Trey nodded. "Let me make a call. I'll see what we can arrange. But then we have get back to the Falls. The council will want a report. Then they'll decide what's the next course of action to clear the town of PIA. Thank G.o.d they aren't able to detect the location of the Falls." Trey pulled out his cell phone and walked away to make his call.

Donovan walked around the vehicle and joined them.

"Let's see if we can get that collar removed."

Petra cringed away from him. Carson's hand on her shoulder tightened. "It's all right. He's not going to hurt you."103 She looked up at Donovan. He had a sheepish look on his face.

"Hey, look, how was I to know you were one of the good girls? If you're my brother's mate I'll never hurt you, Petra.

You have my word on that. Everything I've done is to protect my family. And now you'll be part it. Will you let me help you?"

She looked at him for a long moment. She probably would have acted the same way he did if Jamie had been in trouble.

She nodded and then lifted her hair so he could gain access to the collar. Within ten seconds he had it removed and had tossed it into the backseat. He then got in behind the wheel of the SUV. Trey got in on the pa.s.senger side.

Carson hustled her into the backseat of the vehicle.

Donovan grinned in the mirror. "Where to, bro?"

"What did you find out, Trey? What did Doc Hanstrom say?"

"Doc says to go to his house-he'll meet us there. He knows what we need him to do, and he'll bring what he needs to get it done."

Donavan nodded. "We're there," he said as he slammed his foot on the gas.

"Dammit, Donovan, I'd like us to get there in one piece if you don't mind."

He turned back to Petra. "It will be all right. We'll get that chip removed and then get you to Vampyre Falls. They'll never find you there." He couldn't help himself and he leaned forward to kiss her.104 It was probably a mistake because the minute his lips touched hers, he knew it wouldn't end there. He had come so close to losing her. Already the animal heat was building inside him. His throbbing c.o.c.k pressed against the front of his pants. He felt her response as she arched against him, curling her arms around his neck and drawing him closer.

He inhaled her scent as he slid his hands beneath the shirt, along her thighs, up over her rounded hips to press her closer. He'd tried to tamp down his desire for her as they fought for their lives, but now he had to have her. Needed to be inside her once again before another moment pa.s.sed. He pressed her back onto the seat and rose over her. One hand slid down her spine to cup her bottom. G.o.d, he needed this woman. He needed her spirit, her pa.s.sion. Her love.

The music on the car radio suddenly got louder. Carson glanced up and caught Donovan's eyes in the mirror. Carson saw understanding in his expression, then Donovan turned his attention to the road.

Carson turned back to Petra. Right now nothing mattered but reestablishing their connection. It didn't matter that his pack brothers were in the front seat. Nothing mattered but being inside her. The primal heat must be a.s.suaged and he knew his pack brothers understood the driving pa.s.sion.

"Please," she said. He felt her heat washing over him. The fragrant scent of her arousal permeated the air as she slid her thighs open, urging him on and he buried himself between them, rubbing his heavy erection against her p.u.s.s.y. "Yes,"

she said. "Like that, but more."105 He had taken her so roughly the night before. The animal heat claiming them both so completely. He didn't want it to be that way this time. He unb.u.t.toned the shirt, and peeling it back he exposed her beautiful body to him. His marks stood vivid against her creamy skin.

"You can't hurt me," she said. "I wanted what we did last night as much as you. And again by the stream. But I need you again. I have to feel you inside me now. I don't think I can wait any longer. I almost lost you."

The adrenaline of the last few hours surged through him again as he slipped the shirt from her shoulders. He was almost thankful it was the only thing she wore. If it hadn't been for the reason why it was necessary, which made him angry once again. The guard would never do that to another para. Another clean-up job for the council. Carson unzipped the black trousers he wore and shoved them down his legs.

His c.o.c.k was heavy with the rush of blood, engorged and aching.

He pressed his body to hers, felt her wetness, the sleek female heat of her v.a.g.i.n.a. He rubbed his p.r.i.c.k between her folds, dipped the plum k.n.o.b into her juices and then slid easily inside her tight channel.

"I thought I'd never see you again," she whispered against his neck as she curved her legs around his hips. "I thought one night was all we would ever have." She arched upward sucking his c.o.c.k to the root inside her snug, wet c.u.n.t.

"I would have found you. No matter what, I would have come for you," he said.106 At this moment he needed this woman as much as he needed to breathe-maybe more so. "Carson," she cried out as he began to thrust inside her. He grabbed her wrists, unwound her arms from around his neck and pressed them against the door as he powered inside her sweet, seductive heat. His hands stroked up and down her silky flesh and he kissed the faint red lines left by the collar.

He licked his way around her neck, found her rapid pulse and sucked at the accelerated flutter, tasting the essence of the woman. He burned her taste into his soul.

"I won't lose you," he said, feeling the climax beginning to build inside him. "You're my mate and we will not be separated again. You belong with me."

He felt her peak, the spasms gripping and releasing him in undulating waves as her searing fire spilled over him. His own climax followed quickly. He cupped her b.r.e.a.s.t.s, kneading and stroking the firm, engorged flesh. His thumbs brushed over her distended nipples and she shuddered beneath him.

"Carson, oh, G.o.d, Carson."

He swept her up in his arms, bracing her against him. He marveled at the woman in his arms. He didn't know how it had happened, what twist of fate had brought her to him, but he had claimed her as his and there would be no going back.

Gently, he pulled from inside her and gathered her onto his lap, pressing her head close against his shoulder. He picked up the shirt, carefully slipped it back onto her shoulders, and b.u.t.toned it. He kissed her mouth, her eyelids, down the silky column of her throat and stroked her silky107 hair. He couldn't stop touching her. He needed the feel of her, to know she was real.

"She told me terrible things, Carson," she murmured against his throat, her lips brushing against his skin. "I didn't know. I didn't realize. The things I did to try to gain her approval. I shut my eyes to the monster she truly is. How could I have done that? How could I have not seen what she was? She murdered my brother. Oh, G.o.d, the things she did."

She turned her head into his shoulder and he heard her soft sobs, felt the dampness of her tears. He stroked her hair, trying to soothe her, but somehow he knew it wouldn't be enough.

His gaze met his brother's in the rearview mirror.

108

CHAPTER 13.

Petra felt him inside her, pressing, stroking, expanding.

She loved the feel of him. In the weeks since he'd brought her to Vampyre Falls, she had wanted nothing more than to be with him. She loved him with a depth that went beyond measure. Unreasoning and wild and forever. Carson was spooned around her, his heat completely enveloping her. It was all she could think of, being here with him like this. The past was nothing compared to this moment.

His fingertips stroked over her b.r.e.a.s.t.s, down across her ribs, roamed over the curve of her hip. Until finally his thick fingers delved between her p.u.s.s.y lips. She shuddered as his fingers glanced across her c.l.i.t, at first light as a feather, circling and then pressing. His touch healed her, renewed her, and she needed him again and again.

He lifted her leg to drape it over his strong, muscular thigh. He nibbled at her neck as he pumped in and out of her wet p.u.s.s.y.

She felt the unusual animal heat. So new to her, it built inside her, stoked hot by Carson's scent, his hands and his body as he thrust inside her, the momentum building to the moment when she would crash against the primal l.u.s.t and splinter into a million pieces.

And then she was flying fast and high and hard. Running like the wolf, driven, heart powerful and pounding as she leaped the chasm and clawed for the other side.109 She heard his growl, now so familiar and dear to her. Felt him surge inside her, pumping his seed into her womb. She arched back and encircled his neck, his lips hot against her neck, his hand possessively cupped around her aching b.r.e.a.s.t.s as they flew so high, ran so far, until finally they returned to reality.

As he withdrew his softening p.r.i.c.k from inside her wet c.u.n.t, she felt the usual ache of parting which had now become such a part of her. So little time and yet it was as though the ache for him had always been with her.

Unceasing. Relentless.

She rolled onto her back to gaze up at him. She stroked his face, watching as the pale light coming in through the window encompa.s.sed him.

"I'm glad we're not vampires," she said as she whispered her fingers along the line of his shadowed jaw.

He dipped forward to feather kisses along the column of her neck. "Why?"

She moaned as his tongue licked a path along her pulsing artery. "I like looking at you as the sun comes up."

She heard him chuckle. "Most of the vampires here can move around in daylight."

"Well then, I'm glad you don't suck blood."

He looked down at her, his expression unreadable. "I've sucked my share. But, no, I wouldn't like to make it a daily requirement to my diet." He was silent for a long time and then he pulled her closer. "Tell me about Rolland."

It was unexpected. She'd tried to put her ex-fiance out of her mind. "How did you know?" she asked him quietly.110 "He was one of the men who captured me. He took a certain delight in telling me you were engaged."

She knew now she should have told Carson about him. But how could she? When she didn't even understand her actions herself. And she had wanted to put all of it out of her mind.

"I'm sorry." She turned away from him. She couldn't look at Carson and talk about Rolland at the same time. "I didn't want you to know. When I saw what he did to those shifters I was horrified. But it was more." She turned back to look at Carson. His eyes were focused on her. Waiting.

G.o.d, he was beautiful. Even in human form he had the dark, hungry look of the wolf. A bad boy that sent her pulses racing every time she even thought about him.

"I never loved him. I never knew what the word truly meant until I met you. I can't explain it. I let things go too far with him to please my mother." She laughed, but it wasn't a pleasant sound. "My mother ... what a joke. Everything was a lie. Everything. I've been so blind, so terribly blind, Carson. I failed to see what was right in front of my face. And I lost my brother because of it," she finished softly. "I miss him so much."

Carson gathered her close. "I'm sorry. It's all right, you don't have to talk about it anymore. I just don't want there to be secrets between us. There's no need. I hope you'll learn that you can trust me."

"I know." Would he be so forgiving if he knew the whole truth? There were still secrets, weren't there? Things she was terrified to tell him. Things about her. And Sybilla.111 She looked up at him and was about to say something when she saw his gaze drift down her body and the heat flared once again. He brought a hand up and with his index finger he traced the vivid scar that ran the length of her chest.

She turned her head away, afraid of what she might reveal. It was too soon. She couldn't bring herself to utter the final horror of what the PIA had made of her. She shrank from telling. How could she find the words to expose the truth? Would he want her then? And she knew when she finally saw the disgust in his eyes her heart would break. It might have been Sybilla's heart that made Petra yield to Carson in the beginning, but it was Petra who loved him and would lose him when she finally divulged the final secret buried in her soul.

His finger beneath her chin, he tilted her head toward him.

He swooped down to possess her mouth, driving his tongue deep inside, taking her breath away. She tasted him, consumed his breath, and yielded to his pa.s.sion. She couldn't help but arch up pressing her body against his, pushing painful reminders to the back of her mind. Not now. Not yet.

She curled her arms around his neck and melded her body to his. Her days were numbered here in this place where she finally felt she belonged, and she would cling to every moment, holding each second as close to her heart as possible. It would be all she had left when it was finally ripped from her. When they all realized what she had become.

Carson moved down her body. He kissed the scar just above her right breast, where the chip had been removed. His112 mouth roved at an angle, his tongue tracing the longer scar, sliding downward, and then back up moving across the valley between her b.r.e.a.s.t.s to linger at a distended nipple, sucking it deep into his mouth.

Oh, G.o.d, she loved the feel of his mouth on her body. But his hands weren't idle either. His fingers stroked across her skin, burning her like the kiss of scorching sun, leaving a trail of heat in their wake.

The animal heat began to smolder and burn again. She had come to recognize its effect, knowing that when it consumed her there was no resisting it. Nor did she want to.

His mouth, his hands, his wild scent mingled with her own erupted in a scorching blaze inside her. She felt the wolf rise from within, claiming her as she lifted up and shoved Carson back onto the bed. Teeth bared, eyes blazing, she mounted him and consumed his c.o.c.k into the burning heat of her aroused p.u.s.s.y.

Her nails dug into the muscles of his powerful chest as she lifted up and dropped back down, riding him, taking him deep inside, undulating her hips and feeling the sweet ache of his penetration.

She made it a long and slow ride, enjoying the feel of him as she drove him higher, feeling him expand inside her channel. Sweat dripped from their bodies, the scent of their s.e.x permeating the room. She inhaled deeply, savoring the aroma, feeling it wend throughout her body.

Ever since arriving in Vampyre Falls it seemed her senses were magnified, maybe because of all the paraspecies that resided here. Or maybe it was simply the aura of the113 mountain itself. She swayed over her lover, feeling the pa.s.sionate vibrations run rampant through her. She could hear his heartbeat, strong and steady, pumping powerfully in his chest. She heard sounds from outside the house, the lapping of the water, surging waves breaking against the banks of Vampyre Lake, and the undulating power of the falls.

A murmur of voices from the main floor of the house, footsteps on the stairs leading to the second floor. The scent of wolf and man.

And then Carson was bathing her womb with his climax.

She felt each pulse of his c.o.c.k, exerted pressure to milk every drop from his p.r.i.c.k. He cried out, his hands gripped her hips, locking her in place. Her own hands roamed over the expanse of his chest, sifting through the silky texture of hair that arrowed down his abdomen, back over the very male terrain to tease a dusky nipple, then continued to lick her way north.

Carson dropped forward to enclose one of her nipples with his mouth, teasing the bud with his teeth, and Petra shuddered with pleasure.

She felt the thick sensitivity of her c.l.i.toris and, as Carson suckled at her breast, she stroked her fingers across the engorged flesh, shattering as a powerful o.r.g.a.s.m claimed her.

But the heat wouldn't let her go ... she wanted more. She recognized the scent emanating from the hallway just outside the bedroom door.

A knock at the door and then it slowly swung open. "Hey, lazybones, we're supposed to-" The sound was stifled, but the intruder didn't retreat.114 She looked up to meet the curious eyes of Carson's pack brother. She saw aroused interest in his eyes as he gazed at her. There was no room for embarra.s.sment, not in this family.

Petra felt the surge of the animal heat. The scent of Donovan wedged its way through her. Carefully, she allowed Carson's softening p.e.n.i.s to slip from inside her and she slid off the bed, her attention now focused on the man in the doorway.

She strolled toward him, her hips swaying, cream drenching her thighs, uncaring of her nakedness, of the scent of s.e.x saturating the atmosphere of the room. Of Carson's scent still embedded deeply within her body. Donovan's animal magnetism called to her and she could not resist. It had been building over the last few weeks. Their scents clung to her making her hungry, aching for the deeper connection.

The ingrained instinct to mate with these brothers, the desire for intimate bonding with this magnetic wolf pack.

Carson had told her this would happen, but she'd thought she would be able to resist the earthy attraction. Apparently, she'd underestimated the strength of the animal heat. She didn't know what had come over her, but suddenly she needed this man, too. Donovan's dark gaze slid past her to the man spread out on the rumpled bed behind her.

"She's caught in the heat. It's getting stronger as we draw closer to the full moon." She heard Carson say.

She saw Donovan nod and then his gaze moved back to her. His expression was one of pa.s.sionate hunger as he inhaled her scent and his eyes traveled over her naked body.115 She was drenched in s.e.xual fire, burning from inside, driven to offer her body to him, to quench the frenzied blaze in his l.u.s.t. Lifting a hand, she brought it to her breast and circled a lazy finger around her nipple. The one that still glistened from Carson's attentions. She cupped her breast and offered it to Donovan. No words were needed between them.

He dipped his head and seized the nipple with his mouth, and she sighed with pleasure. She arched up and one of her hands rose as though of its own accord to curl around his neck, bringing him closer. She felt his mouth open wider as he sucked more of her flesh inside, then he released her breast only to fasten his lips to her mouth. There was no meekness to the kiss. It was hot and drenching. Even as the l.u.s.t of moments ago with Carson began to evaporate, it was now fueled again as Donovan's questing tongue buried itself inside her mouth.

Her other hand dropped down to enclose his stiff erection, feeling the surging heat through the thick material of his jeans.

"So big, Donovan. And ready for me. I need you now."

And then she felt Carson behind her, his naked body melded to hers. The two men sandwiched her between them, there in the open doorway. Carson rubbed against her back, cupped her b.u.t.tocks, plumping and separating. She felt his c.o.c.k pressing into the crease between her cheeks. He rubbed up and down, a hand curled around her hip as his fingers found her throbbing c.l.i.t.

"It's all right, Petra," Carson said softly as he stroked over her c.l.i.t. She released Donovan's huge erection from his pants.116 It was Carson who lifted her, and Petra who positioned Donovan's c.o.c.k at her opening.

He slipped inside so easily, so completely. Her legs curved around his waist, her eyelids fluttered closed as he pumped into her, spreading her. Her head dropped back, cushioned against Carson's shoulder as she rode out the storm of pa.s.sion made so fierce by the heat of these two men.

She felt Carson's teeth clamp onto her neck as she rode the pinnacle to her o.r.g.a.s.m. Donovan groaned as he climaxed, his hands brushed against Carson's, both of them stroking her body, as they pressed her between them. And then suddenly she felt as though she were falling, the world whirling around her.

"Carson," she cried out, as a black curtain seemed to drop over her.

She felt herself being lifted, Donovan's softening p.e.n.i.s slipping from inside her, and then she was weightless.

"She'll sleep now. I think the heat has played itself out. For now." She heard Carson's words but wasn't quite certain she understood what they meant. She only knew she felt replete and boneless, unable to even lift a finger. And then she felt the warmth of a blanket, coc.o.o.ning her within its soothing heat. And beyond that she sank into a dreamless sleep.

117

CHAPTER 14.