The Frenzy Way (31 page)

Angela rolled over, raising her ass high into the air. Stalk seized her curves in his fingers and drove himself into her vagina from this new angle. Moaning, she backed up against him. He slid his hands over her hips, controlling his trajectory and producing whimpers from her. Her inner muscles gripped him, and he felt the pressure becoming too great to contain. She drove her fists into the mattress and threw her head back, whipping her long hair through the air. She looked over her shoulder at him, then looked away. He pressed his teeth on that same shoulder, and she yelped.

Their bodies trembled together as shuddering spasms weakened their legs. Stalk groaned as Angela cried out, and they collapsed onto the damp sheets, panting for breath, and clung to each other.

Standing barefoot and shirtless on top of one of his metal cases, Stalk craned his neck to peer out the dirty basement window at the building across the street. Plywood covered the doorway and windows on the first floor. “How long’s that building been deserted?”

Angela padded over to him, wearing nothing but his shirt. Passing a cup of black coffee to him she said, “A little less than a year. The city seized it because the landlord owed back taxes.”

Stalk sipped the strong coffee. “Squatters?”

“Probably, but none that I’ve seen.”

“I’d like you to open the shop, then meet me over there after work.”

Angela narrowed her eyes. “No.”

“It’s a good spot for a showdown.”

“John, I won’t watch you die.”

He looked at her. “You said yourself this Berserker sensed that you knew who he was. If you’re right, he’ll come after you.”

“Do I look like bait?”

Stepping off the case, he slid his free arm around her back and kissed her. “This way it will be on my terms. I’ll be ready for him.”

He hoped she believed him.

Ten years earlier

She revealed herself to him in the library. Julian was a freshman at Washington State University with no declared major. He’d seen her on campus in the cafeteria, the very sight of her awakening his senses and giving him an erection. Tall for a woman, as tall as him, with curly brown hair that undulated down her back, and full breasts. But they had no classes together. Now she stood beside him, a mysterious smile on her lips. By the time he had looked up from his book, she had vanished and reappeared on his other side.

Sniffing the air around him in an exaggerated manner she said, “I’m Brooke Hodge. Who are you?”

“Julian Fortier,” he said in a low voice, self-conscious that she had been so open with her nature.

“Frenchman, huh?” Her dark eyes gleamed with energy.

Julian shrugged. “I guess.”

She cocked her head at the book in his hands.
“Roman Mythology
. I had Reid for Ancient Literature too. What a prick.”

“I’m not reading this for a class.”

Brooke raised her eyebrows. “You’re reading this voluntarily? What are you, a glutton for self-flagellation? Let me see that.”

Before he could argue, she took the book from his hands and skimmed the page he had been reading. “Ah, Janus. The two-faced god.” Looking into his eyes, she offered him a warm smile. “That’s cute.”

“Actually, he had two heads, not two faces. One looked into the past, the other into the future. He represented change, not hypocrisy like so many people believe.”

“
You’re
cute.”

Julian felt his face turning red. “What year are you?”

“Sophomore. And am I ever glad to see you. The only other Wolves on campus are those jerks on the football team. I can’t stand jocks. You want to get some coffee?”

They sat in the Starbucks lounge at the student union, which had been designed to look funky and downtown despite its corporate brand. He drank his coffee black, and she added extra sugar to her mocha. His gaze kept drifting to her breasts, and more than once he caught her smiling at his behavior.

“You said there are others like us here?”

“Sure. Why wouldn’t there be?” Before he could answer, she added, “But I’m the only female, so you’d better claim me before it’s too late.”

Feeling his erection straining against his jeans, he wanted to claim her right there in the lounge of Starbucks.
Control yourself.

“What pack are you from?” she said, sipping her sugar.

“Boulder, Colorado. You?”

“Anchorage. Mom and Dad still live there.”

“Do you have any brothers or sisters?”

“Oh yeah. Two brothers from my litter and two and a sister from another.”

“Big family.”

“Tell me about it. What about you?”

“Only child.”

“Really? You’re luckier than you know.”

He wanted to believe that.

“Let’s go for a walk.”

She led him across campus, passing brick buildings, concrete walkways, and glowing globes that illuminated the sidewalks as dusk darkened the expansive sky. As they climbed a green hill, she grasped one of his biceps.

“Your arm is solid,” she said in an impressed tone. “You’ve Changed a lot.”

“My grandfather didn’t believe in keeping emotions bottled up.”

“Old school. Did he raise you?”

“Yeah. My parents died when I was eleven.”

“I’m sorry. You’re lucky he was around.”

There’s that word again
, Julian thought. “Sometimes I wonder. My parents lived in New York City. I guess you could say I had a privileged life.”

“But not with your grandfather?”

Cresting the hilltop, Julian turned to look at the track in the distance. “No. Grandpa Jed was a simpler man. He lived close to nature and saw no advantage in assimilating more than necessary.”

“Past tense?”

Julian nodded. “He died last year. Even though he disapproved of me attending college, he helped me prepare for it. When my parents died, he made sure all the money I inherited went into a trust. He never took a nickel for himself or to pay for my expenses.”

Brooke slid her left hand down his arm and locked her fingers around his. “A
rich
werewolf! You’re looking better to me all the time.” Before he could respond, she tugged him away from the hill. “Come on. I want to show you something.”

They crossed the paved road that ringed the campus, then a parking lot, and entered a path through the woods.

“What is this place?” Julian said.

“It’s part of the cross-country course. One mile out of the three goes through it. The team practices here every day.”

They penetrated the darkness, the light from the parking lot fading behind them. The path dipped, curved, rose, and dipped again. Fireflies coalesced ahead of them, then scattered as they approached, and mosquitoes buzzed around their ears. When the trees cleared enough to allow the moon to light their way, Brooke stopped and peeled off her top. She wore no bra, and the moonlight gleamed on her breasts.

“What are you doing?” Julian’s pulse quickened so that it filled his ears.

Brooke took off her shoes, then unsnapped her jeans and wiggled out of those as well. “Let’s go for a run.” She stood naked in the moonlight, breasts rising and falling.

Julian’s gaze dipped to the black stripe between her legs. He stripped to his underwear, erection standing at full attention.

“It’s a free country,” she said with a sheepish grin, “but if you ask me, you’re going to look silly in those. I’ve never seen a Wolf wearing Fruit of the Looms.”

With his eyes locked on hers, he leaned forward and stepped out of the briefs. Standing straight, his throbbing erection stabbed the cool night air.

Now it was her turn to examine him. Her dark eyes seemed to grow brighter, and the smile on her lips grew larger. And then larger still. Her face—her entire
body
—had begun to Change, reshaping itself before him.

The pulsing sound in Julian’s ears grew louder.
Shift, shift.

Julian Changed for her as well. He had never Changed in front of a female of his species before, and he felt his erection leading the way. Bonessnapped. Flesh stretched. Fur grew. Although she had started Changing before him, they finished at the same time. It was important for him to show her that in this situation he possessed greater speed than her.

The two gigantic Wolves stood on their hind legs, lacking only tails. While black fur jetted from Julian’s muscles, Brooke’s was a mixture of white, brown, and gray. Julian’s erection maintained its stature even as Brooke leapt high into the air. By the time she landed on the soft earth, her arms and legs had become shorter, enabling her to run on all fours.

Brooke raced through the woods with Julian in hot pursuit. She had a distinct advantage over him because she knew the terrain—where to speed up, where to jump, where to slow down—but he had no trouble keeping her in his sight or following her magnificent scent. He felt an animal longing that he had never before experienced in human or Wolf Form. Sprinting past a chain-link fence that protected a weathered house from the college students, he knew he’d overtake her, penetrate her, and ejaculate inside her.

He caught her in a soft gulley and sank his fangs into the back of her neck, not hard enough to break her skin but enough to hold her firm. She collapsed her front legs before her, and they rolled into bushes. She attempted to shake him loose, but he held tight, pressing her to the ground even as he mounted her from behind. She raised her haunches, rubbing her clitoris against his penis, and he plowed into her. Feeling liquid warmth cascading over him, he humped her, riding her Wolf on Wolf. She backed up against him, increasing his pleasure and his passion for her.

At last Brooke arched her back and howled, her body quivering with his, and he realized that his fangs had drawn blood. He came inside her, a hot, pulsing release that made him howl as well. He collapsed over her and they Changed together, then lay human and entangled in the brush, their wet skin sparkling in the moonlight.

She caressed his face, and, gazing into her eyes, he felt kinship for the first time since his parents had been killed.

Panting, she said, “We shouldn’t have Changed here.”

“Why not?” he said, penis still jerking in the cool air.

“Because now we have to walk back to get our clothes.”

Julian laughed. “So we’ll Change again!”

She shook her head. “Maybe you can but not me. I’m not that proficient yet. I have to wait at least half an hour.”

He held her in his arms. “Then we’ll wait.”