Bella's Wolves (7 page)

* * * *

Ben had to mark Bella, or Draco would have the only claim to her. She’d bitten him, but as a human, it held no meaning. He had to be the one to administer the love bite to make their union official. With a final shove, he broke the fight off with Draco and returned to his woman. He could certainly scent her body, so ripe and tempting. She wanted to be fucked, and he needed to be inside her sweet pussy.

Ben dropped to his knees in front of Bella. She looked at him with seductive eyes, nipping her lower lip playfully. Where had the nervous girl gone? The woman in front of him was a siren that he couldn’t resist. He traced the outline of her jaw with his tongue, savoring her taste.

“I need more,” she whimpered, her eyes closed. Her request almost sounded pained, as if these new desires besieged her. He needed no more invitation. His mate would be sated even if it killed him.

Ben wrapped an arm around her midsection and flipped her to her knees with ease. The luscious globes of her ass were full and perfect. He wasted no time in plunging his rigid cock into her moist cunt. She grunted and squealed when he impaled the full length of his dick in deep. Her moans of satisfaction spurred him on. Ben gripped her hips in a firm lock and fucked her hard. She pushed back against him, wanting every inch he offered.

“I never got to finish with you, Bella. You have my mark, but not my seed.” Draco knelt in front of Bella, holding the base of his cock to her face. “Be a good girl, and suck my dick.” She jolted forward, laying one hand on Draco’s thigh as she swallowed half his length with vigor. The sight felt oddly erotic to Ben, and he pummeled her harder and faster. As his orgasm drew closer, he leaned over her body, extending his sharp white fangs, and bit into the meaty flesh at the base of her neck while Draco watched.

The act of marking his mate, the one fated to him by the gods, rewarded him with his most intense orgasm yet. He continued to suckle her and pump his seed in her pussy, never wanting to pull away. When he finally slipped out of her heat, Draco’s roar snapped him to the present.

“Fuck!” Draco shouted, tumbling back on his ass. “She bit me!”

Bella scooted away from both of them like a skittish animal, blind fear dancing in her eyes as she crouched low. Her eyes reflected the glow of the moon.

Before he could process the sight, she was gone. In a flash of flesh and fur, Bella transformed into a lithe black wolf.

“Leave her!” Draco demanded, planting a hand on Ben’s shoulder when he leaned forward to shift.

“She’s a fucking wolf! I’ve got to catch her.” Ben raked both hands through his hair, his eyes wide with disbelief. “Did you know about this?”

“She bit my dick. You think I’d let her suck me if I knew she was a shifter?” Draco leaned against an oak, massaging his temples as he assessed the situation. There was no way Bella knew what she was. Her sudden sexual behavior had surprised him, but the fear in her eyes before she shifted proved to him that all the sensations she felt were new to her. Why hadn’t he sensed her wolf? She smelled one hundred percent human, acted human, was human. His mind raced. A real female shifter, one now mated to him and Ben… It was surreal. They’d each bitten Bella, and she’d bitten in return, not with human teeth, but sharp, wolfish fangs. His dick still throbbed with that tender mix of pleasure and pain.

“We can’t just let her run wild. She doesn’t know what the fuck she is,” said Ben. “What if the others find her first?”

Draco shrugged. “She has two love bites. Any male with the balls to try and mount her would have to have a death wish.”

“So what’s your plan?” Ben’s tone wasn’t friendly. His body quivered with the urge to lose his human skin. He understood because he also had to fight the desire to find and protect her.

“Let her run. She needs to come to grips with everything. If we smother her now, she’ll only revolt.”

“We have to tell Ethan and Callen. This is huge news.”

Draco didn’t need to be told. The elders in his pack constantly reminded them of their doom if more female wolves weren’t born. It was the beginning of a mass extinction. Even Ingrid carried twin boys, both a blessing and a disappointment.

They shifted and raced back to the log cabin. Ethan and Callen were both sitting on the rails of the porch, waiting. Only the soft light from a cabin window offered a scant amount of illumination.

“I tried to stop you before you took off,” said Callen. “Your girl there’s a shifter.”

“No shit,” said Ben as he dropped down to sit on the steps.

Ethan slipped off the rail and stepped closer. “This ain’t a game, Ben. She could have killed Ingrid. She’s so unstable that she started shifting in the cabin without even realizing it. Ingrid recognized her wolf eyes.”

“She doesn’t know what she is. Until today, I have no doubt she thought she was human.” Draco realized he was standing there in the nude when Ethan lowered his brows and shook his head. The new pack rules.
Right.
He cupped his groin with his hand.

“Well, where the fuck is she?”

“She had a spontaneous shift after marking both of us. Bella
is
our mate, even her wolf knew it.” Draco couldn’t relax. His entire body was tense. He needed to give his mate time to accept her wolf, but not being near her made him restless. They were all bonded now, so permanent separation would be out of the question.

“Mate or not, she’s a problem,” said Ethan. “She needs to be found before someone gets hurt.”

“You sound like this is a bad thing. Finding a female of our kind is something to celebrate.” Didn’t his new alphas realize the magnitude of this discovery? She was a female shifter, which meant there could be more, or at the very least, she might be mother to the next generation.

“It is a bad thing?” roared Ethan. Callen put a hand on the other man’s shoulder to calm him, reminding him of his humanity.

“It’s not that we think she’s bad, but if she’s just finding out she’s a wolf, she’s never been taught our rules. She could expose us, or in the very least, wreak havoc in the forest.”

“Exactly! New wolves are feral, stronger than normal. I bet she’s on a killing spree right now. Someone needs to find her and control her until she can be taught,” Ethan said. Their alphas, although both dominant, were like yin and yang.

“We’ll find her,” said Ben, standing up. “I don’t want anyone but us near her right now.”

Draco couldn’t have agreed more. As a wolf just discovering her dormant half, her emotions and hormones would be out of whack, making her volatile and hungry for sexual release.

“Hurry up, or I’ll hunt her down myself,” warned Ethan.

As Draco and Ben walked to the tree line, they looked up at the same time. The moon was almost full, a time well known for female shifters to break into heat. She’d be nearly impossible to satisfy until the pull of the moon faded with its natural monthly cycle.

* * * *

Bella awoke with a start. She scanned the area, realizing she was in the middle of the forest. Alone. Dark impenetrable walls of trees surrounded her, reaching up to the night sky. When she glanced down at her aching legs, she realized she was completely naked. Her mind raced with a muddle of images and memories. At least she wasn’t cold, in fact, her skin felt oddly warm…like Ben and Draco’s. That’s when she began to remember what she’d done with them. As much as the thoughts made her cringe, they also made her body heat with that same desire.

Where were they?

Something bad happened, but her memories were clouded. Did they use her body and leave her to fend for herself? No. As much as participating in ménage sex was completely out of character for her, she did feel a connection between the three of them. They were part of her, bound to her in some inexplicable way.

The more she thought about Ben and Draco, the more she craved them, needed them. Every minute she felt more and more alone, and the forest felt too big and intimidating. She stood on wobbly legs and took a few tentative steps over the leaf litter. Where the fuck were her clothes, her shoes? Her stomach protested violently, and her mouth needed moisture in the worst way. So much for being top survivor in her youth. All she wanted now was comfort and protection.

Bella wondered how far she was from the hunters’ cabin. Should she even try to find it after Ingrid tried to hurt her? She continued to plod forward, not sure which direction to take as everything looked the same.

“Are you lost?” The deep voice originated in the bushes, but a man soon appeared in front of her, emerging from the underbrush. And, of course, he was as naked as she was.

She cupped her most intimate parts, feeling exposed and uncomfortable with the stranger raking his gaze up and down her body.

“Who are you?”

“I’m your knight in shining armor.” He smirked. The man was handsome, but not Ben or Draco. She had no interest in any man but them. He began circling her, bringing out her hackles.
Literally.
Her nails sharpened into thick claws, and her tongue felt the prick of lengthening incisors. Fur began to sprout out from her skin, and no matter how hard she tried to force the freak show to stop, it continued.

“What the hell’s happening to me?” Even her voice began to morph into one she barely recognized. Was she dreaming?

“You’re wolf. Like me.” He smiled seductively. More than that—triumphantly. “You’ll be the first female to join our pack in decades.”

She wanted to shout that she wasn’t his to claim, but could no longer speak. Bella dropped down to her knees, every muscle and bone in her body screaming out in agony as she fought to retain her humanity.

“Don’t fight the change. It’ll only make it worse for you.” He squatted in front of her and ran a hand over her hair as if she were some stupid dog. She growled, and he backed off. “It’s a shame you’re already marked, but we can’t be choosy when you’re the only female we’ve come across. Your mates should have taken better care of you.”

She repeated Ben and Draco’s names in her head, a mantra as her rational thoughts slipped away. Red blurred her vision. Bella wanted this stranger ripped to shreds for daring to think he could control her. Once fully shifted, and before she could pounce, several more men crept out of the bushes. They held a length of rope, shaped like a noose.

A little voice inside her said to run, but a more primal urge made her desperate to attack. On four legs now, she backed up, somehow more steady in her wolf form than she had been on two legs moments ago. Her instincts fired off in warning. Her peripheral vision sized up the threat.

“Come on, sweet thing. Don’t make this harder than it has to be,” said the stranger. “You’re the key to the future. You’ll bear our pups for years to come.”

Oh, she certainly didn’t like the sound of that. His dangling cock looked mighty tempting to her sharp fangs. A little closer and she’d rip it off, hoping to wipe that confident smirk off his face.

No matter how self-assured her wolf might be, there were six of them and one of her. They rushed her, a few shifting, the others crushing her with their weight as they wrapped the rope around her neck. Bella yelped, but knew there was no hope. Where were Ben and Draco when she needed them?

As the kidnappers carried her off deeper into the forest, everything became clearer. Her father’s words, always warning her to keep control to protect those she loved. He never liked her to argue with her mother, saying her mother was more delicate than her. She knew what it all meant now—Bella was a wolf like him. A deadly animal, with the ability to kill, to protect itself when threatened. She didn’t need help from Ben and Draco. Bella just needed to gather her inner strength in order to garner her freedom.

The power of the moon seemed to offer her undiluted energy, and she savored it. In a burst of action, Bella twisted herself free, landing on the ground. The men were surprised at this, looking dumbfounded as she snarled and growled.

“Nice doggie,” said one of the men still in human form.

She was no dog.
She was a wolf, a glorious, powerful, black wolf.

Bella didn’t plan to take them all down. That would be impossible. But she wouldn’t be taken away as a prisoner or love slave. All she needed was a head start to get away. Her teeth and claws aided her well in her escape, and the wide open forest offered plenty of hiding places as she ran faster than she knew possible. Would it be enough?

* * * *

“Did you smell that?” asked Draco.

“Are you kidding me? Something happened here. Do you recognize the scent?”

The trail of Bella’s scent had led them here, beyond their territory. He couldn’t believe she’d run so far in such a short span of time. The scent of other shifters overpowered Bella’s sweet fragrance.

“They’re not from either of our packs.” Draco looked at Ben as if he felt apologetic for referring to their pack as two separate halves, when they had indeed merged. “They’re not from our pack,” he corrected.

“Do you realize what this means? Some rogues just found a female shifter. They’re more prized than gold. Only the gods know what they’re doing to Bella right now.
Our
mate.”

Draco rammed a fist into the nearest oak tree, shaking the entire length of the massive natural structure. He shook his hand as he snarled, “If they fucking touch her, I’ll destroy every one of them.”

Ben couldn’t contain his emotions any longer. “Are you blind? There was a struggle here. I even scent her blood. God knows what they’ll do to her if she keeps putting up a fight.” At least she was fighting, which was a blessing and a curse. She wasn’t willingly throwing herself at other males, but if she failed to comply, the rogues could hurt her. The image of her cowering in fear or pain made his blood boil.

“Hey.” Johan and Callen joined them at the small clearing. “Anything?”

“Another pack of shifters have her,” said Draco. “We’ll have to follow the trail. I have no clue how many they have in their pack, so you may want to return to camp.”

“If she wears your love bites, and they’ve stolen her anyway, they deserve what’s coming to them.” Callen, his best friend and alpha, stood beside him, ready to follow him into hell if need be. “I’m pretty sure they’re from the pack that tried to move into SummitLake after the fire. I recognize the scent.”

“Bastards!” growled Johan. “Don’t mention this to Grant. I don’t want him knowing they’re so close to home.”

Grant had lost his mate in the fire up north before they moved to their current location. He’d gone feral for months, until settling into an existence not much worse than death. Stripping a male of his mate was the cruelest form of torture. Most went mad or sought an early death, but Grant plodded on. The fact that he had a female shifter as his mate was a combined blessing—then he had nothing. They suspected this rogue pack of wolves of setting the fire, but had no solid proof. For shifters, territory was everything. It meant power, status, and future growth.

“We shift and go after her. Four of us taking them by surprise should be enough,” said Callen.

Their wolves were larger than most, not to mention Ben and Draco were males stripped of their mate. He knew he’d fight to the death for Bella, as would Draco. She’d marked them both without realizing how significant the act was to a male. There would never be another woman for either of them.