The Burning Claw: Book 10, The Grey Wolves Series (40 page)

Jericho laid her down on her bed and climbed on next to her. They picked up right where they left off.

The more he touched and kissed her, the more she wanted him to continue. Before she realized it, she was undressed, with Jericho every bit as naked as she was, in her bed. She felt as if everything was moving too quickly for her mind to register. His mouth was on hers, then on her jaw and down her neck. She felt a sharp pain just at the junction of her shoulder and neck, but then it was swept away as his tongue swirled on her flesh.

At some point, she swore she heard Jericho growl, but she couldn’t be sure. Her mind was muddled. Her desires warred with what her mind was screaming at her. “Stop!” it yelled at her, but she didn’t.

J
ericho stared at the sleeping woman next to him. He couldn’t believe the bracelet had actually worked. Alston had been concerned that he wasn’t making progress with Sally fast enough, especially after Peri showed up. They needed to ensure that Sally was tied to their group, sooner rather than later, and mating her to Jericho was the only sure way to do that. Jericho hoped that maybe, if he made love to her, she would become more attached to him. He had definitely grown attached to her, and he thought that, perhaps, what he was feeling just might be love as well. He also like the idea of having someone in his life again. Alston had enchanted the bracelet for him, explaining that the receiver of the bracelet would longingly desire the one who’d given it. And oh how she’d desired him.

He knew she was going to second-guess her actions afterward, and he’d have to talk her down off the ledge, but that didn’t matter. He could just remind her of how good they were together. He smiled to himself. Sally might not remember her mate, but she certainly remembered how to mate. For a split second, he felt bad for the mate she’d left behind, but then he remembered their cause. They needed a gypsy healer and she was their best chance at getting one.

His next step would be to tell her about the supernatural world. If he were the one who introduced it to her, she would surely feel a connection to him. It was important that he keep reinforcing his role as her protector, lover, and friend. That way, when it was time to talk to her about the Order, she would trust him.

He turned over onto his back and willed himself to stop replaying the images of Sally in his mind. Instead, he focused on how good everything would be once the Order took over. After the humans were subservient, then it will all have been worth it.

C
ostin’s eyes snapped open. He knew where she was. Over the course of the past week, he’d begun to have flashes of thoughts and feelings that weren’t his own. It was the bond. Once he realized the bond was returning, he strained with every fiber of his being to reestablish the connection. He had screamed until he’d nearly lost his voice. Finally, sometime that morning, he’d felt confusion, shame, and dread. Then, at some point,
boom
, the words Oceanside popped into his mind.

He stumbled about as he searched for the exit from the In Between. He was going to get his mate. He just hoped that no one stood in his way. He didn’t want to hurt Decebel, Fane, or Vasile, but he would if it meant getting to Sally.

“I’m coming, Brown Eyes,” he muttered to himself.

S
ally still couldn’t get her mind off what had happened with Jericho.
He’d gone early that morning, and she was left standing in her kitchen feeling very confused. A couple hours later there was a knock at the door. Sally hurried to answer it and found Peri/Stacey, Jacque, and Jen on the other side.

“Good morning,” she said, smiling at the girls and hoping that they couldn’t tell just how shaken she was from the previous night’s events.

The three women came in and all three seemed to freeze at once. “Everything okay?” she asked.

Jen was the first to answer. “I just realized I really would like to wear my hair up. Do you have any extra hair bands?” She was already moving toward Sally’s room. “Don’t worry, I’ll find one real quick.” Sally wanted to yell at her to stop but Jen was moving faster than Sally’s brain could react.

She looked back at the other two ladies. Jacque was smiling, but it seemed strained.

Jacque’s head tilted slightly to the side. She took a breath before finally asking, “How was your night?”

J
en stared at the rumpled bed and the smells of the previous night’s events hit her like speeding train. She knew she had smelled Jericho as soon as she walked in, and she also thought she had caught a whiff of lust as well. She had been right.

“I’m going to check on Jen,” she heard Peri say.

As soon as the high fae walked into the room, Jen growled, “Block our conversation please.”

“Okay, speak,” Peri told her.

“She slept with him,” she said as she turned to face Peri. Jen pointed at the bed. “Jericho was in that bed with her last night and they weren’t
sleeping
, sleeping.” Jen was growling. Her wolf was pissed. Sally was the gypsy healer to the Serbian pack. She was also Jen’s best friend. In short, Sally was hers, not Jericho’s.

“She did it willingly?” Peri asked.

“I don’t know. She looked pretty agitated when we came in.” Jen pointed out.

“Let’s go find out.”

They both entered the living room to find Jacque interrogating Sally about the previous evening. Sally was doing a great job dodging the questions. Peri walked past the chair where Sally sat and, just as she passed, she stopped, turned, and looked down at Sally. “What’s that?” She pointed at the beautiful bracelet on her arm.

Sally blushed. “Jericho got it for me.”

“Can I see it?” Peri asked. “I’ve never seen chocolate diamonds in real life. My man’s too cheap.”

Sally held out her arm and watched as Peri took it off. Jen was looking at Peri when she heard Sally’s gasp.

Peri’s eyes snapped to their friend. “Feel better?”

Sally shook her head. “No. I feel…less
foggy
. But by no means better.”

“What’s wrong?” Jacque asked in an encouraging voice.

Sally’s lip trembled as she spoke. “I think I made a huge mistake last night.”

They nodded, telling her to go on.

“I slept with Jericho.”

P
eri glared down at the bracelet in her hand. The magic on it had pissed her off. But hearing Sally say she’d slept with the wolf who gave it to her enraged her. Once again, this magic had the taint of Alston all over it. When she got her hands on him, it wasn’t going to be pretty. Viewer discretion advised for anyone under the age of three centuries.

“It was consensual?” Peri asked her.

Sally paled. “Y-yes. Jericho didn’t force himself on me. But I feel like I’ve—” She stopped and gasped. Just like the previous night, pain bolted through her head.”

That’s what you think,
Peri thought to herself.
But he didn’t use physical force. He forced himself through the use of another’s magic. How will you feel when you know that, Healer?

“Are the headaches getting worse?” Peri asked her.

“He used magic to mate with her?”
Lucian snarled in her mind.
Oh crap
, Peri thought.
Gotta start remembering to close that stupid bond occasionally.

“I’m handling it.”
Peri tried to ignore her mate and focus on Sally. Things were starting to click and Peri had a feeling that the sky was about to fall.

“He deserves to know where she is. It’s gone too far, Peri. Another male has taken what belongs to her and to her mate. And he
knows
she has a true mate. His life is forfeit and the kill belongs to Costin.”

“I will bring him here,”
she told him, “
but I’ll need to get Sally to the bar first
.” She pulled back so she could focus on the matter at hand.

“Out of a strange curiosity, Sally,” Peri asked, wondering why she hadn’t thought of it to begin with. “Do you have a tattoo on your back?”

Sally’s brow drew together. “No.”

“Could I” —she paused and shrugged— “check? I know, I’m a weirdo. Humor me.”

Sally was looking at her as if she’d lost her mind. Peri hated doing it, but she used a bit of her power to convince Sally that the girl wanted nothing more than to show Peri her back.

Sally stood and turned around. Peri reached forward and pulled the fabric up. She bit back quick intake of breath. The markings, which had been nonexistent for the past several months that Sally had been living in Oceanside, were beginning to show again. At the moment, they looked almost like a watermark on a piece of paper. Very, very, faint, but there. She dropped the shirt and stepped back.

Sally turned back around and seemed too distracted to ask Peri if she’d seen anything strange.

“I work tonight, but I need to talk to Jericho before my shift,” Sally told them. “I know it’s childish, but would you all come with me?”

“Of course, we will,” Jen said nodding at her. “Hoes before bros, right?”

Jacque groaned. “Don’t even get started with that mess again.”

They walked to
The Doghouse
in tense silence. Sally was a mess and she wasn’t good at hiding her emotions. The proof came as they walked into the bar and Jericho laid eyes on her. He hopped over the bar and was standing before her in an instant.

“Baby, what’s wrong?” he asked her in a voice that made it clear how he felt about her. Peri could tell he wasn’t faking. Jericho was in love with Sally. He was also very, very dead.

“Can we talk?” Sally asked softly.

He nodded and led her back behind the counter. They watched as he wrapped his arms around her and attempted to comfort her.

“I need to step outside,” Jen growled. “If I have to watch him touch her like that, especially after what he did, I might kill him right now. And he’s not mine to kill.”

“That’s what Lucian said,” Peri told her. “You might turn around and kill him yourself after I tell you two this. What they did wasn’t consensual, at least not in the traditional sense. He used magic to get in her pants. The diamond bracelet had a spell on it that would ensure that she’d want him. Essentially, he gave her a magical date rape drug.”

Jen snarled and turned to go back but Peri stopped her. “It’s Costin’s kill, remember?”

“It’s kind of sad,” Jacque said. “It’s obvious that he loves her.”

“He took a mated female, knowingly. He used magic to make her desire him, slept with her, and marked her damn neck,” Jen growled. “It’s like he wanted to die. He’s practically begging Costin to kill him.”

“He marked her?” Jacque’s eyes were as wide as saucers.

Jen nodded. “I didn’t see it until her shirt dipped a little when Jericho put his arms around her.”

“Bloody hell,” Jacque whispered.

“I need you guys to stay here and make sure douche bag doesn’t leave the bar, or that Cross character, as well.”

“Wait,” Jen said. “Where are you going?”

“I’m going to get her mate and the other males. This has gone too far,” she repeated her mate’s words. “Not only has her mind been violated, but now he’s violated her body. She’s going to have to live with that for the rest of her life.”