Without Mercy

Praise for
Without Mercy

“You won't want to miss how this story plays
out. Be prepared to feel a handful of emotions come rushing at you
while you read this short tale of Pack loyalty."

~ Stephanie Overton,
My Guilty
Pleasures

"Frantic moments of suppressed terror will
grip you when you read this tale of desperation and lost control.
Truly gripping!"

~ Lacey Weatherford, Author
Of Witches and
Warlocks
series.

Dedication

To my husband, Mark

What man sits for hours, watching his
favorite TV show on mute so his wife can write?

You. For that (and much more), you have my
heart and soul forever. Thank you for believing in me. I love
you.

To a greatly missed confidante, Craig

Thank you for encouraging me to write, even
when I was adamant that I had nothing to say. It’s okay for you to
say, “I told you so.” I deserve it. *grins*

A Mystic Wolves Novelette

by

Belinda Boring

Copyright 2011 Belinda Boring

Moonstruck Media

Cover art by Lacey Weatherford

Smashwords Edition

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and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work
of this author.

The loud click of a gun being cocked stopped
me cold. I didn’t need to turn around to see death had finally
caught us. I closed my eyes for a brief moment and grimaced.

Seconds. We’d missed freedom by mere moments
and with adrenaline coursing through my body, a feeling of defeat
crashed over me. To come so close and be stopped was
devastating.

I dug deep for courage as my hand was
squeezed. Jasmine would be terrified enough without seeing fear in
my eyes and if we were going to get out of this, I needed to keep
her calm. Or at least calmer than I felt.

Giving her a look I hoped conveyed
confidence, I motioned for her to stay quiet as I positioned her
behind me and turned to look at our attacker. All night I’d sensed
the person breathing down our necks, following closely but always
just out of sight. Now I could put a face to our stalker.

I saw the gun, aimed straight at me. The
finger poised over the trigger ready to shoot. The hand holding it
was steady and trained to adjust to every movement. I shied to the
left and back again. Without hesitation, the gun’s motion mimicked
mine.

Damn. Judging from the precise motions;
whoever was holding the gun knew what they were doing. If they took
a shot, they wouldn’t miss and out running a bullet was too
risky.

A quick sniff at the air and drawing on my
other senses told me I was dealing with a human male and I couldn’t
help but grin at the bitter scent of fear mixed in with the
sweetness of his excitement. It was intoxicating

I may be a female but as a
werewolf
,
I held incredible strength. My body began to relax. As long as I
paid attention to the gun still pointed at me, and made no crazy
moves, our chances of escape had just increased.

I looked beyond the weapon and recognized
the determined face that stared back at me. The emotions rolling
off his body caused my wolf to raise her head and howl. This wasn’t
a pack mate or dominant wolf to play submissive with by showing my
throat. Looking at our attacker, I could feel my hackles rise as
she growled, desperate to take over.

I sent a silent command to the wolf inside
me to stand down. I explained there would be no need for her to
come forward because I had everything under control. She whined
impatiently at being refused.

Something didn’t seem right about the
situation. The man standing before me was Gary and although it
caused a slight disturbance in the Pack, he had been declared an
official friend.

Some pack members believed the more humans
were aware of us, the greater danger we would be in. As Alpha,
Mason didn’t agree. He deemed Gary safe and dismissed the subject,
which seemed ironic now.

That’s what made this strange. Without a
doubt, Gary knew who Jasmine and I were and our importance. He’d
been warned any act of aggression towards the Alpha’s intended mate
and sister was an instant death sentence – regardless of the
person.

My wolf stepped forward again, this time
nudging me harder. She sensed the disturbance and it unsettled her.
She could smell the danger in the air and begged for permission to
take control - to protect us. I could deal with the situation as a
wolf but I was serious when I told Mason to try reasoning before
violence.

It was the source of many heated discussions
between us. He’d laughed at me each time I said we should try to
take more peaceful approaches when dealing with conflicts. I didn’t
always agree with the werewolf mentality of bite first; ask
questions later. I’d seen too much violence in my life and I was
tired of it. When I showed I wouldn’t back down, he nodded his
approval. I think he got a kick out of the way I stood up to him
because our debates always ended up with me pressed up against a
surface, Mason kissing me as though he was hungry.

“You don’t want to do this, Gary” I crooned,
putting as much compulsion in my voice as I could without
triggering him. I stepped forward, only to stop when I noticed
Gary’s eyes darting toward Jasmine. He held a crazed look and I
needed his focus away from her.

“Don’t assume to know what I want.” He spat
out, spittle flying from his lips.

My mind raced.
Where had I told Mason I
would meet him?
Mentally cringing, I remembered our last words
together.
“You don’t need to come with us every time we leave
the house. There’s no threat. We’ll be back soon.”
My
intentions had been to quickly grab something from the local
convenience store and head home but sensing someone following, I’d
made the rather stupid decision of drawing him out. Searching out
somewhere private where no one could see a confrontation if I had
to change. I wanted to laugh because my brilliant plan had clearly
bitten us in the butt. I hadn’t saved us at all. We were now
trapped between freedom and a madman with a gun.

Sometimes being a werewolf is an amazing
experience, but in moments like this, my cockiness astounded even
me. I should have rushed back to Mason and let him and the pack
deal with this. That’s what has been drilled into me since birth.
It doesn’t guarantee I always listen though.

I mentally crossed my fingers as I assessed
the situation. Hopefully, this would be another case of me escaping
by the skin of my teeth with no harm done.

Jasmine’s soft whimper drove home the
seriousness of the moment. I knew she was scared and I needed to
get her out of here. The gun made me nervous but I didn’t care
about my safety. She was more important and my mind kicked into
hyper drive, thinking strategy.

I took in Gary’s expression and noticed the
trickle of sweat rolling down the sides of his cheek. The man may
have nerves of steel when it came to handling weapons, but he
wasn’t as unaffected as he let on. Judging by the slight tick in
his right eye and the way he kept licking his lips, he was nervous
and I could use that to my advantage.

My brain scrambled for what I knew of him.
Mason asked Gary last summer to help with the home renovations he
planned. Even though they had little in common, something about the
human endeared him to the Alpha and started including Gary in Pack
activities.

How he’d over looked this major character
flaw was anybody’s guess. Werewolves live and breathe violence but
no one’s radar went off with Gary. I suppose it meant the saying
was true – it’s always the quiet ones.

I wonder what triggered him. Something had
pushed him over the edge and made him lose control. I wasn’t sure
how to handle the situation because causing Gary to freak out would
make him fire the gun. If I launched myself at him, my werewolf
strength might overpower him and knock him out. Or I could be
patient and see if talking my way out this helped. Either choice
was a gamble. Right now he called all the shots and that left very
little wiggle room for me to act.

There’s two sure fire ways to get a response
out of a man – turn him on or piss him off and judging by how my
pack brothers carried on, I figured turning him on would be the
easiest way to resolve this.

The idea was I’d batter my eyelids, toss in
a pouty smile, and flirt the gun right out of his grip. I knew the
effect I had on men when I turned on the charm, the way they became
putty in my hand. People joked how Mason governed the Pack with an
iron fist but all I had to do was crook my little finger and he’d
come running. I would need all my confidence to pull this off
because the very thought I’d have to touch him made my skin crawl.
My stomach tossed about as I offered a silent prayer. Here’s hoping
it didn’t have to go that far.

Men respond to a third thing,
my wolf
growled as she paced beneath the surface.
Violence.

She craved to be let loose so she could
pounce on Gary and eliminate him. She was blood thirsty and
enraged, and I struggled to control the feral energy she gave off.
I needed to keep her restrained because there wasn’t a chance in
hell he’d survive her attack.

I took in a deep breath, desperate to
release the tension in my muscles. I had to move with grace if I
was to play the role of the seductress.

I felt my lips curve into a smile as I
lifted my arm to touch him. I forced my hands to look soft and not
curl into claws to rip out his throat. Lowering my voice, I
whispered, “Come now Gary, there must be
something
we can do
to move past this. You don’t want to hurt me.” I let my other hand
roll down the length of my body, hoping to keep his attention.

His focus remained on my face and panic
flickered in his eyes before he hid it. But I’d caught it. He
didn’t like what I was doing. Gary was becoming anxious and that I
could work with.

“You need to stop whatever it is you’re
doing,” his voice came out in a rushed puff. Yep, definitely
nervous.

I closed the distance between us, never
taking my eyes off him. Digging deep to steady my hands, I caressed
the side of his cheek, making sure I continued to breath in and
out. He hadn’t shaved, the stubble feeling coarse under my
fingertips.

My wolf growled, fighting hard for
dominance. She didn't like this, but I couldn't let her out. She
nipped at me, showing her displeasure and I struggled to ignore
her.

Bile rose up into my mouth as my fingers
traced over his cheekbones. "See, we can work this out, Gary.
There's no need for violence." I wanted to add he could put the gun
down but I didn’t want to remind him he had it.

I pressed my body against his. His eyes
instantly widened, pupils dilating.

Leaning in, I purred into his ear. "Is there
somewhere we can take this? Maybe a little more
private
? Let
Jasmine go, Gary. We don't need her."

I forced my other hand to rest on his chest
for a moment before it began to journey downward, making sure to
let out small moans of appreciation as if touching him pleased me.
It felt like bitter ash in my mouth and all I could think of was
the long hot shower I would need to scrub his scent off me. If it
was even possible

He didn’t move a fraction. Gary remained
stiff, his arm still stretched out with the gun now aimed at
Jasmine. I couldn't tell how receptive he was based on his body
language.

"You need to stop.” The words exploded out
of his mouth through clenched teeth. “What kind of idiot do you
think I am? You are the alpha’s mate, his most beloved, and you
expect me to believe that you want me?” Scorn and disbelief dripped
heavily off his words and I lost my hold over him as his anger rose
to the surface.

"Shhhh," I tried to bring Gary back to me as
I moved face to face with him, my mouth a breath away from his. His
lips felt dry against mine and I fought the urge to lick my lips to
moisten them.

"What Mason doesn't know won't hurt him. You
can't tell me you're not curious about what it's like to be with a
werewolf.” I lowered my voice to a sultry tone, “The heat that’s
created. Not knowing what's woman and what’s animal. They say it’s
quite the experience."

I feathered my lips over his, barely able to
suppress a shudder. I could faintly hear Jasmine behind me and I
tried not to think what this looked like. She was loyal to her
brother and even though she had to know this was an act, it mustn’t
be sitting well with her.