The Alpha's Reluctant Mate (10 page)

“Then why did they turn you?”

She gave a sad shrug. “Ethan was mortally wounded and needed the majority of my blood to survive. To him it was an even exchange; he did after all make me a vampire.”

I frowned. “Without your consent.”

“He thinks he gave me a gift beyond measure and can't understand why anyone wouldn't be pleased,” she said matter-of-factly.

“But you don't like blood and becoming a vampire took you from Ryan.”

“I've learned to make do with an occasional glass of animal blood.”

“You can thrive on animal blood?” I asked, concerned.

“It doesn't sustain us as well and it should be fresh to provide the most nourishment. We can exist on animal blood but it diminishes our strength and ability to heal.”

“Is it dangerous for you to drink old animal blood?”

Sebrina shrugged. “I can live on it but it does leave me weak. I just can't make myself feed off of a human, it's gross. I barely manage to drink the blood I get from the slaughterhouse; anything else is out of the question, but I do drink what I have to in order to survive. No one has to force me any longer.”

From the tone of her voice, I knew that as far as Sebrina was concerned this was a non-issue and there was no need to discuss it further.

I decided to let the topic go for now; she'd given me a lot of information to digest about vampires and werewolves, not to mention Sebrina and Ryan themselves. There had to be a way they could be together.

Tera came to drag me back to the gathering. I mixed and mingled with the other werewolves for the rest of the evening and was more than ready to go home by the time Connor brought the party to a close.

Energy had been prickling just below the surface of my skin since the little welcoming ceremony. During the last hour it had almost become unbearable, like the raw power harnessed in my body was going to burst through my skin. It was almost painful in its intensity.

I didn't even wait for Tera and E; pulling my heels off, I sprinted across the grass to the relative peace of our little cottage. Quickly stripping out of my party wear, I pulled the long nightgown over my head and let Dizzy out to go to the bathroom.

I was just letting her back in the house when Connor trotted up in full fur. With a sigh I let him in and tried to ignore the tension that seemed to release from between my shoulder blades at his presence.

Somehow his nearness seemed to keep whatever was building in my body at bay. I knew with him close I would be able to relax and sleep, so tonight I didn't even try to argue. Without a word I led the way to my bedroom and climbed into the bed next to his large furry body. I was asleep almost before my head hit the pillow.

 

* * *

 

I was on my hands and knees whimpering as his hand fell again and again across my vulnerable bottom; the pain of his discipline built as did the need in my core. I felt moisture dripping to the tops of my thighs as he continued to spank me.

“Please…” I begged, spreading my legs wide and pressing my chest to the ground. Still he spanked me but I wanted him to take me, claim me… fill me with his cock.

Then he gripped my sore bottom and spread me wide as he drove deep inside me with one hard thrust.

I came with a scream.

I woke mid-orgasm, my body still shuddering with pleasure and the scent of my arousal filling the air. Looking to the left side of the bed, I met the golden gaze of Connor's wolf. I would never have thought it possible for a wolf to leer but he managed it.

“What are you doing to me? Are you slipping Spanish fly in my food?” I yelled with as fierce a glare as I could manage, given I'd just woken screaming in a full-body orgasm.

The wolf smirked at me… actually smirked.

“Get out!” I yelled, springing to my feet and pointing at the door.

Connor growled menacingly, then lay his head back down as if I hadn't just demanded he leave.

“You… you…” The wolf sighed deeply as if I were the biggest pain in the ass he'd ever encountered and pulled the covers on my side of the bed back with his teeth.

Deflated, I climbed back in the bed, shooting him another glare. “I'm watching you, buddy.”

The wolf made a snorting sound, then turned his back on me.

Chapter Eight

 

 

The first thing I became aware of when I woke the next morning was that Connor was gone, and I had to admit to being a little relieved that there would be no awkwardness to deal with.

The second thing I became aware of was the intense sensitivity of my skin and the burning that seemed to run beneath each nerve ending. I tried to rub it away but that just made it worse.

Intensely uncomfortable, I went into the bathroom with the hopes that a cool shower would relieve the problem. Glancing in the mirror, I did a double take.

My eyes were no longer green or even human-looking. The amber flecks seemed to have liquefied to take over my entire iris, leaving me with eyes so gold in color there was nothing human about them. To say it was disconcerting to have a wolf's eyes in my face was an understatement.

My face even seemed a little elongated, giving me a feral and hungry look. The realization that all I wanted this morning was a hunk of raw meat only added to the ick factor.

The shower was my refuge from the burning intensity beneath my skin and the strange woman looking back at me from the mirror. I lifted my face to the spray, enjoying the feel of the cool water beating against my face.

After my shower, I at least felt a little more human. I avoided the mirror because I wasn't ready to see the wolf girl again.

Tera was already in the kitchen when I entered; she took one look at my face, pulled a large steak from the refrigerator, and plopped it on a plate in front of me.

“I don't know if I can…” I started, not wanting to admit how badly I wanted the raw bloody meat.

“You can, it will help,” she said simply.

Deciding to push all the pretenses aside, I tore into the meat. “Where's Epenie?” I asked around a bite.

“She's been moved to the main house,” Tera said, watching me to gauge my reaction to the news.

“Why? I need her,” I cried in dismay, feeling alone in foreign territory.

“For her own safety and to preserve your friendship; trust me when I say, you don't want anyone around you who doesn't understand exactly what is happening to you for the next few days. Knowing and being prepared for the reality of a newly changed wolf are two very different things.”

“You're afraid I'll eat her? I might eat people?” The squeak in my voice demonstrated exactly how disturbed I was by the prospect.

“You won't eat her or anyone else, but you might certainly scare them into thinking you will. Your control is going to be more and more tenuous in the next few days and some of your features will shift back and forth as your body prepares for the full moon.”

I sighed and pushed the empty plate away from me. Tera had been right; the raw steak seemed to have relaxed some of the tension coursing through me, but now I felt sick and nervous about what was to come.

“What exactly is going to happen to me?”

Tera shrugged. “Everyone is different.”

I suddenly felt too restless to stay cooped up inside and rose to leave the cabin, but something else occurred to me. “Where's Dizzy?”

She smiled sympathetically. “With Epenie at the main house.”

“I can't even have my dog?”

“You'll get her back once you've completed the first change. Her you might eat.”

Once again I'd been given almost more information than I could deal with; shaking my head, I ran from the house. Suddenly I needed the wide-open spaces the large compound grounds offered me.

I'd run almost a mile before I realized I hadn't even bothered to put on shoes. It was like I'd turned into some sort of wild creature. I caught a scent in the air and turned my nose up to catch more of it.

Instinct seemed to take over as my nose twitched, separating the different smells on the wind to pick out the one I wanted.

When I found it, a shudder of pleasure coursed through my body, I didn't know exactly what I smelled, but I knew with certainty that it was prey.

Crouching, I crept almost soundlessly through the brush, weaving in and out among the large trees until I came to a clearing.

A doe stood at the base of the creek delicately lapping at the water, her little speckled fawn by her side.

I must have made some sort of noise as I watched them, because the doe suddenly looked up from her drink. Her big brown eyes filled with terror as they met mine and she bleated a warning to her baby before leaping away from the stream.

I wanted nothing more than to chase them down and shred them to pieces. I closed my eyes as I fought against the impulse, as sickened by the desire as I was intrigued by it.

A low moan escaped me as I fell to my knees, tears tracking down my cheeks in response to the inner turmoil I was feeling. It was as if a battle was taking place between the human Xandie and the wolf. Previously I'd been convinced that we were one and the same, but now I wasn't as sure as their desires warred inside of me.

The sharp tearing pain in my backside caught me completely by surprise. I fell forward on my hands, screaming as my skin seemed to split apart.

I collapsed face first into the ground as the spasm intensified then finally stopped. Lying there for a moment, I tried to make sense of what just happened.

It didn't hurt so much now but it was extremely uncomfortable. I reached behind me to feel the back of my pants. There was a huge lump back there; frowning, I reached inside my pants and encountered a fur-covered tail.

“That's just great!” I yelled. Getting slowly to my feet, I walked carefully and a little painfully back home.

Jeans were not made to accommodate a tail, but I wasn't about to strip from the waist down for my walk home. I muttered to myself all the way, feeling absolutely ridiculous.

Tera looked up from where she sat reading on the big chair in the corner of the living room when I tromped into the room.

I sent her a glare as I clomped through the room to my bedroom, unbuttoning my jeans as I walked. The relief was almost immediate when I pulled them down with my panties to free my long furry tail. I pulled a long terry housecoat over my head before stalking back to the living room to finish glaring at Tera.

“What?” she asked, sitting up straighter in the chair.

“I have a tail!” I shouted.

“That's a new one,” Tera said thoughtfully.

“What do you mean, that's a new one?” I asked incredulously.

“I've never heard of anyone sprouting a tail in the time building up to their first change, although I think Hank got wolf ears.” She laughed at the memory. “Kind of hard to hide those with a baseball cap.”

I growled with frustration. “You people need a manual to prepare new wolves for these things. It was more than a little shocking to suddenly sprout a tail, not to mention uncomfortable and painful!”

Tera shrugged. “I laid out another steak for you.”

I scowled fiercely before thanking her and going to the kitchen to eat more raw meat.

Picking up the plate, I carried it with me back into the living room. “So do I get to look forward to this every month before the full moon?”

“Not at all. This is the only time you'll have to deal with the war between your two forms. Once you've completed your first change, you'll be able to control it with the exception of the night of the full moon. You have to change that night but every other day or night whether you change or not is totally up to you.”

“I'll be able to change during the day?” I asked.

“Anytime you want,” she assured me. “The worst part is almost over. You'll also have a lot more control over your wolf once you've become one. You will still be you when you're a wolf, just a little furrier.”

Finished with my steak, I carried the plate to the kitchen and put it in the sink. The talk with Tera made me feel better but I still thought a manual would be a good idea. Maybe once this was all over with and things got back to normal I could write one. I could call it,
A Werewolf's Guide to the First Full Moon.
Frowning, I shook my head; no, that was way too long of a title. I'd have to give it some more thought.

Chapter Nine

 

 

The next few days seemed to blur together. I was such a cauldron of emotion, filled to the brim with all I could handle, the power constantly pulsing beneath my skin.

One minute I was shivering with cold and the next I felt as if my body had been tossed into a lake of fire, leaving me screaming and writhing with pain.

Tera and Connor took turns staying with me, but I felt the most peace when Connor was near. I felt weak for leaning so heavily on him when I wasn't ready to commit to him in any way, shape, or form, but at the moment his presence was necessary to retain my sanity.

The closer the full moon drew, the less he was able to help assuage the raging beast growing inside of me. They fed me several times a day—always with fresh, raw meat. I'd lost all vestige of human feeding, and I fell on the meat like an animal, consuming it almost in an instant.

Initially, Sebrina had come to visit me but the last few nights even she stayed away. I was too consumed, too crazed by the changes going on inside my body. I understood now why Epenie and Dizzy were being kept away.

I'd bitten Tera at least once and even Connor was beginning to have difficulty holding me off him when I went into a frenzy to get the meat he'd brought me.

On some level I registered and was appalled by my sudden lack of humanity, but before I could react to those feelings, the instincts of the wolf would spring once more to the fore, taking away even that small moment of reason.