Feral Love (Paranormal Alpha Werewolf Shifter Romance) (2 page)

The black wolf sniffed the cold wintry air as he stalked his prey. The fawn was only a few days old and would not live through the winter even if left alone. He snapped at the two wolves at his side and they fanned out, staying low and hidden with the aid of the snow billowing around them.

Closer, wait…
He hugged the ground as he approached. It was not the fawn he was worried about but its mother, who was looking around warily, dimly aware of the wolves that were around. He had not eaten in two days and the thought of fresh kill had him slavering at the mouth.

He stalked closer and narrowed his eyes. When he was finally close enough, he threw his head back and let loose a blood-curdling howl.
Haroooooooooooooooooooooo!

The fawn and its mother both froze and the night was filled with the sound of snapping jaws and the smell of hot blood on cold snow. The other two wolves bowed and deferred to the black wolf. He would choose the tastiest bits and gorge himself before the others were allowed to feast.

The taste of the kill—fresh, hot, and rich—filled his mouth and he tore into the steaming carcass. As he fed, his mind—the one that walked on two legs—was lost in thoughts. Thoughts of a silver-furred wolf, beautiful and graceful. Bones and sinew crunched between his jaws as he found the heart of the fawn and tore into the hard muscles. Why did he think of the silver-furred wolf? Why now?

The silver-furred wolf had been appearing more and more in his thoughts. Just the previous night, he dreamed that she had been running with him. He dreamed that she took him to a meandering stream and there… she bowed and let him mount her…

One of the wolves by his side snarled and snapped.
Intruder.

The black wolf sniffed the air but all he could smell were familiar scents, scents that he smelled ever since he was a pup.
Just your hunger.
He shook the snow from his fur and resumed feeding.

No. Intruder. It’s coming closer.

He bared his teeth and growled. Raising his snout again, he breathed deeply, testing the air for every nuance. Yes, he smelled it now. A new scent that was so light it might not have existed at all. Drawing another deep breath, he swirled the scent around his tongue, tasting it.

It was familiar yet he was certain did not belong to anyone in his pack.

***

Remy heard the howl as she raced through the underbrush into the same path that she followed last night. She froze in her tracks and lifted a paw apprehensively. The howl was the same as the one she heard last night. The world was tightening around her and she thought about the wild wolves of Christensen’s pack.

No, she shook her head. It was just some story to keep the young wolves in line, to keep them from leaving. She looked back. Her parents would notice that she was gone by now. Aaron Van Houten would notice by now and Remy didn’t doubt for a second that he’d come running to bring her back.

She sniffed the air, testing for their scent. Finding none, she turned around and continued forward. The snow fell faster around her and soon her paw prints disappeared. Her stomach rumbled and Remy realized that she was very hungry.

Should’ve eaten something…
She grimaced. She hadn’t felt like eating all day and even if she tried, she was sure she would’ve thrown it all up. But now, she regretted that decision very much.

She could still head back, turn around and head back to face her father. Her mother would be worried sick. Maybe she should go back. It was stupid to run away. How would she survive? She didn’t know how to hunt like some of the men of her pack and the night was growing colder. She’d starve out here if she didn’t die of cold first.

No. Keep running.
Her wolf urged her.
You’re headed in the right direction.

But what was the right direction? Some random path in the dark to some unknown place deeper in the forest? Remy shivered in the snow. She threw a wistful glance back in the direction of home. Maybe it was better to submit. Just submit and get it over with. Justine’s words rang in her head.
In time I did. So will you.

Who was she kidding? She couldn’t survive out here on her own. She needed her family, she needed her father and her mother and as much as Remy hated to admit it, she needed someone like Aaron Van Houten to provide for her. She was just a stupid girl, a stupid girl who only dreamed about running free. If wolves could cry, she’d be bawling her eyes now. But instead, she only whimpered and turned around—

—and found herself face to face with a large she-wolf.

The she-wolf was coated in a pelt of rust colored fur. One of her eye was opaque and a scar throbbed over the other. She lowered her head, a growl—deep and threatening—rumbled in her throat.

Who are you?
She bared her teeth and stepped closer.

Remy was shocked when she heard the voice. In all her years as a wolf, she never once heard another wolf speak to her. Then again, in all her years as a wolf, she never had much real understanding of just what it meant to be a Lycan. Sure, she knew how to shift but other than that, she knew nothing.

A stray.
Another voice sounded and Remy turned to see a second wolf, grey and old, limp into view through a screen of snowflakes.
A stray bitch, from the looks of her.

Wait, Remy wanted to shout. Please don’t hurt me. But she could only whimper stupidly like a pup. How could she talk to them?

I ought to mount you and fuck you raw.
The old grey wolf leered at Remy and stepped closer.
We don’t take kindly to intruders and I haven’t had a proper fuck in weeks.

Back away! Remy snapped but there was no power behind it. The other wolves were bigger and stronger.

The rusty she-wolf laughed.
The little girl wants to fight does she?
She paced closer and opened her maw wide to show rows of jagged teeth.
She lunged at Remy and pulled back laughing as Remy flinched.
She scares easy.

The old grey wolf laughed low and dark.
Good. I like ones that scare easy.

Remy was trembling now. Were these the wolves her mother had warned her about? Were these Christensen’s wolves? The ones who preyed on lost little wolves like her who wandered too far off pack territory?

Just then there was another sound. Paws crunching on snow and strange warmth filled the air. Remy turned to the source of the sound and her heart leaped to her throat.

It was the black wolf of her dream. His rich black coat sucked all the light from the moon and his steely blue eyes stared at her. Blood dripped from his snout. The other two wolves saw him and backed away. There was a strong scent in the air, strange yet familiar. The black wolf approached Remy, steps measured and slow. Then he was close, so close that the only things she saw were those steely blue eyes glowing like the bright star of Sirius.

She stared deep into those eyes and saw an unmistakable
hunger
in them.

Aaron Van
Houten suspected that something was wrong when Remy didn’t come back after a few minutes. He never thought that when he stepped out, she’d be gone with no footprints in sight. The snow fell fast around him and he shuddered as he pulled his fur coat tighter around himself.

All week there were reports that the wild wolves of Christensen’s pack have been sighted near the Blackwood pack’s territories. Aaron knew what a dangerous lot the wild wolves were. He sat with his father over the long Council meetings and heard about the grisly stories of what those savages did to those who wandered onto their territories or unfortunate girls who found themselves lost in the woods.

Remy!
He thought in alarm when he recalled a story he heard of Miranda Vinto who had been dragged in the middle of the woods and raped by God knows how many of those savages before they slit her throat and left her to die. The thought of his own mate being attacked like that made his head spin.

The Clearwaters were still sitting down at the table, smiling as if nothing happened, when Aaron burst back through the door.

“She’s gone!” He blurted out before he even had a moment to collect himself. “I don’t know what happened but she’s gone!”

Remy’s father stood up, his face ashen pale. “What do you mean she’s gone?”

“I stepped outside to get her from the snow but when I got out there, she was gone. There’s no sign of her anywhere. Not even prints.” Aaron stuffed his fist in his mouth to keep himself from crying. He didn’t want to say anything that would frighten the Clearwaters more but the distraught look on his face must’ve given everything away.
Oh God, if anything happened to her…

Mrs. Clearwater clutched her husband’s hand. “Stephen! Our little girl… She’s…”

“Calm down, Maryanne.” Stephen Clearwater tried to soothe his wife but his own voice came out ragged and trembling. “Maybe, maybe she’s on one of her runs at night.”

“In the snow? Stephen, look outside!” She hit him and sobbed. “Our little girl is out there where those savages are! This is your fault. All your fault! She said she didn’t want a mate but you went and forced her to do this! Now look what you’ve done.” Tears ran down her face as she hit her husband again and again. “Give me my daughter back, you son of a bitch! Give her back!”

“Mr. Clearwater, Mrs. Clearwater.” Aaron cleared his throat. “I can go find Remy.”

The look that Maryanne Clearwater gave Aaron nearly made him jump. She and Remy had the same eyes. “You will? Oh thank God for you, Aaron. Thank God for you.” She sobbed and wiped her eyes. “Please find her, find my little girl and bring her back.”

“I will.” He did his best to keep his voice even. “I promise.”

“If you need any help, son.” Stephen Clearwater started.

“No, I can manage on my own.” Aaron said, secretly relishing the way Stephen Clearwater said ‘son’.
Remy,
he thought,
don’t worry. I’m coming.

Remy was scared. In her terror, she felt a stream of warm urine leaking between her legs. Her wolf had gone silent. The air grew cold and the night turned darker. It took her a few seconds before she realized that she unwittingly shifted back to her human form.

“Please…” She hugged herself, aware of her nakedness. “Please don’t hurt me. I… I got lost.”

The black wolf cocked his head to the side and suddenly he shifted as well. The black fur shot back into his body as his snout shortened. Dirty blonde hair sprouted on his head and a powerful torso enveloped his frame.

Where a wolf once stood before her, now stood a frighteningly handsome man.
A handsomely
naked
man
, Remy noted.

But the cold didn’t seem to bother him. He kept his eyes trained on Remy and without warning, his lips curled into a smile. The smile was the most disarming smile Remy ever saw in the world. It made those steely blue eyes burn with a passion that could not be extinguished. For a moment it felt like he was staring right into Remy’s soul and her nose was filled with a rich seductive scent—musky and dangerous.

“Why didn’t you say that when Emma and Locke asked?” His voice was a deep rumble. Beside him, the two other wolves shifted as well.

Remy shook her head. “I couldn’t. I mean, I don’t know how.”

“Don’t know how?” The look on Emma the she-wolf’s face was a mix of disbelief and scorn. “What kind of wolf are you, girl?”

“A collared one, I bet.” Locke the old wolf spat. “Them collared wolves are as bad as dogs. I say we gut her now and leave her out here for them to find in the morning. Teach them where they belong.”

Tears welled in Remy’s eyes again. She never should’ve run away. “Please don’t. Please.”

Locke stepped closer. “I don’t like beggars no more than I like collared wolves.” He picked at his teeth, flicking a piece of meat on the snow. “So shut your mouth, girl, before I shut it for you.”

“Locke.” The black wolf put a hand on the old wolf. “Enough. She’s scared.” He turned his attention back to Remy. “What pack do you belong to?”

Remy looked down. “The Blackwood pack.”

“HAH!” Locke threw his head back in a laugh that was more like a bark. “I told you. A collared wolf! Calls themselves a pack, do they? Can’t even speak like wolves.”

“Not another word, Locke,” the black wolf said in an even tone. “That’s an order.”

Locke cast a long gaze at the black wolf but remained silent.

The black wolf looked at Remy again. “You’ll need to excuse him. He’s not one for manners. What’s your name?”

“Remy Clearwater.” She answered.

The black wolf repeated the name, his tongue tracing over each syllable as if they were some sweet exotic fruit. “Do you know who I am?” he asked.

Remy shook her head.

“I’m Blake Christensen and you, Remy Clearwater, are an intruder on my territory.”

***

Blake was confused, confused and a little angry. This
is my mate? A
collared
wolf?
He had spent the past twenty years searching for his mate, from the tundra of the Yukon to the forests of Minnesota. He had searched for so long that he was starting to lose hope.

He knew what she looked like: a beautiful wolf with silver fur that shone like the bright moon above. But he only knew her as a wolf, not as a human. The thought that she would be a collared wolf never crossed his mind.

In his world, there was nothing worse than collared wolves—werewolves who abandoned the laws of the wild. Those wolves lived under roofs, spurned their shifting powers, and some even went as far as to use human weapons in place of their teeth and claws. But the most egregious thing about collared wolves was their eagerness to slander free wolves like Blake and his pack. To them, a free wolf was a dangerous animal, nothing more.

And yet…

He looked at Remy shivering in the snow. The cold brought a rosy pink color to her cheeks and she covered herself in embarrassment. Her shy modesty and cold-kissed color only added to her natural curves. Her rich heady scent filled his nose and he felt himself growing intoxicated from it. And those green eyes… Like the still mossy ponds that encircled the thousand lakes of Minnesota.

Mine.

***

An intruder on his territory?
A million different thoughts ran through Remy’s head. All the stories came flooding back about Christensen’s pack. Stories of bellies torn apart with entrails and guts spilled on the ground. Stories of rampant beasts carrying off screaming girls into the woods. She trembled at the thought, not sure which one would be worse and not sure what fate awaited her.

Dimly aware of her own nakedness, Remy moved to cover herself. Emma the she wolf kept her one baleful eye trained on her while Locke leered at her curves. Snow swirled and melted in her hair and she tried to speak but couldn’t.

“Locke.” Blake said to the old wolf. “Go see to the fawn and take it back to the pack. We’ll speak there.”

Locke cast one final begrudging look, shifted back to his wolf form, and paddled back into the woods.

Blake turned back to Remy. “I’m sure you’ve heard quite a lot about me and my pack.”

She nodded, not sure what else she could do.

“Speak up, girl.” Emma the she-wolf said. But Blake gave her a look and she bowed her head.

“Y-Yes.” Remy stammered.

Blake smirked. “And what have they said about me?”

Remy looked up into his steely blue eyes. Was this some sort of trick? Did he want her to say the wrong thing so that she would give him an excuse to kill her? But then again, if he wanted to kill her, he would’ve let the old wolf Locke savage her without a thought.

“They, they say that you kidnap young wolves. They say that you’re all rapists and murderers.” Her voice shook in the snow.

Emma shook her head and growled. “Collared wolves and their lies!”

But Blake remained calm. Nodding, he said. “There is a kernel of truth to even the worst accusations but I promise that you will be treated with the utmost respect when you are with us.”

“You can’t be serious!” Emma gaped. “She’s a liability! Her pack will come looking for her! Plump little thing like that? A dozen Betas would’ve fought to the death to claim her.”

“Yes.” Blake’s voice strained. “A dozen Betas would have fought to the death to claim her. But I’m not Beta, am I, Emma?”

“No.” The she-wolf said.

Blake stepped closer to Remy and before she realized what was going on, his finger curled under her chin and raised her face so that he was the only thing she saw. Heat radiated from his frame, tumbling down and enveloping her in its warmth. Where their naked flesh touched, Remy felt a sweet surge of emotion that reached deep inside and feathered her so lightly that her heart skipped a beat. 

“Leave us, Emma.” He never tore his gaze away from Remy.

The she-wolf was silent for a moment and crunched away in the snow. When she was nearly out of sight, she turned and asked. “Is she—?”

Blake tilted Remy’s face higher and leaned forward. His scent mingled with the heat bathing her body. “Yes.”

Before she realized what was going on, scorching hot lips claimed her own trembling ones. Remy found herself sinking into the dizzying torrent of emotions that rushed through her mind. Images of writhing limbs and tousled sweaty hair floated before her eyes and her lips parted to let in his tongue—sweet and insistent. She pushed against him, her body reacting instinctively to the raw magnetism of his kiss. Heat throbbed between her legs and all she could hear was a single word, echoing again and again in her head.

Mine.