Mating Games

by Nikki Jefford

  “Not too much. We need our food supply to last for the trek west. I’ll find us a safe, secluded cabin near water.”

  “And a cradle?” Wilma asked eagerly.

  “And a cradle, Sissy. Now go on.”

  Two pairs of footsteps shuffled away from the alcove. David remained inert. Jordan stood up and crouched, ready to pounce.

  Jay cleared his throat. “David, you up?” he asked.

  The tent rustled as David straightened his body and rolled onto his back.

  “Yeah,” he said sleepily, rubbing first one eye then the other with his fist.

  “Is Jordan in wolf form?”

  David lowered his fist. His eyes popped open when he noticed Jordan hunched, nose aimed in the direction of Jay’s voice.

  “David?” Jay pressed.

  “Uh.” David sat up and leaned back, almost as though afraid Jordan might rip out his jugular.

  “Do I need to get my hatchet?” Jay asked.

  “No. Please. Don’t hurt her.” David fell onto his knees.

  “You know I don’t want to.”

  “Can’t you wait another month or two?” David begged. “You just caught her. She hasn’t had time to get to know you and your family. Please, Jay. Give me more time.”

  “Time?” Outside the tent, Jay scoffed. “Time to what? Woo her? Convince her to claim you as her mate under human supervision? It’s not happening anytime soon, buckaroo, and unfortunately, we can’t afford to wait any longer. We finally caught a female, and we have an opportunity today—not tomorrow, not next week—today. Life gives us precious few opportunities. I will not waste this one.”

  David pressed his palm over his forehead.

  “The two of you will need to stay in there until Kirk returns,” Jay said. “You can unzip just enough of the flap to stick your hand out, and I’ll pass you a mug of baked beans. You hungry?”

  David lowered his hand and looked from Jordan to the tent flap. “No,” he said miserably.

  “You should eat,” Jay said. “You’ll need your strength.” A second later, he began whistling. The sound came closer and closer until Jay stood mere inches away with only a thin piece of fabric standing between them.

  Jordan lurched forward, throwing herself at the flap as though she could crash through it like a weak barrier of bushes. David yelped in surprise.

  The nylon tent closed in on Jordan the same way the net had, only she couldn’t see outside the enclosure. But she could smell and hear.

  She’d bite Jay through the fabric. It couldn’t stop her fangs from ripping through his flesh.

  Unfortunately, David’s body anchored the slumped tent.

  A heavy weight fell over Jordan’s back. Her legs gave out beneath the human boulder that had fallen on top of her. The rough formation grew arms that wrapped around her neck and squeezed. She whimpered, but still the crushing weight moored her to the ground.

  David groaned.

  “You okay in there, Dave?” Jay asked.

  “Yeah, just startled. Is Jordan okay?”

  “I’ve got her down, but I need her to shift before I can let her go.”

  “She’s spooked,” came David’s reply. “She’ll calm down quicker if you get off her.”

  “Can’t do that.” Jay’s voice rumbled like thunder and vibrated in Jordan’s bones. “She has to shift first. I know she can understand me even in her fur. I know everything about your kind.” He pushed his weight against Jordan harder. “Listen up, little wolf. If you think you can hide from your duties by remaining on four legs, think again. David can shift, too. It would probably be easier while I have you pinned.”

  Jordan’s growl was cut off by Jay’s arm pulling against her throat.

  Jordan hadn’t thought her situation could get any worse, but this moment raged inside her thundering chest. Her wolf had never been held down like this. She couldn’t get onto her feet. She couldn’t even growl with her oxygen cut off.

  The human arms choking her didn’t tremble or tire. Jay held her down as though pinning a wolf to the ground was more natural to him than sleeping. Maybe he hadn’t just been bragging when he said he had plenty of experience manhandling shifters.

  “Come on out if you can find the opening,” Jay said in a conversational tone meant for David. There wasn’t a worry—not a smidgen of doubt—in his voice.

  David scrambled around on the left side of Jordan, rubbing against the nylon until he found the opening. There was a slight tug on the material against her belly as the zipper hissed open and air flowed inside.

  “Dropped your breakfast when she lunged,” Jay said. His voice rumbled over Jordan’s head. His words made her growl despite the anticipated squeeze around her throat. “Go ahead and take care of your morning business,” Jay said. “I’ve got her. Might have to hold her down until Kirk returns.”

  David’s shuffling footsteps receded.

  “Run!” Jordan screamed at him inside her head.

  This was the moment. There was only one human, and he had his hands full with Jordan. The tent gaped open. Once she broke out of Jay’s crushing weight, she could get free of the tent and attack. If David took off, Jay would have no choice but to get up and either go after him or take aim with his rifle. It would be enough time for Jordan to take him down.

  Her stomach twisted up into tight knots.

  She already knew David wouldn’t leave her and wouldn’t have the foresight to think it through to give her the one chance they so desperately needed.

  Long minutes passed before footsteps returned.

  “Is she okay?” David asked.

  “She’s fine.” Jay grumbled. He shifted his weight over her, not letting up.

  “Are you sure you aren’t suffocating her?”

  “I’ve done this over a thousand times, David. Don’t worry, I won’t harm your female unless I have to. You know I don’t want to hurt her. These old eyes have seen too much suffering already. We want to make life, not take it.”

  “I know,” David answered softly.

  “No, you don’t. You haven’t seen what people do to your kind. Cage after cage—shifters lined up like animals—kept and fed like dogs—their offspring born into captivity. The younger ones have never known freedom or family. Your pups will be free and cared for with love. They’ll never have to know that life, and neither will you.”

  Silence pressed down on them like a heavy mist over the Forest of the Ancestors. Would the ghost of Jordan’s mother be waiting for her if Jay squeezed her windpipe too hard?

  Minutes felt like hours and hours like days. Every so often, Jay shifted his weight over her with a strained groan. His grip loosened, but Jordan remained rigid, letting the human tire himself out until she found the perfect opening.

  The sun shot into the sky, soaring like an eagle hunting prey. Smothering heat enveloped Jordan’s body. Saliva coated her throat, and she began to pant. Without seeing her, David knew.

  “She needs water.”

  Jay didn’t budge. “She’ll get food and water once the deed is done. We’ll get started once Kirk arrives.”

  “That might be too early.”

  “It’s soon enough. No harm in humping as much as possible. We can’t know the exact time of the full moon.”

  “Shifters do,” David mumbled.

  “Don’t look so glum, David. You like this one, don’t you?” After a pause, Jay continued. “Think of it as helping repopulate the world with your kind. Maybe one day you’ll outnumber humans and take your place as the dominant species. You could be a part of that. You told me your parents were killed by creatures you call the vulhena—that you have no brothers or sisters. Let us be your new family and continue your own family line by mating with her.”

  Silence stretched on for an eternity, a hollow echo through time.

  “I�
�ll do what needs to be done,” David said.

  “That’s a good boy. You’re doing the right thing.”

  “I’m ready.”

  “We’ll wait for Kirk.”

  “No,” David said and paused, clearing his throat. “I need to do this before I lose my nerve. It’s easier with only one of you watching.”

  “You know I’d rather not watch.”

  “I know, but it’s my first time, and I’d rather not have an audience.”

  “David, you have nothing to worry about. No judgments from me. Pretend like I’m not here—like I’m a boulder. I won’t say anything, and once I see that you’re truly inside her, I won’t continue watching. I give you my word. I’ll just hold her down and look the other way.”

  David was silent for a moment. “I guess I’d rather do it as wolves so she’s not screaming or crying.”

  Jordan’s heart froze, and Jay went still.

  “If you’re able to get the tent off her back legs you can have your first go at her.”

  This time, when Jordan growled, Jay allowed it, concentrating his weight over her middle. The material went taut at her belly as it was yanked away. She heard the hiss of nylon as David bunched and pulled it. Jay moved his hands up an inch, and air ruffled the fur on her hind legs as the material lifted over her back half.

  “I’d feel more comfortable with Kirk here,” Jay said again.

  “And I’d feel more comfortable if you gave us more time.” It was the first time David had snapped at the human. “She’ll hate me for this.”

  “She’ll learn to accept it. They always do.”

  “I need her standing.”

  The crushing weight over Jordan eased then disappeared, but the rough hands never left her. They wrapped around her belly and lifted her, along with the part of the tent still covering her face. She attempted to sprint out of Jay’s arms as soon as her back paws touched the ground, but he held her in place as though he were the wolf and she a helpless bunny. The reversal infuriated every single one of her wolf’s senses.

  “You got her?” David asked.

  “Let me worry about holding her in place. You concentrate on the other part.”

  Fucking. Humping. Raping. Jordan snarled and snapped at the nylon. She thrashed in Jay’s arms, forcing his weight to move unsteadily with her.

  “Hurry and shift.” For the first time, stress crept into Jay’s voice. It fed Jordan’s throat with eager, angry growls.

  A strong snarl joined hers. Suddenly, David’s plan was clear to her, and it was a good one, much better than any of hers. Jordan’s growls took on a vicious tenor. She fought against the hands holding her, claws digging into the earth, pulling back one moment, attempting to lurch forward the next—forcing Jay to wrestle her down. She no longer had to break free from his grip.

  David’s snarl ripped across the mountain peaks right before the arms holding Jordan were wrenched away and Jay’s body crashed to the ground beside her. She shot backwards, free of the damned tent, and took in a snarling lungful of fresh air.

  Jay screamed as David ripped into his muscular arm, tearing through his shirt and flesh as he balanced on three legs.

  Bloodlust roared inside Jordan’s ears and pounded at her chest. With a snap and snarl, she whirled around and dove for her prize—Jay’s neck. At the last moment, he jerked up into a sitting position. Jordan lifted her snout just in time to avoid eating dirt and rock. By the time she flipped around, Jay swung his leg over David.

  Everything after that happened in slow motion.

  David’s teeth were still sunk in Jay’s arm, but the rest of the man’s body moved as though detached from that one arm and working in fluid tandem to reclaim a position from above—one in which man straddled beast. Jay’s free arm snaked beneath David’s throat. His mangled arm pressed in to help—still useful, still deadly. With a guttural roar, Jay twisted David’s head until it snapped, and the boy-wolf went limp in the human’s deadly embrace.

  Jordan gave a soul-splitting howl that soared over the horizon and broke into meteor-like fragments hurtling through space and time.

  Her packmate was dead. Young David. Loyal and brave. Murdered before her eyes by this foul, repulsive being.

  She lunged at Jay, jerking away as he reached out to grab her by the head. Jordan circled around him snarling. Jay jumped back several feet and grabbed his hatchet without ever taking his eyes off Jordan. She continued circling him, growling and hissing between bared fangs.

  The human part of her was but a shadow hunkered in the farthest corner of herself, leaving the angry beast all control to attack the human and tear him apart.

  Again and again she lunged, seeking flesh for her teeth to sink into. She could smell the metallic tang of blood and sweat. Eventually he’d tire out and become clumsy and slow. She could circle him all afternoon and have energy to spare.

  He tried to inch his way to his gun, but Jordan leapt for the weapon faster and stood over it and snarled.

  Jay’s forehead and cheeks seemed to swallow his eyes when he glared at her. Given the chance, he’d kill her. She could read it in his face and in the grip of his fingers around the hatchet’s wooden handle.

  The corpulent moon arced across the sky, joining its elusive partner—the sun—now laughing into the human’s face. Jay’s chest rose and fell, dragging his broad shoulders up and down with each irate breath. Sweat dripped from his hairline into his eyes. He blinked rapidly.

  The growls coming from Jordan’s throat were as constant as a mountain-fed river, and the human before her was as trivial as a rock in her wake.

  He took a step back and stumbled. Jordan snatched that opportunity to lunge forward, realizing too late that he’d tricked her. Mid-way through the air, he raised the hatchet and brought it down over her head.

  Human consciousness jolted through her wolf’s, silently screaming and pleading with the moon to save her, spare her—let her live.

  She yelped before she felt the blow, knowing what was coming. She expected her head to be removed from her body entirely and fall into the dirt near David’s lifeless body. Instead, the wood handle cracked over her extended skull—an excruciating whack she feared would knock her unconscious unless she hurried and shifted before Jay could finish her off while she lay on the ground, helpless.

  The shift shuddered through her body before she hit the ground. The pain in her head receded as her bones realigned and her skull reformed itself to take on her human shape. She hit the ground on all fours—claws scratching the earth before turning into fingers, toes, and nails.

  But again, she’d misjudged.

  While saving herself from unconsciousness, she’d put herself in one of her most vulnerable positions, and Jay had taken advantage of her shift to plant himself directly behind her, his callused fingers digging into the flesh above her hips the moment smooth skin covered her body. He kicked her legs apart, his pants already open. He’d loosened them as quickly as any shifter when he first got behind her.

  “I don’t care if it comes out human, shifter, or as some kind of mixed-breed mutt,” Jay said with a contemptible snarl. “You’re giving my sister a baby, you bitch.”

  Jordan twisted around, freeing herself from the human’s bruising grip. He pushed her so hard she fell to the ground, yelping at the shock of pain as she landed on her tailbone.

  Jay dove onto her, caging her body beneath his. His teeth were jammed together, and his eyes gleamed manically as they roved over her naked body.

  “This works, too. I’ll do you on top, you stupid, stupid bitch.” He slapped her across the face.

  Jordan cried out in dismay and fury. Her hands shot forward to scratch out his eyes, but Jay captured her wrists in his fists and squeezed until she felt certain her bones would break. He pinned them above her head.

  “David would have been gentle and kind, bu
t you turned him against us. He’s dead because of you.” Spittle hit Jordan’s face. “Now I have to fuck you. I won’t be gentle, and I won’t be kind. You better pray to that moon of yours that you get pregnant today, otherwise I’ll remove a piece of you every month you remain barren.”

  “Jay? What’s going on?”

  Kirk stood beyond Jay’s shoulder, staring down wide-eyed at David’s body.

  “Bitch got David to attack me,” Jay said between gritted teeth.

  “So you killed him?” Kirk’s voice rose.

  “It was him or me. You can mourn him later. Keep your gun aimed at the bitch for me.”

  “What are you doing?”

  “Giving Wilma and you a baby.”

  “But—”

  “Don’t matter how it comes out, and stop gaping. You’re having a go at her next. I don’t care who the father is so long as my sister gets her child.”

  Kirk’s eyes rounded, and he shook his head. “I can’t do that to Wilma.”

  “You’ll do this for Wilma.”

  Kirk’s lips curled in distaste. Perhaps the moon had been listening and presented Jordan with an opportunity after all. If force couldn’t work, she’d have to try cunning and appeal to the humans on their warped level, if such a thing were possible. She was pinned to the ground and running out of options.

  “Please, don’t do this.” Jordan forced a whimper and stared at Kirk with sad, soul-searing eyes. “Our wolves have minds of their own. They want freedom. It’s our most basic instinct to protect ourselves. Find me another male shifter, and I’ll do what you want. I’ll give your wife a baby. I’ll give her five. Is that how many she wanted?”

  Kirk chewed on the inside of his cheek.

  “They’ll be strong and loyal to you.” She needed to buy herself more time to get Jay off her. “I can give you lots of children. Fertility runs in my family. My mom had four children. My dad just fathered a new baby and has another on the way.”

  Kirk stopped chewing the inside of his cheek and looked longingly into space. His lips parted slightly.

  “Enough talking.” Jay growled and nudged her legs apart. He still had Jordan’s wrists pinned to the ground.