Wolf's Ascension (30 page)

“Ditto,” he groaned as she began to move on him again, her thighs tensing as she pulled her body up, nearly coming all the way off him, and relaxing again as she took him all the way into her pussy again.

Her pace was slow, incrementally dragging him up to climax. He was a hard-and-fast kind of man but her dreamy rhythm pulled him deep into the maelstrom of her spell. Each time she brought that hot, tight embrace down and around his cock, he took another small step toward the inevitable. It built in his spine.

They stayed there, under the moon, the smell of the herb garden wafting across the breeze, slowly moving with each other, for goodness knows how long. In the distance, the Pack howled and moved through the brush.

“I’m so close,” Andreas panted out, sweat beading down his temple. Kari raked her nails down his chest, her breasts swaying as she moved faster and faster against him. “Baby, now, please, come for me,” he panted, adding pressure and speed to his fingers moving against her clit.

The words, the movement of his hands, the feel of him so deep inside of her body all pushed at her and the orgasm exploded around her, the erratic pulsing of her inner muscles squeezing him over his own edge. He roared her name with near violence, his head thrashing from side to side.

Kari collapsed onto his chest while he remained inside her.

“Wow, can I join in?” Kari looked around to see Alex standing, watching with a grin on his face.

“How about me too?” Luna stepped forward and caressed Alex’s arm and he looked at her with slight distaste and stepped away.

“You really should share him, Kari. Apparently he’s quite the fertile man,” Luna said, approaching them.

Kari watched her, sitting up. She gave a low growl that echoed with threat. Andreas shuddered at her display and slid his hands to her waist.

“If I were to share, it wouldn’t be with you.” Kari tightened her muscles around Andreas, delighting in his gasp and the renewed life his cock began to show.

“What do you have to say about it, Andreas? You seemed to like it before,” Luna said, looking at Andreas, licking her lips.

Alex started laughing and Kari liked him even more for it.

Without even looking at Luna, Andreas kept his eyes on Kari, hands caressing her. “Luna, if you value your life, you’ll shut up now that your Alpha has made it clear she isn’t sharing. In any case, it was two years ago, in wolf form. It was all right, I suppose, but it was what? Twice? You should probably get past that. I love what I have. I have no need to go searching anywhere else,” Andreas said and got to his feet, helping Kari up and bringing her into the shelter of his arms.

“Give it a rest, Luna,” Alex drawled in his Midwestern accent. “Now if you ever need a stand-in, Andreas, let me know. I find your queen to be quite beautiful.” He winked and walked past them toward the house.

Andreas growled at him as he passed and Kari laughed. “Let’s go,” she said to Andreas, ignoring Luna.

Skye came out then, as did Ryan and Laurent. Skye had a wicked grin on his face that let Kari know he’d seen them too. Werepervert, that’s what he was. Kari shrugged. He’d seen her deliver the twins. It wasn’t like he hadn’t seen it before. And she had to admit she certainly saw the appeal in a little voyeurism after that little scene between Phillip and Ryan. She couldn’t lie and say that it didn’t turn her on just a little bit that they were watched too.

Back at the lodge Kari ran upstairs and took a shower. Phillip guarded her door loosely. They had to stick to basic appearances but still give an opportunity to let the culprit get to her. Still in the bathroom, she put on the small transmitter that was in an earring.

Downstairs again, Kari and Ryan sat on the deck, drinking tea. “I’d like to go for a walk, you want to come along?” Ryan stood up, asking. The plan was for them to walk and talk and then get separated. Laurent was monitoring the microphone. She promised not to go too far away. Phillip and Skye remained naked so they could change quickly and come to her rescue if necessary.

As they walked, Ryan talked about his time in the Pack. About his life. They trailed away from the sounds and lights at the lodge and took the more deserted path to the other side of the lake.

“Hey, you know, the other day you started to tell me about what brought about Tomas’s stepping aside and somehow we got interrupted,” Kari said.

“Ah yes. Well, Tomas has siblings. A sister who lives in Northern California, and a brother who was his Second, as Sean is Andreas’s. Balmont and his Mate, Angeline, were Michael’s parents, by the way.”

“Oh! You know, I’ve always meant to ask about his parents and his connection to Andreas. I knew he was a cousin but not much more than that.”

“For a long time, it’s been an unspoken truth that Balmont was weak, petty, prone to fits of rage and incoherence. He resented Tomas. Tomas was the oldest. Strongest. A perpetual favorite everywhere he goes.”

Kari made a vow to herself before the twins were born that she’d do everything in her power to be sure both were loved and valued. In a world of wolves, where physical strength was prized—along with a penis instead of a vagina—it was all too easy to focus on the oldest male child at the expense of the others. And that wasn’t even taking into account the whole issue of the way those born as wolves were treated in Pack hierarchy compared to those, like her, who’d been changed.

Ryan continued, “Michael is an only child. Angeline’s pregnancy was exceptionally difficult, especially for a werewolf. He was very early and had to be kept in a special neonatal unit for nearly four months. He’s still very small to this day.”

Kari laughed. “Well, I suppose compared to all of you giants, sure. But he’s still what, five ten or so?”

Ryan shrugged, grinning. “Well, okay, compared to the rest of us he’s small. You’re tiny. However, you more than make up for it with your attitude.”

She chuckled at that. “Good save.”

“Anyway, Balmont wanted to be more than Second. He and Tomas were not very close. Back to that whole resentment and jealousy thing. They’d always been very competitive but the fact that Jade bore not just one but three strong males secured Tomas’s place as Alpha. After Michael’s birth, Angeline had many more health problems and Jade was...well, she’s Jade. She exudes strength and good health. She and Tomas were strong Alphas and their sons grew bigger and more competent each year while Michael, who was a good son, was overshadowed by his cousins.

“As Andreas approached his late teens, it was clear that he was going to be the next Alpha. At least to most of the Clan. Balmont did have his supporters, about a third of the Pack, but overall, it was easy for everyone to accept the obvious.

“Andreas went to college at Harvard. Then to graduate school at Yale. He came back here and not only competently ran the construction company that Tomas had started but started two more companies by the time he was thirty. Andreas was a bit of a free spirit in his early twenties but as he approached his thirties he began to take his future seriously. He became not only integral in the life and governance of the Pack, but he became someone whom the Pack began to look to when they had problems.

“When Andreas turned thirty-two, Tomas went to Balmont and told him that he wanted to make Andreas his Second. Ready him for taking over as Alpha. Incensed, Balmont took it to the Pack for a vote. This is an unusual thing. A Clan isn’t a democracy, it’s ruled by the Alpha. In very rare situations, the Pack can be polled, and Balmont decided to make an end run around Tomas.

“Tomas, seeing his brother’s distress, backed off and made Andreas his Lieutenant instead. Andreas saw his father’s actions as necessary for the time being but so began an intense rivalry between Balmont and Andreas that got worse and worse as each year passed.

“During this time, Balmont urged Tomas to make Michael higher in the Pack. As you know, the family of the Alpha is generally the Clan leadership and occupies the top spots in the Pack. However, everyone else has to challenge and fight their way to the top.”

“So you fought your way up?” Kari asked Ryan.

“Yes, I did. I challenged the older Pack members to move up from the bottom and by the time I was thirty I was one of the Enforcers. Skye, Laurent and Phillip, as well. Balmont’s strongest supporter, Andrew, was a Lieutenant just below Andreas, and he challenged Skye. Thought he’d take him out and relegate a strong supporter of Andreas to the bottom of the Pack. What happened instead was a bloody challenge that ended in Andrew’s death. It was supposed to just be a blooding but Andrew wouldn’t stop. Skye got first blood, it should have ended, but Andrew came back at him time and again. Finally Skye had to kill him. It was the beginning of a slide into a final face-off.

“So Skye became Andreas’s right-hand man. Balmont could see that the tide was turning. He demanded again that Michael be made a higher rank but Tomas refused, saying that Michael had to fight his way up like everyone else. Even if Tomas had been inclined to favoritism, Michael simply wasn’t strong enough to hold a high position in the Pack. The Inner Circle has to be the strongest or an Alpha can’t hold the leadership. We may have human skins, Kari, but we’re still predators. Any sign of weakness will be acted on.”

Kari nodded. She understood that more and more each day.

“As time passed, Andreas’s friends filled the spots of the Inner Circle and by the time Andreas had turned thirty-three we held the entire Inner Circle with the exception of Second, which Balmont still held.

“Andreas had been looking for a Mate. Generally, males don’t take on the Alpha position at such a young age unless they’re mated or some major event happens, like the old Alpha is sick or needs to be challenged for some reason. Anyway, Andreas courted women and wolves alike but no one stayed around for very long. Angeline was threatened by this, she wanted her son as Second when Andreas took over. She pressed Balmont into action and Balmont tried to negotiate with Tomas for Michael to be Second when Andreas took over. He promised to step down without any fuss if Tomas agreed.

“By this time Sean had returned from medical school and had worked his way up, as well, and Tomas had Second in mind for him. Devon was always content as a lower Lieutenant and so he didn’t really pose much of a threat.

“The tension had gotten pretty bad. Several of Balmont’s closest friends were now relegated to the bottom of the Pack hierarchy. This is common, of course. As we get older, younger wolves take the spots that strength can hold. But they weren’t happy. Balmont had convinced them that if he or Michael were Alpha, they could have their old spots back.

“So at the last Gathering of the year, Balmont challenged Andreas. Now this was eight, nearly nine years ago. If you think Andreas is strong now, imagine what he was like then. Balmont was thirty years older than him and had gotten soft. It was unbelievable to everyone but Balmont and his people. Andreas tried to avoid it, he even transformed back to human to try to reason with his uncle but Balmont attacked him. Andreas had no choice then and, obviously, he defeated Balmont. Balmont surrendered as Andreas stood on Balmont’s chest, his neck in Andreas’s teeth.

“Andreas became Second and Balmont seemed to be resigned to his falling fortunes. But he wasn’t, in truth. He was plotting and Phillip and Laurent got wind of his plan to try to kill Andreas and Tomas, and we called a Gathering and confronted them.”

“Yes, Ryan, and why don’t you tell her how they killed my parents then? Your precious Tomas and Andreas murdered my parents to keep their power.”

They spun around to face Michael, fury written all over his face. She wanted to be shocked, but really she was embarrassed because the truth had been there all along. She’d just chosen not to see it. All the behavior she’d considered chagrin or guilt had been something else entirely.

Revenge.

Ryan shrugged, shifting just slightly to keep himself between Michael and Kari. “Yes, after Balmont and Angeline confessed and the plot was fully disclosed, they had to submit to the justice of the Pack. To plot to assassinate your king and future king is a death penalty offense. Something they knew, Michael.”

“Fuck you, Ryan,” Michael said, his jaw clenching. He brought a hand up and the gun flashed in the moonlight. “Fuck all of you,” Michael snarled and shot him.

Kari’s eyes widened as she watched Ryan sink to the ground. “Silver,” he said simply and Michael shot him twice more.

“Michael! Stop,” Kari cried out, trying to bend over to help Ryan. But Michael moved to her then, grabbing her, putting the gun to her temple.

She tried to struggle but he dug the gun into her skin. “Don’t. Walk with me, bitch, or I’ll do you right here.” He walked her quickly away from the lodge as her mind spun, trying to figure a way out of this mess, hoping Ryan was still alive, counting on the fact that the others had heard her and were on their way. Kari wouldn’t give up. Her children needed a mother and she wasn’t going to let a coward like Michael take her out without a fight.

“What are you doing, Michael?”

“What I’ve been trying to do for a year,” he answered calmly.

“You’re the one who tried to kill me,” she said flatly, not a question.

He laughed, the anger barbed in the sound. “What, you believed my sorry little wolf routine? I
knew
what I was doing in that alley that night. But you had to fight back so hard it brought Phillip around. Even then you were a pain in my ass.”

“Why? I never did a thing to harm you. I tried to help you.”

“Help me? Please! You and your fucking children have put up yet another roadblock to my taking over this Pack.”

Just then two wolves ran up. Phillip and Skye. They changed back into their human skin and stood there, naked, hands open. Michael bit off a savage curse.

“Michael, why are you doing this, man?” Skye asked, stepping forward.

“Don’t!” He shoved the muzzle of the gun into Kari’s cheek. “I’ll shoot her in the head. It’s silver shot. She’ll die instantly.”

Skye took a step back, hands open. “Okay, Michael. Just calm down.”

“Don’t tell me to calm down! All of this should be mine. I’ve had to sit at the long end of the table and watch others have it for too long. This bitch thinks she can just stroll her
human
ass in here, pop out a few mongrels and take over? My parents were both natural wolves, why should a mongrel lead this Pack? Tomas and Jade never shared anything with my parents and then they killed them, leaving me alone. Did Andreas even try to make amends for it when Tomas stepped down? No.”