Authors: Caryn Moya Block
He bit into his sandwich, wishing it was the skin of Laurel’s stepfather. Nobody should abuse a child of any age. Laurel was at a crucial time in her life, developing into a woman. She had needed her stepfather’s approval. If he ever met the man again . . .
Alena ran up to the couple sitting so peacefully, eating.
“Sorry to intrude. Anton you are needed at the security building. I will take Laurel back to the lodge.”
Anton knew something was wrong, but what? And why hadn’t Alena called to him telepathically?
“Will you be okay, Laurel?” Anton asked, getting up from the blanket.
“Of course. I’ll see you back at the lodge,” she replied.
Anton leaned down and caressed her cheek with his finger, needing to touch her.
“Eat another sandwich. I will be back as soon as I can,” he said, and then he ran toward the security building.
“He’s very bossy at times,” Laurel commented as she started putting the remainder of the food back in the basket. But he was also sweet to her. At times her eyes would well with tears at his tenderness.
“Most male lycans are,” Alena said. “They cannot help themselves. Their job is to lead and protect the pack, so it comes with the territory. Do you love him?”
Laurel felt her chest tighten. How could she answer? She was drawn to Anton. His gentleness calmed her in ways she didn’t understand. Her protector. She knew no one would hurt her when he was with her.
“I want to love him, Alena. But I am still so scared,” she answered as honestly as she could.
“My brother would never hit you. He abhors violence against women and children. You have to know that. Really trust it in your heart. You are hurting him.”
“What?”
“You are holding yourself back, expecting him to betray your trust. It hurts him. I know you do not mean to. But is it fair to punish Anton for something your stepfather did?”
“I’m not trying to hurt him or punish him. He’s so good to me.” Is that what she was doing? Punishing Anton because he was a man? A man she knew would never hurt her?
“The mating bond needs to be cemented into place. But Anton will not force you to accept his advances. You have to take a leap of faith and seduce my brother. Come on, I have some lingerie left over from my wedding shower. I have never worn it. Kolya has a tendency to rip things off me, so I stopped wearing it. Let us go to my house, and I will get it for you.”
“What if I can’t do it? I’ve never been with anyone before,” Laurel admitted.
“You can do this, Laurel. If you love my brother, you have to.”
Laurel followed obediently after Alena. Did she have the courage to seduce Anton? Could she give her future to this pack of lycanthropes?
§
Anton ran up to the security building and rushed inside. Dmitry stood over Andrei who was pointing to several blips on the map on his monitor. Dmitry glanced up, as Anton entered and nodded, but kept his attention on the computer screen.
“Several intruders have crossed onto pack territory,” Dmitry said in explanation. “I have sent out a patrol, but I need you to follow up on this. Andrei said you are expecting trouble from Laurel’s stepfather. Since you are the only one who has met him . . .”
“I will go right now,” Anton said hurriedly. “The patrol needs to be prepared for resistance. All intruders should be considered armed and dangerous. Who is the patrol leader?”
“Sergei is on duty tonight. I have raised the security level to Alpha. You will need to take a patrol team on rotation. This one worries me. We have never openly defied the Russian mafia before. I hope we have not opened a huge can of worms.”
“Kolya and I had no choice,” Anton said, anger rising hard. “They ran us off the road. They were going to kidnap our women.”
“I am not questioning your actions, little brother,” Dmitry said laying a placating hand on his shoulder.
Anton knew Dmitry was trying to let him know he held his trust. If the mobsters wanted a fight, they’d get one. Looking at the map, Anton reached into a drawer and pulled out a handgun. First checking to see if it was loaded, he placed it in the small of his back.
“Laurel is with Alena.”
Both brothers looked at each other in understanding. If anything happened to Anton, it would fall to Dmitry to care for Laurel. Lycanthropes didn’t live long after their mates passed on. But no one knew how a human mate would react to the loss. Plus, Anton and Laurel’s bond wasn’t cemented into place yet, giving her a real chance at surviving. Laurel would never have a relationship as deep or as rewarding as the one she could have with Anton. But if the mating bond was not locked in, connecting them on a soul level, she might still be able to have a relationship with someone else.
“Be careful,” Dmitry said. His order came out like a growl.
Anton smiled and with a quick salute headed for the door. It was time to go hunting. His wolf surged to the surface as he ran toward the area of the intrusion. The patrol should be arriving on the scene any minute now.
Anton rushed down the path to the area near the outer perimeter. He could hear Sergei speaking to someone up ahead.
“You are trespassing on private property and will need to leave immediately.”
“I want what is mine. You can’t hide her from me,” a man’s voice started shouting.
“Never mind, Harris. We will come back at another time,” another man’s voice said.
“But Gleb, the backpack?”
“Shut up right this minute or I will put a bullet through your brain.”
Anton reached the top of the bluff and looked down on the scene below. Sergei and four of the guards surrounded two men and Laurel’s stepfather. How the hell did he keep finding them? The larger of the two men held Laurel’s stepfather by the arm and was tugging him backward.
“Tell Miss Harris that her daddy stopped by and will be back shortly to collect her and her belongings,” the large man said.
“But, Gleb,” Laurel’s father stuttered.
“Not another word,” Gleb hissed at him.
Anton felt his wolf rush to the surface. This man was threatening his mate. His eyes started to glow and fur rippled beneath his skin. He wanted to hunt, to tear and rip. Rainbow lights started to coalesce around his body.
“Anton. They are leaving. You cannot go after them,” Kolya said, rushing up to Anton and grabbing his arm.
Anton felt Kolya shaking him through the haze of rage and the blinding light of the change. Anton was so close. His bones were beginning to shift, his face starting to elongate.
Anton, snap out of it,
Kolya demanded telepathically, shaking him again.
The haze started to clear, and Anton felt his bones re-solidify and his face reform. The lights of the change blinked out, and Anton was once again fully human and trembling with anger. He turned on Kolya and shoved with both hands, pushing him away.
“You idiot. Why did you stop me? They are coming back, Kolya. They are coming to take Laurel away.”
Kolya pushed forward, challenging Anton. “We do not attack unless we have no choice. You will not endanger the pack. These men cannot know we are lycans.”
“No one would have been left alive to spill our secret. Do not ever stop me from protecting my mate again, Kolya,” Anton said as he hauled off and punched Kolya in the jaw. Kolya fell to the ground and looked up at Anton in shock and anger. Anton stood over him shaking. “You may be Dmitry’s Beta, but I am the Alpha’s heir. I will not accept your dominance over me or my actions.”
At that moment Dmitry ran up the path. “Anton, you need to cool down. I will talk to you at the lodge. Kolya, you okay? You look a little worse for wear. You know Anton is on edge right now.” Dmitry leaned down and gave Kolya a hand up.
Kolya looked at Anton, pain and determination in his gaze. Unable to say anything without causing more trouble, Anton turned and walked away.
§
Laurel walked alongside Alena. Feeling slightly embarrassed about their earlier conversation, Laurel wasn’t sure what to say. But she needed to say something. Lycans seemed very tactile, always touching and patting each other. But touch was hard for her, and she wasn’t sure she could seduce Anton even if she wanted too.
“Alena, I appreciate you trying to help. But I don’t think I can do this. I don’t like to be touched. How can I seduce Anton?”
“This is something I have never encountered before. I think a women’s council is in order.”
“Oh, please don’t. It’s bad enough that you know my past. But if everyone knows, it will be so embarrassing.”
“Everyone will know one way or the other. You need to let us help you. Anton needs the bond cemented into place. His wolf will get more aggressive.”
“Will he become dangerous?” Laurel asked, suddenly terrified.
“Not to you, but, possibly to other lycans. Here we are. This is Kolya’s family home.”
Laurel looked around in surprise. The house was very large.
“Just the two of you live here?” This house was twice as large as the miner’s houses she had lived in before.
“For now. There are five bedrooms. I hope to fill them with babies, though Anton is always teasing and saying he is going to move in. Come into the kitchen and I will fix us some tea.”
§
Laurel sat in Alena’s front room surrounded by the women of the pack. Yelena and Violet were in one corner conferring with Fanya, Illarion’s mother, and Dasha, mother to one of the other little boys. Sonya, mate to Matfei, was talking to Alena and two other older women. There was a knock on the door, and three women were standing on the porch. When Alena introduced them, Laurel realized they represented three generations of lycans. Violet’s twin daughters, resting in their stroller, were the newest members of the women’s group.
“Well, I don’t see anything else we can do, but have a women’s coming-of-age ceremony, with a clearing and healing first, of course,” said the oldest member of the group. “I remember when we held a ceremony almost every year. Those days are long gone.”
“But, Laurel would have to be sequestered,” Alena pointed out. “Anton is already on edge. I am not sure he could handle that.”
“Nonsense,” said Fanya. “Anton will handle it when he knows it is for Laurel’s healing.”
“If we do this, it must be soon,” Violet pointed out. “Dmitry is very worried. Anton challenged Kolya today. His aggression is rising.”
“Oh, dear,” Yelena said, and the other women soon concurred.
Laurel’s breath caught. Anton challenged Kolya? That didn’t seem like something he would normally do. Was she causing Anton to get in trouble?
Sonya pulled out a silk-wrapped parcel from a bag and slowly unwrapped what looked like a gold-and-jewel encrusted book. “This is the ‘B¯¯E, [email protected] ¯3,’ the history book of our pack. Mother was the last appointed keeper of the book.” Sonya opened the book and carefully smoothed the pages. “Here is a listing of the herbs needed for the ceremony, as well as the chant used.”
“I have plenty of mugwort drying at home, as well as motherwort,” one of the women said.
“So, I guess there is only one thing to ask,” Violet said, turning to Laurel. “Are you willing to put yourself into our hands and go through with this ceremony?”
All the women in the room looked at Laurel. Could she do it? Could she let them go through with the ceremony, and then she would seduce Anton? Alena said Anton was hurting and could become dangerous to other lycans. They all seemed very upset that he had challenged Kolya.
“Alright,” Laurel said, straightening her shoulders. “Let’s do this thing.”
Several women clapped, while others laughed.
“I’ll go tell Dmitry we’re having a party,” Violet said.
“Up at the high meadow that is near the cave entrances should work,” Yelena added.
“We can string lights in the trees and set up tables and chairs. It will be lovely,” Violet agreed. “We’ll need music for dancing.”
“I will go pack a bag for Kolya. He will have to stay at the Alpha’s lodge until we are through,” Alena said. “Come on. Laurel, I will show you your room for the next week.”
“The next week?” Laurel asked, gulping. This process would take longer than she had expected.
“Yup, sorry, but this ceremony takes a while. But when it is finished you will feel like a new woman,” Alena said, patting Laurel’s arm as they moved down the hallway. “This room should work. But from this moment on, you may not see or speak to a male of any age.”
“But, Anton said we needed to touch minds.”
“Yes, but only to reassure yourself that he is near. No long talks. Besides, absence makes the heart grow fonder. By the time the week is done, you and Anton should be starved for each other. This is going to work perfectly. Wait right here while the women go and gather all the things we need.”
Laurel was left standing in the bedroom. What had she gotten herself into?
Anton paced in his room. What had he done? Challenging the Beta was a major offense against pack hierarchy. Dmitry and Kolya should be calling him up on charges. But he hadn’t seen either of them.
Then, his mother walked into his room and said the women were going to do some kind of ceremony for Laurel. She collected all of Laurel’s clothes before patting him on the cheek and telling him the week would fly by. He wouldn’t be able to see or speak to Laurel for a week? A whole week? He was losing his mind. How was he supposed to go a whole week while his body was caught in the mating heat?
What he should do is go hunting for Laurel’s stepfather. If the man planned on coming back to get Laurel, he couldn’t be far from pack property. How had the man tracked them? Had he planted some kind of tracking device in Laurel’s belongings?
Anton stopped pacing and sat down on the bed. Where would Laurel’s stepfather put a tracking device? He didn’t know Laurel was planning to run, or did he? Anton walked over and picked up the silver brush that had belonged to Laurel’s mother. Luckily, his mother hadn’t thought to take it with her. The brush and passport were the only two things Laurel wouldn’t have left behind. He shook the brush, but nothing rattled. Then he looked along the edges for a seam. But nothing looked out of place or mended.