Page 165 of Unforgivable

Lyri

I'm upright, on my paws, before I can even register what woke me. My she-wolf is rigid, entirely still, claws digging into the earth, ears perked, listening, waiting.

I hear the distant growls through the dark wood. They settle deep in my bones, making my fur rise along the ridge of my back. My heart begins to race. My canines ache to plunge into whatever this sudden threat is.

I race through the woods on paws. My she-wolf and I are of one spirit. Our males need us.

The howls come, splitting the air as the bay of savagery dances through the air.

My males.

I press harder, my paws flying over the earth, dodging trees and boulders. My weak hip strains, the painful sting begins to throb, but I can't slow down.

I skid to a halt, kicking up forest debris and nearly colliding with a tree. My males are here. I can feel the agitation, the furor. Something is wrong.

My lungs are deprived of oxygen from my mad dash through the forest. Dizziness swamps me. I suck in a deep breath, panting with my head bowed. I inhale the scent of dirt and moss. My Sunshine is nearby, as he growls a warning, hackles raise, and then...

Daan and Cloe.

My wolf retreats from the gag-worthy scent.

Gasping, I shift back to feet. My eyes have barely adjusted to my human eyesight when Ezra fills my view.

"Love, go back home," he rushes out. He's shifted, too, evident by the sheen of sweat on his nude body. My heat spikes, despite the bizarre inappropriateness of the timing. My body needs my males.

I give in, pressing my still-shaking body against Ezra's. I moan softly while he curses under his breath.

"Lyri, please, listen to me, beautiful love. I'm taking you home. We'll go to the closet and lock the doors. Don't... sweetheart," he stumbles over his words as I rub my body on his, nipping at his neck. So good.

I dimly hear the snarls and snap of teeth. A snarl curls my lips up as I shake off the heat that is spiraling upward into my belly.

My males are in trouble. I smell Daan. I smell Cloe on Daan and him on her. My bastard, cowardly mate, and his precious Choice have finally returned. If I can smell him, then he can smell me. And if he can smell me, then he can smell my males on me. Their scent is potent and fresh on my skin. We've mated in both forms, all of us, all together. Only Mating Claims would make us smell more deeply of each other.

I step around Ezra, my hand pressed on his chest, his arm, cupping his face. I need to make sure that Thjis and Rhet are OK. My males. Everything is overwhelming me. The dark forest, the Moon, always watchful that bitch, the scents that are mixing into the air as more wolves crowd into the moonlit glade. A run. It's a full moon, and these RustClaw wolves have run onto the unclaimed land between Genom and the mountains. They will help their alphason and future luna, not us. I need to grab my males, to shield them as they protect me.

I see Carmichael. He's revealed himself to the RustClaw to back up my males. This wasn't supposed to happen, not yet. We can't show our hand. I have to protect Inuit. He will be the alpha of this pack.

"My males. Blue-eyes," I take a step toward the blurry, dark shape that I recognize as Rhet's wolf. "My sweet Bear," I murmur. Heat spikes and spirals. All I can see are shadows, grey, and hazy. Two move toward me, on paws, on feet. The scents of my males are making saliva pool on my tongue. I want to taste, to touch, to feel.

I press my hands into Rhet. Something horrid drapes over my naked body. I whine a little. The cotton shirt smells like Thjis, but it feels like steel wool on my overheated skin.

I gasp as I bury my fingers in Rhet's silky grey fur. He feels cold, like ice, so wonderful. Purring out loud, I reach out for my Bear. Growls and snarls punctuate every soft moan from my lips as I caress the chilled flesh that I know so well. His beard, soft and short, feels like icicles on my fingertips.

A sharp growl breaks the fog of lust in my head.

"Lyri Song," the voice that I used to spend countless hours dreaming of now grates over fresh nerves.

I snap my attention to the male glaring at me from across the glade. I take a step toward the wolf.

I hold his eyes. It's hard. It's so hard. Those denim-blue eyes speak to the deepest part of me, the part I could have sworn died on a full moon night six months ago.

Was it only six months ago?

The bond stretches and flexes, sending searing shockwaves to my limbs. Go to him, it says. At the same time, every atom of my being is screaming to stay away. He's bad for us. He has decimated our very soul.

My she-wolf is snarling. She is the luna. She has three males. She may want to add another... but this one? She doesn't trust this one, despite the desire to Claim a mate.

The bond is battling the instinct of survival. It's like Devel said, survival trumps all else. Our bond is the merest thread, just a strand of what once was... But... the Heat, the need to touch, to be touched, to feel his skin on mine, pressing, flesh to flesh, is unbearable. It's a different need from before. That was the pull of the Moon. This is the instinct to give my body a pup.

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