Breanne opened her eyes, staring into Olivia’s, and Chance watched Olivia’s captivation as she remained focused on the soothsayer. “You are a gifted one, with solid psychic abilities carried from your infancy. You are also bearing one who carries your gifts and one who carries Chance’s gift of premonition.” She turned toward Marcel. “She is with younglings, two…a male and a female.”
Olivia turned toward Chance, eyes wide, almost startled, and then her look softened, something that made him fearful. He studied Olivia, not wanting to believe it. His knees buckled and his stomach roiled as his body heat shifted into high gear. The tips of his ears blazed like fire from hearing the rush of blood entering his brain.
No! She will die as my mother did.
Both Breanne and Olivia jolted, staring at Chance, as if they heard his thought, and then he realized they did. A tear trekked down from the corner of Olivia’s eye. He couldn’t sense if she held fear or excitement over the news, or was it loss for his mother?
“Are you sure, Breanne?” He wanted another test which would prove her words false.
“I’m quite certain. I had a premonition a few nights ago showing their birth. Marcel summoned you for my testing touch. She is with two younglings.”
“In your premonition, did you see Olivia after the birthing?” Chance clenched his jaw so hard, his teeth ground together.
Her face grew thoughtful and she stared off, focusing on nothing in particular. Then, she looked straight into his soul. “No, I do not see her, but that does not mean she is not there. Some things I can’t see, and Olivia seems to be one of those.” She smiled at Olivia. “Perhaps it has something to do with your ability to read the energies of wildlife.”
“I won’t allow her to bear them,” Chance erupted, struggling to keep his wolf from forcing itself out of his human skin. His wolf-self was enthralled with the thought of wolflings, his human-self already grieved for the loss of Olivia. His wolf scratched for release beneath the skin of his arms, legs, and along his spine. Seized in emotional turmoil, a tidal wave of fear slashed at him with effects similar to rage, he stepped back from the force of it. Damen followed, standing tall beside him. Olivia stood silent, tears welling and body quaking so hard, it appeared she might convulse. And then it hit Chance.
She’s in the beginnings of shifting into wolf.
“Olivia, love, you must calm down.” He ran back to her, wrapped his arms around her, and forced his wolf down while attempting to tamp hers down as well. “You cannot shift, my love. Not just because you need the Elders acceptance first, but now because you are in bearing mode. Shifting while you are with younglings would endanger your life.”
“As well as endanger the younglings inside you,” Breanne added.
Olivia shoved Chance back, breaking away from his hold. She glared at him, another tear raced down her cheek.
“Why would you deny me the opportunity of bearing your children?” Her violet eyes turned deep amethyst, burning straight into Chance’s soul. “I have a say in this matter, don’t I?” She turned toward Marcel and Breanne, the five other elders stood like shadows around them. Damen grabbed Chance’s shoulder, steadying him, keeping him from reacting. He shrugged out of Damen’s hold, moving closer to Olivia.
“You don’t understand the consequences to yourself.”
“And you know my future?” Her hands fisted at her sides and her legs parted in a warrior stance.
Any other time he would have enjoyed the look of her, but now it turned his insides with worry seeing her determination. She never bore children as a human, and now she must feel as though a prayer had been answered. No Lycan that he was aware of had willingly stopped younglings from entering the world. There were too few procreating as it was, they were almost an endangered species.
Olivia swirled away from him and focused on Breanne. “Do you know the babies’ futures?”
Breanne moved closer, took Olivia’s hand, and stood in silence with her eyes closed. When she opened her eyes, she said, “I see the two younglings.” She smiled. Chance swore that her eyes twinkled. “They are beautiful and going to be a handful, lots of energy.” Her expression grew serious. “I still don’t see you, Olivia. Sometimes my visions are like a zoomed-in camera lens, only picking up the center of the picture.”
“Thank you,” Olivia whispered. Breanne patted Olivia’s hand and then stepped back next to Marcel.
Olivia twirled around and faced Chance. Dread gnawed at his gut stirred by Breanne’s comment, knowing Olivia would never change her mind about birthing.
“Have you had a premonition?” Olivia looked hopeful, yet curious. He’d never told her about his premonitions.
“No, love, I don’t know your future.” Chance couldn’t hide his defeat, as the tone of his words echoed back at him. Memories of other deaths, close to his heart, strangled him.
“You don’t love me enough to stay by me and our children?” Her eyebrows arched, one higher than the other, and an urge whipped through Chance to kiss her and awaken from this mad nightmare. What father would wish his offspring death? And what husband would wish his mate dead? Choices he’d rather not have to make. Maybe it would never be his decision.
“I could never leave you. It’s taken me so long to find you.” Chance brushed the tears from her cheeks with his thumbs and then framed her face with his hands. He kissed her lips gently. “I love you deeper than life, Olivia. I couldn’t bear to lose you.”
“Then allow me this one miracle.” Her face turned upward and again her lovely violet gaze bore into his very soul as she whispered, “The birth of our children.”
Lindsey
“Oh my God, did you bring back up?” Lindsey stood, the chair she ditched scraped across the floor at least two feet backward. “You have no idea the mentality of this pack…they care nothing for others.”
Bliss chuckled, a titillating melody of soothing tones. She unfolded from her chair and stepped closer. Her eyes closed and she took a deep breath through her nostrils, as if smelling Lindsey. She walked around Lindsey, again with the deep breathing, each exhale created a warm moist aphrodisiac event wherever Bliss’s breath came to rest. Spine tingling electric charges spun through Lindsey’s body, all snapping at her nerve endings. Her urgency for escape shifted and for one wild moment she wanted to rip this woman’s clothes off. A tremor buckled Lindsey’s knees and quaked at her core, moistening the thong she wore in a blaze of heat. She stood frozen, yet on fire. Her arms hung helpless at her sides.
“What are you doing to me?”
“You want me, I want you. Just making it happen a bit faster. I’ve been starved of pleasure and what better way to fulfill my appetite.” Bliss ran a trembling finger across Lindsey’s lips, along her jawbone, and downward.
Lindsey’s body shuddered of its own accord, but remained standing in front of Bliss and her wicked finger. Lips brushed against Lindsey’s, and a tongue snaked between her lips, drawing a moan from deeper than Lindsey had dared to go since Trevor. A psychic connection, her mind opened like petals of a flower, full and ready to bloom. Bliss gained access to Lindsey’s memory nuggets and pulled on all passion threads, sending Lindsey into an immediate earthshattering orgasm.
Bliss peeled Lindsey’s jeans and lacey thong down her legs, and all Lindsey could do was ride the tide of euphoric sensations. Her body stuck in place on the outside but completely melting in torrents of triumphant pleasure on the inside.
“Look at me, Lindsey.” Bliss’s gaze met Lindsey’s and penetrated. Escape became a forgotten word with no meaning. Bliss slid her hands beneath the hem of Lindsey’s shirt and pulled it over her head, the cool air beaded her nipples even tighter. Again, Bliss walked around Lindsey, leaving moist heat spots all over her skin, over her nipples, against her lips. “You want me, Lindsey, and you’ll follow to get me. I’ll open my thighs to you,” she purred next to Lindsey’s ear, sending another tremor raging through her core. “Get dressed, we leave now.”
Lindsey fell to the floor in a naked heap, jeans twined around her ankles.
Leave? Now?
What would happen to Olivia and Trevor if she left now? Immediately that thought vanished, as Bliss pulled up her tank top. Small, firm breasts with hardened nipples the size of peanuts surrounded by dark rose-blush areoles, picture perfect circles like two vanilla sandwich cookies, called to Lindsey’s senses, directing her to hurry.
Bliss pinched her own nipples, holding the little knots between her fingers. Lindsey’s core wept, wetting her feminine folds. She jumped up and yanked her thong and jeans into place, zipping and snapping. Rifling through a small three-sided closet, she pulled out a parka, hat, gloves, and boots. Bliss pulled Lindsey’s shirt over her head from behind, which made Lindsey drop everything to the floor. Then Bliss whirled her around and kissed her deeply, tongue exploring, licking the inside of her mouth. As suddenly as it started, Bliss stepped back, leaving Lindsey in another breathless state.
“That, my beauty, is only a small taste of what I’ll do between those shapely thighs of yours.”
“Oh God…” popped out of Lindsey without thought. “Lead on.”
Bliss chuckled again, and parts of Lindsey liquefied, craving more of this lusty, tantalizing woman.
“We need to hurry. I sense the crowd inside the Commune Center are about to break. Well, at least one has broken away from the others.”
Lindsey donned the heavy outer gear in a flash. Both women slipped through the door, around the cabin, and away from the nest of buildings, running full tilt into the wooded area beyond. Blustering snow would take care of their tracks, but nothing would clear the air of Lindsey’s scent. She was all too aware of how many times Smoke had found her in the past, whenever she wandered off for even minutes in order to gain her sanity back.
After running for a good couple of miles, Bliss asked, “You’re able to keep up with me, are you still doing all right?”
“I can run for miles. Besides running all of my life, the Lycan make all of the women back there run a good five to ten miles a day, me included. So, we’re all pretty fit…for humans.”
“Good to know, we have another twenty or so miles to go before we reach my place.”
They ran across fallen logs, meandering creeks, and through thicker, denser forest. Lindsey’s feet tired, but her will to stick beside Bliss kept their pacing in sync. Bliss’s line of travel gave few obstructions, not many slapping branches or scraping rocks, until they came upon a wide thigh-deep creek.
“Now what?” Lindsey bent over, hands clasping knees to catch her breath, amazed her fingers and toes remained warm.
Bliss backed up to her, bumping into the top of Lindsey’s head. Bliss crouched forward a bit more. “Jump on.”
“What?”
“You heard me. We need to run through this water to erase our scent.”
“There’s no way I’m jumping on your back. You can’t carry me. I weigh as much or more than you do.”
“You don’t weigh as much as I do. You’re a skinny rail, and I’m much stronger than I look. I’m a Lycan. We’re built for running and jumping…and moving big, fat things.” She twisted around, lifting Lindsey’s face to hers. Before Lindsey spoke a word, Bliss’s lips claimed them, gentle but forceful, a deepening kiss rallying the spirit of urgency to keep pressing forward. “We don’t have time to shit around.” Bliss turned and crouched. “We’re going to my own little retreat away from the rest of the pack. No one knows of its existence, not even my orgy-ridden father knew. Now jump on my back. Hurry.”
Lindsey hopped onto Bliss, strong arms bent at the elbows around the back of Lindsey’s knees. Bliss sprinted into the creek, full bore, and stopped in the middle. She tipped Lindsey into the icy water. Strong current dragged her body, even her head submerged. She came up sputtering for air, flailing her arms, and stumbling to stand. Bliss grabbed her shoulders, hauling Lindsey’s body back in place against the warmth of her back.
“What the hell!” Lindsey shivered so hard, her hand refused to fold into a fist. “I’m going to beat the living tar out of you for that…after my damn body thaws.”
Bliss laughed. “The look of surprise on your face as you came up for air…well…it was priceless as they say.” She steadied Lindsey’s body. Welcomed heat emanated from Bliss into Lindsey. “Wrap your arms around me and hold on.” Lindsey followed directions the best she could before Bliss took off at a dead run, slicing through the water like it wasn’t there.
They ran so long, Lindsey dozed off.
* * * *
Lindsey opened her eyes to a soft orange glow. It mellowed the space around her. Walls of dirt or fine rock circled a small campfire. The place was some sort of cave. Smoke curled and coiled straight upward, escaping out through a good-sized hole in the rock ceiling. Stars shined brightly in the darkness above, meaning the snow stopped falling and she must have slept for hours. Furry animal skins covered her naked body and made a comfortable cushion beneath her.
Rising to a sitting position, Lindsey saw clothes stretched out on stick racks, her coat hanging from something on the wall, and the boots she’d worn, turned upside-down, raised off the floor on something else—all close to the heat of the fire, like she was. The fur covering dropped to her lap, the air surprisingly warmer than she anticipated. She stood and walked over to what appeared to be the doorway. Her fingertips touched the pelts, running over the stitches that held them together. They draped across the opening, the only barrier keeping the heat inside and the cold out. Her admiration for Bliss grew leaps and bounds as she stepped around the room, a place Bliss mentioned as her retreat.
On the opposite side of the room from the door, a freshwater spring cut a child-sized pool in the floor. She crouched near the edge and dipped her hand in. Cold, really cold. A basket with a few kitchen-type tools and essentials contained a long handled dipper cup. Lindsey filled it with spring water and drank the thirst-quenching liquid.
Just then a deep growl sent a shiver up her spine. She looked up in time to see a large, light furred wolf crawl under the doorway pelt screen. Its eyes glowed, an emerald green, something bloody and white dangled from its fangs. Those eyes, human in nature, stared straight into Lindsey’s soul, she swore they did. It reminded her of another set of eyes…silver blue, hair like midnight, and she could imagine Trevor’s fur would have the same blue-black hue.