Mark of the Wolf (22 page)

She knew that he was following her the moment
he started out – his howl was louder than the others, chilling and
dangerous, full of excitement and power. Fear lanced through her,
adrenaline making her brain small and narrow, her thoughts frantic
and smothering. She forced herself to scramble forward, yanking
open a door at the side of the wall and shoving through it. She
blindly flung herself inside, not bothering to close the door
behind her. Then she turned to the new darkened room and her breath
caught; it was full of boxes, stacks upon stacks of giant crates
and oil drums, reaching all the way to the ceiling where iron beams
slanted across.

She had no time to waste; he was directly
behind her. Without thinking, she threw herself to one side and
scrambled under a pile of boxes, navigating her way under and
around the stacks where hopefully he would not be able to fit. She
continued to crawl through the room, stumbling around boxes and
creeping under shelves and tables, until suddenly she felt the
atmosphere change. The air became charged with energy. The door
creaked slightly.

Maddy froze. She huddled under a low hanging
shelf, giant boxes on either side of her and a plastic tarp
covering her hiding place. She could see the door somewhat from her
position and the dim moonlight that slanted through it; the shadow
of a figure appeared. She saw his head raise and guessed that he
was scenting the air, following her trail with his superior senses.
This wasn't a hunt – it was a game of cat and mouse. He was
enjoying this as much as she was dreading it. She had no idea what
he would do when he caught her, only that she was sure it wouldn't
be pleasant.

He stepped into the room, following her scent
around the boxes and crates, and she scrambled to keep moving,
adjusting her spot just one step ahead of him. She had to distract
him somehow... mislead him into giving her a chance to escape.
Slowly she started to unzip her jacket until she was able to slip
it off, then she bundled it up and flung it across the room,
praying it would land far enough away to give her a decent head
start. She saw his head turn toward the sound and he started
forward, prowling until he was out of sight.

Now!

Maddy launched herself up and sprinted for
the door, only a few yards away. She could hear Gareth's howl from
behind her as she gave up her hiding space. The sound sent chills
down her spine, and she slammed through the door, hearing him only
a few footsteps behind. Without pausing, she rammed the door shut
and took off across the room. There was another door on the far
side, a large set that seemed to lead into a stairwell; perhaps she
would find an exit at the bottom of it-

Wham!

Something caught her ankle, and Maddy let out
a cry, tripping forward through the air. She shrieked as a metal
pipe clanged noisily across the floor, smashing into another pile
of junk and causing it all to spill on the ground. She hit the
cement and rolled, curling into a ball to take the impact.

A second later a fierce growl rent the air,
and suddenly there was a body on top of her, rolling with her
across the ground and then pinning her down, hot and heavy and
solid.

“
Caught you,” he smirked.

“
Let me go! You're hurting me!” she
screamed, though in honesty he wasn't really hurting her; his grip
was firm but not painful. He was just scaring the shit out of
her.

“
No!” he growled back. Then suddenly
she heard her shirt rip, and his hands traveled from her arms to
her chest, tearing the t-shirt off of her and then ripping through
her bra. She gasped, crying out and squirming to get away, fighting
him, slapping with her hands and kicking with her legs. He didn't
seem to notice; instead he grabbed her pants, tugging them down
until he had stripped them off her ankles. His hands went roughly
to her breasts, rolling them around, playing his thumbs over her
nipples. She groaned at the feeling, and suddenly her fear warped
into another emotion, fueling a serge of pure sexual energy. She
gasped and he kissed her open mouth. He tasted of something
forbidden.

“
What are you doing to me?” she
gasped, already delirious from his kisses, her body throbbing with
need.

He grunted but didn't respond, and it was
then that she realized his pants were off too, and he was bundling
her up against him. Suddenly he picked her up, swung her around,
and pressed her back against a cold wall. Her legs immediately went
to grasp him around the waist, and his hands cupped her bottom,
squeezing her butt. He pressed his hard length against her. She
felt it unfold, sliding along the entire length of her wet slit. It
was smooth, rock hard and burning hot. She could feel it pulsing
against her sensitive cunt. She squirmed against him, unable to
hide her lust.

“
Do you want me?” he whispered hotly
against her neck.

“
Yes,” she groaned back.

“
Because I'm two seconds from fucking
you senseless,” he growled.

She cried out as his head dipped down and he
took her nipple into his mouth. He sucked on it for a long moment,
sending streaks of pleasure straight down to her clit. His hand
traveled between them and pressed her there, flicking her swollen
nub as he slid his cock back and forth against her slit. He was
fractions away from pressing his thick head inside of her. He kept
rubbing it against the hole, pushing the head almost inside. She
trembled, anticipation mingling with fear. She wanted him bad,
wanted him to the point of pain, but his roughness made her wary.
Sex was supposed to hurt the first time, after all. Would it hurt
with him?

He was panting and heaving above her,
sweating from self control. She could see the strain in the tight
skin of his face, and he raised his head for a moment, letting it
bathe in moonlight. Maddy's mouth dropped open, stunned. His skin
was perfect, warm, edible — his long lashes splayed over glowing
yellow-green eyes, his fangs barely visible through his firm lips.
She had never seen such a beautiful sight.

“
I'm sorry,” he whispered, and then he
thrust his hips forward....

“
Gareth!” The voice was Isak's. It
rang out through the room as though over a loud speaker, briefly
making Maddy's ears ring, waking her from her aroused stupor. “It's
time!”

Her lifemate paused, the head of his member
pressed hard against her opening, straining against the hole. If
she had been looser, he would have slipped in easily. His muscles
tense, he slowly lowered her to the ground, sliding his cock away
as he settled her on her feet. His sudden gentleness amazed
her.

“
Here, wear my jacket,” he said,
passing the coat to her as Maddy tried to right the ripped pieces
of her clothing. She found her jeans and made to slide them on, but
he held up a hand, stopping her. “Just the panties.”

“
But, Gareth-”

“
Now!”

His bellow shocked her, and she pulled the
panties on without her jeans. Now she was practically naked except
for his oversized leather jacket and the striped cotton underwear.
She couldn't go out and watch the fight like this. Perhaps everyone
would be changed into their werewolf form, but they were still
somewhat human. It would be humiliating.

“
Come,” he growled, and grabbed her
hand, yanking her behind him. She snatched her pants at the last
second, dragging them along behind her so they wouldn't get lost,
and followed him out the door into the room they had first entered.
Then he turned, pulling her through another door and into another
passage. Isak was nowhere to be seen and she figured that he had
gone on ahead. The howling was more intense than ever now. It
polluted the night air, a ghostly, never-ending wail.

With each step he took, Gareth's hand on her
tightened, until she knew it wasn't really him pulling her along,
but rather the wolf. His grip became purely possessive, his body
shielding her even as he walked. Finally they reached the end of
the long corridor and she could see a glimmer of firelight dancing
against a brick wall. They stepped through the opening.

Maddy's eyes widened.

Nothing could have prepared her for this
sight.

Chapter 13

The wolves were on every side of them. There
had to be eighty at least, forming a giant ring in the middle of a
hollowed-out room. Empty oil drums were in all four corners,
casting firelight up onto the walls, and the light glinted from the
wolves' eyes, like glints of magic.

Gareth could see perfectly – in fact, better
than perfectly. His eyes, already transformed to his wolf-eyes,
were crystal clear and pierced the darkness with a detail that no
human could fathom. That wasn't his only sense working, however –
the energy in the air was intoxicating, the scent of his entire
pack around him, a hazy mist of heat and frantic bodies. His ears
could pick up every scratch and shuffle, every yip and howl from
the throbbing room. Even more extreme was his reaction to his mate;
he deposited Maddy in a corner near the wall, the only place where
there was a gap in the circle of wolves. He could sense her fear as
though it was a part of him; feel her feathery heartbeat, her
racing thoughts and the pounding arousal between her legs. The
longer she was around him, the more she responded to his presence —
the trait of a lifemate. Whether she knew it or not, she was
bonding with him; his very blood was tying her as no normal human
could.

Isak was the closest wolf to her, though he
doubted she would recognize him. The giant white wolf was growling
and snarling along with the rest. Their eyes met and the flash of
understanding was instantaneous. Gareth was still human enough to
feel relief; he couldn't believe what his old friend was willing to
sacrifice. They wouldn't kill Isak if Gareth lost the fight, but
his pack membership would be more or less shot.

The room suddenly hushed, punctuated only by
a few yips and yowls. Gareth turned from Maddy, hackles rising,
just in time to see Kane enter the room.

The current Alpha was dressed in regular
clothes, though his clothing didn't matter since they would both
soon be in their wolf forms. His eyes, however, had a pink tinge to
them, one that Gareth recognized.

His throat thick from the coming Change,
Gareth called out – “Wolfsbane again, Kane? I thought you knew
better this time.”

The wolves around the ring howled and yapped.
Many were lost to their wilder natures, but those who weren't
stopped to listen. A hushed murmuring fell over part of the group.
More and more wolves turned to look at their leader.

“
It is true,” a woman's voice spoke
up, and Gareth was surprised when Yvonne stepped out of the ring,
still in human form. “He used wolfsbane in the last fight and again
he is using it again now. Look at his eyes!”

Now the wolves in the pack were all
listening. Gareth glanced at Maddy and saw her fearful eyes dart to
him. There was distrust in her gaze, and more than a little anger
when she glanced over Yvonne. He couldn't blame her... though he
wished she would trust him.

A cloud moved, high in the sky above them,
visible through the broken windows. Then suddenly the moon was
visible. The silver light filtered down upon the congregation and
brought a rush of power to Gareth's veins. The wolves all turned as
one to look up at it. There was something entrancing about the
light of the full moon — something rich and tangible, like silk
against the skin. He had to exercise tight control to overcome the
magic that was coursing through him. He wanted to Change so badly
that his body hurt.

What shall we do?
one of the werewolves said. Their language was a
full-body experience. Not a psychic power but something deeper,
something in the bones; a mixture of body language, expression and
stance, whisks of the tail, scents and smells. Gareth turned to the
old gray wolf.

“
I'll fight him anyway,” he said
thickly, and felt his long fangs glide over his tongue. “You're not
walking away this time, Kane.”

“
No!” Yvonne gasped.

You can't!
Isak's outraged growls punctuated her words.

You don't need to risk it, young one, he is
too strong, the elder said worriedly. There is always the next
Moon....

“
I have to do this now,” Gareth
growled. He was maddened by the moon, seething with power. When he
breathed in, he could smell the stench of fear and piss from Kane's
body. The other wolf was scared, and with good reason – Gareth had
been close to beating him during the last fight, even with the
wolfsbane. Now Gareth was stronger, older, more experienced... Kane
was a powerful opponent, but Gareth was bigger, and in the wolf
world that was all that mattered.

“
Let's go, pup,” Kane grunted as he
fully entered the ring. The man stripped off his shirt and flung it
into the pack, where it was then ripped to shreds in a small, wild
frenzy. “Let's draw some blood.”

“
First I must initiate a right,”
Gareth called out, once again drawing the wolves' attention to him.
“This human female is my lifemate. I will evoke a right of passage
at the end of this fight; she will eternally be joined with the
pack. Any to harm her before the joining... I will rip out your
throats.” His eyes glinted as he looked around. Although the pack
was still in their wolf-forms, he could smell their understanding
and acceptance. Maddy was looking at him in confusion, curled up in
his jacket, her little panties barely visible through her crossed
legs. A surge of heat lit his blood and he couldn't hold back
anymore.