “What happened?”

  George scooted to the edge of his seat, closer to the side of the bed. He glanced up at the IV line and I followed his look, noticing the monitor behind it tracking my heart and blood pressure. The rhythmic beep seemed louder suddenly, but I liked it.

  “We were hoping you’d tell us,” he said. “Who attacked you, Kate?”

  “Marcus,” I croaked. “Wanted to kill me.”

  “Marcus? Why?”

  “Stop Jack from being alpha.” I closed my eyes, the words scraping my throat raw. The world pulled back, like I was standing at the end of a tunnel. “Nurse?”

  “The nurse isn’t here, Kate,” George said. “She’s probably out at the nurse’s station. What do you need?”

  I licked my lips, though it didn’t do much good. “She was just here. Heard her talking.”

  The swish of a door opening behind me niggled at the back of my mind.

  “No. She hasn’t been in here for a while,” George said. “She wants you to rest. Go to sleep, Kate. We’ll be here when you wake up.”

  “Not Jack,” I said the groggy call of oblivion tugging at me. “Don’t tell Jack.”

  “Just sleep,” George said.

  Good idea, I thought. I relaxed letting the soothing blanket of nothingness slip over me.

  “It’s starting,” I heard Lenny say, his voice soft and echoing as if in a dream. “Once her body is strong enough to survive it, she’ll shift.”

  I wanted to ask what he meant. How bad was I hurt? Was I a werewolf now? What did this mean for Jack? What did it mean that another man had forced me, had stolen his right as my mate to give me the bite?

  But I couldn’t make my eyes open again. I couldn’t hold onto the here and now as the tunnel grew longer and longer, sliding me further and further from the world.

  * * *

  “Local news is going crazy with the story,” someone said. My mind circled around the voice until I could place it. Lenny. “Killer wild dogs on the prowl in Central Park. It’s insane.”

  “I thought he only watched CNN and CNBC,” George said from somewhere in the room. “Maybe he won’t see the story.”

  “He’ll see it. Or someone else in the pack will, and they’ll tell him,” Lenny said. “Either way, there’s no way to keep Jack in the dark about this much longer. We should’ve called him yesterday, when it happened.”

  Yesterday? What day was it? How long had I been sleeping? I dreamed that I’d been offered some pudding and a strange woman spoon-fed it to me. But I was so tired. Did that really happen? I couldn’t remember. So I stopped trying, giving in to the sweet tempting call of slumber once more.

  I slept fitfully, my mind churning, refusing to rest. I drifted toward the surface of wakefulness, never quite passing into reality—always swimming close, but then swept deeper into oblivion and back again

  Jack couldn’t know. I couldn’t bear him coming to the hospital and seeing the anger and pain in his eyes when he learned that he was too late. I’d already been bitten, brought into his world against my will.

  I couldn’t stop Marcus. I’d tried. He was too strong, too brutal. I shouldn’t have met him in such a secluded spot. I shouldn’t have met him alone. Was it my fault? Jack had warned me not to trust Marcus. He’d asked me not to be alone with him.

  God, I’d been so stupid—so careless and disrespectful of the power these creatures possessed. I’d definitely ruined any chance at a life with Jack now. Not that there was much of a chance for that anyway. But after this, after being bitten by another man, there was no way he’d ever see me as his mate. Maybe I deserved this.

  I shifted in my bed, coming close to waking, but then slipping away.

  George and Lenny’s ceremony had been so intimate, so full of love and protectiveness. Giving George the bite had been a huge part of Lenny welcoming him into his heart, into the pack.

  Marcus had stolen that moment from Jack and me forever. Jack was a proud man, protective, possessive. He was to be alpha, leader of his pack. Hundreds of his peo
ple would look to him for guidance and to set an example. How could he stand before them as alpha with me at his side, a wolf born of violence and hate instead of love? A wolf made by another man.

  I was damaged. How could I expect Jack to want me with another wolf’s essence thrumming through my veins, awakening the wolf in me?

  “She’s been in and out, but she hasn’t really said anything since the day before yesterday, Lenny said. “I’m not sure she’s ever been totally lucid at all since they brought her in.”

  “Has she shown any signs of . . .” I recognized Jack’s voice. He was here. Jack. Relief and dread washed over me in equal measure.

  I couldn’t open my eyes.

  “Signs of shifting?” Lenny asked. “Naw, man. But she’s healing fast though. He brought her over. I’m certain of it.”

  “It would’ve been a miracle if he hadn’t,” Jack said.

  “Sorry, brother.” Lenny’s voice was full of pity for his friend.

  “She’s alive,” Jack said. “That’s all that matters now.”

  “Jack,” I croaked, my voice weaker than before, my throat burning. “I’m sorry.”

  “Kate . . .” I felt him settle onto the bed next to me, his big hand taking mine. The warmth of his skin pulsed into me, his fresh forest scent filling my lungs. Something deep inside me wanted to lose itself in that scent. My body ached to have the forest around me, the cool ground beneath my feet, the summer sun dappling through the trees.

  He leaned down, pressing his lips to my forehead. The sensation of his kiss radiated through me like a wonderful drug. “Nothing to be sorry about.”

  I opened my eyes, breathing him in again, recognizing him with every part of my body, every one of my senses. I licked my lips, my mouth sticky and dry. “You told me not to . . .” I swallowed around the pain and dryness. “Not to trust him. Not to be alone with him.”

  “Shhh . . . Don’t think about that now.”

  Tears filled my eyes, a sob pressing up from my chest, shaking my shoulders. “Jack . . . I’m so sorry. I should’ve listened to you.”