Wild (59 page)

Caroline's head thrashed against the back of the sofa. “Yes. I do too.”

He stood then, his fingers moving lightning fast as he pulled the snap of his jeans apart, unzipped his pants quickly, and freed his thick cock. Where Malec was thicker, Channing was longer, and she immediately recalled the smooth and delicious taste of him as he'd moved in and out of her mouth.

Gripping the base of his cock Channing stared down at her. “Show me,” he told her.

Caroline had been so busy looking at his cock, watching the way his hand gripped so tightly at the base and then moved up the shaft, his thumb rubbing along the tip. Her mouth had watered and he said, this time with a little more force, “Show me that sweet pussy, Caroline. I want to see how wet you are for me.”

Already breathless from watching him, her breasts bared, the dress ripped and twisted around her waist, Caroline leaned back on the couch, spreading her legs wide.

“Yeah,” Channing moaned as he watched her.

She slipped the thin lace material of her underwear to the side, baring herself to him, and when she saw his tongue licking over his lips, his hand moving faster on his cock, she used two fingers to separate her already-damp folds.

“I love seeing you like that. So open and ready. I dream about it every night,” he told her.

“Channing.” She said his name slowly while pushing two fingers deep inside her pussy, her gaze dropping once again to his rigid length.

He came for her then, taking the steps to close the distance between him and the chair, bending down to touch the tip of his cock to her entrance. He moved there, up and down her slit, coating his dick with her juices and then pulled back.

Caroline whimpered, “Please.”

“Here you go,” he told her. “Open wide.”

When she opened her eyes to see his dick only inches from her face Caroline did not hesitate but took him in, tasting herself on his length, driving her wild with desire and need. Channing moved in and out of her mouth, stretching his arm down and between her legs to rub over her clit. Caroline bounced on that couch, her hands cupping Channing's ass.

“You're so ready for me,” Channing whispered. “So fucking ready.”

He pulled out of her then, her mouth and her pussy, and Caroline moaned with disappointment.

“Oh no, baby. We're not through yet,” he told her as he positioned his dick at her juicy opening and thrust quickly inside.

Caroline gasped and looked up at him. “Promise?”

He grinned then, that sexy little smile she was beginning to adore. “Your bet that sweet ass of yours, I promise.”

And damn, did he deliver. By the time they both reached their release, Channing was nipping along her neck, tiny little pricks of teeth she knew were too sharp to be human. Sated and probably about ten seconds away from falling into a nice deep sleep, she whispered, “Will it hurt?”

“Will what hurt, baby?” Channing asked, his tongue stroking along the skin he'd just touched with his teeth.

“When you turn me into a lycan,” she said, her eyes closed, legs still wrapped tightly around him.

“I won't let anything hurt you, Caroline,” Channing vowed. “Not ever again.”

 

CHAPTER 15

Three weeks later

The full moon

Blaez had chosen Blackbriar as the place to build this log fortress and to hide from Zeus because the town was located at the base of Blackfoot Mountain. Its summit reached straight up to the sky, and thus Zeus held it sacred, as he also held eagles, the oak, and feuds that made no sense at all. For these reasons, Blaez had assumed he would be safe.

He had assumed wrong.

In the past weeks Caroline had learned a lot about the Trekas pack and what their purpose was in this world. She learned about the other supernatural beings that walked the earth and how one day she too would learn to protect herself from them. Because as a member of this pack, they would soon be coming for her as well.

It wasn't like the years she'd studied to be a veterinarian, she'd thought a few nights ago when she and Kira had been sitting in the massive library going through books and talking about the possibilities to come. No, studying to become a lycan was a much tougher task. Just as keeping up with the insatiable sexual appetites of Channing and Malec was.

“It's worse as we get closer to the full moon,” Kira had told her. “That's just how we're made. The moon feeds us in a way. Our power, sexuality, and sanity rest there because when Zeus was wreaking his havoc on Lykaon and Arcadia, Selene was the only goddess powerful enough to intervene.”

“But her intervention didn't stop him,” Caroline added. The story of how the lycans came to be was the first thing she'd learned when Malec had come around to agreeing that she would be changed. He'd been the one to tell her the story one night while they shared a lounge chair on his deck. He'd called it a bedtime story, but what they'd done after he'd finished talking had really been what put her into a deep and restful sleep.

“No, it did not,” Kira replied. “But it gave us a fighting chance against what she knew would eventually come.”

Caroline had nodded. “And that's what we're preparing for now? Zeus's wrath?”

“He wants Blaez dead. It's not so much about his revenge against Lykaon now, but his own ego. You know the god of all gods has to be the best at everything, and he has to be feared by all.”

“Is Blaez afraid of him?” Caroline had asked.

Kira had grown silent, staring off at a section of books that she'd already told Caroline were written in Greek.

“He's afraid of what will happen to this world when he finally has to face Zeus.”

And tonight, as the full moon shone brightly in the dark sky, and lightning crackled and flashed intermittently through that darkness, Caroline thought she might just be afraid of when that happened too.

“Normally when it rains like a monsoon and there's thunder and lightning the sky is filled with clouds,” she'd said while they were all sitting at the table having dinner.

When the bright and fierce-looking white, gold, red, and orange streaks split through the sky, they illuminated throughout the house. And when the thunder roared and rumbled so loud and hard it shook the windows only the moon's luminescence showed through them.

“He's angry, and he's showing it,” Channing replied.

Phelan scowled. “He's a bully, and he's showing that too.”

Kira nodded to Caroline. “You know who they're talking about.”

It had taken her a minute, but yes, Caroline knew. It was all any of them had talked about since the Solo had appeared and the citizens of Blackbriar had been made aware that the pack of great-looking men that lived in the woods were not just great-looking men, after all.

“More bounty hunters will come, won't they?” Caroline asked.

“You bet your ass they will,” was Phelan's quick retort.

Malec set down his fork and used his napkin to wipe his hands. “Favor from Zeus is worth a lot to some.”

“And I'm worth a lot to him, but only if I'm dead,” Blaez added.

Kira reached over to take her mate's hand. “That's why I was selected for you, so that together we could deal with Zeus when the time came. We'll get through this, and we'll make things better for the lycans because of it. It's our dest—”

Kira's words tapered off, her eyes widening. Everything went quiet at that moment as all gazes went to her. She did not speak, only blinked, attentively, as if someone—who was not visible to the rest of them—was speaking to her. When she lifted her hands, placing them flat on the table, Blaez stood.

And then there was a knock at the door.

Phelan scowled.

“Why is the alarm not going off?” Channing asked quietly.

Malec stood then as well, reaching for Caroline. She stood up from the table and didn't speak as he pushed her behind him. Channing had stood by that time as well. He and Phelan had nodded to each other and appeared to be moving toward what Caroline now knew was their weapons and security room at the far end of the house.

“No,” Kira said finally. “It is a friend.”

Blaez put his hands on her shoulders. “Are you sure?”

She nodded, her eyes blinking as she seemed more like herself at this moment. “Yes. Open the door.”

Phelan took the liberty, moving past Channing and all but stomping toward the front door. When he pulled it open, a bright bolt of lightning crackled, casting an eerie glow on the man standing there.

“Hell no! This is not a friend,” Phelan said, grabbing the front of the man's shirt and pulling him into the house.

He had the man's back slammed against the wall before they could all run into the living room in an attempt to stop him. Caroline had stayed close to Malec, but she was looking directly at them when the growling began. And this time it wasn't just Phelan. The man he was holding had growled as well, his sharp teeth bared, eyes glowing a fierce green as he stared back at Phelan.

“Enough!” Blaez yelled as stepped over to where Phelan held the other man.

No, Caroline thought as she continued to stare. This was definitely not just a man. And it wasn't a lycan because nothing had changed on him except his eyes, and they were a different color than Phelan's and the rest of the pack's.

“Let him go, Phelan,” Blaez said, standing beside them. “Let him go now!”

Phelan growled as he let his hands slide from the man's shirt, and then the man roared back, loud and long, in Phelan's face. At his sides Phelan's nails broke free with a sickening clicking sound, and Channing and Malec went to stand beside him, grabbing his arms.

“Move him back,” Blaez told them, and they did what the alpha said.

Kira came to stand beside her husband. “You are a Shadow Shifter, and you need our help,” she said to the man. “Come inside and tell us more.”

So this was a Shadow Shifter, Caroline thought as she watched them walk to the couch and take a seat.

“My name is Jace Maybon,” he spoke once he was seated. “I am the Pacific Faction leader of the Shadow Shifters. I am looking for my friend and fellow faction leader, Cole Linden. The scents surrounding this place are strong for other species, so I figured it was safe to stop and ask you if you've seen any feline shifters in this area.”

“No,” Blaez answered. “Did you pick up a feline scent as well?”

“There are many scents,” was Jace's reply. “It's hard to separate all of them.”

“Because they're coming!” Phelan said, still growling and baring his teeth. “They're coming, and you're letting his kind in! We wouldn't be in this predicament if they'd been able to remain a secret.”

“That's not true,” Channing added. “Whether or not the human world found out about the Shadow Shifters last year or two weeks ago, we would still be facing the same issues we have with Zeus.”

“We are not involved in your otherworld feud,” Jace said. “But our leader, Roman, knows about the evolving situation. We're all in a precarious situation at this point.”

“That's all the more reason why we shouldn't be sitting here acting helpless and letting in something that might very well be an enemy! What if he's accepted Zeus's bounty offer as well?”

All eyes went to the man who called himself Jace Maybon until again Kira spoke up.

“He is not, Phelan. Trust me.”

Phelan easily yanked away from Malec and Channing's grip, his lycan in full form as he growled once more, his speaking slightly distorted as he talked over his elongated teeth. “I don't trust anyone.”

He opened the door and ran out into the rain before anyone could stop him, and Caroline gasped, lifting a hand to her mouth in an attempt to mute the sound.

“I know that you're not here to harm us,” Kira said, touching Jace on the shoulder. “Why don't we go somewhere a little more private, and I will try to see if I can help you locate your friend.”

Jace nodded to her. “Thank you,” he said. “I appreciate your efforts.”

Blaez walked with them toward the library. “We don't want any other species to be lost or captured out there in this world the way it is now. There's no telling what will happen if we cannot account for our own.”

“I agree,” Jace told him.

When they were gone and only Malec, Channing, and Caroline stood in the living room, she looked at them and sighed. “I think I need a drink.”

*   *   *

Malec handed Caroline her glass of wine.

“Well, it's certainly been an eventful couple of weeks,” she said, staring out the patio doors to the still-raging storm.

“More like a couple of months,” Channing added, filling his own glass and taking a quick swallow.

Malec downed his entire glass and refilled it. They hadn't turned on any lights when they'd retreated to his room. The dark was still his preference. Besides, there was enough light coming from the moon, as if in stark reminder of what tonight was and what needed to be done.

It had taken him a while, but he had come to grips with what he felt for Caroline. It was because of it—the strong emotion that he accepted but still had not spoken of—that he would give Caroline what she wanted. He would do anything to make her happy and to keep her with him and Channing. She said she wanted to become a lycan, and tonight she would.

“It's been a rough and sometimes delectable road up until this point,” Malec said, letting the taste of the wine settle over his tongue.

Channing stood close to Caroline. Both of them had been looking out the window. They turned when he spoke.

“I can definitely vouch for delectable,” Channing said, slapping a hand to Caroline's ass. And watching it shake in response.

Luckily, she'd just finished taking a sip of her drink. She smiled at Channing in response as she moved the glass from her lips. Caroline knew they both liked to watch her ass, which was why she took an extremely long time adding lotion to her body after a bath or shower. Since Channing spent a good bit of time in Malec's room with them now, he was often there to see her getting dressed and to watch that magnificent ass.