Fangs and Fists, page 18
“Don’t be stupid,” she whispered through gritted teeth. “We’re less apt to be heard in the shower.”
He didn’t look pleased with her insult, but stepped away so that she could move. Grasping his wrist, she led the way to the bathroom. He paused at the door, so she released him.
His arms folded across his powerful chest, he leaned against the doorjamb while she turned on the water in the shower.
Jolanda walked to the mirror and tied up her hair. Slanting her gaze toward Victor, she said, “Are you just going to stand there and watch or come inside?”
His gaze raked her and her heart actually skipped a beat. She’d never had a shortage of admirers, but a man’s stare hadn’t made her feel like this in longer than she cared to admit.
“At least pretend to go along with this, if for no other reason than to save yourself the humiliation --”
“Humiliation? It can’t get much worse than you tossing me around the arena. Where did you learn that kind of magic and why?”
“Typical of a wolf to use that contemptuous tone when talking about magic.”
“No respectable wolf would --”
“Get himself thrown around the arena like a novice?”
Victor growled and straightened. His hands flexed and she sensed that he’d like to wrap them around her neck. She preferred that to watching him give up, which was what she feared might happen. She didn’t doubt he’d rather die than continue submitting to the demons.
“Why don’t we put aside our differences, at least for tonight,” she suggested.
His blue gaze burned into her and he stepped inside the bathroom, closing the door behind him.
Jolanda smiled seductively. “That’s more like it.”
He approached and cupped her chin. “This is what you want.”
“What do you think?”
Wrapping a muscular arm around her waist, Victor pulled her close to his steely body and covered her mouth in a kiss. Jolanda yielded to him, closing her eyes and opening her lips to his demanding tongue. Hers met it with equally aggressive strokes.
Growling softly, he shifted to a form between man and beast. His teeth elongated and sharpened. A coat of wolfish hair sprang from his skin. His muscles tensed and he growled deep in his throat.
His hands, now tipped with sharp claws, caressed her stomach so gently that he didn’t so much as scratch her.
Jolanda unfastened her bra and he slipped it off her arms. He bent and licked between her breasts while his thumbs stroked her taut nipples.
For a moment she almost forgot where they were and what she had been sent to do. The sensations he created were intoxicating.
Victor took her nipple between his lips and nipped it gently before lashing it with his warm, wet tongue. He sucked it hard and she arched, moaning. Her pussy throbbed.
He moved to her other nipple and sucked it while caressing her hips and buttocks. He licked his way down her stomach to her soft mound.
“Victor,” she murmured.
He growled and tugged her down to the cool marble floor. Jolanda considered protesting, but there were too many reasons not to -- including her almost overpowering attraction to him.
She spread her legs and Victor settled between them, cupping her buttocks and covering her clit with his mouth. He devoured her with all the passion of a hungry wolf. She didn’t know how a man who looked at her with so much hatred could taste her like this. By his grunts and growls and the scent of his lust, he was enjoying it almost as much as she was.
He stopped before she came and she opened her eyes to stare at him. Crouched between her legs, his dark blue eyes gazed at her from within his wolfish face. Hair partially covered his rugged features. Thick white fangs gleamed within his parted lips. His tongue flicked out and she breathed deeply, imagining it was still on her clit.
Victor reached down to grasp his thick erection. He stroked it slowly while watching her.
Growling softly, she sat up and curled her fist around his cock. She pumped slowly at first. Then she increased the rhythm and slowed it again. She slid the tip of her finger under the foreskin and he groaned, his eyes closing for longer than a blink.
Jolanda released him and stood on shaky legs. She wanted him so badly it was almost painful.
“Come on,” she said in a husky whisper and stepped into the shower.
Victor followed.
Her heart pounded. She didn’t rebel as he turned her to face the wall. Her stiff nipples rubbed against the slick tile as she thrust her bottom toward him. She’d never wanted a man as much as she wanted Victor at this moment.
“Magic or not, you’re still a wolf, aren’t you?” he said in a husky voice. He stood so close that his beard tickled her ear.
“Yes.” She panted and growled softly as he slid his hand around to fondle her swollen clit.
He caressed her bottom and slid a fingertip along the indentation.
“Ask for it,” he ordered.
“Just do it.” She panted, longing to feel his cock inside her.
“That’s not asking.” He licked her ear and thrust two fingers into her quivering pussy.
“Please,” she said.
“Please what?”
“Please fuck me.”
“That sounds nice.”
“Please.”
His hands dropped from her and he stepped out of the shower.
“What the hell is this?” Jolanda snapped, turning to glare at him. Her body tingled on the verge of an incredible orgasm.
Victor, his stiff cock proof that he wanted her as much as she wanted him, strode to the door.
“Where are you going?”
“Away from you, witch.”
“Victor!” She jumped out of the shower and stepped in front of the door before he could open it.
“Get out of my way.”
“You have to listen to me.” She stood on tiptoe and whispered in his ear. “I came here to fight them.”
“Right.”
He grasped her upper arms to move her aside.
“I’m telling the truth,” she said. “I came here to help.”
He laughed humorlessly. “You’ve done a great job so far. It was a huge help when you kicked my ass in the arena, and then when you demanded to use me as your private cub maker, that was about all the help I ever wanted.”
Of course that was how he’d feel and what he’d think. She’d humiliated him in every possible way.
“You have no reason to believe me, but if you would just listen to me, you’ll see that I can’t do this without you.”
He held her gaze.
Leaning close to his ear, she whispered, “We can do this together. Apart, we’re both fucked. You know I’m right.”
“Let’s pretend for a moment that you’re telling the truth. What’s your plan to help us?”
“Right now, I don’t have one.”
He raised his gaze to the ceiling. “Right. Move, witch.”
“Do you want to die here?”
“Looks like we don’t have much of a choice.”
“You know I’m telling the truth.”
“I don’t know anything about you, except that you’ve turned against your own kind.”
“Because I practice magic.”
“For starters.”
He looked so haughty that she wanted to smack him.
“For all I care, you can die a narrow-minded jackass, but this isn’t only about me and you. It’s about the others. We can get out. Are you with me or not?”
He stared at her for several heartbeats and she nearly sighed with relief.
He believed her. Or at least he was about to listen. She knew it.
“Not.” He said, pushed her aside, and strode out of the bathroom.
He opened the door and the guards, who had apparently been waiting there, raised their shock prods.
“Are you finished?” asked one guard.
“Yeah. We’re done,” Victor said.
The guards blocked his way and glanced toward Jolanda.
“Yes. He lasted about as long here as he did in the arena,” she said snidely.
Victor turned to her, rage in his dark blue eyes. He growled again before leaving with the guards.
* * *
When he returned to the barracks, Victor was relieved to find his wolf brothers asleep. He made his way to his cell, his mind still spinning with thoughts of Jolanda. Her alluring scent filled him with every breath. He could feel her fist curled around a part of him that even now ached for her.
He desired her as much as he loathed her. She had betrayed their kind in the worst possible way, and now she sought to lure him into doing the same.
“Victor.”
Damn. He had almost reached his cell. All he wanted was to spend the night alone with his thoughts.
He stopped and glanced at his friend Brutal, who had stepped halfway out of the cell next to Victor’s. Nearly as tall as Victor, but with a rangier build, Brutal had a reddish beard and hair that was unkempt even for a werewolf.
“Yeah? What is it?” Victor asked.
“The woman.” Brutal stepped uninvited into Victor’s cell, his eyes alive with curiosity. “What happened? Does she fuck as well as she fights?”
“I wouldn’t know.”
“You mean they just stole your seed? No contact?”
“It’s not your business.”
“Come on, dude. We’re all stuck here with no excitement, except for when we might die in the arena or if we’re picked to mate. How many of us get our ass kicked and then claimed by a gorgeous Amazon?”
“If you’re so interested in her, then why don’t you volunteer?”
Brutal looked hopeful. “You think she’d take me?”
“Why not? You’re big and dumb. That seems to be what she’s looking for.”
The masters often selected Brutal for breeding, hoping that he would produce offspring as thick-headed as they were skilled in battle.
“Yes! I can score!” Brutal chuckled, and then his smile faded. “What do you mean dumb?”
Sometimes Victor wished Brutal was smart enough to have a serious conversation. When he’d been with his pack, Victor had a confidant. His beta had been killed along with the rest of Victor’s pack brothers. Victor had seen him struck by a demon’s weapon and tossed into the river. That had been the last time Victor had set eyes on him or any other member of his pack. Their few females had been killed or captured. To his knowledge, none had been sent to this tower. They could be anywhere -- or dead.
“Brutal, get out,” Victor ordered. “I want to get some rest.”
Brutal nodded and left the cell. He paused and glanced back at Victor. “See you at practice in the morning?”
“Yeah. I’ll be there.” Victor closed the door and leaned against it for a moment.
A leader’s worst nightmare was knowing that he’d failed his pack. Victor had already failed once -- now he could feel himself failing again. The gladiators in this house had come to think of him as their leader.
He now realized there was no hope for any of them, with or without a leader.
Jolanda claimed they could escape. Maybe she’d been planted here -- another temptation sent by the masters to tease him. Perhaps her purpose was to provide false hope so that he would degrade himself even more. This time he wouldn’t play into their hands.
Yet he sensed that Jolanda was telling the truth. Except for demons, who could lie without ever betraying their true motives, few species could fool wolves. Mind control didn’t affect wolves, but what if the demons had found another way to manipulate their thoughts? They often used science along with magic. Some drugs were effective on wolves. Had they dosed him somehow? Maybe the water or the steam in the shower had been tainted. While with Jolanda, he hadn’t felt in control of his desires.
The demons sometimes forced unwilling wolves to mate by drugging them.
Until Jolanda had kissed him, he hadn’t been willing. No woman, in particular a traitorous one, was beautiful enough to tempt him into turning against his own kind.
Still, Jolanda claimed to be here on a secret mission. Very few would be brave enough to attempt a rescue from the tower. It was suicide.
Victor shifted to wolf form and curled up in a corner of his cell, away from his cot and his man side. Let his wolf half take over for the night. His kind easily switched from man to wolf, but each werewolf had a form he preferred. Victor had always felt more at ease as a wolf. Things seemed clearer to him in wolf form. He let his thoughts drift to days spent in freedom, trekking through the forest, running with his pack, and swimming in the river.
He imagined Jolanda in wolf form alongside him, enjoying the wilderness.
Growling softly, he readjusted his position. He couldn’t stop thinking about her. Though loath to admit it, he wanted to trust her. He wanted to cling to hope that one day he and the other wolves trapped by the masters would know freedom again.
He had sworn that he wouldn’t allow the masters to manipulate him any longer. He was willing to die to rebel against them, so maybe this meeting with Jolanda was meant to be, whether to destroy or free him.
If she was telling the truth, he would help her, but if the witch was lying, he would drag her with him to the grave.
* * *
After Victor woke, he quickly washed, and then he went to the training chamber where he and Brutal spent the morning sparring. When Victor caught Brutal in a wrestling hold from which he couldn’t escape, they called a truce and went to the fountain for a drink.
Victor was about to lean in for a sip when he was struck from behind. His face smashed into the fountain. Blood spurted from his nose. Though disoriented, he rammed his elbow backward. His attacker grunted and Victor turned to see a tawny-haired wolf named Wrecks was the offender.
Wrecks and two other wolves dove at Victor. He and his attackers partially shifted and tore at each other with fangs and claws. Brutal joined the fight, assisting Victor. Victor had already disabled two wolves, including Wrecks. They stumbled woozily to their feet. Brutal pinned the third wolf to the ground, his jaws at his throat.
“Why?” Victor demanded, his breathing ragged and his wolfish voice even rougher than usual.
“You think you’re our leader,” Wrecks said. He’d climbed to his feet, but leaned down, bracing his hands on his legs, apparently still dizzy from Victor’s defensive blows. “Some leader. Beaten and claimed by a woman.”
“A witch!” Brutal snapped. “I doubt you could have done better against her.”
“I wouldn’t pretend I could.” Wrecks straightened as his head cleared. He growled and pointed at Victor. “This one… with all his promises, so far all he’s done is murder his own kind for entertainment.”
“For demons’ entertainment,” Brutal said. “He’s kept us alive.”
“Has he? Alive for what? For the masters?”
“So this is your answer? Attack him when his back is turned? You don’t even have the courage to challenge him face-to-face or even one-on-one. You get your pathetic friends to back you up, or try to. He still kicked your hairy ass.”
“What are you, Brutal? His beta or his bitch?”
Brutal’s eyes blazed. “I’m his pack brother. I thought we all were.”
The other gladiators had gathered around. Some simply listened while others nodded in agreement at Brutal’s words. No others motioned to back up Wrecks and his two allies.
“This isn’t a pack,” Victor said flatly. “I made that same mistake, Brutal, thinking we could cling to the ideals we had in the wild. I didn’t ask to be your leader.” Victor glared at Wrecks who lowered his gaze, realizing he wasn’t Victor’s equal. “I didn’t want to bargain with the masters, but I thought it would save lives -- save the mates and cubs and wolves of this house. No good comes from bargaining with demons. You want to keep yourselves, your mates, and cubs alive? Then find a way because I’m through killing for the demons and for you. If anyone attacks me again, I won’t hesitate to kill to protect myself.”
“They don’t speak for us all,” said River, a red-haired wolf, pointing to Wrecks and his allies.
“We can’t be the only ones who are sick and tired of him acting like an Alpha and treating this prison like a pack,” Wrecks said, a desperate look in his eyes.
“So you’d rather succumb to the demons?” Brutal demanded.
“We did that when the Huntresses’ ropes slipped around our necks. Better to have died in the forest than be a pawn in here,” said one of Wrecks’s friends.
“So that’s his fault?” Brutal jerked his thumb in Victor’s direction. “All he’s done is try to keep us and our cubs alive.”
“Alive for what? To serve the demons?”
“He’s right,” Victor said. “And I’m done. Anyone who wants a piece of me, come get it. Anyone wants a pack leader, look to someone else.”
“Victor,” River called. “We didn’t ask for leadership because we’d given up on ourselves. You stepped up and tried to make us a pack. You didn’t deserve to be attacked and it won’t happen again.”
“How can we be sure of that?” Brutal asked.
“Only one way,” River said, his voice deepening as he shifted to half-wolf form.
By now, every gladiator in the training chamber had joined the meeting. They all growled at the three mutineers.
“Best to settle this now and like wolves,” River continued. “You issued a challenge, Wrecks. Victor said he’d answer it. Go for it now. One-on-one, with the pack watching.”
Wrecks glanced at Victor. He couldn’t hide the scent of his fear. Victor would slaughter him. He and everyone else knew it.
“Well?” River demanded.
“No challenge,” Wrecks murmured. He and his friends stood, gazing at the floor -- an act of submission among their kind.
“Victor?” River asked.
“I’m not your leader. I never was.”
Victor strode out of the training chamber and headed back to his cell.
Brutal followed. “Wrecks is wrong.”
“No, he’s right. What’s the point of staying alive in here?”
“I know you and everyone else think I’m stupid, but I’m smart enough to know that the only way the masters win is if they make us give up. I still have hope that we’ll get out of here someday.”
