Feral Heat - Feral Hedonism Part 7

The shatter of the winds.h.i.+eld had been loud, but it was nothing compared to the deafening boom that echoed through the night air when the sedan exploded. The car flew apart, throwing hunks of metal in every direction.

The blowback from the explosion dislodged the guards' hands from Victor's arms and sent them all flying through the air.

Victor landed hard on the pavement, his shoulder taking the brunt of the impact. A sharp jolt of pain shot up his arm, rendering it useless for the time being. His vision clouded and a lump formed in his throat as he watched the flames envelop his car.

And Ali? Oh, G.o.d.

It had happened too fast. He'd heard her open the car door, but what if she hadn't had time to untie the loose ropes and slide out of the back seat?

"Ali!" He screamed her name as he lunged to his feet, fighting against the nausea that rose like bile in his mouth.

The first blow to catch him in the ribs pierced his already bruised body like the blade of a knife. He moved swiftly, guided by instinct more than training, spinning and returning the hit as he dodged another.

Firelight illuminated the parking area in front of the barbed-wire fence, glinting off the steel weapons of Daniel's guards. Until that moment, Victor hadn't known what true battle fury was. He'd trained with a martial arts master, honing his body to be a weapon as pack law demanded. For years, he'd known it would one day come to this: him against everything that would threaten his pack, everything he held dear.

He just hadn't known the showdown would involve more than his pride, more than the continuation of his pack. Above all else, he fought with every breath in his body to protect the woman he loved.

Rage drove him to punch, kick and block the flurry of blows that rained down on him, but fear kept him moving toward the flaming car. He couldn't see Ali, and that fact remained in the forefront of his mind as he tried to block hard jabs and thras.h.i.+ng limbs.

"Kill him already!" Daniel's bellow broke through the grunts and harsh yells of battle. "Or must I do everything myself?"

Victor glanced up in time to see Daniel, blood running down his cheek from a cut in his forehead, lunge through the unbroken line of guards who surrounded him. He held no weapon, but he s.h.i.+fted as he ran, his well-muscled human body transforming into the lean, ferocious lines of a wolf's sleek form.

"If you could kill him, you'd already have done it by now," Ali said. Her taunting words carried, clear and authoritative, through the night.

The guards halted momentarily, but Daniel either hadn't heard her, or didn't care. He glided through the air, lips pulled back from fierce fangs, claws extended.

Victor spun around as the Kolen renewed their attack, enraged by the bloodl.u.s.t in their Alpha's ferocious howl, urged on by the way he joined in the fray. Barely avoiding the sharp slice of a curved sword, Victor slammed his elbow into a man's ribs. Grasping the guard's wrist, he bent it back, wrenching the weapon from his hand.

Trapped in the middle of at least a dozen men, Victor had no time to contemplate s.h.i.+fting. He had to keep moving, jabbing and blocking every vicious blow. At least now he had a sword.

Though he'd managed to hold his own, the guards' weapons had hit home more than a few times, and warm blood flowed freely from various wounds. He felt it trickle down his arm from a cut to his shoulder, and pool in his boot from a ferocious strike to his leg.

With a growl of her own, Ali joined the battle. He knew the instant it happened. The air took on an electric quality, raising the hair on the back of his neck. Raw, primal fear slid down his skin, drenching him in sweat.

Although the explosion had made him fear for her life, he'd known the explosion had been staged. She'd told him as much while gathering the equipment she'd need to rig the car to blow. "Mercenary skills come in handy," she'd said with a wry smile while loading a can of diesel fuel into the trunk.

But seeing her pounce in the middle of the fray, unarmed, nearly undid him. She feinted once, keeping her body smoothly arched away from a sword while lifting her knee and striking out with her heel and slamming into a man's groin. She followed up the blow with two more sharp jabs to the man's ribs and gut, which sent him doubling over and out of the rapidly closing circle.

Daniel moved toward Victor, the only wolf among them. He turned his head and fixed Ali with a ruthless glare, then changed direction and headed for her instead.

"Ali! Get the f.u.c.k out of here. Now!"

Victor slammed the heel of his hand up into a man's jaw. Bone crunched under the blow and the guard crumpled to the ground.

"I love you too, babe, but this is my fight as much as yours."

Victor gasped, his fingers tightening around the hilt of his sword.

She couldn't have...

Did she really say...

His thoughts spun, at once dizzy with fear and euphoria. From the corner of his eye, he saw Daniel advance. He was close enough to lash out at Ali now, and she had her back to him as she snapped the wood of a staff in two and tossed the weapon aside.

"Behind you!" Victor yelled, and for a gut-slamming moment, he thought she hadn't heard.

And then, graceful and sure of herself, she turned beneath the dark night sky. Her face was calm and serene, but her eyes blazed with a clear fury that found its target in an instant. Never losing her momentum, she slid her hand inside the waistband of her jeans and yanked out the small black gun.

Suddenly, the guards closed around Victor, cutting off the small circle that allowed him to see what was happening beyond the span of his own battle. A growl broke free from the deepest recesses of his soul, and he poured all his energy into cras.h.i.+ng through the men who held him at bay.

A single gunshot rang through the air, so unexpected it had the immediate effect of stopping everything in mid-motion. Victor slammed against the men and pushed his way through to Ali.

She stood over Daniel's fallen form. In death, he'd maintained his wolf shape. A dark pool of blood spread out beneath him, matting his fur.

A cry of anger and grief rose from the Kolen pack. Victor didn't hesitate. He grabbed Ali's wrist and broke through the guards, heading away from the compound and toward the direction of the highway. The forest loomed beyond it, offering shelter and protection from an enraged tribe of wolves who'd just lost their Alpha.

"Run!" he screamed, but he needn't have worried. Ali matched his stride. Together, in an unspoken agreement, they began to s.h.i.+ft. He felt the familiar stirring in his blood as his body transformed, giving him an added burst of strength and speed.

He glanced to his right at the white wolf that ran at his side. She met his gaze, and his heart swelled with pride as they took blind flight into the woods. Behind them, dozens of maddened Kolen howled their fury.

They'd done it.

She'd done it.

I love you, too, he thought, wis.h.i.+ng he could speak the words but knowing he didn't have to.

Epilogue.

Ali leaned against the open door and watched Emma flitter through the room, opening drawers and tossing armfuls of clothes into a ma.s.sive, gaping suitcase. She moved with elegance and stunning grace, looking more like a fairy fluttering from petal to petal than a werewolf in desperate need of rea.s.surance.

"Going somewhere?"

Emma started and spun around, her hand flying to rest on her breastbone. "I didn't see you there." The tip of her tongue swept out between her full lips, wetting them. She bowed slightly from the waist, the movement too fluid to be mocking. "Mistress."

The smile that tugged at Ali's mouth felt as welcome and unexpected as everything else in Victor's home now did. After living in the mansion as a prisoner, having free rein to come and go as she pleased and to command the household should have felt foreign and uncomfortable. Surprisingly, it had only felt natural, as though she'd never been more at home anywhere else on Earth.

And she hadn't. For years, she'd tried to forget the pack that had made her feel like an outsider and had treated her as though she was unable to command. How ironic that she'd find warmth and comfort in the very place she'd sought to leave behind. Even more amazing was the fact that she'd found freedom and independence by submitting to the will of a man whose strength and dominance made her a better wolf than she'd ever thought she'd be.

Since their return from the Kolen compound, even Victor's household guards inclined their head respectfully as she walked by rather than scowling and reaching for their weapons. That would take some getting used to.

"Don't call me that." Ali folded her arms over her chest. "Victor gave you a home, not me. He takes in strays. No one knows that better than I do." She offered a self-deprecating grin to show that she understood the risk Victor had taken when he'd brought her into his home. "It's the reason we all love him so d.a.m.n much."

Emma's striking blue eyes widened. "You knew." Her tone held no accusation, but her hand trembled when she dropped a frilly pair of panties into the suitcase.

"I guessed," Ali said, lifting a shoulder in a half-shrug. "And who can blame you? I think everyone here loves him. Some more than others, and all in your own way. I can't fault you for that, nor can I ask you to stop. It wouldn't be fair to demand the impossible of you. Victor will always be your Master."

Emma's soft smile was tentative, almost shy, but her gaze sparkled with remembered pleasure. "And you? What will you be?"

Ali stepped away from the doorway and closed the distance between them. Cupping the girl's face in her hands, she lowered her head until their lips were only a fraction of an inch apart.

Emma's skin blazed with internal warmth beneath Ali's palms. Her breath caressed Ali's skin, inviting her to taste the velvety softness of her lips.

"Your friend," Ali whispered, then pressed a slow, sensual kiss to Emma's mouth.

The other woman sighed and slid her tongue between her lips, meeting Ali's halfway. For a moment, Ali lost herself in the taste of vanilla and honeyed spice, the flavor sinking into her pores and flooding her veins with arousal.

A discreet cough from the doorway made her lift her head, breaking the sensual connection.

"I'm not sure if I should be jealous or turned on," Victor said, his wide grin belying any anger in his words.

A rosy blush shot up Emma's cheeks. She bent her head, lowered her gaze and sank her teeth into her lower lip, still slightly swollen and glistening from Ali's kiss.

"Emma's thinking about leaving us. I was just trying to convince her to stay." She placed two fingers beneath the girl's chin and lifted it so she was forced to meet her eyes. "How'd I do?"

Emma swallowed hard. "There's no room for me here."

"Nonsense. It's a big house," Victor said, moving to stand beside them.

His strong, authoritative presence made the room feel small. Desire snaked through Ali's veins, burrowing between her legs with a pulsing, driving need no one else could incite. Not even Emma, with her sweet-tasting lips and soft curves, could rival Victor's potent strength and raw dominion.

Emma shook her head and glanced from Ali to Victor, then back again, her earnest gaze silently pleading. "That's not what I meant."

"We know what you meant." Ali tucked a stray lock of blonde hair behind Emma's ear. "And we want you to stay. We can't force you, of course, and if you choose to leave, we'll understand. At least think about it."

After a moment's hesitation, Emma nodded. "I can do that."

"Good." Ali stepped back and slid her hand into Victor's. His fingers closed around hers, warm and protective. "We'll leave you to it. I believe we have a party to attend."

They swept through the open door into the hall, and Ali glanced at a nearby clock that hung on a bright-yellow wall. They still had an hour before Brad and Sean's mating ceremony was scheduled to begin.

This time, Ali vowed, would be different. She'd meet the pack as an equal, and not as an enemy or as a submissive at her Master's call. Above all, she looked forward to witnessing Brad recite his vows. She shook her head at the thought. Wonders never ceased. Brad Hennessy, self-proclaimed gay bachelor, was about to get hitched.

As they neared the front door, Victor stopped to draw her into his arms. "Wait. I'm not ready to share you with anyone else yet. I missed you," he whispered in her ear before nuzzling her earlobe.

His hard c.o.c.k prodded her stomach, leaving no doubt of the truth of his words. Ali smiled, pure contentment settling low in her chest. Victor's heartbeat pounded against hers, a thrumming pulse that sent an answering wave of longing s.h.i.+mmering through her body.

"How did it go?" Ali asked, sliding her fingers through his hair.

"Better than I'd expected." His palms drifted down her back to cup her a.s.s and

draw her closer to him. "The new Kolen Alpha wants to declare a truce." Ali resisted the urge to leap out of his arms and cheer. "What did J.C. say?" Victor chuckled and the sound settled like primal heat between her legs, making her rub her body against his in slow, sensual motions. "He said he'd think about it."

"That's my pragmatic brother." She shook her head. "d.a.m.n, but I never thought I'd see him turn this dispirited, broken tribe into a pack to be proud of." She pulled back slightly to look into Victor's eyes. "And I am proud of them. Of all of us."

His grin had a wicked, teasing edge. "Prove it."

"How?"

"The High Council of Elders meets a month from tonight."

Ali nodded, unsure where he was going with this. The elders of every tribe in

North America came together for one night of the year to discuss Pack Law and other rules that governed every wolf. Even those tribes that had quarreled in the past had to set aside their differences that night.

"Let's give them a reason to celebrate."

She arched an eyebrow. "As long as it doesn't involve killing the new Kolen

Alpha during the High Council, I'm all for whatever you have in mind." "You mean that?" Anxiety settled in her stomach. "I might regret this, but yeah, I do." "Then mate with me that night." Her pulse quickened. In the past week since they'd admitted their feelings to one another, they hadn't once spoken of taking things beyond the s.e.xually charged relations.h.i.+p they now shared. Though she knew she'd never be able to go back to her old life, Ali hadn't dared dream he might want to mate with her. Permanently.

She opened her mouth to speak, but Victor was faster, pressing a finger to her lips. "Hear me out. Traditionally, there have been mating ceremonies as dawn neared, after High Council business drew to a close. We haven't had a Zante union celebrated in front of all the elders in decades. I think it would give the pack the confidence and pride they need." He paused and pierced her with an intense stare, his open gaze making her heart race. "And it would make me the happiest wolf in the pack. What do you say?"

Her gaze lingered on his face, on the lines bracketing his mouth as he held his breath, waiting for her answer. She traced them with the tip of her finger before caressing his lower lip.

At last, she rose on her tiptoes so her lips were even with his, and answered his question. "Yes... Master."

Lacey Savage.

Lacey Savage began her love affair with romance at an early age. In high school, she checked out steamy romance novels from the public library and would often be found reading them in the middle of cla.s.s. Lacey still reads more than she cares to admit, and probably more than her husband would like, considering how many books she keeps bringing into the house. Her favorite genres have always been erotica, romance, fantasy, science fiction and mystery, so she tries to incorporate a little of each into her writing. She initially majored in marketing, then went back to school to major in English literature. After earning her degrees, she decided to turn her efforts to her true pa.s.sion: writing. A hopeless romantic, Lacey loves writing about the intimate, sensual side of relations.h.i.+ps. She currently resides in Ottawa, Canada, with her loving husband and their mischievous cat. You can learn more about Lacey by visiting her website at http://www.laceysavage.com, and can reach her at

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