Shift of Fate: A Wolfguard Protectors Novel Read online

  “Your eyes,” she whispered, bringing a hand to my face. “They’re so beautiful. Your wolf eyes.”

  I knew they blazed strong as my lust heightened.

  I wrapped an arm around her waist and lifted her. Willow let out a squeal as I swept her off her feet and carried her to the bed.

  I laid her down gently, knowing it was the last gentle thing I would do. She sensed it. Her eyes gave off a glint of their own as her legs fell open, beckoning me.

  “I can’t go slow, once we start,” I said.

  She arched her back. “Thank God!”

  I pressed her knees flat against the bed, spreading her wide. Her little sex pulsed for me. She was already soaked.

  I ran my tongue down her thigh, loving the way she squirmed in anticipation. I gave her little nips that made her gasp. She arched her back, straining to her keep her legs wide open as an offer.

  I settled between her legs. My craving for her reached a fever pitch. I licked along her sweet folds, teasing my way around her clit.

  “Val!” she screamed out.

  “Patience, baby,” I said.

  She bucked, losing control. Willow was my wild thing. I would take her to the edge and back.

  I suckled her. The taste of her ignited my soul. She was the lock. I was the key. She opened for me, set me free.

  She went beyond words. She thrust her hips as I lapped at her. I hooked three fingers together and slid them into her slick opening. She fucked me with abandon, craving so much more.

  “Please, Val,” she found her words to beg again.

  I wished I had rope. I wanted nothing more than to tie her to the bed, spread eagle for me so I could take my time and relish the way she squirmed and begged.

  “You’re so beautiful,” I whispered, coming up for air. I stood up and stoked myself. A tiny bead of liquid formed at the tip. Willow saw it. She rose up, slid her hands around my buttocks and licked me.

  My knees buckled as she wrapped her lips around me. It was my turn to be tortured.

  I threaded my fingers through her hair, driving her down on me. She met me thrust for thrust, working me with expert skill. She knew just how much pressure to use. Just how to draw me out.

  My eyes rolled in the back of my head. I was so close to letting go.

  “Not yet,” she whispered, popping off of me.

  “Get on your back,” I said.

  She complied. Willow scrambled to the head of the bed and spread her legs for me again. I went up on my knees between her thighs.

  “Are you sure?” I said, even though I already knew the answer.

  “More than I’ve ever been about anything.”

  And then, I couldn’t hold back a second longer.

  I plunged into her. I meant to ease my way, but once her lips opened for me, I had to have all of her. Willow grabbed my shoulders, bracing herself as I took her deep.

  She slid down further on the bed, bringing her knees up almost to her ears. I pushed her thighs out. She was impossibly wide. I was impossibly deep.

  God. She felt so good. Pulsing heat. She gushed around me. So wet. So perfect. Made for me.

  I braced my feet against the headboard and pressed into her as far as I could go. I froze, letting Willow take up the rhythm. She dug her nails into my back, drawing blood. I let out a growl that made the windows vibrate.

  She came. In thunderous, crashing waves. She threw her head back and arched her whole body. I felt the electric vibrations take over her. She came hard and deep and screaming out my name.

  I stayed stock still, letting her take all she needed from me. On and on she thrust until sweat beaded her brow and plastered her hair to her face.

  Then, finally, she crested down. I felt her release with a quiet sigh as her legs turned to rubber.

  “My God,” she whispered. “I don’t think I can move.”

  “Yes you can, baby. You can take so much more. Get up on your hands and knees.”

  Her eyes snapped wide. A new flush of pleasure colored her cheeks as she realized what I was about to do.

  Her movements were sluggish, but she did as she was told. She gripped the headboard and went up on her knees.

  God. The sight of her like that. Open. Still so wet for me.

  I stroked myself again then got in position. I thrust into her as I gripped her hips to guide the way. Willow’s head dropped against the headboard. She sagged into the movements. Her arms trembled. Her body rocked as I worked her.

  Then, I let go. I threw my head back and howled as I filled Willow and took my release.

  She sated me for a moment, but I knew I would only crave her more once we started.

  Willow stayed in position even as her knees trembled with fatigue.

  Minutes slipped by. Hours. Over and over, I brought her back to the brink of pleasure and beyond.

  I took her from the bed, to the floor. She followed me into the shower and I fucked her there too. I made her mine as the sun finally began to peek through the slats in the blinds. I lost count of how many times I took her that night.

  Then, in the quiet, as she spooned against me. Willow pulled her hair to the side.

  It happened so naturally. She didn’t say anything. I’m not even sure if she made a conscious choice. But, in her heart and soul she was a wolf’s mate. My fated mate. Her body demanded what her mind hadn’t yet named.

  She moved, going on all fours again. She dropped her head and let her hair fall back to the side. I was still inside of her.

  My primal nature took over. I wanted to ask her if she was sure of this too. But, I was beyond words.

  “Yes,” she gasped, already knowing my mind. “I want this too. I love you, Val.”

  I licked the back of her neck. She would have me mark her. Right here. Right now. She knew what it meant.

  Part of me wanted to find the strength to draw back. We hadn’t had a conversation about this. I told her what Soren tried to do. I didn’t talk about how it was really supposed to be between two fated mates. It turned out, I didn’t need to. My Willow understood.

  I grazed her neck with my teeth. My wolf rose.

  “Yes!” she gasped again. “Do it! Oh, God. Oh, Val!”

  I reared back. I knew what she felt because I felt it through her. She experienced a pulsation at the base of her neck like a brand new erogenous zone. She would taste oh, so sweet as I marked her as mine forever.

  I leaned in. I let my fangs drop. I tasted her skin and felt her blood rising to the surface.

  Then, a bolt of lightning went through me, rocking me backward. Pain seared off the top of my head. My heart exploded. I clutched my chest and rolled off of her.

  I was outside my body. I saw myself through Willow’s eyes as I twitched on the ground.

  “Val!” Willow’s scream reached me as if I were underwater. I was drowning. I was spinning through space.

  Then, my lungs exploded and there was blackness all around.

  Chapter Twenty

  Willow

  “Val!”

  He couldn’t hear me. He writhed on the ground, shifting from wolf to man then stuck in between. His eyes were wild, blood red. I couldn’t get through to him.

  The worst of it was, I felt his pain. Each breath he took sent stabbing agony through his whole body. He clawed at the air, the ground, me, anything.

  “Val,” I said, trying to keep my own panic from rising. He hadn’t marked me. I had craved it more than anything in my life. I could feel the pleasure of his bite. It would complete a circle. My whole life had been leading up to that moment. I knew it in my heart.

  But, the moment Val’s teeth scraped the sensitive flesh at the back of my neck, I felt the lightning storm inside of him.

  “Val, please.” I willed myself calm. Instinct told me the more afraid I was, the worse it was for him. I also knew that if he had bitten me, whatever afflicted him might have killed me.

  He settled a bit as I did. I sat on the ground, bracing my back against the footboa
rd. With great effort, I pulled Val to me, cradling his head in my lap. I sang to him. Soothing sounds. I rubbed his temple and kissed his cheek.

  Slowly. Painfully. He came back to me. His body went slack. He took one great, heaving breath. His claws retracted. His eyes went from red to blue. He shuddered, then came back into himself.

  Sweat poured down his back. His skin was almost colorless. But, he looked up and met my eyes.

  “Val,” I said, crying out.

  He reached up and touched my cheek. “There you are,” he whispered.

  “I’m right here. Baby. What happened to you?”

  He put a hand to his head. He pulled himself up until he sat beside me.

  “Are you all right? Did I hurt you?”

  “No,” I said. “I’m fine. But, what was that?”

  “I don’t know,” he answered. “God help me. I don’t know.”

  “You were about to bite me. To mark me. I wanted you to. I still want you to. Then, I don’t know. You had some sort of attack. A seizure.”

  His color got better. The trembling in his hands stopped. He ran his fingers through his hair. He got to his feet and found his pants.

  “That’s never happened to me before,” he said.

  “Val, you need help. If you’re sick.”

  “I’m not sick. Wolf shifters don’t get sick like that unless there’s magic involved or…”

  “Or what?”

  “Mating sickness,” he said. “I think it’s worse for bears, but if an Alpha goes too long without finding his mate, it gets harder to stay in control. But that’s not what that was.”

  “Well, we were mating. Maybe…”

  “No,” he said. “It would be the opposite. Mating is the cure for mating sickness. It’s not the other way around.”

  “Magic then,” I said, rising to my feet. I slipped on my panties and a tank top. “Maybe Jason did something to you.”

  “My skin’s crawling,” he said. Sure enough, he scratched at his arms then tried to reach his back.

  I went to him. I ran my fingers over his flesh. He felt a little cooler to the touch than usual. Val’s wolf blood normally made him run hot.

  “He hurt you here, and here.” I touched his shoulders, his cheek, all the places where the claw marks had been the worst. They were all healed now.

  “Maybe it was that dragonsteel?” I asked. “You were in it for days. Can you get sick from it?”

  “I don’t think so. Not permanently, anyway. I mean, shifters can’t break through it. And...it made it so I couldn’t shift while I was bound. I’ve heard it’s like that with cages made of the stuff. But, it doesn’t have any lasting effect.”

  “What about the men you work for? Mr. Fallon, you said. You’ve checked in, right?”

  Val’s eyes darkened. “Not yet. It’s better if nobody knows where to find us. Especially now.”

  He squirmed, pulling at the skin on his shoulders.

  “Stop that,” I said. “Come in the bathroom with me where the light is better.”

  He was still clawing at himself as we stood in front of the vanity. I made him sit with his back to the mirror.

  I trailed my fingers down his arms, looking for any sign of a wound or a rash. His skin was red from scratching, but looked normal.

  “The pain you felt,” I said. “Can you localize it?”

  There were only the faintest red marks on his back where Jason’s wolves had torn him up. In another day or two, those would be all but healed.

  I felt a burning sensation at the base of my neck. That same craving pulled at me. Being this close to Val and not having him touch me, not having him inside of me was starting to get to me.

  I pushed every lust-filled thought I had to the back of my brain. My hand flew absently to the base of my neck as if covering it would make the craving less urgent.

  My heart raced.

  “What is it?” he asked, immediately sensing the shift in my mood. God, how good would it have felt to have had him finish the marking so I could connect with him all the way?

  “Turn your head,” I said. I brushed the hair away from his neck, searching for the spot on him that burned on me.

  “There,” I said, gasping.

  I almost missed it. If I hadn’t been so close to him in the harsh light, I never would have seen it.

  “Willow?”

  “It’s so tiny,” I said. It was. High on Val’s left shoulder, almost at the base of his neck, he still had the tiniest mark.

  He brought his fingers up. I took his hand and guided him to the scar I saw.

  “Is it a bite?”

  I moved so my head didn’t block the light.

  “No,” I answered. “It’s a straight line. I mean, it’s hardly more than a paper cut. It’s just...I’ve seen gashes on your skin twenty times as thick heal overnight.”

  “That wasn’t there before,” Val said, his voice dropping to that low growl.

  I pressed my thumbs to the edges of the mark. I couldn’t really call it a wound. It was far too faint.

  It took a few tries. I had to hold my breath and go very still. But, sure enough, as I pressed on the sides of the mark, I could feel the outline of a hard lump underneath. Once again, I guided Val’s fingers to the back of his neck so he could feel what I felt.

  He went rigid. His wolf eyes flashed. I felt his pulse thunder through him.

  “Willow,” he said, his tone grave. “I need you to get a knife. I need you to cut it out.”

  I pulled my hand away as if his skin seared mine. “You’re crazy! I don’t even know what it is.”

  “I don’t either. But, I know it’s not part of me. You asked me to localize my pain. It was the right question. Because it started right here at the base of my neck. Like an electric shock.”

  “I know,” I said, taking a step away from him. “I...I felt it too. Through you.”

  “Soren did something to me. I was in that barn for days. A lot of it I don’t remember. He had the opportunity…”

  “He let us go,” I said, panic rising. “This is why.”

  Val slowly nodded. “He tried to turn me.”

  “What do you mean, turn you?”

  Val ran a hard hand through his hair. “Subjugation. Alpha wolves can subjugate less powerful betas and omegas into their pack.”

  “Like mind control?”

  “No,” he said sharply. “No. Not mind control. A good Alpha is a man who betas and omegas want to follow. They do it willingly. They’re loyal. But subjugation allows the pack to communicate telepathically. It allows them to move as one unit if there’s a danger to the pack.”

  “And he wanted you to be part of his pack,” I said. “But you’re not a beta.”

  “No,” he said. “He tried anyway. He failed.”

  “Jason wants me for himself. He knew what you were. You think he put...whatever that thing is in you so you wouldn’t try to mark me?”

  “I don’t know. Maybe.”

  “If he didn’t want you to have me, why the hell didn’t he just kill you if he had the chance?”

  “I don’t know,” Val said, growling again. He moved past me back into the main room. He went to the table near the window and rifled through the grocery bags he brought back the other day from the gas station convenience store. He pulled out a Swiss army knife from a plastic package and handed it to me.

  “What do you need that for?” I asked.

  “I bought it for you. It was the only thing remotely resembling a weapon you can buy next to a display of corn nuts, Willow.”

  He handed it to me. The blade glinted.

  Val came back under the harsh lights of the vanity mirror and exposed his neck.

  “Cut it out,” he commanded.

  “Val, you need a doctor. I can’t just carve into you here. It’s not sanitary. What if I cut something...er...you need?”

  “You won’t,” he said. “I’m an Alpha wolf, Willow. We’re harder to kill than that. You’d have to shoot m
e directly through the heart and be damn lucky. Unless that blade is made of dragonsteel or you think I’d hold still long enough for you to cut off my damn head with it, you can’t kill me. Anything you do to me will heal, just like the slash marks from Soren’s pack.”

  “We don’t know what that thing is,” I said, my voice rising high, almost hysterical. “We don’t know what it’s connected to. No...we do know. It’s your central nervous system. I saw what it did to you. How do you know it’s not built with some kind of...of kill switch?”

  “We don’t,” Val said. He turned and looked me straight in the eye.

  “Val...please…”

  “Willow, I will not go another second with that thing inside of me. I can feel it. If I could claw it out of me, I would. I just...I don’t think it’ll let me. It has to be you.”

  He turned and braced himself, gripping the sink. He dropped his head, exposing the back of his neck.

  “Shit,” I said.

  “I know. Just commit. And be quick. I told you, you can’t kill me.”

  “Right. Doesn’t mean it won’t hurt like hell!”

  “You’re right,” he said. He stormed back to the main room and grabbed a bottle of bourbon from the grocery bag. He unscrewed the cap and drank deep.

  “Give me that,” I said.

  Val raised a brow. “I think one of us should have a clear head.”

  I took the bottle. “It’s not for my head. It’s for the knife.” I poured some alcohol over the blade. Val nodded and got back into position.

  “Shit,” I said again. Then, I took a shot.

  Val gripped the sink so hard he cracked the porcelain. I took a steadying breath, pressed the hard knot with my thumb and forefinger, then sliced just below it.

  Val grimaced. He ground his teeth. But, he stayed still as stone as I worked the knife through.

  I tried not to think too hard about what I was doing. I felt the hard edge of metal. I slipped the point of the blade beneath it.

  Mercifully, the thing came out with a pop. Slick with Val’s blood, it was a hard, black disk about the size of a quarter. I held it in my palm as Val straightened.

  Wolf shifters might be impervious to being stabbed in the neck, but they sure did bleed a lot. He pressed a hand towel to his neck and it became soaked red in a matter of seconds.