Feral Awakening (The Feral Series-Book 2) (23 page)

 Blood dripped from his
hands as he dug his massive claws into his clenched fists. Every muscle in his
body strained in protest to his shifting, resisting the change back into that
of a man.

 Kat flew to Ava’s side
and tried to shield her from the power emanating from Teagan’s dark form. The
women clung to each other helpless to do anything to help the raging beast
before them.

 Slowly Teagan began to
win the battle and they could see the bones of his face begin to smooth back
into that of a man. The dark hair that had covered his body began to recede and
beneath it his golden skin was revealed. His massive body began to shrink,
returning to that of a large man again.

 Burying his face into
his hands, Teagan hung his head, panting from the pain and exhaustion of his
shift. Every muscle in his body ached and he felt as though someone had run him
over with a semi. The glow that had engulfed his body began to fade until just
the glowing symbol on his medallion remained.

 A soft voice
interrupted the now silent forest. “Teagan?”

 Raising his head, two
beautiful blue eyes met Ava’s own tear stained gaze. Gone was the face of the
beast and in its place was the face of the man she feared she may never see
again. Ava struggled to go to him but she shouldn’t have bothered. He was by
her side in less than a heartbeat. Wiping tears out of her eyes, Kat slid out
of the way so Teagan could hold his mate.

 Cradling her in his
arms he buried his face into the curve of her neck and held her as tightly as
he dared.

 “Oh gods, Ava.”

 Ava wept softly and
tried to get as close to him as she possibly could. Fisting her hands into his
hair she pulled his head back and began raining kisses all over his face. Finally
settling on his lips Ava kissed him deeply, letting all the love that she felt
for him pour into his body.

 Breaking the kiss
Teagan quickly took inventory of her injuries. Ava couldn’t bear to see the
pain in his expression as he looked at her.

 “Teagan, I’m going to
be okay. It was an accident.”

 “We have to get you
out of here.” He responded with a voice gone horse with the feral’s roar and
shame of having injured his mate.

 A small forgotten
female voice answered from a few feet away. “Um, well that shouldn’t be too
hard. I think the cavalry is on its way.”

 Teagan and Ava looked
at Kat as the sudden roar of a Lykan echoed through the forest. Kat cringed and
looked at the two of them sheepishly. “Um, that would be your brother.”

 Teagan jerked to his
feet and pulled Kat behind him as the Guardians began to emerge from the
forest. Keeping to the trees, the fierce looking men took up defensive
positions on the perimeter of the clearing. Looking at their grim faces Teagan
held his protective position in front of the women. He almost faltered when his
gaze met the eyes of one he hadn’t seen in years. His brother was with the Guardians
and from the looks of him he was one pissed off Lykan. Ethan placed a
restraining hand on the partially shifted were’s shoulder, warning him not to
charge into the clearing.

 Kat stepped closer to
Teagan and gently place her hand on his shoulder. His tensed muscles rippled
beneath her fingers, causing a low growl to emit form the other werewolf
standing next to Ethan in the shadows of the trees.

 “Teagan, you need to
stand down. They came here expecting to take down a feral. You need to show
them that you are no longer a threat.” A low growl rumbled from Teagan’s chest.
He didn’t like it but he knew that she was right.

 With a deep sigh he
slowly took a knee and lowered his gaze. Cautiously, the men entered the
clearing and surrounded the trio.   

 “Oh shit.” Kat lowered
her gaze to the ground as Teagan’s brother moved away from the others and then approached
with a thunderous look on his face. Teagan rose to his feet as his brother
walked up and stood in front of him. His gaze softened for a moment and he
lowered his hand to Teagan’s shoulder and gave it a squeezed.

 “Glad to have you back
with us brother.” He looked over his shoulder to the other men and gave them a
nod. The warriors surrounding them all seemed to relax, lowering their weapons.

 “You too Ronan. What
are you doing here?”

 “Well talk later.” Ronan
turned his furious gaze to Kat and scooped her up in his arms with a snarl.

 Kat immediately began
to squirm in his grasp. “Now listen here. You have no right to be mad at me. There
was no way in hell I was going to let you face another feral by yourself,
especially not your own brother. Sending me in made more sense and you know
it!”

 “Enough!” Ronan roared
at Kat and she stopped talking though she continued to shoot daggers at him
with her eyes. Ronan’s angry stride carried them into the trees and out of eye
sight.

 Teagan bent down and
carefully picked Ava up. She nibbled her bottom lip and watched the giant Lykan
carrying her friend into the forest. “Do you think we should do something? He
won’t hurt her will he?”

 “She is with her mate.
He won’t hurt her.” A touch of amazement entered Teagan’s voice as he looked
towards the woods where his brother and the little female had disappeared.

 Storming deeper into
the woods, Ronan quickly put some distance between Kat and the interfering
vampires. Finally at a comfortable distance he let her small form slide to the
ground. Kat quickly took several steps away from the furious Lykan. Oh great,
she had survived the feral only to be killed by Ronan.

 He was beyond furious.
Pacing back and forth in front of her he raked his fingers through his dark
hair while taking deep breaths. Once or twice he looked at her as if he was
going to say something and then stopped and resumed pacing again. She could see
that he was holding onto his beast by a thread. His powerful hands continued to
clench into tight fists before he seemed to force himself to relax them again. 
Kat grimaced, figuring he was imagining it was her neck he was squeezing.

 Finally he snapped. “What
were you thinking? How could you put yourself in danger like that! You could
have been killed! I didn’t save you from one feral just so you could throw
yourself in the path of another one! Do you have no sense at all?”

 Ronan’s eyes began to
glow and she could see that his teeth had elongated as he yelled at her. Well
that was just fine. Kat had been afraid at first when Ronan had taken her away
from the others but her fear was quickly being replaced by anger of her own. She
was sick and tired of the domineering alpha male routine.

 “What was I thinking! I
was thinking that I was saving your life! If you would stop treating me like a
child maybe you would see that I am a grown woman who can make her own
decisions. Any fool could see that sending me in was the smarter choice. None
of you men would have even considered listening to what I had to say so I took
matters into my own hands.”

 Kat could feel the
anger beginning to take hold of her, blinding her to anything but the rage that
was building inside of her. Sensing her aggression, Ronan’s beast roared to the
surface, clawing to be set free. Moving much like a predator stalking its prey
Ronan moved in closer to her. Towering over her he snarled in anger. “You put
yourself in danger and you broke your word.”

 Instead of backing
down as Ronan expected the small female to do, Kat snapped. How dare he accuse
her of breaking her word! Raising both her hands she gathered her strength and
smacked her hands against Ronan’s chest, shoving him away from her. She refused
to let him tower over her and try to intimidate her. “I did not break my word! I
was not running from you! I was trying to protect you, you stupid male!”

 Actually stumbling
back from her unexpected push, Ronan roared at her. Birds and small animals
fled the forest surrounding them, sensing the predator in their midst while the
object of his fury firmly stood her ground. In a rage, his fist slammed into
the tree next to him, taking a huge chunk out of the tree and sending splinters
exploding into the air. Kat flinched and wrapped her arms around her head as
wooden confetti fell around her.  Her breaths left her chest in short terrified
pants. For just a brief moment she actually thought she had finally pushed her
massive werewolf too far and he was going to strike her.

 “No pure-blooded
female of the pack would dare to behave like this. It is not your place to
protect me. You are careless and reckless and you put yourself in danger. Someone
should have taken you in hand years ago. You are under my protection and you
will do as you are told!” Ronan struggled not to shift. If he didn’t get
control of himself he was going to hurt her. He never should have taken her
away from the others in the state he was in.

 All of their females
were taught from birth to be respectful of their male’s authority. It was for
their own safety. Their females are much smaller and weaker than the males and
they could easily be harmed if one of the males lost control. None of their
females would dare to foolishly defy an already enraged male. He should have
known better than to expect Kat to behave as a proper female Lykan would or
even any woman with any common sense would!

 Kat felt like he had
punched her in the gut and for just a moment she faltered. She knew that she
must be a huge disappointment as a pureblood. Pushing her hurt aside she once
again focused on her anger. The hell with this.

 Seeing he was about to
break Kat did the last thing he expected her to. She moved closer, coming to a
stop directly in front of the raging werewolf. “Well, I’m sorry to be such a
disappointment but I was not raised in a Lykan pack. I was raised human and as
a human I can dam well take care of myself. I certainly don’t need some
domineering male telling me what I can and cannot do! I do not belong. To.
You!” Kat actually poked him in the chest with each word. “You have made it very
clear how eager you are to be rid of me. You do not get keep pushing me away and
then behave as if you own me! So you can just go to hell!”

 Ronan moved so fast
Kat didn’t even have time to gasp. The breath was knocked out of her as her
back was forced against the tree. His thick arms wrapped around her small form,
trapping her beneath him. He surrounded her in every way, his scent filled her
lungs and his bare chest burned her with its heat as he pressed tightly against
her. With a snarl, she could feel his claw tipped hand rake across the back of
her neck as he fisted her hair.  A lightening flash of arousal tingled down her
spine in response. Growling low he ground his hardness against the sensitive
nerves at her core. Her traitorous body quickly responded with an explosion of
heat that left her shaken.

 Ronan pulled her head
to the side with an angry tug, baring her neck. His teeth ached with the need
to sink them into her exposed neck. She had said she didn’t belong to him but
she was wrong. They were bonded and she was his to do with as he pleased. Her continued
rebellion against his dominance over her clearly showed that she didn’t see him
as a worthy male. His beast needed her to submit to him. He needed to mark her,
complete the bond and show her who she belonged to.

 Kat barely registered
a burning sensation around her wrist beneath her leather cuff. Her whole world
was Ronan. She hated him, hated what he had done to her quiet simple life. Hated
how it hurt every time he pulled away from her. Hated that he had been so
willing to throw his life away in an attempt to save his brother and yet he
raged at her for doing the same for him. Why couldn’t he see what he meant to
her? She needed him as much as she needed her next breath. 
He is mine!
Something
from deep within her soul knew this and called to her.

 Kat’s claws raked
across the muscles of Ronan’s back causing a low groan to leave his lips and his
eyes to glow even brighter. She wanted him closer. She wanted his teeth at her
neck but she didn’t understand why. She offered no more resistance to his
fierce hold, she ached for his bite, craving his mark upon her skin.

 “Ronan! Kat!” A male
voice called their names from the shadows of the woods. Both Kat and Ronan froze;
she could feel every muscle in Ronan’s back tense in response. Their heavy
breathing suddenly seemed to echo into the quiet of the woods.

 “Kat!” The voice was
rapidly coming closer to their location. Slowly Ronan began to surface form the
haze that clouded his vision.  Reality began to force itself into the universe
that a moment ago had only included the two of them.

 “Ronan!” Ethan and two
of his men began to emerge from the trees a few feet away from them. Ethan held
his hand up to the two men who stood behind him, motioning for them to stay
back.

 Kat groaned and leaned
her head back against the tree as Ronan released his grip on her hair. Slowly
he removed his weight from her body and she mourned the loss of his heat. Closing
her eyes she struggled to slow her pulse and regain some kind of composure
before answering Ethan.

 Ronan’s arms remained
around her although he had given her a little more space. He growled low,
grinding his teeth as he fought the urge to turn and attack the vampires. The
beast
was furious at having the other males around Kat, the
man
didn’t know if
he was pissed off at Ethan’s timing or just plain relieved.