I wasn't the only one deeply sniffing the scents being carried along by the light breeze. Several of the young men lined up were also leaning their heads back and taking deep breaths, trying to pick up kn whether the new comer was their mate.
My wolf yawned in my head nothing.I would live for another day it seems.I smiled and joined my parents behind them as they walked to the host Alpha family.Alpha Godwin was in his sixties and was old fashioned. "Thank you for having us," my dad introduced us, "This is Lauren our Alpha heiress and soon to be college student " i smiled and gripped his hand firmly as i had been taught."pleased to meet you Lauren, you are as striking as your mother. This is my son Felix and his mate June, and this is my other son Ezra."the older ones made a cute pair while the other one looked at me like a piece of fresh meat on the grill. I was polite but gave Ezra the not interested look i had perfected in High school." Have you found your mate yet young lady?"" No sir, "i tried to look dis interestedThey continued making small talk with the rest of the Alphas." I hear you are going to coege next fall? What are you planning to study?" the Alpha's voice was deep and powerful." Business, i plan to work in our pack business after graduating sir""Excellent," he said smiling After alot of small talk and eating lunch we all pulled up into the parking lot at the boat ramp. Ezra was just parking his truck after putting the speedboat into the water. They packed and got their stuff out of the back and headed down the boat. When we got there Carol my best friend and her big brother David were pulling away in the big boat with Ezra and his sister Valerie. Carol got the boat fired up as i changed into my wetsuit. I would be the first to ski this afternoon. Once i was ready, Carol stopped the boat and jumped in the water. I floated on my back, feet forward and ski tips up, while she slowly moved the boat away and took out the slack in the towline. When taught, she waited for my thumbs up before gunning the engine. The twenty foot speed boat roared to life, pulling me forward as i leaned against the rope. I popped out of the water and immediately cut left to pick up speed. The next forty minutes went by like a blur, it didn't take long for me to get comfortable, and soon i was jumping the wake and spinning a full 360. It took a few tries and a few wipe outs, but eventually i was able to land on a back flip to the cheer of my friends. "Your turn" i asked carol"Nah, am more here for the sun than the water." she pointed at a small island about half a mile away from where we were "There's a small beach there, how about we pull up and catch some sun while we eat what is in the cooler" "oh, yeah, i could use a break," said Valerie , still working her way out of the wet suit. Carol made sure the skis equipment were stowed before heading over to the island. "Dad what's going on? How are the talks coming?" I could feel his frustration through the link "slow honey, they are very interested in you, despite me warning them off. They are pushing an arranged mating as a way of cementing a relationship with their packs" I started to growl in my chest " i am starting to get worried they won't take no for an answer, are you okay?" "Yeah am okay, out with some friends we are headed for the beach now" "All right, take care of yourself and have fun" i felt the link shut down as i thought about what he just said. We got to the island pretty fast. Carol raised the motor and let the momentum carry us to the sand. Valerie jumped off and ran to tie the boat off a tree. I helped Carol with the blankets and cooler, then went off to scavenge dry wood. By the time i got back with an armful kf dead branches, they had the blanket set up and a buffet on top of the cooler. I got a fire started, warming us all after the cold water. Carol handed me a solo cup with greenish liquid in it "Diet slice and vodka" she said "no one even knows it has alcohol" I gave it a taste, it was pretty good. Booze metabolized quickly in a werewolf. So we weren't going to get drunk fast enough, but if we drinked fast enough we could get a little buzzed. "Thanks for this girls, am glad we are not stuck with the boys back at the pack house, i was starting to feel like meat on display" I laid back on the blanket, letting the sun warm my skin. I relaxed into the blanket, suddenly feeling tired. More tired than i should be. Mu wolf raised the alarm first, she could feel her power being sucked away. I had beem poisoned. "Dad something is wrong, am getting weaker by the minute." "we are leaving now, can you get somewhere safe?" "am not sure, am trying not to let on, I think Carol slipped something in my drink, i can't feel my fingers or my toes" I opened my eyes Carol was standing over me, "am sorry it had to be this way Lauren" "What the hell did you do to me?" i was furious but mostly scared. My friend was setting me up, and whatever plan she had wasn't good. "Just a little muscle relaxant. We don't want you running off or doing something stupid." I sat up, I was dizzy, and i knew i didn't have much time. I swept carols leg knocking her on her butt as i jumped to my feet. I kicked her in the ribs, causing her to cry out in pain and roll on the ground. I ran past her the best I could heading for the boat. I was too slow and before i left i was tripled by Valerie. I fell down and Carol jumped on my back, I was trying to roll her off me when it felt like my chest was being ripped off. My wolf howled out in pain, and i couldn't breathe for a moment, i reached out for my father but their was nothing anymore the link was gone, my father was dead. I screamed in pain and anger, now desperate to get away. I twisted my upper body aiming my elbow at carol's face. There was a satisfying crunch as i knocked off hera few of her teeth. She fell unconscious on my side. I tried to get up but it just wasn't working, the poison was moving faster to my system. I crawled to the water trying to reach up for the rail of the boat but came short. Valerie grabbed my left leg and started pulling me back, dropping my face back into the water. I tried to kick myself free, but the motions were weak and ineffective. My face was scraping against the sand when the second bond broke. "Mom" i screamed through the bond, but it was gone. I felt the Alpha power of ny parents flow into me. I cried as it happened, not wanting to believe they were both gone and i was now leader of my pack. My headache was incredibly painful, my eyes were squeezed shut, my wolf was trying to push forward, she wanted blood. My teeth started to shift and some fur started to emerge but the drugs were stronger. My wolf gave up panting in exhaustion. I did have the strength to scream anymore, the tears were coming fast. I closed my eyes as Valerie dropped me and the boys surrounded me. I was rolled into my back and taken into a pair of very strong arms that lifted me out of the water. I looked up to verify what my wolf already knew, it was Alex turner. He held me to his broad chest as he walked back to the blanket with me as tears rolled down my face. The drug had almost paralyzed me by now. I couldn't feel my legs at all. He set me down and his brothers felix and Ezra each took an arm and held me in a sitting position. Alex kneeled in front of me between my limp legs "Just relax Lauren, it will be over before you know it" his canines started to elongate as he leaned forward. "Don't do this, I will never forgive you, I will kill you for this " He laughed "the bond forgives all sin Lauren, you won't hurt me " Alex fully shifted his teethand Jaws snapping them in front of my face before lunging forward. He bit down on the juncture where my neck met my shoulder on the right side. I screamed in pain, the bite burned from within as he placed his claim on me. Blackness took me and I sagged to the ground."Kill me and i will haunt your ass all the way to hell"He started to take of his shirt, exposing his broad chest, then he unbuckled his belt, dropping his jeans to the floor. His manhood was swelling already, reaching out to me as his lust for me built.I turned my head away from him, as he climbed into the foot of the bed. I pretended to be too weak to hold my legs together, as he forced one aside. He hadn't put the leg cuffs back on. I looked up at him as he crawled up the bed, his knees straddling my right leg,shaking my head begging him not to do this."Please don't do this, do you really want to start a life long relationship based on rape? What will our children think?""Our children will never know, once am your Alpha, i will command you never to speak of this. You will only tell the story of how we knew we were mates at the lake. Your wolf will never disobey or harm me once the bond is in place" he crawled up, kissing my stomach and then caressin
I woke up to a weird feeling, my right leg was wet and was being lifted. I pushed my thoughts through the fog as my eyes slowly opened. I was still in the cabin,still naked and he was still there.I reached for the wolf in my mind but she was barely conscious, and couldn't do much for me. I looked down, the blanket and sheet had been removed and Alex was giving me a sponge bath. He was sitting at the end of the bed with my legs over his. "Really? Do i smell that bad?"He chuckles "Your smell is wonderful, it's just a bit strong right now. I thought you might feel better if i got you cleaned up a little, get the lake smell off you" he stroked the sponge down my calf. "And i dont mind taking care of you, it gives me an excuse to lay my scent on you later"I huffed a little and laid back, still a little woozy from the drugs. "Can i get something to eat and drink am starving""That my dear depends on how much you cooperate" he set my right leg down and picked my left
He started to take off his shirt, exposing his broad chest. Then he unbuckled his belt, dropping his pants to the floor. His manhood was already swelling, reaching out to me as his lust for me built.Let him get close to you, let him think that you are too weak to fight him. We are going to fight him, we cant go down without a fight. I agreed with my wolf, it was time to play possum.I turned my head away from him whining softly and rattling the handcuffs as he climbed into the foot of the bed, his knees straddling my right leg, shaking my head and begging him not to do this "This isn’t right, this is rape and you know it. Do you want to start a lifelong relationship with your mate this way? What will our children think?" "Our children dear will never know, once I am your alpha, I will command you never to speak of this again, you will only tell a story of how we knew we were mates at the lake. And how happy you are with me. Your wolf will never disobey me nor hurt me once the bond
"Then you would be dead too Dennis.These packs aren't like us, women to them are poker chips to be traded for favors."He paused, "I still should have done something. Your wolf is dead, you are sure of that?""Yes, i feel it. She knew it was coming""Then you should smell fully human, you should go to them, go to the humans and get medical help. Surround yourself with humans, they won't risk exposing themselves." i had to agree with them. It was like i could see a pack doctor now."you also need to ditch the truck and the phone after you hang up, they can track them. Get somewhere public and get to the hospital. Jave someone call an ambulance id you can't mame it on your own. Do you have a wallet? Your identification or money?""Everything i owned was back in the pack house, either in my guest room or expedition which neither i would be able to get to. Am wearing his tshirt.""You will need a cover story, its not like a half naked girl missing a thumb shows up every day."" Well i ca
Chicago: NovemberLauren tried to disappear into the passenger seat. She hadn’t realized how much of her confidence had been tied to having Toby beside her. She’d only known him a day and a half, and he’d changed her world, at least while he was still next to her.Without him, all of her newly regained confidence had disappeared. Its mockingabsence only pointed out what a coward she really was. As if she needed reminding.She glanced over at the man who was driving Malcom ’s rented SUV with casual ease through the light after-morning-rush-hour traffic on the slush-covered expressway as if he were a Chicago native, instead of a visitor from the wilds of Montana.Toby’s father, Brian, looked for all the world like a college student, a computer geek or maybe an art major. Someone sensitive, gentle, and young, but she knew he was none of these things. He was the Marrok, the one all the Alphas answered to and no one dominated an Alpha werewolf by being sensitive and gentle.He wasn’t yo
She could look at Brian, and so she watched his eyes assess the wolves Shawn had brought like a general surveying his troops. His gaze settled on Michael.Lauren looked, too, seeing what the Marrok saw: old jeans with a hole in one knee, tennis shoes that had seen better days. It was very much like what she was wearing, except that her hole was in her left knee, not the right.“Will the time it takes to drive to Montana and back put your job at risk?” Brian asked. Thomas kept his eyes on his toes and answered, soft-voiced, “No, sir. I work in construction, and this is the slow season. I okayed it with the boss; he says I have two weeks.”Brian pulled a checkbook out of his pocket, and using one of the other wolves’ shoulders to give him a solid surface to write on, made out a check. “This is for your expenses on this trip. We will figure out a pay rate and have money waiting for you when you get to Montana.”Relief flashed in Michael’s eyes, but he didn’t say anything.Brian went thro
She could look at Brian, and so she watched his eyes assess the wolves Shawn had brought like a general surveying his troops. His gaze settled on Michael. Lauren looked, too, seeing what the Marrok saw: old jeans with a hole in one knee, tennis shoes that had seen better days. It was very much like what she was wearing, except that her hole was in her left knee, not the right.“Will the time it takes to drive to Montana and back put your job at risk?” Brian asked. Thomas kept his eyes on his toes and answered, soft-voiced, “No, sir. I work in construction, and this is the slow season. I okayed it with the boss; he says I have two weeks.”Brian pulled a checkbook out of his pocket, and using one of the other wolves’ shoulders to give him a solid surface to write on, made out a check. “This is for your expenses on this trip. We will figure out a pay rate and have money waiting for you when you get to Montana.”Relief flashed in Michael’s eyes, but he didn’t say anything.Brian went thr
“No,” she lied. She just wanted to get her apartment packed and get done with this, so she never had to see Scott and those like him again. “No.” This time she meant it. Brian tilted his head, and she saw his eyes shift, just a little, gleaming gold in the dimness of the outer hall. “Let him up.”She waited until everyone was in her apartment to leave the anonymity of the landing. Brian was stripping her futon down to the bare mattress when she entered her apartment, It was sort of like watching the president mowing the White House lawn or taking out the trash. Shawn approached her and handed her the check she’d left on the fridge door, her last paycheck.“You will want this with you.”She took it and stuffed it in her pants. “Thanks.”“We all owe you,” he told her. “None of us could contact the Marrok when things started getting bad. Leo forbade it. I can’t tell you how many hours I spent staring at the phone trying to break his hold.”She was startled into meeting his eyes.“It too
When you failed, you and that other wolf—Brian would send only the best. You lie and lie as if it were the truth.” “You don’t want to believe me,” Asil said. “But you can taste truth—your link to Sarai is strong enough. You were a danger to yourself and us. We did it for your own good. It was that or kill you.” She flicked a trembling finger at him. “Shut up.” Asil’s face lost its cool composure, and he grimaced. As he continued, his voice was breathless with pain. “What you have done is an abomination. This thing you have turned Sarai into doesn’t love you, she serves as a slave serves, without the ability to choose, just as I do. Brian is more than you can handle. He will kill you—and it is your own fault.” “I won’t die,” she shouted at him. “I didn’t die when Linnea tried to kill me —she didn’t know how powerful I was or how much my mother had taught me. I killed her and her pet students and studied the books she left behind— for months I wrote to you and signed the letters from he
Brian would hold out for a while. First, the witch could make a mistake— especially if she didn’t know whom she held. Second, he was afraid that this time no one would be able to kill him. It had been Samuel who brought him out of it before . . . and Samuel wasn’t as certain of himself as he used to be. The control the witch asserted over him had to be won by blood and flesh, and the only flesh and blood bonding he’d done was to his own pack. She must have used Asil to insert herself into his pack—but how? While she looked him over, he searched his link to Asil for something that touched a witch. He paid very little attention to the witch as she talked at him. With the dexterity of a very long lifetime, Brian slid through Asil and found a dead woman—it could only be Asil’s mate. It was an impossibility. No one could link to a dead woman; he knew that because when Blue Jay Woman, Toby’s mother, died, he’d tried to hold on to her. But, impossibilities become possible when you added a wi
Since the cabin hadn’t kept him out and he didn’t feel the need to leave, he could only assume that the circle was the latter kind—which meant that there were more dead things under the floor. He took a deep breath, but the dead animal he’d already seen might account for the scent of death—and nothing was rotting. Either the animal she’d killed to draw her circle hadn’t been dead long—it had frozen in the cold— or she had a spell to disguise it to keep away scavengers. Changing what the senses of others perceived was one of the major powers of the witch. His father said that Toby might have been a witch if he’d chosen to study. Brian hadn’t urged him to do so, but he also didn’t discourage it, either; a witch in his pack would have given him even more power. But the subtler magics of his mother’s people suited Toby, and he’d never regretted the path he’d chosen less than he did right now, standing in the middle of this poor cabin stained with evil. The scent on the sleeping bag on the
THE darkness bothered Brian not at all as he followed Tag’s directions to the place he and Toby had thought would be the best starting point. He passed Asil’s Subaru and hesitated—if Asil had been going after Toby, he’d have known the fastest way there. But Toby would be headed back to his car if something had gone wrong. So Brian kept driving. Other things he might do ran through his head. There were witches in the pay of the wolves. Not his pack—he didn’t deal with black witches, and most white witches weren’t powerful enough to be useful. But there were witches available to him. If he had a two-hundred-year-old witch capable of holding and torturing a werewolf for two dadsys—he had no intention of advertising the fact and encouraging other witches to imitate this one. Especially since she, like Brian’s mother, might have gotten her ability through some kind of binding to a werewolf. No. Best keep the witches out of it. He could call Toby back. That was a harder thing. Telepathy was
LAUREN opened her eyes in the dadsrkness, certain that something had wakened her again. She raised her head from Toby’s warm, sweet[1]smelling skin and looked around. Dennis was nowhere to be seen, and sometime in the night, she and Toby had reversed positions, so he lay between her and dadsnger. The wind and snow had ceased, leaving the forest silent and waiting. “Me transmitte sursum, Caledoni,” she murmured. Too bad Scotty wasn’t around to beam them to safety. There was something about the heavy atmosphere that was frightening. She listened hard but heard nothing. The weighted silence pounded on her ears and made the beat of her heart even louder in the stillness of the winter night. Her heartbeat, her breath was the only thing she could hear. “Toby?” she whispered, touching his shoulder tentatively. When he didn’t respond, she shook him. His body fell away from her. He’d been lying on his side, but he rolled limply out from under their barely adequate shelter and onto the snow. Th
AS soon as Toby went out to talk to Asil, Lauren had begun her change. She needed to deal with that wolf with her tongue rather than fang and claw. He was too good at riling her mate—and Toby was still volatile from his encounter with the witch. She didn’t give any thought to Dennis until she was naked and panting in the cold night air. She might have had three years to get used to being nude in front of people she didn’t know well, but he hadn’t. She glanced at him, but he had his head turned away from her and was staring intently at a nearby tree trunk, the perfect gentleman. She quit worrying about him and scrambled into her chilly clothes and boots because she could sense Toby’s rising rage at Asil; Asil had put the Marrok and his pack at risk. But more than that, she was worried that neither Toby nor Asil realized how close Toby was to his breaking point. She found it curious that she did. Boots on, coat on, Lauren rolled out of their sleeping place and onto her feet. She didn’t
He called the magic to him and let it rip through his body, changing as he walked. It hurt, but he knew it didn’t show on his face or make his limp any worse. If he’d been healthier and the spirits willing, he might even have been able to conjure up a new pair of snowshoes instead of having to wade. At least the snow on the bench, regularly scoured by the wind, was only a foot or so deep most places—half of that had fallen tonight. Asil smiled a little, as if he recognized Toby’s power play for what it was, but he dropped his eyes. Though Toby knew better than to trust the submission in the other’s body language, it was enough for now. Toby kept his voice low. “How did you find us?” It was an important question. They were nowhere near the place they’d have been camping if he and Lauren had followed the trip as he’d outlined it with Tag. Had he done something stupid that would let the witch find them, too? The oddities of the past twenty-four hours had badly shaken his confidence—and t
Afterward, she lay panting and miserable on the ice-crystal-covered snow, too tired to move. Even cold, she discovered, had a smell. Gradually, as her misery faded, she realized that for the first time since last night, when Toby had curled around her and surrounded her with his warmth, she felt toasty-warm. As the initial agony faded to aches and pains, she stretched, making her claws expand and lengthen like a big cat’s. Her back popped and crackled all the way down her spine. She didn’t want to go back and curl up with a strange male only feet away. The wolf wasn’t afraid of the male. She knew he wasn’t likely to behave like the Others. But she didn’t much like the idea of touching anyone other than Toby, either. Near but out of sight, a wolf, Toby, made a quiet sound, not quite a bark or a whine. Wobbly as a newborn foal, she staggered to her feet. She paused to shake the snow off her pelt and give herself a moment to get used to four paws before starting back, her clothes in her
Did she still regret that? Toby was overcome with the wild desire to kill them all again, Leo and his mate, the whole Chicago pack—but at the same time he was pathetically grateful that his mate was a werewolf who wouldn’t fade and die the way Samuel’s wives all had. Brother Wolf stirred and settled down, just like Dennis had. “The wolf who attacked you didn’t come back to you, then, after you Changed?” Toby asked. Usually when a wolf Changed someone, it was drawn back to the new werewolf for a while. Mostly, Samuel had theorized to him once, some genetic imperative to make sure that an untaught, uncontrolled werewolf wasn’t going to draw too much unwanted attention. Dennis shook his head. “Like I said, I tracked her down myself, after the first full moon—she and that woman. What is she anyway? She sure as hell ain’t human—sorry, ma’am— not with the things I seen her do. She tried to call me to her the first time I Changed. I didn’t know what she was, only that she smelled bad—like th