Feral Love (Paranormal Alpha Werewolf Shifter Romance) (8 page)

Something was wrong. Blake felt it in the air.
The familiar scent of fear filled his nostril. But unlike the fear he was accustomed to smelling, this one unnerved him. For almost fifty years, he’d led the pack with Emma and Locke by his side. There wasn’t a challenge that his two Betas couldn’t complete. But when Emma failed to return with Remy, Blake felt unease creeping more and more into his heart.

It was the unease that made him scout forward with Lock after Emma’s scent.

Remy, where are you?
He paced. There had been no word from her, nothing at all since the dream he shared with her. He longed for her to return to his arms so that he could feel her warmth pulsing in his embrace. It grew maddening as he waited.

He opened the link between them again and again but there was no answer. Only a throbbing pain remained where her presence had been so clear just a few hours ago.

He pawed at the frozen ground, digging through snow and earth and roots. Snapping his jaw impatiently, he reached for Remy again and felt nothing but the painful throb.

You know what happened.
Locke blocked his path.
You know what needs to be done. If the girl is
your mate, then you’ll take her back. The Old Ways demand it.

Blake knew Locke was right. When an Alpha’s mate is threatened, it was as if the threat was made on the Alpha himself. The Old Ways demanded that a wolf steal his mate from her previous pack: a show of power and dominance to prove his worth. But Blake also knew that his wolves—brave and strong they may be—were no match against collared wolves. What those chained beasts had forgone in fighting skills, they more than adequately made up with the cowardly weapons of humans. Guns killed faster than claws and teeth.

I can reach her.
He assured Locke but even his own heart was wavering. There were only a handful of reasons why he couldn’t reach out to his mate and none of those boded well.

And if you can’t?
Locke’s stare chilled Blake. It was a possibility that he didn’t want to entertain. For all he knew, Remy might be seriously wounded or even…

No… she isn’t…
But the empty throbbing pain at the back of his skull each time he tried to reach her grew more intense with every passing moment and he was growing more uncertain.

The pack is expecting her, my Alpha.
Locke stepped closer, his fangs exposed in the cold air.
The longer you wait, the more likely they’ll start believing in the other rumors about her… And when that happens, it’s likely they’ll start looking for a new Alpha to lead them.

And who might that be, Locke? You?
Blake stared back at Locke’s cold eyes and thought bitterly to himself. The word that Blake has found his mate has already spread through most of the pack and many have begun trailing after Blake, hoping to catch a scent of this new wolf. In the few hours since his return, he heard a hundred different rumors about his mate. Some said she was the fastest wolf they’ve ever encountered, other said she was the strongest, still others said she was the most vicious.

Only Locke and a handful of wolves knew the truth: Blake Christensen’s mate was collared.

I won’t send my wolves into needless bloodshed. If we attack the collared wolves in their homes, they’ll come after us with weapons that’ll kill us before we could even see them.
The thought of such heavy losses in his pack was unthinkable.
It’s not an easy decision to make.

An Alpha must always be ready to make a difficult decision.
Locke reminded him.
Refuse the attack and you turn your back on the Old Ways as well as the pack. Send us in and many will die.
He snapped his jaw back towards the Wolfden.
Those are your wolves, my Alpha. They’ll follow you wherever you lead them. They swore their lives to you. It would be an honor for them to die while saving your mate.

Die and bleed myself dry of supporters, is that what you want, Locke? Blake said nothing but he knew that Locke had a point. Would he still be an Alpha if he could not even defend his own mate?

He knew the answer as plainly as the moon that hung in the sky.

But an Alpha—a true Alpha—knows when would be a time when he is the only fighter. A true Alpha ought to know when to declare war and when to simply walk in and assert his own dominance.

She’s my mate. Not the pack’s. I can do this alone.
He said.

Locke cocked his head and growled.
Then you’re a bigger fool than I thought.

Blake bared his fangs as the hair bristled on his back.
You have a stake in this as well. If I’m not back soon. Call the pack.

He saw the fire burning in Locke’s eyes and knew that the old grey wolf was still his, for a little while at least.

***

Aaron Van Houten may be strong but he fought like a true collared wolf. The first bite came down on Remy’s back but she pulled away in time that it left only a grazing wound. Pain flared through her as she dug her claws into the snow to better grip herself. Snarling, she launched at Aaron. Her wolf grew all the fiercer from the pain and she felt warm flesh between her teeth. Clamping her jaws down, Remy felt bones crunching and tasted hot blood washing over her tongue.

Aaron yelped and struggled to pull away.

Fool
. Her wolf snarled. A strong wolf would have attacked but Aaron was no Alpha at heart. He didn’t have the wild instincts driving his attacks.

Remy released him and pulled back slightly, measuring him for weakness. When he lunged again, she went for the throat. Teeth grazed over fur and skin. For a moment, she thought she’d broken his neck. But when he came scrambling back, she realized she was only tasting the blood that had already pooled in her mouth.

His third lunge found her flank and collared Remy would have shrieked from the pain. But wild Remy only yelped as her paw slipped and she fell headfirst into the snow. Aaron leaped on top of her, pinning her down into the cold as his maw opened wide for the kill.

She kicked in desperation, clawing at his soft belly but the fangs descended, slashing at her throat. She turned and felt the pain ripping at the thick muscles, missing the great vein. The pain was unbelievable! For a half second her world went white and Remy snapped her jaw blindly.

Her teeth found something wet and soft. Clamping down as hard as she could, Remy heard a loud howl of pain and saw Aaron stumbling away, his ear torn into bloody ribbons.

Now! Go!
Taking her chance, Remy darted through the snow into the distant trees.
Blake…
she thought. She’d felt him trying to reach her during the fight but didn’t dare speak to him lest it broke her concentration.

She spared a single look over her shoulder. Aaron had shifted back to his human form by then, holding his bloodied face in his hands. He tried to run after her but she was too fast. But she still heard him bellowing in the snow.

“Run! Run back to your savage, you whore! You’ll pay for this! Your parents! Your savage friend! They’ll all pay for what you’ve done!”

***

He felt her in his mind before he saw her silver fur dashing through the snow. His wolf sighed with relief when she said his name. Blake Christensen picked up his speed. Her scent was rich in the air but there was something else there. The slight hint of copper that had filled his mouth in their moment of passion.

When they finally reached each other, he recoiled at the sight of her. Caked blood dripped from the wounds on her flank, her neck, and her teeth.

Are you okay?
He nuzzled her and licked at the wounds.

Suddenly she was no longer the silver wolf but the scared woman he found in the snow. Fresh scars ran along her body and she was crying.

Shifting to match her, he cradled her in his arms and let her sob. All the while, he smoothed her disheveled hair and calmed her.

“I never should’ve gone back, Blake…” Remy sniffed. “Oh it was a mistake. He… Aaron… He, he’s lost his mind. He’s threatening my family, he has Emma.”

“It’s alright, Remy. It’s alright.” He cupped her cheek with his hand. “You’re safe now.” He whispered, fighting back his own tears.

She was still shaking from the torrent of emotions rushing through her. Tilting her head upwards, she looked into his eyes and pressed up against him. Her fingers locked with his and she kissed him.

“Blake…” She was half crying, half whispering as she pressed her warm lips against his chest. “For a moment just now. I… I thought I lost you.”

“I’m here, Remy… I’m here.” He pulled her closer as she trembled in his arms.

“I know.” She closed her lips over his and filled him with her sweet scent, setting his heart ablaze with her warmth. The snow around them seemed to melt as she opened herself to him. Blake Christensen couldn’t stop himself even if another wolf had closed its jaws around his neck.

Her fingertips—cool yet warm—ran along his body and left him quivering, breathless. Their shared dream had sated his desires slightly but it was nothing compared to the real thing. He took in her scent, breathed it deep until it was as much a part of him as it was a part of her. His hands were lost in her rich wavy hair and she shuddered when he pressed against her entrance, wet and willing.

He knew that there was nothing else in the world at that moment. There was nothing else in the world that could temper his wolf, nothing else that could make him feel as Remy Clearwater made him feel, and nothing else to burn his heart with desire.

He lost himself as the winds picked all around them. He felt her nipples—hard from the cold—brushing against his body and drank in her heady scent that left him feeling as if he were running across the night sky with the stars as his pack.

Her fingers found him hard and throbbing. Those same fingers tugged at him and he obeyed their touch, moving closer to the source of wet heat between her legs. Then he was inside, inside and gasping.

Their lips locked together again as she pushed him against the tree. Three times he moved to hold her waist, to slow her down, and three times she reined him in, pressing him back into the hard bark as she rode him relentlessly until his knees went soft from the warm pulses.

Her nails dug into his flesh as she wrapped her arms tightly around him and he felt her tears falling hot and fast onto his broad chest. “I love you.” She whispered into his chest. “I love you. I love you. I love you.”

Still panting, Blake kissed Remy’s sweat-laden brow as steam curled into the air. “We’ll save them, Remy. Your parents and Emma. We’ll save them, my love. I promise that.”

In the distance, he saw the eyes of his pack in the trees, coming closer with Locke at their head.

“I love her,
do you know that?” Aaron whispered in the dark. “I’ve loved her since I was fifteen. She was perfect in every sense of the word.”

He was still bleeding when people started pouring out from their houses into the snow. He must have been a frightening sight then. Naked and bleeding with scratches all on his face and belly. His right ear was torn to ribbons. Someone—perhaps his father but he wasn’t quite truly sure—threw his coat on him and guided him inside. A pair of doctors tended to his wounds and cleaned him up to the best of their abilities but the wounds still stung as he moved.

He drank himself into a stupor despite the warnings that it would make his wounds bleed again. The empty bottle lied shattered at his feet and he stared at the chained she-wolf in front of him.

She was an ugly old thing, with a single opaque eye and hair all over her body that at a glance Aaron could almost mistake her for a man. Her arms and legs were bound spread-eagle on a cross and her head hung in front of her with a tangle of matted hair hiding her face.

Fucking savage.
He thought bitterly as he looked at her.

“Have you… have you ever felt that way about anyone? Someone you know you belonged to your whole life?” His words slurred and he propped himself up by a beam or else he risked falling down onto the shards of glass.

The she-wolf was silent. Her one eye was cast down on the ground.

“Don’t fucking ignore me!” He reached for her face but missed and only clawed feebly at the valley between her sagging breasts. He caught himself on the cross and pulled himself up closer to her. The stench from her body was nauseating and Aaron fought to keep himself from retching.

It took a moment to steady himself and then he grabbed the she-wolf’s face, fingers digging into her skull with such ferocity that he hoped the thick bones would crack. “I asked you a question, you fucking savage. When an Alpha asks you a question…” The stench was overbearing and he could hold back no longer. The alcohol tasted worse coming up than going down.

“Not that it matters…” He breathed. “I’ve lost her… I love her but I’ve lost her…  The thought of her with someone else, the thought of
me
not being with her.” Tears started streaming from his face. “When she came back and I hugged her. It felt like one of those hugs, a
real
hug. Do you know those hugs? The ones where you never want to let go?”

Memory of the hug was more painful than the cuts and scratches on his body, more nauseating than the alcohol in his stomach. But he couldn’t stop talking. Words came tumbling out of his mouth, one after another. “She broke my heart, tore it out and left it bleeding on the snow when she said she was going back to… Back to
him
. I loved her. Do you know that?”

He turned away from the she-wolf and traced his finger along the sharp edge of the glass in his hand. A drop of blood blossomed from the cut. “I can’t get the images out of my head… Her in his arms, bodies writhing together. It's a nightmare, a nightmare I can't escape from, and I don’t even fucking know what he looks like…”

He looked back at the she-wolf through a haze of tears. “It’s not fair. This isn't a fucking fairy tale, no happy ending when somehow everything just seems to work out.

“I yelled at her as she ran, I… I said thing, things that I never meant… But I said them all the same and now she hates me. She hates me.” The words echoed in his mind, on his lips, and around the darkness. “She hates me.” As if repeating it made it easier for him to justify what he did.

“Can she hear these words, I wonder?” He whispered. “Will she ever know? Remy, can you hear me? I love you.”

Glass crunched underfoot—wet and sticky with blood.