“Raven, I…”
He darted forward and sank his teeth into her calf. She stared at him in shock, a scream bubbling to her mouth as he pushed his fangs in deeper, piercing muscle until he hit bone. He clamped his jaw for a moment, and when she screamed again, he let her go, shook his head once and backed away. No blood poured from the wound and just as suddenly as the pain started, it was gone, replaced by a burn that bordered on pleasure. The puncture wounds closed, she pulled her leg closer to her body and snapped her gaze to Raven. He sat on his haunches, licking his snout, watching her. Time stopped. She felt the burn transform into a tether, like a bond made of the strongest steel, and she understood. He had marked her. She was a Huntress.
Screams of fear and pain echoed around her, pulling her out of her moment of tranquility. Annie and Kat were on the ground, cowering back-to-back as the wolves circled, taunting them with jabs and nips. Annie cradled her injured arm. Fear for her mentor welled. The wolves would surely kill her if given the chance.
“Stop,” Darcy shouted, the power behind her word taking her breath away. A wave of magic enveloped the scene and everything just ceased to move.
She gulped, rose on shaking legs, moved toward the women. Everyone, everything was still. She’d frozen them with her powers.
Her powers!
Blood dripped from Annie’s wound, saliva from the wolves’ mouths. All were still breathing—the wolves’ panting, Annie’s chest heaving, a tear slid down Kat’s cheeks but no hand rose to wipe it away. Darcy shivered, wrapped her arms around herself. She’d never in her life known such power. Never would have dreamed of it. Wouldn’t even know what to call it. It was just there, like a well of magic ready and waiting for her to draw on.
She bent down and touched Annie on the head. The old woman unfroze, resumed her shaking and moaning.
“Annie, you need to get out of here.”
Annie opened her mouth to argue but realization dawned a fraction of a second later. “You…you did this?”
She was in awe. Darcy smiled as she unfroze Kat.
“Cast, Annie, cast…” Kat’s scream died as she surveyed the wolves.
“You bonded with the beast?” Annie gasped. “Oh, girl, what have you done?”
Darcy’s smiled faded and she nodded toward the truck. “Get out of here, Annie. Take Kat and leave.” She helped Annie to her feet, hugged her as tight as she dared. “I’ve made my choice. I’m happy.”
“The Hunters will come,” Kat hissed.
Darcy let Annie go and hardened herself against the tears that threatened. Annie might be on the other side now but she would always have a place in Darcy’s heart. “If the Hunters come, I’ll kill them. I can’t hold this spell forever—the wolves are battling against it now.” Which was a lie. She felt like she could hold it forever, even with the wolves fighting her for control.
She flicked her fingers and the snarling resumed, even though the wolves were still held in place, growling their displeasure.
“You’ve made a mistake, girl,” Kat sneered as she led Annie to the truck.
Darcy shook her head. “I followed my heart. There’s no mistake in that.”
As the women scrambled into the truck and shut the door, she released the wolves. The biggest, Mayhem, snapped his teeth in her direction, a warning not to do that again, then moved to join the rest of the wolves in a semicircle around her. She was part of the pack, bonded with her mate. She would never use her powers against them.
Chapter Fifteen
“You knew the whole time,” Raven said as he accepted his second rye and ginger from Mayhem. “Thank you.”
“Didn’t know for sure, no.” Mayhem took a seat on the couch, swirling his own drink before taking a sip. He cleared his throat and nodded. “Wasn’t sure about the whole curse thing, we needed to see it through. Read in the folklore once that a wolf’s mate will bring out the beast to the extreme, even to the point of attacking a pack-mate.”
Raven ran his hand down his face and shook his head. “Damn, when I attacked Jay…”
“Yeah, it clicked for me then. Your wolf was feral, man. No way that was just a curse.” He cracked a smile and added, “Good fuckin’ thing I let it play out though. Your Huntress, she’s got some epic powers.”
Every Huntress had a power, an innate ability that was released once bonded with her destined mate. Darcy’s powers had emerged immediately and with a pow—the pack was still in awe of it, counting themselves lucky to have her on their side. Raven felt pride flush through him at the thought. His mate was a formable ally capable of defending the pack just as well, if not better, than he could.
“But you were at the hotel the whole time?”
Mayhem shook his head. “We were a couple of hours behind you, ditched the rental with Dave at daybreak and ran the rest of the way. The only forest we could use for cover took us out of our way for a while. Figured you wouldn’t get into too much trouble until nightfall anyway.”
Raven laughed, took a gulp of his drink then shook his head. “Yeah, not too much trouble.”
“David was waiting in the parking lot by the time we hit the edge of the forest. He was motioning us in the direction of your room when the howling started.” Mayhem chuckled. “Good thing there weren’t any humans milling around.”
Raven nodded. They’d had a lot of luck on their side the day before and it’d been a mess getting away. Once the witches were gone, it was still mid-afternoon. The whole pack was too hyped up on adrenaline and trapped in wolf form until sunset. They were forced to run alongside the SUV, hiding as best they could in the brush along the highway on their way to the airport, unwilling to let Darcy out of their sight. They’d cleared the state a few hours later in a private jet and put the threat of any Hunters and those witches very far behind them.
“Yeah, we were lucky, that’s….” The scent of Darcy fresh out of the shower wafted from behind Raven, and left him grasping for words. He craned his head in that direction, the urge to go to her overpowering the attention of his alpha, a major break in rank. His wolf bristled at the divide. He flicked his head back around, fighting to stay focused.
Mayhem chuckled again. “You’d better go, Rav, I wouldn’t dream of keeping you from your mate.”
Raven put his drink down and jumped from his seat with a quick nod. “Thanks, man.”
He bolted into the bedroom and shut the double doors.
Darcy stood naked, still glistening from the shower. With a smile, she trailed a finger between her breasts, down to her navel. His gaze was riveted, willing that finger to keep going.
“I thought you might want to lick me dry.”
He bit his bottom lip, wanting to taste her so bad it hurt. “Lick you wet?”
Darcy moaned as she slipped her fingers to her pussy. “Yeah, something like that.”
“I need to mark you properly.” His voice was thick, his cock hard.
She rolled her head to the side and lifted her fingers to her neck. “Here?” she teased. She brushed her other hand over her budding nipples. “Or here?”
He growled and stalked toward her, hand on his cock, stroking himself through his jeans. She giggled and darted away, only making it a few feet before he was on her, taking her down to the floor in his arms as he kissed her neck, her collarbone and finally, as she landed on top of him, her perfect, pert little nipple. He sank his fangs in there, just as she’d offered, pulling a gasp quickly followed by a moan from her lips.
He took his mouth away and smiled up at her. “You asked for it, sweets.”
She stared at him, her eyes filled with all kinds of emotion. Burning lust, ownership, something else.