Authors: Aliyah Burke
“Didn’t think you’d want me practicing in your cabin. Look”—she shoved a hand through her hair—“I have a competition in eight more days. I have to practice. I’m leaving here in four days to get there. Papers or no papers. I’m not about to sit in the cabin and do nothing. This is my job. My career. My
livelihood.
”
He moved closer, she didn’t back up. Her eyes were suspiciously shinny.
“This is my first one without Reggie and Shyla. I’m nervous as fuck so I’m going to practice until I can’t draw the bow anymore. You can’t stop me so don’t even try.”
“They were with you at each one?” Lord, he wanted to comfort her. As did his wolf.
Her chin wobbled. “Yes. They handled everything so I could focus on the competition. Without them… It’s going to be different. So if there’s nothing else, I’d like to get back to practicing.”
He remained silent, his wolf raging within him with its need to comfort. It was the Alpha’s job to protect and care for the pack. Whether he liked it or not, she was pack and more than that, she was his mate.
The wolf calmed at that admission and he frowned.
She’s not my mate. She is my Alpha for the moment but that’s all.
His wolf snarled at him.
He didn’t want to leave her so he watched her practice. When she glowered at him, he backed off into the trees and shifted, keeping close so he could watch. His wolf was fine with that. When she finished, he paced her back to the cabin and dressed as she entered. Moments later, he followed.
Their eyes met and when her cell rang, she answered it immediately. He could hear the person on the other end and while it was a male, he wasn’t concerned. This was a member of the hotel, calling to confirm the reservations made. Completely professional.
She walked into the kitchen and opened the fridge, withdrawing that pitcher, and poured herself more tea. “Something I can do for you?”
Strip and let me bend you over the nearest surface or take you against the wall. Learn what it’s like to be buried deep inside your pussy.
“Thank you for handling the cubs today.” God, he wanted to touch her. Until he’d gotten her in his life, his hadn’t been all that tactile. Now it was burning a hole in his gut, this unquenchable need to stroke along her skin and have her do the same to him.
She shrugged. “No need to thank me. I like kids.”
He imagined her with some of their own pups and shook his head.
How can I think of her in this way? She is injured and weak.
“Something wrong?”
“What?”
She gestured in his direction. “You looked as if you just swallowed something vile.”
He smoothed out his features. “I’m fine.”
Dyana turned and poured herself a drink, after which she swallowed over half of the glass’s contents. He ran his gaze over her, repeatedly. Not as fit as his lieutenants but by no means fat. She had generous curves that once again tempted and called to his need to be tactile. Firm in the right places, soft in others.
His cock throbbed insistently against the inside of his jeans. He shifted it and groaned. It wasn’t working. Need burned along his skin. There was something about her that had gotten to him. And he hated himself for it.
The thump of her putting the glass down grabbed his attention from the lust pumping through his brain. He yanked his gaze up from the curve of her ass and swallowed as she glanced back over her shoulder.
“I have more practicing to do. Was there something else you needed?”
His fangs burned as they pushed through his gums. Fingertips stung as well with the extension of his claws as the need to possess her overtook him. He craved her in a way he hadn’t thought a person could do so of another.
“No,” he snapped, ignoring the raging need in his blood.
She finished her drink and headed back to the door. “Good. I’m out of here like I said in four days.” She exited the cabin and shut him inside.
He walked himself back to the bedroom she was occupying while here. Gazing about the space, he took in how she was living out of her bags. She’d not put anything in the dresser.
“As if she can’t wait to get out of here fast enough.”
That would get her closer to the man named Ranger. This time, his fangs slid free. When she left, she would be near the one who wanted her. The leopard shifter.
αβ
Thunk. Thunk. Thunk.
The sun was lowering in the sky and her vision didn’t seem to be waning. She paused and stared heavily at the target. If anything it seemed to be sharper. Sighing, she closed her eyes and shot again.
She practiced until there was no more light to see. Tears streamed down her face as her reality sank in. First competition alone. She collapsed to her knees, bow landing on the soft ground beside her. Tremors racked her as the water running down her face never slowed.
Breathing became difficult. Her deep, heart wrenching sobs turned to gasps for the slightest hint of air. She fell forward, fingers spread along the fertile earth, digging in as she searched for any type of purchase. One she didn’t find and fell completely to the ground, tears turning the dirt to mud.
She succumbed to the pain in a way she’d not done as of this moment. Yes, she’d shed tears over their memories but this, different on so many levels. Her soul cried out for them.
“I can’t do this without you,” she sobbed. “I don’t know how to even begin to keep going. So far it’s been nothing but a ruse. I can’t do it, I just can’t.” God, it felt like her heart was being ripped from her chest. “Y’all were my rock and with you gone, I just don’t think I can do this anymore. What kind of friend am I? I head off with the strange man who waltzed into our lives right before you were taken.”
She squeezed her eyes shut and pounded her right fist on the ground, soft it may be, but she did it enough times that it began to hurt. Time lost all meaning and when she pushed up to her feet, ignoring the scream of agony from her leg. Bending at the waist, she lifted her bow then snagged her arrows and hobbled back to the cabin.
Drained of any and all emotion, she barely blinked when the light penetrated her senses. Working on automatic pilot, she took care of her bow then went to grab a drink. Pausing with her hand on the handle for the fridge, she shook her head and walked to the bedroom she used and changed. Moments later she was on her way to the bar in town she’d gone to before.
Parked in the lot she again shook her head and shifted back into gear, tearing out of the lot in a flurry of spinning wheels and gravel. She went to a liquor store and bought herself a large bottle of Jack. Then she got back in the car and headed back to the cabin.
Once inside, she opened the bottle and began to forget.
When she woke in the morning, she wasn’t alone in the bed. A young fawn brindle wolf lay curled up to her chest. Her head throbbed incessantly, her mouth was dry as cotton, and she had this urge to empty her guts in the nearest basin but still, she didn’t move.
Never woken next to a wolf before.
It lifted its head and nudged the hand she lay beside. She wanted to curl up in a ball and puke until all the Jack made a second appearance. “Rainie?”
A small yip confirmed that for her.
“Staying in wolf form then?”
Another yip. Dyana nodded. “Okay, you do that. I need a shower.” She took her hung over self and put herself in the shower. Each breath was difficult and she wasn’t sure she could make it through this without hurling.
Her phone began ringing moments after and she squinted in an attempt to find it without moving fast. A small smile tipped up her lips at the sight of the wolf bringing it to her.
“Thank you,” she rasped out. Swiping her finger, she put the phone to her ear. “Yes?”
“Morning, beautiful.”
“Ranger.” At her feet the wolf bared lethal looking teeth. “What’s going on?”
“Are you in your usual place for this one?”
Leave it to him to bring her back to matters at hand. “Yes. Top floor. I have a suite if you’d like to join me there.”
He chuckled. “Hell no, I’m not about to give your mate another reason to kill me. I should be on the same floor though. I’ll see you in three days.”
“See you then.” She ended the call and ruffled the pup on the head. “You are a lippy thing in wolf form.”
Pounding at the door had her wincing once more. “Christ, for being in a cabin surrounded by people who want me gone, there sure is a lot of noise going on around here.” She got to her feet, noticing the pup still snarled. But silently.
Interesting reaction on pack land.
She headed to the door. “I’m coming, I’m coming.”
Yanking it open, she found herself face to face with Jetje.
Smart girl.
Her hangover faded to the background as she sneered. “You.”
Three other pack members stood behind her, faces turned down in dangerous scowls.
“You are going to be brought up on charges. Pack charges.”
“Charges?” She furrowed her brow. “For what?”
The dark-haired bitch held up an arrow. “Attempted murder.”
“What?” Her disbelief overwhelming.
“Do you deny this is one of your arrows?” Jetje shook it in front of her.
Yanking it from her, she walked with it back to her bow. “No, this is one of mine but I’ve not attempted to kill anyone. Who is this person I am being accused of trying to kill?”
“One of the cubs.”
“I never.” The four of them moved into her space and she curved her fingers around the bow. “When did this happen?”
“Last night,” she snapped.
“I would never hurt a child.”
“Right,” she snapped. “You’re coming with us. The one hurt was his little brother.”
The man Jetje gestured to snarled at Dyana, showing deadly fangs.
“So where is your Alpha then? If this is a trial, where’s he at? You know, my husband.”
Jetje’s eyes became feral and she lunged for her. Dyana acted on instinct. The arrow which had been the item accusing her of attempted murder now sat in her bow, string drawn back and ready to be loosed. Target? Straight through Jetje’s eye into her brain.
“I’ll rip your throat out.” She gestured behind her. “We will.”
Dyana hadn’t ever enjoyed being backed into a corner but when you added in a threat to her own life, that put it to a whole new level. And she wouldn’t put it past Jetje to follow through.
“You will be dead,” she rumbled in return. “Get the fuck out of here and take your damn boys with you. Because at this moment, I’m still your motherfucking Alpha.”
“You’ll
never
be my Alpha.” Venom coated Jetje’s words.
“One last warning, bitch. Get out of my place.” It wasn’t fear in her voice, no, it was pure anger.
The growl that reached her was in no way from the four intruders in her place. It came from behind them. The three with her froze and shrank into themselves. Jetje halted but never took her eyes away.
“What the fuck is going on here?”
Casimir shoved into her place, his expression feral and chilling. Behind him, she spied Kraven and another of his lieutenants. Two others, in fact.
Dyana watched him lift Jetje by the throat and toss her across the room. His lieutenants took down the other three. She didn’t move.
“Kraven, get her out of here. I’ll deal with them later.” His voice was low and graveled.
Soon only the two of them were in there. He advanced toward her and she lifted the bow once more. He paused, eyes amber and hard as flint. “Put that down.”
She snarled back at him and he got this odd look about him. Seconds later, faster than she imagined he could move, he had her against the wall, her wrists pinned above her head.
“You’re wolf.”
Casimir’s wolf howled in pure elation at his two words. He realized it had known this previously but he’d been unable to see it for some reason. Her scent filled his nostrils and he inhaled sharply, ingesting all he could of her. His skin burned and his fangs punched through his gums.
Mine!
His wolf cried.
The rational side of him disregarded that. She was lame. She was weak. She wasn’t fit to be an Alpha. Much less his.
His need for her overran any sort of logic.
Her eyes narrowed dangerously. Having spent the time with her, he knew words would be spilling free soon. He didn’t want that.
Her breasts, full and tempting, pressed enticingly against her snug khaki shirt. She had the top three buttons undone, offering a teasing glimpse of what lay beneath.
To hell with this.
He kissed her. And in that second, he understood his life had changed forever. He’d wondered if it hadn’t at their first meeting but this solidified it. There was no doubt, no more perhaps. It was truth.
Everything else faded away. That she’d almost been killed by the woman who had been in line to be his Alpha and three others. That she was what he would consider weak.
All he knew was her taste. The heavenly ambrosia lit his synapses on fire as it flooded over his taste buds. Another growl ripped from his mouth as he indulged. He pushed his tongue into her mouth, sweeping through. He stroked along the roof and the sides.
The woman between him and the wall stiffened for a moment, then a shudder ripped through her as a moan slid from her lips. She pressed closer to him, one leg curled around his as he angled her head to give him more access.
He sliced through her clothing with claws that burst free from his fingertips. Releasing her wrists, he tore away her top, exposing a beige bra. Fangs pushed further free. She licked along one long canine and lust nearly took him to his knees.
Ripping free of her mouth, he kissed his way down her neck to her breasts. Those full fine globes. With his tongue, he slipped it below the plain cotton of her bra. She gasped, the sound a direct line to his groin. Hands, ones which moments ago had unerringly held a lethal weapon on him, clutched tight to his shoulders.
Her strength coupled with the passionate fire pouring from her streamed over him like the ocean crashing on the shore, eroding the beach same as it did his control. Each pulse, wave took another thinly veiled layer away, exposing the raw nerve of need. He dipped his lids, allowing them to close as he continued his quest of her silken skin. Blood pumped through his veins, urging him to bite. To mark. To mate. To
claim.