Shifters on Fire: A BBW Shifter Romance Boxed Set (64 page)

Chapter Eight

Each of Cole’s senses was on high alert. He was just waiting for the right moment to take these assholes out. He’d die before he let this ogre mate Alyssa.

She was his, and the fact Gregory was even breathing the same air as she was made him want to rip the other man’s throat out.

The other woman’s attention was taken, watching her mate and alpha dominate the bound girl. He would only have seconds before she realized what was going on and reacted. The woman had taken her eye off him, though the gun was still loosely trained in his direction. She was preoccupied by the way her alpha was attempting to untie Alyssa, while also dragging his tongue up the inside of her thigh. That Gregory had dared lay a hand on Alyssa, never mind his mouth, filled Cole with fury. His anger wasn’t only at Gregory. He’d been the one to tie Alyssa to that chair and leave her defenseless. If he hadn’t done that, she could have run.

But then she’d also have run from you,
he reminded himself.

Cole turned his focus inward, concentrating on the wolf that lived inside him. If the moon was full, the wolf would be raging and fighting to get out, but at this cycle of the moon the beast lay dormant, sleeping.

Cole needed it to wake.

Wolf!
He roared in his head.
I need you.

The animal stirred inside him, and then pain ripped through his body as it arose. The animal pushed its way out of him, through skin, muscle, and bone, and Cole roared his agony. He shed the human costume he’d been wearing, leaving pieces of human skin and bloodied, pink flesh lying on the floor around him.

As he fell to all four paws, the woman must have caught sight of him out of the corner of her eye. In shock, obviously not expecting anyone to risk shifting against the moon, she swung around. But she was too late. Cole leaped for her, his front paws landing squarely on her narrow, flat chest, knocking her to the ground. A shot rang out, and Gregory turned at the sound.

Standing over her, Cole opened his jaws and locked his teeth around the woman’s scrawny neck. She let out a shriek, and he closed his jaws tighter, squeezing the scream out of her.

~~*~~

Gregory spun around at the sound of his mate’s scream. He’d put down the gun in order to work at her bonds, but now Cole was a wolf and had Valerie’s throat in his jaws. A single snap would tear out her throat, a shake would snap her neck, and Alyssa knew Gregory wouldn’t risk that happening. Whatever else she thought about her alpha, for whatever screwed up reason, he actually loved his mate.

“Just let her go,” he yelled to Cole. “I’ve put the gun down, now let her go!”

Cole snarled and gave Valerie a slight shake. The woman let out a stifled scream and Gregory stepped forward, his hands out held in the ‘stop’ position.

“Please, no, don’t!” he begged.

Alyssa spotted her chance. Her legs were no longer bound to the chair, though her arms were still tied behind her back. She could run, but she wouldn’t get anywhere fast like this. Cole had shifted against the moon, and she could, too. She knew it would be painful and dangerous, but it was the only chance she had to get away.

With a sob, she lunged to her feet. Focusing on the open doorway of the barn, ignoring the chaos, the growls, snarls, and screams filling the air, she ran. All she needed to do was stay on her feet. If she fell, she’d land on her face and probably break her nose and lose her front teeth. She didn’t have her hands free to break her fall.

Caught in their own battle, the men and woman didn’t notice as she raced past and burst out of the barn doors and into the fresh air. Gregory’s truck sat outside, but she didn’t know if the keys were in the ignition. It didn’t matter anyway. She couldn’t drive with her hands bound.

The light had changed outside from when she’d been brought to the barn in the early afternoon. It was no longer daytime, but dusk, making the light softer, creating dappled shade.

But she didn’t have time to admire the beautiful scenery. She knew it would only be seconds before they’d noticed she had run, and they’d come after her. She couldn’t waste a second. Darting off the track that led up to the barn, she plunged into the forest.

The going was tougher with her hands tied than she’d anticipated. Her balance was off, and she was unable to hold back the overhanging branches which kept threatening to clout her in the face as she ran. There was only one way she’d escape, and she wouldn’t do so with her hands tied. In order to have enough strength to tear apart her bonds, she would need to shift.

The sounds of snarls and growls followed her, and a sudden gunshot blast rang out in the late evening air. Everything inside her froze, her ears straining for the sound of a whimper, her nostrils flared for the distinctive tang of wolf blood on the air, but her senses met with nothing.

She prayed Cole hadn’t been shot.

Her emotions were so mixed up about him. How could the thought of his death now fill her with terror? She didn’t want him to die, and for Gregory and Valerie to come after her. Cole had shown her the possibility of a different future, and the thought of submitting to Gregory’s will sickened her. She would miss her brothers with every fiber of her soul, but she knew now she could never go back to the pack.

She glanced up at the moon which peeped between the branches of the trees. It was barely past a waxing crescent and she knew waking her wolf at the wrong time of the moon’s cycle was going to hurt.

But she had no choice.

She was frightened of the wolf inside her, frightened that by calling it at the wrong time she would be giving it strength. What if it became stronger than she was? What if her wolf overpowered her and she wasn’t able to shift back?

Better that than becoming Gregory’s mate.

She continued to run, a strange stumbling lurch as she ducked beneath overhanging branches, her progress hindered by her arms being behind her back—she’d never realized before how much she used her arms to run. Breaking through the trees, she spotted a trail, probably made by small animals, and she followed it. She didn’t dare stop for a moment, even to shift.

Alyssa focused deep into herself, mentally stroking the beast that lived inside her.

I need your help. Wake up. Please.

The animal stirred, and at first she thought it was going to settle itself back down, but it must have sensed her racing heart and the adrenaline firing through her veins.

Wolf,
she urged it.
We need to be wolf.

She let out a shriek as the animal woke fully and agony clawed its fingers into every part of her. She couldn’t even think. She dropped to the ground, her hands still behind her back, her cheek pressed to the dirt. As the animal forced its way from the inside, her skin tore from her face, dropping to the ground like peeled wallpaper. Her fingernails fell from the ends of her fingers like bloodied petals from a flower and the strength of the animal, combined with the different structure of the wolf’s massive shoulders rather than her human ones, tore the knots of the rope loose. The animal pushed through, leaving the shell of the body that had made her human in tatters all around.

Fully wolf, she got to all four feet and shook out her thick fur. Pieces of her human skin still clung to her fur and she dropped to the ground to roll away the last residues. The heady scent of earth and wilderness filled her nostrils and excitement and power filled her. Her thin summer dress was now in shreds—she’d never be wearing that again. It had been too small anyway.

Crashing came from behind her, the way she’d come.

It might be Gregory coming to claim her.

She needed to keep moving.

Alyssa set off at a bound, loving the power in her muscles, the strength in all four of her legs. She ran through the surrounding forest, so fast it felt like she was flying. She crashed through bushes and leaped small brooks, ignoring the animals—rabbits and mice—which scattered for safety as she galloped by.

The fear and helplessness she’d been in the grip of all day had vanished. She was strong and powerful, an apex predator.

She should have shifted sooner.

But she wasn’t alone.

Another wolf chased her, she could hear the panted breath, the crush of the foliage beneath foot as it ran. She could tell by instinct that the animal was bigger than she was. Would it be Cole chasing her, or had Gregory shot him, and decided to come after her in wolf form as well?

The chase felt endless. She ran and ran, her tongue lolling from her mouth and her chest heaving as she panted. She had no idea where she was headed, only that she needed to put as much distance as possible between herself and whoever chased her.

A solid, furry body suddenly hit her from the side, bowling her over onto her back. She snarled and snapped, purely reacting without thinking about who she was reacting to. Teeth nipped at her hind leg, and she gave a whine of pain, but then she caught the scent of him—a musky mixture of honey and chocolate, and realized it was Cole.

Shaking him off, she spun around to face him. His muzzle was bloodied, but it wasn’t his blood. Had he killed Gregory, or just injured him? Alyssa didn’t care. All she cared was that Cole had been the wolf chasing her.

His hackles were raised, his head lowered as he growled at her. He still wanted her, still wanted to dominate her. Question was, would she let him?

Her upper lip curled, flashing her canines. He was a beautiful wolf, more gold in his fur than brown, with black streaks highlighting his long back, and thick tail. His coat was in contrast to her own light gray fur, and white streaks.

They circled each other, both of them issuing low growls from barrel chests.

She could run, but where to? Despite what he’d done, her attraction to him was intense and her instincts told her he’d be a good mate—fierce, passionate, protective.

He lunged for her, catching her by surprise. Before she knew it, she’d spun around, snapping and snarling, but he was already behind her. He pawed her back, and mounted her, his teeth sinking into the fur at the base of her neck.

Alyssa lowered her body and submitted.

Before he could penetrate her, she felt her wolf retreating. Perhaps it understood this needed to happen with them both in their human forms.

The shift back to a woman happened almost instantly, each limb changing shape, fur melting from her skin. Even as she changed, she sensed Cole shifting with her, until they became a tangled frenzy of arms, legs, breasts and hips. The shift back had left them both completely naked. She twisted around to face him, their mouths hungrily meeting.

“Gregory?” she gasped as Cole’s teeth nipped her lower lip.

“Hurt, not dead.

“But what if—”

“He’s not coming after you Alyssa. He knows you belong to me.”

“I do,” she agreed. “I want you. I want you to make me yours.”

She felt the hard length of his cock pressing against her stomach. It felt big, too big to fit inside her. She’d never been with either man or wolf before, and the idea of his huge member pushing inside her thrilled and terrified her in equal measures.

He broke the kiss and sat up, so he was straddled across her hips. She took in the sight of him, his dark hair, and blue eyes, now flecked with gold because of the shift. His body was beautiful, broad shoulders and a lean torso, his abdominals highlighted in the moonlight without being overly muscular. His erection stood up proudly, thickly veined, the head smooth and dark red. She’d seen the naked cocks of her other pack members when they’d shifted on a full moon, but never one so closely.

Suddenly, self-consciousness flooded over her, horribly aware of the rolls around her stomach, the thickness of her thighs, the full swells of her breasts. But Cole reached down to her tits, filling his hands with their flesh, kneading and massaging to the sensitive peaks of her dusky pink nipples, before rolling them between his thumb and forefinger. Alyssa forgot all about being self-conscious as arousal flashed from her nipples, straight down between her thighs. She let out a moan.

One of his hands left her breast and slid up her throat to her lips. His eyes focused intensely on her face as he pushed his thumb inside her mouth. Alyssa parted her lips and flicked her tongue around his digit, swirling as though it were his cock, before closing her lips and sucking gently.

It was Cole’s turn to let out a moan, and she saw his erection jerk in appreciation. She knew exactly what was going through his mind.

“God, you’re so fucking sexy,” he growled. “I can’t believe you’re going to be mine.”

Sexy. She’d never thought of herself as sexy before. She’d just been Alyssa—slightly dumpy, boring Alyssa. The good girl who always did what everyone told her.

Well, not any more.

Using her teeth, she gently bit down on his thumb.

He hissed air in over his teeth, and she parted her lips allowing him to pull back his hand.

“If we do this, we’re equals,” she said. “Joint alphas. I won’t have any man tell me what to do again.” She gave a secret smile. “Except for in the bedroom, of course.”