Shift Into Me (Werewolf Shifter Romance) (The Alpha's Kiss) (8 page)

Damon had all of a half-second to catch his breath.

“Fist coming from the left.”

That time, he didn’t think. Letting his instincts carry him, and driven by whatever ghost voice it was he heard inside his mind, Damon turned his head just in time to feel the air from a punch slide right past. He countered. A deep, heavy crunch followed by Hunter howling let him know he’d done it right.

Blood pumped heavily in Damon’s temples. Every sense he had flared to life, as though he had entered another level of consciousness. Time moved slower around him as he slashed his claws.

“Lift your knee,”
the voice said, only it sounded different, as though there were more than one voice echoing in Damon’s head. It was an old voice, worn smooth with age. He suddenly remembered watching curiously as the great elder Poko talked to all sorts of things Damon couldn’t see.

Flexing his legs, then exploding upward, the point of his knee slammed into a wolfman’s solar plexus, which immediately sent that one – the smallest of the three attackers – sprawling into the dirt. He watched the creature writhe and double up before he turned back to the other two, who were standing square with each other, three feet from Damon.

He flashed out one of his claws, purposefully missing both. Hunter flinched backward, distracting the old werewolf for a split second.

That instant was enough time for Damon to throw an elbow that crunched the old wolf’s cheek.

Fire coursed through Damon’s veins.

All at once, he saw the moon through the trees and remembered Lily lying there, perfect and safe in those blankets.
“You’re already everything you need to be,”
she had told him the night before they got to town, the night before all this confusion started.
“You just have to believe it.”

“I... do,” he said under his breath.

“He comes,”
the ghost voice said.
“Dodge low.”

Without thinking, Damon ducked a wild blow from Hunter that probably would have spun his head around on his neck, and gave his friend a sharp uppercut in return. Damon’s friend grunted and came at him again, but with a little stagger in his step.

Damon flexed his massive shoulders, drawing them almost up to his ears, and was about to deliver the blow that would send his friend to the ground in a heap with the other two, he saw Hunter stumble, and lunged forward to catch him instead of to strike.

“I can’t believe this,” Hunter said, out of breath and clearly hurt. “You... three of us. How?”

Damon grabbed his friend under the arms and laid him down slowly on the ground.

The eyes ringing the makeshift arena had all vanished, and the older of the two werewolves was just climbing to his feet. “I...”

Damon turned his attention to the voice. “What was the meaning of this? You really felt like you needed to test me in a fight?”

“It’s... our way,” the old man said. His tone had gone much softer than it was when he screamed and dove for Damon’s throat. “None of us knew you were... able.” He swallowed with a painful click. “We heard about you, we knew you’d been chosen, but none of us knew why. Last we knew, you were just a child, secreted away from the pack.”

Thinking for a moment, Damon chose his next words carefully and spoke in a near-whisper. “Then you’re satisfied? The elder chose me. I didn’t ask for this. And I’ve already been tested once, in case somehow you were aware of all the other details of my life except that one.”

“You have tainted blood,” the old man said. “Pokorann must have plans for you that we can’t understand.”

“Tainted?” Damon snarled, leapt to his feet and grabbed the old man by the neck, jerking him off the ground. “Tainted blood? You’re talking about my brother?”

“Not just your brother,” he said and then fell silent. “It’s... my throat, you’re... choking...”

Hunter interrupted the old man with a ragged breath and a groan. “Can you lift me, Damon? I’m... my ribs ache... I think they’re broken.” He let out a laugh that obviously hurt. “You’ve got a hell of a left hook, no matter what Nat says about your heredity.”

Damon shot the old man one more vile-filled glance and then replaced him on the ground. “Nat?” Damon asked. “That is your name, old one?”

The old man nodded. “Nathaniel. But... yes, Alpha, that is my name.”

Hearing that word, that title, sent a shock crawling through Damon. It was the first time anyone had referred to him with that kind of deference, that sort of respect.

His thoughts turned to Lily, then to Poko in his cave, then finally back to the discomfort of reality, to the leaves under his bare, clawed feet, and to his friend asking him for help.

Damon nodded. “Good. Then I’ve proven myself to you, Nathaniel? My family’s past no longer bothers you? If it’s the Carak you’re worried about...” Damon paused, noticing the man shifted his weight from one clawed foot to another. “Know that I exiled my brother. I am aware of my past. I won’t pretend to know all the details, or even most of them. But know that you, the Skarachee, are my true family.”

While waiting for Nat to answer, Damon turned and helped his friend to his feet. Hunter moaned and then grabbed his ribs, hunching over to ease the pain.

“I can see that,” Nat said. “But there are others who would challenge you. There are others who have doubts.”

Damon rolled his head around on his neck, cracking it. “You speak for many, Nathaniel. You have the pack’s respect. Is this right?”

The old man nodded slowly and then anticipated Damon’s next words. “I will tell them that you’re no pretender. As far as I’m concerned, Pokorann’s choice for successor was a wise one.”

Damon and Nathaniel exchanged another long glance before Damon nodded his acceptance. “I’m counting on you,” he said finally. Then, something else struck him. “Is there one of us named Carrell?”

Nat looked taken aback. “Yes... well, in a way. He’s been withdrawn from the pack for years. If we’re talking about the same person, he’s in charge of the town records, under the courthouse.”

Damon’s jaw tightened, but he decided that caution was for the best, and said no more. “Thank you. Go now to the others.”

“I will Alpha. And thank you.”

With that, the old man retreated a few steps, then crouched and went fully lupine before running. Hunter’s ragged breathing caught Damon’s attention.

“Let’s get you back home,” Damon said. “Sorry for the ribs.”

Hunter shook his head, laughing. “You’ll have a sore jaw,” he said. “I got at least one good shot at you. I hope, anyway.”

Damon cracked a smile. “Yeah,” he rubbed a place on his chin that had just started throbbing a moment before. “I think you got a good one. Can you walk?”

“I can walk, but I can’t run. These ribs aren’t gonna let me move very fast.”

Looking up, Damon realized there were only a couple of hours before the sun came up. He didn’t want to be away from Lily for any longer than he absolutely had to be. And, aside from that, he knew he needed to warn her about Carrell. Undoubtedly, the rogue werewolf had some way to know who
she
was.

It was all Damon could do to not resolve to stop her from going to the courthouse. But he wasn’t going to let her go without at least knowing that there was a danger, no matter how vague.

“If you want to go ahead,” Hunter said, “I can make it on my own.”

“Ride?” Damon replied. “I’m strong enough to carry you.”

That got a laugh from Hunter that made him grab his ribs again. “The thought of riding you home is... Oh God, this hurts. Don’t make me laugh. Thank you,” he said, “but no, I think that would be too big of a blow to my dignity.”

“You’re sure? No one would know,” Damon said.

“Yeah, I’ll be fine. I’ve been hurt worse and made it home. You go on. You got someone you need to see. Oh, Damon?”

“Yeah?” he said, turning back to his friend. With the adrenaline subsiding, Damon’s side had started to ache, and so had his stomach from where he’d been pummeled.

“Why’d you ask about Carrell? That’s a name I haven’t heard in a long time. Guy just stays in those dusty archives all day. Wait a minute. Courthouse.” Damon saw the lines begin to connect in Hunter’s mind. “That’s where Lily... There’s something you’re not telling me.”

Damon shook his head. “Just a hunch,” he said. “I don’t know why, but that name... something in the back of my mind made me think of that name, but I can’t say what it was.”

Searching his mind, trying to remember what happened, Damon felt a strange, slick, purple heat caress the inside of his skull. The memory that only seconds before had been on the edge of his grasp, slid away.

“You all right?” Hunter asked. “You got this weird look on your face and got all glassy-eyed for a second.”

“Yeah,” Damon said. “Sorry, I just... I was thinking.”

“See you later? I’ll be behind you a couple of hours.” Hunter crouched and took his wolf form, loping slowly after Damon, who did the same, but took off like a shot across the ground.

With the moon lighting his way, a silver trail led him home.

Lily. I’m coming for you.

The only thing on his mind, the only thing that mattered filled his mind. As Damon charged toward home, wind whipped through his fur, and his paws pounded across the dirt, but all he could think about was feeling his mate’s warmth against him.

His need for Lily, to make sure she was safe, was what drove him harder and faster than he’d ever gone before.

––––––––

“O
h,” I said, rolling over and feeling a muscular chest under my elbow that immediately got me smiling. “Good morning.”

A smile stretched across my face. I sorta expected him to be gone again, but waking up in Damon’s arms was everything I ever wanted. Him and me, just like this, is how every day should start.

And maybe someday, this is how everyday
will
start. But right then, there were other things to think about.

At least, other things were on my mind until I kissed Damon, intending to bid him a silent goodbye and leave him sleeping. But he opened those blazing eyes, and right that second, he had me.

“Long night?” I asked. He had bags under his eyes that made him look a lot more tired than he probably was.

“Oh God,” he said, groaning. “How did you know?”

With his normal, effortless way, he draped his fingers across the bare skin on my side. Little goosebumps followed the soft sweeps of his fingertips.

I smiled and craned my neck a little to kiss Damon’s slightly-scraggly neck. “I woke up in the middle of the night and you were gone,” I said.

Sliding one arm underneath his massive body and another around his waist, I pulled myself close to Damon’s burning hot skin and threw a leg around him. A charge shot through me, electrifying my nerves, as his heat caressed my deepest places.

“And...”

“And?” he asked, tilting my face to his and kissing my cheek, then my neck, then sucking my bottom lip gently between his teeth. “And what?”

Damon pushed his hips against me. The pressure drove a whispered sigh out of me that ended with a shudder when he moved between my legs. “And,” I breathed. “There’s dirt on your neck.”

He smiled wide, flipped me over onto my back, and propped his elbows on either side of me in one smooth motion. I drew my legs around him, letting the size of him caress my sex when I pushed against his weight with my hips.

“I missed you,” he said. “It was only a few hours, but I missed you.”

There was a little tightness in his voice, and when I rested my hand on one of his shoulders, Damon winced.

“Another fight? I thought you said...”

He shook his head. “Not a fight. Well, not a real one. There was a fight, yes, but it was just them testing me. Making sure I was strong enough to be Alpha.”

The idea of Damon, rock hard with muscle, fighting off other werewolves got me burning up inside. I reached down between us and felt him in my hand with slow, patient strokes. “Are you okay? That bruise looks pretty awful.”

In the sparse morning light, I could just barely make out a purple ring around a much deeper bruise where I’d accidentally touched his shoulder. He lay down on me for a moment, then pushed up on his hands and stared straight into my eyes, straight into my soul.

“Do you know what I thought about?” he lowered his head and kissed my neck on either side, softly at first, then sucked a little harder. “In the middle of the scrub trees, the thorn bushes. With three wolves on me, and voices in my head telling me what to do, do you know what I thought about to keep myself from being scared?”

He’s about to say what I think he’s going to say and it’s gonna make me go one-hundred percent crazy.

I shook my head no and bit my lip, arching my back to invite Damon to paint more of those slow, hot circles on my neck with his tongue.

“I asked you a question,” he said softly, then dragged his tongue down the front of my neck to my collarbones where he kissed again. “You gotta guess; that’s how this works.”

I grabbed the back of Damon’s head, tangling my fingers in his beautiful black hair and held him against me. His growing thickness against my sweetest place had me absolutely aching for him, but it felt good to go slowly for once.

“I don’t know,” I said with a soft laugh. “Not getting killed?”

One hand went down my chest, along the line of my body, and slid underneath my panties. He cupped his hand between my legs. Kneading his fingers against my silk, Damon pressed his lips to mine. For the space of a breath, our whole beings slid together, joined as one, and then he swirled his tongue against mine. The scent of him, of his wild strength and the vague remnants of dust and sweat filled my nose.

“You,” he whispered, as he pulled away, sucking a kiss off my bottom lip. “When I was at my most scared, when I wasn’t sure if I was going to make it, the one thing that kept me going and kept me strong...”

“Was me? I did that for you?”

Slipping the hand between us off of Damon’s heat, I pushed my panties aside and guided him in with a soft gasp. “I made you feel strong?”

He smiled, slowly filling me with his thickness. “Every thought I had,” he said, “every single thing going through my mind.”