Page 17 of Bad Moon Rising (Dark-Hunter 17)
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 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.
