Broken Wolf: Moonbound Series, Book Seven (18 page)

He backed her against the rocks where he would at least have some leverage, and tilted his head to one side, trying to gain deeper access to her mouth. Her tongue moved against his and his blood was on the hundred meter dash again, waking every part of him.

Owen was so hard, and her pussy was so close, and she was so willing…

There was no more waiting.

With a quick hand, he pulled at the knot on his loincloth and slapped the wet fabric on the ledge. He pushed Clara’s body hard against the rock and reached for his erection, to guide himself inside her.

She tilted her hips and hitched up her dress, and he pressed into her opening. The farther he pressed inside, tightness gripped him like a hand. A tiny cry escaped her lips, like a sigh and a wince at once, and he stopped.

“I’m sorry,” he panted, trying to angle his hips for an easier slide, but his foot slipped and he plunged forward, his chest smashing into hers, and his cock breaching her and filling her.

Her cry echoed against the close cave walls and he curled his toes on the rocks, trying to hold himself still. His breath came in great heaves, as the friction almost sent him over the edge.

“I’m sorry, Clara,” he whispered, between breaths. “I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

“Please.” Air feathered against his ear and sent a prickle of desire straight to his abdomen. “Don’t stop.” She wiggled against him and he groaned, deep and animalistic.

He couldn’t see, he couldn’t think. He could only thrust his hips and press deeper inside her. Clara clung to him, her teeth on his shoulder, and her fingernails digging into his back. Each time their bodies were flush together, she made the most unnerving little moan in the back of her throat. He just wanted to drive into her, over and over, until she was his forever.

Owen reached between them and sank his fingers into her folds until she squealed in pleasure.

She rode his fingers and his cock, and bit his skin until he was sure she drew blood. Good girl that she was, she tried to keep as quiet as she could manage, but when her orgasm took her, her head launched back and smacked against the rocks, and she kept groaning. He continued to stroke her until her moans subsided, and the squeeze of her sex made his orgasm follow.

With frantic thrusts, he kept pushing his cock into her until he felt every last vestige of his pleasure fade away. He just wanted to be deeper, to be inside her farther, to make no mistake as to whose scent was in her and on her.

He held her while they both breathed in the moment. They had been waiting so many days to be this close, and it had been so frantic, so frightening, it almost didn’t seem real.

“I want to see your face,” he said, stroking her shoulder. “I hate that it’s so dark.”

“You know my face.” Her words were hot, urging him to hold her tighter.

“I didn’t mean for that to be so…quick.” Owen laced his fingers into her wet hair and kissed the side of her face. “But I’ve been dreaming about this since I first saw you.”

“It wasn’t too quick.” She leaned against him. “It was perfect.”

Owen’s laugh scratched out of his throat. “Now you’re just stroking my ego.”

“No.” Clara put her lips next to his ear and her breath feathered against his skin, sending sparks through his body. “I always tell the truth.”

“I promise, I can do better. I will do better. But the collars…I have to go.”

Clara’s hands scrabbled at his back and he settled her against the rocks, sliding out of her so she could stand on the stream bed with him. He was going to put her back on that ledge, and he needed her to feel how safe she was, how protected she was, in this place.

“Please don’t leave me,” she whispered.

“You’re
safe
here, Clara.” Owen stroked her tangled hair. “I promise, you’re safe. Nothing can get to you in here.”

“But the dark…”

“The dark can’t hurt you. Just close your eyes and lay here, and think of me.” He pressed a kiss to her forehead. “Once you shift, you won’t know to be afraid of the dark, and you’ll be able to see better.”

“Owen—”

He stopped her words with his kiss and pushed her up onto the ledge. “I promise. It won’t be long until you shift, and then you won’t be afraid.”

Leaving her the first time had been so much easier. Before he’d been inside her. Before Owen knew how deeply he belonged to her, and she to him. He wanted to stay. To hold her forever. To be inside her again. But it was unsafe for him, and for her. If the collars activated, they’d both be trapped, and one of them might drown. No. He had to leave while he was still human.

“Just close your eyes.” He felt for the side of her face and stroked it. “You won’t even know you’re in the dark if your eyes are closed.”

Clara was about to argue, but he pressed his thumb against her lips.

“If you follow me again, I’ll bring you back here.” He pushed hard against the softness of her mouth. “Please. Stay.”

Before emotion took him completely off-guard, he grabbed his loincloth and slipped down into the water. He gulped air when he saw the moon filtering down, and climbed onto the bank.

He pounded at the ground.

Damn Adrian Rossi, and damn his hunt and his fucking island
. Without even being present, Rossi was still controlling their every movement.

Someday, Owen was going to find a way out of this damn cage and find Rossi and kill the bastard with his bare hands. That day couldn’t come soon enough.

Once he had the loincloth secured again, he turned back to the low-hanging rocks of the cave-mouth, but this time, there was no Clara. She’d stayed.

He went upstream for several minutes before he came back to the place where he should cross and find a path up to high ground so he could see the rest of the island and plot his strategy for the hunt.

It was strange to be so far in to the forest, toward the cliffs, and not be able to see. The moon provided barely any light, at a quarter of its fullness, and the lights were still out.

Undoubtedly, they’d be back on soon. Or the hunter had night vision. Either way, the only thing left was to wait for the shift, and get ready for the hunt.

He heard the voices before he saw or smelled them. The couple from the cage. They were talking loud enough that human ears would be able to hear them, and Owen was suddenly worried about the noise he and Clara had made in the cave. Would the hunter have heard them? Was there a way he could get into the cave and find her?

“You’re going to have to shift,” the woman was saying. “It’ll help the healing along if you can let your wolf take over.” She had a lazy southern accent, and seemed to be intentionally trying to sound calming. But the man’s voice didn’t sound calm in return.

“I don’t want to shift. This isn’t second-nature for me yet.”

Owen walked toward their voices, hurrying his steps. For Clara’s sake, he’d warn them to keep their voices down, then he was off to search for Gabe, who would be
much
harder to find.

“We have to make more progress if we’re going to find them again,” Andrea said from behind a bush.

His feet stopped moving as her words stopped.
Find them?

“Why don’t you go find them? You’ll be able to get back to me,” Vadik said in Russian-accented English. Light accent, but accent nonetheless.

Made sense, with the Russian-sounding name, that he’d be Russian. It was much harder to tell when they were all speaking Spanish, but he was definitely Russian.

“I don’t want to split up,” she said.

“I’m doing much better,” the Russian croaked. “Just don’t touch my back.”

“It would really be much faster if you—”

Owen broke through the trees, as their voices continued to rise. “Will you two shut the hell up?”

The woman’s black hair whipped around and her eyes went wide and white, but she relaxed when she saw him. Her hand was gripping at her black-clothed chest, a stark white contrast. Too easy to see.

Owen pointed at the ground. “First, you should cover every inch of your skin in dirt if you’re going to stay out in the open like this, so you can’t be seen.”

She put her hand in the air to stop him and he saw a flash of dark tattoo around her wrist. “Wait. You don’t understand.”

“Oh, I understand fine. I’ve survived seventy-two hunts on this island. Between you and me, I know more about how not to get killed in this place.” He looked around and lowered his voice. “And second, you need to lower your voices. We may not be hunted by wolves, but our voices carry in the night.”

Her head whipped around at a barrage of
pop-pop-pop
. The man didn’t appear to respond, but Owen pointed. “There’s gunfire back that way, somewhere. Not in the hunting arena. Probably the beach.”

“That’s what I’m trying to tell you.” The woman touched his hand, gripping his wrist with insistence. “There isn’t going to be a hunt. That explosion—”

“They opened the cages. There’s a hunter out there.” Owen shook off her hand. “Let me tell you, they never open the cages unless there’s a hunter out there.”

“But the collars won’t work.” She shook her head. “We destroyed the power grid for the entire island.”

Owen’s breath caught. “You, what?”

“We took out power for the whole island. Whatever command they were using on these, and whatever was broadcasting to keep the wolves here… it’s gone.” Andrea stood and took his shoulders in her hands. “We’re here to rescue you.”

“Well, you’re doing a shit job of it.” He raised his arms to indicate the breadth of the forest. “You’re trapped in here with the rest of us.”

“We’re not trapped anywhere.” She looked over his shoulder, as though she’d realized for the first time that Clara wasn’t with him. “We brought the Black Wolf Rangers with us. We are here to
rescue
you.”

Owen turned back, thinking immediately of Clara, trapped in that cave. He gestured for them to follow. “Come with me.”

“Where are we going?” The Russian reached for his woman, almost like an instinct, and he had strange tattoos on his wrists as well. What, were they in some kind of cult or something?
Shit. I don’t have time for this.

“I can’t leave with out her.” Owen took off through the brush. Someone was coming for them. He was going to get her off the island.

There may have been a hunter out there, or there may not, but he didn’t care. He would chance it, if there was no electricity and no guard, and someone coming to save them.

He’d have to chance it.

I
n through the nose
, out through mouth. Keep your eyes closed.
For now it was working. She’d kept her heart rate down below panic level and focused on breathing.

The sound of the running water actually helped. Well that, and being sore in places she didn’t know she could be sore.

She smiled remembering the explosive lovemaking that’d occurred in the water just to her left. Being with Owen had been even better than she’d imagined. Her body throbbed at the memory and Clara listened for him.

A gasp of air beside her sent her rolling to her stomach. Her eyes flew open and she pressed her body as far back as the ledge would allow.

“Clara?”

She released the breath she’d been holding and surged forward into Owen’s arms in the pool of water. “You’re back. Is it over? Please tell me no one is dead.”

“It’s not over. Nobody’s dead yet.” He shook his head. “I ran into those strangers again. They said the power is off on the whole island. That there’re soldiers on their way here. We have to find them.” He pulled her through the water. “Take a breath.”

She did and he swam them both out of the cave, and back into the softly lit moonlit night. Clara followed to the bank of the stream, and took his hand for help up the steep incline.

The black-haired man and woman stood at the top. The male was looking better already, though his back was still raw from the torture. Even with his newly acquired wolf magick, it would take at least another hour or so for all his wounds to close. He was lucky they were mostly surface-flesh wounds, deeper wounds could take days to close.

“Owen says you turned the power off?”

The woman nodded. “The whole grid is down. These collars won’t work. Nothing works.”

Clara whirled on Owen. “We have to find Gabriel. He needs to know we can get out.”

He growled. “We don’t have time. That hunter is out here. Gabe ran off. He can find his own way out. We need to get over the fence and away from the hunter as fast as possible.”

No.
“You said they won’t shoot if we’re human. Gabriel already shifted.” She couldn’t leave her brother to that fate. “I won’t leave him, Owen.” She dashed through the trees leaving the three of them to chase behind her.

Owen was stubborn. He’d want to get her safely over the fence before even listening to her argument to save Gabriel.

Her brother might be irritable and angry, but who wouldn’t be if they’d been locked in a cage for nine years and hunted like an animal. Just because Gabriel was cranky, didn’t mean he deserved to be left being as cannon fodder for a desperate hunter.

“Gabriel!” she shouted.

Owen yelled from behind. The others were following, too.

She could hear all their footsteps. She just had to stay far enough ahead of Owen that he couldn’t grab her.

“Gabriel! I need to talk to you.”

Clara half-slid down a bank of trees and tangled vines. At the bottom, she looked up and met Owen’s glowing golden gaze. His wolf was right at the surface and he was furious.

“Clara stop!”

“I’m not leaving him.” She took off running again.

“Dammit, Clara!”

It would be easier to find Gabriel if she shifted, but that invited an entirely new danger. Hopefully, he wasn’t too far away and could hear her. “Gabriel!” Her bare feet pounded the loamy soil of the jungle floor. Leaves and debris were everywhere, and light beneath the canopy was almost non-existent.

If not for her better vision, she’d have already knocked herself out cold against more than one tree trunk.

“Gab—” Air whooshed from her lungs and iron fingers closed around her arms.

“Shut up, woman.”

Her anxiety fled at the sound of his familiar voice. “Gabe. I’m so glad you found me.”

“Who wouldn’t find you? Crashing through the trees like a thoughtless pup. The hunter is probably close by too.”

Owen and the other two wolves crashed through the trees behind her, grabbing branches on the closest tree trunks to keep from slamming straight into them.

“Get your hands off of her,” Owen snarled, jumping at Gabe.

Gabe bared his teeth and hissed. “She was shouting for me, idiot.” He glanced around the surrounding thick trees and frowned. “Everyone needs to split up. Fast and quiet.”

“No, that’s why I was looking for you. The collars. The fence. It’s all down.” She pointed at the strangers. “They took out the power station on the island. That’s what that big explosion was.”

Gabe scoffed. “Temporary at best. There’s a back up station.”

“We got both stations,” the male answered. “Power is down for good.”

“And the Rangers will be on their way,” the female added.

“What the hell are Rangers?” Gabe growled.

“They’re soldiers coming to help. We’re all getting off this island tonight,” Clara answered. “We can climb the fence, now.”

Gabe glanced at Clara. “You need to get out of the hunting area. Whether the power is down or not, that asshole is still out looking for a pelt.”

“I know,” Owen said, pulling Clara against his side.

Gabriel turned away from the group. The air shimmered around his body and a large silver wolf replaced his human form. His beautiful coat glistened as he disappeared into the night.

“How did he shift with clothes?” the female asked, her mouth hanging open.

“Our clothes are completely natural. No synthetic fibers,” Clara explained.

“How did I not know that?”

“There’s no time for a mythology lesson. Gabe was right, we have to get out of here too,” Owen said, turning to face Clara. “Do not run from me again. Do you understand?”

She nodded, laying her head against his bare chest. The thump of his heart and the warmth of their magick swirling between them soothed her soul. “Let’s get out of here,” she said.

O
wen glanced around
, checking his bearings. Having chased Clara into the arms of Gabriel, only thinking about getting her to quiet down, he’d lost his sense of direction.

He looked up at the moon and turned in a circle. With the lights out, the stars were brighter, but his sense of the layout of the island was off. He hadn’t been aware of how much he’d relied on the beach lights to know where they were. The moon had been… over the villa, and low in the sky.

He nodded toward the moon. “The villa is that way. Which makes sense. That’s where Gabe would be headed.”

“What should we do?” the Russian asked, putting his hand on the woman’s back. “We can’t split up.”

“Why not?” Owen held Clara tight to him. “The way we survive is by splitting up.”

“You won’t leave her, and we don’t know the island, so we need you,” he said. “

“But Gabriel said he wanted a pelt,” the woman said. “If there’s even a hunter out there—”

“There’s a hunter.” Owen fixed her with a hard glare. “In two years, I’ve never seen them open the cages unless one of us ended up dead.”

The strangers huddled together and their eyes wandered the surrounding foliage. They’d never been hunted before. They only made a bigger target so close together. Owen looked down at Clara’s head against his chest.

As good as it felt to have her against him, and as much as he wanted to pull her to the ground and make love to her, they shouldn’t be touching, either. They should be spread out. Far apart. Across the enclosure, if they could be. Not in a group, not touching, not close. “Look. We have to keep moving.” He settled Clara in place and walked away from her, away from the villa.

“Why don’t we go back that way?” The Russian pointed in the way Gabe had gone.

“Because that’s the farthest walk to a fence.” He nodded ahead of himself. “This is the shortest.”

Clara clambered after him and the other two wolves followed. Owen tried to jog at a pace that would keep him in front of them, but she kept trying to catch his hand. Every time she’d come close to grabbing him, he’d hurry his pace, and before he knew it, he was running.

The ground was more uneven up toward the edge of the fence, and he had to slow down to make sure he didn’t misstep.

Clara finally got ahold of his hand and pulled at him. “Owen,” she huffed. “None of us can run that fast.”

“I know.” He squeezed her hand. “We need to stay as far apart as we can.” To the three of them, he hissed, “Be careful here. The ground is unsteady.”

The bushes and trees petered out gradually as they came to the edge of the hunting area. The ground sloped up sharply, in man-made formation, nearly twice as tall as a man. At the crest, the fence began. It was cross-hatched, like the back at the cage, and stretched up for twenty feet, ending in a rounded coil of barbed wire.

Something sank inside him. He’d forgotten the extra precaution at the top. It’d been so long since he’d been anywhere near the fence. Years of hunts had taught him that the fence area was not safe.

He climbed up the hard-packed earth and reached for the bottom of the fence. The last time he’d touched it, he’d passed out from the shock. It had singed the flesh on his hand and he thought it had killed him until he woke up as a wolf.

This time, however, the metal was cold and safe. His fingers coiled through the holes.

Freedom
.

A hand on his shoulder stopped him from climbing any farther, and Owen turned around to find the Russian gaping at him.

“Don’t you see that?” Vadik pointed at the top of the fence. “There’s no way we’re going to get over that fence in once piece.”

Owen shrugged the hand off. “Your wolf will heal you from just about anything.”

“But Vadik is in no shape to climb over that barbed wire.” The woman—Andrea—came up behind her boyfriend.

Clara stood beside her, all three of them staring up at the danger on top of the fence.

“Give him a couple of hours, he’ll be fine.” Owen went back to the fence. “In the meantime, Clara and I are getting out of here.”

But her touch stilled him. It always sent electricity pounding through him, not unlike touching that fence, but it also grounded him. He was being reckless.

“We can’t leave them,” she said. “They’re strangers here.”

Owen climbed down the dirt and pulled Clara aside. “Then they have to come with us. It won’t be bad. Just some cuts.”

“Like the ones on his
back
?” Clara hissed.

“He’ll survive. He’ll be free, and he’ll live.”

“You think.”

“Isn’t that what you told me? When you survived Rossi’s whip? That a wolf’s body was made to withstand anything, and keep on living?”

Her eyes went dark and she looked down at his hand on her arm. She hadn’t ever been angry with him before. And the clearing in front of the fence was no place to have their first fight. Time was the only thing that mattered.

“Okay, you win.” He took a step back toward the woods. “If you won’t climb here, then maybe we can go back to the cag—”

A loud crack tore the air and, seconds later, Andrea loosed an agonizing wail, and Owen felt a hot spray on his back. The acrid tang was unmistakable.

Blood.