Liana had wasted no time in calling Ellie and Elsie back. Since the triplet's car was still here, David had given them a ride but stopped in to talk to Beta Mark, probably to get the full story about what had happened. Eric, who had been tasked with protecting them, had dashed off on his own as soon as their father was out of ear shot. The three girls had decided to hang out in Liana’s room. She knew it was a mistake as soon as they arrived on the top floor. Her head started to pound again and the humming noise was nearly deafening.
“Maybe the library would be better,” she suggested quietly, “Jake is here.”“You can tell where he is already?” Ellie asked.“She can smell him you dolt.” said Elsie.“You’ve been reading historical fiction again Elsie, you’re cursing like an old man.” The girls bickered good-naturedly, completely forgetting about Lia’s preference for the library as they walked through the sitting room towards the bedrooms. Lia followed slowly behind, watching her feet and shuffling slowly along behind them, not liking how the hum got louder with every step. Would she be able to visit with her friends at all? She was so unaware of her surroundings that she bumped into Ellie and Elsie, knocking them to the floor.“SHHHH!” The girls hissed up at her, as though she were the one who had just crashed to the ground. They were frantically pointing ahead of them, so Lia looked up. There was Jake. Face down and butt naked. Literally. He was lying on the bed with his naked butt in the air for all to see. The humm seemed to vibrate faster and Lia felt her mouth run dry. The noise had to be her wolf purring. She definitely wanted to crawl up naked on that bed with him. Lia licked her lips and wrapped her arms around herself. Was this how if felt to be attracted to a mate? She really wasn’t sure she wanted to feel this way for life. It was horrible, achy, and nauseated with just a touch of tingling excitement. If her wolf would just shut up she might actually be able to enjoy Jake. He seemed kind and everyone in his pack spoke very highly of him. Sure, he was used to people doing exactly what he said, but if someone disagreed he was usually open to debate.“Geeze Lia, he’s hot,” Ellie whispered. Lia nodded. He really was well-built. His body was completely relaxed, but still, the shape of the muscles in his arms and back were visible.“You’re right, Lia, we should go to the library,” Elsie whispered, taking both Lia and Ellie by the elbow, “we don’t want to wake him. He has to be so tired to sleep through our crashing in on him as we did.”Back in the library, Lia sat on the floor with her head tipped back against the plush sofa. Here the hum was just enough to be annoying. If it would go away, she might be able to get rid of her headache.“You don’t look to be doing much better than he is Lia,” Elsie said, “Maybe you should go lie down too,”“I’m not sleepy at all, just tired,” Lai said, “it’s probably just stress. I’m sure I’d feel better if Gran would wake up, but right now I’m worried about her and can’t concentrate on anything. Plus, there have been some pretty big changes thrust into my life, which is quite a distraction. I can’t seem to study or get my assignments done properly, and if my grades fall I’ll lose the scholarships, which just adds to the worry and distraction. I need a way out of the vicious circle, and sleep doesn’t do anything for it.”Just then Mark came in. “Oh, you’re here,” he said, looking at Lia with the same scowl that he usually had when she was around. The brief moment on the lawn earlier was the only time he’d ever said anything remotely nice to her. Apparently, the moment was past. “Do you know where Jake is?”“Sleeping,” Ellie answered for her, “that’s why we’re down here, so we could talk without waking him.” Mark crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow at her. Ellie looked away, nibbling her lip. “We all know sleep won’t fix what’s wrong with him,” Mark growled, “why pretend that it will?”“Well, then what is wrong with him?” Lia asked, her exasperation obvious.“His wolf is unhappy,” David answered quickly, “It can be very hard on a werewolf when their wolf is hurting.”“What’s wrong with his wolf?”“Nothing.”She crossed her arms and scowled up at him.“His wolf knows you’re rejecting them,” Elsie said in her whispery voice. “You’re here, near him all the time, but your not, you know?”“She means you aren’t really spending time with him or getting to know him. Actually mostly you make a point of avoiding him. Jake told you you could take your time, and you are, which is fine with Jake but not with his wolf. He’s giving you the space you want, so he and his wolf are at odds and it’s a bit draining on them.”“I….I don’t understand.”“Jake wants the decision to be yours, but his wolf -”“Elsie, that’s enough!” David barked angrily at his daughter. “Jake said to leave it be.”“Well really dad, it isn’t like she’d know. All of us would just know, she wasn’t taught about werewolf relationships so she can’t know what’s going on unless someone tells her.”“It isn’t our place to tell her.”“Well somebody has to! She’s too worried and distracted to be reading about it right now and it isn’t fair to either of them to keep her in the dark.”Suddenly, Lia found herself lifted off the ground and swung around, then flung upside down over someone’s shoulder.“Mark!” David yelled.“She can heal him, David,” Mark shot back as he began walking across the room to the door. “He healed her from that poison, the least she can do is keep him strong until she’s made her choice. You know how this works. She doesn't have to make any sort of commitment, she just has to have contact and let their wolves mingle a bit. If she wants to refuse him after she’s scented him, the goddess with heal him, until then it’s up to her. I had no idea that nobody had told her what she was doing to him. I thought she was just being an asshole because she was raised human and that’s how they are.”Lia’s stomach bounced painfully on Mark’s shoulders as he took the stairs two at a time. She had so many questions, but couldn’t catch a breath to voice a single one of them. The buzzing in her head was growing louder too, which was only making her feel even more nauseous. By the time Mark flipped her upright and deposited her on her feet in Jake’s living room she couldn’t stand. The room swirled before her eyes and her vision grew dark around the edges. Mark cursed and reached out to catch her, but completely missed and she crumpled into a heap on the floor, one arm pressed to her middle, the other covering her ear in a vain attempt to silence the noise coming from within.Four white paws padded softly along the water’s edge, and the young werewolf was being extremely careful not to actually get his feet wet. Being a wolf was new to him, but he was determined not to let that show. He bent to lap gently from the water just as the full moon crested over the waterfall. The jet black fur on his head and back gleamed brightly as the moon rose high enough that her light slipped over the falls to illuminate the pool of water and the whole werewolf family at the bottom of it. The young wolf looked up at the moon, blinking his heterochromatic eyes, first the blue one and then the brown before he howled his greeting to the goddess.A wistful little sigh drew Lia’s attention down to her daughter’s dark brown eyes. “When will I get to be my woff, Mama?”“Oh my little wolf,” Lia laughed, scooping her tiny daughter up in a hug and rubbing noses with her. “You will shift when the moon goddess knows you’re ready.”“But eva-buddy but me gets ta be a woff,” the little one
There was a great blast of icy wind and the werewoves found themselves being drug back towards the hill where the council had assembled. “COULD LAKE. OCEAN MONE. LA LUNE ROSE. LONE WOLVES. VISITING WEREWOLVES. ALL WEREWOLVES MUST ASSEMBLE!” There was a loud rumble followed by a series of pops, like popcorn in the large theater popping machines. Wolves and people began appearing from thin air, all facing the lycan with their heads bowed.“Where is the pup from Cloud Lake who they call Zinnia?” A girl stumbled forward from the back of the assembled wolves. There was a bag over her head and her hands were tied. Both the bag and the rope disappeared, the only reminder that they had been there was a faint red line around her neck and wrists.. “Where is the mate of Zinnia?” Dylan’s wolf appeared beside her and she dropped to her knees, wrapping her arms around his neck. The council members all looked to one another and nodded.“The Bane is dead,” they said in unison. His body appeared on the
Around noon, bit of a commotion in the yard pulled Jake from his comfortable sleep by the fire. He lifted up to listen for a moment, but since no link message accompanied it he assumed it was nothing important and settled back down when Lia’s wolf snuggled in closer to his side. They hadn’t moved from beside the fire since they’d come in from the chaos of the previous night. Lia’s wolf was still weak and she got chilled every time the fire died. Jake fully expected to hear from the lycan again soon, but he wasn’t in any rush. A few more angry wolf noises roused him again, this time enough that he linked with Mark to find out what was going on.“No need for you to come, Alpha. We have dealt with the problem.”“What problem?”“First there was some commotion around the Lycan guest cottage. We didn’t know what it was, but the Lycan had not stirred and none of our pack members were there so we left it be. A while later Zinnia’s father and Grandfather grabbed her from the shore, but Dylan w
“Something is wrong,” Jake said, “why did the other pack speed up?” They raced along in silence for a few minutes, then David spoke.“There are unknown lifeboats chasing the Lune Rose’s small boats. It’s going to be a matter of who’s got the better engine. The fishing boats can’t get in any closer to help them out. It looks like the boat with Marguerite on it will make it back, but the boat with our pack members is heading for some sort of spillway or something. Sorry, I’m not good with maritime geographical terms. A bit of water that is always flowing into the ocean. It might be shallow now though, and they’ll be going upstream. They might get stuck. We’re heading there hoping to intervene.”“This ability to randomly link you lone wolves have is really handy.”“It isn’t something we can teach to you,” David said, “any Lone Wolf who marries into a pack or chooses to pledge to one, loses the ability. You have free communication, or you have a pack link. It can’t be both.”“I know this r
Jake cried out with everyone else on shore when he saw the giant fireball. He’d told him no. Killian had either defied a direct order or accidentally crashed. Defied the order was more likely. “If he survives, he’s a dead man,” Jake growled.“Even if he brings them back?” Dylan asked. “I said no.”“He didn’t ask though, did he? His message was that he was ditching the plane, hopefully onto the ship, and jumping in as close as possible to the three life jackets. He was probably out of the plane before he got your command.” Jake growled again, but not with as much force. He hated to admit that Dylan was right, and he hated even more that he was hoping Killian would succeed.“Any word?” David asked.“We’re not asking,” Dylan said, “he’s got enough to worry about right now. He hit the water alive, I don’t know beyond that. We'll just wait to hear.”“Jasper tells me the raft is open, but only a little over half inflated. It will hold Selene and Lia, but the men will have to ride the tide
Selene stayed so completely motionless that Lia wasn’t entirely sure she was still conscious. The last kick had moved her too far from her mother for her to reach. She didn’t dare try the link on her own though, not with both werewolves and a Lycan around. She was pretty sure it was all her wolf could handle just to remember to keep all the links closed. The boat swayed on a large swell and her nausea increased. She swallowed the extra saliva, pressing a hand to her middle and trying to think of anything other than the motion and the burning in her stomach. She was colder and more miserable feeling than she had ever been in her life. Either sea sickness increased over time and made every motion more miserable than the last, or the sea was getting rougher. Did that mean they were moving out of the bay? Was the falling snow in the bay just a taste of a storm raging off the coast? On the next large swell, her cage slid across the deck and bumped into Selene’s. The two stared at each other
“What’d he mean by that?” Asked Albert. “Train 'er fer what?”“You’re a wee bit slow or something? Teach her to always do as the man in charge tells her. Strip. Stick her ass in the air. Suck a man off. Beg him to break her nose. Bring him a whip to crack over her pussy. Whatever he says.”“Jesus,” cursed Albert. There was a chorus of laughter. “You’ll like it when he gives you a go with her.”“He...he does that?”“Sure, you just can’t stick nothing in her pussy, that hole belongs to the buyer, but anything else you want to do to her is fine. Sometimes there’s a specific thing he wants us to do, but mostly we can do whatever we want. He says it’s easier to train them when they’re little, but really I think he enjoys breaking the older ones in more.”“How’d you mean?”“Well, this past summer there was this little dark-haired girl we picked up in Mexico, maybe twelve or thirteen years old. Just getting her tits. Anyways, she was fighting tooth and nail when we go her on board. He brough
"For the love of the moon!" Yelled Mark, "how do they expect us to find what they can not? A Lycan who doesn't want to be found can not be tracked by werewolves just because the council commands it! We sure as cats can’t make him come here just by asking politely."The words were barely out of his mouth when David, Jake and Zinnia all cried out, "Lia!" Mark spun to look at his Alpha, surprised to see hope radiating from his smiling face."She is alive!" He said, "Her wolf is linking with me, though not well. I'm getting a jumble of images and sensations. I can't really figure it out.""I got the message scared, stuck, and a call for help as clear as air," David said, "but that is the sort of message Selene taught her to send specifically to me, so her wolf has known how to do that for many years. I don't have a location or anything useful. Usually useful information comes with the call for help.""She in on or near the ocean," Zinnia said, "and I think Selene is with her. I am getting
Jake heard David’s yelp of surprise at the same time he got his linked message. Lia had been there one moment, sneezed, then disappeared into thin air! There one moment and gone the next. Literally vanished in the blink of an eye. The werewolves around him were frozen in shock, looking at each other and trying to make sense of what they were seeing in the link. Only a lycan could make werewolves vanish like that, and they only did that when a law had been broken. There was always a warning too, not a hearing really, but a sentencing so the wolf and their family all knew what was happening and why. Jake took a slow steadying breath. Lia had done nothing wrong that he knew about and a lycan would ensure one mate knew the other’s transgressions. Usually their entire family and the pack as well. Lycan were heavy-handed and unforgiving when it came to law breaking, but they too followed their own laws to the letter. The family had to be notified first. Jake suspected the point of that was t