Cry Wolf (16 page)

“For someone so attuned to your surroundings, you’re awfully distracted. How did
I
manage to sneak up on
you
?” Damien asked.

“Who said you did?” Kelly said. She turned around slowly, hiding the fact that he
had
startled her. “What do you want? I’m not prepared to give you an answer yet.”

“What’s stopping you?” Damien asked. His posture was relaxed, not even deceptively casual. Then again, although he had a right to be cautious with her, he also had no reason to and he knew it. “I mean, this is wonderful forestland, I can’t deny. And it’s clear you like the morsel, considering you sacrificed your place in the pack for her. But I’m offering it to you again, as well as everything I suspect you’ve always wanted from us.”

“If it were just me, maybe I would have snapped up the offer before you could finish it,” Kelly said. “But it’s not just me.”

Damien nodded, the skin around his eyes going feral. Briefly sharp teeth glinted behind his lips. “Ah, so you’re partial to the pup. Not much of a fighter, though.”

“He fights with me just fine,” Kelly said.

If he were someone like Shawn, who had been part of David’s pack before, he would have said something like, ‘If a bitch is all he can fight, it doesn’t say much for him’.

But Damien just said, “Well, he’s young.”

Kelly tilted her head and regarded him curiously.

“What do you see, witch?” Damien asked, his smile slowly fading to show the alpha behind it.

“A wolf I wouldn’t have thought would achieve alpha over all the area packs,” Kelly said.

“You can’t see my secret?” Damien asked. His demeanour was enigmatic.

“I’m a little distracted.”

“What’s got your attention?”

“None of your business.”

“Very well,” Damien said. “Then let me tell you what you can’t see at the moment. The reason I won all the dominance fights is why David’s dead and I’m not.”

He began to circle her, and when she lowered her eyes, she caught a glimpse of his physical interest in her. He made no attempt to hide it. Werewolves rarely did.

“Most alphas or wannabes just accept things as they are and have always been,” he continued. “They think alphas are the biggest and baddest. Alpha gets first taste of his pack. Head bitch or beta belongs to alpha, at
his
discretion. Omegas don’t get to say no, and they show their throat when their superiors demand it. Bitches can’t challenge alphas, can’t overpower them. Humans are the only prey worth the hunt. A human has no worth as a living creature, unless he or she is to be changed. Just because it has always been that way, we call it our nature.”

He stroked her chin and lifted her head to meet his gaze. “I call it wilful ignorance. Ignorance got David killed. Ignorance got Grant killed. I won against all the other alphas because I
never
underestimate my opponent, my enemies, my allies or my prey, but they underestimated me. I won’t underestimate you, Kelly. I don’t understand everything about your abilities.”

“Neither do I,” she said.

“But I will always respect them. Because it doesn’t matter if you’re bitch or human or a freaking rabbit shapeshifter, you’re more powerful than I am.”

“Is that why you took in Lily and Tanya?” Kelly asked, letting him draw her to him.

“A pair of bitches were never so neglected, as though no one ever saw them fight together.” He bared his teeth in disgust. “Who cares if I can’t fuck them? I’ve got more than enough to satisfy without requiring my entire pack to submit to me in that way.”

“Speaking of…” Kelly said.

The muscles of his abdomen twitched as she slid her hands over them.

“If I join you, I don’t want the head bitch position. Jada’s better at it than I am because she wants to be there.”

“Done. I’m quite happy with her.” Damien bit her earlobe then sucked it into his mouth.

“And she’d very much resent it if I supplanted her again.”

He chuckled. “Too true.”

“But I won’t be treated as less because of it.”

“Haven’t I been telling you this whole time that I hold you in the highest respect?” Damien asked. He pushed his hand between her legs and cupped her mound, fingers tantalising the lips of her cunt. “I protect every member of my pack, from the fiercest to the meekest. They all contribute something invaluable, many of them with traits considered worthless by other packs. But their blindness is my gain. You would be no different, witch.”

He nipped his way over her jaw to kiss her, but she sank to her knees at his feet, maintaining eye contact as she ran her tongue over his sac, sucked one side into her mouth then shifted over and did the same to the other side. Damien hissed through sharpened teeth.

“That’s right, witch, show your alpha how you’ll serve him.”

She pulled back, and his balls swung down. “I don’t do this because you’re alpha, and you’re certainly not mine yet. I do it because
I
want to.”

“Whatever you like, Kelly,” Damien said, grinning. “Can’t you let me have my fantasy?”

She tentatively grinned back. Then she blinked against the vision of
Malcolm pulling Ki’s shirt over her head and bending down to take her nipple in his mouth, swirling his tongue around it like he had Kelly’s
.

Kelly shivered and refocused on the man in front of her. She found his confident lack of arrogance—when he stopped kidding around—surprisingly appealing. She moaned as she took the head of his cock in her mouth and, so slowly that it tested her patience and craving, drew him in. She milked him with her tongue all the way down until her lips stretched over the base and the head hit the back of her throat and beyond. She breathed through her nose and swallowed around him.

“Shit!” Damien swore.

He was thick and truly stretched her lips, making them crack where they were dry, but she kept him inside her, continuing to swallow as though she could drink him. In spite of her arousal just from having his erection in her mouth, her vision blurred out in favour of what was happening elsewhere.

The kisses between Malcolm and Ki became more heated. Ki whimpered from the heat of his body over her own and the way he completely subsumed her, his hands burning as they caressed as much of her as he could reach. Ki reached out to squeeze Max’s hand in reassurance where he sat on the other side of the bed, but then she had to cling to Malcolm again, feeling the muscles of his back move under her hands as he undid her jeans.

Kelly clenched her eyes shut, plunged two fingers into her cunt, and moved up and down over Damien’s cock as furiously as she could to pull herself out of the master bedroom and back to where she would rather give her attention—because at least here, it was about her.

“Take it,” Damien groaned, thrusting into her mouth, “take it and swallow, bitch, take all of it.”

He pulled at the roots of her hair to move her at the pace he wanted, a little slower than her more voracious rhythm. Her saliva made his dark cock shine and dripped over his scrotum. Kelly clenched her fingers into his buttocks. His hips snapped as her claws sank into his flesh.

Just as Damien’s cum spurted down her throat, his face beautifully contorted in pleasure and twisted with just a hint of wolf, she saw red, bright red. The last bit of Damien’s semen hit her chest as she reeled off him and leapt to her feet. She didn’t even bother explaining—alarm painted her face.

As she darted out of the forest, he called after her, “Thanks!”

She held up a hand to acknowledge him, but she couldn’t stop or turn. She had to run, run until her toes barely hit the ground, until she felt almost like she was flying. She heard the scream as she darted into the house.

Leslie and Renee got up from their chairs in the office.

“What’s going on?” Renee asked.

Kelly didn’t answer, just slowed down to bank into the master bedroom, slamming the door behind her.

Ki sat on the bed. Max’s arms were around her shoulders, and her eyes were wide. Kelly smelt blood, Ki’s blood, but she didn’t see any open wounds or bite marks.

In the corner near his old bed, Malcolm crouched with his hand pressed over his mouth and nose.

“What happened?” Kelly asked, catching her breath.

“I didn’t even think about it. It’s so stupid. I have a fresh shaving cut on my leg. I thought it had closed. I didn’t think it would be fresh enough to make a difference. I should have known better. If I can smell it a little, I should have known he could smell it a lot,” Ki said. She turned her leg over to show a small nick on her knee, one of those cuts that were fast to bleed and slow to close.

Kelly swallowed upon seeing it and having direct access to its scent. Shapeshifter blood was not quite as potent as pure human blood, diluted as it was by whatever magic allowed them to become dogs. It still made her mouth water, though, and after her interlude with Damien, she had to wipe her mouth, she was salivating so strongly.

“Okay,” she said. “Malcolm…”

Malcolm shook his head.

There was a knock at the door, and Renee asked from the other side, “Is everything okay in there?”

“I’ve got it under control. Nothing happened,” Kelly called back.

“Kelly, I don’t think I can hold it back,” Malcolm said.

She looked at Max and Ki and said, “Don’t go anywhere.”

Ki shook her head, embarrassed more than afraid now.

Kelly put herself between Malcolm and Ki and went down on one knee. It would make it easier for her to spring if she had to.

“Malcolm, look at me,” Kelly said.

He obeyed, still covering his nose and mouth.

“Do you know I almost ate Renee when I first smelt her blood?” Kelly asked.

Malcolm shook his head again, but his eyes widened.

“You spend enough time away from humans, it’s hard to resist the smell of their blood when you’re confronted with it again,” she said, pulling his hand away from his mouth gently but firmly. Malcolm tried to press his nose closed against his shoulder in desperation, but it was futile, and she guided his head back up.

“Just smell it. Take it in,” Kelly said. “Like you did with Renee.”

“I can’t. If I do…”

“If you do, you’ll want to eat her, but I’m here to stop you from doing that. Just smell her.”

“I don’t want to want her like that,” Malcolm said.

“Tough,” Kelly said, taking Damien’s approach.

Malcolm blinked.

“I’m not sitting around here teaching you how to be a shapeshifter again. I’ve been trying to help you be a werewolf. A werewolf who can survive around those who aren’t. Do you trust me?”

Malcolm nodded, his open expression showing endearing obedience underlying a kind of desperation. It gave Kelly an idea.

“Close your eyes,” she said.

He did as she’d told him. His nostrils flared, and a shudder went through him.

“Do you smell her?”

“Yes.”

“Can you paint a picture of her from her scent?”

“Yes.”

Just from a cursory inhalation, she and Malcolm could not only tell that Ki had the relatively new cut on her leg, but both could also smell the places where a person’s soul scents reside—under the arms, under the ears, at the palms and soles, and between the legs, where Ki’s pleasure dried against her labia and thighs. Arousal and the smell of blood mingled into an exquisite perfume, and mixed with it was the metallic scent of silver, the lycanthropic warning.

“Follow it,” Kelly said.

“Kelly, I’m going to hurt her,” Malcolm said, his eyes flying open.

“Close your eyes,” Kelly corrected him. “Follow the scent. Enjoy Ki’s flesh, but ground yourself in the silver. I won’t let you hurt her. You won’t hurt her because I tell you that you won’t. Is that clear?”

He crawled away from the corner and towards the bed, his lips wet. He moved so slowly that his muscles were cast in sharp relief as they moved fluidly underneath his olive skin.

“Kelly,” Ki breathed. Her large, dark eyes would have been almost comical if it weren’t for the sincerity of her fear.

“Trust me,” Kelly said. “This will be better for everyone.”

Malcolm pressed his nose against Ki’s leg, drawing in the scent as he nuzzled the place where the small wound had closed.

“Taste it,” Kelly whispered.

Ki shifted, jerking back, but Malcolm grabbed her ankle and held her in place. Kelly wanted to silently reassure her, but Ki’s wound was a distraction to her as well, as close as she was to it. She focused instead on trying to keep Malcolm under control, because as good as the blood smelt, he didn’t smell so bad to her himself. After all, Kelly’s satisfaction with Damien had been interrupted.

Malcolm shuddered. He pressed his mouth against the wound, breathing in the taste until it was as if the blood called him and he drew his tongue over the cut. A groan wrested itself from his chest and joined with a growl. Ki made a small sound, but she was also captivated, her lips slightly parted. Max looked tense, holding Ki tightly around her shoulders in case he had to pull her away, although it wouldn’t be much use if he did. Malcolm’s reflexes were so much better than his.

When Malcolm pulled back slightly, Kelly saw that his teeth had gone sharp and fur had begun to crawl along his jaw and down his spine.

She slapped his face. It was not a full-force blow, but it made a good, harsh sound, and he turned to her, his eyes still closed.

“You can change anything else, but don’t change your teeth. Put your fangs back in,” she said. “When you feel them tingling to grow, you make something else change instead.”

“I don’t think I can,” Malcolm replied, his voice little more than a rasp.

“You’re better at controlling the change than any new wolf I’ve ever seen, better than most seasoned werewolves. It’s beautiful. Try it. Bring your teeth back in and transfer your need to something else. And remember that if you bite Ki with those fangs, you’ll hate yourself for the rest of your long life.”

She kept a finger on his lips, pressing against his canines until they were simply human. Fur rippled down his back, most of it disappearing as quickly as it had come.

“There you go. That wasn’t so hard, was it? Now taste her again and don’t you dare let your teeth grow. Focus on other parts of you that are growing because of how good she smells, how good she tastes.” She reached between his legs and caressed up the length of his renewed erection.