LickingHerWounds (6 page)

Chapter Eight

She lay alone in the rumpled bed, desperately wishing for
Cal to return but fearing that he would not come back to her. She rolled over
to draw in the scent of his body that remained on the sheet and pulled the
cloth up to her face, her damn human tears coursing down her cheeks. He had
mated with her. He had told her he loved her. And then he had gone back to his
feline mate. The bastard!

She had shared his blood and seed and he had taken her
blood. Was that how cats mated? When Lykos took mates, it was for life. One
mate. Wasn’t that the right thing? But Cal had said that Hallie was his mate
too—a shared mate who enjoyed two males. It was so confusing. And so
depressing. She flung the pillow as far across the room as she could.

The idea of Cal going back to Hallie—of him thrusting into
her body and pressing open-mouthed kisses to her breasts—left Jessie throbbing
and panting on the sheet, and she sat up with a sob. As the omega in her pack
she had never expected to mate, but Cal had promised that there were no omegas
in the Seronta Clan. He had given her hope. And he had given her ecstasy beyond
her imaginings. But knowing that he was with the beautiful cat left her feeling
empty and aching inside. Wasn’t she enough for him? Did he need more than one
female in one night?

She rose from the bed and made her way to the window
overlooking the back of the property, leaning her forehead against the cool
glass. It was beyond her comprehension, this strange mating habit of the cats.
And even though she liked the idea of being Cal’s blood mate, she had no love
at all for the idea that he still kept Hallie as his feline mate.
He belongs
to me!
It didn’t matter that Hallie had been his mate before. He was
Jessie’s mate now, and she wasn’t happy about having to share. These cat habits
did not sit well with her at all. She grew even angrier.

Her thoughts were jumbled. She felt a wave of gooseflesh
travel the length of her body and she realized that her vision was changing.
She could see the thermal trail of an owl swooping from the trees to snatch an
unwary night-feeder. The familiar tingling at the base of her spine grew and
she swallowed, realizing that she was about to shift. No! She couldn’t shift
now! She had barely learned what it felt like to make love to her Seronta mate.
And she instinctively knew that he would not want her if she was back in her
wolf form.

Panic lent her strength as she fought the shift, forcing it
back until it became only a tingling in her gums and nail beds. Breathing
deeply and calming herself, Jessie realized with a rush of sudden elation that
she had just controlled her own body and her Lykos nature. It was an incredible
feeling. She felt suddenly powerful. She felt moisture slide from her core and
she touched her inner thigh, lifting her wet fingers to the dim moonlight.

The female cat would never have her mate! Jessie wanted him.
And she wanted him now.

Gar and Cal stood beneath the verandah of the Halleran
house. Cal knew Gar had heard his conversation with Hallie and had followed him
home, but his sibling did not seem upset that he had gone to speak to her. Cal
drew a deep breath and lifted his eyes to his sibling’s face to see the
concerned look in Gar’s eyes.

“You bonded with the Lykos,” Gar said quietly, his deep
voice flat.

“We bonded with each other.” Cal’s voice was deceptively
soft. “She wanted it as much as I did.”

“The Lykos will know she chose you. There will be hell to
pay with the wolf pack—you do realize that?”

Cal drew a deep breath. “I can live with that.”

“You left her alone immediately after your bonding. How does
she feel about that?”

“I will explain that I went to make my peace with Hallie.
She should feel relieved to know that I have forsaken my vow to Hallie. She may
not even know that I am gone.”

Gar frowned and Cal knew his words before he spoke. “I know
that Hallie appreciated your concern tonight, brother, but your mate is alone
and I can sense her pain. No matter what we Seronta believe, Lykos have one
mate for life. This is not going to rest easy on her mind. If you love her—if
she truly is your soul mate—you must be with her only. Will your Lykos survive
thinking she is second in your life? Because right now that is exactly what
she’s thinking.”

Cal stared at his brother. “You can sense my mate’s
thoughts?” A slow trickle of jealousy stiffened his spine and he tensed.

Gar shifted his weight slightly, a sign that he was ready to
take a sudden attack, and Cal inhaled deeply, realizing that of all the
creatures on the earth, this was the only one he trusted with his life. Gar’s
eyes narrowed slightly as he waited to see what would happen in the next few
seconds. Cal sighed wearily and said, “Sorry. You’re right. I need to get back
to her. Who knows…maybe she will need more than I can give. If so, expect a
call.”

Gar slapped him firmly on the back and gave a grunt. “Not
likely. Go in. She’s awake and she’s not happy.”

Gar dissolved into the dark trees beside the drive and Cal
sniffed the stiffening breeze that blew from the trees beyond the old house.
Nothing but an owl. He made a quick leap from the unkempt lawn to the top of
the porch roof, then one more to the gable he had exited through, before
shifting back to climb through the window. He could smell his mate’s need, and
her pain, and he instantly felt guilty for deserting her at such a crucial
moment.

She had awoken. He called out to her mentally. She didn’t
respond. But he could sense her irritation and he winced a little at the
thought of how she would receive his apology.
If
she received his
apology. She might attack him and maul him instead of accepting it. He shook
his head.

You are angry with me. How can I make this up to you?

No response.

I will do whatever you want. Will you come to me, Jessie?

The soft voice that entered his mind set his pulse afire.
You
come to me. You come and beg, and maybe I will forgive you.

This was no omega Lykos. This was his mate. The command in
her voice told him that she was, indeed, eager to punish him, but he was ready
and willing to take whatever she dished out. In fact his cock had risen to
stiff attention and he smiled. Would she render the punishment he craved?

He stalked through the attic to the stairway leading down
and found her standing at the bottom of the steps to the second-floor hallway,
her naked body oddly less gaunt and thin than it had been earlier in the day.
Her silver eyes were in shadow but he knew that they were fastened to his
rampant hard-on as he moved slowly down the stairs to stop on the one just
above her. “Will begging get me back inside you, little wolf?”

Slim but strong hands slid around the girth of his shaft and
he groaned as she pressed her breasts against his abdomen and licked one copper
nipple. “You mean to torture me, wolf?” His voice was rough.

Jessie lost her will to be angry when he came slowly down
the stairs, his marvelous swollen cock bobbing before him. She inhaled deeply
and when he stopped and spoke she could not resist the need to touch him. The
tremor that went through that powerful body gave her a shot of the most
incredible lust imaginable…and the thought of her mate making love to her again
drove the image of him riding Hallie from her mind.

The taste of his damp skin set her afire and without another
word she launched herself onto him. He sank backward onto the dust-covered bare
wood of the stairs, a deep growl of satisfaction rumbling from his throat.

Straddling his hips, she wedged his thick cock head into her
wet opening, and with a cry of pure delight she impaled herself on the
unyielding shaft, listening to the rumbling purr of pleasure that came from his
hard chest as he lifted his torso and latched on to her breast with a voracious
mouth.

I was not with Hallie tonight, little one…

Why did you leave me?

I was stupid. I thought to tell them that I had found my
soul mate. I should have stayed here, with you.

She had not been betrayed? He was her soul mate? This was
worth all the long, painfully lonely and desolate years of her life since they
had taken her from her family. This aching, throbbing need to be filled…to be
loved…to be pleasured. As he helped her to ride his stiffly erect cock, she
heard his voice in her head once again.

You are delectable. You are marvelous. You take my breath
away and I am yours alone.

Her mouth sought his and as her tongue mimicked what he did
with his cock, she felt the first trembling rise of her orgasm explode from her
breasts to her sex and race through her arching body like a runaway freight
train.

He didn’t join her in climax but lifted her from the hard
ridges of the stairs, wrapping her legs around his hips as he moved from the
final step and carried her slowly into the bedroom they had shared earlier in
the night. He sucked her tongue deep and whispered into her fuzzy brain,
If
this is meant to be punishment, my love, you picked a poor method. It seems far
more pleasure than pain. But who am I to question your decision? Fucking is my
favorite kind of punishment.

Fucking? Yes. That was the word he used for what they were
doing. And the sound of the word sent another orgasmic thrill through her body.
Strange word. It caused pleasure.

I could fuck this tight, hot pussy of yours all night,
little wolf.

Pussy? He was calling her sex a small cat? A pet name that
the cats gave a female’s sex organs? She giggled against his lips and he
laughed into her mouth as he lifted and lowered her over his shaft without
slowing. She couldn’t keep her moan back.

You like my cock in your pussy?

Pulling away from his mouth and gasping for air, Jessie
laughed. “You cats have so many odd names for things! But yes—I love your cock
in my pussy, oh great golden one.”

Cal blinked down at her feral smile as he felt her channel
clench around his cock like a trembling, eager orgasmic fist. His little mate
was indulging in…humor? She was certainly not acting like the pitiful little female
Lykos he had found in the glade. She was eager. She was marvelous. She was
insatiable. And as he gave a roar of pleasure and exploded deep inside her hot,
tight body, she lifted her head and voiced a spine-tingling howl that raised
the hairs at his nape.

He continued to slam his hips against her, pleasure driving
him as her nails dug furrows in his back and he growled against her throat,
“Gods, but I need your blood again.”

In answer she sank her fangs into the muscle of his shoulder
and he instantly took that as a yes, gently biting into the soft flesh at the
base of her throat. He continued to spurt as his orgasm went on and on, and the
lush taste of her blood filled his mouth as she convulsed in another orgasm,
her mouth still pressed to his skin.

When their mingled cries and growls grew less boisterous, he
sank onto the bed and rolled her astride him, savoring the rhythmic sway of her
body on his. The pleasure was like a deep ache that filled every cell of his
body. He panted to calm his heart rate, his eyes on the gently bouncing breasts
above his face.

“I want your mouth on them.”

Her whispered demand ended in a high-pitched gasp as he
obeyed without hesitation, drawing deep on the first, then switching to the
second. Her fingers twined through his perspiration-damp hair and he cradled
her breasts in his palms, giving each delicious morsel equal attention.

“Yesss…”

He felt her clench around him again and marveled at her
ability to keep him as hard as a rock inside her for so long. Sooner or later
his cock was going to have to come up for air. As he felt her squeezing with
her internal muscles, he decided that later would be good.

* * * * *

The big, scarred alpha listened to the mating howl of his
escaped omega, and he curled his lip in disgust for the male who lowered
himself to take the worthless half-human. He had hated the bitch since old
Petrov had stolen and changed her. But Petrov had been punished. The dark
Seronta had killed her foolish protector. The demented old fool had taken her
for a future mate. A changeling would never be an alpha mate in this pack. He
would have killed her too, but his mate had wanted the whining bitch for a
servant.

Now the bitch was offering herself to a cat? With a snarl of
revulsion, Jock gazed narrowly at the old house where she committed her
atrocity and remembered the difficulty he’d had the last time he had made an
attempt against the big cats. But one big cat was far easier to deal with than
two infuriated males, like the last time. He would have his vengeance and he
would destroy them all. And this time he would tear out the little bitch’s
throat.

He whirled and moved swiftly back into the trees, running
for half a mile before shifting to make better time. He would have his pack
tear the lone cat apart. He would devise a ruse to keep the alpha cat out of
the way. And afterward, Jock would deal with the bitch. She wouldn’t escape his
wrath again.

Chapter Nine

Hallie came awake with a start and sat up quickly, her
thoughts a jumble of confusion and fear. Gar lifted onto one elbow and ran a
reassuring hand over her naked hip. “What is it, love?”

She shook her head, unable to voice the horror that she had
felt. It had receded as swiftly as it had come, but she slipped from the bed
and hurriedly dragged on a soft robe, racing out of their room to the boys’
room down the hall. Gar was on her heels as she shoved the door open and
scanned the room. The boys were soundly asleep. Nothing seemed out of the
ordinary. But her eyes went to the French windows, where a breeze ruffled the
lace curtains, and Gar was moving before she could speak. He leaped over the
beds and sought the intruder.

The open window was terrifying evidence that someone had
breached the security of the house without setting off the alarm system. Gar
checked the balcony, then shifted and leaped to the lawn below while she
checked the window lock. It had been jimmied with a thin metal strip, which lay
on the carpet at her feet. But breaking the contact should have set off the
alarm.

With a shiver, she checked both sleeping boys, making sure
they were unharmed. She stepped onto the balcony and scanned the upper portion
of the house—roof, gables and verandah roof—before she carefully re-latched the
French windows and woke the children, herding them quickly into the bedroom she
shared with Gar and tucking them gently into the king-sized bed with anger
boiling beneath the surface of her forced calm. The Lykos had gone too far this
time. There would be no safe place for the pack after this. If Gar and Cal
didn’t find and kill them, she would do it herself.

She locked the hallway door and settled in to wait for Gar’s
return.

The trail Gar followed through the trees was one lone
dog…but when that track intersected with several more, he tensed and called out
to his brother.

Lykos are approaching the house. Get your female out now.
Follow the street…the woods are full of them. I will meet you on the way.

He waited only until he felt Cal’s answer in his mind before
he whirled and raced for the paved road half a mile from where the large
grouping of tracks congregated. Gar had no doubt that his younger sibling could
take on the pack and survive if he were not hampered by the need to protect his
little mate. But alone in an unprotected house with only the Lykos omega for help,
Cal would be easy prey for the whole pack, since he would be preoccupied with
protecting her instead of himself. And he had no desire to see another he loved
die.

The pack had been whittled down to five adult males and four
females. One of those females was now Cal’s mate. But the remaining eight would
be formidable in a single-minded attack. He hated the thought of killing
females, but if they threatened his family…

Jessie came awake with a muffled gasp as her mate pressed a
calloused hand to her mouth and breathed beside her ear, “No noise. Your pack
is coming. No time. We need to run—now! If they catch us in the open the males
will come after me. You must shift. You will have the strength to fight off the
other females if they attack. I doubt that they will. Gar is heading this way.
We need to go quickly.”

She struggled up from the bed and followed him without
question, her mind a whirl of confusion. Her mate shifted in a single heartbeat
and leaped out the door and down the rickety stairs to the front entrance.
Shift?
He wants me to shift? Why?
Was he going to send her back to them, after
all? Didn’t she have a say in the matter?

Seeing the satiny golden coat with its shadowy-dark
paw-print patches moving through the night ahead of her, she focused all her
thoughts on making the shift so that she could keep up with his amazing
strides. She struggled to force the change but nothing happened. She bit back a
frustrated cry and ran after him on her bare human feet, wincing with pain as
sticks and rocks cut her flesh.

Soon he was out of sight.

Shift, Jessie!
His words reverberated inside her
skull as she panicked.

She heard them before she saw them. The big hunting males of
the pack tore past her, hot on the tracks of her mate. Jock streaked past her,
his shoulder striking her solidly to knock her to the ground as he snarled at
her to stay where she was or suffer an even worse punishment for her treason.
She obeyed out of habit rather than desire, watching the entire pack race after
Cal, except for the thin dark-gray female who stayed to guard her. The female
bared her yellow fangs and laid her ears back, and Jessie moved her eyes over
the crouching creature. They had left the most cowardly of the pack to guard
her? She knew Gia had been only one step above her in the pack. And now they
assumed that their old omega was willing to sit around and let this skinny
bitch boss her?

“Gia! So you are the omega now that I left?” she said
tauntingly as she rose slowly from the damp earth.

Having had a blessed respite from her beaten-down status,
Jessie found the courage and spirit to torment her former tormentor. She was no
longer their omega. She was Cal’s blood mate. And the terror that she had
experienced at Jock’s command melted as her own rage surfaced.

Gia’s lips lifted warningly. A whining growl emerged from
her throat, and Jessie laughed. “You want to take me on, you flea-bitten piece
of cat bait? You really think I will stand here and let you bully me? You’ve
never killed more than a mouse in your life. I fought Jock and lived. I will
give you exactly three seconds to turn around and take your ugly, stinky
carcass out of my sight before I tear your head off and eat your brains.”

Rage felt good. Her anger poured out over the charcoal-gray
Lykos, and she began counting. “One…”

The Lykos growled halfheartedly, held for the count of
“two”, then whirled and raced after the rest of the pack, not looking back.
Jessie sank down with a gasp of shaky relief onto the leafy ground and covered
her face with her grimy hands. She stared off after Cal and the pack. She felt
worthless once more. What use was she to her strong and courageous mate? She
couldn’t even shift to protect herself! The weakness that she’d shown was
unforgivable. He deserved better than a stupid, weak Lykos who couldn’t even
manage to follow his simplest command. He deserved…Hallie.

Jessie winced at the comparison. She let her eyes slip
downward over her dirty, pale skin and she gave a shudder of revulsion. Why
would he want something like her? Especially after she had failed him. She drew
a shuddery breath and climbed to her feet again. She heard the scream of the
huge black alpha cat and the sounds of battle came to her ears. Trying
desperately to shift, she wavered for several seconds, then with a muffled cry of
anguish she fled naked and barefoot into the woods, wanting to get as far away
from Cal and Jock and Gina and all of them as possible and cry herself into
oblivion.

She ran headlong through the low growth of the woods,
ignoring the stinging scratches of branches and twigs on her naked skin and
ignoring the pain in her soft human feet. She knew that Cal would not have left
her if he had thought she was too weak to shift. He had commanded her to do
just one thing…and she couldn’t even manage to do that simple thing for him.
Fear had caused her to hesitate and falter. She wasn’t worthy of his love. She
wasn’t strong enough for Cal. Anguish filled her and she stumbled over a
knotted root and tumbled face-first onto the damp earth.
I should just dig a
hole and crawl in.

Gar reached the paved road just as Cal burst from the
trees…alone. The pack was on him, and Gar’s shriek of challenge made one of
them falter and peel off, racing back into the trees. The other seven tried
valiantly to bring his sibling down before the leopard could reach safety, but
the sight of the huge black devil charging them sent another couple skittering
off into the darkness, leaving only five to face the two infuriated cats. Cal
rolled and took one lanky male out with his hind claws, gutting him and
snapping his neck. The other four latched on to the younger shifter and dragged
him down for a few seconds, before Gar reached the dog-pile and crushed the
spine of a larger female in his jaws as he dragged her off his brother.

Gar saw the huge black wolf that was most intent on taking
Cal out, and he gathered his massive frame for a leap. But before he landed on
the Lykos’ back, his brother had torn the male’s throat out, leaving him
nothing but a quivering carcass to smash under his weight. Gar whirled and
leaped onto another female that was trying to make a getaway, and gutted her
with one swipe of flared claws before snapping her scruffy neck and tearing her
head from her shoulders. The other male was already in the safety of the trees
when the brothers turned to stare at the carnage.

Where is your mate?

Cal growled deep in his chest and panted as he licked the
deep gouges left by the Lykos alpha’s powerful teeth.
She shifted and is
safe…without the fear of this bastard killing her.

Gar shifted to his human form and checked his brother’s
bleeding shoulder and flanks. “You released her?”

Cal sank onto his side on the pavement and panted wearily.
They
were right on our heels. I couldn’t kill all of them. There was no other way
for her to escape but to shift.

“You told her to shift and rejoin her pack?” Gar’s voice was
incredulous.

Cal lifted his head and bared his fangs.
Hell, no! I told
her to shift to protect herself! They were after me. She had a better chance to
escape if she shifted. A human is no match for a full-grown Lykos.

Gar’s dark-gold eyes noted his sibling’s many wounds.
“Probably the smartest thing, under the circumstances. But now we need to round
the rest of the pack up and force them out.” He wiped a trickle of blood from
his face and drew a shuddering breath. “We need to find her and make sure she’s
safe with Hallie and the boys. One of the Lykos breached the security system
and almost got inside the boys’ room tonight. They have to be driven out. No
more tolerance.”

Cal struggled up from the blood-smeared pavement and shook
his body hard to free himself of the taint of Lykos blood and saliva. He lifted
his head and sniffed the breeze. His thoughts went a little haywire as he
realized that his mate’s faint scent was still human. Panic engulfed him and he
bolted back toward the house, unmindful that he was weakened by injuries that
needed time to heal.

Go to your family. I’ll bring Jessie there.

He heard Gar’s deep words behind him as he streaked into the
trees.
There are still five of them out there, brother…

My mate is out there—alone! Go to Hallie and your sons!