“So if I could shift, the pressure to have sex would ease?” Drake asked.
“Perhaps, at least temporarily. For a very dominant Were, which you seem to be, there is no substitute for release.”
“When will I know if I can shift?”
“You already have,” Roger said with surprise. “The Alpha forced your first shift and probably saved your life.” Drake’s heart raced at the thought of Sylvan protecting her, and the already searing pressure in her loins built higher. She leaned her head back against the tree, closed her eyes, and tried to steady her breathing.
“The first lesson,” Roger said gently, “is to accept what you’re feeling and act on it.”
“With anyone who offers?” Drake asked, her eyes still closed, her breath catching painfully with each exhalation.
“No. You have a choice, just as do those who answer your call.” She regarded him through narrowed eyes, her vision wavering as pain lanced through her stomach. “What if I don’t want anyone?” He frowned. “I don’t know. If your body is prevented from releasing naturally, the hormonal fluxes might force a breakdown.”
“Make me feral?”
“Eventually your instincts will prevail, and if you can’t bring yourself to overcome your resistance to finding a release, you could lose control completely,” Roger said softly.
“But I might be able to fight the urge and maintain my sanity?”
“Perhaps, but why would you want to? Why not just tangle with a willing Packmate?”
“I don’t know.” The pain in Drake’s stomach intensified and she struggled not to double over. “I’m not sure, but I don’t think my wolf would let me tangle with just any Were who offers.” Roger’s brows drew down. “You can feel her? Tell what she wants?”
“She’s making it pretty damn clear.”
“Then who does she want?”
Drake shook her head, knowing instinctively she shouldn’t answer. Sweat matted her hair and her skin flamed. She pulled off her shirt. Her abdomen was rigid, hard-packed muscles vibrating beneath sex-sheened skin. Her canines and claws erupted. A fine thin line of midnight pelt scored the center of her lower abdomen.
“Roger,” she said, her voice deep and rough. “Get out of here.”
“No, I can’t leave you alone,” Roger protested, but he shot to his feet and backed up.
“I don’t know if I can stop whatever’s happening,” Drake gasped.
“You need to go. Go. ”
Roger shivered, unable to disobey her command. “I’ll get Elena.” Roger raced toward the forest. “Hold on, Drake. Just hold on.” Drake curled up, clutching her midsection, writhing as pain ripped and slashed through her. She was on the verge of losing the battle, and terrified of what she might become.
Sylvan lunged forward from the rear of the Rover and crowded between the front seats. The Compound was just ahead.
“Hurry!”
Andrew shot her a worried look.
“Alpha?”
From behind her, Niki said, “What is it?”
“Just hurry,” Sylvan said, clenching her jaws as the throbbing in the bite on her chest intensified. Andrew slowed and Sylvan jumped out. Elena ran across the courtyard toward the Rover, a frantic Roger at her side.
“It’s Drake,” Elena exclaimed. “She’s in frenzy.”
“I know.” Sylvan ran toward the forest, toward Drake.
“Alpha,” Niki shouted, following her.
“Stay back,” Sylvan ordered as she burst into the clearing.
Drake lay on the ground, moaning weakly. Sylvan tore off her shirt and dropped down beside her. Pulling Drake into her arms, she cradled Drake’s face against her bare shoulder, feeding her strength through the touch of flesh on flesh. Drake’s eyes were feverish, her hair soaked with sweat.
“Drake,” Sylvan murmured. “I’m here.”
“Sylvan,” Drake gasped. “Oh, God, Sylvan, I hurt.”
“I know, I know. I’ll fix it,” Sylvan soothed, caressing Drake’s chest and belly. Drake’s nipples were swollen and tight, her stomach rippling with need. Sylvan’s own nipples were hard as stone, her clitoris a throbbing ridge under the fly of her jeans. Drake arched in her arms, rubbing against her, coating Sylvan’s skin with pheromones. Sylvan instantly absorbed the chemicals and her canines shot out. Her glands pumped out hormones and kinins with brutal force. Her system flooded with sex stimulants and her clitoris jerked fully erect. Her control crumbled. She needed to calm Drake before she lost all restraint and took her, roughly, relentlessly. She unbuttoned Drake’s pants.
“You smell so good,” Drake moaned, licking Sylvan’s neck. She kissed her way down the tight column of Sylvan’s throat to Sylvan’s chest and sucked the bruise that glowed purple beneath Sylvan’s shimmering silver skin.
Sylvan’s hips bucked and she growled a warning. Drake ignored her, raking her short claws down the center of Sylvan’s abdomen before pulling a taut nipple into her mouth. Sylvan snarled and rolled Drake under her. She ripped Drake’s pants open and cupped her sex, pressing the heel of her hand down on the glands that pulsed beneath Drake’s protruding clitoris. She slipped her fingers into Drake’s tight, hot depths and massaged her, inside and out.
Gasping, Drake moaned against Sylvan’s breast. “Oh God, what are you doing to me?”
“You need to release.” Sylvan skated her mouth over Drake’s and thrust her tongue inside, tasting, drinking, claiming. She thrust harder into her sex, stimulating the internal extension of Drake’s clitoris with her fingertips. Potent neurotransmitters poured into Sylvan’s palm and set off a chain reaction in her own body. Her clitoris twitched and her glands pumped. She readied to erupt.
Drake clutched Sylvan’s shoulders, driving herself up and down on Sylvan’s hand, faster and faster. She dragged her canines over Sylvan’s neck and licked the shallow scratches. “I want to come. I want to come for you.”
Sylvan growled and pulled Drake’s head back with a hand fisted in her hair. She stared into Drake’s gold-shot black eyes. “You will come for me.”
“Yes, God yes.” Drake’s legs and stomach were rigid. She gripped Sylvan’s arm, her claws drawing blood, and forced Sylvan deeper inside her. She threw back her head. “Now. Please now. Make me come for you.”
“Touch me,” Sylvan demanded, bracing herself over Drake’s body on one arm while she drove inside her.
Drake tore open Sylvan’s jeans and slid her fingers around Sylvan’s clitoris. Instinctively she massaged the glands underneath on every rapid downstroke. Sylvan roared as Drake forced her to empty. Her pheromones gushed, merging with Drake’s, enclosing them in a sensual mist of sex hormones. The bite on her chest throbbed, kinins seeping from the puncture wounds that had reopened when Drake stimulated her. “I have to come,” Drake pleaded, licking and sucking Sylvan’s chest. She scored Sylvan’s back, her hips a blur on Sylvan’s hand.
“Please. Please. Sylvan…”
“Yes. Yes,” Sylvan groaned, inflamed by the heat of Drake’s mouth, drowning in her essence. “Yes.” Sylvan buried her canines in the soft triangle at the juncture of Drake’s neck and shoulder. Mine. Mine.
Drake jerked at the bite and exploded over Sylvan’s arm. Sylvan’s hips pumped and Drake’s fingers were flooded with Sylvan’s hot, thick essence. But Drake knew there was more. She wanted more. She wanted something she didn’t know how to name. Instinct urged her to sink her canines into the bite on Sylvan’s chest, but Sylvan held her face away.
“Easy, easy,” Sylvan whispered, cradling Drake against her chest until Drake’s release ebbed.
Sylvan curled protectively around Drake even though Niki and Andrew would be standing guard in the forest nearby. Their clothes lay in scattered shreds on the ground. A swath of brilliant stars and a bright three-quarter moon lit the clearing. Content just to watch the silver shadows play across Drake’s face, Sylvan traced the angle of Drake’s jaw with her thumb and let her fingers run over the mark she’d made on Drake’s neck. Her mark. Hers.