WithHerHunger (7 page)

As her orgasm erupted inside her, Luther’s control released
and he pumped his come into her.

“You’re mine,” she finished for him.

Chapter Four

Johann Rousseau’s den turned out to be a spacious layout
with cubs running around and a happy mate who, with the help of other females,
had laid out quite a spread of steaks, burgers and fish. Not only were there
quite a few
lunewulf
there, who had run down from the Yukon Territory,
but also quite a few from the Prince George pack.

Luther would have loved to have arrived with Mariah, but as
she pointed out, with no surviving sire, he needed to ask her pack leader for
the right to mate with her. Sometimes pack laws really sucked. So instead, he’d
returned to his den, changing into his fur this time and running along the
outskirts of town then into the country until he reached Toubec’s ranch.
Gratefully, his cousins had already left to sniff out females. They might or
might not come to Rousseau’s evening kill. Luther didn’t care if they did or
not. He’d come with the other Cariboo to Rousseau’s den.

“Rock Toubec,” Rousseau said formally after they’d enjoyed
his kill and many were lingering behind the den in a spacious yard. “Alger and
his cousins did a good job on the new dens for the
lunewulf
who have
just arrived from the north.”

Rousseau sniffed the air and gave Luther a hard look. Luther
kept his expression blank and made sure his scent remained neutral. There was
no keeping Mariah’s smell off him. Not that he wanted her aroma to ever leave
his flesh. He would howl to the pack leader soon enough. Now, with so many
around them and the evening kill having just been enjoyed wasn’t the time.

“The Alger males are staying out in the row of dens,” Toubec
informed the pack leader.

Toubec hadn’t growled at all over the change in Luther’s
scent. Possibly the older Cariboo hadn’t noticed Luther smelling any different
than he had the first time he met him. Toubec ran the large ranch with the help
of quite a few Cariboo. The male hadn’t appeared all that interested in giving
Luther a second glance after allowing the Algers an available den.

“Good to know he can hammer a nail. There’s plenty of work
on the ranch,” Toubec added.

Rousseau was dwarfed standing between Luther and Rock Toubec
but didn’t seem to notice. “Herrwulf might have more jobs as well. The pack is
continually growing.”

“Not my fault you
lunewulf
keep breeding,” Toubec
snarled, but then snorted, which might be the large male’s version of a laugh.
“I’ve always got work on my land for strong males.”

A mated
lunewulf
couple howled for Rousseau. As if to
back what Toubec had just said, a large group of cubs surrounded them. Rousseau
turned from Toubec and Luther without a word and swooped the youngest cub into
his arms and tossed him into the air. The excited cub was half changed when
Rousseau put him back on the ground, and instantly tried crawling up the male’s
leg to be tossed into the air again.

Toubec turned his back on Rousseau and faced Luther. “Your
scent has changed,” he grumbled under his breath. His harsh, piercing glare was
fierce as he stared Luther head-on. If anyone in the yard behind Rousseau’s den
smelled the showdown between the two large Cariboo males, no one sniffed their
direction.

“Yes, it has,” Luther said simply, matching Toubec’s
soft-spoken growl. He continued keeping all his emotions in check. This pack
had treated him well so far. Luther wouldn’t dishonor Rousseau by snarling with
the older Cariboo here.

“She is
lunewulf
.”

“Yes.”

“Come around and see me after high noon tomorrow.” He added
in a lower voice. “My mate isn’t much on anyone howling around her den much
before that.”

Toubec shifted his attention and focused on a
lunewulf
female, who sensed his attention and turned from a small group where she’d been
standing. She walked up to Toubec and wrapped her arms around his thick waist.
The male growled as he lowered his head and sniffed his mate.

Luther now understood. Toubec hadn’t smelled confrontational
because he wasn’t. The male understood. Luther hadn’t given a lot of thought to
mating while up in the Yukon Territory. Up until Mariah had interrupted their
kill with her strong, alluring scent, Luther would have sworn he wouldn’t mate
anytime soon. There was something to be howled about running free in the
mountains. Yet he knew now, with every breath he took, running in those mountains
wouldn’t be the same without Mariah by his side.

“You owe me no favors,” he told the Cariboo.

Toubec raised his face from sniffing his mate and stared at
Luther with hard, attentive eyes. “That’s true,” he grumbled in a low growl. “I
don’t plan on giving you any.”

“But if you’re willing,” Luther pressed, standing tall
before the mated male, “I would be honored if your mate went over to the female
by the door and asked her to join us.”

He and Mariah had made love now in their flesh as well as
fur. Mariah and the other
lunewulf
who had run down here hadn’t yet
chosen a pack leader. Luther didn’t care much about pack politics but he did
care about Mariah. He would honor her, and their traditions and do this right.

Toubec and his mate turned their heads at the same time.
Luther watched Mariah, who’d just stepped outside of Rousseau’s den, and waited
for her to sniff him out.

“The one in the jeans and green sweater?” Toubec’s female
asked. She smiled at Luther and sniffed the air. Her blue eyes narrowed on him.
“Is she the one I smell on you?” She had the good sense to lower her voice when
asking.

“Yes, she’s the one.”

Toubec looked at his mate and she shrugged. When she
released her mate, he slapped her rear before she could walk over to Mariah.
Mariah watched warily when Toubec’s mate walked up to her. When she shifted her
attention briefly and met Luther’s gaze, he nodded inconspicuously and watched
her exhale.

Luther felt a hunger deep inside him stronger than any he’d
known before. Mariah’s long blonde hair streamed past her shoulders and down
her back. Her creamy-white flesh was smooth, free of scars, showing she’d led a
protected and safe life with her pack before the humans burned them out. Her
eyes were large and a beautiful shade of blue.

Her sweater was snug and hugged her perky breasts. It ended
at her narrow waist. The blue jeans she wore could have been painted on to her
long, slender legs. She looked so damn hot it was all he could do not to start
panting just staring at her. A group of single males howling at each other
noticed Mariah and growled in her direction. Something hardened inside him so
painfully it distracted him. Luther didn’t realize he’d started toward them
until Toubec growled a warning under his breath.

“They won’t bother her.” Toubec stared hard at Luther just
as his mate reached Mariah. “If she smells anything like you, they will take
her as a mated female.”

Luther wanted to howl Mariah was mated.

“You sure you want a
lunewulf
female?” Toubec asked.

He wanted to say he wanted Mariah, regardless of what breed
she was. “They’ve got to be easier to train than Cariboo
lunewulf
females,” Luther said instead.

Toubec threw his head back and laughed hard enough to draw
attention from others around them. Luther didn’t appreciate everyone sniffing
his direction, their curiosity smelling ripe and mixed with amusement.

“Catching a female
lunewulf
is one thing,” Toubec
said quietly, and sobered. “Training them is an entire different matter,” he
added under his breath.

His mate was returning with Mariah by her side. She pranced
up to her mate, rubbing against him suggestively with an ornery smile before
looking away from him and at the young female.

“May I present Mariah Engel,” she said to her mate.

Toubec turned from Luther and gave the young, single female
his attention. “Your litter has run here from the Yukon Territory?”

“I’m the only one left in my litter.” Mariah focused on
Toubec’s mate when she spoke.

“You ran down here without protection?” Toubec’s mate asked.
“No male forced himself on you?”

“I ran here with my new pack. We might not have a pack
leader yet but I had plenty of protection. And no male forced himself on me,”
she added, her scent turning angry with her final words. “In fact, I’ve
instigated all sex I’ve had recently.”

Toubec’s mate leaned closer to Mariah. “You realize how damn
hard a Cariboo
lunewulf
is to tame, let alone train?”

Mariah’s spicy scent disappeared almost immediately. She
smiled but didn’t smell happy. “I don’t know,” she growled sweetly. “So far
he’s trained rather well.”

“How old are you?” Toubec growled, wisely not commenting on
what Mariah had just said.

“I’m twenty-two.”

Toubec didn’t say anything for a moment and his mate glanced
up at him as if she could smell his thoughts. Luther didn’t smell anything. Even
Mariah’s smile faded. She looked at Luther and he crossed his arms against his
chest so he wouldn’t grab her and pull her to his side. He might need to ask
Rousseau for permission to mate with Mariah, but something told him Toubec
pulled a lot of weight in this territory. They would do well to have his
blessing as well, if they were to run with this pack.

Toubec’s mate growled under her breath when she asked, “Are
you sure you want to mate with this male?” she asked, gesturing to Luther.

Mariah smiled at Luther. “I’ve already mated with him, in
flesh and fur.”

Toubec’s mate looked up at Toubec and nodded. “I’d have to
agree with her there.”

Toubec cleared his throat. “Alger, you two have my blessing.
Since the
lunewulf
that ran down here haven’t determined who their
leader is yet, talk to Rousseau in the morning then bring your new mate with
you when you come howl at us after noon. You two will do better with your den
on my ranch than in Prince George.”

Mariah took a step toward Luther. Toubec stepped between her
and Luther, facing Luther. “Until you speak with Rousseau, Mariah will be under
the protection of myself and my mate at our den.”

Luther froze. “What the fuck?” he whispered.

The older Cariboo railed him with a hard, damning stare.
“This female can’t be allowed to run alone with you,” he snarled. “Our pack
accepts Cariboo but one wrong move and they will howl loudly for you to be
outcast.”

“I can run alone,” Mariah informed Toubec, stepping around
the older male and glaring up at him. Once again her spicy anger clouded the
air around them. “Telling me to do otherwise would smell rather hypocritical at
this point, don’t you think?”

“What I think doesn’t matter,” he snarled, curling his lip
at her. His scent didn’t change though.

“Has your mate castrated you?” Mariah hissed.

Toubec’s mate growled fiercely as she started toward Mariah.
Toubec grabbed her arm and prevented her from lunging at Mariah.

“We have their blessing,” Luther reminded Mariah, and
growled a warning for her to behave. It was damn near the hardest thing he’d
ever done though. More than anything he wanted to grab Mariah and get the hell
out of there. He was smelling his first chance of being part of a pack, and it
had its appeal. The appeal wore thin when it came between him and Mariah.

“But we can’t be together until some antiquated law is
honored.” She glared at Toubec and turned the same hostile stare at Luther.
Then throwing her arms up in the air in disgust, she stormed away from them.

“Mariah,” Luther howled after her.

The male who had fiercely spoken to Mariah a moment ago now
chuckled. Luther glared at him, unable to keep the spiciness of his outrage
emanating from his body.

“I told you they’re hard to tame,” Toubec grumbled to
Luther.

Toubec’s mate slapped his chest and Toubec laughed louder.
Luther growled his frustration and started after Mariah.

“I’ll go after her,” Toubec’s mate suggested.

“No,” Luther said, and was barely able to contain his
frustration. He wasn’t sure why he had thought he could run to a
lunewulf
gathering
like this and feel as if he belonged.

Toubec caught up with Luther before he was around the side
of Rousseau’s den. They’d managed to grab the attention of those around them.
Their curiosity held a tangy scent to it.

“Once you catch her, bring her to our den,” Toubec ordered.

Rousseau came up to both of them, sniffing hard and looking
from one to the other. “What’s wrong here?” he demanded.

Toubec held up a hand. “Nothing at this point.” He nodded
once at Luther. “Go,” he instructed. Then to Rousseau, “I’ve got the matter
covered.”

Luther might not be known as the fastest breed on the
planet, but he was damn close. He didn’t wait to hear what else the pack leader
might have said but bound around the front of the den and broke into a run when
he hit the street.

Luther’s blood burned with lust as the change threatened to
tear through him. Toubec told him
lunewulf
females were hard to train.
Once he caught Mariah, her training would begin immediately.

Chapter Five

Luther stepped into the shadows beyond a patch of evergreen
trees and held on to Mariah’s scent as he stripped out of his clothes. The
change attacked his senses, barely giving him time to twist his clothes into a
rope and tie them around his neck. There wasn’t time to worry about his boots.
He’d get them later.

Blood burned hot through his veins. The change attacked his
system. Both halves made him a whole and controlled strong aspects of his
nature and who he was. Luther could no more live his entire life in his fur
than he could in his flesh. He was Cariboo
lunewulf
, the fiercest, most
aggressive breed of
lunewulf
on the planet.