Awakening the Beast (6 page)

Belik traced the curves of her stomach and her hips, until he came to her downy patch of curls. Ohanzee had claimed Illiana’s breasts and now Belik could focus on tasting her. He pushed her shoes and her pants all the off, leaving her completely exposed. He grabbed her foot and glided his finger over the bottom of it. She squirmed and squealed before he moved on and kissed her ankle, slowly taking in each contour of her flesh with his tongue. Belik laved a line along her inner thigh before sucking in her flesh and biting down on it.

“Harder, Belik,” she cried out.

He glanced up and saw her expression locked in sweet agony. He did what she commanded and bit her harder. Another flash of warmth went through him. Instead of focusing on that he kept to his goal and found her succulent folds. Tasting her was beyond any nectar or treat that he ever imbibed. Her essence sat on his tongue and made him delve deeper into her pussy until he plunged inside of her. She writhed around and wound her fingers in his hair, holding him tight to her. He trailed his fingers along her thighs and held her hips while she rocked them into him. Her groans filled his ears and another wave of pleasure filled him. This time it was hard to ignore the need that enveloped him. And if it was bad for him, then he knew the need was just as great for the other man who shared the bed. He tried to push it aside and focus on pleasuring her, tasting all of her. The succulent flesh of her clit and her folds called to him. Belik worked the buried bud with his tongue until her breaths were coming in small pants. Her nails dug into his scalp and her thighs closed around his head.

“Enough,” she whimpered. “Need you inside me.”

That was all he needed to hear. As long as he could make her feel the same passion that burned inside of him that was the most important thing. He looked up and claimed her lips once more. He plunged his tongue into her mouth and caressed her nape. Illiana returned the kiss with the sane hunger that resided in him.

She ground against him, pushing her body into his. He saw her reach behind her for Ohanzee and grab his cock. In her other hand, she slid her hand over his as well. Her soft touch made him shiver and clench his teeth so that he could hold onto control. Belik cradled her breasts in his palms and kissed her throat. He turned with her in tandem and lay back on the bed until she straddled him.

Her hair luxurious hair fell over her breasts. She trailed her tongue over her lips and sucked on her finger for a second. He nearly lost it then. It was only worse when she grasped his length and guided it inside of her. She bent lower over him so Ohanzee could be positioned behind her, and they would all be joined together as one. Belik slid his hands under her arms to anchor her to him. Her breasts brushed against his chest, scraping along the flesh until the soft movement drove him nearly insane.

Illiana leaned closer to his ear. “Are you ready?”

“Always.”

Illiana moved on top of him, creating the rhythm for all three of them. He focused on her face and how gorgeous she was. They rocked together and the faster she rode him, the closer he got to coming. He bit his tongue from the bliss that invading his mind, but it was all too much. Ohanzee moaned, too, so Belik knew that he was close to coming as well. Illiana glanced at him, her eyes alight with anticipation. She arched her back as he plunged into her and her muscles gripped him harder. Everything exploded in him in pinpoints of light. He dug his nails into her shoulder and she only increased the tempo between the three of them.

“Ride me, Illiana.”

Belik pushed into her, hitting her clit, and Illiana cried out. Her voice made all his nerves vibrate. The animal inside of him needed the completion. Through their combined connection, he could tell she was nearing the peak as well. Ohanzee was ripe with pleasure and close to coming. Myriad colors exploded in his mind. He pushed into her, burying his cock deep within her pussy. It was that moment that he lost himself in the orgasm that shredded him from the inside out and vibrated along the links they shared.

Illiana collapsed on top of Belik, and Ohanzee added his weight. He tried to catch his breath, but they were still connected and their links still flared. Illiana writhed around from the aftermath of their lovemaking. The warmth flooded him and he reveled in it. She kissed him over the heart and looked into his eyes.

“I love you.”

“I love you, too,” he responded.

Ohanzee rose from the bed and pulled Illiana to him. Belik smiled and got up from the bed. It didn’t matter what Lelana said. Illiana was stronger than anyone he knew and he loved her. He would always love her no matter what or where she would take him.

Chapter Five

Christopher stared into the darkness of the night where there was no moon. The stars were even hidden from his eyes. The shadows of the forest were no longer friendly for his pack and the trees no longer housed his compatriots. He was exiled on the edge of the wood, run out by the interlopers who had slowly taken out the pack and the flock one by one. They had been driven away from the very place he had loved until he was on the dregs of the forest so close to the sea that he tasted it on the wind. The sound of the crashing waves was not so distant. He and those wolves loyal to him lived with the surviving ravens that nestled in the trees, scraping together a living. The few ravens that remained were floundering without a leader. He did not know what happened to Lelana, but without a leader there would be no more flock. They looked to him for some absolution from the fate that awaited them since they had escaped the flames.

He trembled at the thought of the fire that had taken so many lives and had eaten a great portion of the forest. So many trees were charred and burned down into nothing. Christopher wished there was something he could have done. He would have stopped all of it at the root, if he knew now what he did then. They came with the offer of trading. Illiana had written a letter of introduction for them and when he had read it, something made him uneasy. It was too formal for the woman he loved. Lelana assured him that it was for the good for expanding their horizons.

“Is everything okay?”

Christopher glanced over and saw Jalisa standing next to him. The moonlight caught the red highlights in her hair. The council had urged him to take her for a mate after Illiana had left, but he did not want her. She had done and said so many horrible things against Illiana in the past that he could never look upon her the same way. When the enemies came, she had proven loyal to him and that he was grateful for. She was his right hand now, running errands and going in and out of the cougars’ territory. Jalisa was a great warrior in the times they had endured.

“No. Nothing’s okay. Everything has gone to hell as though the stars themselves had fallen from the sky and there’s nothing above us looking down. The spirits have abandoned us. We’re merely an echo of the great pack that we once were.” He covered his face with his hands and felt a howl of rage building inside of him. Instead of letting it out, he slammed his hand against the tree trunk and felt the branches shiver. A few leaves fluttered down around him.

Jalisa squeezed his shoulder. “You can’t think that way. We
will
drive these invaders back to their lands. The forest is our home. It always has been and it will be again.”

“You seem so sure about that.”

She shrugged. “There’s something in the air. Things are stirring.”

He snorted. “When did you become a mystic?”

“It has nothing to do with being a mystic. I was talking to some of the raven priests and they have this sense that something’s coming. Something big that’s going to change the landscape of the pack and the flock.”

“Hasn’t it already been changed? We’ve been torn asunder and are barely even a people anymore. Sometimes I just wish…gods if we knew what happened to Lelana. There has to be some sign of her. We know the vultures don’t have her. That’s a good sign. At least she’s not being tortured.”

There was a light of hope in her eyes when she smiled at him. Christopher did not know how to handle this situation. If his father had been around, he would never have allowed this to happen to the pack. He would have fought the cougars harder, but he was not Simian. Christopher was not the great alpha the wolf pack assumed he was. Something was broken inside him since Illiana had gone. The night of his pack ascension to alpha he had wanted to go with her, but he knew the consequences if he did. Most of the ones who had hated the idea of him mating her had been killed or had sided with the cougars and vultures. He had kept up the faith that she had found her father’s people and she was happy with Belik. He even missed the raven shifter and what it meant to share the woman he loved with the other man.

“Yes, that is a good thing. Something’s coming, Christopher. We have to hold on until then. The raven priests are having dreams about a cleansing fire that will spread through the forest freeing all of us.”

He shook his head. Fire. That was all he needed. “If we have another fire then…then we won’t have any home to return to. Even though it’s a vast forest, I’m not sure that we can find another place suitable enough to live with the ravens. They believe life for them sprang from that Mother Tree.”

“I know. It mostly escaped the fire. Their pavilion was destroyed and some of the aeries. From what I understand, the one that Illiana had built for you hasn’t suffered much damage.”

The aerie had only escaped harm because it was on the edge of the raven village. “Yes. That’s a good thing, but that life is behind me. Everyone looks to me to lead them and that’s what I have to do. I have to forget about the past.” He reached up and stroked the raven feather woven into his hair. It was Illiana’s, a tradition the ravens had to show they were mated. Christopher only took it out to bathe. Every time he looked at it, the purple gleam reminded him of her dark hair and the soft black pelt when she was a wolf. She had sacrificed everything for him so they could be together and in the end it had backfired. When she was accepted into the pack, she had gone against her mother. Then he had pushed her away…but that was behind him and she was gone.

“Don’t worry, Christopher. Hold on to your hope. You’ll get all of us through this.” Jalisa left him to his thoughts.

He stared up at the sky and felt the breeze wrap around him. Right now he wished he had wings so he could fly away and flee his situation. Then again, he imaged the tendrils of the wind was really Illiana touching his cheek. He envisioned her standing behind him running her fingers through his hair. The way she had spoken to the element, he wondered if it would carry a message across the lands to her.

“She spoke to you all the time and said you understood her. If only this once, find her. Tell her to come home. Tell her I need her. We all need her.” Christopher closed his eyes and thought he felt a glimmer of response from the air, but he was not sure. The draft meandered off and rejoined the rest of the breeze. He sighed. There was no hope.

Nothing and none was coming to rescue them.

* * * *

Illiana woke with a start and felt the air pushing down on her. Images from her dream were fleeting, but she thought she had been in the forest with Christopher. Jalisa tried to reassure him, but he was losing whatever hope he had. At the end there was a glimpse of bright fire, and she could hear a song. It was something that lingered at the end of each dream and had been getting stronger. Most of the time she forgot about the melody when she woke up, but tonight it lingered. The flash of the fire kept her warm from the inside, but she pushed it away and focused on the other aspects of her dream.

She wiggled out from her two sleeping mates and stood in the center of the room. The air clenched around her like a rope trying to hold her steady and make her stay in one place. She closed her eyes and listened to the breeze. It worked its invisible fingers over her body and settled on the place where she had been marked for the pack. A sudden jab from the wind made her move back a step. It was telling her something about the pack and Christopher. Her heart skipped a beat. She opened her eyes and the comprehension dawned on her. “It wasn’t a dream. It was real.”

The air had either heard the conversation and was carrying it to her or she had tapped into him. Her dreams were never this precise before.

What’s happening to me?

She put her robe on and slipped out into the other room. When she did, she was assailed with the scent of cooking meat and bread. Her mother leaned over the hearth making breakfast for her. “Wow, this is a surprise.”

Lelana stood up. “I thought it’d be nice considering I dropped into your life and I haven’t been treating you fairly.”

Illiana knew she was trying to be nice, but it was still so difficult to see that about her mother. “You may have dropped in, but when does that ever stop you from doing what’s the best for the flock and not what’s best for me?”

“I know I’ve said many things to you in anger and ignored you. I kept your father’s identity a secret. I’m glad that you found him and have a home here. It seems you’re learning a great deal from him. I want to make things right between us. And I’m sure you know the real reason why I came here.”

“You left the flock because you were scared.”

Her mother hung her head. “Yes. That’s true and the guilt will weigh on my conscience, but there’s another reason. Before things went all bad, Coret had a vision of you leading the flock and the pack. I dismissed it at first until the fire. I was in your aerie and the air hit me. It wouldn’t let me go. I realized then I was meant to find you. The only hope that the flock and the pack had of being saved was you.”

Had she heard her mother right? “Mother, it’ll take more than you cooking breakfast for us to get closer. I’ve already made up my mind about going back. Of course, I have to discuss this with my mates and my father. With the earth rumblings, I figure he won’t come with us. There’s so much going on that I don’t truly understand. If only I knew what the elements were telling me, or understood my dreams better, my life would be easier.”