Blood Law

by Karin Tabke

  Rafe snarled, snapping at Edward’s hand. His fangs sank deep into the Slayer’s flesh and bone. Corbet kicked Rafael from him into another Slayer, who impaled Rafael from behind through the shoulder blades, pinning him to the floor. He howled in agony.

  Another just as excruciating howl followed. With jarring reality, Falon realized the sound came from her.

  Edward turned to look at her, shock registering on his face. At that moment, all movement stopped. Eerie silence followed. The Slayers stared at her as her skin rippled. Realization, shock, and horror slammed into her but was quickly followed by relief.

  She was Lycan.

  Her gaze swept to Rafael. He’d dropped to the floor, the sword buried to the hilt between his shoulders. Its bloody blade protruded just below his neck into the floor.

  Agony twisted and tugged every fiber of her body. He could not die! She would not allow it!

  His deep turquoise eyes darkened, and through them she saw into his soul. The turmoil of his life played out in front of her. His pain, his heartache, his life as an alpha that refused to mark an innocent for the sake of his brother’s revenge. And there, in the middle of it all, she saw his love for her. Despite what he thought she had done, it burned bright and hot. Only death could extinguish it.

  Falon threw her head back and howled another ungodly howl. Her hands pulled at the bars, then slipped off, no longer able to grip. Her bones crunched and stretched, her heart rate spiked, her skin tightened. She lost her balance and fell in agony to the floor of her cage. She closed her eyes, wanting to fight off what she was sure was the most torturous death imaginable but instead welcoming it. Because even if it meant her death, she would save the man she loved.

  RAFAEL SHIFTED AND lay in stunned silence. He could not believe what he witnessed. Falon shifting into a sleek black she-wolf. When it was done, she opened her wolfen eyes, and he was mesmerized by their deep blue depths. She snarled, lunging through the opening she’d made in the cage, and dove into Edward. The Slayer was as stunned as Rafe, enabling his hesitation to give her the opening she needed. A clear shot to his throat. Corbet screamed and raised his sword to defend himself, but she was too quick. Like a pit bull—no, like a wolf protecting its young—she latched on to Rafe’s enemy and hung on, her head viciously shaking back and forth, until Corbet’s screams became only gurgling whimpers. He dropped to his hands and knees, tearing at her fur, and still she hung on. Rafael lay impaled, having lost too much blood to offer his assistance. Seeing their leader downed by a crazed wolf, the Slayers who had attacked Rafe fled toward the back entrance.

  Falon finally released Edward’s limp body and turned her attention to Rafael. She hesitated slightly before approaching him. She licked his face, making small whimpering noises.

  Automatically, his hands reached out for her, burying themselves in her coat. He closed his eyes, relishing her touch even as he choked out, “The door, Falon, open the front door.”

  In three bounding strides, she was at the door. She pounced on the thick metal bar with her jaws and pulled it up. The door swung open as she bounded back to him. Rafe was able to raise himself on an elbow but could not remove the sword. Falon frantically licked his wounds, her tongue warm and healing. His pack bounded after the retreating Slayers. Yet Falon acted as if she was not aware of anything but him.

  Overcome with emotion, awe, and recrimination, Rafe lay quietly against the floor. How had he not known she was Lycan? He understood in that instant that Falon had not known it either. She’d shifted hard, like he had on his sixteenth birthday. But at least he knew what would come, how it would feel and what he should do. While he’d had the support of his pack to help him through it, she’d had no one. He swallowed hard. He was not there for her, his own chosen one. The Blood Law aside, he should have known. Should have prepared her.

  His pack was in for a monumental surprise. Sacrificing a human was one thing, but a powerful Lycan, and one who had saved their alpha’s life, was entirely different.

  He dug his fingers into her thick, luxurious coat and hugged her close to him. Moist heat stung his eyes as he was once again overcome with emotion. Even with how he’d treated her, even after he’d sworn to kill her, she had risked her own life to save his and, in so doing, had destroyed his mortal enemy.

  “Falon,” he said against her fur, “I’m sorry.”

  She licked him fervently, her emotion as high as his. He even felt her tail thumping against his leg. And wolves did not wag their tails. He couldn’t help laughing as her tongue licked his belly, tickling him. She soothed away the deep wounds, just as he had done for her the night he killed Salene.

  “Rafael!” Anton called as he came running naked toward them. “The Slayers have fled into the woods. We caught a few, but I sense more are on their way. We need to get you out of here.” He looked at Falon, blinked his eyes as he processed the scene before him. As realization surfaced, his jaw dropped in shock.

  “Get this damn sword out of me,” Rafe cursed, trying to sit up. Save that wound, Falon had smoothed away the others. He wasn’t losing as much blood, but he was still losing some.

  “Jesus, Rafe,” Anton said squatting down behind him. “The bastard nearly decapitated you.” He firmly gripped the handle and slowly pulled. Falon growled low when Rafe hissed in a sharp breath. As the blade cleared his back, blood leaked down his chest.

  “Now finish off Corbet,” Rafe gritted as the pain of his wound burned.

  Falon immediately licked the wound between his shoulder blades. Rafe closed his eyes and lay back, enjoying, despite the dire situation, the warmth of her touch while Anton deftly separated the Slayer’s head from his body.

  He tossed the sword onto the floor and bent down to help Rafe up. As he did, Yuri approached in human form and tossed clothing atat them. He stopped short when he saw Falon. He glanced at Rafe, then at Anton, and back to the black she-wolf. A smile tugged his lips.

  “Is that who I think it is?” he asked Rafe.

  “Damn straight it is,” Anton, answered. “I knew she was special, shoulda known she was Lycan.” He looked up at Yuri as he helped dress Rafe. “Ripped Corbet’s throat out as he was about to send Rafe to the Great White Spirit in the sky.”

  Yuri’s smile widened. “Thank you, Falon,” he said. She barked and nudged Rafe to get a move on.

  Anton helped Rafe dress then dressed himself. With Yuri’s help, they each looped one of Rafe’s arms around their shoulders and proceeded to help him out.

  “What about me?” a female voice screamed. “You can’t leave me here! They’ll come back and kill me!”

  At Rafe’s side, Falon snarled. Rafael, however, would not leave one of his own, traitor or not, behind. He looked down at Falon, “She is one of us. Do you know where the key is?”

  She growled in assent.

  “Take it to Lana. She can let herself out. Make sure she comes with us.”

  All of the Lycans save Falon had shifted back to human form. They were dressed and mounted. Though still wobbly on his feet, Rafael didn’t mount his bike. “Amon, take my bike. Lana, you ride bitch. Anton, load yours up, I want you to drive the van.”

  “Rafe,” Angel, pack Ruiz’s alpha, said, stepping toward him. He extended his arm, and each man grasped the other’s at the elbow. “Edward’s death will not only weaken the clan but empower the packs. Many thought him undefeatable. With his death, the Lycan nation will rise to do the same to his brother and all who call themselves Corbet.”

  Damon, pack Casares’s leader, offered his arm, as well. “Well done, my friend.”

  Rafael appreciated all of the praise, but they were thanking the wrong person. He shook his head and looked down at Falon, who lay quietly at his feet. “Don’t give me the props. I didn’t touch him. Falon shifted and ripped that poor bastard’s throat out. Thank her.”

  A wave of confused mumbles and questions echoed through the packs. In one collective step, they all moved closer to get a better look at the sleek black she-
wolf who had single-handedly saved the day. “She killed Corbet and saved my life.”

  “But she is human?” Angel said.

  “Apparently not,” Rafe said, smiling like a proud parent. If he could have conjured up the perfect mate, Rafael could not have topped Falon. She was one of a kind. And she was his.

  “It will not change the Blood Law,” Lana sneered.

  Every eye turned on her. Low snarls erupted around her. She paled and stepped back. Falon rose and walked stiffly toward the woman who had the good sense to hop into the van.

  Rafe turned back to the packs. He saw the reluctant agreement with what Lana had said on their faces.

  His heart could take no more of this. He turned and fiercely said to the packs, “Falon is my chosen one! She is Lycan as are we! She saved my life, an alpha’s life! She destroyed our mortal enemy, an enemy scores of Lycans have lost their lives to. Does that not count for something? Surely, the Blood Law can be avenged another way!”

  The pack leaders shook their heads. “Rafe, you of all people know it cannot be changed,” Damon said. Regret laced his words.

  “I slew my brother’s chosen one, it is true, but she was a Slayer! Our laws decree we kill them, no questions asked. I have maintained that fact for almost fifteen years. I refuse to pay the price Lucien demands. We are on the precipice of extinction if we do not unite.” He looked down at Falon, who stood calmly regarding them. “If we destroy our heroes and those who can do nothing but strengthen the Lycan nation for generations to come, we are destroying ourselves.”

  “Rafael,” Angel said. “Force a council meeting to order. Plead your case to the alphas this time, as well as the Amorak. Only they can change our laws, as they created them. They will reconsider. They must!”

  Angel was right. It was Rafe’s only chance to keep Falon alive. He looked the two alphas in the eye. “Do I have your support?”

  “I never doubted you from the beginning, brother. I have your back,” Damon said. Angel echoed his words and added, “I will spread the word. The council has only the power we give them.”

  “Thank you.”

  Falon pressed against his leg. He looked down into her cobalt eyes and smiled. They had a chance. For the first time since he brought her home, he believed they had a chance.

  “I’ll demand the council. Now I need to get back to the compound before I turn into a pumpkin.”

  As pack Vulkasin roared north to the Sierras, Rafael reclined in the captain’s chair of the van and tried to sleep. But his mind raced with wild, wondrous images of himself and Falon carefree and smiling, knowing the Blood Law no longer mattered as they made love in an emerald green meadow, on the sunny slope of a pond not far from the compound.

  She laid her head in his lap. He looked down into her big, soulful eyes, and something so deep and so profound moved within him he could not put a name to it. Emotion he was not aware he possessed rushed up into his chest, filling him to whole, making it nearly impossible to take a breath. She was his. No man, Lycan, or law could say otherwise. He would protect her with his life, freely giving it if it would save hers. He knew she would do the same for him. She had proved that tonight.

  “Anton,” Rafael softly said, “is the American River cabin stocked?”

  “To the hilt.”

  “Take me there.”

  Anton nodded and slowed to the shoulder of the highway. When Yuri pulled up with questioning eyes, Anton said, “We’re going to take a little detour. Go on ahead.”

  AN HOUR LATER, Rafael stood in the large shower stall of the cabin his parents had built before he was born. It was a bittersweet reminder of them, but a place he had always flown to when he was troubled or just wanted solitude. Tonight he wanted time alone with Falon. He didn’t know when she would shift again—in the beginning it was hard to control—but he wanted to be with her when she did. She would have a million questions. He grinned as he lathered his belly and his thickening cock. There was that, too. He wanted her. Was on fire for her. He couldn’t wait for her to shift so that he could lose himself in her.

  Just as the gray fingers of dawn peeked through the tall, whispering pines, Rafael shifted into his wolf form and lay down on the big bed beside his she-wolf. She snuggled up to him, and in moments, they were both sound asleep.

  Nineteen

  PAIN FLARED IN every inch of Falon’s body. Her bones cracked, her muscles ripped, her organs stretched. Falon moaned and writhed on the bed as her body contorted to take back its human form. She tried to calm herself, to keep her breathing even, just as she had when she’d shifted into a wolf. Then, like now, she’d been surprised by the pain, but she hadn’t panicked. She hadn’t been afraid.

  Rafael lay beside her, watching, waiting, comforting. She closed her eyes as she had when she shifted into the wolf and just allowed her body to do what it needed to do. She didn’t fight it; she allowed it to happen. When her body finally stilled and her aches and pains subsided, she took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. She wiggled her toes and her fingers.

  Warm lips pressed a kiss to her nipple. Her body immediately responded. She moaned and opened her eyes to look into two deep aquamarine-colored ones.

  “How do you feel?” he softly asked.

  She drew his lips to hers and kissed him deeply. His warm, naked body slid against hers, drawing heat in its wake. “Better now,” she said against his mouth.

  He dug his fingers into her silky hair, gently combing out the tangles. “Do you want to tell me when you turned Lycan?” he teased but a serious tone underwrote his casualness.

  She closed her eyes and tried to think. Really think. “I’ve always known something was different about me. I never fit in and had unusual tendencies and later, rages that I—I had difficulty controlling. There were the heightened senses, the odd aches and pains.” She looked at him. “The urge to kill was the craziest part. It terrified me that I could feel so—so vicious. It only happened a few times in my teens, but when I was overcome with the feeling it was when I was being threatened or witnessed someone being victimized.” She traced the line of his full bottom lip. “But the night I met you, things really started to kick in. New emotions, feelings, stronger urges. Latent powers.” She shook her head. “Okay, not really new; it was just more of what I had been ignoring, because it’s always been there; I just didn’t know what it was.”

  “Tell me what it,” he whispered as he stroked her neck with his fingertips, “is.”

  Her body ripened. It wanted him. Now. But she needed to clear the air first.

  “Rafa, about Lucien—”

  Rafael stiffened. She pressed her fingers to his lips. “Shh, let me talk; then we will not discuss him again.”

  His body eased some. But his gaze remained fixed.

  “He bit my hand.”

  “Where was I?”

  “It was the morning I healed you in your wolf form. That morning he was at the compound. He tried to kiss me. I—I was scared, angry, so I bit his lip. I didn’t realize what the repercussions of that action was. I tasted his blood, so I guess some of it got into me. He healed his bite mark on my hand saying I would pay the price, not him. Not wanting to upset you, I didn’t tell you. Then I scrubbed my skin so hard I bled. I was afraid you would be angry. I had no idea what would happen, but I knew something bad would.” She swallowed hard. “That morning, after we made love, and you marked me again, I fell asleep to your licking. I was in such a contented sleep, I dreamed of you awakening me and making love to me. But—Rafe, Lucien got into my head, not physically—and I made him stop. He didn’t, we didn’t—” She took his angry face into her hands and said, “You are still the only man who has completed me that way. There is no other, and there never will be.” She kissed him deeply. While he did not engage her, he did not push her away either. She sat back and looked at him.

  “When you said Edward’s last name was Corbet, I freaked out. My last name is Corbet. And even though you said you could detect a Slayer, you missed Smyth
e, and Lucien didn’t know with his chosen one. I-I thought I might be a Slayer. So I went to the person who could tell me where I came from, if indeed I am a Corbet clan Slayer. I was not running to the enemy, Rafa, I was going to find out who I was and then come back to you and demand you hear me out, and Slayer or not, accept me!”

  He smiled. “You are Lycan.”

  “Apparently so. Maybe that’s why my parents abandoned me. I would give anything to know who they are.”

  “There are Lycans who go off on their own and take human mates. Children are born to them and though still Lycan, they are not as powerful as a full Lycan.” He traced his fingertip around an impudent nipple. “I suspect by your powers, you are full Lycan.” He leaned toward her and licked the turgid tip. “There is much you need to learn about your people—”

  “Can we talk”—she dragged his fingers from her neck to her breasts down her belly, then lower to the warmth between her thighs—“later?”

  Rafael smiled and lightly swept his fingertips across her mons. She moaned and undulated beneath his hand, opening for him. Ravenous hunger for him overcame her. “You do not know how many times I woke, ready to take you while in my wolf form.”

  She nipped his chin. “That could be interesting. Why didn’t you?”

  “I didn’t want to scare you.” His fingers circled her stiff clit, dipped into her heat, then out, slowly circling her with her own moistness. She moaned and closed her eyes. She lifted her hips to his finger. He cupped her heat with his hand, rocking gently against her.

  “More,” she breathed. He sucked a nipple into his mouth then teased it with his teeth, gently tugging. Falon moaned, arching her back, reveling in the sweet torture. Wild, wanton desire caught fire in her belly. Low, primal sounds erupted from her chest. Impatient with Rafael’s slow seduction, Falon pressed his hand more firmly against her slick, swollen flesh.

  “What do you want, Falon?” he breathed, his breath scorching her skin.

  “You. All of you,” she begged. “Now.”

  Rafael nipped the underside of her breast and quickly kissed the sting away. In a slow, scorching trail, he kissed his way down her belly to her navel. She strained against his slow hand, wanting penetration. He tortured her with the slick circling of his fingertips on her plump, juicy folds.