The front door was wide open, and the sound of glass breaking rang out across the neighborhood. Paul was furious. The house reeked of those pack dogs. He could tell they'd just left. And Sarah went with them. Bitch! She was his, and he wasn't going to give her up. Paul ripped the walls apart, tore down the bannister, broke every piece of furniture.
Gary stood in the middle of the living room and let Paul take out his anger on the house. It was pretty much gutted, the same as those mutts would be when they met in battle. Gary smirked, picturing the bloody scene they would leave behind. And once the males were dead, it didn't matter if a female had been mated or not. He and his pack would have them. In ancient times one Alpha male would have several mates, not just one. He would sire cubs with as many females as possible. That was the way it should be. He had read the history of his kind when he'd studied in the Crane Alpha's library. The idiot didn't know he had found the secret entrance and had access to everything, including all of the information about the individual packs. That had certainly come in handy recently.
Paul stood at the destroyed doorway, catching his breath. There really wasn't much more to damage. He felt better. A little. He'd feel even better when he held the bloody entrails of the male who thought Sarah was his. She'd beg him to take her when he was through with her and her supposed mate. She'd beg.
The sirens in the distance caught their attention. Gary motioned it was time to leave. The Police cars pulled up to the house just as the two wolves made it to the nearby woods. Luckily for them, all the pack members in the Police Department had taken time off to help at the compound.
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Karen awoke to the feeling of Cole's bare skin against her back, his arm thrown across her breasts and his lips trailing kisses down her shoulders. She moaned and then shivered with lust as his tongue lapped at the fresh bite. She tried to turn to face him but he growled his displeasure and she immediately complied. His growl was the sexiest sound she had ever heard in her life.
He loved the feel of her against him, as a human or a wolf. It didn't matter. And he couldn't get enough of her taste, whether it was the nectar he drank from between her legs, or her blood, or even her skin. For so many years he'd just been playing with women. It was sating physical needs and that was all. There was no emotion involved, just the rutting instinct and hormones. But this was the first time his wolf had actually been interested and participated, in fact his wolf had completely taken over. And it was incredible! So far beyond anything he had experienced before. He couldn't imagine life without Karen, and just the thought of it made his chest tighten.
At the next full moon when she turned they'd complete the mating ritual and their bond would be in place. It couldn't happen soon enough for him. At least then they'd always be in contact. He would always sense when she needed him. He knew he'd be extremely over protective until then. Three weeks felt like an eternity. Her moans brought him back to the present. He hadn't realized he'd been stroking her breasts, and he could smell her wet pussy already. Fuck! They didn't have the time. "I hate to break this up, but we need to get moving. I let you sleep cuz you looked so damned cute, but there's a lot to get done before the females and cubs leave tomorrow. We need to at least make an appearance downstairs." He jumped off the bed and began pulling his clothes on.
Karen looked up at him with the saddest puppy dog eyes and a slight pout. She was fucking adorable, but he had to be strong for both of them. He struggled to pull his pants up over his growing erection. "C'mon sleepy head, get a move on."
Karen rolled off the bed, and when her feet hit the floor she realized it didn't feel the same. She looked down, slightly confused. Her feet looked normal, but the floor. It looked normal too, but something was off. She stood up and her eyes drifted across the room. She noticed how bright the colors were today. Was there more light coming in through the windows? Did someone clean them this morning? She took in a deep breath and could smell the leather and hickory scent from Cole. Now that made her smile. She could even smell the flowers outside. She hadn't noticed that earlier today. As he was talking to her, she realized his voice sounded, richer? That was it. She walked across the floor with a grace she didn't remember having.
Cole was watching her carefully. He loved her curves. She wasn't lean like the pack females, he liked that. But he noticed she did look more muscular than he remembered. God she was gorgeous. The way she walked...the way she walked? She'd never walked quite like that before. He studied her movement across the floor and blinked. She had a fluid, almost cat like grace. Cat? He had seen humans who had been turned, and their movement always seemed more, what was the word he wanted to use, stealthy, that was it.
She turned and saw the frown on his face. "What? Did I do something wrong?" She was standing in front of the closet in jeans and a bra, reaching for a top.
"You are perfect as always Karen, perfect for me. But that won't do today." He snatched the turtleneck out of her hand and threw it on the bed. He reached into the closet and pulled out a V-neck sweater that would display her bite beautifully. He handed it to her. "This will show things off nicely."
She reached out to take the sweater and felt a very hot blush creeping up her neck as the meaning became clear.
Sarah watched the Red Tailed Hawk soar high above the trees and then laughed when the tiny little black birds swarmed it to chase it away from their nest. It was so wild here. Like a wilderness preserve. But that was on the other side of town. This was privately owned, by the pack. She looked out over the ridge and could see for miles. Deer dotted the hillsides. She wondered just how far out the pack owned. "Does it all belong to the pack? As far as I can see?"
James stood behind her, leaning against a tree, arms crossed. He loved to just look at her. Her long hair was black as night, in contrast to her alabaster skin. The big blue eyes finished the picture of the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen in his life. "Most of it. What doesn't belong to the pack belongs to the Bureau of Land Management, so we won't have to ever worry about encroachment from civilization. Other than the compound, it's all pretty much the same as it was when the Alpha's grandfather brought the pack here four hundred years ago. It's the outside world that's changed."
"Four hundred years ago?" She spun around to look at him incredulously. "Seriously? They've been here since the 1600's? My family didn't come to this country until the 1870's." She studied him for a moment to see if he was joking. He didn't seem to be. She wanted to pinch herself to see if she truly was standing out here in the wilderness with a drop dead gorgeous man who was a Werewolf. "Where did they come from? Did you come here with them?" James had made an off hand comment about the long lives of the pack members and she wondered just how long.
His rich laughter flowed through the wind to her. "No silly, my grandfather came here from Scotland with the pack. There is still a Baxter pack in Scotland. I'd thought of traveling there to find my mate, but now I guess it was a good thing I didn't. I might have missed you. As for me, I was born here one hundred sixty eight years ago."
Sarah had to admit she'd been quite a cock tease in the last few years. She loved to toy with a man, have some fun, and then move on. She didn't want to be hurt again. She'd had her share of bad relationships in the past and had decided the best way to avoid that again was not to bother with relationships. But she had no reservations when it came to James, none! She'd known him for what, all of two hours? She was ready to fuck him right now, become his mate, and live however long she could with him. She didn't realize she was staring at him until he walked up and wrapped his arms around her, holding her tight to his body.
He whispered as he stroked her hair, "Sarah, I'm going to take care of you for the rest of our lives. I know it's hard to believe this, but I love you. My wolf and I have to have you. We wouldn't be able to live without you now. Do you understand?" He gently put a finger under her chin to tilt her head up so he could look into those beautiful blue eyes. He couldn't resist her lips and leaned down to kiss her. He had thought he would be gentle but his wolf was close and wanted to taste his mate.
His lips crushed hers in a bruising kiss that took her breath away. She opened her mouth to accept his questing tongue, and he took it with a force and need that was unknown to him before this. His hands closed over her arms and pulled her as close as was possible as he explored her mouth. He was so afraid he and his wolf would scare her, but she was fully participating. He could hear her moans and could smell her arousal. His wolf wanted to take her now. She was his, he needed to mark her. Wolf instinct was strong and hard to resist, and the only thing stopping him was Carr's command. He had forbidden the mating for now. He had told James to get to know her a little bit first and let her learn about the pack and get used to the idea of becoming a wolf. His wolf was ready to disobey their Alpha but knew he would not.
His hands were traveling down her shoulders, over her breasts, feeling them through her thin blouse. He could feel the nipples erect through her bra. He stopped for a moment to let her put a halt to it if she must. He pulled away and saw her staring back at him, breathing hard, nostrils flaring. She stood her ground and didn't appear afraid. "Sarah, my wolf and I both want you, want to mark you so no other male tries to take you from us. We aren't allowed to for now, but..."
Sarah brought a finger to his lips to stop him from talking. "I want you too James. I've never wanted anything so badly in my life." She got on her tip toes and held his face to bring his lips back to hers for another searching kiss. She whispered into his ear, "I'm yours James, whether I'm marked or not." She couldn't explain why she knew that was true, but she did. "Just because we can't mate doesn't mean we can't get to know each other better." She looked up into his eyes, his beautiful black eyes, and gave him a devilish grin.