Feral Awakening (The Feral Series-Book 2) (6 page)

 He found his reaction
to her confusing. Having lost his own mate many years ago, he had had no desire
be near a female since. Hesitantly he glanced down at her unconscious form. Clenching
his jaw he looked past the large knot on her forehead and studied her features.
She was a beautiful woman with her high cheek bones and full lips. He knew that
when she opened her eyes they would be a deep emerald green.

 He had watched her
closely as she came and went at her shop, the curve of her hip and a flash of
her shapely thigh as she slid out of her truck. He had planned on watching over
her unseen but it had become obvious that she could sense him. He had been
shocked when she had bravely walked right up to him one day, apparently intent
on feeding him as though he was a homeless beggar. He found her concern…
annoying. He didn’t need anyone to take care of him.  

 He had spent the last
four years alone. He needed his solitude. Being around others only seemed to
enrage his beast. As the pack leaders oldest son he had been next in line to
lead. He had turned his back on all of it. He was not cut out to be alpha. He
had become dangerous, his temper legendary. 

 For years he tried to
rein his beast in, always walking the edge. He had tried to exist within the
pack, to fulfill the expectations of his family. Even with the enchanted
medallions all Lykan males wore his beast always seemed too close to the
surface. The medallions gave the Lykan control over their beast. Without it
they would be forced to shift with the full moon. Without it they became the
monsters the world thought they were, monsters like Darrin.

 The medallion seemed
to work better on some than others. It was created to help balance both the man
and the beast. His beast had always been too wild, bigger than the man. He
didn’t have the control that being alpha would require, unfortunately it was a
role he had been born into.

 His mother and father
had known. They thought that bonding him to a mate would help to soothe his
beast. He had fought them but had ultimately bowed to his alpha’s demands. As
part of a strategic alliance he had been bonded to a pure-blooded female from
the O’Connell pack.

 Pure-blooded Lykan
females were rare and highly prized. As a result most of the Lykan males would
not be able to bond to a pure-blooded female and sometimes took humans as
mates. Not all packs allowed their males to mate with humans but his pack was
one of the few that did.

 The females of their
species didn’t shift like the males but did retain many of their supernatural
traits, just in a weaker form. Due to the rarity of the females, bondings among
the alphas were usually arranged at a very early age and often done for
political reasons, to create alliances.

 Although he had been a
full grown adult his mate had only been three years old. Although still a child
they had been bonded in a formal ceremony solidifying their alliance with the
O’Connell pack. As was customary, the child was to remain with her parents
until her twenty first birthday at which point he would claim his mate and
complete the bond.

 His little mate had
died in a horrible car accident only days after the ceremony. His link to her
had been severed. Although only a child, the loss of his mate had driven his
beast mad. He found it almost impossible to find a balance between man and
beast after that.

 He would have left the
pack then but they had been at war. His pack needed him and for a while the fighting
had appeased his beast. After twenty years of fighting though things began to
quiet down again. With no outlet for the rage inside of him he knew that he
would have to leave. His leaving would mean his brother would be next in line
as pack alpha. It had been the right thing to do. He knew that Teagan would
someday be the kind of leader the pack needed to survive.

 Ronan shook his head
trying to clear his vision, his eyes were beginning to blur and his legs were
turning to lead. His legs giving out, he stumbled through the small cave-like
opening in the bluff. They would have to stay here for the night while they
both healed, he was too weak to carry her out of the forest tonight.

 Using the last of his
strength he lay the female down and quickly broke off several pine branches, laying
them on the floor of the small cave. Moving her to the make shift bed he sank
down next to her with a painful groan. Tearing the remains of her blood soaked
shirt off he took a closer look at her injuries. The bleeding had slowed but
had yet to stop completely. She was too small for such extensive injuries. With
a muttered curse he knew what needed to be done. She needed his blood.

 Ronan looked at her
pale face and hesitated. He had already gotten too close to the little female
as it was. Sharing his blood with her would only make it worse. With a growl he
sank his fangs into his wrist and pressed it to her lips. There was no other
option, it needed to be done. He was surprised at the strange feeling of
satisfaction the act brought him. Her pain had his beast pacing behind his
temples and the urge to heal her rode him hard. Since she was a pure-blooded
female and he a pure-blooded male his blood had the power to speed her healing.

 The dark liquid slid
down her throat causing her to swallow in reflex. Her small body suddenly
tensed, arching her spine as the power in his blood shocked her system. Ronan
held her until her body adjusted to his invasion and slowly began to relax, this
time in a deep healing sleep.

 Discarding her
destroyed t-shirt he pulled the knot loose on the fleece jacket she had tied
around her hips. It was dirty and torn but at least it was in one piece.

 Laying back he pulled
her against his uninjured side and half way across his body, cradling her head
on his chest. The jacket he then flipped over her back, covering her the best
that he could. The temperature had started to drop as the sun went down and she
would need his body heat through the night.

 Dressed in nothing
more than a white lacy bra and her jeans, her skin was in full contact with his
own. For one moment he gave into the temptation and ran his hand down the soft
skin of her back before clenching his fist and forcing his hand to remain
still. He thought he had heard the feminine male that she worked with call her
Kat the other day. It was an odd name and was surely a nick name.

 It was odd being this
close to another Lykan, hell to anyone for that matter. He had isolated himself
from the outside world for several years now and had almost no contact with
anyone human or werewolf. Now here he was with this tiny female pressed against
his chest.

 Something was digging
into his chest where she lay against him. Sliding his hand in between their two
bodies he pulled out something small and hard. He thought to pull it out but it
was connected to a chain around her neck. Examining the pendant he was
surprised to feel a strange energy coming from the odd looking stone. He
couldn’t quiet put his finger on it but something about the pendant put him on
edge. With a frown he laid it back down on his chest.

 With a low growl he
forced himself to ignore the satin skin beneath his hands and closed his eyes. He
needed to rest so he would heal. He remained in his beast form. He would heal
faster this way and would be able to sense if anything approached them.

 Instead of finding the
sleep he so badly needed his thoughts continued to drift to the little female
on his chest. She both fascinated and amazed him. He would be dead right now if
she hadn’t shot the feral when she had and weakened it. Unfortunately, although
she had managed to shot it in the heart it still could have killed her before
it went down. Knowing she wouldn’t survive if the feral got to her again, Ronan
knew he had to stop it. With the feral focused on the girl he had gathered the
last of his strength in one last desperate attempt to take its head.

 The little females
courage had had been nothing short of amazing. Although badly injured she had
stood her ground in the face of the feral’s rage. Funny, he thought with a
snort, this tiny female had managed to do something he hadn’t been able to do
in six weeks.

Kat awoke slowly to a
dull ache thumping in between her eyes. With a soft moan of misery she stretch
her aching limbs, her fuzzy mind not registering the tensing in the arm that
was wrapped around her. With a shiver she realized her back was chilled but the
front of her was toasty warm. Rubbing her face against the source of all the
delicious warmth Kat barely noticed that it was covered in hair, and lots of
it. Taking a deep breath, her senses were filled with the delicious scent of
earth, pine and woods and something else… The strange energy inside of her
suddenly surged into a low hum; awareness slowly began to clear the cobwebs
from her mind.

 With a gasp Kat leaned
back and found herself staring up into a pair of golden eyes. Golden
werewolf
eyes!

 With a shriek of
surprise Kat flung herself away from the half-naked werewolf man and crab walked
backwards. With a thump to the back of her head she quickly ran out of room as
her back slammed into a stone wall. Kat stared in absolute terror as the beast
rose slowly to his knees and watched her failed attempt to escape him. His eyes
had begun to glow and the medallion around his neck flared brightly.

 A low growl rose from
deep in his chest as he looked away from her for a moment and seem to struggle
for control. He shook his head as if to clear it and when he looked back up at
her his eyes had lost their eerie glow.

 He moved as if to come
closer to her and Kat panicked. Scrambling away from him she looked for some
kind of weapon. Picking up one of the rocks laying on the cave floor she held
it in her palm, ready to defend herself but knowing it would never be enough.

 Looking at the rock
held tightly in her hand, he scowled but didn’t come any closer. With a sigh he
held his large claw tipped hand out to her. “Female, come.” He was surprised at
how rough his voice was and then remembered he hadn’t spoken to anyone in
months.

 
Oh my god. It
talks.
Kat was shocked to hear his deep gravelly voice. “Just, stay away
for me.” Kat’s own voice wavered with her fear. The last monster had tried to
make a meal out of her, she wasn’t getting anywhere near this one.

 With a low growl that
sounded like frustration he moved as though he was going to come closer again.

 With a groan of panic
Kat scramble sideways along the wall but she had no place to go with the giant
werewolf blocking the entrance. If she could just make it past him maybe she
could try to out run it.

 With a sigh of
frustration the beast backed off again. For a moment he rubbed his eyes in aggravation.
Holding his hands out in front of him, he looked at the razor sharp claws that
tipped his hands almost as though he had forgotten they were there. Frowning at
them he seemed to come to some kind of decision.

 Closing his eyes he
let his hands drop to his sides and then the medallion around his neck began to
glow. Kat stared in shock as his massive body began to shift and change before
her very eyes.
Please God, just don’t let him change into something even
scarier.
Kat prayed as the werewolf shifted into the form of a muscular
mountain of a man. Golden eyes once again peaked out from under long hunks of
hair that hung in his face. Kat stared in disbelief at the beast’s now familiar
form.

 “Benji?” Kat gaped at
him, her mouth hanging open in shock.

 “Do not be frightened.
I mean you no harm.” Ronan stayed where he was, giving her time to adjust to
his new appearance.

 “I… I… I don’t
understand. How did you do that?” The rock rolled out of her hand forgotten. Rubbing
her dirt streaked hand across her eyes, she struggled to make sense of what she
was seeing.

 “What… what are you?”
Kat’s green eyes looked at him in confusion.

 Ronan was surprised by
her question but he had suspected as much. “You really don’t know?”

 “Why would I know?”

 Ronan watched her
closely as he answered. “I am Lykan.” The confusion on her face answered a few
questions he had of his own. Unbelievable, she really didn’t know.

 “You mean Lykan as in
werewolf, right?” Kat groaned and scrubbed her forehead with her hand, trying
to get her brain to process everything. “This so can’t be happening. You mean
to tell me werewolves are real!”

 “You have never seen a
Lykan before?” Ronan needed to confirm his suspicions.

 “Well no! Not until
yesterday when one tried to eat me!” Kat glared angrily at him.

 Ronan stared at her in
surprise. She truly didn’t know. How was this possible? “What of your parents?”

 “What? Why would my
parents know what a Lykan was?”

 Ronan stared at her in
dawning understanding. Not only did she not know what he was, she apparently
didn’t know that she was Lykan either. How the hell had this happened?

 “And the other, the
one I shot. What was he?” Kat couldn’t hold back the shiver that racked her
small frame as she pulled her knees up protectively in front of her chest.

 “He was Lykan but he
had gone feral.”