Page 24 of Oz
Oz
I was screwed.Totally and unquestionably screwed. And there wasn’t a damn thing I could do about it. Not that I would if I could. Not when Laura had the most contented of looks on her slack face and the red crescent of my teeth marks on her pale skin.
No, I couldn’t bring myself to regret marking her even when I knew it was against the rules. It wasn’t frowned upon to mate with humans, shifters did that all the time, but doing it without the human knowing what we really were was most certainly against the rules.
I had broken the rules because she had no idea that I could shift into a wolf at will. And Ace was going to kill me. That’s if Laura herself didn’t reject me first, which was always a real possibility. She had no doubt read some modern fiction; she would have seen werewolves in the cinema. But those wolves were fiction. We weren’t soft, cuddly wolves who would lick your toes and roll over to have our bellies rubbed. Well, I would for her. I would lick her any damn place she wanted me to and wag my tail whilst I was doing it.
She was my mate, and it was always only a matter of time before I claimed her. Laura herself had forced my hands when her sharp little teeth had pierced my skin, like a she-wolf marking her mate in her heat. It had been primal in its furiousness. And it had forced my hand. I didn’t have any control over the raging beast inside of me once she had done that. I had to mark her back and claim her completely.
Laura was mine, now and forever.
Smiling down at her, I traced the line of her sleeping face under my fingertips, committing it to memory. Not that I would ever forget her now. She was etched into my very bones. Laura’s eyes fluttered open, and she stared at me as I looked adoringly back at her in return.
“What is it?” Her hands moved towards her face and I rushed to grab it before she could touch the bite mark on her throat. It would cause her pain to touch it so soon. It was only the venom in my bite that stopped her from feeling it immediately. Soon the venom would wear off and the fever would start.
The start of forever would begin as my powers began to morph with her. She wouldn’t be able to shift but she would have some of my speed, some of my strength. She would be able to communicate with me when I was in animal form, just like I could with my pack. She would still be Laura. But she would be a little of me as well. She would belong to me and in return she would own me. All six foot three, grizzly grumpiness of me. I just hoped she was ready for the commitment.
We barely knew each other, but we had our lives to get to know each other. And she would never have to change. I would change myself completely to make her happy.
“Don’t touch,” I whispered, and her eyes widened.
“You bit me?”
“You bit me first.” I tried to grin down at her. “It was the heat of the moment, I think. Does it hurt?”
Softly, Laura shook her head. “No, I’m just sleepy.” As if to prove her point, she yawned. “And I feel hot, like I’m getting sick.” She curled her lips. “Maybe making out in the rain wasn’t the best idea.”
Hiding my smile, I tucked the blanket more firmly around her, and bent to press a kiss to her forehead. I knew it had nothing to do with the weather and everything to do with me. And she would know soon as well.
“Making out with you is always a good idea, Laura.” I touched my lips to her skin again. She was right, it had started. Her skin was warm and growing hotter. “But you should sleep. I need to go out for a few hours.”
Desperately, she reached for my hand. “You have to go again?” She didn’t try to hide the disappointment in her voice. It hit me in a rush. She thought I was doing a disappearing act. Like she was just some random woman I had hooked up with and not my entire world.
“Just for an hour or so. I’ll be back before you wake up, I promise.” I didn’t want to leave her, but I needed to speak to Ace. He was my leader, my alpha, and he needed to know about this situation. He would know how I should tell Laura my secret. Because I needed to tell her, and soon. Before my mark completed the circle and she began to experience things she couldn’t explain.
She would think she was going crazy.
“You promise?”
“I promise,” I whispered, but she was already snoring softly, her mouth parted slightly. I pressed my lips to her forehead and closed my eyes. When I joined the regiment, I had thought I was going to find adventure and a family. Never in a million years had I expected to find my true mate. But I knew deep down that it was always going to be this way. Every pain and heartache of my childhood had put me on the path to join the troop and so put her in my path.
Pulling on my clothes quickly, I glanced down at my phone. The blue light flashing at the top told me I had a message. Opening it quickly, I skim read it as I headed towards the door. And then I froze and read it again.
Check in.
Something must have happened for Ace to demand I check in when he knew where I was. Not even looking at the screen, I pressed out his number. He answered before it could ring more than once. His voice was a gruff growl.
“Get to the rendezvous point now.”
“What’s happened?”
“We know what’s up that mountain and they have taken Lainey.”
Lainey? The name was familiar but I couldn’t put a face to it.
“Laura’s friend. She was snatched right from under our noses. It was only Ash that recognised what they were. Probably because of his old age and all of that. I sure as hell have never smelt anything like them before.”
His words left me reeling. It felt like I was missing something important. “What are they, Ace?” I remembered clearly the musky smell up that mountain, the even filthier smell in the alley when the man had grabbed Laura’s throat. And I knew instinctively that they were one and the same. “What lives up that mountain?”
“Dire wolves.”
