WithHerHunger (3 page)

Two other males broke out fighting nearby, and Mariah leapt
out of the way, along with those around her. The males attacked with the speed
their breed was known for as they snarled and growled fiercely at each other.

“At this rate, all the males will kill each other and we’ll
have a female pack leader,” someone said behind her, and several females broke
out laughing.

“We might as well eat the kill at the fires. I’d hate to
sniff out a male and have him attacked or possibly killed,” another female said
seriously.

The group around her thinned out as they all left the circle
and started the walk around it to the large fires burning at the other edge of
the clearing.

“It would seriously suck if all the males killed each
other,” Marcy whispered, smelling amused when she stopped next to Mariah. Her
attention remained on the males fighting.

Mariah instantly smelled her cousin’s interest in the fight.
“And what if he won all the fights?” Mariah teased, nudging her cousin.
“Wouldn’t you want to be queen bitch?”

“No,” Marcy said immediately under her breath.

Mariah laughed and glanced across the meadow. These
lunewulf
would become her pack. They would learn to hunt together, protect each other,
learn each others’ secrets and laugh and mourn together. It would take time,
but before any of them knew it, they would run as one, the way a pack should.
And they would be molded into a tight pack by a good, powerful pack leader. Whoever
became their new leader would have his work cut out for him. Already Mariah
guessed that along with strength he would have to be merciless. She just prayed
he wouldn’t be a dictator. Mariah had heard of werewolves running from packs
with cruel leaders.

The smell of raw meat slowly cooking from deer a few of them
had captured after the pack settled in the meadow tickled Mariah’s nose. It was
as pointless watching the fights right now as it was staring at the northern
mountain range. The males who might actually be candidates for their new leader
wouldn’t come forward until the weaker males were eliminated or bellied up. And
the male who had captivated her for an evening would now be a memory to enjoy.

“Let’s go eat,” she suggested, and Marcy smiled and turned
to walk with Mariah around the circle.

Keeping a hold on her cousin’s hand, she worked their way
toward the cooking meat. She paused when the
lunewulf
in front of her
paused. Mariah smelled their distaste and annoyance and looked around them for
the cause of it.

“Where did he come from?” a stout older male, who looked
vaguely familiar, huffed.

“Don’t worry. We won’t share our kill with their kind,” a
female, not much older than Mariah announced.

Tiny hairs sprang to life down Mariah’s spine. She searched
the meadow around them, anxious to see who they were growling about. Her
curiosity piqued from the smell of the male’s and female’s annoyance. Who would
they question being in the meadow their small pack had just claimed? Who would
be denied their kill?

Cariboo!

There could be other answers, but that one popped into her
head first. The Cariboo
lunewulf
were viewed as barbaric by
lunewulf
.
At some point way back in history, a
lunewulf
somewhere apparently bred
with a werewolf who was much larger, wilder and incapable of following their
laws and traditions. Cariboo
lunewulf
were troublemakers, disrespectful
and best kept away from any respectable
lunewulf
pack.

The male who chased me didn’t rape me.
He had climbed
off her when Mariah fought to stand before they’d fucked. He had waited until
he knew her desire to fuck him smelled as strong as his did for her.

“I’m sure it’s nothing,” Marcy comforted, misunderstanding
the low growl that rose in Mariah’s throat. “Possibly a male or female from
another pack we don’t know who’s been shunned or something.”

Mariah shrugged then gave Marcy a discreet nod. “I don’t see
anyone.” Mariah kept her voice low so the male and female in front of her
wouldn’t overhear.

“Let’s cut over this way,” Marcy whispered, grabbing Mariah’s
arm.

Mariah tripped over her feet as Marcy dragged her around the
upset
lunewulfs
. She searched the meadow where they stood a moment
before, desperate to see her Cariboo male.

“What’s wrong?” Marcy asked once they were close to the
fires. She sniffed the air. “Why do you smell like that?”

Mariah suddenly felt as if she’d been busted breaking some
rule. She shook her head, determined to make herself smell confused. “Smell
like what? All I smell is that incredible meat. Come on. I’m starving.”

“You smelled weird.” Marcy wasn’t going to drop it.
“Everyone around us was suddenly annoyed and you smell like you were
turned-on.”

Mariah gave her cousin an appraising once-over then shook
her head. “Your senses must be all boggled from running for so long. You’ll feel
better after you eat.”

Mariah didn’t wait for Marcy’s response but picked up her
pace and led the way to the fires where meat cooked and part of their pack
lingered and relaxed.

“You two don’t have protection,” a male’s voice said, and
filled the air around them with the smell of alcohol.

Mariah pushed her cousin away from the drunk male and
growled a warning.

“You’re the one who will need protection if you don’t sniff
out another female,” she snarled, and glared at the male.

“Is that so?”

“Oh yes, old male. That is very much so,” she informed him,
and allowed the burning in her veins to ignite. She controlled the change,
giving over to it only enough to put on a bit of muscle. “Maybe you should go
find someone to protect you,” she growled under her breath, her voice a bit
raspier than it was a moment ago.

The male laughed and puffed out his chest as he looped his
thumbs through the belt loops on his pants. He rocked up on his heels as
amusement with just a hint of annoyance drifted in the air around him. The
clean, fresh aroma mixed with the disgustingly sweet smell made for an
unpleasant combination.

“Little female, are you suggesting I need protection from
the likes of you? Or is it that sweet little thing behind you who I need
protection from?” He started to laugh and glanced around him, as if searching
for support in insulting Mariah and Marcy.

Mariah struck out, her temper flaring. As the spiciness of
her emotion clogged the air, her fist connected with his cheekbone. “You tell
me,” she howled, and sent a second punch to his stomach just as the male turned
and looked at her stunned.

The male was thick in the waist, not fat, very few
lunewulf
ever got fat. Mariah’s fist plunged into his gut just below his ribs. She
felt the pressure of her punch deflate his lungs. The male stumbled backward
from the impact. Mariah ignored the cuts in her palm from her fingernails that
had begun to extend from the amount of change flushing through her system.

She grabbed Marcy and marched away from the asshole before
he retaliated. From the surrounding laughter and the smell of his humiliation,
she kept sniffing to see if he would strike back or risk walking away with his
tail between his legs. Mariah had no intention of allowing him to catch her off
guard.

Mariah would have to get used to surviving in a world where
she truly had no protection. Before their pack was burned to the ground, she
had run freely, fought and played, knowing her sire and the sires of litters
close to theirs were always nearby to prevent them any harm. Mariah couldn’t
forget for a moment that the safe, secure-smelling world she’d known all her
life no longer existed.

“That was impressive,” Marcy told her once they’d put
several groups of
lunewulf
between them and the drunk male.

Mariah glanced around the
lunewulf
as they walked to
the fires, searching for the male or female they’d heard shouldn’t be with
them. She didn’t see any Cariboo or anyone appearing upset about anyone else
being around them. Whoever it was the
lunewulf
around them had complained
about earlier, was now gone.

“We’re going to have to always be impressive,” Mariah said
with conviction. “Tonight and in the future. From here on out, Marcy, don’t
ever hesitate to attack. It’s the only way we’ll stay alive until our pack
settles down and we have new dens. Now stay close and let’s get our kill,” she
said, and walked purposely to the nearest fire pit.

The sudden screams and snarls from two females prevented
Mariah from hearing Marcy’s response. Her cousin stayed close, though, and the
two of them hurried away from the fighting females. They didn’t slow down until
they reached the fires. Smoke burned Mariah’s eyes, but the wonderful smell of
the deer made her tummy growl.

The perfectly cooked, not-quite-raw meat filled her tummy
and lifted Mariah’s spirits. The two of them could go into Prince George, the
city at the base of the mountains. There was a solidly founded,
well-established pack living there who had helped settle Fort George in the
early eighteen hundreds.

Right now, and probably at least for the next month,
Mariah’s new pack was as out of control and barbaric as the Cariboo
lunewulf
they had always turned their tail on. It might be part of their traditions for
males and females to attack each other when setting up the boundaries for a new
pack. That didn’t mean Mariah had to enjoy it.

The option did exist to run down the mountain into Prince
George and sniff out their pack leader. Since that leader had already agreed to
this new pack building dens in his territory and establishing a new pack there,
he would undoubtedly agree to Mariah, and possibly even Marcy, joining his
pack. If she ran into Prince George, she wouldn’t do it alone. She had too much
honor to leave her cousin, who was barely eighteen, alone to fend for herself
within this new pack.

Any orphaned cubs had immediately been put in the care of a
litter who would care for them. But Marcy was almost grown. She was on her own,
just as Mariah was. They wouldn’t be offered protection. Mariah looked over at
Marcy, who was almost drooling over the fresh meat as they waited their turn to
take part of the kill, and accepted she was now Marcy’s protector.

Mariah and Marcy would immediately be under the Prince
George pack leader’s protection if they ran into town. He would be honor-bound
to provide a den for them and ultimately would have final say over all of their
actions until both of them found mates. Then she and her littermate would howl
only to their mate.

It was odd sniffing out the truth. Right now, Mariah knew
more freedom than she might ever know again in her life. As uncertain as their
future was, Mariah had choices. She didn’t need to wait for someone else to
sniff out and have final say over what they would do next.

This was their first night in their human form in over a week.
When running in their fur, all mated females in their new pack had run, forming
a circle around the unmated females. It was yet one more annoying tradition, or
possibly even a law that smothered single females and prevented them from
sniffing out their own path. Mariah was almost exhilarated with the reality of
her sudden freedom right in front of her nose.

She and Marcy would sleep where they wished tonight. They
would howl to whomever they wished to howl. They would run in whichever
direction they chose. She and her cousin reached the fire and took the
wonderfully smelling meat to a patch of grass where no one else was. They sat
companionably. Neither wished to speak. Both were too eager to fill their
bellies. Mariah sank her teeth into the meat she held in her hands and stared
wistfully toward the north—well, in almost any direction she wished. But then
she gave herself a stubborn mental shake and silent thanks to the thick smell
of the fire and cooked meat. The rich aromas covered the smell of her longing
over something she would never have again.

“Do we really want to go back to the other side of the
fires?” Marcy asked after they’d had their fill of venison.

Mariah laughed. Her enthusiasm to take on the night fully
charged. “I say we go find a secluded spot and claim our temporary den for the
night.”

“That sounds great.” Marcy smelled as fresh as clean laundry
just pulled from the line. Her happiness lit up her face and made her pretty
eyes glow. “Thanks for letting me crash with you,” she added under her breath,
although her humility was sincere. “Obviously forming a new pack is dangerous
work.”

They reached the other side of the fires just as
blood-curdling howls ripped through the night air. The large fires cast streaks
of dancing light across the meadows. There were torches burning now too. They
offered additional light. The howling turned to whimpering as a male crashed to
the ground, shaking the earth, and remained there, still.

“Your point is made,” Mariah said dryly.

She and Marcy continued staring in that direction when a
group of
lunewulf
leapt to the side and howled loud complaints. They
were shrouded by shadows from the giant evergreen growing close by, but it was
clear they weren’t pleased with a new fight starting so close to them.

When Anton Huber shoved his way past the
lunewulf
around him, who scattered or shoved back, the murmuring quickly reached Mariah
and Marcy. Many approved of him being their new pack leader. The male was
young, in his prime, and the howlings grew louder as he bolted into the middle
of the clearing.

“Oh shit,” Marcy whispered, and brought her hands to her
mouth.

If she was trying to hide her interest in Anton, Marcy
sucked at doing it. Mariah reached for her cousin and gripped Marcy’s slender
shoulder. Mariah did so without looking. She focused on Anton. Or tried to. The
male was powerfully fast and moved like a sleek blast of white light.