Bodies rippling in time. Skin slicked with sweat. Drums beating in my bones. Howls echoing in the cavernous heights of the Den.
I rippled into the touch of a dozen, feminine hands, stroking my chest, my back, my ass, as we all moved together. And as the packlink came alive, even our heartbeats began to sync.
Come to me…
Panting breaths, undulating bodies, eyes gleaming with lust… We were in frenzy, and I sank into it like a hot bath, further and further from the shitty chill of reality and deeper and deeper into the animalistic pulse.
I hadn’t touched any of them yet, but opened myself, displayed, invited them closer. And now I danced, body rolling in the throng and rising to their
~ CASIMIR ~I was slick with sweat, could feel it trickling down my spine despite the fact that I hadn’t worn a shirt. As I stepped into the dark den I turned to bar the door. But when I reached down to pick up the beam, pain spasmed at the hollow of my back. I hissed against it as I dropped the thick bar into the brackets, but was forced to take a moment, leaning on it, gripping it until my knuckles turned white as I fought the cord of the bond in my chest that was thrashing, whipping like a striking snake.It took moments to wrestle back under control, behind my cold steel defenses. But I did it.Jaw tight and back teeth clenched, I turned, looking for Toree—and found her just a few feet away, kicking off her heels and already shimmying her leather pants past her hips, leaning forward so I was treated with
~ JESSE ~I stumbled in that dusty canyon of Cazz’s black soul, bleeding and crying, pleading with Cazz my mate through the bond that attached us.‘CAZZ! CAZZ, COME BACK! PLEASE!’‘Jesse—’‘YOU CAN’T LEAVE ME, PLEASE!’‘JESSE!’A warm, solid hand landed on my shoulder and I stopped short, blinking, choking on sobs, and staring at Rake who somehow stood in front of me in this dark, supernatural place, disheveled and pleading, hands cupped at my neck, leaning down and demanding
~ CASIMIR ~“There’s my King. Maybe you haven’t lost your blade after all?”Head spinning with images of Jesse, my body groaning with need, stomach churning, my chest too tight—and suddenly no breath in my lungs.That made me drop my chin as I fought desperately to find air—and Toree, shorter than me, thought I was dropping my chin to kiss her. She smiled and began to close her eyes, pushing up onto her toes to bring our mouths together.Hissing against the pain and cursing myself for my weakness, I grabbed her by the throat to stop her, but then we were there… right there… almost mouth to mouth, staring into each other’s eyes—my breath mingling with hers.And I
~ JESSE ~I lay at the base of the stone walls of the chasm that was the darkness of Cazz’s soul, the black, midnight storm above sending the chill wind whispering over my skin. Dust pattered against my face and I just screwed my eyes shut tighter and prayed it would be over soon.I didn’t even try to get my face out of the dirt anymore. The pain rocked through me in waves that wouldn’t stop now. There was no relief—just the rise and fall of torment.Cazz was… doing something. I didn’t know when the moment would come, but the bond was trembling, humming, vibrating like glass under pressure and about to shatter. I gripped the ground, dirt under my nails, feeling like the moment this ended the earth itself would fall out from under me and I would tumble into freefall… maybe forev
~ CASIMIR ~A wave of such pungent self-loathing and disgust ripped through me, stealing my breath, my courage, and my sanity. I shuddered, and as Toree raised her ass again and tried to find me, a snarl of pure revulsion tore out of me and echoed around the room.She froze, her head whipping around to look at me, to identify the threat—did she really not realize? The threat was… the threat always had been me?And then I realized we were still touching and I almost vomited.Yanking her off the table by her hair, I threw the startled she-wolf to the ground. “STOP TOUCHING ME!”
~ JESSE ~I lay on the bed, still curled up in case the pain came back, staring at the wall.I hadn’t moved since I’d felt the rush of his orgasm. That froze me, because I knew what it meant, and even though the pain began to ease after that, I was left waiting for the mountain to crash down and bury me.Because the moment after he’d had that rush, the bond had gone utterly dead.In the final injustice, for a time before he reached his peak, I had thought just maybe something was changing. That maybe he’d heard me. I’d found hope, even in the pain, when it seemed like I reached him. I hadn’t been able to hear him, but I felt him—as if, in that dark chasm of his heart, the sense of him was floating to me on the very wind that stole
~ JESSE ~I was frozen again. Still sitting, but leaning on my fist, gaping at Rake, utterly confused and shaking my head.“What the hell are you talking about, Rake—what the actual fuck? I never—”“No no! No… not you! Me, Jesse… God…” he dropped his face in his hands for a moment and a shudder rocked through him. I just stared.‘Rake, what the hell?’He sucked in a deep breath and raised his head, his eyes closed. Then when he opened them, he met my gaze with grief on his fa
~ JESSE ~I was shaking, feeling sick, and too hot—everything was too hot.Rake gaped at me, shaking his head. ‘Jesse, you were already his.’‘Not until the vows, not until the fucking marriage bed. You could have stopped him—I didn’t have to be here. You saved me for this?!’His eyes went dark. ‘I helped you because I could see why God sent you. You were here to save him and through him, the rest of us. You can&rsquo