Loving Lucius (Werescape) (36 page)

"Why?"

"Augustus still isn't keen on you tagging along. He said it's too dangerous. That you're far too important for me to drag along just so Wolf can pump you full of seed." He winked.

When he put it in such a selfish frivolous way, I could understand. But what about our need to be together beyond mating? "He doesn't understand?"

Lucius' mask practically beamed with laughter. "My sire knows all about alone time with his mate." He winked again. "But he doesn't want you pregnant on the trail. Probably more for himself than me. My sire wants his eldest son to give him a grandson before he's too old and impatient to mold the boy's wits."

Not Augustus. "That man is never impatient."

"Give him some time to show you." Lucius began stuffing extra clothes into a camouflage backpack.

Would my presence create a rift between the father and son? Hopefully not. Both Shifters are truly wonderful. I couldn't stand it if I was what ruined their relationship. "So you two had a fight? About me? Is everything alright now?"

He stopped what he was doing and pulled me into those big strong arms again until the lengths of our hard bodies pressed together. "No. I just insisted. Since I rarely insist, he buckled." He planted a soft warm kiss on my lips and smiled at me. "I couldn't stand the thought of leaving you here. I had to tell Wolf that over and over, chanting it in my head, to convince him to reach Hostillian's door for Augustus. And, I don't like leaving you here. Have no intention of leaving you behind. Not after the mysterious fever. And, if I have to travel halfway across the US Territories, I'm going to take my mate with me. Now help me pack." His big arms slipped away from my body.

Leaving me feeling alone again. Hopefully not for long. Just while we packed. And then we can have chair sex and take his stallion out for a little exercise. That's what life is going to be like loving Lucius.

"And I can't stand the thought of not having you with me, Elise. I don't care whether it's some sort of alien genetic bond drawing us together after the marking or not. I want my woman with me. Call it love. Call it lust." He shrugged. "Or a Mating Fever. If I've got a fever, I need the cure. That's you, my little healer. My sire can send me to another continent to gather information for him, and I'll agree to go as long as you go too."

Life changed in a heartbeat AEI. I'm not about to squander any precious moments with my Lucius even if that means I have to leave Violet with Augustus. There can't be a safer place on the planet--subterranean and guarded by Shifters who want to keep aliens far far away. Besides, Violet and Augustus like each other.

[The End]

Scroll down to read the first chapters to Josie's story and all about The Gathering to continue with events that began in LOVING LUCIUS
.

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Coming Soon SNEAK PEEKS

Werescape 6: BIG BAD BEAST
{Josie's story}

Chapter One

The southern Big Woods, Minnesota Territory, after alien invasion, AEI, Earth, 2065 AD

They could all toss their pity to the Minnesota Territory's wind and leave me to the memories of death and dying. How could they nag me to get back to normalcy when I'd watched four Shifters die? My relatives. Everyone I had left on this Gods-forsaken planet, except my sister. And now she behaved like the enemy. To hell with all of this. I tucked the thick leathery end of the cinch strap through the cold hard buckle's steel, dropped the stirrup into place, and patted my stallion Marine's warm black-night neck.

He shook his equally jet-black mane and turned bright brown eyes my direction.

Probably knew we were leaving for good. And if a question danced in those brown orbs, I didn't have an answer for his inquiry. I have no idea where we're headed.

Why is destination: nowhere so me? So Josie?

Not such a hard question to answer. I'd learned all sorts of self dense growing up even though I was expected to behave like an attractive appealing female. But my heart had set itself on Hostillian. And he'd refused me no matter how much I tried to prove to him I was tough and intelligent enough to survive without his constant supervision. So tough that he wouldn't have to worry about me.

Here I stand. Alone. Saddle loaded down with weapons like I'm going to war.

The lone warrior.

What a joke I've become. Damned fucked-up world. Time for a little payback. I'd just ride until I find a place where I somehow fit in. Somewhere I'd be accepted for what this alien world made of my life. No matter how foreign the place. I stepped into the saddle and steered my rocking horse's strength toward the sunlit world beyond the open barn door.

Oh. Yes. This is it for Josie mating. A rocking saddle between my legs. Talk about ridiculous. Doesn't this screwed-up planet realize I need to reproduce like all the other females? Alas, the warming morning promised enough heat later during the day, enough to make me sweat. Better to deal with the sun than a heated confrontation with anyone who thought I'd best unsaddle my stallion and step down from facing my future. That's so not happening. Especially based on Marine's steadfast focus.

He strode casually to the corral's winding corner and turned to walk the length of it.

Good boy. He was probably as sick as I am of the smothering condescension everyone showered me with under the guise of caring and compassion. At least he didn't balk at my plan. That's how a mate should be. Who said you had to actually mate to mate?

We cleared the corral and began crossing the final stretch between two log lodges that housed single adult Shifters and headed to the outpost's open gate.

Quiet. Nice. Gotta love a day when everybody slept in. Two more steps and we'd clear the rough-hewn log edge of the cabins to walk the final steps in the open area out front of my cousin, the clan leader's, personal cabin. Hopefully, he slept in as well and has no idea I'm departing.

Marine trudged into the empty courtyard with nary a concern though. It might behoove a girl to have a human mate. Especially one with enough sense to be on edge from time to time.

We stepped right into the waiting clan leader who conveniently stood, arms crossed over his massive chest, slightly out of sight to the left in front of his lodge. Classic Augustus. Even in his human skin, my cousin waited, the only hurdle I dared defy in departure.

"Morning, Josie," Augustus casually called, dropping his arms.

In a more submissive stance. Why the alpha-male Shifter assuming such a position?

"Going somewhere?" he asked.

Always calm. Cool. Augustus could work a group of anxious keyed-up un-mated Shifters two miles downwind of an ovulating female with the smooth finesse of a knife cutting through butter and avoid unavoidable conflict. Well, he won't be working me. "Heading out."

"Sorry to hear that. Your sister will be in tears for days with nothing more than the news."

That's not going to work on me. Maybe my sister Drea. But she mated him. I had enough sense not to even ponder that potential arrangement. Besides, Drea was just more agreeable and had enough sense to keep her thoughts to herself until she was behind closed doors with an alpha-male mate. That's nothing but imprisonment. Well, with anyone but Hostillian. I locked my gaze on the freedom the forest laying beyond the gaping gateway and kept Marine plodding onward.

"Can you do something for me on your way out?" he asked.

At least that isn't a command to stop. But I'm not looking away from the still leaves in the awaiting forest.

"We'll call it a subtle way of allowing you to slip off," he added. "As if you disappeared doing me a favor."

What then? Stop? Risk my chance to escape? But the Shifter could shape shift so quickly and catch me. I had to appear to listen. Cooperate. Humor him. I pulled up on the reins and turned Marine to face the man in his camouflage pants and black leather vest.

His warm smile was beyond ridiculous. Nothing he could say would convince me this isn't a game he played with me to keep me here longer. To delay the inevitable. And I'm just not fond of anything lumped into the category of
inevitable
.

"I was going to send ammunition to the Western Fields. But you'd think I sent one of my men out to follow you. So, you could drop the ammo off on your way and slip away in the process. I'll tell Drea I sent you on an errand." He winked. "She'll be none the wiser."

Damn the sinister man and his winks. Always trying to get the best of people. But he had a point. I could use his little errand as a means of escape. And the whole process would be easier for him because Drea would be expecting me home in four days from these fields, whatever he's talking about. And that's four days to get the Gods-be-damned hell out of here. Now, that's a really nice head start if Drea insists Augustus send a pack of Shifters out to hunt me down and drag me back. "Alright. Where in the Gods-be-damned hell is this place?"

He grinned, his gaze gleaming. "Two days' ride to the southwest. A patch of wheat field so large, you can't miss it."

This waving grain isn't the only thing I won't be missing. Goodbye Cousin Busybody.

****

The sweltering sunlight tried to bake me beneath the heavy denim button down shirt nature forced me to don to keep my exposed skin from burning early this morning in this insane errand of Cousin Augustus'. Alas, the July sun is always too scorching for wearing a tank top with my pale skin. But somewhere, in this prairie nightmare of a grassy ocean, lurked a cool place to rest. I just can't see that resting spot on the line of the horizon. I scanned the line where the sky's blue line and prairie until my gaze spotted green wheat plants.

And a few lanky males dressed in military or hunting camouflage.

Shifters and grain.

Who decided to leave a pack of young Shifter males at an even more remote outpost than the community back in The Big Woods? That alpha male couldn't possibly still be leading a clan because a Shifter that senile would have been ousted not long after making such a ridiculous decision. Only Augustus could get away with something that ludicrous. And just how long has this wheat field been around? I don't recall hearing anything about this place the ten years I spent attending my cousin's little scientific academy. Nor did my sire speak of this place. Just who had the bright idea to arrange this insane venture fueled by raging teenage male testosterone? Hell, all the males swarmed the fields like an angry mob of bees.

Or am I just being a pessimist because they aren't actually swarming? Rather, two manned what had to be a sluice mechanism along the river.

Wow. Some teen had the forethought to build an irrigation system. Leave it to a Shifter. There probably isn't a Normal alive with that much sense.

Another Shifter teen rode a bay horse toward me from the farthest limit of my periphery.

Almost in a covert manner. Why? I'm female. Surely they've pulled their Wolf into their eyes and noses to detect I carry eggs. But the rider's olive-drab hat is one of those military bush hats. Camouflage in that it matched the color of the rest of his clothing. Maybe that's why his actions feel sneaky.

To my right, two more teens watched me, standing where they'd been jacking with something hidden in the vegetation. I don't want to even begin to imagine what they were jacking with. In the end, young males are all alike. Even Shifters. They're all male. Predictable. Albeit, the ones of mating age had learned to control their urges because Shifter urges come packed with a whole lot of power. Werewolf strength and desires. A man's beast could overwhelm and consume a Shifter if he didn't master self-control.

And now the truth behind my dear cousin's last grin shows itself. I've been sent to this testosterone snake pit. Literally filled with writhing snakes. Good thing my cousin had the wherewithal to send me with a good forty pounds of bullets. The lead deterrents better work with one of my firearms. Or the fact the ammunition didn't would be the biggest joke of the century. Augustus' last laugh. I'd be stranded here with a horde of sharp antsy fangs.

"Hello," a male voice called from behind me.