Call of the Wolf (18 page)

Too bemused to assess anything that was happening beyond the burning rise of desire inside of her again, Abby stared up at Cameron through glazed eyes as he instantly returned his focus to her, withdrawing and then thrusting into her, setting a jarring rhythm laced with the desperation of his need. She hadn't even had time to touch down completely from the first climax. Cameron's ruthless thrusts sent her body spiraling completely out of control again. She arched against him as her body seized, crying out as she was swept away by a second climax, jerking with the force of it.

Groaning as he spilled seed into her, Cameron drove deeply and held himself perfectly still as his body convulsed with ecstasy. Almost as soon as his body had finished expelling his seed, however, he withdrew from her and pushed himself from the bed, landing on the floor beside it in a half crouch. Uttering a snarl of rage, Seth charged him, slamming into Cameron and carrying him backwards into her dresser. The wooden feet of the chest screamed against the hardwood flooring. The back of the dresser slammed into the wall and the mirror fell forward, crashing into both men and shattering.

Releasing a startled gasp, Abby bolted upright. Before she could do more than gape at the two men, however, Adrian climbed on the bed with her, grasped her shoulders and bore her backwards, covering her body with his own. Caught completely off guard, Abby tensed, gripping his arms, although even she wasn't certain what her intent had been. From the moment he captured her wrists, manacling them on either side of her head, and fitted his mouth over hers in a feverish kiss, she felt herself falling under his spell, felt heat rise for him as it had for Seth and Cameron.

She moaned into his mouth, a sound that was almost equal parts despair and desire. Dismay and confusion flickered through her as to how and why she seemed to have touched off a firestorm in the men who'd shown such restraint before, but she hadn't desired Adrian any less. His hungry kisses thrilled her as much, and when he drove inside of her, gliding along her slick channel in a desperate cadence, she felt welcome heat and tension fill her.

"Abby,” he murmured, ducking his head to nuzzle the side of her neck, sucking a patch of skin into his mouth and nicking her with the edge of his teeth. The bite seemed to push her over the edge. She came, hard, gasping and shuddering and arching against him. Jerico shoved him off of her before Adrian had even stopped jerking in release.

"Mine!” Adrian snarled, rolling toward the two of them.

Jerico slugged him in the jaw, grabbed Abby and pulled her upright, dragging her onto his lap and spearing into her in almost the same motion. Dizzy and weak, Abby hardly had time even to assess the situation before she felt the heat rise again, felt her body begin to convulse when it had barely stopped shuddering from the last climax.

She wilted limply against Jerico when the spasms finally quieted. “Baby,” he murmured, nuzzling her neck. Abby tensed, expecting to feel the sting of his bite, and was still surprised when it happened. He caught her face in the crook of his hand, kissing her in a way that seemed as much of apology as praise for the pleasure he'd taken.

She managed to lift her eyelids enough to peer at him as he released her. The moment he leaned away from her, however, Adrian clocked him on the chin with his fist, sending him toppling backwards off of her and then bounded over the bed, landing on the other side. Uttering a snarling challenge, Jerico leapt to his feet, launching himself at Adrian.

Stunned, Abby pushed herself upright and stared at the two men pounding away at each other beside the bed. Dimly aware that Seth and Cameron had disappeared into the hallway—because she could still hear meaty thuds and breaking glass emanating from the vicinity of the kitchen, Abby rolled to the other side of the bed and got to her feet. “What happened?” she muttered dazedly. “What's going on?"

Jerico and Adrian paused, whipping their heads in her direction and staring at her blankly for a moment. Slowly, they straightened, turning to look each other. Adrian snarled. “Mine! God's damn it I marked her!"

Jerico grabbed him by the throat. “I know you did, you son-of-a-bitch! I marked her, too, you bastard!"

Abby had enough presence of mind, despite the drug pumping through her and the after affects of four of the wildest couplings she'd ever experienced, to dash from the room the moment they began slamming their fists into each other again. Seth and Cameron, she discovered, had made their way down the hall to the front door.

Turning, she stumbled into the bathroom, slamming and locking the door behind her. She felt drunk. She didn't know if it was from the ‘sedative’ the doctor had given her or the chemical sedative of four climaxes in a row, but she was woozy enough she decided to sit down on the edge of the tub. After listening absently to the crashes around her house for a few minutes, she got up and removed what was left of her clothing, turned the shower on, and climbed in.

There was a knock on the bathroom door just as she shut the water off.

"Abby?"

Recognizing Seth's voice, Abby abruptly felt anger surge through her. “What?” she asked resentfully.

"Are you alright?” he growled.

"If the four of you hadn't been acting like crazy men, you'd know!” she snapped. “You wouldn't have to ask!"

"God's damn it!” Seth roared. “Are you hurt or not!"

Abby felt her chin wobble. “I don't know!” she wailed.

Something heavy slammed into the door. The wood around the lock splintered, and the door flew inward. Seth caught it with his hand, eyeing her with a mixture of wariness and anxiety. “Tell me which one of them hurt you!” he growled. “I'll kill him."

Abby burst into tears. “Nobody!” she wailed. “All of you!"

Cameron, Adrian, and Jerico, she saw, were crowded around the door, looking sheepish and triumphant and worried all at the same time.

Seth turned and glared at them as if she hadn't accused him along with the others. “Clean up the fucking mess!” he snapped, moving toward Abby and scooping her up into his arms.

"I'm wet!” she sobbed.

He turned, allowing her to grab her towel off the towel bar and then stalking from the bathroom with her. She covered her face with the towel instead of trying to dry off, muffling her sobs. He sat on the edge of her bed, settling her in his lap and cuddling her and stroking his hand soothingly along her back until she finally managed to regain control. “You're certain we didn't hurt you?” he asked a little uncomfortably when she'd quieted.

She nodded instead of answering.

He was silent for several moments. “Why were you crying, then?"

Abby thought it over, but there seemed so many reasons it was hard to pin it down to one. “I've been so horny! And ... and then I hardly even got the chance to ... to
enjoy
it!” she wailed a little tearfully.

She was horrified the moment the words left her mouth. Uncovering her eyes to see how Seth had taken it, she saw his lips were twitching with suppressed laughter. “I'm sorry as hell, Baby. I got ... a little carried away.” He paused. “We can try again."

Dropping the towel to her lap, she glared at him. “I'm
not
in the mood!” she snapped. “I just had four climaxes!"

He bit his lower lip, obviously torn between the urge to laugh and irritation that she'd pointed out she'd come with the others, too. Finally, he turned and set her on the bed. “Why don't you rest? We'll clean up the mess."

She gave him a reproachful look.
They
had wrecked the house! They
ought
to clean up the mess! “I'm hungry,” she said somewhat sullenly. “I don't want to rest."

He shook his head at her. Instead of commenting on the ‘busy’ day she'd had, though, he got up. “I'll see what there is to cook ... with—as soon we can put the kitchen back together,” he said when he reached the door.

Adrian was down on the floor trying to put the chairs back together when he got to the kitchen. The table, he saw, was listing noticeably to one side, but Adrian had managed to, more or less, hammer the legs back on. Lifting his head, Seth glared at Cameron, who was crouched on the floor with the dust pan in one hand and the broom in the other, trying to rake up a mound of broken dishes and glasses.

"You broke Abby's fucking table!"

Cameron glared at him. “You broke the fucking table when you landed on it!"

"I wouldn't have landed on it if you hadn't punched me in the face, god's damn it!"

"You wouldn't have landed on it if you'd kept your fucking dick in your pants!” Cameron snarled, coming to his feet.

"You've got a hell of a lot of fucking room to talk!” Seth growled. “What'd you do?
Trip
and stick your fucking dick in her?"

Cameron narrowed his eyes at him. “You marked her! You had no god's damn right to when you'd been fucking challenged by every dick swinging son-of-a-bitch in this house and half the fucking Wolfen in town!"

Seth glared at him furiously for several moments, clenching and unclenching his hands into fists and finally forced himself to relax. “I lost my head,” he muttered after a moment. “You know god's damned well it doesn't matter whether I marked her or not—not to her—and not the council, because they know it doesn't mean anything to humans."

"It mattered to me, god's damn it!” Cameron snarled.

Seth glared at him for a long moment and finally swung a glance toward Adrian and Jerico. “So now we've all marked her,” he muttered in disgust. “You feel better? Did you all have to be stupid because I was so crazed I didn't have any sense? She doesn't know a fucking thing about Wolfen—except
now
she knows we are. And the four of us just piled on her like crazed beasts when she nearly got killed just a few hours ago."

Cameron scowled at him and then looked away. Adrian and Jerico exchanged angry, accusing looks, but they didn't look at Seth.

Jerico cleared his throat uncomfortably. “Is she alright?"

Seth ground his teeth. “How the fuck would I know?” he growled, rubbing the back of his neck tiredly. “Maybe. The doc gave her something to calm her nerves. Just because she seems calm right now don't mean a hell of a lot. Christ! What a fucking mess!"

"We didn't break that much!” Adrian said a little defensively. “You and Cameron did most of the damage."

Seth rolled his eyes. “I wasn't talking about the house, although ... Now that you mention it, it might be best if we clean everything up before she actually sees the damages."

Jerico shrugged. “We piled everything that couldn't be put back together in the back of your cruiser. We didn't figure it would be a good idea if any of the others saw what we'd been up to. It wouldn't take much imagination to put together the fight with ... well, you know."

"Good thinking,” Seth said dryly. “They'll
smell
us on her and even if they don't, they'll see the marks. They'll know we
tried
to break council law and claim her before the rites."

"Well
pardon moi
!” Cameron growled. “But I can't say I give a fuck!"

Seth's lips tightened. “You will if the council rules to disqualify us from entering the challenge. Not that I think that's going to make a hell of a lot of difference anyway the way things went down."

Cameron sent him an irritated look. “Just how did you plan on telling her,
mon ami
? She would not have believed if you had only said, oh, by the way, I'm not human. I'm Wolfen."

"Not like what
did
happen!” Seth snapped. “Worse case scenario—I figured I'd shift if I had to ... but not into something to scare her out of her wits. She didn't have an inkling until we shifted. Maybe it would've been a shock anyway, but not nearly as much if she'd been prepared for it. She wouldn't have looked at me as if I was a monster."

Cameron flicked a glance from Seth to others and back again. “They always look at you as if they've seen a monster—and never the same way again as before—because, to their eyes, you are."

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Chapter Thirteen

Seth felt his gut clench. A wave of nausea followed it. He looked away, focusing on searching the refrigerator for food to give himself something to do. “I'm the same man I was before she knew. She responded to me,” he muttered. “I might not have a clear idea about all of it, but I remember that part."

"If you believed that,
mon ami
, you not be worried. For my part, I was never keen on telling her at all."

Finding he wasn't up to anything too challenging, Seth finally dragged the carton of eggs out and started searching for cheese and other possibilities to make omelets. “You know we couldn't take her to the gatherin’ if she didn't know, which means no council approval as a mate,” he retorted. “What did you have in mind? Just hopin’ she wouldn't find out at all?"

Cameron shrugged. “I had not thought beyond bindin’ her. A way could be found if she were bound to one of us."

Seth glanced at him, frowning. “I want her to be accepted as a member of the community,” he said tightly. “A whiff of anything clandestine about the matin', and there would be a stigma—both for her and any issue of the match."

Cameron shrugged. “Not within any territory run by any of us."

Seth pursed his lips. “You can't control opinion or protect her from subtle slights. And there would plenty of that goin’ on any time there was a gatherin'."

"Her situation wouldn't allow a good deal of socializin'."

"Her situation won't always be what it is now. I sure as fuck hadn't planned on ignorin’ the threat to my mate. I'll take care of the bastard as soon as there's an opportunity for it. Council approval would make that a hell of a lot easier."

"You think she won't go for it now?” Adrian asked.

Seth shrugged. “I think we would've stood a better chance if we'd had more time, if she hadn't been caught up in the battle earlier and discovered we, and most of the town, are Wolfen or Weres—and if we hadn't lost it and fought a battle over claimin’ her here, in her house. I'm sure that didn't impress her very favorably,” he said dryly.

Adrian frowned, glancing at Jerico and then Cameron. “She enjoyed it! She came when I made love to her, anyway."

Seth grunted. “Maybe on one level. I'm not sure she saw bein’ gang banged by a pack of Wolfen as bein’ made love to,” he said sardonically. “In fact, I'm pretty fuckin’ sure she didn't."

"How many fucking levels are there?” Adrian demanded indignantly.

"Fuckin’ and makin’ love!” Cameron snapped.

Adrian glared at him. “But ... we marked her.
There
's the difference!"

"
But
, she isn't Wolfen! An’ she doan know about the mark of the wolf!"

"She will when we explain it."

Cameron sent Seth a look and rolled his eyes.

Adrian glowered at him. “Don't roll your eyes at me, you arrogant Creole son-of-a-bitch! I'll knock your fucking head off! I don't see the god's damn problem. We were going to explain everything anyway."

Cameron made a ‘bring it on’ gesture at Adrian. “You can try,
mon ami
,” he growled.

"Save it for the gatherin'!” Seth snapped. “Abby's not goin’ to be happy if you two start up all over again when we've just got the fuckin’ house cleaned up!"

"I like that ‘we’ shit!
We
cleaned up while you were making points with Abby!” Jerico snapped.

"I've still got to haul the god's damned wreckage off and get rid of it, now don't I?” Seth shot back at him. “And the point Cameron was tryin’ to make is that it don't fuckin’ work to explain
after
the fact! It don't change the way she felt at the time! She cried, god's damn it!"

Adrian and Jerico both looked like they wanted to argue the point but since they heard Abby move to her door, they let the subject drop. Everyone focused on their personal project of the moment—cooking, cleaning and putting the house back together—eyeing Abby warily as she entered the kitchen.

It didn't make Abby any less self-conscious that all conversation stopped the minute she started out of her room. She'd heard the drone of their voices the entire time she was getting dressed, known there was a heated discussion going on, and suspected she was at the heart of it. It seemed confirmation to her when they dropped the subject abruptly.

After staring around at them uncomfortably for several moments, studying what was left of her kitchen table and chairs with dismay, she excused herself and went to the bathroom to examine her face in the mirror since Seth and Cameron had shattered her dresser mirror. She was a little reassured by her reflection. Her eyes and nose were red from her hysterics—she didn't think she could comfort herself by merely considering it ‘tears.’ Her lips were a little puffy, but she wasn't certain if that was from her fight or the wild sex after the fight. The knots on her forehead from using her head as a bludgeon weren't nearly as big or as unsightly as they felt, even if they were noticeable.

There was a pink streak along her cheek from the near miss with the thug's bullet.

A shudder went through her at the thought, but she firmly pushed it to the back of her mind.

All in all, she didn't look like she'd been in a brawl, she decided—certainly she didn't look her best, but under the circumstances, she didn't look too bad.

Adrian had finished putting the chairs back together when she reached the kitchen again. They looked almost bad as the table and she wasn't at all sure she wanted to test one. Adrian didn't look like he did either, but when he'd pulled one out from beneath the leaning table, he very gingerly planted his ass on it, slowly easing his weight down until he was settled.

Biting her lip when he sent her a look of triumph that the chair didn't instantly collapse beneath him, she pulled a chair out for herself and eased into it just as carefully. She discovered all four men were watching her, looked as if they were holding her breath.

That inspired confidence!

Seth set plates filled with fluffy omelets on the table all around—with care, instead of plunking them down as he generally did when he did the cooking. The omelets looked perfect and smelled wonderful. She sent him a tentative smile of appreciation. He seemed to relax fractionally.

Everyone watched him while he carefully settled in the chair left for him. It wobbled and they sucked in a collective breath, but it held.

Abby dug in to her food with enthusiasm borne of starvation. “You said you were going to explain to me about the Wolfen,” she said to Seth when she'd taken the edge off of her hunger.

Seth glanced at her sharply.

She smiled wanly. “I wasn't nearly as out of it as you think.” She paused. “You're ... like ... werewolves?"

Seth's lips tightened. He focused on his food for a moment as if gathering his thoughts. “Were's are a.... “He shrugged. She was bound to learn how Wolfen felt about the Weres if she became a part of the community. “Wolfen consider them a corruption. Weres are humans ... or at least they were born human. The bite of a Wolfen in half-shift can infect them and the effect is that they then have some of the traits of both the Wolfen and humans."

"Can? It doesn't always?” Abby asked uneasily, thinking about the four bites she'd found along her neck when she'd studied herself in the bathroom mirror.

Seth shifted uncomfortably and nearly crashed from his precarious perch. He glared at Adrian. “The objective of a Wolfen in half shift isn't to infect. It's to kill."

Abby rubbed her neck unconsciously.

Seth studied the movement, frowned, and transferred his attention to his plate. “We weren't in half-shift,” he said gruffly.

Abby reddened. “And the only time that could happen, the infection, that would be when you're in half shift?” She frowned. “What's whole shift?"

"Human. We're Wolfen."

Abby looked at Cameron when he spoke, frowning, but curiously. “You don't turn into wolves?"

"We
are
wolves,” Adrian muttered. “We can turn into humans."

Abby sent him a startled look. She was on the point of demanding to know if he was serious when it occurred to her that no one at the table looked the least bit in the mood to joke. Tamping the urge, she tried to digest the information. “But ... I've never seen you as anything but human ... until today."

"We live among humans. We can only do that in human form. In beast form, we're animals. In half shift, we're monsters. The only way to live in harmony with humans is to look like them. Otherwise—it's kill or be killed."

Abby looked at Seth when he spoke, trying to summon the image she'd seen earlier. She discovered she couldn't. The other image was too hazy in her mind. Whether from the shock of the time, or willfulness, she couldn't reconcile the two in her mind.

"The Festival,” she said finally. “That's what it's really about? Some sort of gathering ... like a clan?"

"We are a clan. The festival coincides with the full of the moon because that's the time we feel the strongest pull of the beast and also because, with many of the Weres, it's the only time they can manage a full shift into the form of a wolf. The primary objective of this festival, though, is to find a suitable mate. Each pack has its own territory, and some of the packs are big, but there's still the problem of inbreedin’ with so small a group. Some Wolfen, and Weres, of course, move from pack to pack, but there isn't enough new blood. Each year the clan gathers—rotatin’ from year to year—regional, then national, then international. The Harvest Moon Festival is the international gatherin'."

It boggled the mind to think there was so many of them! “And everyone gets together?"

"Everyone lookin’ for a mate."

Abby felt her face heat. She couldn't decide if the fluttering of her belly was from nerves or something else entirely. They still hadn't told her why they'd bitten her. As uncomfortable as she was about bluntly asking, she didn't see any other way to find out. “Why did y'all bite me?"

"Instinct,” Seth growled, getting up so abruptly his chair wobbled and then collapsed in a heap.

Abby blinked at him in confusion as he moved to sink.

"A Wolfen male marks his mate,
chère
,” Cameron said. “It's instinct, but more than that. With Wolfen—even with most Weres—the mark of a mate is a minglin’ of chemicals that binds them together. Traditionally, there are three. The first is intent. The Wolfen male has marked her as his own and other males will know this and challenge his right to claim her if they have similar desires for the female as a mate. The second mark is the female's surrender—if she accepts a second. The third is the bindin'."

The warm jittery feeling was a little more identifiable with the second flash through her. It was a mixture of sheer terror and unmistakable desire—completely conflicting, but she couldn't dismiss either one, couldn't deny the fact that she was as drawn to the idea as she was afraid because it appealed to her so strongly.

They'd marked her ... instinctively, Seth said. Did that mean they'd just gotten carried away and marked her? Or did it mean they wanted her? And what connotations did ‘mate’ have in relation to human practices? Was it strictly procreation? Was it something like marriage?

She discovered, as badly as she wanted to know, she just wasn't comfortable enough to ask those questions point blank.

She swallowed a little uncomfortably. “What does it mean when four males mark a female?"

"They will fight at the gatherin’ to see who she chooses. It's part of the matin’ rites. The Alpha female will choose the Alpha male she feels most likely to give her strong, healthy off-spring and trust his judgment that his Betas are worthy of her when their time comes to breed her."

Too much information, she thought, feeling her face turn bright red! “So...” she said in a strangled voice, “it's about breeding? It's got nothing to do with ... uh ... she breeds with the
pack
?"

Cameron looked torn between amusement and discomfort. “Not the pack, the Alpha and his Betas—that's his lieutenants—next to the Alpha, the strongest pack members. This is another reason why the gatherin's are important for the infusion of new blood."

Abby gaped at him, trying to wrap her mind around it. It certainly wasn't anything like marriage! “What about the others? They don't breed?"

Cameron shrugged. “They breed ... indiscriminately. Their lineage is not of as much importance since they aren't leaders. Rarely will they produce offspring that is either Alpha or Beta, regardless of the mate they choose, whereas a Beta male and an Alpha female can and often do produce Alphas. And, of course, an Alpha male can be almost certain that, by choosing an Alpha female, any offspring they have together will also be Alpha."

Breeding. It was all about breeding. She supposed it was contrary of her to find it rather insulting when she didn't actually have anything against recreational sex, but it was almost ... sterile. She thought she would've preferred to think that they were driven merely by lust. At least that was
some
thing, even if it wasn't the affection she realized she wanted.

"But ... I'm not Wolfen or Were."

"No,” Seth agreed.