Releasing the Wolf (12 page)

Not again!

He wasn’t seeing this again – he wasn’t…

Except he was.

“Lawrence!” Ryan bellowed at him, already on his feet. “What the fuck—”

“Storm-wielder,” he whispered, having to force the words out.

He could see it took a while for this revelation to sink into Ryan, and so it should because storm-wielders had become all but myth. For the past two hundred and fifty-odd years, any storm-wielder known to exist was hidden by the pack at their own risk, thrown out, or killed – usually the latter. No one was ever told. Their birth records were thoroughly destroyed, so no one looked for them.

His own sister had escaped being murdered and he would forever be indebted to his belated family for their mercy, but they had secreted her away at their peril and had suffered for it. All of them had.

Before he knew it, Ryan had him by the scruff of the neck, dragging him towards Lydia. “Did you know?” he demanded.

He pulled himself out of his stunned state, anger already flaring at Ryan’s accusation. “No. Not a clue. Did you? In all your many dreams together did you never suspect?”

“No.” Ryan brought them to a stop as close as he dared to Lydia’s charged body. “Fix it.”

“
What?
”

“You’re the only one who can. Elana—”

Lawrence growled a threat at the mention of his sister, but Ryan ignored him and hammered the point home. “You carry the gene. You can fix it.”

He wrestled out of Ryan’s grasp, fear that he thought he’d successfully conquered pushing his anger to new heights. “It’ll bond us. It’ll change everything.”

“And believe me, it’s the second to last thing I want, but I’ll take it over her death … over mine.”

“My chance to mate was taken from me – it’s gone.”

“Fuck you. It’s fear that keeps you distanced from mating, not inability.”

“I have nothing to offer—”

“Then I’ll offer it. She’s still mine – I can feel it, I can smell it, I’ve dreamt it… You can help her without committing. Keep her alive, I’ll do the rest.”

Frustration erupted from him, and he pushed Ryan away. “Do you really think it’s that simple?”

“Make. It. Simple!” Taylor bit out.

They both turned from their verbal sparring to find him kneeling on the floor by Lydia, staring them both down with steady green eyes, even though they stood above him.

Lydia’s eyelids fluttered uncontrollably, only the whites of her eyes showing.

Taylor held her hand in his. Despite his blackening skin, which fought to renew itself under the onslaught of the lightning, and the fact that it must hurt like hell, he wasn’t letting her go.

The man-turned-wolf eyed Lawrence with a composure and determination he didn’t seem able to find in himself right now.

“I don’t know what you’re both talking about – I don’t know what a storm-wielder is, although I’m forming my own suspicions very quickly – but I don’t give a damn. She’s here for a reason. She found us for a
reason
.”

Caught up in her electrical web, Lydia let out a little whimper and squeezed Taylor’s hand.

He winced, but tightened his grip on her, and Lawrence’s self-control deteriorated. Hadn’t it ended this same way with Elana – the two of them in each other’s embrace until the bitter end? Could he watch someone else go through it and do nothing? Fuck. He was cold, but he wasn’t made of stone.

“Doug!” he called out.

Doug approached him, still in wolf form, as did the rest of the pack who stared at the sight before them with confusion and apprehension.

“Can Pete walk?”

The wolf nodded once, tongue lolling out.

Pete hobbled into view beside him, unsteady, but already healing.

“Good. Lead the pack back home. Ask Selena to prepare a spare bedroom.”

“She can stay in mine,” protested Ryan.

“That’s fine, but she may need some space,” he snapped back. “She’s gonna wake up to a whole new life.” He turned back to Doug. “Do it.”

The wolf dropped his eyes once in affirmation, then scurried out the door on a string of barks, with the pack at his heels.

Lawrence fell to his knees by Lydia’s head, placed his hands beneath her shoulders and lifted her up so she rested on his chest. The lightning didn’t burn him and he knew it wouldn’t. Instead, the slivers of electricity snaked up his own arms, wrapping themselves around him the way they did her.

Taylor eyed him suspiciously with a million questions in his eyes.

“It’s all right. Trust me.”

He raised an eyebrow and said nothing.

Ryan knelt by Lydia’s feet, eyes boring into her face, his expression, for once, unreadable.

Lawrence let his wolf surface just a little, careful not to fully shift. He felt his eyes change, his teeth elongate, his ears prick with better hearing; then he bit down on his own wrist, tearing through his vein, held Lydia’s head back by her chin, and pressed his blood to her lips.

~*~

The metallic tang hit her nasal passages about a second before the liquid life gushed over her tongue.

Her eyes renewed its focus; the storm tearing through her, suddenly bearable.

Oh, god.

The world tilted, sucked her downwards, and she landed back in her body with a jolt.

She gripped at the arm feeding her, squeezing her lips around the cut to get more of the blood out, not once lingering on the fact that this was blood – she was
drinking blood
. It didn’t matter. Logic had no place here any more. Everything was instinct and only instinct mattered.

A low groan of pleasure sounded in her ear. Lawrence’s groan.

All at once, she was acutely aware of every single thing: the lightning that enveloped her no longer seared her, and it also enveloped all of them – Lawrence who she was drinking from, Taylor who she held onto like a lifeline, and Ryan who watched her intently with hooded eyes.

He’s real!

She knew exactly what to do, even if she didn’t know what any of it meant. She stopped lapping at Lawrence’s blood, and licked his wound so he’d know she’d finished.

He moved his arm out of her way, and she reached for Ryan with her right hand, still holding onto Taylor with her left.

Ryan crawled forward like a predator, and not for the first time she shivered at how magnificent he looked. Only this time, that body was one hundred percent real, and covered in tendrils of silver light that crackled over his skin and yet made no noise. The grounded lightning somehow made his sex appeal even more raw.

Lawrence repositioned himself, and brought her up to sitting, continuing to support her from behind as she fell towards Ryan who pulled her up so she straddled him, her knees bent around him, her cunt hugging the underside of his cock…

“Ryan,” she whispered.

“I’m here.”

And she silently wept as she felt the solidity of him under her; beneath her palms … “You are. You really are.”

“Look at me, sweetheart,” the same gentle command he used so often in their dreams.

She stared right at him; right into those deep brown eyes, his irises turning an iridescent gold as he showed her the wolf in his features.

His hands climbed from her thighs to her hips, he lifted her a little, and then he was there, at the entrance of her sex. Any heat still within her went straight to her groin, and although she didn’t need any encouragement, he guided her down anyway until he filled her completely.

She gasped out loud and his chest made that possessive rumble she knew so well. “My god, you’re amazing – you feel So. Fucking. Amazing.” He punctuated every word with a thrust of his hips, pushing his way deeper and deeper inside her; eliciting moans from her that were just as deep…

But this was also so unlike her dreams. This was more. More in every sense. More because her body ached for him tenfold; more because he physically fulfilled her –
spiritually
fulfilled her – with a completeness she had never been able to reach when asleep. More because she could feel Lawrence’s blood rush through her with every roll of thunder that passed; because he nipped her neck with his teeth, caressed her breasts with his hands, all as the rain poured down on them… More because Taylor’s hand in hers kept her grounded with the promise of friendship and continuity. This wouldn’t end in loneliness like her dreams did – this would go on. Her need to have him inside her too, overwhelmed her – it swelled her heart.

She turned to face him, fully exposing the right side of her neck to Lawrence as she did so. It earned her some guttural noise of approval from the tall blond who supported her, and she was rewarded by the feel of his erection digging into her backside through his trousers. He tugged on her nipples, fully concentrating on them, rolling them back and forth between his fingers.

Her hips swayed as she cried out at the ecstasy of it; Ryan pounded into her, a little higher, a little harder… She felt a tremble deep inside her…

“Ohhh!”

Teeth scraped her neck; Lawrence’s voice, a whisper in her ear, “Lydia … please.” And she automatically understood two things: that he was asking her permission to bite her, and that it was one of the few times he would ever ask her permission for anything.

“Yes,” she whimpered in reply, not sure if she should be annoyed that Lawrence brought out her whimpering side.

She urgently reached for Taylor, her hand no longer in his, but seeking out his face.

His green eyes glowed, and there was none of the hesitation she’d grown accustomed to from him. He dived onto her open mouth, driving his tongue into her as she fisted her hand in his hair. She reached behind her with her right hand and did the same with Lawrence’s white-gold strands.

Lawrence bit down hard with a moan, and the suction of his mouth – the pull of her blood into him – alternated with Ryan’s thrusts; with the plunge of Taylor’s tongue…

Parts of her clicked into place – parts she hadn’t even known had been disjointed, or misaligned. Something new in her was forming; or maybe it had just finally found its way home…

Someone’s finger or thumb nestled against her clit, teased her, stroked it too gently for the fire that was about to consume her – that was about to consume them all. The kneading of her aching nipples roughened; inside, she clenched around Ryan, who groaned as his rhythm became a race, and he swelled …
“Lydia!”

Lightning struck all four of them, although it didn’t hurt this time, but fed the fire. Through half-closed eyes she could make out the storm. It had been brought to ground with the lightning – a mini-tornado that swirled around them as they consummated their union in its eye. She wasn’t sure if it was herself that commanded the storm, or all four of them together, but either way, it didn’t matter. Her orgasm crashed through her as fast, hard and hot as the lightning.

She heard Ryan curse as he exploded inside her; Lawrence jerked under her as he sank his teeth deeper; she felt Taylor spill his seed against her thigh, and she cried her ecstasy into his mouth.

Oh god oh god oh god…

She was floating, writhing in bliss … it seemed like it would last forever. And it was fine that she was blacking out, fading away into unconsciousness… If she died right now it would be all right … because completion was hers. At long last, after twenty-five years, she was whole. She finally made
sense
… This was a good way to go.

Chapter Ten

The warmth of the sun on her skin caressed her out of sleep.

Lydia smiled. It felt wonderful. And for the first time in a long time, her sleep had been dreamless.

She awoke with full memory of everything that had taken place, and her smile widened. That was a good sign. That meant she was whole – really and truly – there was nothing to remember; nothing to put back together. Everything was there.

A contented sigh left her lips and she rolled over on the pillow, not wanting to open her eyes. Bliss. That’s what this was – pure bliss.

And she was a werewolf.

That revelation did snap her eyes open, but she refused to move; the bed and its duvet far too wonderful a luxury to just give up – and they smelled like Ryan. She guessed she was in Ryan’s room.

I wonder how long I’ve been sleeping for.

She dared a quick glance down at herself. Still no fur. Hmmm. Sort of lame for a werewolf.

With a growing need to explore, she reluctantly surrendered the softness of the bed, taking the duvet with her; draping and tucking it across her like a towel because she had no clothes on and she sure as hell couldn’t see them piled up anywhere.

And this bedroom was
huuuuuge!
Lord almighty, was Ryan a millionaire? She wondered how many bedrooms were in this place. She wondered what this mansion – because it surely had to be a mansion – looked like from the outside.