But Drake didn’t want that. Don’t let me bite you!
She’d almost let Drake take her. Another touch, another scrape of Drake’s teeth on her skin, and she would have.
Forcing herself into a sitting position, Sylvan leaned back against the hard tiles, the cooling water sluicing over her chest and abdomen. Eventually the pain relented enough for her to stand, and she methodically dressed in a dark silk shirt and summer-weight raw linen jacket and trousers.
Max and Andrew waited with Lara and Niki by the Rover. Both Max and Andrew had fresh bite marks on their necks. Niki and Lara looked anxious and agitated.
“Are you all right?” Sylvan asked them quietly.
“Yes, Alpha,” they both said immediately.
Sylvan nodded curtly and climbed into the back of the Rover.
“Take me to my office.”
Drake heard the door open and close quietly. She was lying on the treatment table again, covered with the sheet Sylvan had placed over her when she left.
“Is she all right?” Drake asked.
“Drake, I…” Sophia sighed. “It’s not something for me to discuss.”
Drake sat up, tucking the sheet around her waist. “I’m hurting her, aren’t I?”
Sophia leaned back, her hands flat against the door. She bit her lip, conflicted. “Sylvan’s mother ruled for generations. Many of us don’t remember the last time we had an unmated Alpha. I’m not sure, but I think everything about mating is stronger, fiercer, for the Alpha. Her…” She closed her eyes. “She gives us everything, and we take everything. She asks only for our loyalty. It’s hard for me to talk about her this way.”
“You love her,” Drake said gently. “So do I.”
“I know.”
“Do you?”
Sophia smiled. “We all would fight for her. But I’ve never seen anyone, even Niki, who could gentle her. She needs that.”
“What she needs is a mate who will make her life easier, not harder.” Drake gripped the cold edges of the steel table until they cut into her palms. “I can’t seem to be around her without… arousal seems too mild a word for it.”
“That’s why we call it frenzy,” Sophia said. “It’s more than desire, more even than need—it’s a biological imperative for us.”
“But we could bond with others, couldn’t we?” Drake knew she wouldn’t. Couldn’t. She wouldn’t be able to bear it if Sylvan did, but she didn’t want her to be alone, either. Sophia was right—the Pack demanded everything from her and Sylvan needed to give it. But she couldn’t give forever without someone to protect and care for her.
Drake swallowed around the pain in her throat. “Sylvan could bond with someone else?”
“I don’t know,” Sophia said. “Even if a Were survives the death of a mate, they never mate again. And I don’t know of anyone who didn’t complete a mate bond once the mating frenzy had begun. Why would they?”
“Surely some pairings aren’t welcome?”
“Mating isn’t random. It’s not accidental. The mate bond is only possible when your heart and your mind and your body need only the one.” Sophia shook her head, a sad smile on her face. “Sometimes we go unmated because our wolves can’t recognize each other—because we’ve been injured or damaged somehow or unconsciously block out the call. But when each recognizes the other, no one ever denies the bond. We are born to be mated. It’s the natural way for us.”
“She’ll be all right if I stay away from her, won’t she?”
“Will you?”
Drake didn’t answer, but she didn’t think so. Roger had said she might not be strong enough to deny her need for release, her need to mate. She might lose control completely. At least if she did, she was confident Niki would execute her. Niki would not let her hurt Sylvan or anyone else. But as long as she could think and reason, she had work to do. “I’d like to meet your parents. Will you take me to the lab?” Sophia hesitated.
“Please. I might not know anything about Were physiology, but I do about human. I might be able to help them interpret the results of my tests.”
Sophia nodded. “I was going to send the specimens by courier, but we can take them ourselves. My car’s outside. I’ll get you something to eat while you get ready.”
“Thank you,” Drake said. “Thank you for trusting me.”
“Of course I trust you. You’re the Alpha’s…” Sophia’s expression softened with sympathy. “You are Pack now.”
“Come,” Sylvan said when a knock sounded on her door.
Niki entered and closed the door behind her. “You have visitors.”
“Who?”
“Councilors Gates and Thornton.”
Sylvan grumbled and got to her feet, turning to look out the window. A visit from her Vampire and Fae coalition counterparts was the last thing she wanted to deal with. Her temper was too frayed for diplomacy and her wolf too close to ascending for safety. All she could think about was Drake. She wanted her again. She wanted to be inside her. She ached for Drake to suck her, make her come completely, take all she was. Her glands pumped out pheromones and kinins at a furious rate and her skin was slick with the potent combination.
“I’ll tell them you can’t see them,” Niki whispered.
Sylvan spun and leapt over her desk, landing in front of Niki.
Niki automatically ducked her head and Sylvan grasped the back of her neck, tilting her face up until they were almost nose to nose. Niki’s eyes glazed hunter green, and her canines gleamed like white spikes against her blood-red lower lip. She shuddered in Sylvan’s grip, her breath shallow and fast.
“And what will you tell them?” Sylvan asked, her voice low and dangerous. “Will you tell them the wolf Alpha is on the edge of frenzy? That she can’t control her beast?”
“It’s not true.” Niki rubbed her palms over Sylvan’s chest, hoping to soothe her.
Sylvan growled when Niki inadvertently caressed the bite above her breast. The bruise was exquisitely tender and all she wanted was Drake to bury her canines in it. “Open my shirt.” Trembling, Niki obeyed. The muscles in Sylvan’s chest and abdomen stood out as if etched in stone and were just as hard. With a small whimper, Niki trailed her fingertips down the center of Sylvan’s torso, the back of her fingers skimming the inner curve of Sylvan’s breast. A fine dusting of silver marked a path to the top of her pants and would be thicker inside, framing her sex.
“You still think I have control?” Sylvan growled.
“You do,” Niki said, rubbing Sylvan’s stomach. “If you didn’t, you would have taken me right here by now.” Groaning, Sylvan pulled Niki into her arms and cradled Niki’s head on her shoulder. She rubbed her chin in Niki’s hair, breathing her in, grounding herself in Pack and family. Her agony was not Niki’s fault, nor Niki’s burden to ease.
“I’m sorry,” Sylvan said.
“No need.” Niki nuzzled Sylvan’s neck. “But you need to mate. You can’t go on like this.”
“My wolf wants a mate,” Sylvan said. “I don’t.” Niki took a slow breath.
“You at least need to stay away from Drake. She’s driving you too clos—”
“You think I don’t know that?” Sylvan snarled. “You think I want to force this on her?”