Feral Wolf by Caroline Peckham
48 HOURS UNTIL THE FIB ARRIVE…
“Wow, look at this one,” Sin said, picking up another rock and showing it to me.
“Stop it,” I warned as he raised his hand and threw it at me as hard as he could. I dodged it just in time, but the last three had left damn bruises on me and Roary was sporting a few of his own too.
“What’s your problem?” Roary snarled.
“I’m just playing a game, you’re the one being a party pooper.” Sin picked up another rock. “Wow. This one’s pretty.” He pelted it at Roary and the Lion ducked it, lunging at Sin and grabbing his throat.
“Enough,” Roary snapped. “If you have a problem, say it. Don’t act like a damn cub.”
“I don’t have a problem,” Sin said through a twisted smile. “I’m just trying to have some fun.”
“Well have fun on your own then.” Roary shoved him back and stalked off into the trees.
As Sin started searching for another rock, I left him to it and jogged after Roary, wanting to talk to him about the change I’d felt when he’d mated with Rosalie. I may have been possessive of my girl, but a lifetime of living in a pack had taught me how to share. It wasn’t the normal way Wolves mated, but there was nothing normal about Rosalie Oscura, so why would she do anything the way everyone else did it? And if Roary was chosen for her too, then I wanted to know him, because fuck, I was gonna be stuck with him forever now. And I didn’t exactly hate that idea. The moment their mate bond had sealed, I’d felt myself bonding to him in some way too. A way that urged me towards him and made me want to know him better, not just because I had to. Because I wanted to.
“Hey, wait up, man,” I called and he glanced back over his shoulder, slowing to a halt.
He ran a hand over his short hair self-consciously and a whine left my throat, seeing the pain it was still causing him. I was surprised by how much I gave a shit as I hadn’t really given a damn before now. But he was a part of my pack now, another Alpha to make room for and I needed to figure out how to make that work. Because making Rosalie happy was my priority, and it was his now too. So we needed to find a way to do that together.
“Do you feel it?” I asked, pressing my fingers to my chest where the new sensation was, this bond to him that was somehow threaded into us through Rosalie.
“Yeah,” he admitted, taking a step toward me then stopping himself. “Actually...I need to do something, and you might not like it.”
“What?” I frowned and he cleared his throat.
“You’re a part of my pride now, so I need to use my Charisma on you. Try and make you serve me,” he said, looking apologetic. “It’s a Lion thing.”
“Okay, you can do that, but only if you let me do something weird too.” I ran a hand down the back of my neck.
“Deal,” he said with a smirk. “What is it?”
I sighed. “I need to sniff you. Like, really sniff you. Then I need to scent mark the hell out of you.”
“Are you gonna piss on me?” he asked in horror.
“No,” I laughed. “I just have to…rub on you a bit.”
“Alright,” he said stiffly. “Do you wanna do that first or…”
I shifted my weight from one foot to the other. “Nah, you do the Charisma thing first.”
“Okay. And, just so you know, it’s fine if you fall under the spell of it. My Charisma is strong and Alphas are susceptible to it too. It’s actually better if you do serve me a little. Just for right now. Then I’ll turn it off.”
“Right,” I said. Lions were weird, man. But I guessed every Order had its quirks.
“You ready?” he asked and I nodded, sure I’d be strong enough not to do a single thing he wanted. I had a will of iron, a backbone of sun steel. He’d never…oh wow, he’s pretty though. And he looks like he could use a massage for those big shoulders of his. It must be hard carrying around those muscles all day long.
“Can you feel it?” Roary asked as I walked closer to him.
“I don’t think so,” I said thoughtfully, moving around behind him and laying my hands on his shoulders. “Maybe you should sit down. You look tired.”
“I am pretty tired,” he admitted through a broad yawn and I walked him toward a boulder where he sat down in front of me. I started working out the kinks in his shoulders and he purred loudly, the sound making me grin.
“That better?” I asked as his head lolled sleepily.
“Purrrrfect,” he said in a deep growl.
I worked my fingers along the muscles of his neck, a fucking pro at this. I’d looked after Alphas while climbing through the ranks of the Wolf packs I’d belonged to when I was younger. I’d never enjoyed serving an Alpha as much as this though. It had always felt wrong before now, like I knew in my heart that I was meant to be the one being served. But this felt somehow equal, like doing this for him was like doing it for me and Rosalie too. We were a unit, one soul that needed equal nurturing and we had to look after each other to keep our pack health.
Roary purred so hard that I could feel the vibrations of it through my fingertips and a smirk pulled at my lips. “Cats are stupid,” I teased and he laughed.
“Cats can’t be trained or told what to do like dogs can,” he countered.
“Pfft, a real canine can’t be trained,” I said as I dug my fingers in deeper to a knot on his shoulder.
“Mmhmm,” he said disbelievingly and I rolled my eyes.
No one could train me. I was the scariest Alpha Werewolf from the streets of Alestria. You wouldn’t catch me waiting on someone day and night like a whipped mutt.
“By the stars, my feet are killing me,” Roary groaned.
Oh no, poor baby.
I immediately let go of his neck and moved around him, pulling his shoes and socks off as I knelt down and started working on his feet.
“You’ve had a rough day,” I said with a whimper and he nodded.
“It’s improved a lot though,” he replied with a grin, turning his hand over to admire the full moon mark on his wrist.
A gasp caught in my throat and I scrambled forward to catch hold of his arm and take a look at it. I was practically in his lap as I brought it close to my face and cocked my head to one side as I examined it.
“You can do your Wolf thing now if you want,” Roary said as a haze lifted from my mind and I blinked as I looked to him.
“Did you do your Charisma thing?” I asked.
“Yeah, did you feel it?” he asked.
“Nah, I guess I’m immune,” I said with a triumphant smirk and he nodded, smirking back.
Ha, sucker.
“Okay, this might get weird, but at least your kind are tactile too, right?” I asked.
“With our family we are,” he replied as he looked at me, the bond flaring a little sharper between us. “Which we are now, I suppose.”
I nodded and he gestured for me to go Wolf on him, so I let my instincts take over and ran my tongue across the moon on his wrist, absorbing the taste of him and the slightly metallic flavour of that mark. He grunted like he didn’t know what to make of that, but if he thought that was weird, shit was about to take an even weirder turn.
I twisted in his lap, leaning in and sniffing his chest, his neck, then nuzzling the side of his face as I tried to brand him with my scent instead of his own.
My heart beat harder and I definitely would have been wagging my tail if I was in my Order form as my instincts urged me on and I started licking his face and panting. He tasted good. Like sandalwood and new friends.
“Um-” he started but I barked excitedly, knocking him off the boulder onto his back and howling to the sky.
I rubbed my face against his, our stubble scraping together as he started laughing and shoving me back, but I was lost to my Wolf now and I couldn’t stop. I bit his ear, tugging on it like a pup teasing its brother.
“Ah, you asshole,” he shoved me back as he laughed and I wrestled him back down to the ground, taking his jumpsuit between my teeth and shaking my head furiously as I tugged on it. Then I ran my tongue right over his face and he spluttered, starting to wrestle with me. Which was exactly what I wanted.
Someone cleared their throat and my head snapped up as I found Sin there, his arms folded and his eyes narrowed, but there was a sinister smile on his face that promised trouble too.
“Found more rocks,” he said brightly then started throwing them at us with force.
“Ow, you piece of shit,” I hissed as one of them hit me on the ass.
I shoved myself upright, tore my clothes off and shifted into my giant Wolf form, baring my teeth at Sin as he continued to throw rocks like a savage.
“Watch it,” Roary snapped then pulled his own clothes off and shifted into a giant Nemean Lion, his golden shoulder pressing to the black fur of mine. We both snarled down at Sin, but the Incubus just gathered more rocks from the floor and hurled them at us with wild laughter tearing from his throat.
I turned my back on him, kicking up my hind paws so dirt sprayed over him then I took off into the trees with a bark of encouragement at Roary to follow. He released a roar and started running behind me, swatting my tail with his claws. I barked a laugh and ran faster as he chased me like a cat after a mouse, trying to get hold of me but I was like the damn wind.
A rush of wings overhead made me look up and I found Sin there with white wings stretching out behind him as he threw stones at us with vengeance in his eyes. The crazy asshole had lost his mind completely apparently and I snarled as one of his rocks hit me on the nose, leaping up and snapping at his ankles. He flapped his wings to rise higher but clearly didn’t have the best control over them as he smashed through a load of foliage and emerged from it with leaves in his hair and a branch in his hand brandished as a weapon.
“Die, devil dog!” he cried, plummeting out of the sky as he tucked his wings and held his stick like a spear.
We ran out of the trees and my paws hit sand as we entered the desert part of the Order Yard and Sin collided with me so hard I stumbled, almost falling to the ground. A huge golden blur moved in my periphery, leaping over my back and knocking Sin off of me with a growl, pinning him to the sand beneath his paws and sending the sharp stick tumbling away from him.
I circled around them, baring my teeth at Sin who struggled under Roary’s weight with the look of a savage man in his eyes. I noticed he had our clothes stuffed into the back of his pants and as he managed to get out of Roary’s paws, he ran away, pulling them into his hands and waving them like a flag as he raced towards the spot where the desert gave way to rocky land and a waterfall beyond it.
“Uh oh!” he cried. “Looks like your clothes are about to go swimming! Splish-splash-splish, let’s say hi to the fish!”
We tore after him with snarls on our lips, gaining on him fast and knocking him down into the sand between us. He cursed, trying to get up, only to be shoved down to the ground once more by our giant paws.
I shifted back into my Fae form, snatching my clothes from him and tugging them on with a curse.
“What’s the matter with you?” I demanded, sweeping a hand through my hair to style it back in place. “Have you lost your final marble?”
“You two with your mate marks is what’s the matter with me,” he growled. “I’m gonna cut them off and bury them where you’ll never find them.” He lunged at me, slapping the mark behind my ear then trying to claw at it.
I shoved him back several steps as Roary shifted back into his Fae form, yanking on his jumpsuit as he glared at Sin. “You’re insane.”
“You’ve not seen me crazy yet, Lion puff,” he spat. “You won’t believe the things I can do when I let my wild side come out to play. I once peeled a man’s spine right out of his body while he was sleeping and I never even woke him up!”
“That’s ridiculous,” I scoffed.
He got to his feet, flexing the wings on his back as his face distorted and twisted into a monstrous creature with gnarled horns and red eyes. He was a Nymph from the neck up and his face was twisted with a savagery that spoke of the reason he was locked up tight in this prison.
“You can still share her with us if that’s what’s bothering you, asshole,” I said coolly, glancing at Roary who didn’t seem quite as sure about that, but he didn’t contradict me right then. Possibly because Sin looked like he really was gonna follow through on his murder threats.
“Yeah, sure I can. I’m just the gang’s man sized vibrator, right? Good for making you all come, but when you’re satisfied, I’ll get put back in the drawer while you two get to keep her company outside of our fuck fests.”
“If she’s meant for you too, the moon will mark you like it has us,” I said but Roary growled, seeming unsure if he wanted that, making Sin’s eyes dart to him and the Nymph mask fell away from his face.
Sin blew out a breath, his features twisting in a sneer. “No. People like me don’t get shiny gifts from the moon, kitten. This one knows that. He sees what I am.” He squared up to Roary and I growled, standing my ground beside my new brother.
“I’m too unhinged for your little pup, aren’t I, friend?” Sin hissed at Roary. “I’m your unpredictable little problem and you don’t like me.”
“Because you put her at risk,” Roary snarled in agreement. “You’ve nearly fucked up Rosa’s plans fifty times since she got here, and I won’t stand by and watch you destroy her chances at escaping because you can’t take a simple order from her.”
“Me and her have our own language. You wouldn’t understand, hot stuff,” Sin said dismissively.
“You don’t have a secret fucking language!” Roary bellowed. “It’s all in your crazy ass head. You shouldn’t even be in this prison, you should be in an asylum where you can keep company with the voices in your mind.”
Hurt flashed through Sin’s expression and a whine left me at seeing how much pain was shining in his eyes.
“I’m not crazy,” he hissed. “I’m built different.”
He looked vulnerable for a moment, like he’d been called crazy so many times in his life that it had worn him down to the bone. And I couldn’t help but feel sorry for him.
“Well being different puts Rosa in danger. And if you put her in danger again, I’ll kill you Sin Wilder. I will do anything to ensure she gets out of here, so remember that the next time she gives you an order and you even think about doing the opposite of that command. The only reason you’re still standing here now is because she needs to get you out of here too. But when it comes to crunch time, I don’t give a fuck about that. Rosa will leave this place even if you don’t, do you understand me?” Roary snarled and even though I knew he had a point, I could see that Sin had never meant to fuck up Rosalie’s plans. But hell, he really shouldn’t have let the Belorian out. Twice. It was insanity, but to Sin I guessed it made some kind of sense or he wouldn’t have done it.
Sin fell unnaturally quiet, looking from Roary to me then nodding as he took a step back.
“Sin,” I sighed, wanting to try and fix some of the rejection I saw in his eyes, but then a flash of light caught my gaze and we all looked up as one.
Far above the dome a Harpy was circling, gazing down at us, their guard uniform trousers in place and their dark brown wings outstretched.
“What’s he doing?” I hissed.
“I’ll go find out,” Sin muttered then took off into the sky, climbing fast towards the top of the dome.
Before he made it up there, the golden timer appeared in a magical glow above him, counting down from fifteen minutes.
“Holy shit,” I gasped. “We need to go.”
Sin slowed just beneath it, waving his hands and shouting something at the guard and a beat later, the timer dropped from fifteen minutes to five.
“By the stars,” Roary cursed as Sin flipped over and dropped toward us as at furious speed.
“Ruuuuun!” he cried just before he landed, dissolving his wings and we all started sprinting towards the exit.
“Why did he drop the timer?” I gasped.
“I have no idea. All I said was that he’s a wrinkly ballsack wart that no mother could ever love,” Sin said in dismay, like that wasn’t anything to do with why the guard had dropped the timer.
“I’m so fucking sick of your shit,” Roary snapped, shoulder barging Sin as we all ran as hard and as fast as we could towards the exit.
We raced into the trees and sprinted along together, desperate to get out.
It wasn’t long before we made it back to the boulder where the entrance to the shaft was concealed, the hatch still open and the others dropped to their knees as they went in.
I glanced up at the timer, my gut twisting as three minutes stared back at me and I hurried in after them, crawling along through the dark metal space towards the elevator shaft.
Roary was in the lead and as he swung out onto the ladder, Sin dove out after him, dropping several feet before using air magic to catch himself.
“Come on, fluffballs, I’ll get us down faster,” he promised, but when Roary didn’t let go of the ladder, Sin whipped him off of it by the legs, making him shout out in alarm as he swung him upside down in mid-air.
A strong wind coiled around me too and I was propelled out of the passage at speed by Sin’s magic, a shout snagging in my throat as we all started falling at high speed.
“Sin!” I cried as adrenaline burst through my veins, my arms flailing as we tumbled towards the top of the elevator far, far below us.
As certain death loomed and I readied to cast water to try and soften the impact, I was pulled up short and planted on my ass on top of the elevator with a loud dong. Roary hit it harder and Sin barked a laugh before dancing his way over to the closed hatch.
“You asshole,” Roary growled, getting up and rubbing his ass. I offered to heal it, but he slapped my hand away and ran over to Sin as he tried to open the hatch.
My blood ran cold as I realised it was locked and a doggish whine left my throat.
Rosalie. Come back here, love. Come open that door.
Sin looked up at me with dawning comprehension in his gaze. “Well this is a pickle,” he muttered.
Roary dropped down beside the hatch, gripping the edge of it and yanking with all his strength, his muscles straining against his jumpsuit. I dropped down too, casting a length of ice in my hand and jamming it into the side of the hatch to try and lever it open, a grunt of effort escaping me as I worked.
“A pickle in a bun with nowhere to run,” Sin murmured. “How will The Daring Anacondas get out of this one? Tune in on next week’s episode when-”
Roary lunged up, gripping Sin’s arm and yanking him down to the floor beside him. “Start helping.”
Sin released a manic laugh as he nodded. “Alrighty, let’s see what this Anaconda is dealing with.”
He braced his hands against the hatch, trying to break it with a furious pressure of air which sent a gust swirling around us, but the metal didn’t give.
“Okie cokie,” he said, nodding and sitting back on his ass as Roary and I worked tirelessly to try and break through the metal.
“Stand back, I have a plan,” Sin announced grandly and we did as he said, watching as he shifted his hands into two huge buzzing pink vibrators and started punching the metal over and over.
“That’s your plan?!” Roary shouted, his features contorted in panic.
“I’m just getting warmed up, Lion puff. Keep your mane on – oh woops, looks like it’s too late for that.”
“You motherfu-”
I shot Roary a glare which told him to stop and he reluctantly bit his tongue, waiting for Sin to try something else.
We must have been down to mere seconds and I just prayed Sin had some Incubus form which could help us.
He shifted into a man with elephant legs, a huge elephant dick between his thighs and a long trunk swinging from his face which – ah hell, that was also a dick.
Sin started jumping on the hatch and it shuddered and groaned like it was actually working. So dammit, I had to cheer on the elephant dick man.
“Keep going!” I cried, still working to lever the side of it open with the ice bar I’d made.
Sin let out trump of frustration through his dick trunk and shifted back into his Fae form, blasting the hatch with fire magic that made it glow hot under the pressure of his flames, but it still didn’t break.
“Shit,” Sin gasped as his magic stuttered out. “My magic’s all gone – hold on, I have another idea though.” He shifted into a giant squid, flapping between us with all of its tentacles bashing against the hatch. Ergh, by the stars, they’re all dicks too.
“What good is a squid to anyone?!” Roary yelled and I had to agree.
Sin flailed like that for a few more seconds before shifting into a massive green Dragon with glinting scales, knocking us both aside. He ripped and clawed at the hatch as bubbles streamed from his nose and as he swung his hips, the massive Dragon dick between his thighs slapped Roary in the face.
“For the love of the sun!” Roary cried then his words choked out in his throat as the air was suddenly sucked away from him.
I gasped, but no air came in and I tried to get between Sin’s legs to the hatch as my ears popped. We’re out of time!
Sin got a claw into the lock, pulling furiously and making it drag open a small amount. He swung his huge head around, bubbles blowing into my face and popping in my eyes.
“Ahhh!” Icried.
He knocked me toward the hatch and I fell through it but got stuck half way so I was hanging down into the elevator, my eyes burning from the bubbles. I gulped down a lungful of air as Sin started bashing his nose against my ass to try and force me through. I growled, trying to reach something to pull me forward as Sin’s Dragon face continued to smash into my ass and bubbles streamed through the seat of my jumpsuit and popped between my ass cheeks.
“Stop. Blowing. Bubbles. Up. My. Ass,” I gritted out as I worked to get through the hatch.
I finally fell through, hitting the floor and quickly gaining my feet as Sin shoved Roary into the hole who immediately got jammed too, the hatch still only halfway open. I leapt up, grabbing hold of him and pulling him down as bubbles poured through after him and popped in my eyes again.
“Ahh!” I yelled, clamping my eyes shut as Sin continued to ram his face against Roary’s ass and he finally fell through, collapsing on top of me on the floor.
My heart jerked as Sin tried to push his Dragon head through the hatch, but he couldn’t hold it open. His eyes widened and Roary and I rushed to our feet, jumping up to try and hold it for him, but Sin shook his head, letting out a bellow of anguish. We couldn’t hold the hatch back, it was impossible. It snapped shut and we stared up at it in mute shock, my pulse thrashing in my ears as silence followed.
“Sin!” I cried, punching the magical signature reader as if that would do any good.
We both wrestled with the mechanism, trying everything we could to get through, but the minutes ticked by and panic started to grip me.
“Come on, come on. Just keep holding your breath, you crazy motherfucker.” Roary clawed at the edges of the hatch, trying to find purchase to wrench it open, but it was no good. We couldn’t do it. And there was no way he could have survived this long without oxygen.
I backed up to the wall, clawing my fingers through my hair as shock and sadness washed over me in waves.
“He saved us,” I croaked and Roary looked over his shoulder at me with a deep frown pulling at his features.
“Damn, he was an asshole, but he didn’t deserve that,” Roary muttered.
“Do you think he’s gonna cry?” a teeny, tiny voice spoke in my ear. “I think he’s gonna cry.”
“What the hell?” I snapped around, looking for the source of the sound and Roary suddenly pointed at my shoulder with widening eyes.
I looked down, finding a very small, very naked Sin standing there with his hands on his hips.
“Hi, buddy!” He waved then leapt off of my shoulder in a swan dive, sailing toward the floor as I gaped at his tiny naked ass then he shifted and returned to a full sized man in front of us.
He whipped around, making his cock slap his thigh and I couldn’t help it as I lunged forward and hugged him.
“Did you just – were you a…?” Roary gave up trying to form that question as he gaped at the Incubus instead.
“I got through the lock,” Sin explained, hugging me tight before letting me go. “Do you need a tissue for the tears you shed over me, Lion puff?”
“I didn’t cry over you,” Roary growled, but one look his way said he was secretly relieved to find the Incubus alive. Maybe only because Rosalie would have lost her shit if he died though.
“Who the fuck has a sexy fantasy about a tiny person, man?” I asked with a laugh.
“Some chick named Tallulah,” Sin said with a shrug. “I’ve seen stuff in that form, kitten. All kinds of stuff. Harrowing stuff.” He shook his head, lost to some memory for a second before he slapped on one of his usual crazy smiles. “Anyway, now you’ve met G-spot Joe, would you like a whirl with him the next time we’re fucking Rosalie together?” He waggled his brows. “I know how much you like putting stuff up your butt. I’ll put on a tiny crash helmet and-”
“I do not like putting stuff up my butt,” I hissed and he winked like we were sharing a secret.
The day I let Sin Wilder crawl up my ass would be a cold day in hell.
“I’m gonna climb your dick like Mount Everest, buttercup,” he murmured in my ear as Roary led the way out of the elevator and I elbowed him in the ribs.
“You try that and G-spot Joe is gonna be dead G-spot Joe,” I warned but he just grinned wider and I couldn’t resist the urge to return it. Fuck, I was relieved he was okay. But dammit, why did I like this idiot so much?