I chewed my cheek feeling horribly uncomfortable.
"You've lost your virginity."
"I was a virgin?" That did explain that first pain.
"You didn't know?" His brows shot up.
I paused.
"Of course, you didn't. You can't remember." He did that strange, kind, gesture where he stroked my hair back from my face and tucked his palm against my cheek.
"We marked you, and the Mating Moon is done."
"I can't survive that every night." I whimpered.
***
“Every night!” His voice rose.
I shook my head.
“Vanna Rae...” He chuckled chidingly. “Neither could we. We’d all die in a puddle.”
“What do you mean?”
“It’s the only night of the year we’re like that.”
"Then what would tonight be like?"
"Tonight, you recover. And however, many nights it takes. We've traumatized your body. You need to heal. We hunt for you, we tend you. U
Declarations were one of the parts I’d always hoped to avoid.It was for women to be drug into camp by their mates to reveal their mark to all in the camp. Declaring them possessed by the man that’d ‘tamed’ them.I hate that term.Tamed. Like a house pet. I’d be damned if I were anyone’s house pet.If these boys thought they’d won all this game they’d be sorely mistaken.I stared at them as they faced me across the room. The closed door behind them.What they don’t know is I’ve not forgotten how I controlled them with that pleasure. How vulnerable they were to me.If I was going to stay and be their mate. It’ll be on my terms.Vanquish had set that guidelines would be set.Yeah, well they’re going to be set by me. Determination set my jaw.“What is that look?” Racer asked Hunter.
Soon after declarations Vanquish, Hunter and Racer took me to their two-level hut.“This isn’t mine.” I objected.“Is now.” Racer declared tossing open the door.Every corner was filled with dust except for around one corner on the far side of the base level.“Which of you knows how to clean?”It was better-kept then my hut had been. I wasn’t fair at tidying either.“Mine.” Vanquish said tight lipped.“Of course, it is.” I groaned.“Yes, of course it is.” Hunter mimicked my annoyed tone.Racer as well.“Am I just supposed to bounce from bed to bed?” I glared from one to the next to the next.“Well, you could.” Hunter grinned broadly. “Or you could lay in yours upstairs and call up whoever you’ll have for the night.” He pointed to a ladder nearby, that went up to a platform o
1353I could remember the plague that had decimated so many packs. I could remember vaguely the alpha that had led us from the city and deep into the woods. I remembered his face, seeing him barking orders and knowing that I trusted him completely.But I can’t remember his name.Or who he was to me.But as I envisioned him I felt great emotion, knowing that I had deep belief in him and mourned that I was no longer part of that pack. Though I couldn’t even remember what pack they were.Dammit.But things had changed slightly a few mornings ago.The morning of declarations. I had fled the Hayden brothers and as I was running. The morning breeze fanning my cheeks and brushing past leaves still coated in early frost. I felt soft grass and moss under my feet as I’d run along the wall, looking for a way out.Lara had found a way. So I knew there
Much had changed since the night of the Mating Moon.Vanquish was right.They weren’t the same men before the Moon, nor were they the same ones now as they had been that night.It brought out their aggression, their primal need to mate and breed.But on days like this where they’d worked at the Border much of the night and came in as the sun was cresting the horizon. Piling into their beds exhausted, then filtering into mine to hold me as the nightmares came, were my favorite.“I want to make love to you.” Vanquish sat up.I gave him a look and saw the question on his face. He’s not commanding he’s asking.“I’d like that.”“Me too?” Racer asked from behind me.I gave him a soft smile over my shoulder.He buried his nose further in my straight blonde hair. Taking in my scent.“Ohh, guess I’m breakfast man
“Vanquish?” I wasn’t sure I understood what he was saying.“I want everything to do with you. No holding anything back.” I stared down into his intent green eyes and could see the hard light there that told me he meant what he said.He’ll be pursuing what my dream was about later.He does always want to know everything. It was so breathtakingly intimate that I felt like I needed to look away.When I did he caught my chin and angled my face back to look at him.“Don’t do that.” He commanded.I nodded obediently.Racer was still moving inside me and I blew a breath and began lurching backward to meet him. Bringing me down more fully on Vanquish as well.He hissed an indrawn breath and thrust up to meet my movements.Soon I was in rhythm with both of them.And in moments I heard Racer shout. Catching my waist and yanking me back further onto him
I crooked a finger at him. Inviting him to come at me. It was fun flirting with fire. And Vanquish is definitely that.He stalked to the bank of the water and leaned over it to catch my shoulders.As he did I looked from Racer to Hunter.“Pull him in.” It was all I had to say.They each caught one of his forearms as he made contact with me and yanked hard.He’d been prepared to haul one small woman out. Not fight two grown males trying to pull him in.“Dammit, Vanna Rae!” He shouted as they dunked him, fully dressed before they danced away in the water. Unwilling to take him on one-on-one.But I reached over and caressed his face. “You look good soaking wet, Van.”And he definitely does. It’s no lie.With his black hair slicked back and vivid green eyes keen on me with dark sooty lashes framing them. And his white tunic soaked flush against the flat planes
I was still agitated from my visions down at the creek. It felt like I could still feel the stickiness of the blood in my hair. Darkening my blonde hair to deep ruby. And feel the wet heat of it along my arms.Blood of my little brothers. And I could see the scarred alpha's triumphant look as he stared at me.So sure he was victorious already.But I'd ran. I'd gotten away. And for the first time I truly wanted to know what I'd begun to suspect.We walked into our two level hut. Them stomping off their boots and me shaking water out of my skirts before crossing it.I took one step and rounded on the three of them. "Which of you was it?"They all three froze and blinked at me in confusion."Which, what?" Vanquish asked."Who drove me here, when I was running through the Warwood. Who chased me toward Jaecar?"They all looked at each other then to me."We all did." Hunter said. "I was the first one t
Though the intimacy came easily to us wolves and we felt the need to mate often, I knew their protectiveness and possessiveness was unique toward me.I’d seen them defend me on numerous occasions. Like with Cindy and Aloira.Or when Fury, a large ugly male had drawn too close.But I wanted more. I wanted what was missing.I knew my mates cared for me. But still there was the fact that they’d chosen me for their mate without ever speaking to me. Took me when I was terrified.Rather than trying to woo me. And resentment still lingered in me for what they’d done. A tiny yearning for vengeance that I, a she-wolf, might never get on the powerful males.It’s the way of our kind for males to take the females as they wish. To claim them, mark them.They don’t have to talk to us.But I’d have wanted them to. And they failed me in that.I don