Doris O’Connor

 

Copyright © 2017

 

 

 

Chapter One

 

Raphael raised his head toward the dark sky. Steam curled around his nostrils as his long drawn-out howl signaled the start. The hunt was on. Around him, his pack yipped their excitement into the crisp winter air. The forest they called home whizzed past at dizzying speed, and Raphael gave his wolf free rein.

Nothing felt as good as letting his beast run free, the animal’s instincts taking over to hunt, to claim his prize. Adrenaline coursed through his veins, urging him to run faster, their target for the evening just ahead.

She was clever, the little wolf chosen for this full moon’s activities. Knowing that she couldn’t outrun them, she’d chosen to hide, but she hadn’t counted on his beta’s need to find her. Collins had asked permission for the mating to take place earlier today, and Raphael had gladly given it. The pack needed fresh blood, and it had been a while since cubs had arrived.

Besides, it would take the heat off him. He knew the pack was getting restless, impatient for their Alpha to choose his mate, but none of the females who presented themselves appealed to his wolf for anything other than a quick fuck.

Even that had gotten old fast. Between his duties as Alpha and his work for the forestry commission, it didn’t leave much room for any kind of fun. Raphael couldn’t even recall the last time he’d set foot in the human village which nestled smack bang between his territory and the southern wolves.

Collins streaked past him, the scent of his soon-to-be mate in his nostrils, and grinning, Raphael hung back. At his signal, the pack disbursed, pairing off as they went.

There would be plenty of fun to be had between them tonight. Raphael shook his head at the pretty young wolf who bowed low in front of him.

Barely out of puberty, she was far too young and innocent for his battle-weary wolf. Her mother nudged her, to urge her on, and Raphael growled a warning low in his throat.

That, at least, had the desired effect, and mother and daughter bounded off into the forest. Nose in the air, Raphael took in the various scents. Something was bothering his animal. It snarled and prowled, and giving into his wolf’s restlessness, he decided to wander. It wouldn’t hurt to check out their territory lines. The rival pack was also hunting if their excited yowls were any indication, but they didn’t hunt for sport and their prey… No, it couldn’t be. How dare they?

Hackles raised, Raphael went on the attack when the terrified and bloodied deer broke through the underbrush. Her scent wrapped around him, made ten times more potent by her fear. Man and wolf inhaled as one and the knowledge of who this was to them slammed into Raphael’s consciousness, imprinted itself on him in that instant their gazes connected before she hobbled away as fast as her injured legs would let her.

Mate.

Not that Raphael had any time to act on that instant knowledge because the three young wolves that’d been chasing the deer leaped through the foliage, teeth bared. How fucking dare they hunt down a defenseless deer, let alone his mate.

Fury coursed through Raphael’s veins and with it the ice-cold determination to make them pay. The biggest of the trio charged at Raphael, while the other two went for his sides. Laughable, really, how easy they were to read. Raphael ducked and rolled to get underneath their leader, as that idiot jumped, exposing his soft underbelly—a classic youngster mistake—which would cost the pup his life. Raphael’s wolf was in no mood to show mercy, not with his mate’s scent still in his nostrils. Her palpable fear, pain, and despair made his wolf deadlier than normal.

Blood sprayed, turning the snow on the ground crimson, as he opened up his opponent’s guts with one swipe of his sharp claws. The youngster wailed in agony and collapsed in a heap. His cronies almost collided with him, turning at the last second. One of them took off, tail between his legs, back in the direction they’d arrived from, but the other one…

Stupid young fool growled and charged at Raphael. At least he didn’t jump, but kept low. Teeth bared, he lunged for Raphael’s throat, but missed when Raphael swung around and kicked out at him. The smaller animal went flying through the air and crashed into the nearest tree with a back-breaking crunch. Instantly paralyzed, he slid into the churned-up snow. It turned yellow under his broken form, and Raphael shook his head in disgust.

This was his territory, and the foul stench of the southern wolves would not be allowed to permeate his home. Blood-filled gurgles came from the fucker slowly bleeding out at his feet, and bending his head, Raphael ripped his throat out with one bite. The youngster’s eyes dimmed and he breathed his last breath as Raphael spit out a mouthful of blood.

The wolf by the tree whined, his still-working front paws desperately trying to drag himself away and back to safety.

Raphael growled his fury and jumped in front of him to stop his progress. Their disgusting scent was everywhere, and cocking his leg, Raphael made sure that was obliterated with his own.

He recognized who these two were now. The hapless youngest sons of the southern pack’s alpha. Raphael’s actions might have just started a war, but the bloody prints his mate left behind in her flight left no room for doubt.

Grabbing a mouthful of the crippled teenager’s fur, he dragged him back through the brush and to the edge of the stream which signaled the end of his territory. A sharp flick of his head and the youngster tumbled down into the icy waters. He could drown there for all Raphael cared. Would serve the asshole right.

By the time he dragged the lifeless, bloody remains of the other wolf’s brother down to the edge, the fucker had gone. Good riddance to bad rubbish.

Raphael had a skittish deer to find. After what she must have suffered at the hands of the southern wolves, he highly doubted she would welcome this wolf with open arms.

A whine rose from his throat, and, nose to the ground, he followed her scent.

****

Aubrey struggled on, her sole aim to get away, but she’d long since lost her sense of direction. Where the hell was the village and the sanctuary of her little house? She should never have given in to the restless urges of her usually-so-gentle animal, especially not at the full moon.

Everyone knew the wolves hunted then, but she’d been so sure she was on the right side of the territory line. She was only going to go for a quick run along the stream. That was usually all it took to calm her deer down when she’d had one of her rare turns of simply needing to be in her animal form.

Unlike the wolves, she didn’t need to stay out of sight in her animal form. Deer were everywhere after all, and from what she could gather, it was getting easier for the wolves, too. The forestry commission was in the process of reintroducing wild wolves into the forests in England under strictly controlled experimental conditions.

So, if a wolf shifter was spotted now, it wasn’t too big a deal, though most folks always just assumed they were wild dogs. Aubrey stumbled as her hoof slipped into a rutted groove and pain shot up her leg. Bracing herself against the fall as best she could, she slid down the embankment until a fallen tree’s overturned roots stopped her. Winded, she lay on her side, panting, as she mentally took stock of her injuries.

Just cuts and bruises, though the chunk of flesh torn off her flank by the smallest of the wolves she’d run into on her sprint, bled profusely and hurt like crazy. Now the immediate surge of adrenaline had worn off, Aubrey shivered in the cold air. She needed to shift back into her human form, to attempt to heal, but she would freeze her ample butt off out here without her clothes. Not to mention the small matter of that black, menacing wolf she’d almost run into in her desperate flight away from the trio.

She knew who he was, of course. The Alpha of the dominant wolf pack around these parts was something of a legend in shifter circles. Fifteen years her senior, he was way, way out of her league, no matter how much her inner animal lusted after him from afar. He’d brought peace to this corner of Northumberland, uniting the packs under his leadership, with the exception of the southern wolves who seemed intent on causing trouble.

A gang of them had caused untold havoc in the village square only last week. In their human forms, they’d driven their dirt bikes through the memorial garden, uprooting plants and turning over a bench. No one quite knew what to do with the gang of bikers in their midst, because they disappeared as quickly as they appeared, and Aubrey was certainly not going to tell what she knew. She liked the quiet, unassuming life, nestled away between the humans who had no idea what was going on.

At least the humans didn’t judge her for her complete inability to be more deer-like. She glared into the darkness surrounding her. She was not going to be some stag’s doormat, thank you very much. The best thing she ever did was move away from Scotland and take the job as school teacher in this tiny village. Her refusal to mate with the head stag had gotten her ostracized from the deer-shifting community. Her parents, in particular, her mother, had been the most disparaging.

“Why can’t you be more like your sisters?”

That comment still stung. Both her younger sisters were willow-like and thought the sun shone out of their mates’ hoofs and asses. They also didn’t have one original thought in their heads. Aubrey would rather shoot herself than be like them. She had a brain to go with the extra weight she carried, and she had every intention of using it.

Mind you, she mused to herself, as she shifted and cried out in agony, she seemed to have entirely misplaced her brain tonight. While the shift had stopped the bleeding on her thigh, her teeth were now chattering and she still had no idea where she was. She ought to move, but with the howls of angry wolves far too close by, she daren’t risk it.

As she shifted so rarely these days, she didn’t have the finely honed instincts needed to stay off their radar, which had gotten her into this mess in the first place. She didn’t even want to think what the big black wolf might have done to the trio who’d pursued her. The sounds of fighting had been utterly terrifying. No doubt he would be furious with her for putting him in the situation of defending her.

That moment she’d looked into his glowing eyes … the way he’d growled as though she meant something to him… Her deer had been all but ready to throw herself at his mercy and that was insane. Wolves ate deer, she had to remember. And it didn’t seem to matter one iota to them that she was indeed a shifter and thus not food, as so aptly illustrated by the terrible trio.

Aubrey pulled her knees to her chest and wrapped her arms around herself in a vain effort to retain some body heat. Thoughts of what else those three might have done to her when they finally realized she was a woman didn’t bear thinking about.

The shivers started in earnest now, and Aubrey swallowed down her rising panic when she couldn’t rouse her deer to shift back into animal form. While she didn’t have an inbuilt fur coat, like the wolves, she would be warmer as her deer.

It seemed her animal was too frightened to come out and play, however, and who could have blamed her? Aubrey suspected her shy deer half would take a very long time indeed to recover from this ordeal, if she ever did. Aubrey hadn’t exactly relished becoming part of the hunt herself. She needed to move or she would freeze right here.

A menacing growl just above her hiding place made her jump in fright. She banged her head on the trunk of the tree in the process and stuffed her hand in her mouth to stop herself from crying out in pain. As it was, she saw freaking stars. That was all she needed: to knock herself out. Dirt and stones dislodged from under her as the whole tree shifted, and the ground gave way.

This time Aubrey did scream as she tumbled down the frozen incline and into the ice-cold waters of the stream.

She fought to breathe as a heavy weight pinned her down before pain sliced up her neck, and her head was out of the water. A pair of glowing yellow eyes was her last view before her vision dimmed.