Luna's Sokjan (Book one) (9 page)

My latest, theory was that
somehow my sorcery as a weretiger and the ability of the Sōkjan had
some negative reaction to the ancient spell. It had taken me months
to key the spell correctly and once conjured, it couldn’t be
reverse. Not that, I wanted too. I loved the spell and thanked the
old lady almost daily for teaching it to me.

As I reentered the dimly
lit bedroom, I felt a dark presence near the windows. Stopping I
glanced in that direction and thought I caught, for just a second,
a glimpse of someone standing there and then it was gone. I was in
no mood for games from spirits or living.

“Good, you’re awake.”
Gabriel’s heavy timber voice rolled over me. He was sitting in a
chair between the bed and the French doors that lead to the outside
and my way out. “I brought up some dinner for you.” He rose from
the chair.

Remembered my escape from
the wolf village did ya?

“You’ll want to leave me
alone right now.” I told him.

My only desire was to go
home and find a way to break the bindings. In my heart of hearts, I
knew that I was doomed. I knew that I could never get away from
him. My fate had been tied up remarkably tight, and I was
pissed-off.

My only real comfort was.
As an Sōkjan, he couldn’t make me his personal assassin. He would
have to have a just reason for each request he made of me. If, his
request was not valid I would be released from my bond and I would
have to kill him. Ah, there was a silver lining after
all.

He laughed
softly.

“I don’t think so.” he
said with a chuckle and started towards me. “Obviously only a few
hours of sleep haven't been enough to improve your
mood.”

I glanced at him. I hadn’t
been sure if I had made my shields strong enough to stand up
against the force of the binding, but from the looks of him, I
guessed, they had. I, on the other hand, felt as though a mag-truck
had run over me. Life just majorly sucked sometime.

“So what happened to your
pack?” I asked, spotting my clothes on a table by the door. Goody,
I could get dressed and go home. If I could get him to leave the
room long enough, that is.

“Your power surge never
left the office. Apparently your shields kept it contained to my
office. Mat said the power flickered once and then they heard your
screams. No one could get the door open until after you passed out.
I’ll have to remodel the office, but all in all it could have been
much worse.” As he spoke he rubbed his hands down my
arms.

I tried to move away from
him. He tightened his grip on my arms and held me still.

“We are bound to each
other McKenna and the sooner you accept that fact the better. What
I have done can’t be undone.” He said as he inhaled my
scent.

“Ya’ never know. I might
be able to find a spell to break both bonds.” I told him with a
shrug.

I was fighting the desire
to rub myself against him.

He chuckled. “I don’t
think so, even if you could find a spell to break the Sōkjan’s
bond. You can never break the mate’s bond. We are bound together
until one of us dies.” He said as he hugged me to him.

I itched to touch him, to
hold him, and to taste him. Help me Luna.

“I could just kill you now
and be free of all this.” I said against his chest.

As soon as the words left
my mouth I heard how worthless they were. Neither of the bonds
would allow me to. Mates just didn’t kill each and the Sōkjan bond
would never let me cause him any real harm.

Damn it! Well I’d just
have to find another way to make him pay for what he done to me.
Anger rolled over me. I jerked away from him, needing space and
time to think. All my senses and emotions were out of whack, I
didn’t know up from down, and it scared the shit out of
me.

“McKenna you need to eat
something.” He told me.

I shook my head and picked
up my clothes. Then I walked straight into Gabriel.

“Where are you going?” He
asked and gazed down at me.

I glanced up into his
amber eyes and once again saw a shadow hiding there. His big hands
cupped the sides of my face, locking our gazes on each
other.

“I am going home.” I told
him and stood very still staring deep into his amber eyes, again I
saw something hiding there, and something tugged at my memory. I
reached up to touch his face and stopped. Somewhere deep inside of
me I was glad that he was unhurt.

“You are home.” He
whispered before his lips touched mine.

I pushed power at him,
intending to push him away from me, but once it touched him. Our
powers blended together. I knew this man, somehow I knew his touch,
taste, scent, and I wanted more. I sighed into his kiss and moved
closer. Gabriel’s tongue touched mine, and all thought stopped. A
slow heat spread though my body and I leaned in for more. Gabriel
pulled back and took a deep breath. Letting it out slowly, he
rested his forehead against mine. I could hear his racing heart,
felt the heat coming off his body and his need matched my
own.

“I know you don’t
understand the ways of the pack, McKenna, but even you have to
agree that we are mates. Hell I don’t understand all of what has
happened tonight, but I do know. You are my mate, and your home is
here with me. We can figure out the rest together.” He told me
gently.

It sounded reasonable, and
I could be reasonable, for about five minutes, I guessed. I was
still angry, but I could hold it in check for a little longer.
Pulling my power back to me, I hid it away behind its shields, and
I stared at him.

“Come.” He took my hand
and pulled me towards the table.

I looked at the tray of
food. It had been a long time since I eaten last. I let him take my
clothes from me as I sat down. I could wait until he was asleep to
get the hell out of here. The tray held sliced roast beef with
potatoes, rolls, and some mixed vegetables. Gabriel sat down next
to me and began cutting the roast beef up. I watched him with an
arched eyebrow as I drank some ice tea.

“Are you goanna feed me
like a child also?” I asked and put the glass down.

He flashed me a quick
smile.

“Do you want me to feed
you McKenna?” He challenged me in a silky voice.

I held a shiver at
bay.

“I’m tired, Gabriel, but I
think I can manage to feed myself.” I replied sourly, taking the
fork from him.

So we sat there, me in my
underwear eating dinner and Gabriel watching me fully dressed. I
don’t know why it bothered me, but it did. Shape-shifters have no
modesty, after all, we lose our clothes with every change, and we
almost never have any clothes handy when we switch back, it becomes
a part of you.

“So why activate all the
bonds?” I asked in between bites of food. “What made you think that
you had to bond us together until death do us part?
Twice?”

I couldn’t read anything
in his face when I glanced at him. He just sat there watching me
for a long while. I started to kick him.

“An old man came to the
pack a few weeks back and requested a meeting with me. He told me
if I wanted to protect my people I would need the help of the
Sōkjan. He also told me, I would need to activate the Sōkjan bonds
to keep you alive.” He answered. “The mate bond was an added
bonus.” He told me with a wicked grin.

I proudly did not grin
back, but oh, I so wanted to. I felt the warmth of his hand, before
he settled it on my knee.

“So you just took the word
of a strange old man?” I asked.

“No, Angus is a seer he
showed up just after the first girl disappeared and told me it was
just the beginning. More would disappear, but without your help,
justice would never be served. Do you remember anything that
happened after the fight in the woods?” He asked me.

I shook my head, it was
true, all I remembered was a strange dream, but he didn’t need to
know that.

“You were unconscious when
we brought you here. The healers worked with you for hours. When
you finally did wake up, you attacked two of them. That’s when
Angus stepped in. He told us you had suffered too much pain. You
kept losing control over your beast whenever you were awake. We had
a devil of a time getting you back under control.” He told
me.

His hand tightened on my
knee and then relaxed.

Losing control of ones
beast was bad. Werefolk are taught from an early age how to control
their beast. Sometimes strong emotions or severe pain made us lose
control.

“I knew Angus was right
about us, from the first touch. McKenna, I did what I had to do to
protect you, myself and my pack, you have to believe that.” He
smiled at me.

I had finished my meal. So
I sat quietly sipping on tea while I listened to him tell his
story.

“Maybe you should have
explained all of this to me back at the bar. I might have agreed to
help without activating any the bonds. Is the old man still here?”
I asked and put the glass down.

He sounded a lot like my
Angus, my dead Angus. Had it actually been just a dream? Oh, Luna
could he still be alive?

“I know where he is.” He
told me and his eyes lit with a warm smile at my question. “He said
you’d want to talk to him, once you found out about
him.”

“I would like to talk to
him right now.” I said as I stood up.

“No, McKenna. The middle
of the night is not a good time to go visit an old man. Besides, we
have other things to do tonight.” He stated as he rose with me and
reached for my hand.

Drawing me up against him,
he lowered his mouth to mine for a long, deep, possessive kiss. I
felt a stirring deep within my bones, and I started to melt against
him. His power called to mine, it touched me, and pressed against
me, but I refused to answer him back. I couldn’t let him have
everything.

Removing my bra before he
picked me up to carry me back to bed. Lying me down gently, he
stood back and examined me. I’d had lovers in the past, but none
had looked like him. Tall, dark skinned, and extremely powerful, I
wanted to run my hands over his body and taste every inch of him.
After removing all his clothes, he knelt on the bed. He ran both of
his hands over my flat stomach, and around my breasts to cup my
face. His warm, wet tongue followed the progress of his hands up my
body. I tingled and shivered in response to his touch.

“You will open to me,
McKenna. I will have all of you.” He whispered the command as he
bent down to kiss me.

I sighed into his kiss
meeting his tongue with my own and exploring his mouth as he did
mine. My eager hands moved up his brawny back, over the firmly
muscled shoulders and down his arms. Hooking one long leg around
his hip, I pulled and pressed our bodies closer together. His hands
moved slowly back down my chest to cup my breasts teasingly, before
moving down to my waist and hips. I purred, enjoying the feel of
his touch caressing my body.

My fingers combed through
his dark, thick hair as his warm mouth kissed his way towards my
breast. A moan escaped me when his mouth closed over one nipple and
sucked it. His strong hands held my hips still keeping me from
rubbing against him as he loved one breast and then the
other.

“Gabriel.” I half
whispered, and half moaned his name.

I wanted to feel all of
him against me. My body was becoming more demanding, and I fought
against his hands.

“What love? Do you like
this?” he asked and teasingly kissed my breast again. “Want
more?”

He moved a hand between my
legs to touch me. I jerked and arched my hips up to meet his
questing hand in response.

“Yes.” I cried
out.

“Before we are done
tonight, you’ll give me everything. You will know that you are mine
McKenna, in every way.” He promised me against my skin and rubbed
that skillful hand against me.

I ran my hands back down
his arms feeling the tight muscles jerk just under the skin. I
licked and bit my way from his shoulder to his neck.

“No.” I said softly
against his skin.

Running my hands down his
sides to grip his hips I tried to press him closer to me. His body
was so familiar, somehow I knew the taste, the smell of it and
something deep inside me had dearly missed it.

“You can’t have all of me
Gabriel.” My voice was as smooth as silk.

I licked my way across his
chest to catch one of his nipples in my mouth for a long sucking
kiss. He had gone still under my touch.

“I will fight you with
every inch of my being.” I told him before I kissed his neck and
stared into his eyes. “You will never have all of me.” I promised
him, before kissing him with all the passion and desire I
felt.

He jerked his head back
growling deep within his throat, in response to my promise. He
grabbed my wrists and locked them over my head in a vice grip hold
with one hand. I snarled my displeasure at him. I didn’t want to be
restrained. I wanted to be free to run my hands over his body, to
touch and feel him as I pleased.