Page 61 of Fated to the Feral Wolf

I didn’t hesitate, flinging the shirt across the room in my haste to strip. He was already shirtless, so I held onto his shoulders for dear life as his lips fastened onto my inner thigh.

A hiss escaped between my teeth as he roved higher, not hesitating to swirl his tongue around my core, driving me wild within seconds. I bucked up against him, wanting more, wanting all of him, but he pinned my hips with one hand, the other on my inner thigh keeping me spread for him.

He licked and sucked, straight past teasing intoeverywhere, all at onceand not stopping until I screamed out my release, arching off the bed. It hit me out of the blue. One second, I was climbing toward that peak, the next, I was falling, stars bursting in my vision as he worked my clit with the flat of his tongue.

He rumbled low in his chest, a satisfied sound, and as I came back to myself from the orgasm, I thought it was enough to shake the whole bed. But when he froze between my spread thighs, I realized something else was shaking us—not just the bed, but the wholeroomwas rattling.

“What the hell?” he murmured, extending a hand to pull me up.

My bones were still liquid, but I accepted the hand up as a pounding knock came on the door. I melted against his chest, my breath still coming in too-rapid pants, my knees useless jelly.

“We’re under attack! We need to get to the airstrip right now!” Gael yelled over the din of rattling fixtures as an explosion sounded nearby.

“Holy shit, holy shit,” I said under my breath as I frantically patted around for clothes. I snatched on a pair of jeans and a T-shirt that were lying on the bed as Dirge pulled on a pair of black boots and a black T-shirt. There wasn’t time for more, though my soaking, needy pussy didnotenjoy denim so soon after Dirge had just rocked my world.

The thought faded as we ran out into the hallway, the rest of our pack pouring out in stages of half sleep, half confusion.

“What’s going on?” Dirge asked at Gael’s grim demeanor.

“ODL. They must have sensed Brielle’s omega during the ceremony, because they sent a lot more than just three representatives this time.” The cave floor rattled under our feet, and dread filled me like lead.Shit. This was not good.

“Oh my Goddess, this is terrible. They’re attacking the Kodiaks because of me?” Brielle brought a hand to her mouth to cover a half sob.

Kane wrapped his arm around her. “We’ve got to get out of here. The Kodiaks are strong, yes, but the ODL can’t find us here, or they’ll suspect us after the issue at the gathering. We need to buy some more time to figure this out.”

A bear shifter lumbered into the hall, letting out a vicious roar before shifting with painful speed back into a naked, thickly muscled man.

He was graying at the temples, and his eyes were full ofdeath. One of Jada’s mates. “We’re keeping them at bay, but you need to go. To the airstrip, and straight to the skies.”

“Thank you. We’re in your debt,” Kane said solemnly, and the shifter nodded once before sprouting fur along his arms and running down the hallway half-shifted. Another deafening roar echoed through the hallways a moment later, evidence he’d completed his shift and was heading back into the fray.

We bolted down the hallway as chunks of crystal began to fall from the ceiling, and the only thing that kept me together was the strength of Dirge’s hand, tightly gripped in mine.

THIRTY-NINE

Dirge

We made quick work getting to the mouth of the cave, despite the pandemonium. Bears were everywhere, towering over us as they raced out into the night to defend their ancestral home. Children cried and women sobbed as the cave itself shuddered every time an explosive detonated. More than once, we had to dodge chunks of falling crystal, and we weren’t successful all those times. Reed was bleeding, Brielle had a scrape down her entire forearm, and everyone’s eyes glowed with the force of our wolves.

Gael held up a hand, stopping us at the cave mouth. After a quick look and another tooth-rattling explosion, he waved us forward and darted into the night.

I called on my wolf, leaning on his superior night vision as we sprinted over the rocky ground. We made it back to the path through the rocky outcropping without incident, most of the fighting happening on the other side of the caves. Apparently, the ODL had used their fae connections to appear inside the forest, giving themselves the element of surprise.

Though why they were starting with bombs instead ofinspections, I didn’t know. We were forced to slow as we weaved through the narrow walls of stone, but I never let go of Shay. Keeping her safe was my number one priority, even if it meant wiping the ODL off the face of the earth.

Frankly, if this was how they reacted, maybe it was time to wipe the sons of bitches out for good. The night grew marginally quieter the farther we got from the caves, but steady explosions still caused the ground to tremble under my boots.

Perhaps that was how Gael missed it, the pebble plinking down from above. It was understandable, really, though the ODL soldier that followed it was harder to miss.

“Gael, watch your back!” I shouted even as I threw myself in front of Shay, halting the pack mates running behind us.

The vampire ODL soldier flashed his fangs with a hiss, then dove at Gael while he was still midturn. Wolfsbane was the only truly deadly substance to shifters—at least that we knew about—but vampire venom? It burned like a bitch and would put you on your back for a solid week while your wolf worked it out of your system. We didn’t have a week.

My own fangs descended as I moved to intercept, fingertips shifting to claws without conscious thought. I swiped at the vamp’s neck, aiming for a kill shot. Gael spun in time to get his arm up and block the attack, but only just. He ducked under the vampire’s lunge, clothes exploding off him as he took fur.

I missed the vampire by less than an inch—they were fast motherfuckers—as he leapt into the air, high overhead and out of reach even from my over-six-foot frame. But what went up must come down, and he angled for me, jaws extended as he fell.

Braced for the impact, I caught him around the waist as he tried to topple me. He managed a vise grip around my head, but I’d planned for that. Letting his momentum carry us, I flung us to the solid rock underfoot, letting my superior weightdrive the air out of his lungs. He didn’t have to breathe, but the sudden lack of sensory input was still enough to distract almost anyone. He was no different. He froze as he gasped, dragging in a lungful of air on instinct as I pinned him. Before he could try to buck me off, Gael was there, wolf jaws clamped around the vampire’s throat.

---