Page 6 of Shifted Existence

“More or less. I am sure she does not know I exist, nor does she suspect she will be taken in this hunt, but she is wrong on both accounts. She is my fated mate and I will return with her to the village, where she will take her place as mistress to the pack.”

“You’re going to the lottery, aren’t you?” asked Dani.

“I am no lapdog,” said Talon with disdain. “Like my ancestors before me, I will hunt my mate and bring her to heel whether she likes it or not. I need my mate to be strong, proud, and fierce. Ours is not the luxurious life she could have had in the New Moon Expanse. If she wanted to be the pampered princess, she should have opted for the training program. She chose to be feral and so should know what to expect.”

“If you force her…” started Dani who was cut off when Blitz’s hard palm connected with her backside. “That hurt. I’m pregnant, you know.”

Blitz nodded. “And not yet too far gone to benefit from a good spanking. Now apologize to Talon before I decide to see to your need in front of the pack.”

“No, Blitz. I’m sorry. And Talon, I did speak out of turn. My apologies. It’s just that whenever one of us is turned or forced into a pairing not of her choice, you know how much unrest it causes.”

Talon kissed the top of her head. “Yes, but only until she comes out of seclusion, purring at her mate and settling in. She-wolves—be they born or turned—are notoriously mercurial in their response to their first taste of discipline from a mate and all that entails. I rather imagine that simply being disciplined by a ranking pack member is a far different experience than being disciplined by one’s mate. I fear my poor fated mate has not known any loving guidance and will fight tooth and nail to avoid submitting, but mark my words, she will submit to me.”

With a nod to the others from the pack who were venturing forth to hunt for a mate, Talon stepped into the portal. There were two ways to enter the Conquered Realm. If a warrior chose to make use of the lottery, he first went to the capital. They used an inner-realm portal that took them from their village to the departure gate. It was easy enough. The sensation that tickled one’s skin felt a great deal like a summer rain as it fell to cool and refresh you. Once at the capital, they were assembled in small groups and left via another portal for the Conquered Realm on the other side of the Void.

The alternate method was the portal that led from the village directly into the wilderness of the Conquered Realm where warriors who chose to honor their ancestors hunted and claimed their mates on the other side of the Void.

Talon stepped through the portal that led directly to the Conquered Realm. The feeling inside was far different from the one that was contained completely within the Eclipse Province. It was as if small shards of ice pelleted against his skin. It was bitterly cold in that passageway between time and space. There was darkness and Talon had forgotten the inky blackness that surrounded them. The floor did not seem all that stable as it started to ripple. Talon had never heard of such a thing.

“Let’s pick up the pace. I want us all safely through the portal before anything happens.”

Talon broke into a run, leading his warriors through the doorway between the two realms as quickly as possible. He’d heard of other portals feeling more like stepping onto slippery rocks contained within a stream. In either case, the entrance and exit were like a doorway filled with quicksilver. It would seem that hunting down one’s mate was not for the faint of heart, but he was certain he would find her.

As they prepared to exit the portal, a large horn blasted from out of nowhere.

The hunt was on.

CHAPTER4

The Conquered Realm

That horn. That infernal horn. It woke her from the last night of real sleep she would have for the next week. This was the fifth time she had heard it blast—reminding them all that they were a conquered people who had given up their daughters as breeding fodder to the invaders of their world. Those who had defeated them hadn’t cared if the women involved were already married to another. Not one damn bit. If they were capable of conceiving and giving birth, they were subject to being taken by those who had demanded tribute to keep the Conquered Realm out of the hands of others.

It had taken a little time to work out the details of the Treaty of Non-Aggression, which was a misnomer if ever there was one. In Bailey’s mind, when a woman was dragged into another realm against her will and forced into a pair bonding with a monster, that act seemed pretty aggressive to her. But it had taken time to work out all the details; thus, why after more than three years, this was only the fifth time she’d heard the horn blow and known the cold fear that wrapped itself around her heart.

So far, she’d been lucky; she’d only seen the wolf-shifters from a distance. Clothed and in their human form, they appeared to be much like any other man. But naked, they were bigger—taller, more muscular, and far more well-endowed. Their cocks were long and thick and those they deemed to be alpha could form a knot at the root that could be used to ensure their seed remained where it would do them the most good. They were said to howl in triumph when they knotted a female, using a kind of rocking motion to bring the woman to orgasm time and time again until the female was exhausted. It was at that point the alpha would release his cum and fill her to capacity, remaining inside her, his knot sealing her to him so that they remained tied together for hours.

The stories that filtered back from the other realm were subject to skepticism. After all, only men had been allowed to travel between realms or even to send messages back. The ferals had managed to cobble together a communication network of sorts. It wasn’t perfect, and they didn’t use it often, but if one of them came across useful information, she managed to get it to the others. They had been able to pinpoint the location of the portal and more than one had borne silent witness to women slung over the shoulder of some hulking wolf-shifter as he carried her back like a prize to his own dimension to do as he willed with her.

In the beginning, they had tried to form a community of their own, but they had been too vulnerable to attack. Then they had tried to come together to exchange information and ease the loneliness of their existence, but that had led to forged bonds of friendship. Those friendships had been treasured, but the cost to maintain them too high. If a feral was caught during the hunt, regardless of what had been agreed, they tried to rescue one another.

The wolf-shifters were smart and had figured that out, lying in wait for any other women foolish enough to try and free one of their captives. Watching any woman being hunted down, captured, and then taken back through the portal had been hard enough. To watch it happen to a friend was devastating. It was during the third Hunt of the Wolf Moon that Bailey had lost her closest friend among the ferals. Like all the rest, she and Dani had not stayed in close proximity; nor did they try to meet on a regular basis, but instead when they crossed paths, they spent enough time together to reinforce the bond that had always existed between them.

Seeing Dani carried away had been devastating.

“Let me go!” Dani had snarled at the brooding hulk who had her slung over his shoulder.

“No,” he said as Dani beat on his back and kicked her legs.

“You can’t do this to me.”

The wolf-shifter chuckled and paid her protestations no mind. When Dani continued to hammer his back with her fists, the wolf smacked her upturned rump with more than a bit of force, growling, “Enough.”

When that failed to quell her protestations and fight, he walked over to a bench that had been carved out of a fallen tree and sat down, turning Dani over his knee with a powerful and effortless efficiency. Lifting the hem of her tunic and pushing her breeches down to expose her behind, he caressed it with a practiced hand before using that same hand to administer a spanking that left Dani in tears with a bright red bottom.

“You will learn,” the wolf said patiently, “that when I say enough, I mean enough. If you continue past that point, you will be disciplined. You can decide whether it is pain or pleasure you wish to receive.”

The wolf soothed her tender backside as he rubbed the small of her back, allowing her to cry until she quieted. He then lifted her from his lap, stood, and placed her back over his shoulder before engaging the portal and walking through, taking Dani away with him forever.

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