Touched by Oblivion (The Fourth Pack Series Book 1), page 11
Despite the fact that I hate the very ground she walks on, I have to admit there’s something about her that is interesting. The soft gold hair that falls to her waist, the bright gold eyes that are huge, and her lips are plush and pouty. The rest of her is a mixture of curves and soft pale skin. The worst part is that smart mouth on her—it goes straight to my cock, and I want to hate fuck her every time she opens her mouth.
I like women with smart mouths and sassy comebacks…just not here. She is my enemy. I vowed that she would be when we were at the selection, and hate fucking her would complicate everything. Would she like it if I tied her up with my vines and used those vines on her body as I devoured her? I discreetly adjust myself and tug my eyes from the golden human. I’ve never hated anyone this fucking much.
I suck in a deep breath, only to choke on her scent instead. She smells of cinnamon. She smells just like the cinnamon bakery that’s just down the road from my parents’ castle. I escape there every Saturday morning and sit and eat to my heart’s content of everything cinnamon there. It’s always been my favourite scent, and I’ve never met a wolf or human who smells like it. But now I’m going to have to hate the scent because it’s hers, and that’s her fault as well. Gold and cinnamon are officially not my favourites anymore. Her blood even tastes sweet and godly, and I don’t regret biting into her ear. I can still taste her.
I feel the ground under me and focus on the hum of the earth, of the string of power that glows green and connects all living things. The earth called me from the moment I was born, long before I took my power and made the world shake. I am the most powerful earth Maiden wolf in our recorded history, a fact my mother hates and my brothers did before they died.
The ground shakes softly as I think of my family, and I push any thoughts of them behind. When I return, I will be alpha, and they will bow to me. Everyone who has hurt and degraded me in the Maiden pack will bow, and I will decide their fate. I close my eyes and focus on the earth, calming it with my mind. My vines are crawling through the soil, inches away from the golden human’s foot. I tug at them and snarl. They want to go to her and strangle her for annoying me. We can’t do that. Blackfire is right.
We do need bait, and as much as I don’t like listening to anybody, he usually is quite reasonable in his conclusions. It’s one of the reasons I call him a friend, a brother, and made vows with him to fix our fucked-up world. The three of us are linked by that blood-soaked vow, made so many years ago, and I wonder if the goddesses knew about it. Is that why we are here together? I was in the Mother Pack fighting rings when I was chosen for this. There was so much blood on me that I couldn’t even see the mark before I was knocked out, unable to fight back because of the dust from the moons freezing me to the spot.
I lost a fuck-ton of money that night.
The little drake pet that she has peeks out from under her arm, watching me, and it lifts its tiny claw, running it across its throat in warning. Did the drake just threaten to slit my throat? Creepy fucking thing. I can’t remember if it’s a girl or boy. What Blackfire told me about the drake was not interesting.
I glance at Blackfire, wondering what the fuck his uncle has been up to with this human before she got here. I don’t trust her. There’s something not quite right about her. If it wasn’t already suspicious that a human was in the Folkland to begin with, it doesn’t help that she’s so, well, her. Meredith Crone, sassy and smart-mouthed. She doesn’t fear wolves, and it’s fucking weird. I’ve never met a human who doesn’t fear wolves. We are their masters, after all. She will fear wolves by the time I am done with her.
A cold laugh breaks out of my throat as Reed continues to pace and tries to decide what to do about the shivering human. “Just leave her alone. Go and hunt or some shit to calm your wolf.”
“My wolf doesn’t want me to leave her alone with you,” he growls back at me, his eyes flashing blue.
I growl back, not liking being threatened. We three of us get along, which is extremely rare for any wolves from other packs, but it’s not without considerable effort. And right now, that effort seems to be wasted as he glares down at me and then back at the human like he can’t keep his eyes off her. Fucking sappy asshole. “I will watch her for you. I promised Blackfire not to harm her yet. I am not a liar.”
Reed’s eyes narrow on the yet. I know he is going to fight me for her, and I should be a little concerned, but I am not. I know how Reed fights, and how he bleeds. I trained with him for years in secret, and everything he knows is from me. I am the one who taught both these fuckheads how to fight like a wolf from the fighting rings and to fight dirty. Blackfire and Reed have used brute strength and magic in the wars, and never much else until they met me. Blackfire wasn’t too bad, but Reed was like a child when we began. He used his wolf and power to win every time. I taught him better than that.
“I’m going to see if I can find the bat who dared to take her and bite her.” He storms off into the forest, leaving me with her, which is trusting for him. Fool. I could end her, even if it would make a liar out of me.
I breathe in the air laced with cinnamon, and I pause, smelling something different. Darkness. Night air. Midnight. Who the fuck is that? I walk over to her and realize the scent is coming from her. The scent is mixing with hers as she sleeps, fitfully shivering, but the scent is like a blanket. Her drake blinks up at me again, snarling and showing its teeth in warning, and I flash my teeth right back at it before turning and walking away. This is a mystery I will have to figure out. Maiden knows I will not sleep tonight when she is here and she is a threat. She is my prey. Mine.
Blackfire stops me with one hand on my chest. “Leave the human alone. I’m done warning you, brother. Don’t let her come between us.”
“Why do you care so much?” I shove his hand away. “And don’t tell me it’s just because your uncle’s told you to keep her alive. That’s bullshit.”
He bares his teeth. “My uncle is my fucking alpha, and he has control of me. You know this, and all of my carefully laid out plans depend on him trusting me. If I come back with news that she is dead, he will be angry and distrusting. If I bring her back alive, he will be distracted with the human and making deals with the other packs with her. It will be the perfect time to strike.”
Yes, I do fucking know it. Years and years of plotting between the three of us. Years of implanting spies throughout all of our packs. Years of building up something so we can finally win have just come crashing down to bringing a weak human back alive. She could die at any moment; she is just human.
I rub my face and look back at her. I could agree with him, tell him I’m not planning to kill the human, and be a good fucking friend. The words that leave my mouth are bitter as fuck instead. “You forget that I don’t really need this alliance anymore. My father’s dead. I’ll be alpha when I get back from the Folkland. There’s no one in the way for me to become alpha, and all I care about is getting revenge on Elizabeth. She betrayed me, and your human saved her. They are both dead.”
“Really? You’re going to be that much of a selfish bastard?” Blackfire snarls in my face. “You damn well know that as long as my uncle’s in charge—”
“I know,” I snipe at him. “That’s why she is mine the minute that you’re done using her as bait. She doesn’t walk out of here alive. Not if I have a say in it.”
I storm into the forest, shifting into my angry wolf and letting him run off all our anger, our aggression and pain. The bastard doesn’t want to leave the human, and I convince myself it’s because he won’t leave his prey. Not the fact he keeps growling—that she is ours. Mine. Mine. Mine.
Chapter Thirteen
There’s a chill to the air as I wake up, my eyes immediately locking with a pair of green ones glaring at me. Orion is sitting a few feet away from where I sleep, sharpening the tip of a long wooden spear. I don’t know where he got it from, and I really don’t want to ask because it has blood all over it.
I lift my head, checking that I haven’t drooled, and look around the quiet forest. The sun is just rising, orange streaking across the tips of the trees and making the leaves look like they are glowing. My monster. I can almost taste him on my lips, like being kissed by midnight. That was a really fucked-up dream, and it couldn’t have been real. I look at my arm, at where my monster bit me, and there is nothing but bare skin on my wrist. No glowing mark, and my burns are still well hidden. The last thing I need is for Orion, Blackfire or Reed to see the burns and call me disgusting or weak for having them.
I shake my head and check on Tannith, finding her back in her bag, sleeping soundly. I’m a little worried she is sleeping too much, and I haven’t got any food for her to eat to give her strength. I sit up, closing my eyes, and immediately I think of what my monster said. “I will come for you when you call. When they turn on you, which they will, as all wolves are betrayers, I will rip them apart and fuck you in their blood. I will mark you as mine in every way there is, and I might make them watch before I end them.”
Maybe I’m actually officially losing it because it’s almost romantic. I mean deranged. Hopefully, I start going crazy enough that I can imagine that I’m on a beach, eating cake with a hot guy rubbing my feet and telling me that I’m the desire of his entire world. That would be perfect. Not flying creatures through the sky who bite me and then claim I’m theirs. Not exactly the fantasy I’m going for or planned out for my life.
“So, Sleeping Beauty’s awake.” Orion’s voice is sharp, cutting through the silence like a knife.
It’s too early to deal with his bullshit behaviour. “Aw, do you read old human fairy tales, then? That’s cute, Ori.” I can’t help myself. Taunting him is too fun.
He growls. “You don’t get to call me that. If anything but ‘yes, master’ comes out of that vicious mouth of yours again, I’ll actually—”
I tune him out and close my eyes, yawning and stretching my muscles. I always get so cold. A healer told me it’s because of my burns and how it made my skin weak, so I feel the cold more…yet I didn’t shiver all night. In fact, I feel warm, and I suspiciously smell like the sea. He rants on and on, but I pretend he is a giant whale and I can’t understand a word that is coming out of his stupid mouth. Blackfire might come back and shut him up, eventually.
He growls when he realizes I’m not listening to him, and I yelp as something hits my leg. I open my eyes, finding a stick and a red mark on my bare lower leg. I narrow my eyes and pick it up, holding it in the air. Orion smirks. “It’s illegal to harm a wolf.”
“Oh no, what will happen to me? Will I get bitten and hunted? Oh wait, already happened.” I throw the stick as hard as I can, and I know he didn’t expect me to throw it as it smacks against his chest.
He looks at the stick, then at me, and then back to the stick. “You really are wild and untamed? Did no one teach you how to respect your masters?” he snarls, snapping the stick in half.
“Aww. Oh no, the prince has met someone from the real world who doesn’t bow and stumble over their feet to help you in any way you need?” I roll my eyes.
He shuts up and does nothing more, shaking his head. “This is why I hate humans.”
“And I hate wolves,” I snap back, turning away from him, and he says nothing else for a long time. I’m tempted to ask where his buddies have gone, but that would involve speaking to him, and I have decided I don’t like doing that. He is a giant asshole with no redeeming qualities.
I spend my time collecting leaves and trying to make a bed out of them for Tannith to sleep in, if she ever wakes up and climbs out of the bag. My stomach hurts, clenching in a familiar way because I’m hungry. The forest is still silent, no chirping birds, no sounds other than the odd movement from Orion.
“Why did you choose her? You said you didn’t hear what I said about Elizabeth being my half-sister, a bloodkin, and that she was not to be chosen. So why?” His question is valid, and I debate whether I should answer or ignore him.
“She looked alone and desperate. Broken by whatever had happened, and I saw myself.” I link my fingers. “What is a bloodkin?”
He stands, walking over to me, the tip of his spear pressing underneath my chin. So much fury dances in his eyes, but it’s more than that—it’s grief. “It’s a name for a wolf who kills their family in cold blood.”
“Orion, back off,” Blackfire growls, leaves flying in the air around his feet as he stomps over to us. He grabs the spear and throws it straight into the forest, so hard that I can’t even see it anymore, but I hear it smash into something. “Enough.”
Orion sighs, not at all bothered about Blackfire. “We were just getting to know each other.”
“Enough taunting the human. We need her as bait. She’ll draw everyone out and make it easier for us to find them.” Blackfire reminds me once again that he isn’t protecting me because he is a good guy. I rub the mark on my neck, and I swear he flinches as he watches me.
“I can make her scream,” Orion offers, his voice dripping with darkness.
“Fuck off, you’re both scaring her, and right now, she isn’t needed as bait.” Reed appears out of nowhere, and I didn’t hear his footsteps at all. My stomach turns when I see his hands have blood all over them again and he is holding a plate of cooked meats. “We can’t have you starving when you’re going to need to keep up with us. We want to find high ground and somewhere safer than this, which means we will walk until nightfall.” Are none of them going to suggest finding our selected? Not even Reed? “I hunted a rabbit for you.”
“Erm. What about our selected?” I gulp, taking the makeshift stick plate off him and trying to change the subject. He doesn’t answer me. He must have made the plate for me. I don’t know at what point I should tell him I don’t eat meat, and anytime I’ve tried, I just throw it up and feel sick for days. It’s always been a problem for me, and more often than not, I’ve starved even with meat available to eat. My body doesn’t accept it, and even looking at the meat makes me feel sick at this point. I wait for him to walk off, but he doesn’t; he stands and waits. “Are you going to watch me eat?”
“Yes.” His voice is firm. “Now eat, little human. Let us worry about finding our selected once we have found somewhere safe. The monsters are unexpected.”
Dammit. “I’m not going to eat this. I’m sorry.”
Reed tenses, glaring down at me. His voice is clipped. “Why?”
I go to tell him, to explain, but Orion’s cruel voice cuts through the air like a knife, and I freeze. My body stops responding and my ears whistle, my heart racing loud. “Because she is a spoilt human princess who won’t eat rabbit because it must be beneath her. She has clearly used her good looks to get whatever she wants from men, and now she only wants the best. She is a brat, just like Blackfire told us. Leave her to starve and don’t bother, Reed.”
My jaw clenches, and I tell myself not to cry, not to let his assumption of me hurt, but it strangely does. Yet my mouth doesn’t open to defend myself, and I feel like I’m frozen to the spot, seeing another man called Eli telling me that I was spoiled by him and I deserved everything I got as his fire… I shake my head of that memory. Eli isn’t here; he is long gone, and I’m safe.
A tic appears in Reed’s jaw, and he stares for a long moment before he walks away, giving up on me. He should do, I’m not worth it, and I never have been. I learnt that early on in my life when the matron at my orphanage screamed it into my face.
Orion pats Reed’s shoulder, comforting him and glaring back at me. Blackfire is silent, leaning against a tree and looking up at the sky. My stupid eyes are wet as I stand up, taking the plate with me, and I walk far enough away that I feel safe. I set down my bag holding Tannith next to the plate of meat for her to enjoy later, and then I find somewhere quickly to relieve myself before running my fingers through my hair and trying to sort myself out a little.
Making my way back to Tannith, I come across a small puddle of water, wincing as I look at the absolute state that I’m in. My hair is stuck in every direction, a wavy mess, and the braid hangs limply down my shoulder. My clothes are covered in dried blood, mud, tiny rips, and I barely see myself under it all. It would be embarrassing to womankind to die looking this gross, and yet I can’t find any strength to clean myself with the puddle water.
Tannith yawns, poking her head out of the bag, climbing up my arm when I sit next to her. She quietly eats half of the meat, and I put the rest in the bag for her to snack on.
“That Orion boy really likes you,” she whispers in my ear.
“No. No, he doesn’t. You’ve completely gone mad,” I mutter. “I should have just told them I can’t eat meat and that I’d look for my own food. I don’t need their help.”
Tannith’s scales tickle my ear. “Yes, you should have stood up for yourself and not frozen. It’s been a while since I’ve seen you freeze like that, and I hate them for causing it. Oh, and Ori-boy does like you. I feel the vibes, but I’ll still kill him if he hurts you.”
“He really doesn’t,” I protest, wanting to change the subject. Tannith is the only one who can ever get through to me when I freeze and my words just leave. It’s almost like I can’t talk, I can’t move, and my body ignores me.
She laughs and wraps her tail around my neck, almost choking me. It’s a loving choke…I think. “Everyone knows that responding to sarcasm with sarcasm is another way of saying ‘I want to fuck you.’”
“No one says that!”
“Yes, they do,” she whispers back. “Go ride that wolf! It will make this whole trip much better because we can talk about it after, and the tension will be gone. It smells weird when I’m a drake and all my senses are heightened.”
“One, he is a psychopath and insane. Two, he wants to kill me. Three, and I can’t stress this enough, we are not on a fun forest holiday. We are literally fighting to stay alive. Well, I am. You’re napping,” I deadpan, trying to make her be reasonable.
