Mated to the Enemy

Chapter 20

— Danny —

The border of the Blood Crest territory was indicated by the slashes within the mossy tree bark periodically placed throughout to deter humans, while the real sign of the border was the scent the alpha placed there. A warning to those who were not invited to keep their distance. Now, that my shift had happened. My fae senses could feel the aura strongly tingle through my body, but what should have made me hesitate… didn’t. It was merely a prickling on my skin as I walked on. Unfrightened of the alpha’s power.

I never really felt the aura at all before I shifted, when I thought I was a werewolf without a wolf. And with being from a different pack, I should have felt it even more. The crunch of leaves behind me told me no one stalled at the border. That wasn’t concerning for Lauren, but for the rest us I wasn’t sure. It could mean the alpha’s energy was weakened on the borders, which allowed trouble to enter the borders, or signaled there already was.

Stopping, I tipped my ears to the side listening and there was a soft bit of music I could hear from here.

“He knows I’m back,” Lauren said as howls resounded through the forest. A scout team would be sent to this location immediately to greet him.

This was it, the decision that would be the start of the beginning of a new life… or the end of everything.

“Lauren…,” I whispered his name, and he was at my side immediately.

I was part of a pack now, and I could feel that connection to my soul, but I still couldn’t mind-link with anyone when I needed it most. This decision didn’t just affect me, but they’d have to live with it all the same.

My fangs throbbed in my gums, and it was the only weapon I had. The only way to stall him. He was close enough, and his guard was down, but I didn’t want to permanently damage him. I wrapped my arms around his shoulders and he held me to his chest. Lauren’s heartbeat was loud in my ears, and as my cheek rested close to his neck I looked up to see Jet’s black stare on me, his alpha energy brewing around him like a storm.

If only I could talk with him, let him know that this was our chance to escape.

That energy crashed into me like a solid force knocking the air from my lungs, and making my legs clench and tremble. Lauren’s grip on me faltered, and his limbs went rubbery. With barely enough energy to guide his heavy body to the ground, those amber eyes widened in shock and then closed.

Nothing but a haunted glow like that of a ghost emanated from where Jet used to stand. Dark smokey shadows consumed the the light from the blood moon, soaking us in the black of the night. The only sign that he was still there was this pulsing heat that connected us from our pack bond.

Crouched to the ground I edged around Lauren’s body, with the feeling that with every movement unseen eyes followed. Whatever darkness surrounded us it was clinging to me like a magnet to metal, sizzling off of my skin like vapors.

Whatever was blocking out the rays of the moon wouldn’t last. We had to move. Fast.

I closed my eyes, and followed that pull within my chest to find my pack. The heaviness of Jet’s aura tripled as I neared, making my movements sluggish. The power instead of scaring me, made me grin like a fool. Bracing myself on my knee I pushed to stand and then reached out. My fingers touched heated skin, an arm?

Trailing up, I could feel the edge of his muscles, chiseled and firm. Not an arm… his stomach. And even knowing this I continued, blinded by darkness I reached with my other hand, and grazed up his actual arm this time. When my hand reached his neck, I stilled as my chest heaved the thick air. My teeth hurt so bad it felt like they would simply pop out from my gums with the slightest pressure. I reluctantly swiped my tongue over the tender nerves of my fangs, and confirmed they were firmly attached, but the contact made my fingers grip onto Jet to steady myself.

Something was very wrong with me.

The pressure in my chest grew, and I whimpered clinging to his shoulders.

We didn’t have time for my breakdown. We had to leave, now.

Jet growled, but he made no move to grab me, his arms remained stiff at his sides. Was he consumed by the shadows, unable to move?

Was all of this the reaction to whatever magic was taking hold of us?

My forehead rested on his chest, and I found myself puling myself up on my toes, my lips pressed into the nap of his neck. A werewolf’s most vulnerable spot, and he let me. Where I had just been moments before ready to disable Lauren to help us escape, I now stood in the same position with Jet. Why? Was it in my nature as fae to seek to harm people?

Another thought stilled me. What if this disabling magic was mine?

How did I stop it before I hurt someone?

I trembled, afraid of myself, of what I was potentially capable of.

Jet had every right to want to me go through the Faery portal. I was about to harm him. My fangs scraped across his skin, and it was then that his arms finally broke free to snap around my waist to stop me. To pull me from him, but that’s not what he did. His strong hands lifted my hips, and my legs wrapped around his middle and I had even better access to his neck. A moan ground out from his lips, and something snapped in me.

Nothing but one purpose filled my mind.

Bite him.

And my teeth sunk into his flesh.

Euphoria as his alpha blood entered my mouth in a pool, one thousand times more heat radiated through my body than that one drop of blood I noticed when I joined his pack.

It was pure magic, and it was delicious.

Even the fear I felt about harming him vanished, and the weight that the darkness held over me before left along with it. The sound of his heart beating as his blood pumped filled my ears, but his injury was already healing around my teeth, suctioning on me like I’d become one with him if I didn’t reopen the wound or let go.

My fingers dug into his back, and I didn’t want to let go.