The Dark-Hunters, page 524
And that was truly frightening.
“What am I going to do?”
You will mate with one of those bears tomorrow and pray to the gods that one of them causes you to get a mating mark.
It was her only hope.
Otherwise …
No, she couldn’t even contemplate that. Her clan’s survival was all that mattered. Above her happiness and most of all, above her life.
She would mate with a Katagari bear even if it killed her.
CHAPTER 5
“Fang?”
Fang froze as he heard the seductive voice of what had to be the sexiest wolfswan in their pack. Petra. Tall, sultry, and stacked like a brick house, she stirred the hormones of every wolfswain who saw her. He’d never been an exception to that.
Until tonight.
He frowned as she closed the distance between them and rubbed herself against his side. Reaching up, she grabbed a handful of his hair and tugged at it.
She purred in his ear. “I’m in heat, baby. You want to help me out?”
Was that a trick question or what? Fang nuzzled his face against her neck, inhaling her scent. Normally that would have been more than enough to flame his lust to the point he’d be more than able to accommodate her.
C’mon, body, wake up.
But he only stirred a little bit.
What the hell?
She reached down to cup him like a pro. “Is something wrong?”
“No.”
She pulled back to grimace up at him when he didn’t get instantly hard. “You haven’t mated, have you?” That would be the natural assumption since the moment a wolf mated he could only be enticed by his mated female and never again by another. Something that seriously sucked. It was why he was in no hurry to find a mate. Too much like eating the same meal every night. Who wanted that?
Petra jerked at his hands, looking for the mark that always signaled them when the Fates had chosen their significant other. It was a mark that only appeared on their palms after they’d had sex.
Problem was, he hadn’t touched anyone in the last three weeks. Not since he’d seen Aimee.
He pulled his hands away from her. “I’m not mated.”
Relief lightened her expression as she reached for his fly. “Then what are you waiting for?”
Inspiration … and an erection would definitely help. His cock twitched as she skimmed it with her nails, but didn’t do much more than that. Not even her groping was helping.
Fang kissed her and she attacked him.
Still he was cold. Empty. Where was the usual fire he felt? The driving need to be inside her.
He just felt …
Nothing.
She sank her hand deeper inside his jeans to cup him as she breathed in his ear. That sent chills over him, but he still had no desire to touch her.
Nipping his ear hard, she pulled back with a curse and slammed her fists into his chest. “What is wrong with you?”
Fang looked at her blankly, wishing he had an answer. Instead, he could only think of one thing. “Parvo.”
She screwed her face up in disgust. “Parvo, my ass. C’mon, Fang. I don’t want to mate with the rest of these losers. You’re the only one I want.”
“The mind is right there with you, baby, but the body…”
She slapped him. Hard. “You suck!”
Fang wiped the blood from his lips with a grimace. That was the biggest problem with wolfswans. When their hormones took over, they were brutal bitches. Come to think of it, the last time they’d had sex, Petra had bitten his shoulder so hard it’d bled. He even had a permanent scar from it.
She grabbed his hair and kissed him again.
Now his own anger snapping, he pushed her back. “Go slap someone else. I’m not in the mood to be bitten and clawed tonight.”
She wrenched at his hair hard enough to pull a handful of it out. “It figures. You would have PMS when I’m in heat.” She growled at him. “Fine. I’ll go find Fury.”
And may you both be mates for all eternity …
In hell.
It was what they deserved. Brushing his lips, which were still stinging from her blow, he zipped his pants, then sank down to the ground. He lay on his back to stare up at the dark sky, trying to find some kind of solace.
He heard a scuffle in camp where Petra must have spread her scent around to incite the others. Most likely they’d fight and the winner would take her.
But pleasing a wolfswan in heat was no easy matter. It often took a whole night and sometimes two or three others would be needed to sate her. Of course that all changed once a female mated. Then she was off-limits to any except her chosen male.
Fang couldn’t believe he’d had to turn her down. Even hostile and hormonal, she was one fine piece of …
“What is wrong with me?”
Maybe he did have parvo or rabies. Could a Were-Hunter get that? He’d never heard of anyone contracting it, but …
Something had to be seriously wrong with him. The scent of a prime female in heat had never failed to stir him before. He should be in there right now, pawing it out to be the one who mounted her.
But as he contemplated that, his thoughts turned to Aimee. The way she’d looked bringing his food out to where he’d been sitting by the bikes. The way his jacket had swallowed her whole as she wore it and smiled up at him.
She’d been beautiful and kind. Gentle and sweet. Even when she’d yelled at him, she’d been …
Bingo. He was hard as a rock now.
Fang let out a grateful sigh. Thank the gods. At least he wasn’t broken. He still worked.
Just not for Petra.
That thought made him physically ill. Oh, gah, I was better off having parvo.
“What are you doing here?”
He tilted his head back to see Vane standing a few feet away, looking puzzled by Fang’s pose. “Nothing.”
“Why aren’t you with Petra?”
“Why aren’t you?”
Vane sat down beside him. “I can’t stand her. She claws like a cat. However, that’s never stopped you before.”
Fang shrugged as he tucked his hands under his head. “There’s more to life than sex.”
Vane scowled at him. “Who are you and what have you done with my brother?”
Fang gave him a droll stare. “Don’t be an asshole.”
“All right. I’ll leave you alone. But in all seriousness, are you okay?”
“When have I ever been okay?”
Vane laughed. “Good point. I still think it comes from Anya pushing you down that ravine when you were a pup. Definite head injury that screwed you up for life.”
“I think it was from you always sleeping on my head when we were pups. Years of nightly oxygen dep do take a toll.”
Vane laughed. “Yeah, I probably killed all six of your brain cells before you even reached puberty.”
“Probably so. Explains so much, doesn’t it?”
His expression sobering, Vane stood up. “By the way, I overheard Markus last night. He was talking about replacing us as his heirs.”
No big surprise given his hatred of them. But even so, Markus had always been careful in the past about breaking the clan up with an all-out confrontation. “Why?”
“Because neither of us has mated. He thinks it’s a sign that we can’t. That we’re genetically deficient and therefore unworthy to be Regis.”
Fang felt the heat of anger rush through him. He hated his father with a passion so strong, he wasn’t sure how he kept from lashing out. “I really wish you’d let me challenge him. Then he’d see just how genetically deficient I am … not.”
“Don’t get so upset. Look on the bright side, at least we’re not impotent.”
Maybe Vane wasn’t, but Fang …
“Little consolation,” Fang groused as he refused to think about Aimee’s hold on him. “Tasting his blood, however, would appease me to no end.” He shifted his head to get more comfortable. “So who’s he looking at as our replacements?”
“Stefan, who else?”
It just got better and better. Why did he even bother asking? He should have known the answer. “I’m sure Stefan’s not championing our cause.”
“Nope.”
“One day I’m going to rip out his throat and you won’t be there to stop me.”
Vane froze as he heard the raw animus in Fang’s tone. And the anguish. He knew how hard it was for his brother to rein in his fury. How hard it was for Fang to stand down and be subservient to him or anyone else.
It was against everything in Fang’s genetic code. And it made him wonder what Fang would have been like had Vane not switched to Arcadian during puberty.
Gods, how terrifying that had been. It’d taken him weeks to even understand what was happening to his body and then once he was sure …
Telling Fang had been the hardest part of all. Even though they’d been littermates, a part of him had feared that his brother would attack and kill him for it. Who could’ve blamed him? The Arcadians were forever attacking them.
And they had killed the only woman Fang had ever cared for.
Instead, Fang had accepted it calmly and vowed his eternal protection. Loyal as a wolf … and a brother … to the end.
It was a protection that never wavered. Fang tried to hide it from Vane, but he wasn’t stupid. He knew how many times his brother stayed awake at night, guarding his secret. How many times Fang had walked away from a fight even though it galled him to do so, so that Vane wouldn’t be questioned or outed.
He was his brother’s weakness and he hated himself for that.
“I’m sorry, Fang.”
“For what?”
For everything. For robbing him of his birthright. Robbing him of his ability to challenge Stefan and Markus.
Most of all he was sorry that his brother had no idea just how much respect he had for him. But it wasn’t in their natures to speak of such things.
“For being the thorn in your ass that prevents you from challenging him.”
Fang returned to looking up at the dark sky. “Don’t worry about it. It is what it is.”
Perhaps, but the real question was, what could it be if Vane wasn’t around to pull him down? But as Fang had said, it was what it was. There was no changing the fact that he was human and his brother was a wolf.
Sighing, he headed toward his sister.
Fang didn’t move until Vane was gone. He lay there listening to the sounds of the insects and wolves while watching the sky above him. The Dark-Hunters had warned them earlier today that there was an enemy pack of Arcadian wolves in town and a group of Daimons who might be looking to augment their life spans by eating a couple of wolves. Their pregnant females were prime Daimon bait.
But Fang didn’t fear them. He could hold his own in a fight and he pitied anyone dumb enough to call him out.
If only his father and Stefan would get head injuries that made them even dumber than normal. Oh, to fight them …
Closing his eyes, he returned to his wolf form. This was what he needed. It was the only thing that really comforted him.
But as he lay there, he thought of something else that comforted him.
The scent and taste of an ethereal bear.
Put her out of your thoughts. She was as off-limits as anything could be. His father hated him enough. If he ever found out Fang was turned on by a bear …
They’d call out a hunt and he’d be slaughtered.
CHAPTER 6
Aimee paused outside of Carson’s door, gathering her courage. Even though it’d been a month since she’d last seen the wolfswain, she still couldn’t get the taste or scent of Fang out of her mind or her thoughts. It was as if he’d somehow branded her and made her his.
That was the most upsetting part of all.
Since then, she’d been subjected to three more rounds of “find a sex toy, Aimee.” And unfortunately, none of the bearswains had stirred anything inside her. Not even repulsion or distaste. She was completely numb to them.
All of them.
What was wrong with her?
She needed to talk to someone and didn’t dare speak of her concerns to any member of her large family for fear of it getting back to her parents. Her mother would kill her. Dead. Mutilated. And it wouldn’t be pretty either.
But Aimee had to understand what was wrong with her. Why wasn’t she finding any bears she wanted to mate with?
Most of all, why was she haunted by thoughts of the most unacceptable male on the planet?
“Aimee?”
She cursed inwardly at Carson’s deep voice coming through the door. How could she have forgotten that power? He knew anytime anyone came near his office.
So much for indecisive dawdling.
Hold your fishing pole at ready.…
Bracing herself, she pushed the door open to see him sitting at the desk where a file was open. His hand, which held a pen, hovered over it as if he’d been making notes.
Tall and muscular, he’d almost pass for a bear. But Carson was an Arcadian hawk. His black hair and sharp features paid tribute to his Native American father and the heritage Carson held dear to his heart.
His features softened to those of fatherly affection for her, which was almost comical since she was about a hundred years older than he, even though she looked younger. “Is something wrong?”
Shaking her head, she entered and closed the door tight behind her. “Do you have a second?”
“For you, always.”
She offered him a smile at his sincere answer. The two of them had been friends since he’d first shown up and asked Maman about setting up a clinic in their home—over sixty years ago. It’d been the best decision they ever made. Not only was he the best vet and doctor she’d ever seen, he was a vital ally and trusted friend to them all.
Carson pulled a chair out for her to sit down beside him. Putting his pen aside, he leaned back and folded his hands over his stomach. “So what’s on your mind?”
Aimee sat down and tried to sort through her thoughts and concerns. “I’ve been wondering about something.”
When she hesitated, he arched a brow. “Is this a female problem? You want me to get Margie out here for you? Would that help with your embarrassment? You know, Aimee, I am a doctor so there’s no reason you can’t tell me anything. I may not be a woman, but I understand your bodies and am familiar with your unique problems.”
Heat rushed over her face. That was just what she needed … a human to give her advice on her animal senses going awry. Margie was nice enough, but she knew nothing about mating rituals. Good grief, this was getting worse by the second. “No, it’s nothing like that. It’s just…”
I want to jump a wolf until we’re both limping and I have no idea why.
Why was this so hard for her?
Because you want to jump a wolf and if anyone finds out, you’re toast.
True enough. But she had to talk to Carson and find out if this was some freakish problem of hers or if there was a precedent in their species that she didn’t know about. Something to make her feel a little more “normal.” At least as normal as a werebear with heightened powers could be.
C’mon, Aim. Just say it.
“It’s inter-species related.”
Carson’s other brow shot up. “Are you afraid of insulting me?”
“No … at least I hope not.” She hadn’t even thought about the fact that Carson was half human and half Arcadian. “I’m just trying to understand how it all works. I mean, I understand in your case where one parent is human and the other Arcadian … that’s almost a natural attraction when two humans meet. Most of the time the human has no idea the other isn’t human and so the attraction makes sense, especially since humans tend to have an unnatural attraction to us anyway. I get that. What has me stumped are the ones like Wren’s parents. What would make a snow leopard want to mate with a tiger or a Katagari mate with a human?”
There, that should get her an answer without her telling him the real reason she was asking.
Carson considered his answer carefully before he gave her a gimlet stare. “Honestly?”
She nodded.
“No one really knows. There’s all kinds of speculation that it’s something wrong with the DNA. Maybe a defective gene we don’t know about. A birth defect, if you will. Kind of the same thing that makes a human crave inappropriate sexual partners. But…” He glanced away.
Great, she had a birth defect.
“But?” she prompted, wanting to hear if he had another explanation that didn’t end with her being chromosomally damaged.
“I personally wonder if it’s not something the Fates do to us as a continuing punishment.”
“How do you mean?”
“Well, look at Wren. Regardless of who he partners with, human or Were-Hunter, he’ll most likely be sterile. Anytime a Katagari, male or female, is mated with a human, there’s no chance whatsoever of progeny. Even as an Arcadian, I have less chance of fathering children because my father was human. I think it’s a way the Fates have contrived to kill off our species.”
Aimee hadn’t even thought of that. How cruel could three goddesses really be?
Then again …
“That makes sense in a very twisted way … which would coincide with it being a gift from the Fates.”
Carson nodded. “Exactly. It would also explain why it’s so common for us to mate outside our species. I think it’s why so many Arcadian and Katagaria end up together. The Fates are hoping the women will reject the men and then both are left sterile for the rest of their lives. It’s cruel, really.”
Yes, it was.
But it still didn’t explain her attraction to Fang. “Have you ever heard of a completely out-of-species mating?”
“What do you mean?”
“Like in Wren’s case, while they weren’t the same species per se, they were both cats. Have you ever heard of, say, a wolf wanting to mate with a hawk or a dragon?”
Or in her case, a bear.
She cleared her throat before she asked the most significant part. “Especially if say one of them was Arcadian and the other Katagaria?”
Carson scowled as if her question was completely preposterous. “No. That’s never been done. At least not to my knowledge. Gods, I can’t imagine anything worse than that. Can you?”
