Wolf-Bound: Unfamiliar Territory (23 page)

Wolf-Bound: Unfamiliar Territory

129

“Your cock,” she gasped. “Inside. Fucking me. I need it. So hot. And…so cold.” She shivered, imagining how it would feel. “Please, Damien.”

He hesitated, but only for a moment. Quickly, he reached up with one hand, pressing the releases on her cuffs. “Roll over,” he rasped, his own breath coming fast and hard now, desire darkening his eyes to a storm-tossed gray-blue.

His finger plumbed her ass even as she turned, and she murmured desperate cries of pleasure into her pillow.

Damien’s free hand caught her waist, guiding her up onto her knees. She pressed her cheek and shoulders into the pillow, her hands clutching it tightly, involuntary tremors racking her body as her ass milked his finger while she waited.

With his free hand, he coated himself with a thin layer of the gel, drew in a sharp breath. “Oh, damn,” he breathed. “Oh, shit. That’s good!”

“Yes.” Jenny wiggled her butt. “Damien, please hurry!”

“Hell, yes!” His cock pierced her slick pussy.

Jenny moaned, biting the pillow. His cock, the tingling cold -- so unlike the heat she usually felt, and yet delicious. Goddess, cold never felt so hot before!

“Yes,” Damien moaned. “Oh, Jen. Yes.” She felt him shiver. His free hand gripped her left hip. He drove his cock deep, a cold flame that pierced her to the core.

Jen arched, lunging back. His finger pumped in and out of her ass. His cock stretched her pussy, driven deep, a glacier inexorably claiming every inch of her. “Yes!” She wanted desperately to scream, but Tara and Marshall were down the hall. She buried her mouth in her pillow and screamed anyway.

Damien growled, plunging his thick, icy-hot cock into her again and again. Jen rocked back, meeting each thrust, pussy squeezing, ass squeezing, the cold fire building inside them both.

They froze at the same time. Froze, and then the base of his cock expanded, locking them together even as his thick seed -- icy, yet boiling, freezing, but hot -- poured inside her.

They shuddered together, again and again, wave after wave of deliciously decadent delight rolling over them.

“Goddess,” she mumbled, voice trembling, when it was over and they lay wrapped in each other’s arms. “Every time, I think it can’t be any better, and then…” She shook her head.

He nodded. “Mmm. That stuff is something, isn’t it?”

“Yes. It makes every touch so cold, but in such a way…mmmm. It’s wonderful.”

They lay quiet for a while, resting, but Jenny finally dragged herself from the bed and pulled on a pair of flannel pajamas and tossed Damien a pair of flannel drawstring pants and a long-sleeved tee. She and her men usually slept in the nude, but with guests in the house, she’d figured it was better to have something on, in case of emergency.

130

Rachel Bo

Jenny turned off the overhead light and nestled in beside him. After several minutes, she sighed. “Damien?”

“Hmm?” He was nearly asleep, she thought.

“I need to go check on him.”

“The babies?” he mumbled.

“No, hon. Jake. I’m worried about him.”

She could feel him nodding.

She crept out of the room and down the hall. Jake’s door was shut, of course, and she winced as she twisted the knob, hoping it was unlocked. It turned, and she slipped inside, shutting the door quietly behind her.

Jake wasn’t in the bed. Even as the knowledge registered, a voice whispered in her mind. Jenny. He needs you.

Gaia? She turned and slipped out the door, running down the hall. What’s wrong?

They are here.

Her heart leapt into her throat. They? Who?

No answer, though she still felt the spirit’s presence.

She flung Devlin’s door open. “Dev. Come quick.” Not waiting for him, she continued down the hall and stopped before the room Tara and Marshall were staying in. She knocked softly. “Tara?”

Muffled sounds from inside, and then the door opened and Tara peeked out, her auburn hair tousled. “Jen?”

“I need your help. Jake’s in -- he’s in trouble. We have to go out. I need you to stay with the babies.”

Tara ran a hand through her hair, yawning. “Trouble? What kind of trouble?”

“I think whoever’s been after him…I think they’re here.”

Tara’s eyes opened wide. “Oh, no!” She glanced back, then slipped out the door and shut it quietly. “Marshall’s sleeping. I’ll go sit in the babies’ room.”

Jen hugged her quick. “Thank you.”

Tara hesitated. “You don’t think they’ll come after the boys, do you?”

“I don’t know. I never found out why they’re after Jake. If they know he has a son…”

Her friend’s expression hardened. “I’m waking Marshall.”

“But what will you tell him?”

“I don’t know. I’ll think of something. But we need him. He’s smart, he’s strong, and he’ll protect them like they were his own.”

“All right. Do what you have to.” She turned, nearly running into Devlin.

“What’s up?”

Wolf-Bound: Unfamiliar Territory

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She crooked a finger, motioning for him to follow, and ran back down the hall to the master bedroom.

“Damien, Jake’s in trouble.” She sat on the edge of the bed and tugged on sneakers. She tossed Damien’s and Devlin’s shoes their way.

Dev shook his head. “Don’t need shoes. We’d only ruin them.”

If they changed. Of course.

The cold wouldn’t bother them, anyway. Jen raced down the hall and into the kitchen, grabbing the house key from its hook. She opened the back door, tapping her foot impatiently while they stepped out onto the porch. She locked the door behind them and tossed the key into the brush. If anyone came after the babies, that would delay them a little.

Damien grabbed her arm. “Where is he?”

“I don’t know!” She closed her eyes. Gaia, help me.

Here. Jen held on to Damien, gripped by vertigo as dark limbs and white snow raced past in her mind’s eye. She nodded, recognizing the bare promontory where Jake was trapped. Dark shadows slunk up the mountain, hemming him in. He led them away, to protect all of you. Jen blinked back tears. “This way.”

As she had done once before on a cool night in September, she ran for Jake’s life. White drifts of snow gleamed in the moonlight, scarcely slowing her as the Goddess’s wind pushed at her back, giving her wings. Her shoes barely seemed to penetrate the crust before she had lifted her foot and gone on.

Damien and Devlin had shifted, shadowing her every step. She slowed as they neared the bluff, halting inside the edge of the tree line. As she struggled to regain her breath, her wolves paced, sniffing the air.

A semicircle of figures moved slowly up the slope. Jake stood near the edge of the outcropping, calmly facing his attackers.

Dev’s hackles rose, his hair standing out in a bushy halo around his head. He plunged without warning into the trees to her left. Damien sped to the right.

Snarling and cursing. Crashing in the underbrush. The figures before her turned their heads. Moonlight glinted from the whites of their eyes as they scanned the trees to the west.

Damien burst from the trees to the east, bowling over the two bodies nearest Jake on that side. He advanced on two others, jaws snapping.

The figures turned again, facing this new threat.

They really weren’t very smart, she thought hysterically as Devlin repeated his brother’s ploy. He downed two more, leaping at their backs while they were focused on Damien. You would expect the bad guys to be a little more intelligent. A little more challenging.

132

Rachel Bo

“Enough.” The man in the middle hadn’t spoken very loudly, but his men froze in the act of turning once more. “I’ve enjoyed toying with you, O’Connail, but it’s time to finish this.” He raised his arms. Moonlight glinted off a silver-tipped bolt loaded in an enormous crossbow.

The snap as the bolt released echoed like a gunshot in her ears.

Jake didn’t even move. He watched the bolt fly toward him, a look of inevitability in his eyes. “Help him!” she screamed.

A gust of wind deflected the bolt to the right. At the same time, Damien leaped. Jenny heard a meaty thunk, and he dropped to the ground.

“No!” Her scream and Devlin’s howl shattered the night.

Jake stood frozen, staring at Damien. “No. No!”

Devlin dashed toward his brother. Two men moved to intercept him. Dev tore through them, snarling, his ruff a wild mane. He turned and stood before Damien, his growl low and menacing. His fangs dripped blood, staining his beautiful silver fur ochre.

Jenny’s gaze darted, searching for something, anything, that she could use as a weapon.

There was nothing, and there were seven men left. As she watched, the one holding the crossbow reloaded, and then they were advancing once more toward the men she loved.

She dashed out of the concealing trees, snow crunching beneath her feet. The man with the crossbow glanced her way. He turned back, dismissing her as any kind of threat.

“Jake, do something,” she sobbed, dropping to her knees. She peered at Damien, trying to see if his sides were moving, if he was breathing. “Please.”

Faster than her eyes could follow, he was a wolf. He stalked over to Devlin’s side, his huge form straddling Damien’s body.

The man in the middle laughed. “You’ve led us a merry chase, my friend.” His gaze narrowed in the moonlight. “But we’ll end it now, once and for all.” He glanced down the mountain. “And then we’ll finish off the brats.” His eyes met Jenny’s, and he smiled, but the look was death. “All three of them, just to be sure.”

She snarled, leaping to her feet. One moment she was on her knees. The next, she was on top of him, her hands tearing at his throat, his weapon lying on the ground.

The black wolf sprang. One of the men scrambled for the crossbow and managed to raise it up and slam it against the side of Jake’s head. Jake fell to the ground.

Devlin growled and launched himself at Jake’s attacker, driving him to the ground. The bow flew from the man’s grip, landing near Jenny. Instinctively, she let go of her opponent for a second, reaching for the weapon. The man beneath her slammed his fist into her temple. He reached over and jerked the bow from beneath her fingers, then turned it on Jake.

Wolf-Bound: Unfamiliar Territory

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He stumbled to his feet, rubbing at his throat. “Got a grip, you do,” he choked out. He bent over, retrieving the dropped crossbow, and turned it on Jake. “First you, O’Connail.

Then the woman.” He grinned at Devlin. “And the little pup, too.”

Jake stirred, paws scrabbling at the earth.

The man calmly checked his bow, then took aim. Dev tensed, preparing to pounce.

Jenny dug her fingers into the wet soil, scoured clean of snow by the wind that was still blowing. “Help me,” she begged, not even sure who she was asking. God, Gaia, the Mother --

she didn’t care who answered, as long as someone did. She cast her senses out, into the ground.

Even above the tree line as they were, strong roots criss-crossed the soil beneath them.

Jen felt their stirring beneath her fingers. “Grow,” she whispered.

Roots burst from the earth, clutching the feet and ankles of the men surrounding her.

Her awareness expanded, rising with the wind. Jen looked down on the tableau as if from a great height. “Blow,” she demanded, her voice stronger.

The wind whipped, lashing out at the seven men in black jeans and dark, hooded shirts. The one with the crossbow stumbled as the gale tore it from his hands. He watched, a circle of white surrounding his irises, as the weapon soared to the edge of the clearing and lodged in a tree, only to be torn apart by its limbs.

Jenny pushed herself up onto hands and knees, then struggled to her feet. She kicked off her shoes, digging her toes into the mud.

She was an island of calm amidst the storm. The gale that buffeted her enemies eddied gently around her. Her hair floated, lifted by the swirling currents.

“Witch.” The bold one didn’t look so bold now. “No one told us they had a witch.”

“We had a witch,” one of the others said, “and that didn’t help us.”

The leader’s expression hardened. “That’s right.” He steeled himself and took a step toward her.

What do I do? She sought Gaia in her mind, in the land around her. I don’t want to kill them. She glanced at the bodies already on the ground and shuddered. But I can’t let them come after him again.

Seal the Land, Gaia whispered. With the blood of the Way, and the Mother’s magic within you, it can be done.

How? A fleeting series of images. Jenny nodded. She knelt and reached out, sensing the rock she wanted before her hand touched it. As she lifted it, she drew her palm along the sharp edge, drawing blood.

The crossbow guy laughed. “You won’t stop me with a rock, lass.” He fought the wind, struggling to reach her.

134

Rachel Bo

Jenny walked over to Devlin’s side, skirting her enemies, unhampered by the wind. She knelt beside him, looking down at Damien.

He was breathing, shallowly. Blood seeped from around the bolt buried in his shoulder.

Good. She turned to Devlin. “I need your blood,” she whispered, showing him the sharp edge of the rock.

He sat on his haunches, head dipping once to show he understood.

Jenny slit a line across his chest.

Blood dripped from the wound, mingling with Damien’s, soaking into their land.

She pressed her bloody palm to the earth.

The land drank, recognizing those who protected it. She felt the Mother’s energy flowing through her, into the land, joining with the power in their blood. Writhing, shimmering, it was a river of gold, just outside her reach. She tried to grasp it, to shape it, but the torrent was too wild.

She needed more. More strength. She rested a hand on Damien’s ruff and felt the slow, but steady, beat of his heart. She leaned against Devlin’s side, swallowing a sob of relief.

Dev’s pulse thrummed in her ears. She drew from them both, augmenting her strength with what little remained of theirs. She reached out again in her mind, grasping the turbulent stream of power, yet still she could not shape it.