Bloodright (35 page)

Falon grasped his hand and walked with him to the gathered packs. As soon as she was within scent, the males turned hungry eyes on her. She was the only female present, and though walking amongst them naked was commonplace, at that moment, she felt exposed under their hungry eyes. She met their stares with her chin high, refusing to be ashamed of her body. Deep in the combined packs, a wolf snarled and snapped his jaws. A sharp command in Russian squelched it. Rafe dragged reluctant eyes from her and turned away, growling low.

“Mount our wounded on the horses,” Rafe ordered. “Then collect the Slayer swords.”

“What of their dogs?” Falon asked.

Rafe turned stormy eyes on her. “They will be destroyed.”

“No!” she said, striding toward him.

“Their fate is not up for debate.”

“Rafe, please, they’re victims of their masters. You saw how they responded to me. Give them to me. I’ll take full responsibility for them.”

He growled low, shook his head, and turned away from her.

She grabbed his arm to stay him and plead her case. He hissed and jerked away from her. “Don’t touch me,” he ground out.

Falon opened her mouth to tell him to go to hell. To tell him if she could control herself then damn it so could he! But she didn’t. She would not disrespect him that way.

“They’re possessed, Falon,” Lucien said, coming up behind her. “There’s no telling what spells inhabit them.”

“But they are innocent creatures!”

“For all we know they may be Slayers in the guise of hounds. One minute they can be curled up in front of the fireplace and the next slitting our throats.”

“But what if they are what they appear to be? It would be inhumane to destroy them!”

“Would it have been any less inhumane to have been torn apart by them?”

She shook her head, not wanting to agree with Lucien’s rational. In her gut she knew he was right, but they had responded to her! She looked up to the ridge to see them in the exact position as when she commanded them to stay. “Come!” she called.

Rafael snarled, drawing his sword. The packs responded in kind. As the massive dogs charged down the hill their auras flickered black and red. Falon’s heart thundered in her chest. Black auras always meant the same thing: evil. It was the aura of every Slayer she had encountered. Red equaled passion. Whether anger or love was hard to tell, but in this case she could guess. She stepped aside and closed her eyes, allowing Rafe and Lucien to do what they needed to do. She covered her ears until it was over. She turned to see the mutilated dogs materialize into human form, their tattoos identifying them as Vipers.

Dark foreboding stole over her. She had been so easily duped. Not once but several times by Slayer magic. How far would they go? How powerful were their spells?

“Why did they obey me if they were Vipers?” she asked mystified.

“They knew what you were capable of and valued their lives,” Rafael said simply. As he strode angrily past her, he said for her ears only, “Never defy me again.” His tone left no room for rebuttal. Her female wanted to tell his male to go to hell, but she understood his anger. Once again she had challenged him in front of his pack and this time before the visiting packs. It made him look weak, when he was anything but.

Once the horses were collected and the wounded mounted on them, the packs shifted and ran for home. Falon was glad to be gone from the battlefield and the foreboding that haunted her since she was so abruptly awoken that morning. She wanted the sanctity of her and Lucien’s room where she could relax and feel safe. She had mixed feelings about returning to Vulkasin. Anja would be there, and so would her family. She would always consider Vulkasin her family. And in fact, by way of both alphas, they were. Falon shifted with her mate. Side by side they ran with the wind, the day’s victory sending their spirits soaring, but even, Falon thought, if the day had not started so exciting, so long as Lucien ran beside her, even the most mundane of days would be exhilarating.

As they broke through the forest edge into a wide clearing, Vulkasin loomed dark and powerful ahead. The three-story block walls stood like silent sentinels, protecting the pack within. Emotion flooded Falon. So much had happened behind those fortress walls…

Just before the massive gates opened, Falon and Lucien shifted. As they strode hand in hand into the compound yard, they were enthusiastically welcomed by the females of all three packs. Anja, beautiful and ethereal stood center stage, smiling as she caught sight of Rafael. But her smile waned when she saw Falon behind him. It didn’t matter that she was with Lucien—her mere presence was enough to cause distress. Falon understood. She would feel no different, and if truth be told, she had her own demons to deal with each time she encountered the lovely Anja. Jealousy, anger, and oddly enough, pity. While Anja would have most of Rafael, the artic beauty would never have his most cherished part: his heart.

As they made their way into the large log structure that was their main living space, they settled in the large common room. The Vulkasin females swarmed Falon, touching her, stoking her hair and smiling. Their mood shifted from excited welcome to highly-charged fervor once they caught a good whiff of her. They didn’t stop touching Falon. Indeed they touched her more. Guarded but inquisitive. They sniffed her hair, her skin, her breasts. Their attention made her uncomfortable. She looked to Lucien for answers but caught Rafael’s scowl instead.

“Why are they acting like this?” she asked him.

Before Rafe opened his mouth to answer, the males began to circle the group of gathered females. Musk-scented pheromones flew around the room. Clothes were coming off as their musky scents intensified. Rafael’s scowl deepened. Falon moved back from the rutting pack, afraid one of the males would grab her in his lust-induced state. And that’s exactly what it was. The pack was acting just like it had the night Rafael marked her; and the way Mondragon acted when Lucien marked her. The packs had gone into full-blown orgy mode. Except now there was a fierce urgent undertone that had been absent before.

“Cease this now!” Rafael roared above the grunting, moaning packs.

“Ask the sun not to rise, Rafael,” Layla said, pushing her way through the horny throng. “You will have better luck.”

“Why are they in full rut?” Rafael demanded. “I have not marked my chosen one.”

Layla’s dark eyes danced merrily. “Indeed you have and she is fertile. Your pack recognizes what you do not.”

“That’s impossible!” he said, looking at Anja, whose cheeks reddened.

“Not her,” Layla said softly. She turned to gaze at her daughter. “Vulkasin recognizes Falon as your true mate.”

Falon stood stunned by her mother’s words. Her gaze lifted to Rafael’s and saw hope flicker in his deep aqua eyes. Her heart hammered against her chest. It was impossible!

“Then I suggest,” Lucien said tightly to Layla, “that you explain to them that’s not possible.”

Layla shook her head. “Mother nature does not recognize the Blood Law.”

“This is an outrage!” Anja’s sire bellowed, shoving past the half-naked pack. The thick grizzled alpha grabbed his daughter by the arm and thrust her into Rafael’s. “Take her now and mark her!”

“Father!” Anja gasped.

His thick bushy eyebrows slammed together. “Return the mark, daughter!”

Falon stood in shocked silence. She thanked all the gods that Lucien, who stood beside her, save for his one comment, kept his seething rage leashed.

When Rafael hesitated, Sasha erupted. The Siberian alpha turned raging eyes on Falon. “How dare you entice one who is promised to another?”

“I—” Falon began indignantly.

The old alpha reached for her.

Growls erupted from Lucien and Rafe. Lucien stepped in front of her just as Rafael set Anja from him.

Vehemently, Falon shook her head and held up her hands. “It’s true!” she admitted. She looked the old man straight in the eye. “Though unintentional.” She bowed her head as a sign of respect to the old alpha, then turned to his daughter. “My apologies, Anja; it has not been my intention to dishonor you or Rafa—er, Rafael.”

She stepped back and looked into her first love’s tortured eyes. It took everything she had not to tell him she loved him.

But what she did next was harder. She had to do what she knew she should have done before now. Taking Anja’s hand, Falon placed it in Rafael’s. “I relinquish all claim on you, Rafe.

“Take her to your bed and mark her. Be content to pair with such a noble woman who loves you.” Falon stepped back, fighting back the tears. “Find love with Anja as I have found love with Lucien.” Her heart wrenched unbearably even though she knew releasing Rafa face-to-face and in public was the right thing to do. And yet, it felt all wrong.

Rafael stood still as stone, his disbelieving eyes locked on Falon’s. There was no chance for them now. It was as it had to be. Time for them both to move forward with their separate lives.

Go, Rafa, be happy.

I will never be happy with another.

Try.

Try, as I try, she thought. Lucien made her happy. But part of her heart would always mourn for Rafe.

When Rafe turned and led Anja up the same stairway he had carried Falon up many times, Falon reached for Lucien’s hand. She smiled when his big, warm fingers entwined with hers and he gently squeezed them. This was as difficult for Lucien in some ways as it was for her. Despite the emotions, the wants, and the longing, this was the right thing for Rafa. It was right for her and for Lucien. It was right for the packs. The discord needed to end for the packs to unite as one and build a new future. One without fear of Slayers. One where they were no longer persecuted.

While she, Lucien, and Rafe were meant to be together as the power of three to defeat the Slayers, it was nothing more than that. Because once they survived the rising, each pack would concentrate on rebuilding. Each pack with one male alpha and his chosen one.

It was the way of the packs. As it always had been and would forever be. She turned to Lucien whose golden eyes bore hotly into her. “Make love to me, Luca.”

He took her hand and led her from the thick, humid air of the great room out into the morning breeze. Silently she followed him to the back of the main building to a small cabin. He opened the door for her and followed her in, shutting the door behind him. “This was Talia’s cabin before she came to Mondragon.”

It was, Falon surmised, just as Talia left it. The full-size bed neatly made with a multicolored Indian blanket draped across it, a rustic dresser with a colored-glass lamp, and a small glass-faced cabinet with jars of herbs and balms. The only other piece of furniture was a straight-back chair at the foot of the bed. Lucien pulled Falon into the tiny bathroom with the most basic of amenities. A commode, small sink, and a single stand-up shower. Lucien reached past her and turned the water on. “The stink of Slayer blood is not conducive to what I’m going to do to you.” Gently he nudged her under the cold water. She gasped. He was too big to get even half of himself into the shower with her, so he did the next best thing. He lathered up the soap and as the water thankfully warmed, he washed the blood and grime from her.

“Why hasn’t anyone else used this room?” she asked.

“The women keep it clean in anticipation of Talia’s return.”

“Don’t they know she isn’t coming back?”

“She may, one day.”

“Why does she stay with you?”

He chuckled as he lathered her sensitive breasts. “For the same reason you do. I’m irresistible.”

Falon gasped as his fingers gently plucked the aching tips of her breasts.

God, she would never tire of this man’s hands on her. “Lucien,” she purred. “Harder.” Over the last few days there was a heightened sense of awareness of Lucien. A heightened sense of sensitivity, both physical and emotional. The urgency to mate was strong. And not just in human form, but in full wolf. It was part of the quickening, the fusing of each part of her, the primal and human to complete her evolution as a true Lycan alpha.

“Your body is changing,” Lucien said softly. His hands stroked her full breasts. They were heavier, more tender, and more sensitive. “I wasn’t aware perfection could be improved upon.” He dropped his lips to an aching nipple and suckled her deeply.

Falon rose on her toes, digging her fingers into Lucien’s long hair, pressing him harder against her. He tugged the nipple with his teeth and slowly shook his head. “Ah, God, that feels so good.” Her body lit up like a Roman candle. Her slick skin slid up and down his firm muscles. The confines of the small shower heightened her urgency. She rinsed off and pushed Lucien away from the shower toward the bed.

He laughed and grabbed a towel and wrapped it around her wet body. “Give me two minutes, angel face, and I’m all yours.”

Falon wanted to stay and lather him up as he had her, but knew if she did she would end up on her knees with his cock in her mouth, and while the thought of that whet her appetite, selfishly, she wanted all of him.

LUCIEN WASHED HIMSELF in record time. Every part of his body was rock hard with anticipation. Every part of him wanted to touch every part of Falon. To imprint his skin on hers. Mark his scent on every inch of her.

As Lucien felt the quickening in Falon, so, too, did he detect a change in himself. He was a wolf of the highest order. Strong. Intelligent. And sexual. But the primal part of him, the beast was always lurking now just beneath the surface of his skin. It prowled restlessly beneath his skin, fusing with his human. Demanding. Possessive. Dangerously unpredictable. It was wild, wanton, and had eyes for only one woman.

He didn’t bother drying off. Instead, he strode dripping wet into the small bedroom and stopped at the magnificent sight on the bed. Falon’s hair lay in a wild wet web around her glowing face. Her blue eyes blazed with passionate anticipation. Her tits were full and rosy, their peaks luscious and hard. His gaze swept down the smooth creamy plane of her belly to her hips. Then to the gentle rise of her mons. She was free of hair, smooth, and—he swallowed hard. Her glistening pink lips peeked coyly from between her thighs.