I could beat them in human form.
But I’ll be faster in wolf form.
Of course, shifting is going to give my animal the upper hand in this battle of wills between us. Clove may suffer the consequences.
However, it’s better than letting these five wolves find her and take her. They won’t give her a chance to choose.
And I don’t have to make her choose.
Her wolf picked me when she selected my bed.
The rest has just been a testament of patience and me not wanting to hurt her by forcing her transition.
Had I known she would go into heat, I may have chosen a different place to coax her back into human form.
Or I may have done it exactly like this.
Because this is how I’ll win her.
She’s nearby.
She’s watching.
I can feel her eyes on me, her wolf waiting to see her chosen mate in action.
She wanted to challenge me for a reason.
I not only accept that challenge, I intend to win it.
“You can’t say I didn’t warn you,” I say, the words not just for the five males circling me, but for the errant little Omega who ran when I told her not to. “Let’s play.”
12
CLOVE
I’m panting.
Wet.
Freezing.
And utterly captivated by Tieran casually removing his jeans.
He kicks them off from his ankles, his body already morphing into a giant white wolf. It takes him milliseconds, his shift akin to taking a breath.
The five wolves growl in response, lunging at him as one.
I hold my breath, my heart beating chaotically in my ribs.
But Tieran’s snarl comes out above the rest, his body moving with a power that makes my knees weak.
He knows I’m here. Because those words were for me, not the other wolves.
You can’t say I didn’t warn you.
He did.
He told me not to run.
That he would not be happy when he caught me.
And for some sick and twisted reason, that sends a shiver of excitement down my spine.
I tried to throw him off my path by moving through the stream to distort my scent. I even rolled in some mud. But he found me far faster than I ever could have anticipated.
A fact that pleases my wolf to no end. She’s practically doing flips inside me, telling me to fall from this tree and lay prone on the ground for him to take us. She’s not worried about him at all, even with the furious sounds coming from the fight below.
Two of the wolves are already unconscious, their throats ripped out from Tieran’s teeth.
It’s a gory sight, one that should make me queasy.
Yet my legs clench with unhindered need.
I’m on fire despite my frozen skin. Every part of me burns for him.
No, not just him.
Them.
Because I can hear Volt and Caius, too, their howls piercing my senses and calling to my inner wolf. She knows them. I don’t understand how, and I’m beyond questioning why.
My instincts are leading me now, just as they have from the moment I turned.
I’m embracing my animal and allowing her needs to become my own.
No more suppression. No more fighting the urge to shift or to run or to indulge in my more savage inclinations.
My pack took all this from me.
And I’m taking it all back now.
I cling to the branch as Tieran roars. One of the wolves has a hold of his scruff, his black eyes mad with a hint of unhinged savagery.
My heart stutters.
It’s another Alpha.
No, they’re all Alphas.
And they’re fighting to claim me.
It’s an inherent understanding of the process that I don’t fully understand. My wolf is the one who grasps the scene more than me. She’s the one who wanted to test Tieran, Volt, and Caius. She’s the one hoping they’ll win.
Seeing the mad wolf on Tieran’s back has me—the woman—hoping Tieran wins, too.
Because I don’t want to be anywhere near that crazed animal.
Tieran flips him off and goes right for his neck, ripping it out in a show of violence that seems appropriate here on Carnage Island.
He doesn’t celebrate the victory or lord over his kill.
Instead he focuses on the remaining two Alphas, his growl underlined in furious power that has the other males taking a step back.
Tieran howls then, the sound making me nearly lose my grip on the branch.
I feel compelled to kneel. To submit. To do whatever he desires so long as I gain his favor.
It hurts to hold on.
But if I fall…
No. Fight it, I command myself. Don’t. Let. Go.
My fingers strain to hold on, my limbs shaking with the effort as he unleashes another howl, this one even more powerful than before.
An Alpha taking hold of his pack.
An Alpha telling the others that enough is enough.
An Alpha reminding his wolves who is in charge here.
The fact I want to bend says so much about my shifting allegiances. It says I consider myself a member of his world. And not just that, part of me is already his to command.
I whimper, my grip slipping.
A third howl bites into the air and I can no longer hold myself steady. My fingers refuse to listen to reason, my hands releasing the branch and causing me to tip off my perch.
From over twenty feet up in the air.
Moons.
Wind rushes by my ears, my body tumbling from the sky to the earth below.
Only to be caught in a pair of waiting arms.
I yelp, the strong bands bruising my skin from the force of my fall. The air whooshes from my lungs, a moan echoing deep inside me that can’t be heard because of the lack of oxygen.
A soft purr rumbles in my ear, my head immediately cradled against a muscular chest. “You’re like a sweet little angel falling from the sky,” a familiar voice murmurs.
Volt.
“Too bad I have to give you to the devil,” he continues, gently setting me on the ground.
I inhale sharply, my lungs burning from the loss of air.
It’s a mistake.
I’m immediately inundated with a mixture of alluring scents.
Pine trees.
Ash and copper.
Peppermint and spice.
All underlined by a mixture of feral masculine deliciousness.