by Abigail Owen
The general rule of thumb was never to come between a wolf and its kill, but Tala stepped forward. “Hey,” she said softly.
The black wolf turned stunning blue eyes her way. He growled, but more softly now. A hand raised toward him, she moved closer.
“Tala,” Shyla hissed from the safety of the trees. Tala ignored her sister.
“I need you here. Marrok, do you hear me. I need you to come back to me.”
The wolf looked from her, to the body on the ground, and back to her. “He’s dead. He can’t hurt me ever again. You made sure of that. Come back to me, mate.”
The wolf gave a soft snort, then moved toward her. Tala held still. Those around them held their collective breath. But he didn’t harm her. Instead he rubbed up against her outstretched hand, giving a rumble of satisfaction. Then the familiar snap of bones sounded, and, gradually, man replaced wolf.
Feverishly, he ran his eyes over her, giving a growl as he caught sight of her maimed arm hanging at a twisted angle at her side. That would hurt like a bitch to straighten, but had to be done in order to heal properly. With a strangely choked noise at the back of his throat, Marrok tugged her into his arms, careful not to disturb the injured arm.
“Thanks for giving me the final kill. I don’t think I could have come back from the change without my wolf knowing he’d protected his mate first.” He gave a shuddering exhale, breath warm against her cheek.
That he and his wolf cared warmed her from the inside out. The thought of losing her pack made her sick, but now she had a mate. A true mate, who would never abandon her. His protection no longer felt like chains, but like love.
Love… She loved her mate. God, she’d been such a fool. Happiness burst inside her like sunshine, the only dark cloud the question of his feelings for her. But he was her mate and committed. They could start there. “Let’s go home.”
He huffed a laugh. “Yours or mine?”
“Better start with mine if you don’t want to do this again anytime soon.” Dominance reestablished, she needed to drive it home.
“Good point.”
CHAPTER 21
Sunlight streamed in through the windows, despite the blinds, and Marrok’s sandalwood and rum scent surrounded her. She adored waking to that scent, to his warm, hard body against hers every morning. Gradually, Tala blinked away the dream which still curled around her like a warm blanket. In it she and Marrok frolicked in the woods in their wolf forms. He’d nip at her playfully, and her wolf nipped back. She didn’t lunge and bare her teeth as had happened every f’ing time they tried to be together that way.
For six months.
Ever since she’d had to put five of her pack down for trying to kidnap and kill her—Connor she’d exiled—things had been better. Fantastic even. Marrok was the most attentive mate anyone could ask for—considerate, kind, funny. Okay, a tad possessive and overprotective. He couldn’t help himself. Tala smiled thinking about how he’d practically snapped Castor’s head off when the demigod had hugged her at his and Leia’s wedding.
At the same time, Marrok’s respect for her as alpha was unwavering. She was included in every decision. He deferred to her frequently, in fact. After six months of living part time in each pack, they’d finally agreed on a new location where they would combine packs permanently. Construction started next week!
The only fly in her ointment was her wolf. Mates played together as wolves, ran together, hunted together, fought together. Okay, the animal would fight side by side with Marrok, but that had only happened on a handful of occasions.
Her wolf snorted, as disturbed by the dream as she, and laid her head on her paws. A wave of frustration skittered through Tala, coming from her wolf.
Why? If you’re frustrated that’s not us, then why? You’re the one holding back.
Her wolf snorted.
Tala’s cell rang, interrupting the daily argument with animal inside her.
With a sigh she checked the number and frowned. She clicked the button to answer. “Delilah?”
“I’ve given you six months to figure it out.” Her friend never wasted time with pleasantries.
“Figure what out?” Tala glanced at Marrok and found him watching her with those bright blue eyes. He lifted his eyebrows in curiosity. She shrugged.
A tsk came down the line. “Your wolf is trying to tell you something, darlin’.”
No shit.
“What exactly? Because I can’t figure her out?”
“You’re an alpha.”
Still not following. “So?”
“So is she.”
“Okay?”
Another tsk. “Claim your mate.”
She might as well have added stupid at the end of that, because Tala had been dense on this topic.
The lightbulb finally clicked on. How had she missed it? The night of their mating, Marrok had given her a claiming bite. Her wolf growled every time he licked those scars, which would never fade, unlike other injuries. Until that moment, her wolf had been even more eager for her mate than Tala. Then she’d gone cold.
“Gotta go.” Tala hung up and dropped the phone on the ground.
She jumped out of the bed. Ignoring her naked state, she threw a pair of jeans folded neatly in a chair at Marrok. “Get dressed.”
She hustled into her own jeans and t-shirt and slapped on a pair of running shoes.
“What’s the rush?” Amusement rife in his voice, Marrok hitched a half-smile her direction, the one that made her heart beat faster.
He laughed, and she knew he heard the change in heartrate. Marrok seemed to gain pleasure from making her lose her cool.
“Come on.” She tugged him until they were outside, then she ran into the woods, knowing he’d follow.
“Where are we going?”
“My favorite spot.”
The spot in question was an idyllic glen beside a babbling stream. The glen was situated next to a natural pool, though the water was often too chilly to swim in. Tala loved the spot for its quiet perfection. She could go there and let go the pressures of her life.
“Fine by me.” Satisfaction replaced his amusement. She didn’t have to turn around to know his smile had turned into glittering desire. She’d shared her spot with Marrok a few times over the last months. Now the place held intimate memories.
She refused to blush.
“And are you going to have your wicked way with me there?”
“I’m going to claim you as my mate.” Not much further now.
Marrok went quiet on her, but she didn’t dare face him until they reached their destination. The glen welcomed them with warm breezes rattling through the aspen grove close by, the leaves a glorious golden yellow.
Tala turned, ready to explain things, only to run into a wall of muscle. Marrok claimed her lips in a kiss meant to conquer. He picked her up by the ass and she wrapped her legs around him, reveling in the hard evidence of his desire.
In a swift move only a supernatural could make, he laid them on the ground. With a growl he pulled back. “If you think you’re going to claim me and show me how dominant you are—”
Disappointment hitched in her throat. Would he deny her this? Deny them?
Suddenly he rolled so she was on top, straddling him. He tucked his hands behind his head and grinned. “—I’m all yours.”
Tala giggled, then quickly sobered, as eager to claim her mate as her wolf, who was panting for it.
With concise movements she stripped them both of their clothing. No need for more foreplay; he was as ready as she. With a moan of pleasure, she sank down on his shaft, filled with him. She dug her nails into his pecs and slowly started to move her hips, setting a rhythm meant to tease, meant to build their desire.
“Woman, you must be trying to kill me.” But he didn’t stop her or force her faster.
Tala bestowed a siren’s smile upon him and leaned forward, letting the tips of her breasts brush his chest, her nipples tightening at the contact with his warm fle
sh. She ran her hands up his arms and tangled their fingers together as she set a faster pace. Climax would come fast for both of them today. Already he thickened inside her.
Freeing her wolf slightly, her canines dropped in her mouth. With nibbling kisses, she moved across his jaw to the spot where his neck curved into his shoulder. As her orgasm built, tingling and pooling deep inside her, she licked at the spot, eliciting a low groan from her mate.
Then, as the starburst of pleasure exploded inside them both, she sank her teeth into his flesh, claiming her mate for all time. Her wolf howled as something snapped into place inside her head.
Marrok. She could feel him inside her—his emotions, his state of being. He was…happy. Elated.
“You love me?” she whispered.
He grinned and placed a sweet kiss against her lips. “I thought that obvious.”
“I love you too.”
Another grin. “I know.”
A silence fell over the glen, deafening in the absence of sound.
Everything around them stilled unnaturally. Not a breeze, not a bird call, not a whisper of sound. Tala and Marrok both levered up, his arm wrapped around her, to find every creature of the forest surrounding them—birds, chipmunks, deer, elk, even a wolf and a bear. To Tala it seemed as though every plant, every drop of water, even the sun was focused solely on them.
As one, the animals bowed their heads. Even the trees dipped in deference to them. Then, as one, they turned and disappeared into the mountainside beyond. Sound returned to the glen and the breeze whispered through the trees once again.
“The prophecy,” Tala whispered. Had it come true? For them? “What does it mean?”
She turned to Marrok, whose eyes blazed blue. A smile tugged at his lips. “It means, my darling mate, we are fated. Everything else…we’ll figure out as we go.”
With a sigh she sank into a sweet, long kiss.
Her wolf, however, was eager to accept her mate at last. Tala pulled back with a grin. “Run with me.”
This time she didn’t mind the pain of her change, as happy to finally let their wolves run together as her wolf was. Within minutes they stood together, white and black wolves. Tala gave her mate a playful nip before she took off into the forest.
With a joyful yelp, her mate followed.
EPILOGUE
Delilah smiled at her phone, knowing Tala and Marrok would be all right now. Sometimes you couldn’t see what was under your nose. It took a neutral—well, mostly neutral—third party to see the truth more clearly than you could.
Take Rowan. That red- haired witch whom Kaios had forced into attacking the werewolves refused to share her issues, despite being in deep trouble with the Mage High Council. Delilah helped her anyway. She’d taken a risk, placing Rowan as a nanny with Greyson Masters. Grey was a witch hunter, currently assigned to hunt down the exact witch now living under his roof. However, he needed help with his magical children, his wife having died in childbirth years before. Who better than a witch for a nanny?
Rowan and Grey were both so close to the situation, they wouldn’t see the truth right away. Should any secrets come to light, it would be too late in the game for them to act according to the rules. At least, Delilah hoped so. For once, a flutter of nerves accosted her. She wasn’t entirely sure how that one would turn out.
A knock at the door had her turning from her window. The view from the high rise where both her office and her penthouse suite were located, never got old. “Come in,” she called.
Her assistant Naiobe entered, bringing with her a manila folder full of papers. “This one needs your attention. Dr. Ariela seemed…concerned.”
Delilah raised her eyebrows as she accepted the folder. “I’m not sure I can help Sophia Ariela with a diagnosis.”
“This appears to be more about finding the woman’s parents to figure out if what’s wrong is genetic.”
Delilah flipped open to a picture of a woman in her mid-twenties, maybe late-twenties, with red hair not unlike Rowan’s, though the witch’s was dark, and this woman’s was shot through with golds and blonds. “Striking.”
She glanced at the notes Sophia had sent over. “Mariska. She keeps lighting on fire?” That was a new one.
Naiobe waited as she continued to read.
Finally, Delilah glanced up. “Right. Let’s put Brand on it.” As a P.I., he’d help uncover the needed information.
Naiobe’s lips twitched. “He is uniquely built to deal with fire.”
Exactly.
About the Author
Award-winning author Abigail Owen was born in Greeley, Colorado, and raised in Austin, Texas. After ten wonderful years in Northern California, she now resides in Austin with her husband and two children, who are the center of her universe.
Abigail grew up consuming books and exploring the world through her writing. A fourth-generation graduate of Texas A&M University, she attempted to find a practical career related to her favorite activity by earning a degree in English Rhetoric (Technical Writing). However, she swiftly discovered that writing without imagination is not nearly as fun as writing with it.
http://www.abigailowen.com
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Svatura Series
(Publisher: The Wild Rose Press)
Blue Violet
Hyacinth
Crimson Dahlia
Black Orchid
Shadowcat Nation Series
(Publisher: The Wild Rose Press)
Andromeda’s Fall
Sarai’s Fortune
Tieryn’s Fury
Seneca’s Faith (coming 2016)
Legendary Consultants Series
(Publisher: Abigail Owen)
Her Demigod Complex
The Worse for Were
Bait N’ Witch (Coming 2016)
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