Page 14 of Forbidden Wolf

Her words were what we were told as children. The lycans would stalk and murder all of us in our beds. Then I’d met Levi. He held me when we thought we were dying, he kissed me as if he was drowning and my breath was his. He was not the monster of my childhood tales.

“And when we kill all the monsters, what will we do then?”

She blinked once. “Then we will live in peace and no longer need the protection of the covens.” Kimber was nearly sixteen, but she acted half that age and looked younger than her birth years.

I didn’t want to point out that I doubted that would ever happen, that the coven leaders exerted too much control to ever hand it over. Instead, I sat with her, my emotions cascading around my body as I tried to determine what to do about Levi. The sensible thing would be not to meet him again, stay in the facility until September and go and join the military like a good little vampire. But I didn’t possess a sensible bone in my body.

Leaving Kimber to look after the monkey, I went to my room and changed into my black yoga pants and tank top, my hooded jacket covering the pale skin of my arms. My converse hugged my feet. Nerves fluttered low in my belly.

Other vampires were at the shutter waiting for it to open tonight. I kept my head down and eyes lowered to make myself less of a threat, invisible even in the middle of a crowd. The vampire who tried to approach me last night in the recreation area smiled in an attempt to catch my attention. I deliberately pretended not to see him.

The shutter slowly opened, and I waited my turn to leave the facility.

“Nice night for a moonlit walk, Tasha,” he said from my right side. “I’m Sam.”

I flashed a quick look at him because being rude to your superiors could get you locked down for weeks.

“I guess it is. But after being locked up I need to run.” In other words, I didn’t want a companion.

“You’re joining the military in September?”

I could almost see the tiny cogs in his head turning. Technically, I was breeding age, and eligible to be enrolled in the programmes. He could request me through the coven. The only aspect in my favour was that Castus was hovering somewhere in the periphery of my world like a vulture ready to swoop down and grab a tasty morsel.

“Yep.” I shot him a big smile filled with fake excitement. “My class can hardly wait. We’ll have our own rooms and rations.”

A sly grin crossed his mouth. “You can always share my rations.”

And there it was… If I lay on my back and opened my legs, he would allow me to eat. How romantic. His energy was polluted like black slime around him, sending ripples of toxicity down my spine.

“Thanks, but Dad insists we share his. I wouldn’t want to trouble you.”

The open door loomed up ahead, heralding my freedom. Without waiting to hear his reply, I dived from the platform, swinging deep into the forest below. At the last moment, I grabbed a branch and manoeuvred myself into the tree to watch the others leave. I couldn’t risk any of them following me and finding Levi. He would be killed on the spot this close to our facility.

The lycans knew we were here and had attacked the facility often until they realised it was impenetrable. We tended to ignore each other, but every so often, tensions would erupt, and a vampire or wolf would turn up dead.

The vampire who chatted to me landed in the trees, his eyes glowing blue as his gaze searched the area around him. He was looking for me. I gripped the trunk of the tree with my claws, deepening my breathing to make my heart slow down. Eventually his gaze swung in the opposite direction and he disappeared that way through the trees.

Huffing a sigh of relief, I moved to the forest basin where no one would see me. Every so often I stopped and changed direction since my interaction in the hallway had spooked me. It almost felt like he was stalking me since he appeared when I least expected it. I peeked around another tree to check no one had followed me and then jumped. A strong arm circled my waist, and a hand covered my mouth.

“Is there any reason you’re acting like the devil himself is chasing you?” Levi asked in my ear, sending flocks of butterflies fluttering in my stomach.

I tended to forget he was a deadly predator instead of my lover. In my head, I’d been careful, covering my tracks, yet he walked up behind me and captured me.

His lips pressed kisses down the side of my throat, making me arch back into him.

“Did you miss me?” he whispered, his hand on my stomach trailing up my abdomen to find my sensitive breast.

I moaned behind his hand. Was it wrong that his dominance excited me, my legs trembling at his possessive touch?

Tonight, heralded the beginning of our summer long affair. My yoga pants slid easily down my thighs to allow Levi access and even when he speared into me from behind, all I could do was cling to the bark of the tree with my claws.

He was my darkest fantasy come to life in the perfect seductive package.

He didn’t claim me; he consumed me until there was nothing left but throbbing muscles and decimated nerve endings. His body commanded mine and I was unable and unwilling to do anything but obey. We were in a frenzy, unable to get enough of each other, our bodies pushing each other until nothing else mattered or existed. I would never be able to stand tomorrow. Levi intoxicated me, his blood trickling down my throat, his canines scraping my skin.

We were lost in the ancient dance of our ancestors, rutting in the forest like animals desperate for one another. Hours passed before we finally fell onto our backs to gasp much needed breath.

It was only when I stared up at the sky that I realised it was a full moon tonight. Myths told that lycans became uncontrollable beasts who murdered everything in their paths under the full moon.

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