I then understood why Lobo was the last to go. Not just because he took charge, but also because there’d be no round three after him. He was giving me a run for my money in my own game. Part of me wanted to fight, to tease, but with the increasing pace Lobo set as he drilled me into Hunter—who only rocked me back against him—I was hardly able to keep up.
I pressed my face to Hunter’s neck, determined to leave some marks of my own. This was a game I could play and win. I began to bite his neck, sucking and nipping, desperate to leave some ugly marks. He groaned beneath my attack, thrusting harder into me, making me cry out and bite his neck harder to try and muffle the sound.
For a moment, I thought I might be back in the game, but then Lykos slid his hand between our bodies, finding my clit once more. Gasping with pleasure, I shot him a dirty look, but he just grinned, knowing he’d won. He leaned in, and I met his kiss, biting his lip to get back at him, but Lobo slapped my ass.
“Play nice, Mel. You aren’t winning this fight.” His alpha-mode voice made me twitch.
Lykos kissed me again, and this time, I was nice. I let him explore my mouth as his fingers continued to work my clit, and I took a pounding from the other two. I could feel climax building up again, and fast. They weren’t nearly as close as I was.
Frustrated and losing this sensual game, I bit Lykos’ lip again. In payback, he yanked my hair, sending me over the edge again. I collapsed against Hunter, who was still pistoling into me, but I knew my orgasm had brought them both closer to coming as well. However, my pussy was over sensitive and still being ploughed. The stimulation made me want to sob and gasp and shudder all over again.
Worse, my wolf paced frantically back and forth, shredding my insides with her claws.
Limp, I lay against Hunter’s chest, surrendering to the onslaught as they continued to thrust. Lobo’s hands cupped my tits, pulling me upright so Hunter could push deeper. He hit that sweet spot inside of me that made me see stars.
I was unraveling as they ravaged me. Everything inside me felt like it was falling apart. Like I was coming undone at the seams.
I dug my nails into Hunter’s chest, willing the tears that welled in my eyes not to fall. I wasn’t upset, just overstimulated. When I climaxed again, my spasms were enough to bring them both with me. We tried to keep our voices down as much as possible, because after all, we were still fucking in the woods.
Howling with a strange mix of rage and pleasure, my wolf bulged inside me, fighting to escape. But she still didn’t make her way out.
Pressed between them, I could feel Hunter still twitching inside me. Panting, Lobo pulled out and collapsed in the grass on the other side. I struggled to catch my breath as we lay in silence, recovering from our romp. Lykos had a head start on us, and even he still looked fairly spent.
Coming down from the excitement and adrenaline, I realized that part of my plan had failed. My Hail Mary had let me down. I hadn’t shifted. I wasn’t anywhere closer to taming my wolf and saving my mom. I pulled away from Hunter then, crawling off of him to brace myself against a tree and wrapping my arms around my knees. Why didn’t it work?
“Mel? Are you okay?” Lobo had perched himself up on his elbows and was looking at me with concern. The alpha-mode had ebbed away, and he seemed like he usually did. Sweet, a little dorky, the nice guy once more.
“Why didn’t it work?” I whispered. Disappointment twisted into anger. Not at them, but myself, for being stupid enough to hope in the first place.
“What do you mean?”
I stared at my dirty knees. “I thought this would help tame my wolf. Why didn’t it work?”
“Was that the only reason you did this?”
I shook my head, looking up at him then. “No, of course not, I just hoped… I wanted a quick fix.”
He nodded sympathetically. “Well, I don’t think you’re tamable. You took fifty lashes, and you’re still wild and obstinant as fuck..”
I scoffed. “That’s different. It worked for the other female wolves, so why not mine?”
Hunter opened his mouth to say something, and Lykos shot him a look. He rolled his eyes but let his mouth run. “So what? You don’t strike me as the submitting, rule following type. The way I see it is you can only be tamed if you’re willing to submit one hundred percent. From what I’ve seen, you’re incapable of that.”
Anger still boiled inside me, but disappointment had the wheel. “So that’s it? I’m just a lost cause?”
They exchanged looks, none of them really having an answer.
Lykos shrugged. “I don’t know. Nobody knows everything, Mel. Maybe there’s another way.”
We sat in silence then, but I knew it was a lie. There was no other way.
Mom and I were both dead.
16
It was almost time for Fight Night to start. I didn’t know what I was walking into, and I sure as hell wasn’t sure if I’d be walking out.
Sitting on my bed, Lobo tried to explain it to me as I got ready. “It’s like Hunter said, the rules don’t apply. The goal is to make your opponent submit by any means necessary.”
Fuck. That didn’t sound good. “Can Jorak’s son shift?”
“You mean Connor? No, not consistently yet.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means he’s had his first shift, but he can’t do it at will. He can’t control his wolf. He can shift sporadically though. Why? You’re not fighting him tonight, are you?”
“Uh...”
“Mel! He’ll kill you!” Lobo jumped off the bed and grabbed my shoulders. “If he shifts while you’re fighting, you’re dead. We can’t protect you—”
I shoved him away from me. “I’m not asking you to. I can handle it myself.”
By his clenched jaws, I could tell he wanted to argue it further, but he didn’t. It would have been a lost cause anyway.
When we made it to Wolf’s Hollow, people had already gathered, warming up for a night of brutality. We joined Nyx, Hunter, and Lykos off to the side.
Smelling them again made my wolf twist and snarl inside me. At this rate, I wasn’t going to have any intestines left.
“Mel’s fighting Connor tonight,” Lobo said as he pushed me under the bus.
All three pairs of eyes snapped to me. Hunter snarled. “What the fuck? He was serious?”
“Mel, there’s no way—” Lykos began to protest, but a voice in the clearing interrupted him. It was Headmaster Fuckface.
“It’s time to start. As always, all the rules are thrown out. Fight until your opponent submits. Up first, Connor Jorak and Melanie Lopez.”
I wanted to wipe that smug-ass smirk off he fucking face.
“Mel, I’m serious. Don’t do this,” Hunter pleaded.
I didn’t have a choice. I marched over to the clearing. Everybody formed a ring around us, giving us a decent space to fight in. Shirtless, Connor stood in the center, grinning like a rabid dog.
I’d learned my lesson about hair-pulling, so I’d put my hair up into a tight bun. I pulled off my jacket and then my shirt, tossing them aside. Even after healing a week, the scars were a vivid reminder to the watchers. I’d already survived what people said would kill me. They’d turned their backs on me before. They’d been willing to watch me die in silence.
No more.
As I hoped, Connor gave a good long stare at my breasts. An exercise bra wasn’t exactly sexy, but the horny wolves didn’t seem to care. “It’ll be such a shame to kill you before enjoying a good fuck.”
My wolf dragged claws through me, making my breath catch. “I’d like to see you try.”
He lunged for me, but I easily dodged his attack. He might be the headmaster’s son, but that didn’t mean he had excellent street skills. He let his anger lead him, not his head. He relied on his strength more than his agility, so I had to be fast and elusive. I couldn’t let him get his hands on me, but I also needed to end this as quickly as possible to avoid giving him time to shift.
> I didn’t intend on being a wolf snack tonight.
When he swung at me, I caught his fist and squeezed hard enough his knuckles popped and ground against my palm. I twisted his hand up sharply, forcing him down to the ground to avoid breaking his wrist. I kicked him in the side, still twisting his wrist so he fell all the way down to the ground. A sharp stomp and I broke his arm at the elbow with a loud snap.
He shrieked, louder as I applied more pressure, damaging the joint so he couldn’t use it in the fight. Never again would he put his nasty hands on me.
“Submit,” I growled, twisted his arm, wrenching it back and forth.
Panting and crying, he shook his head. I moved my foot to his neck and started to close off his windpipe. “Submit!”
He thrashed beneath my foot, moving enough of my weight off him that he managed to flip over. I lurched back a step, quickly moving into defensive mode, fists up and ready to fly. A horrible cracking sound came from him, as if I was landing kicks and breaking bones all over his body. Snarling, he frothed at the mouth as his head… changed. His eyes glowed like flares had gone off in his skull. Throwing his misshapen head back, he roared and clawed the sky as hair spouted across his body.
Fuck me! Fuck fuck fuck! Where’s my goddamn bear repellant?
A huge gray wolf growled, rattling my bones as it stalked towards me. I stumbled back another step before I caught myself. If I was going to die, at least I’d die fighting. Think, Mel. Analyze. Fight.
Shifting into the wolf hadn’t fixed Connor’s arm. Er, paw. Though a horse-sized three-legged wolf was still a creature out of nightmares. Motherfucker.
Now that he had the upper hand, shaggy Connor slowly paced a circle around me. Lips pulled back, baring glistening fangs that looked as long as my fingers. I was supposed to turn into one of these monsters? Hell no!
Crouching barely a few feet away, he cracked his mouth, panting with an odd sucking sound. His nose wriggled, and it dawned on me. He was smelling me. Imagining what I was going to taste like, he licked his furry lips.
I brought my fists up, ignoring my shaking hands. Before he could spring at me, I clocked him in the snout with all my strength. Like you’re supposed to do with sharks? I don’t know.
Of course, it didn’t work. He snapped his huge head back around and before I could blink, he slammed me to the ground, raking deep scratches down my shoulder and chest. His teeth clamped onto my shoulder and he shook me like a ragdoll.
Yelling, I didn’t really feel pain. It all happened too fast. He only braced one paw on my chest to pin me. One.
Because his other leg was injured...
I rolled sharply to the side and shoved up at the damaged leg, hopefully hurting him even more. He staggered to the side, letting me scurry up to my feet. Too close. Those vicious teeth snapped just inches away. I twisted his ear hard enough to make him yowl, and then slammed my boot into his ribs, sending him rolling. Before he could get up, I slammed my boot down on his neck, making sure to stay away from his teeth.
What else could I do to incapacitate a wolf? A male wolf?
Yep, he had balls. So I grabbed his package and dug my nails in for a deep twist.
I didn’t know wolves could shriek in agony, but he did.
“Submit!” I demanded, squeezing and twisting his balls so hard that if I applied any more pressure, they’d probably pop in my hands.
Howling, he finally turned his head aside. Baring his neck and his belly. Submission.
Holy fuck. I’d done it.
Stunned, and with a probably stupid grin on my face, I let go of him and stepped back to a safe distance. But he merely lay there, whimpering.
I leaned down and whispered, “Don’t you ever fucking touch me again.”
I lifted my head, tipping my chin up as I looked around at the stunned crowd. My gaze fell on Jorak and the dark, twisted fury in his eyes made me shiver. He hated me with every fiber of his being. Not that I gave a fuck. He couldn’t hurt me because of the fight. No rules, right? I was safe. For now.
Nobody said a word as I strolled out of the circle. I noticed Dr. Aspen, so I went over toward him. I hadn’t seen him all week.
“Hey.” My ever-so-eloquent greeting.
“You’re looking much better.”
“I feel much better, at least for the moment. Jorak can’t whip me for what I just did to his son, can he?”
Aspen pursed his lips. “No, he can’t. There aren’t any rules at Fight Night. But you need to be careful. He’ll definitely be looking for any reason at all to eliminate you. You’re very, very dangerous, Miss Lopez. And not for the reasons you think.”
His phone lit up in his hand, and he glanced down, checking his notifications. I didn’t have a phone, but only because I couldn’t afford one. “I think you’re the first person I’ve seen here that actually has a cellphone.”
He looked up at me. “Students aren’t allowed to have phones on campus.”
Something surged inside me. Maybe hope, or maybe the wolf shifting restlessly. I rarely felt hope at all, so it was difficult to distinguish the two. “Could I borrow your phone to call my mom?”
It was a long shot, but maybe I could get the hospital to put me through. I was so scared that I would never see her again. I just wanted to hear her voice one more time. I missed her so fucking much.
“Your mom?” His eyebrow quirked up at me, interested with the small information I’d just provided.
“Yeah, she’s uh, she’s…” Why did I have so much trouble talking about her? “She’s in the hospital.”
Aspen frowned. His hand started to lift toward me but fell away. “I’m sorry to hear that. Why? Is she ill?”
My chest tightened, and my own wolf thrashed inside me, howling with grief. I hoped it wasn’t too late already. “Her wolf.”
He pursed his lips again as his face filled with understanding. “Of course. Follow me.”
He turned and strode into the woods, away from the others. From the jeers, another fight had started. Not that I fucking cared. We walked a good distance until the noise faded. Leaning back against a tree, he handed me his phone.
We might be in the middle of a fucking forest, but he actually had a decent signal. I used the browser to google the hospital and called the number provided. It took about five minutes of being on hold and then transferred several times, but suddenly, she was there.
“Mellie?” Her voice croaked, and a lump filled my throat. She sounded so much worse.
“Hi, Mom, it’s me.” God, I was already struggling to choke back the tears.
“What’s wrong? Are you hurt?” Her voice was now frantic, but it still sounded weak and frail.
A lump the size of Texas tried to choke me. “No, I’m fine. I just miss you. A friend let me borrow their phone to call you.”
“Are you taking care of yourself?” She sounded so tired. As if she might only have days left and here I was, too busy fucking around up here to be with her while she died.
“Yeah. Are you?”
She coughed into the phone, a thick, hacking noise. Her breath rattled in my ears. “You know me, Mellie. Kicking ass and taking names like always. Did you find Wolf Point? How is it?”
“It’s…” What could I say? Good? It’s a fucking nightmare. But I didn’t want to tell her that. “It’s not too bad. I’m still learning.”
Another voice murmured and I heard the shuffling of the phone being passed on.“Miss Lopez?”
I was pretty sure it was Dr. Sympathy Whats-Her-Name. She didn’t have to say a word. I knew it was bad news. Really bad news.
“You need to get back here now, Miss Lopez. Your mother doesn’t have long left.” Her voice was gentle, but the message winded me.
“How long?” My voice felt a million miles away.
“Days. Less than a week at most.”
It was all I could do to stand there with the phone to my ear. I wasn’t even breathing.
“Miss Lopez?”
I swal
lowed and drew a shallow breath. “Put Mom back on the phone.”
“Miss Lopez—”
“Now.”
A few moments passed and more shuffling, then my mom was back. “Mellie? What did she tell you?”
I bit my lip, trying to hold in my sobs as the tears began to spill over. “Nothing, Mom. She just gave me an update on your treatment plan. She says you’re feeling a little better?”
I met Aspen’s gaze as I pulled the phone away and pressed the receiver against my shoulder, using my free hand to cover my mouth so she wouldn’t hear my sobs. Goddamn it. I didn’t want to fall apart.
“Oh, yeah. I’ll be good as new soon!” Her chipper tone gave the lie away. She always did try to put on a brave face. “They need to run some more tests, so I have to let you go. Call me again soon.”
I took another shaky breath and tried to keep my voice as even as possible. “Of course. I love you.”
“I love you, too, Mellie. Stay strong, okay? Make me proud.”
“I will, Mom.”
As soon as the line went dead, the phone slipped from my hands, and I wrapped my arms around myself, digging my nails into my shoulders. She was dying, all alone. I wasn’t going to make it back in time to save her. This was it. I’d failed.
“Mel?” Aspen took a step towards me. Before he could come any closer, I turned and took off into the woods, running into the dark.
17
I ran until I couldn’t breathe any more, and then I’d collapsed on the ground, completely submitting to my sobs. I curled up in the grass, hugging myself. Trying to stay warm. Trying to forgive myself for failing. For not being there while Mom died.
I ached all over, but for once, my wolf had gone completely silent.
“Mel?”
Fuck. Dr. Aspen. Why the fuck had he followed me? Why did he care?
I sniffled softly and wiped at my face, quickly trying to hide that I’d been crying. I sat up and pulled my knees up to my chest, trying to get a grip.
Lone Wolf's Attack Page 11
