Feral Bachelorism Read online

  Chapter Six

  Brad didn’t know how much time had passed since he’d bolted through the woods after Ali. An hour? Two? It didn’t matter. He’d searched aimlessly in vain for what seemed like forever, running through the trees like a creature possessed, all to no avail. Ali was long gone.

  He should have known better than to think he’d be able to find her. No one could ever find Ali while they played hide-and-seek when they were young, and no one had been able to detect her trail when she’d abandoned her pack all those years ago.

  Brad’s claws arched in and out of his forepaws as he walked, head hung low, sniffing the ground for the slightest scent that would lead him to her. His muscles burned with exhaustion.

  The sun hadn’t yet made its way across the horizon, but the moon had begun its descent, and the pale silvery beams that had been his constant companions since he’d begun his pursuit had drifted away into nothingness. Dark, gloomy shadows slithered on the ground, taunting him, whispering bleak words that spoke of betrayal and cunning deceit. But most of all, they mocked him with memories of his own weakness, his inability to face reality head-on.

  Memories best left forgotten slid across his mind. The more he tried to close his eyes against them, the faster they came.

  If the images had been of his time with Ali, that would have made sense to Brad. In some odd, forlorn way, he knew he needed closure. Dealing with the past would be painful, but necessary. Ali had never loved him. That was painfully clear now. He’d sheltered his feelings for her for almost a decade, believing that what they’d had was genuine. Now he knew better.

  It was much too late, but he knew better.

  No, the memories weren’t of J.C.’s half-sister, or even of J.C. himself. Despite the fact that the mating ritual had weighed so heavily on Brad’s mind, and despite the fact that Ali had chosen this night of all nights to take his future away from him, neither one of those thoughts gripped his heart like the knowledge that he’d turned his back on Sean to chase after Ali.

  He sighed deeply and buried his muzzle in a pile of leaves. There! He’d found it -- the unmistakable scent of Ali’s desire, sweet and slightly musky. She’d been here not long ago.

  Yet beneath the familiar smell lay the aroma of spicy after-shave. A second unique scent he would have recognized anywhere caressed his nostrils, teasing, tempting, alluring.

  Brad’s head shot up, and he halted in mid-stride. Sean had been here. More importantly, he was still close, having only recently walked this path. Brad’s heartbeat quickened. He followed the trail laid out before him, his acute senses discerning the overlapping scents until the two redolent fragrances parted. There, he paused, sniffing the air. Ali had gone to the left, through a hollowed out stump and deeper into the recesses of the forest.

  Sean had gone right, toward Hard Delights.

  Brad peeled his lips back over his fangs. A low growl escaped his throat. He should go after Ali. Every bone in his body told him he had to have answers and get revenge for what she’d done to him. Not just for tonight, but for all those years he’d believed she cared about him.

  Yet another part, the part that yearned for comfort, safety and love, all those things he never thought he’d have, tugged him toward the right. He closed his eyes, his nostrils flaring.

  “Hard decision, isn’t it?”

  Sean’s soft, masculine voice startled Brad. He blinked his eyes open and hunched his shoulders. He bared his fangs in a ferocious snarl and took a step back, putting a good two feet of distance between them. Sean’s scent was intoxicating. It slid deep into Brad’s soul every time he inhaled, like a permanent mark that imprinted itself on him with each ragged breath.

  “She was here, wasn’t she?” Sean continued, moving toward him. “I don’t know how I know, but I do. Perhaps in the same way I knew you’d be here. Maybe we’re all connected somehow.” He shrugged, as though the thought wasn’t as absurd as it should have been. “You’d know better than I do, though. You can probably smell her, can’t you? Once you picked up her trail, you could have chased her to the end of the world. But you didn’t.”

  The sweet, sensual smile on his handsome features never wavered. There was so much acceptance in that smile, so much heartbreaking love, Brad couldn’t handle it.

  He tossed his head back and began to shift, his corded muscles methodically adjusting to his human form. Sean never averted his gaze. He watched the transformation boldly, looking neither flustered nor terrified. His grin broadened, and his blue eyes sparkled with an intensity that frightened Brad.

  “You followed me,” Brad said between gritted teeth when his human mouth could handle speech. “Why?”

  “Because I knew that if you really wanted to, you could find her, and you’d need me when you did.”

  Brad teetered on the edge of fury. In one night, everything had changed. His bachelor days had been ripped from him, and his entire life had been turned upside down the moment he’d handed Sean that note. Unknowingly, Ali had only sealed his fate.

  Worse yet, the sullen ache in his heart told him that was exactly what he’d wanted all along. Not Ali’s betrayal, of course, but someone who would love him, care for him the way Eve worshiped J.C.

  But Brad wasn’t the commitment type. His plan had involved nothing more significant than hopping from bed to bed, from man to man, until J.C. Hill was entirely out of his system.

  Yet now the thought of J.C. no longer made him grit his teeth until his jaw ached, and it had only taken one man to achieve that level of acceptance.

  Brad glanced at the hollowed log Ali had disappeared through, then back at Sean’s face. His heart raged, fighting a fierce internal war with itself. Sean needed someone who knew what it meant to give himself over to a mate wholeheartedly. He deserved someone better.

  “Leave it alone,” Brad said, his voice breaking into a growl. “Go home. Forget what you saw here tonight and let it go. Let me go.”

  Sean closed the distance between them. This time, Brad didn’t step back. “I’m afraid it’s too late for that.”

  Brad’s laugh was filled with the bitter tang of defeat. Just like he knew he’d never be able to catch Ali if she intended to get away before anyone learned what she’d done, he also knew he wouldn’t be able to deny Sean anything he asked.

  He let his shoulders fall and tilted his head to look deep into Sean’s eyes. “Why?”

  Sean hesitated for a moment, and Brad held his breath. He didn’t know what he expected to hear. Perhaps Sean would finally come to his senses and realize they were all wrong for each other.

  “Because I love you,” Sean said at last. His mouth hovered so close, his breath warmed Brad’s lips when he spoke. “I know it all happened so fast. And believe me, no one’s more surprised than I am. A week ago, I was adamant about convincing my friends that I had no interest in being with a man. And now I’m not just eager to spend the rest of my life with one, I’m convinced I belong with a werewolf.” His throaty chuckle grazed Brad’s skin, making him shiver.

  Brad swept his tongue over Sean’s lower lip. His lover rewarded him with a soft shudder and a low moan. “So what happened to change your mind?”

  “Exceptional circumstances,” Sean said. His smile widened. “You happened. No one told me what would happen when I met you.”

  Moving with care, Brad slipped his hand beneath the waistband of Sean’s jeans. He grabbed the man’s cock, which was hard and thick and hot, impossibly ready for him. “You don’t want me,” he said softly.

  “Because of your relationship with Ali?”

  He shook his head. “Because I’m no good for you. Because come daylight, every member of my pack will know what has happened to me. I’ll be an outcast. And even if they don’t cast me out, they’ll treat me like I have the plague. Which, I suppose I do.”

  “The injection,” Sean whispered. “You know what was in it.”

  Brad nodded, feeling his throat tighten. “Ali’s plan was flawless. She targeted t
he pack’s most notorious bachelor. She knew I’d spread the virus from wolf to wolf. I’m as good as lethal to my people now.” He took a deep breath, remembering what Eve had told them about Daniel’s plan to sterilize the entire pack. “No one will want to come near me. My seed is tainted. I won’t be able to sire pups or continue the line of my pack.”

  “Flawless? I don’t believe that for a second. If it had been, she’d have accounted for me.” Sean slid his hand around the back of Brad’s neck and pulled his mouth down to his. The kiss was gentle, warm, and so tender it tore at Brad’s heart, shattering him with every swipe of Sean’s tongue.

  Brad wrapped his hand around Sean’s cock and stroked it lightly. The skin was velvety soft over the rigid hardness beneath. A drop of moisture leaked from the tip. Sean was right, Brad realized when the kiss went from tender to excitingly savage in the span of a heartbeat. Just like Daniel’s plan had failed because he didn’t account for Eve and her love for J.C., Ali hadn’t taken into consideration what would happen if Brad found his mate, if he never shared himself with another again.

  “Does it have any effect on humans?” Sean asked when they broke apart. “Will it harm me?”

  Brad swallowed hard. Hot tears clogged his throat, thick and unfamiliar. The depth of his emotion scared him half to death. Over the years, he’d become an expert at hiding his true feelings behind an arrogant swagger and a witty quip. Now he was completely out of his element.

  Leaning his forehead against Sean’s, he closed his eyes. “Even when I was young, my dreams were not like those of other wolves in my pack. I never wanted a litter of pups, but I did want to be useful to the pack, to find my place among them. I never quite belonged.” In Ali’s arms, and later, in J.C.’s, he’d thought he’d found the answers he sought, the acceptance he craved.

  He now knew that was just an illusion. Nowhere else had he felt as wanted as he did right here, in the warm embrace of a human.

  “You’re worried about me,” Sean said. It wasn’t a question.

  Brad took a deep breath. “The honest answer to your question is that I don’t know how, or even if, Daniel’s serum will affect you. It may. For all I know, the moment we make love, you’ll be infected too.”

  “I’d be sterile.”

  Brad grimaced. The word sounded so harsh, so final. “Perhaps.” He tore himself out of Sean’s grasp, but couldn’t bring his hand to release the man’s throbbing dick. “I told you I’m not right for you. You don’t want me.”

  Sean’s hips pumped forward, his cock driving eagerly through the circle Brad formed with his fingers. “That’s what you think.”

  A laugh broke free from Brad’s chest. The pure acceptance in Sean’s eyes made him dizzy. Never before had he known such love existed, and to find it with someone after only a week seemed impossible.

  The first pink rays of the sun flittered through the foliage, illuminating Sean’s face. “I know someone who may be able to find a cure. Eve… she’s a doctor.”

  “Eve. I heard her name before. The mating ritual, right?”

  Brad quirked an eyebrow. At his unspoken question, Sean shrugged. “I ran into someone else while I was searching for you.” He rubbed a hand across his throat and for the first time Brad noticed the purple tint of a bruise. “Friendly fella.”

  Brad gritted his teeth. “If I ever find out who did that to you --”

  Sean waved a hand in the air. “It’s not important. Tell me about Eve. Why do you think she’d be able to cure us?”

  Us.

  There it was. Not you. Us.

  Brad swallowed past the lump in his throat. “She specializes in this stuff. Genetics and mutated cells, I think. I don’t quite understand it myself, but until a short time ago, she worked for the man who invented the serum.”

  Sean nodded briskly, his brilliant blue gaze never leaving Brad’s. “We’ll talk to her. But if she can’t help us, we’ll deal with this on our own.” His mouth trailed a path down Brad’s jaw. “To be honest, I’ve never wanted a litter of pups, either.”

  Brad’s chuckle resonated through the trees. His voice echoed back at him, and the genuine happiness reflected in the sound warmed his heart. He leaned down and captured his mate’s mouth. As their tongues entwined and their bodies reached out for the exquisite pleasure only found with each other, Brad understood exactly what J.C. felt for Eve.

  And he forgave him.

  Epilogue

  It was only after the sun had risen, when she knew she was far enough away from the Zante pack and their silly mating ritual gathering, that Ali slowed down. She’d been running for hours, relentlessly dashing between trees, through hollowed out logs, leaping over stumps and rolling in night-blooming flowers to mask her scent.

  Not that she truly believed anyone would have followed her over all this distance, but she believed in being cautious. She wouldn’t have lived past her nineteenth birthday if she hadn’t quickly learned that lesson.

  No, there was no one on her tail. Brad didn’t have it in him to pursue her all this way, even if he had recovered from the brief blackout effect of the serum. And he couldn’t have told anyone what had happened in time for the Zanteans to send a search and destroy party after her.

  Her fur was damp with perspiration. Though it was only early morning, the scorching sun beat down on her back, its rays assaulting her body with merciless heat.

  Ali looked up into the clear blue sky and smiled, at least as much as her wolf physique allowed. She’d done it. Brad was infected, and the consequence of Daniel’s serum would soon spread like wildfire through the pack. She’d picked the perfect mark. After losing her brother to the blonde bombshell with whom J.C. had chosen to mate, there wasn’t a chance in hell Brad would remain celibate. Tonight had proved that.

  For a moment, her smile dimmed as the memory of Sean’s piercing gaze flashed across her field of vision. She remembered the way he and Brad had stared into one another’s eyes, the way they’d moved, as though they’d been physically made to fit together like two pieces of a jigsaw puzzle.

  She snorted at the absurd thought and shook her head to clear it. Brad Hennessy was a bachelor, through and through. He wouldn’t stay single, and he wouldn’t commit to one man.

  And that’s exactly the report she’d give Daniel when she collected her money in a little over an hour.

  A branch snapped from off to her left. Ali paused, her snout sniffing the air. She smelled nothing but jasmine and grass sprinkled with morning dew. With a mental shrug, she quickened her stride. It would only take another fifteen minutes to reach the highway where her car waited, and after meeting with Daniel, she’d get as far away from the Zanteans as she possibly could.

  The low, menacing growl reached her ears a split second before a pair of large paws slammed into her side, knocking her off her feet. Shiny, long fangs hovered over her throat and deep, startling green eyes bore down into hers.

  Her heart skipped a beat, even as adrenaline pumped through her body.

  It can’t be…

  She kicked her front legs forward, hard, and her claws connected with tender flesh, drawing blood. The gray wolf howled with fury, its fangs snapping at her neck, its body driving hers into the ground.

  She held on to him as they struggled, rolling over each other through the grass. Rocks and broken branches dug into her back, but she didn’t care. Survival was her only goal.

  The gray wolf met her every blow with an expert block of his own. She’d been fighting for years, yet he moved like she moved -- like a hunter used to getting his prey. His blows landed exactly where he aimed, grazing her ribs, her hind paws, but never harming her.

  Too late, she realized he could have killed her from the beginning if he’d wanted to. He’d been toying with her since he’d first knocked her off her feet, testing her, baiting her. The knowledge enraged her further and she lost control of her precise movements, her claws raking empty air.

  Knowing she was no match for him, she held up her
paws and took a deep breath, her body already beginning to shift. Growling, the gray wolf stilled his movements. His claws retracted, and fur gave way to lean muscles. His muzzle revealed a square jaw and a flash of white teeth. His smug smile unsettled every part of her being, rattled her to the core.

  It was fucking impossible to look calm and defiant when her breath came in ragged gasps, and at that moment, she hated him for the power he had over her.

  She wanted to hit him, but he held her wrists pinned to the ground. Her legs were parted, wide on either side of his muscular thighs. His thick, unmistakable erection pressed between her folds, nudging her pussy with the tip of his hard shaft.

  Ali opened her mouth for only an instant, just long enough to murmur his name. “Victor.”

  And that was her first mistake. He pressed his lips down on hers, hard, and slid his tongue inside her mouth. His bold, eager strokes demanded satisfaction, and the way his cock pressed against her cunt told her he intended to have it.

  “You’ve been a bad girl,” he whispered in her ear when he broke the kiss. His husky voice and the feel of his warm breath against her skin sent a shudder down her spine. “You have to own up to what you’ve done.”

  Ali narrowed her eyes. “Great. So I suppose you’re taking me back to the elders.”

  “The elders?” he asked, as though the idea hadn’t occurred to him. “Oh, no. I caught you, which means you’re mine, and mine alone. No one else is going to share in your discipline. Do you know the way to fight fire, Ali?”

  Her body’s traitorous trembling irritated her as much as Victor’s words excited her. She wriggled against him, fighting to get free. “With fire. I’ve heard that line before.”

  Victor chuckled. “Where would be the fun in that?” Still holding her wrists, he raked his teeth down the side of her neck and lowered his mouth to bite sharply on her puckered nipple. Ali gasped and arched her back, carelessly giving him greater access to her breast.

  “Oh, no, sweetheart. There’s only one way to fight your brand of fire.” He paused, letting his words sink in.