Claiming His Prize (Bad Boy Alphas) (Feral Breed Followings Book 2) (6 page)

I
slammed
my fist into my opponent’s chest, knocking him almost completely off his feet. The guys lined up around the ring hollered their approval like the animals they were. They loved a vicious fight, and I was not in the mood to hold back. I’d been sparring with Beadan for almost an hour, both of us jabbing and floating as we tried to avoid getting hit by the other. He’d failed too many times to count, but I was pulling punches to keep from really hurting the wolf shifter. I’d probably kill him if I went full out right then.

Beadan looped to my left. His steps were messy, and he was obviously winded. This spar had been going on for too long, but the stupid wolf wouldn’t give up. He was the quintessential dog with a bone, and the bone was apparently trying to beat my ass. Unfortunately for him, I was getting bored going easy on the fucker.

He spat to the side and shuffled his feet, pretending to be ready for more than he could handle. “C’mon, lizard. Gimme better than that.”

I smirked. “You can’t handle better than that, pup. Why don’t you head out of the ring with your littermates before you get hurt?”

Beadan laughed and danced closer. The move sparked a bit of territorialism with my dragon, and my control slipped. I circled wide, every move sharp but forced. I needed to stay focused, to hold back, to not let the beast come out. This kid wasn’t really trying to hurt me, didn’t even have the power to do so in my opinion. But with the way my dragon was on edge, it wouldn’t take much for him to lose control and go for a deathblow.

“You’ve been cranky this week, lizard,” one of the other fighters yelled from the ropes. “Is it that time of the month?”

The crowd laughed, some of them clapping. I didn’t take my eyes off my opponent, though. One, that would be stupid, and two, the guy was right. I had been cranky. Downright pissed off, to be honest. I hadn’t seen Jane in over a week, not since the day I accepted that she was my chosen mate. I tried tracking her down whenever I could sneak away, but the trainers were keeping me on a short leash. I was in the ring for hours upon hours every day, and if I wasn’t sparring, I was being questioned about training methods and tested for muscle mass. And Jane was never here anymore—she was always off-site with Mick, working on some project no one seemed to know anything about.

Something was up.

The energy of something big coming and loss of all contact with my mate was a bad combination. My dragon was restless, needing to be let out. He wanted to take to the skies, to fly around this mountain range and find his mate. To claim her. That fact alone was enough to sour my mood. Add to it that I didn’t have a match scheduled for the foreseeable future but was basically stuck in training hell and I was seriously not in the mood for anyone’s attitude.

Cranky was an understatement.

Beadan charged me just as the entrance door swung open behind him. My eyes immediately locked with Jane’s when she walked in, a mistake my opponent took advantage of. His fist connected with my chin in an uppercut that jarred my teeth and sent me stumbling back. The crowd around the ring roared and jeered, the wolves cheering on one of their own. I didn’t care. As soon as I had my balance, I rushed out of the ring, tearing off the tape on my hands.

“Hey, Tidal,” Beadan yelled with a laugh as I dropped to the floor. “Don’t run away.”

“It was a good hit, man. Own it.” I kept my eyes on Jane, following her hurried steps toward the medical wing. “I think you knocked a tooth loose.”

The wolves howled and joked about dragons, but I ignored them. Let them think I was weak—I’d show them the truth when I got them in the ring. But at that moment, I had more important things to worry about. Specifically, the doctor racing away from me.

I found Jane in an exam room I’d never been in before. It was more storage than most, neat and tidy but filled with supplies I barely recognized. Jane was leaning on a counter with her head in her hands, every inch of her body screaming defeat. Something that riled me in ways I hadn’t thought possible.

I slipped inside, not wanting to alert anyone in the area, but desperate to talk to her. The snick of the door closing behind me made Jane jump and spin, and my heart dropped.

“Are you okay?” I asked. Her terrified eyes met mine, the bags beneath them ones I’d never seen on her before. She looked beyond tired, beyond scared. Jane looked wrung out, worn out, and terrified. My dragon raged inside of me, ready to defend our mate. Ready to shift and fly her off to someplace safe.

Unable to help myself, I took a step toward her. Her eyes widened and her face paled.

“Stop.” She stumbled back a step. “You can’t be in here with me.”

“Why not?”

Her eyes danced around the room, as if she were looking for an escape. “Tidal, please. I need you to leave me alone.”

“That’s not going to happen, Jane. You’re important to me, and that means I step up when you need something.” I took a single step in her direction, slow and deliberate. “You obviously need something. Tell me what it is, and I’ll help you get it.”

She shook her head, retreating again. “You’re not allowed to know what I’ve been doing. If you found out, Mick would—”

She cut herself off, her voice shaking along with her hands. The redness of her eyes broke my heart. She looked ready to cry. I couldn’t have that. Not if there was something I could do.

I inched closer and put my hands up, surrendering. “I won’t ask what’s going on. Just…tell me how to help.”

“You’ll smell it. You need to leave.”

“I’m not a wolf, Jane. My sense of smell isn’t the same as theirs.”

She didn’t retreat this time, standing firm as I inched forward. Still nervous, but relaxing slightly. “But you can smell things more so than a human.”

I shook my head. “Smell, no. Taste, yes. I bring air over my tongue and absorb the scents. But that’s not an automatic thing in my human form. I’d have to pull my dragon forward.”

She gasped and a shiver ran through her, one even I could see. “Please, don’t. And don’t…taste. Don’t smell.”

I blinked. The absolute terror in her voice left me cold inside. If she couldn’t accept my dragon, she couldn’t accept me as her mate. And while I knew my dragon form could be seen as scary, he cared for her. He would never hurt her.

I edged closer, keeping my eyes on her. Wishing she would stop shaking so hard. “Jane, what’s going on?”

She shook her head. “I can’t tell you.”

I took a deep breath, purposely not tasting the air. Keeping my promise to her.

“Okay,” I murmured, creeping closer yet. “I won’t ask. I won’t get you in trouble. But know that I’m here, and I’ll help you.”

She laughed, a harsh, brittle sound. “Right.
You’ll
help me.”

“Jane, I—”

“How do you kill a shifter?”

My head jerked back. “What?”

“You want to help me? Fine. Tell me how to kill a shifter.”

“A human usually can’t kill a shifter, Jane. They’re not strong enough.”

Her body sagged as if all the air within her evaporated at once. I rushed forward, wrapping my arms around her before she fell. For a split second, I feared she’d push me away, but she didn’t. She clung to me as if her life depended on it, like I was some kind of life preserver in the middle of an angry sea. Like she needed saving.

“Consent?” I whispered, resting my cheek on top of her head.

She nodded, pulling me closer.

I sighed and held tight, relishing the heat of her. “Tell me what’s going on, Doc.”

She shook her head, her entire body trembling as she bit back what sounded like a sob. I wrapped her tighter, pulled her closer. Wishing I could use my body to shield her from whatever had her so upset. Desperate to get my hands on whoever had her so scared and rip them into pieces. But I couldn’t, not if she wouldn’t trust me to tell me what was wrong. And I’d promised her not to use my dragon sense of smell to figure it out. I wouldn’t break that trust. I wouldn’t lie to her.

After a few minutes of holding one another, Jane seemed to calm. Her hands loosened where they held me, and her body stopped shaking. I kept her wrapped up against me, though. Kept sharing her warmth, hoping my touch gave her as much comfort as hers did to me.

“It should be my choice,” she whispered before leaning her head back to look up at me. “Your fate is your choice. This should be mine.”

“What should?”

Without answering, she grabbed my face, pulling me down to press her lips to mine. Her kiss was brutal, wild, and full of a passion that almost felt out of control. And I wanted more. I grabbed her by the thighs, lifting her up with ease, groaning when she wrapped those legs around my hips. When I had her entire body pressed to mine. The taste of her on my tongue and the feel of her heat all around me scrambled my thoughts. She was my entire focus. All I cared about, all I wanted, was her. My dragon agreed, clawing inside of my mind, begging to be let loose. To claim her as his. But I held him back, wanting this moment to last, being selfish with it.

When she nipped my lower lip, I lunged forward, pressing her back against a wall so I could gain a little leverage. The woman was unleashing the beast in me, and I liked it. Hell, I loved it. I pressed my hips into hers, where I was so hard and wanting against where she was soft and wet. Rolled them. Shifted and moved and writhed until her head fell back and she gasped her pleasure. Until I found the right spot.

“Like that, Doc?”

She groaned again, her eyes closed, totally lost in the moment. I pressed harder, rocking her against me, making sure to hit every spot that made her body respond to mine. Working for every shiver, every moan. Every fucking breath.

“Good girl. Take it. Take it all.”

So she did. She took and took and took, riding me hard, pulling me where she needed me to be. And I let her. Giving her everything I had, making sure she got what she wanted from me. What she needed.

She came with a sigh, quiet but intense. Her entire body locked down, her legs squeezing me. I bit my lip and kept thrusting, kept pushing for more, to give her enough. Teasing every second of pleasure from her body. I was still hard, still wanting, but this was about her needs. This was all about Jane.

When her body relaxed and her gorgeous eyes met mine again, I leaned in to give her the softest kiss I knew how to give. She kissed me back, still desperate. Still clinging to me. Like a safety net of some sort.

“What can I do?” I asked quietly, my heart breaking and my rage at whoever had her so afraid boiling over.

She shook her head, a sad sort of look in her eyes. “Nothing. There’s nothing anyone can do.”

“Jane, I—”

“I should get cleaned up,” she said, looking to the ground as she pushed me away. I stepped back, giving her room, letting her drop her legs and put space between us. Hating every inch of it, though.

“I… Okay,” I said uncertainly. Something had changed. She was shuttered off again, putting more than just physical space between us. “Jane, wait. What’s going on?”

She moved to the counter, keeping her back to me. “I have to shower. Mick is going to need me to leave soon, and I can’t go like this.”

I walked up behind her, not touching, just letting her know I was there. “Like what?”

“Smelling like you.”

My breath shot out of me as if I’d been punched, and I suppose I had. Jane had thrown a good blow, knocking me down with only a few words.

“So you can’t let anyone know I was near you.”

She spun, her eyes wide. “I can’t let anyone know we just did…that.”

“That?” I asked, cocking my head.

She leaned closer, whispering in my ear. “They’ll smell me. They’ll smell how aroused you made me.”

“I like you aroused.”

She snorted a sad little laugh before pushing off the counter. “I have to go. I’m sorry I can’t stay to—” She waved her hand in the direction of my crotch where my hard cock had tented my shorts.

I shrugged one shoulder. “You needed me, so I gave of myself. There’s no reciprocity required.”

She paused, rocking slightly as if she were deciding whether to run or fight. Then she hopped forward and hugged me.

“I wish I could choose,” she murmured into my neck.

“Choose what?”

“Anything. Everything.” She shook her head and backed away. “I have to go.”

I watched her leave, wishing I could understand what the hell had just happened. Desperate to protect her from whatever had scared her.

How do you kill a shifter?

“Jane.”

She spun at my sharp tone, her eyes wide.

“Wolf shifters can’t regenerate without blood. Other shifters will usually go for a punch to the chest because we’re strong enough to stop their hearts, but humans aren’t. Go for sharp things and arteries.”

She nodded, her eyes wary. Cautious. “What about…other shifters?”

Fuck
. Other shifters meant she wasn’t dealing with what she was familiar with, which was probably why she was asking in the first place. “Each breed is a little different.”

She paused, looking away, fidgeting with her coat. But then she took a deep breath, and she looked me dead in the eye.

“What about dragons?”

I took a step back, my brow coming down. “Are you… Is there another—”

“How do you kill a dragon shifter, Piers?” The use of my real name didn’t escape me, nor did the haunted look in her eyes.
Double fuck
.

I nodded once and swallowed hard, wishing more than ever that she’d just tell me. Knowing she needed my help. That I had to tell her the truth.

“Fire.”

She cocked her head, looking completely lost. “But…you can
breathe
fire.”

“Some of us. But remember how I told you about seeing heat? When I’m in dragon form, I can see all the soft spots in a dragon’s scales. See where to direct my flames just as they can see mine.” I shrugged. “Fire is almost always our undoing.”

For a moment, barely a second, she seemed excited. But then she practically collapsed in on herself. “Humans can’t breathe fire.”

“No, but you have weapons. Flamethrowers, torches… Hell, a Zippo and some hair spray would work. Put flame in the air, and we’ll run.” I ached to touch her, inching closer without thinking about it, afraid for her. “Fire is what scares us. If we can’t control it, we fear it. It’s instinct.”