Torment (Primal Progeny Book 1) (30 page)

‘We’ll park up a mile or so from the barn on a back road.’ She insisted. ‘We need to make sure the car is far enough away to look like an inconspicuous breakdown.’

Hunter nodded, not caring and wanting to be there as soon as they could. 

Chapter 31

Audra shrank back on her haunches as the shape approached her out of the darkness. She tipped so far backwards that she fell over herself trying to get away. Yelping in a screamingly high pitch she hit the floor in a flurry of twitching limbs, desperately trying to regain her footing before he reached her. Her claws raked at the soft ground, and she bucked and struggled as she tried to scrabble back to her paws. Her eyes were wild and her chest heaved as she frantically tried to flee.

It took her a moment too long to right herself and all of a sudden he was on her. She felt him before she smelled or saw him, a sudden firm grasping on the back of her neck. His teeth buried through her thick pelt and she whimpered as their sharp tips prickled at the sensitive skin beneath. She became dead still, freezing in place out of absolute panic, rolling her eyes in terror.

Past his vice like grip he hissed at her. ‘Be quiet little one. Don’t struggle and I will release you…’

He took in a great sucking breath of air and shuddered at the scent of her. Audra trembled beneath him, feeling his breath rush through her fur, and a wetness on her nape that could have been blood or drool. She was too terrified to rely on her nose to differentiate.

He took in another deep, rasping breath and then a dry chuckle escaped him. A sound so absolutely filled with menace and intent that she imagined that the devil himself might have her in his grip.

‘You smell interesting my love…’ His chuckle grew more wicked somehow.

Audra whimpered.

‘You have been engaging in some very shady activities haven’t you…?’ He murmured into her thick pelt, pressing the rest of his body closer to her. She could feel his body shifting against hers and it made her skin crawl and her pulse race at the same time. He was changing, though into what she dared not guess.

He released his grip very slowly and stepped back, still on two feet. Terrified she stood stock still, breathing rapidly as she weighed up her options. Was it too late to flee? Would she make it far enough away or would he catch her?

‘Look at me’ He insisted, his voice deep and his accent exotic and alluring despite his commanding tone.

Shaking all over her body, Audra did as he said. Her head turned slowly and she cast her eyes upon him. It was not what she had expected to see. The creature that stood before her was a man, nothing more… At least not to the naked eye.  He smiled at her, an expression which put her in mind of a snake eyeing up its next meal. Or an anglerfish dangling its lure in front of its prey. She could not help but study him, she had heard so much about the monster who stood before her and she was as fascinated as she was terrified. Her nostrils flared as she looked him over, his domineering scent pungent and alluring. She could not help the way her wolf succumbed to his natural aggressive nature, and as she looked upon him she sunk to her belly. Her tail came to rest between her legs, and she licked her lips submissively. Looking up at him she began to reek more and more of her shameful attraction, and his smile grew as she drank in the sight of him.

He stood backed by the light of the moon and the luminescent glare of the city lights. This threw deep shadows across him and added to his menacing appearance, concealing one half of him and sharply revealing the other. Even in the half-light and with such stark shadows, she could see he was a very physically attractive man. His features were delicate but somehow remained masculine and attractive. His hair was long and straight, platinum blonde and hung loose where it drifted about his strong jaw in the breeze. But what really enslaved her to him were his eyes… Shining bright and icy blue… They glittered like diamonds and she could clearly see menace, and hundreds of years worth of knowledge shining behind them.

Swallowing loudly, Audra watched as he lowered himself until he was crouching before her.

‘You ate something I left behind didn’t you…?’ He asked, his voice slick as a snake, his silver tongued charm working on her like it had never worked on any human girl. He wondered why he had never tried his little game with a female of his own kind before.

Audra nodded slowly, her tail tip wagging limply between her legs.

He noticed this and his smile grew, still devoid of warmth. ‘You smell divine my love…’ He cooed. ‘I would very much like to see your human form… If you are as beautiful as you smell then it would be a great loss for me not to be able to lay eyes upon you without fur.’

Audra could not believe her lupine ears. Her wolven form was then in full control of her mind and she was entirely under his spell. A dim insistence at the back of her mind that he was dangerous was shoved aside; the human part of her was entirely a slave to her lupine instincts at that point. She would have jumped off a cliff if he had asked her too, and all because of that intense and peculiar scent… It was as though he was the alpha of all alphas, and she was powerless to resist him.  Darting her eyes about she looked for cover, and a clump of overgrown grass a few feet away caught her eye. Nervously she lifted one front leg and made to move off. Half of her thought he would call to her to stop, but he did not. Instead he watched her intently as she slowly walked to her chosen spot, slinking low to the ground and shooting him darting looks of uncertainty.

Once she reached the grass she sniffed at it nervously. Finding it free of any nasty foreign odors she wormed her way into it and dropped to her belly. Looking up in Varulv’s direction she watched him for a moment, her submissive lupine body waiting for permission to change. This seemed to please him greatly as his eyes sparkled with amusement, he nodded once. That was all the permission she needed.

Rolling onto her left side she closed her eyes and felt the breeze ruffle through her fur. Its cooling effect felt good against her skin as her body began to heat up, and soon tendrils of steam were rising from her coat. She held her breath as her insides began to shift, it was a strange, bulging, shifting sensation. Within her body her organs slid over one another and expanded and contracted. It was not yet a painful feeling, but she knew that was shortly to come and so she screwed up her face against the upcoming onslaught. Then her fur began to dry and shrivel, falling out in clumps around her where it disintegrated into dust upon the grass. And then the real change began; a symphony of cracking bones and tearing muscle.

Varulv looked on with an expressionless face. He could see more than a normal man would have been able to in such poor light, but she was almost entirely hidden from view by the grasses. He could make out her shape shifting and writhing, and could clearly hear her bones and muscles breaking and tearing and shifting. But he could not clearly see her form changing. It pleased him greatly that he had managed to somehow outrank this wolf from another pack into changing; this was not something that he had ever encountered before. He suspected it was down to the fact that she was a female and near to being in heat, but he did not overthink it. She would be useful to him, and that was all that mattered to him at that time.

Her transformation happened exceptionally quickly, perhaps thanks to being nervous of her company. She was fully transformed in under five minutes, which was something he had never seen another werewolf manage. This impressed him, and made him wonder if perhaps there might be something special about her. Once the movements in the grass had ceased he called to her.

‘Are you finished my love?’

Audra’s slight Italian lilt echoed through the still night air in response. ‘Yes, I am.’

Varulv took this as an invitation and slowly began to walk towards the grass where she lay. He was inwardly pleased that she was not from that disgusting little island by origin. As he drew closer and caught sight of her naked form lying prone in the grass he was surprised by what he saw. He was not an easy impressed individual but the sight of her lying there, glistening with sweat and with a heaving chest was certainty not an unwelcome one. It was highly unusual for him to be struck that anything other than his own reflection was beautiful… But if anything else was such a thing, it was her at that moment. The sight of the moonlight reflecting off her curves sent shivers of lust jolting through him.

Audra lay on her back and looked up at him with heavy lidded eyes. The pain and the speed of her transformation having exhausted her to the point of being on the verge of sleep. Her deep brown eyes searched over his approaching form and she smiled. For once it was a genuine feeling of happiness that filled her, rather than the false niceties she was accustomed to.

‘You are as beautiful as your scent implied…’ Varulv whispered to her, bending down to kneel next to her. He ran one hand through her long brown hair and raised it to his face, smelling it and shuddering. ‘Impossibly beautiful…’ His accent had thickened with his lusts and he was almost impossible to understand.

Audra’s exhausted smile grew and she flickered up her eyes to gaze upon his handsome face. All thoughts of the dangerous predator that he was were far gone from her mind. She was so captivated by his scent that it was as though she had been hypnotized.

‘Thank you’ She murmured in response.

‘Shhh…’ He brushed against her lips with one long, slender finger. ‘You need not thank me for your own beauty my love. I am merely a satisfied observer. I could sit and gaze upon you for hours.’

Audra shifted in the grass, her lips reaching up to gently kiss his invading finger. She arched her back and pushed up her chest, her breasts almost brushing his arm as he withdrew it. ‘Don’t let me stop you’ she breathed heavily.

Varulv smirked; she was so under his spell it was almost embarrassing to watch. But she was indeed beautiful, and he could use a companion like her. A companion who could provide him with a handsome, pure blooded werewolf heir…

‘What is your name my love?’ He asked.

‘…Audra…’ She replied, her voice quiet and serene. 

‘And why would your pack send such a beautiful, delicate creature after me alone Audra?’ He asked, planting the seed he was about to cultivate so carefully.

Audra’s eyes flickered open and a flash of a scowl crossed her brow. ‘They did not send me. I came alone of my own accord.’

‘And why might that be?’ He asked.

‘I found your scent trail and I had to follow it… Something in your scent called to me. I cannot explain it… But I knew I had to follow you alone.’

‘With what intentions?’ Varulv purred, coaxing out the information he required.

‘…I wanted to find you and capture you…’ She paused, looking up into his eyes with obvious regret. ‘Perhaps even kill you… My pack is in turmoil thanks to recent happenings.’ She murmured this as though there was no connection between the man who hovered above her and the murders. ‘We needed to find you to stop all this. I thought if I could apprehend you alone then I might raise ranks… That I might finally be appreciated for what I am…’

‘You mean to say you carry no rank?’ He feigned shock; he could clearly smell she did not.

Audra shook her head, tears in her large, doe-like eyes.

Varulv hushed her ‘shhh… Shhh my love… That is a travesty.’ He leaned forward and pecked her on the forehead, his lips warming the flesh there so that she could focus on nothing else. His touch almost burned it was so longed for. ‘How is it possible that such a beautiful creature could be without rank within a pack?’

Audra looked visibly pained ‘and with my father as the alpha…’

Varulv’s eyes lit up at this, this was better than he had first thought! ‘How awful my love’ he cooed. ‘You deserve better for your sheer beauty alone.’

‘And I work hard within the pack’ She responded a little too quickly, her Achilles heel well and truly exposed.

‘I would not treat you in such a way…’ Varulv almost whispered, leaning in and planting a delicate kiss upon her lips.

With his body so close to hers Audra was so enveloped by his intoxicating scent that the last shred of reason she had left her. Lifting her head she returned his kiss, first softly and then with more desperation. She opened her mouth and breathed him in as his tongue snaked between her lips and explored the contours of her. She sighed blissfully as he shifted his weight and returned the fervor of her kiss. 

Then all of a sudden he was gone, and she was left open mouthed and panting with longing. When she opened her eyes he was sat back looking at her lustfully.