LickingHerWounds (2 page)

Did she attack you?

Jet quickly shook his head. “We found her layin’ over there
and we scared her. She was just gettin’ up when you got here. She’s hurt real bad.
Is she gonna die, Uncle Cal?”

Totally absorbed in the situation, Cal shook his massive
body and stalked carefully closer to the panting, bleeding Lykos female. The
small voice he had heard earlier repeated the words that had brought him to
this clearing…

Help me…please. If he finds me…he’ll kill me.

What the fuck?
She was using mental communication. He
had never heard of the Lykos having that ability. At least not outside their
own packs. Cal padded with extreme caution toward the female, low to the ground
as he moved, his rolling muscles tensed to attack and finish the bitch quickly
should she be playing a game. He sniffed the breeze, and when he was certain
she was too weak to be of any real danger to a Seronta male in his physical
prime, he reached out with one huge paw and pinned her heavily to the earth.
His claws remained extended, splayed over her trembling chest but not digging
into her body.

Help me, please…he will…kill me…

He felt a shudder go through the thin body under his paw,
and he tensed.

Before his eyes, the bloody fur began to recede, leaving his
massive paw resting on a slender, badly mauled human female body, planted
squarely between her small round breasts. A jolt of electric heat shot up his
foreleg into his chest and he almost snatched his claws back. Luckily for her
he had far more control.

What the…?

His heart stumbled and his thoughts shorted out.

“Uncle Cal! Mom can fix her!” Jon wrapped his skinny little
arms around the big leopard’s neck and tugged at him to move him away from the
bruised and bleeding creature.

Brave boy, to interfere with a leopard and his quarry…

“Here…use my T-shirt!” Jet was tugging the too-big garment
off over his head, his little face screwed up with childish concern at the
sight of the badly cut and battered body.

Shit! Shit, shit, shit!

Issuing a deep growl of frustration, Cal shifted to his
human form and took the proffered shirt, gently tugging it over the dirt-matted
blonde hair and down over the emaciated form that was so thin it barely showed
the curves of her womanhood. His hands tingled as if with a mild shock of
electricity as he ran his fingers over her bloodied cheek. He leaned down and
slipped his hands under her back and her legs, and as he lifted the limp form
into his arms he rasped gruffly to the boys, “Run! Run as fast as you can. I
will be right behind you.”

The boys scurried off toward the house, which was just
visible through the thinning trees, and Cal walked more slowly after them, his
heart hammering against the hard wall of his chest as he held the creature
gently to him. The warmth from her small body permeated every bit of his flesh
that she touched. The scent of blood and fear did little to camouflage the
scent that curled through his head as he carried her carefully so as not to jolt
her injuries more. The heady, delicious scent of female…

My female… Mine…

Impossible! He’d read about interracial relationships…but
interspecies? No way could he find his soul mate in a dog. No way in hell…

But the pheromone track he smelled was telling him something
else entirely.

* * * * *

Hallie came out of the kitchen as her sons raced through the
door, shouting at her to come and fix the hurt lady. Wiping her hands on a tea
towel, she had barely calmed the boys down by the time Cal came into the house
carrying a small bloody figure in his arms. At first she thought he had found a
child in the woods, until her son’s words sank in.

Lady?

“The lady was a wolf, Mom, and then she turned into a lady!
She’s hurt real bad!” Jon’s voice piped up.

“She didn’t try to hurt us, Mom! Honest! She was asleep and
we scared her. Uncle Cal was gonna kill her but we told him you would fix her!”
Jet’s golden eyes pleaded as he grabbed her wrist and tugged. Two pairs of
hopeful, puppy-dog-round eyes waited for her response.

She lifted her gaze to Cal’s face and stared at him in
shock. “You brought a dog into this house? What the hell were you thinking,
Cal?” Her voice was barely a whisper.

“Mom, she’s hurt! You gotta fix her! She was scared of us,
Mom. Can you figure? Scared of two kids? Can we keep her?” Jet’s voice was
excited.

Cal didn’t offer further explanations. He turned and carried
the limp female up the curved stairs to his own room, with Hallie close on his
heels. She followed him into his bedroom and as he bent to place the small
figure on the comforter, she whipped it off the bed and flipped the sheets
open. Then her mother brain kicked in and she gently brushed leaves and dirt
from the arms and legs that were being tucked into the soft clean sheet. The
caked blood and the deathly pallor of the creature dragged at her heart,
despite the fact that Cal had brought home something that could pose a danger
to her family. The Lykos had obviously been brutally attacked, and not by
either of Hallie’s mates. Leopards killed the enemy…they didn’t torture them.
This was senseless brutality.

“Here…we’ll get her cleaned up and see what we can fix. Who
the hell would do something like this?” She hurried into the bathroom for a wet
towel. Her thoughts were chaotic as she worried what Gar was going to do when
he came home to find a dog in the house. She knelt beside the bed and began to
gently swipe at the crusted blood.

“Her own pack did it. She was terrified. She won’t pose a
danger to any of us.” Cal’s gruff voice made her glance up into his face.

“You’d better be ready to back that statement up when she
wakes up. I won’t thank you if she goes Lykos on us.”

She bit her lip as she watched him reach to remove the
bloody T-shirt.

“Boys…go get me some bandages! And bring me the big bottle
of antiseptic.” She called abruptly as the T-shirt came away to reveal a badly
battered, emaciated female of indeterminate age. Hallie waited until the boys
were out of hearing range, and she breathed worriedly, “Cal…I know she looks
like a human girl…but that really is a Lykos.”

Cal lifted his confused golden eyes to her face and she drew
a deep breath. Oh shit. He was a goner.

“I know what she is, Hallie. I would have left her there to
die, but when I touched her I knew I couldn’t. I can’t explain. I just…needed
to help her.”

Hallie swallowed hard.
No way in hell!
She swallowed
the lump that had lodged itself in her throat. He couldn’t seriously be
thinking…

Cal’s large, calloused hand gently touched her cheek, and
she blinked up at him numbly. He gazed down at her and his thumb slowly rubbed
over her lower lip.

“You know that I love you and the boys. I would never
endanger you. You have to trust my instincts here.” She caught his big hand and
held it to her cheek, just gazing worriedly up at him.

He saw her concern and bent to brush her lips softly with
his. “Please understand?” he murmured as they heard the boys clambering noisily
back up the stairs. He turned to his chest of drawers and drew out another pair
of jeans, dragging them over his long legs before turning to the boys who were
just slipping into the room with the asked-for items. He turned back to her and
smoothed the worry lines away from her forehead with rough fingertips.
“Please…”

Dragging in a breath, she nodded jerkily and glanced at the
handful of carefully wrapped gauze bandages that Jet lifted up to her face.
Taking them and the large bottle of antiseptic from her sons, she cleared her
throat and said, “You boys take your Uncle Cal down to the kitchen and help him
make the hurt lady some venison broth. It must be good and hot, with plenty of
bits of meat in it.”

Cal met her gaze again. She heard his soft word in her head.
Please…

Relenting but still feeling nervous about this, she said, “I
won’t bite her head off…unless she wakes up hostile.”

Cal nodded and grabbed both boys and herded them from the
room, leaving her to see to his little Lykos pet.

She drew a deep breath as she carefully checked over Cal’s
new puppy—and the first thing it was going to get when those cuts healed was a
badly needed bath.

Chapter Two

She’d followed the big golden male slavishly, watching him
tend the young ones so quietly and patiently. His manner and his way of
speaking to the cubs had drawn her like a moth to a beckoning flame. Perhaps it
was the hard, sinuous strength hidden beneath the gentle demeanor that caught
at her heart. It brushed across her parched soul like a moisture-laden breeze.
Were all cat shifters like this? Or was he an aberration? He was not at all
like the ferocious beasts the horror stories had told.

She had never before felt remotely attracted to any
male…much less a cat shifter! But she couldn’t help following, watching from a
safe distance as he moved through the forest. He was becoming an addiction to
her, ever since the first time she’d seen him.

That had been weeks ago, on the night the pack had been
stalking a pair of human drifters along the highway. She had heard stories
about the two cats that constantly plagued her pack, but she had never seen
them until that night. The night she had been brave enough—or maybe stupid
enough—to follow the pack on a hunt.

The dark one came first, while the pack males were trying
to separate the female cub from the old male. The ancient-looking human waved a
crooked stick in pathetic, feeble attempts to prevent the pack from feasting on
the cub’s flesh. They were uninterested in the stringy meat of the
foul-smelling old creature, whose scent told them of the wasting disease so
many humans carried within their bodies. It was the female cub that made the
rest of the pack salivate. Oddly, the cub’s scent did not seem at all inviting
to her.

Maybe I’ve gotten too used to rodents and rabbits.

One moment, the old one was swinging his frail stick at
Roman while the rest lunged in to snatch away the young one…and the next, Roman
was lying dead, his thick neck broken and his head severed from his shoulders
by one hellish snap of fierce jaws. The world changed and the pack hesitated in
their pursuit of the cub.

Being the pack omega, and forbidden by law to join a
hunt, she had followed at a distance. She hung back, and the sight of the
snarling black creature confronting five fully grown males and three healthy
females sent a shot of terror through her body. The hunters turned as one and
went after the intruder, leaving her alone in the brush. She realized that here
might be her one chance to make the pack believe she was more than just an
omega. If she could salvage the hunt and grab the young one, they might treat
her with more respect.

Shaken but thrilled that she had this chance to become an
important member of the pack, she whirled and skittered toward the shrieking
youngster. But as she neared the cub, the oddest thing happened.

The human cub took one look at her and opened her arms
wide with a cry. She widely missed in her lunge for the soft skin of the
female’s neck and instead found herself engulfed in a tight, totally unexpected
grasp as the creature clutched her neck and burrowed her face into her fur.
So
much for my great hunting skill…

Her confusion at the unexpected behavior of the human
made her hesitate and she struggled to extricate herself from the creature’s
embrace so that she could attack again, perhaps with better accuracy.
Unfortunately, once she was in a position to attack again she found herself
hesitating once more, unwilling to shred the cub’s tender flesh with her teeth.
Killing ground squirrels and mice was never a problem…so why should killing a
helpless human cub be so hard? Her resolve to become an important member of the
pack was melting away.

And that was when she heard the rage-filled scream of
another intruder and jerked around to face a blur of golden fur that leapt
completely over one of the bigger pack males and sent two of the females
yelping into the night with powerful swipes of wide-spread claws. Her
distraction allowed the human cub to clutch her around the neck again but she
ignored the creature, her terrified eyes on the snarling golden fury that
seemed to be deciding her fate.

As the cub clung to her fur, the menacing beast gave his
head a massive shake and whirled to rejoin the fight, leaping into the fray
with a rumbling snarl of fury, taking down the older, scarred male called
Ferron.

Unable to believe her unusual luck, she shook off the
clutching arms and scuttled into the trees, but not so far that she couldn’t
see how the fight ended.

It took only moments before three of her pack lay dead,
and she watched in shocked fascination as the two huge cats suddenly shifted to
human form and bent over the bleeding old one. The female lay in a sobbing heap
where she had shaken it off and the tall, pale-haired human reached down to his
leg where a small bundle was attached to one massive thigh. She watched,
transfixed, as the male worked free the thong that held the bundle and casually
shook out and stepped into a rolled-up pair of trousers before approaching the
weeping female and lifting her gently from the ground into his arms.

It amazed her that, instead of devouring the succulent
feast of hot young flesh her pack had hoped for, the cat seemed to be helping
her. Why risk injury or death to steal a piece of succulent prey only to let it
go again? She watched in surprise as the dark one assisted the old human to his
feet and then, when those golden eyes scanned the brush directly where she
crouched watching, she slunk quietly away to find the rest of the defeated
pack.

These cats are certainly not anything like I had expected
them to be…

When she had located the survivors they had been too
frightened and shaken to care about her at all, despite their frustration and
rage over being unable to secure their meal. She had, as always, caught a
number of rodents and ground squirrels to slake their hunger, and had been
banished from their den to find a warm bed and her own sustenance for the
night.

But when light had come and she had no luck hunting for
small game to feed the healing males, they hadn’t been nearly so lenient,
biting her repeatedly until she was nothing but a bloody mass of cuts and
bruises. They’d warned her that she must pull her own weight within the pack if
she expected them to tolerate her presence. They had called her worthless.
Again.

The pack had managed to bring down an old mule deer without
her help and had sent her off to hunt for small creatures to fill her own
aching gut. As she had dug into a rabbit hole that rendered no hare, she had
come across the spoor of the fascinating golden shifter. And with barely
contained excitement, she had followed it to its end.

She had lain hidden in the thick brush inside a copse of
trees and watched as the big male who had braved the pack to save a human cub
seemed to be playing joyfully with two small males. She’d assumed from their
odd scent that they were leopard cubs, but unlike Lykos cubs these seemed to
remain in man form when young. She had never once seen them shift into their
cat form. Odd. They would be better able to defend themselves in their cat
form, wouldn’t they?

So many new things she was learning…

She had returned to watch day after day, marveling at the
way these big cats treated their young. She had watched the big dark one as
well as the small female playing happily with the young ones, and she had often
wished that she could experience such joy. Deep inside, seeing these things
made her feel lonely…as if she were missing some elusive part of herself. But
she was especially drawn to the golden shifter…for many reasons.

Especially after she had come into the copse one afternoon
and found the golden male lying with the small female in a shady shelter of
brush just beyond her hiding place. She had realized that in his human form,
the male aroused feelings deep inside that she had never felt before.

She already knew from covertly watching the alpha male
and female of her pack that breeding in human form was by far preferred by the
members of the pack. But her pack alpha didn’t look a thing like this male. And
she didn’t feel any desire to experience Jock’s rutting. For it seemed to be
only that.

The cats liked to play while mating…and that knowledge
made her shiver.

The sounds that the small female made as the big shifter
rode her made her sex grow wet and twitch, despite the fact that, as an omega,
she would never be breeding material. And the female was acting as if their
joining gave her exquisite pleasure, despite the disparity in their sizes.
There was no biting or growling. There were sounds, to be sure, but sounds of
pleasure and passion, if she were any judge.

She found a quiet spot and had shifted to her human form,
touching her own body where the male had touched the little female, and was
shocked and surprised that her body in human form was quite enjoyable. She
watched, touching her wet sex with her own hand, until her senses erupted in a
wave of shocking sensation that made her think she had died. She barely kept
from howling.

Gods…if this is what the female is feeling, it’s no wonder
she begs the male not to stop!

And so she had come back again and again, hoping for another
glimpse of the cats’ mating habits. Unfortunately, she had not seen the
leopards mating since that day. But their entwined bodies and the sounds of
their mating came to her often in her restless dreams, leaving her hot and
shaky when she awoke.

Last night, after she’d returned from her daily excursion to
spy upon the seductively appealing enemy, she had entered the den to find that
another of their pack males had been mortally injured by the huge black feline
as they had tried to pick off a hitchhiker just outside the town limits of
Rutledge earlier that day. The pack was down to ten…and only five of them were
hunting males.

She had taken the inexcusable liberty of speaking up when no
one spoke to her first, asking why the pack didn’t try hunting the mule deer
herd that ranged close to their den.

Big mistake.

Jock, who had taken over leadership of the pack after the
black Seronta shifter had killed his predecessor eight years earlier, had
turned on her in a foul rage and had very nearly succeeded in tearing her
throat out before she had managed to struggle free and roll down the hillside
from the den and into the swift-moving creek that was just deep enough to be
over her head. Likely thinking her to be mortally injured after the mauling he
had given her, he had left her to drown.

She had somehow managed to get her nose above the churning
water and had struggled up the opposing bank to lie hidden in the briars until
she regained enough strength to move. And under cover of the night she had
crawled and staggered away from the den and the only family she had ever known,
instinctively heading toward the only creature she thought might protect her
from the death that was sure to come when Jock realized she had not drowned.

If he doesn’t kill me himself…

It had taken her all of the rest of that night and half of
the following day to reach the copse of trees where she had lain hidden so many
times and, weakened by blood loss and hunger, she had slumped into the cool
grass to await her fate. She was far too hungry to heal quickly. If the pack
found her she would be toast…

The sound of the cubs laughing and running brought her awake
and she rolled up, staggering to her unsteady legs. They were alone. And when
they saw her, they skidded to a stop and stared at her. Never in her life had
she asked for succor from a living being, but something gave her the courage to
beg them for help. They seemed to understand her mind speak and didn’t flee.
She was certainly no danger to anyone in her weakened state. But then she heard
another voice calling, deep and rough, asking the cubs what was wrong, and she
couldn’t stop herself from begging the golden one for his protection.

Sheer, mind-numbing terror filled her when the creature
burst from the trees and landed between her and the cubs, and she sensed
instinctively that her next move would decide her fate. Sinking to the soft
earth, she prostrated herself before him, begging mutely for his mercy. Her
fevered mind fought to remain alert but when that deadly paw pressed her chest
hard enough to prevent her from getting breath, she gave him her last plea, and
found she was nearly too weak to make the shift. She had little strength left
and it took much concentration. Perhaps the sight of her human form would allow
him to see her as other than a marauding, cub-stealing predator.

* * * * *

It was dark. Her body ached.
Shit!
She was still in
her human form. She was utterly defenseless. She was too weak and tired even to
attempt to shift back. As full consciousness returned, she realized that her
aching human body was covered with something soft and warm and her throbbing
head was draped with something cool and wet. She sensed someone nearby but was
too weak to be afraid. She groaned as she tried to move and a soft voice
murmured as a cool human hand touched her swollen cheek. So soft… It stirred a
memory that was buried so deep it couldn’t be reached.

“Can you understand me?” It felt odd to have someone address
her. No one in the pack bothered to speak to her, especially in that soft,
gentle way.

She nodded almost imperceptibly, wincing with pain at the
slight movement of her head.

“What is your name?”

Even her slight frown hurt as she rasped, “I…don’t have
one.”

“They must call you something.” The quiet female voice was
insistent.

She blinked her eyes to try to focus on the creature who
spoke to her. She replied slowly. “Omega bitch.”

A face came into her line of sight. “My name is Hallie. I
would prefer to call you something other than ‘Omega bitch’, though. Do you
mind if I call you ‘Jane’?”