When The Fur Flies (9 page)

“What the hell?” Reginald’s voice slid down her spine with a sexual energy that spiked her power ever higher. She felt her chocolate-colored curls whip about her head, without the influence of a single whisper of wind.

“Quiet, please.” She kept her focus on the lake around them. “If there was just a little light down here, it would be lovely.” She shrugged her shoulders as the orbs of blue fire lifted off her hands and blew around the big cavern above the water. They occasionally touched the walls and banks around them, wherever the orbs landed shrubs and ivy grew out of the dirt and climbed the walls of the cavern.

Flowers burst open on the vines. The white color glowed, throwing light on even the darkest corner of the cave. The water glistened, reflecting the flowers’ glowing color. Finally, when the cavern was covered in fragrance, the two orbs hit the top of the cavern and disappeared.

“What did you do?” She turned at his soft question and saw his stunned expression as his astonished gaze moved over her handiwork.

“I’m releasing a little magic,” she said with a smirk.

Reginald stared back at her with a worried expression of bewilderment on his handsome face. She heard his thoughts, pleased and a little confused that they were filled with guilt and concern. He worried that her eyes weren’t the only things his DNA had changed about his little cat. Concern flooded his thoughts as he wondered if the power of her magic was also a biproduct of their mating.

“What is wrong with my eyes?” She turned from him to kneel on her knees. Her reflected eyes widened as she saw the change in her appearance. “What have you done to me, Wolf?” Her hot hands covered her cheeks as her breath whooshed from her mouth in alarm.

Chapter Seven

“I mated you.” He stood beside her, their gazes clashing in the clear water. This was the problem with mating a member of a different species. Now, he was going to have to explain things to her that his people had dealt with for centuries. He felt his face heat up as she looked up at him with a look of expectancy. He took a deep breath before jumping in with both feet. “Sometimes, when a Wolf mates, he bites his mate. The transfer of saliva to the female has caused some slight reactions. The male’s DNA fuses with the DNA of his mate, changing the gene sequence. Several members of our pack have joined with other packs to study the reaction. They think the gene transfer is a chemical reaction directed to ensuring strong offspring that can survive.” He rubbed at the back of his neck as she continued to study him silently.

“I don’t understand. Your bite has changed my chemical makeup. My eyes are half Witch, half Wolven.”

“I never meant to bite you. It just happened.” Reginald saw a quick flash of hurt and sadness in her odd eyes before she looked down at her bare feet. He felt like a bastard for what he’d done to her. He felt his Wolf lie down and cover his nose with big paws. “There’s nothing I can do to change it, but I’ll do my damnedest to make your life here easier. Starting with denying Hester’s challenge. You don’t have the ability to change into Wolf form. You can’t fight her as a cat.”

“I don’t back down from challenges, mate.” Her eyes flashed, the moons glowing with her inner anger as she took a quick breath. As he watched, she spread her arms out, closed her eyes. Reginald held his breath as he studied the woman he had tied himself to. She was beautiful. The flames from the candelabra danced lovingly across creamy skin. Her long, dark lashes and berry red lips softened the elfin chin and high cheekbones of her face. Her curly hair brushed against her high breasts as she stood still before him. As he watched her fingers seemed to change, sliding back into the shape of a black cat’s paws. The pads black and leather rough where her palms used to be. Her image wavered as her form tried to take on that of her cat. He held his breath only to let it out in a gush as she lost her concentration with a sob.

Allison’s hands turned back as she dropped them to her sides in defeat. Her face was flushed and sweaty with the exertion of trying to transform into her animal. Sadness was a sharp scent in the air as she dropped her head. Her shoulders slumped as she stared at the ground beneath her dainty feet. Her body swayed, and he lunged to grab her as she fell forward.

Her skin beneath his hands felt like it was on fire. Reginald swore as he lifted her up and plowed into the cold water of the lake without hesitating. She hissed like a cat with displeasure as they sank into the water up to her chin. He grinned as Allison called him a few choice words and issued severe threats to his manhood as she wiggled in an effort to avoid the ice-cold lake water. She was definitely more cat than Wolf.

“Hold your breath, Kitten.” Before she could obey or protest, he dunked them both under the water. She came up spitting and hissing as her nails dug into the hard muscles of his shoulders. A laugh rumbled in his chest as he grinned down at her. She looked wet and pissed. A breath hissed through her clenched teeth, reminding him of a spunky kitten. She shook her hands as a cat would shake the water off its paws. He found it adorable. His comparison ended when he caught the tempting way the water made his white shirt look absolutely translucent. She was sexy as hell.

“Don’t even think about it!” She hissed and tossed her head. Her wet hair clung to her cheeks as her strange eyes glared at him.

“I won’t then. I’ll act.” He swiftly captured her mouth in the middle of a snappy retort. She’d clearly meant to threaten him, but her aggression evaporated the instant he licked her bottom lip before pushing his tongue into her mouth to stroke her teeth. A male groan vibrated deep within his chest. Reginald was aware of his Wolf pushing forward once more to assert its possession of the woman. The beast’s appetite knew no bounds. He shook his head, trying to placate the animal within as he caressed her breasts. His ego soared as she wrapped her arms around his neck and tangled her legs with his.

“You must know what I’m thinking, now?” He pulled back to focus on her odd eyes. He saw she was fighting to catch her breath. She lost the battle as he concentrated on sexy, hot images of him taking her savagely from behind as they moved among the flowering shrubs on the opposite bank of the lake. Her cheeks burned a fetching shade of red as her mouth opened on a gasp. He moved his hands slowly down her sides to cup and squeeze her firm bottom beneath the water. His suggestive thrust against her had her eyes flying open, startled irritation mixing with stark lust in her weird eyes.

“You have no right to do this to me, again.” Her weak protest held little objection as she closed her eyes and held onto him tighter. Despite her claim, she wrapped her legs around his waist as he shifted her higher in the water.

“I have every right, Kitten. You accepted your place as my mate when you jumped at Hester’s challenge.” His words rumbled against the hollow of her throat where he licked her intimately. Holding her with one knee, he slowly pulled the white T-shirt up over her head. He held it in one hand as he stared down at her naked breasts with a possessive compulsion to kill. “Damn, I could tear his throat out.”

“What?” She sighed and then gasped as he kissed a tight nipple before grazing it with his sharp teeth.

“Gavin Murdock. No one will ever touch or look at these beauties, but me.” He laughed against her flesh as her nails raked his back beneath his shirt.

“Stop talking.” She hissed and attacked him. He gloried in the way her fingers sank into his wet hair to hold his mouth to hers as she brushed her nipples against his chest. There was no time for even thinking as they hurriedly tugged and shrugged their way out of enough clothing to bring their naked flesh against each other.

“I have a hell cat by the tail.” He growled as his hands dug into her naked buttocks, trying in vain to push his erection into her hot sheath. She kept moving to avoid his thrusts, though. A delighted laugh tore from her throat as she licked his shoulder.

“A horny hell cat,” she agreed with a grin as she reached between them and captured his member in her hand. His sighed and tossed his head back as she stroked him softly before lining his thick cock up. “One who has an Alpha by the...” His mouth swallowed her words and her gasp as he pushed into her with a slick move that had her eagerly following his thrusts in a quick rhythm.

“Ah... Kitten.” His forehead touched hers as he pumped into her tight body. He could feel her legs squeezing his waist greedily, her arms pulling him closer to her, and her hot breath puffing against his damp chest as she worked with him to reach her own orgasm.

“Reginald...” She actually purred deep in her throat as she tried to get closer to him. He couldn’t help it, he wanted to hear her make that rhythmic sound a lot more.

“I know what you need, Kitten. Hold on.” Reginald lifted her head up to smile into her wild eyes before he pushed her wet hair off her shoulder to give him access to the reddened bite mark that tied her to him. Then he bent his head to sink his teeth into the wound once more. He sucked at her sweet blood as she cried out. Her body spasmed hard as her cries of pleasure vibrated around and inside him. He sank into her harder and let himself go with a shudder as he licked the wound on her soft skin. She was a dead weight in his arms, alarming despite the fact that her pebbled nipples grazed his flesh with every deep breath she forced through her lungs.

“I’m alive...barely,” she whispered against his wet shoulder. His deep chuckle rumbled through his chest and vibrated down to where they were still very much attached. She gasped. Her head rearing back to glare up at him beneath spiky wet lashes. “Down, Wolf boy.”

“That may take a few minutes,” he answered drily.

“A few minutes you don’t have, son.” They sprang apart at the woman’s words of warning. Reginald awkwardly pulled his wet shirt over Allison’s head before he turned to angle his body in front of her. He thrust a hand through his wet hair as he heaved a breath and faced the look of reprimand from his mother.

“Mother, what is it?”

***

Allison quickly shoved her arms into the sleeves of the wet T-shirt and yanked it down. She heaved a shaky breath as she looked around Reginald’s arm. Her curiosity peaked by the woman who gave birth and raised such a strong, arrogant man. She expected a matronly woman with white hair, wrinkles, hunched figure, and a starched attitude. Her eyebrows rose in surprise as she studied the woman. Reginald’s mother looked no older than forty. Her hair was still dark with only a white streak of hair at both ears, each pulled back and clipped with a sparkling black barrette. Her eyes were the exact shade of blue as her sons. Her mouth was soft red and pulled into a smile that reflected €warmth and a sense of humor as she winked over at Allison.

“I’m sorry to interrupt you with your Alphina, son. I wouldn’t have bothered you if it weren’t absolutely necessary. The Pack Council requests your presence in the meeting hall. They won’t be put off. I warned you, son.” Compassion entered Yasmina’s dark blue gaze as she looked over his shoulder where Allison was still yanking down her wet T-shirt. “Your choice of mate will not be accepted easily, I’m afraid.”

“We’ll go at once.” He reached back, easily taking Allison’s hand in his. He was relieved to feel her skin as cool to the touch as his. Together they splashed their way out of the water.

“No. I will see to your mate’s safety while you settle this matter with the Council members. I would speak with your chosen. We have much to learn about one another.” Her arm flew out to halt their steps before her.

“Allison this is my mother, Yasmina Leclair. Mother, this is my chosen mate, Allison Carver.”

“It is very nice to meet you, Alphina Leclair.” Allison felt Reginald’s surprised look as she addressed his mother by her formal title of respect. She dropped her head a fraction in the submissive gesture as she held her hand out in friendship. Allison felt relieved as the older woman accepted her hand with a firm grasp.

“You may call me Mother, Allison. You are the Alphina, now. A position I am at ease with relinquishing. Leave us, son. We have much to discuss, and you have a battle of wits ahead.”

Reginald turned to look back at Allison. His blue eyes held his own relief at his mother’s response to her as his mate. Turning to her he cupped her cheek, forcing her to meet his gaze. “I will be back to you soon. Mother will see to your needs and get you settled in my quarters.” He gave her a gentle smile before brushing his mouth against hers in a kiss that promised his quick return. “You’ll be all right?”

“Y-yes, of course I will.” She stepped back to blink up at him. He was worried for her to the point that he didn’t want to leave her even for the small amount of time it would take him to defend his choice in mate. He was going to defend her? Did that mean he felt something for her? She shook her head as her chest tightened with a feeling she knew didn’t belong. She couldn’t let him get too close to her. He was responsible for his mate, yes. It didn’t matter who his mate was, he would be protective and possessive of whatever he felt he owned. He was a Wolf after all.

Already he was turning toward his mother. “Please stay with her until I return. There is a danger to my mate here.” His words to the other woman confirmed her suspicions. She was a pack member to be protected at all cost. Pack mentality sucked! How was she to know if he felt anything deeper than responsibility for her? Whoa! When had she started wanting him to feel things for her?

“Of course, son.” Yasmina turned her blue gaze to Allison when he left. “You might want this as we might pass pack mates in the tunnels,” Yasmina said as she pulled her shawl off her shoulders and wrapped it around Allison to cover the see-through shirt. Allison felt herself blush clear to the roots of her wet hair.

“Thank you.”

“Don’t ever be ashamed of loving my son. Reginald has always been a born leader with rigid principles and a strict view of the laws of the pack. Changing the direction of our people from the path of destruction to one of hope has been hard on him. To see him playing with his mate, a woman strong enough to challenge him, is a great blessing to me. You will be good for him. Come, we need to get you to your quarters, and I need to instruct you on a few of the things that will be expected of the Alphina.” An arm wrapped around her elbow as Yasmina led her from the lake. “By the way, I love what you’ve done to the lake.”