Forrest, Dawn - Alphas' Prize [WeresRus] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) (24 page)

“Just a glass or two, max. Will would get cranky if we got them tipsy,” Angela’s mom explained.

“Well, apparently Vlad, Yuri, and I are going to get a male-to-male werewolf talk now from some of the mated guys. I’ll see you all later at lunch.” He winked at Angela, nodded at the rest of them, and then took off.

“You know, despite all my fears, I can’t wait for tonight,” Angela said with a dreamy expression. “Just the scent of that man…mmm.”

Jo knew just what she meant.

Chapter 15

Anil Kumar watched as Khan paced back and forth, working out a new scheme. He was clearly vexed because he had wanted to hire a helicopter without a pilot, but the Americans had thwarted him. They hadn’t been impressed by Vikram’s qualifications and documentation, even though Anil was certain Vikram was a better pilot, with more varied experience, than any of the American flying cowboys he’d seen.

An outsider would be a huge complication when trying to return with a reluctant female, so the plan had to be changed. Khan decided to be dropped off by helicopter near Katherine’s location. Vikram, their trusted dormant Were pilot, would stay with the jet. Anil had been instructed to take a car to Katherine’s coordinates, but he would have to stop en route in a remote area for his change and full-moon run. In the morning he would collect Khan and his prize. They would take Katherine back with them, bundle her into the jet, and head for home via Tokyo. It was a good plan, but Anil wasn’t going to follow it.

He carefully schooled his features and used some of the meditative skills he had acquired from practicing yoga. Keeping his heart rate even, he turned to his Prime and took the keys to the 4x4 they had just hired. He was itching to get going so that he could do what needed to be done.

“We will wait for a little while before we go our separate ways,” Khan said evenly.

By the gods, did he suspect?

“I thought that it would be better to start out now in order to allow sufficient time before moonrise. I thought you were eager to start the hunt, my Prime.”

Khan looked at him as if he were an imbecile.

“No, Anil, you did not think at all. I do not want to give my female a chance to call for help. I do not wish to give her a chance to defend herself with weapons she will undoubtedly have. You forget that this is Katherine Akara we are talking about, a superior female werewolf, not some common slut.” His voice took on that fevered tone, the one he used only when talking about
that
woman. He continued, “My advantage will come once the moon has her sway. Akara’s beast will be no match for mine.” Now he was all assured arrogance and aggression. His moods were so volatile these days, and there was an edge of desperation, so much so that Anil saw not only evil but also insanity.

Anil nodded, fighting to not break out into a sweat. He had to stay calm, or Khan would be able to smell his distress. There could still be time. They sat as if a congenial little gathering, drinking coffee and eating lunch, seemingly without a care in the world. Painfully long hours passed while Khan busied himself with his laptop and Anil pretended to concentrate on a book. Only when the hands of the clock hit four did Khan make a move.

“I will see you at the rendezvous point tomorrow morning, ten o’clock. Do not be early, do not be late,” Khan instructed.

Anil nodded once. “As you command, my Prime. Good hunting.” He forced himself to smile before turning toward the car.

Only when he was a good distance from the airport, in the foothills of the mountains and under the cover of trees, did he stop and make the call he’d thought long and hard about for the past few days. It was a huge risk, but he couldn’t expect to ever again get such a good opportunity to be rid of Khan. Of course he could just go along with the plan, but he knew that Zoongaash would never be safe until she was out of Khan’s and his cronies’ clutches.

Hawke didn’t pick up.
Come on, come on.
Anil started to panic, but he tried again. This time the call was answered on the fifth ring.

“Hawke here.”

“This is Anil Kumar, I need to talk with you.”

“Where are you, and what do you want?”

The man sounded calm, as if he’d been expecting the call.

“Before I answer your questions I need your assurance that, whatever happens, my daughter Zoongaash will have a place of refuge with your Pack.”

“Done,” Hawke said without hesitation. “Now, tell me.”

* * * *

Will quickly sought the man he trusted most, his loyal friend, tribal brother, and close confidant for many years, Kilchil Hunt.

“So, you’re going to save Katherine from Khan?”

“That’s the idea.”

Will knew what was coming next, knew that Kil wouldn’t pussyfoot around the issue.

“And who will save her from you?”

That was the problem. They both knew that aggression and passion are closely related. A werewolf’s greatest desires were to run, hunt, kill, and mate. Once the blood lust was upon him, once he’d killed Khan, he would go after Akara and there would be no stopping him. The scream of primal need to fuck her would drown out all whispers of restraint.

“I’m the lesser of two evils. I won’t force her to stay with me.”

Ever direct and to the point, Kil said, “You will be compelled to rape a female. You will not feel good about that in the morning, and neither will she.”

Like he didn’t know it. “You think I shouldn’t go, and that I should let Khan take her?”

“No, you must go. You cannot send anyone else, because Khan is powerful and will go berserk if anyone tries to come between him and the female. He is insane, so you must end it, Will, and do what must be done.”

“You will lead the run tonight, Kil. Let the Volkovs know what is happening, but I recommend that they don’t tell Jo and cause her unnecessary worry. We’re cutting it fine, where Katherine is staying the sun will set at 6:25 p.m., and the moon rises at around 7:30 p.m. I’m taking the jet straight to her location.”

Kil looked puzzled. “There is no landing strip there.”

“The plane isn’t going to land, I’m going to jump.”

Kil stared at him. “I hope that woman appreciates what you’re doing and doesn’t tear a strip off your ass. You should have seen Khan when I picked him up.”

“I’ll probably deserve it.” He gave a mirthless smile. “I will call in as soon as possible in the morning.”

* * * *

Katherine had the uneasy feeling that she was being watched. Even though she was on the home straight to some semblance of security, she still hadn’t relaxed her guard. The helicopter she’d heard about an hour ago worried her, but the sound of the rotors had faded away, suggesting that it hadn’t landed nearby. Still, she had learnt to trust her instincts in the past and wasn’t about to ignore them now. Should she stay in the cabin that offered some protection and was easily defendable but would become a trap once she had changed? Or should she head into the forest where she was more exposed but could run? What to do, what to do? Damn, it was hard to think straight with the sun sinking fast over the mountain and the moon beginning to gain ascendance. The loud drone of a very low-flying plane pumped life into her impotent mind. She went outside and saw a jet slowly pass very low overhead. That was unusual. She walked around the cabin and inhaled deeply through her nose as she scanned the area. Nothing, but then scents can be disguised, and there was a light breeze. The plane seemed to speed up and gain altitude. Staying put didn’t feel right.

She went inside and grabbed her crossbow and arrows. Her gun was already stashed in her shoulder holster, but it would only be useful for another twenty minutes, after which she wouldn’t be able to hold it properly. The crossbow could be used for a little while longer, even as a club, and the arrows as stakes if necessary. Her razor-sharp silver-plated knife was already strapped in a sheath to her outer thigh. She didn’t bother sneaking out of the house because if there was another werewolf out there he would be downwind and easily smell her. Instead she flung open the front door and bolted for the trees in the opposite direction.

* * * *

From the drop-off point, Khan had hiked for half an hour, following Katherine’s scent as easily as if a yellow brick road had led him to the cabin. He stashed his rucksack in a tree and bided his time, watching the cabin intently. Soon, very soon, they would both shift and he would have her.
All his trials and errors with unworthy females over the last twenty years had led him to this place and to her at this critical time.

He heard the plane before he saw it approaching from behind him, because the thick forest obscured his view. What the hell was someone doing flying so low here in the mountains at this time? He didn’t believe in coincidences, and it appeared that neither did Katherine Akara. He forced himself to be patient when he saw her walk around her cabin, sniff the air, and then head back inside. At least he now knew that she carried a gun and a knife, just as he’d expected.
By the Gods, I know my woman.
He wouldn’t have long to wait until he was sinking his cock into her tight cunt and his teeth into her firm shoulder. Already he felt the pull of the moon on his body, and his spirit heard the whispered lunar song, like a siren calling forth his beast.

His attention lapsed for a moment, and before he knew it, she was streaking across the ground in front of the cabin and into the trees. He registered the addition of the crossbow and quiver slung across her straight back.
Let the hunt begin.
He laughed as he stood up and moved forward. Mistake. A fraction of a second later, he heard a sound like a puff of air and instinctively ducked. There was a louder thud as a bullet hit the tree behind him.
Fuck!
From his crouched position on the ground he could see a glistening substance on the tree, and the smell in his nostrils confirmed it to be silver nitrate.
It is just not possible to overestimate my bitch.
Keeping low, he crawled behind another, wider tree and waited.
Gods, but she is truly magnificent! Surely in all history there has never been a hunt with such a prize as her.
He would worship her with his domination. She had more than earned it.

He could smell her. She wasn’t hanging around, she was moving fast around and…toward him! He dropped and rolled behind a boulder just as another bullet struck and splintered bark where his heart had been but a moment earlier.
Fucking amazing!
The woman thought to hunt him! Fortunately, unlike her gun, his did not have a silencer. He pulled his revolver from the shoulder holster and fired a warning shot into the air. That would give her something to think about.

“Katherine,” he shouted. “You should run now while you have the chance. I won’t shoot you if you run.”

“What, and miss the opportunity to shoot you?” she yelled back. “You won’t be able to hold that gun for much longer, and then I’ll finish you, you mangy mutt.”

She would pay for that comment.

“My revolver has been especially adapted, my dear. I can use it until the last possible moment, so you see we are at an impasse.”

“You don’t want to kill me. I want to kill you. That’s not an impasse.”

She was moving, trying to carefully work her way around him so that he couldn’t smell her, but he’d be able to catch her beautiful scent in a storm at this close range.

He leapt up, and with reflexes honed from years of experience and practice, he quickly located her and fired, a deliberate near miss, before dropping down.

“That was a warning, my dear. I would rather not injure what is mine, but I don’t need your legs to work to fuck you.”

She took off fast, uphill away from him.
Run, rabbit, run.

* * * *

In a small clearing in the forest, Hawke hit the ground hard but rolled to take the impact easily. He had used only the reserve parachute because it could be deployed closer to the ground, but it hadn’t had much time to slow his fall. Still, it gave him more vital minutes to find Khan and Katherine. He quickly tore off the straps and released himself. He was downwind of the cabin and inhaled through his nose as deeply he could.

It hit him like a bomb blast, a supersonic shock wave through his whole being. It was a scent so devastatingly wonderful that he reeled from the impact and the knowledge of it.
Her,
the only one, his mate.
No, it can’t be. It’s just the scent of a female werewolf.
He shook his head and inhaled again. It could only be Katherine’s scent, so like her daughter’s but a hundred times more potent. Great Spirit, he had felt something similar years ago and never really thought to do so again, but this, this was even more intense, something stronger and wilder, packing a psychic punch that couldn’t be ignored. And she wasn’t alone. Khan was near her.

Bang! He heard the distinctive crack of a gunshot. Dressed in the clothes he felt most comfortable hunting in—soft leather pants, tunic, and winter moccasins—he ran fast toward his future. Already a partial change was upon him, and as he came to a clearing where a cabin stood, he felt the first major muscle contractions.
Good.
He threw his pack onto the porch, sliced through the straps that held his knives, and tore off his clothes with his claws. He was no longer concerned about letting his ferocious beast free, about slaughtering Khan and then wildly taking an unwilling female. She wouldn’t be unwilling if she was his, and she wouldn’t be fragile because she was a werewolf. Will had realized long ago that conscious cruelty was not an animal trait. The pure beast was an elemental creature, and it was the human part of the werewolf that perverted its actions.