Lunewulf Law Read online

  “And you think there is an American pack that has a different opinion of a single female running alone? Any territory you enter will mark you as a slut.”

  “So what!” Elsa stood now and put her hands on her hips while staring head-on at Sophie. “You’re getting ready to take on the task of fucking three males. This pack wants me to have more than one lunewulf in my bed. And you stand there and talk to me about my scruples and morals?”

  “Good point,” Sophie mumbled.

  “Sophie.” Elsa put her warm hand on Sophie’s arm. “No one is going to tell me who to mate with. No one. Ever. That’s how it is.”

  Sophie shook her head and managed a smile although a wave of sadness washed over her. “You’re as stubborn as Grandmother.”

  Elsa’s grip on Sophie’s arm tightened hard enough that she felt the tip of Elsa’s nails press against her flesh. Elsa released her grip and walked to the door.

  “This new law is going to create chaos in the pack and keep Grandmother busy or locked in her office for a while.” Elsa had her hand on the doorknob and spoke in a whisper as if she feared being overheard. “It’s the distraction I need. Promise not to say anything?”

  “I won’t stop them from going after you.” Sophie crossed her arms and stared at her pretty younger littermate. Her heart hurt thinking about her out on her own. Elsa was more damned naïve and gullible than a newborn cub.

  “Then I can’t tell you what direction I’ll run.” Elsa opened the door and slipped out, shutting it quietly behind her.

  “I’ve got the list!”

  Sophie jumped off the couch where she’d been trying to follow some movie on TV and lunged at Gertrude as she walked in the front door. Sophie grabbed the stapled sheets of paper from Gertrude’s hand before her littermate could get out of her coat.

  How odd that it looked so normal—not that she’d given thought to what the list would look like. Some prophetic-looking parchment etched in blood?

  “I don’t know why you’re so excited to read that bitch’s list.” Elsa hadn’t moved from her spot on the other end of the couch. “You two don’t even care that she’s completely controlling your lives. Before you know it, Grandmother will be telling you where you can sniff and not sniff, how to wag your tail…” her voice drifted off, but Sophie ignored her.

  “You know you want to see it as badly as we do.” Sophie plopped down on the couch, crowding Elsa.

  Gertrude sat on her other side, pulling her knees up and leaning into Sophie while stretching her arm across the back of the couch. Sophie held the papers up, scanning the first page and then flipping it over once she realized the bitches’ names were listed alphabetically. On the second page she ran her finger down the list and stopped when she reached Rousseau. Both of her littermates leaned in close, almost blocking her view.

  “Oh my God.” She stared at the three names alongside hers.

  Nik Alexander, Lukas Kade, Jonathan Abram.

  For a moment she forgot to breathe. Her lungs started hurting and she gulped in air, making her heart pound hard enough to ignite the desire to change inside her. Her three mates. This was really happening. All the time in the world to think and ponder this over didn’t prepare her for this moment. Icy chills crept up her spine.

  Three mates.

  “You fucking scored,” Gertrude said and grabbed the list out of Sophie’s hand.

  Sophie pushed her way out from between her littermates and walked across the large living area toward the huge windows that overlooked their land. The urge to change crawled through her system. She wanted to simplify all the emotions she felt at the moment to their rawest form. Her bones ached to stretch and grow. She felt her joints pop with eager anticipation. A tickle started at the base of her neck, tiny hairs standing at attention, anxious to transform her into the beautiful creature that lay within her.

  “Has Nik already talked to them?” She stared out the window, talking to no one in particular.

  An image of his penetrating blue eyes appeared before her—eyes that always watched her and seemed to know everything. His heated gaze made it so clear what he wanted to do to her. And then his words last night—like her fucking two other men would turn him on. A wave of desire attacked her with so much fierceness that she almost staggered as pressure grew inside her.

  Nik was her alpha male. She didn’t know Lukas and Jonathan very well, but they would have to accept that. And she would fuck Nik soon—real soon. Damn. She could hardly wait.

  “Shit, Sophie. I can smell your lust. You’re panting worse than a bitch in heat.” Elsa’s disapproving snarl brought Sophie out of her daydream with a start. “You better learn to want all of your mates,” Elsa continued with her berating, and then matched Grandmother’s harsh tone. “We’re the lucky bitches who get to fuck three lunewulfs.”

  Sophie smiled at Elsa’s imitation of Grandmother. Her own lust did fill the air around them, but not enough to hide the scent of Elsa’s fear and nervousness. If there was any way, she would make this easier for Elsa. She turned around, praying that sharing her thoughts would show Elsa how she came to terms with all of this.

  “Nik will be my alpha. But Jonathan and Lukas are good males too. Life won’t be so terribly different. The other males don’t have to live with us.” Maybe she had the advantage of time to think this through, of a male who would stand with her—and fuck with her—while she took each of her mates. And that time had made the taste of this new law a bit more palatable. Having three lunewulfs to fuck every once in a while wasn’t such a raw deal.

  “You know you love the idea of all that sex.” Gertrude giggled and tossed the stapled papers in Elsa’s lap. “I got three good males too. Now to figure out how to tame them all.”

  Elsa tossed the list onto the coffee table and pulled her hand back like the papers might come to life and snap at her. “I don’t want any of these males. I don’t see how you two can be so excited about being told who to fuck. Shit, this is the twenty-first century, not the dark ages.”

  “You need to take more pride in being lunewulf.” Gertrude let her smile fade, turning a serious look on Elsa. Her tone grew quiet. “If you don’t agree with a law, you don’t lose your temper and howl at the night. Keep your hackles down and think clearly, little bitch. There are better ways to manipulate a situation.”

  “I agree,” Sophie said quickly, smelling the change in the room as she watched Elsa, who stared at Gertrude. “Once we are mated bitches, you know we’ll have more say. And mated to three males. Think about it, Elsa. Even if this law doesn’t last long, we’ll go down in history. And we’re keeping our breed strong. Plain and simple, there aren’t enough bitches to go around.”

  “We’ll go down in history as perverted fools,” Elsa hissed, her voice no more than a whisper. “I’m not going to be shackled to three males.”

  Elsa would get in trouble if anyone overheard her. Her littermate had her mind made up and Sophie didn’t know what else to say to her to make her see how this could be to their advantage. Granted, there was a terrifying edge to it. But it was embarking on the unusual, running toward the unknown. The more she thought about it, the more excited she got.

  She turned and stared back out the window. Three lunewulfs! More than anything, she wanted to escape her littermates and roll in her fur over the thick grass and imagine their cocks going in and out of her. All three at once! Shit!

  “Don’t look at it as shackled. You’ll be in charge.” Sophie looked at the papers lying in disarray on the coffee table. “Who are your mates?”

  “I don’t have any mates,” Elsa said stiffly and hurried out of the room.

  Sophie sighed and then picked up the list. “Johann is one of them,” she told Gertrude. “She got George Ricard and Frederick Gambo too.”

  “Eww.” Gertrude looked over Sophie’s shoulder at the names. “They’ll be drooling like pups at her feet—more than likely bellying up for her before it’s the other way around.”

  “If
she stays here long enough for them to try,” Sophie said quietly.

  “What’s that mean?”

  Sophie glanced at Gertrude but then turned toward the stairs. “We should go talk to her some more. She told me earlier today that she might run.”

  “God.” Gertrude groaned but followed Sophie toward the stairs.

  They crossed the large living room and Sophie glanced down the hallway toward Grandmother’s office. The thick wooden door looked uninviting and was fortunately closed. There had been no sign of Grandmother all day, which was about the kindest act the old bitch could bestow on them. Even though it was quiet in the house, Sophie made as little noise as possible ascending the stairs. They found Elsa in her room, sitting at her computer.

  “Did you know that if we don’t honor pack law within thirty days that we’ll be shunned from the pack?” Elsa asked them and pointed at her monitor. “Says so right here.”

  “Don’t get any ideas,” Gertrude warned and plopped down on Elsa’s bed behind her. Her cell phone rang and she pulled it out of her pocket, then collapsed on her bed, quickly sharing her thoughts of the list with one of her friends and forgetting they’d come up here to console Elsa.

  “I shouldn’t have signed on,” Elsa groaned. Instant message boxes popped up on her screen while the chimes repeatedly went off. “Why the hell is everyone making such a big deal out of this?”

  “Because it is a big deal, you dork.” Sophie ruffled Elsa’s hair playfully, wishing her youngest littermate wouldn’t always act like she was older than Grandmother. “How often are you encouraged to fuck three males?”

  “Do you hear yourself talking?” Elsa asked. “Are we suddenly all sluts? We’re being ordered into orgies without even knowing the males we’re supposed to fuck.”

  “You know all three of the males you got.”

  Elsa typed furiously as the chimes continued on her computer. She waited a minute before commenting. “And I don’t want to fuck any of them.”

  “Oh Elsa.” Sophie wrapped her arms around her younger littermate’s neck and then leaned her chin on her shoulder, trying to keep up with all the chats Elsa had going on her screen. “Don’t mention what you’re thinking about doing to anyone on the computer.”

  “I’m not an idiot.” Elsa glanced over her shoulder, her blue eyes flashing with defiance. “I shouldn’t have told you either.”

  “I can smell your unhappiness.”

  “Then you understand why I have to leave,” she whispered.

  Sophie’s eyes suddenly burned as her heart hurt more than she ever remembered it hurting before. “I don’t want to lose you,” she confessed, hating that any second she would cry like a cub.

  “You won’t.” Elsa put her fist over her heart. “Not in here.”

  “I don’t want you to leave the pack.” There. She said it. No matter how selfish it made her feel. Elsa smelled so damned miserable one might think she was going to die. Yet Sophie couldn’t bear the thought of her youngest littermate out on her own in a crueler and more selfish world than even this pack.

  Elsa stiffened, taking Sophie’s words at face value. “Not all of us have it like you do, Sophie. You just don’t understand.” She sighed, turning back to her monitor and typing furiously. “Go enjoy your life with your male. At least you have one who loves you.”

  “I love you too,” Sophie told her and straightened. “I can smell that no matter what I say you’re going to do what you want. You always have.” She tugged Elsa’s hair, getting her to look at her. “Do me a favor and let me know what you do?”

  When Elsa kept typing, Sophie glanced over at Gertrude, who was lost in conversation on her cell phone, then headed out of Elsa’s bedroom.

  “Don’t go too far or they’ll put a leash on you,” Elsa called after her.

  “I’m not the one who needs a leash.” Sophie turned in the hallway, imprinting her younger littermate’s concerned expression in her mind. How much longer would she look so innocent and beautiful?

  “And I’m not the one who is a demented pervert.” Elsa made a face at her, but her smell wasn’t as hateful when she spoke again. “You are lucky, Sophie. I smell your happiness.”

  Sophie leaned from one foot to the other in the middle of the hallway, Elsa visible only because she sat at her desk by her bedroom door. “I’m lucky to have Nik.”

  “Then go to him.” Elsa’s smile didn’t reach her eyes.

  Sophie hesitated a moment longer, wishing for the perfect thing to say. Elsa would find her happiness. That much Sophie believed. Her younger littermate was too strong of a bitch for any law to bring her down.

  “Happy mating!” Elsa called after her, almost making Sophie trip on the stairs.

  Sophie ignored her as she went back downstairs and headed through the large kitchen that still held the faint smell of coffee. She opened the back door quietly and closed it behind her. Sunshine immediately soaked into her skin and the cool breeze felt damned good against her flushed cheeks. Nik had to call her soon or maybe she should call him. Thoughts of his rock-hard cock, of all that muscle pressed against her body, of how he would feel buried deep inside her almost made her stumble again. Heat surged inside her and she licked her suddenly too-dry lips, imagining his hot come squirting while she lapped furiously at it.

  Gertrude was right. She couldn’t wait to fuck!

  Chapter Nine

  Nik struggled to free his phone from his belt and stopped at the red light. The fucking sun was giving him a headache. He’d barely crawled out of bed when his damned phone started ringing. Now he was on his way to Howley’s, where apparently all hell was breaking loose. It was too damned early for this shit. Hell, it wasn’t even noon yet.

  The list was posted and the reaction was exactly what he’d expected it to be. Lunewulfs everywhere were pissed. The phone call that got him out of bed and away from his dreams of Sophie had come from Johann.

  “Better get your ass down here,” Johann advised. “I’m at Howley’s, and it isn’t pretty.”

  He was not in the mood for any of this.

  The cell phone rang a fourth time before he managed to answer it. At the same time the light turned green.

  “Yes,” Nik grumbled, not recognizing the number and definitely not in the mood for chivalry.

  “Nik, this is Derek. Grandmother asked that I call.” Derek Rousseau’s nasal tone was almost as bad as the self-importance in his voice. Like somehow he would gain more of Nik’s respect if he knew the puny lunewulf called on Grandmother’s behalf.

  “I’m busy. What do you need?” Nik glanced over his shoulder, managing to hold on to the cell phone as he quickly switched lanes and cursed under his breath at the amount of traffic in Prince George today.

  “Grandmother feels a party is in order—something fun to celebrate the upcoming matings.” Derek immediately sounded excited. He was as delusional as Grandmother Rousseau if he thought the pack was in any mood to party. “I can’t reach Johann but we think if you two organize it, the younger males and bitches will be more inclined to come. Call it a meet and greet of sorts—a time for everyone on the list to get to know each other.”

  “From what I hear, some of them are already getting to know each other really well.” And beating the crap out of each other.

  “Wonderful. Grandmother will be so pleased.” Derek let out a long sigh, then hurried to continue as if he guessed Nik was ready to hang up on him. “I’ll let Grandmother know you and Johann will handle everything. Have the party at Johann’s den and be sure and let me know the time. Got to run.”

  The lunewulf actually hung up on him. Nik growled, clutching the phone in his hand and signaling to turn into Howley’s.

  The late morning sun glared at him as he pulled into a stall. It was as if it taunted him for getting up this early and taking advantage of his not being awake yet. What he wouldn’t do for a cappuccino right about now. Maybe he should run over to the gas station across the street, grab much-needed caffeine and then
figure out why in the hell Johann had called him out so early in the day. The parking lot wasn’t even half full—unlike surrounding parking lots where humans worked. Why in the hell did that breed start their day so damned early?

  He sat there for a moment, his car idling quietly and his radio humming with an overly animated announcer trying to pry into the private life of someone involved in a scandal. The door to Howley’s flew open while he sat there debating on caffeine, and Frederick Gambo almost fell out of the building. He glanced around the parking lot, looking rabid, rested his gaze on Nik and then took off running in the other direction.

  “Well hell,” Nik grumbled, rubbing his bristly chin while instincts that shouldn’t even be awake yet began kicking in.

  He watched Gambo run across the next parking lot, dodging cars until he disappeared around the corner. The small lunewulf even ran like a bitch. But something had sent him racing out of there. And aggressive instincts replaced the lack of caffeine in his system. A sudden urge to bare his teeth, let his claws grow and settle any matters that might be out of hand helped get him out of the car.

  He strolled across the parking lot, his boots making a steady beat against the asphalt. The faint smell of testosterone had him picking up his pace.

  A bar stool almost hit him in the face when he pulled open the heavy door to the bar.

  “Fuck,” he hissed, raising his arm in defense while his eyes quickly adjusted to the dim lighting.

  Johann stumbled backward when Armand Gaston bulldozed into him. Nik jumped to the side just as Johann’s back hit the wall next to the door. The two lunewulfs shook the entire wall with their impact.

  “It’s about fucking time you got here.” Johann looked over at him, gave him a half smile, then roared and shoved Gaston off him.

  “Looks like I’m missing the party.” Nik stepped into the bar, letting the door close behind him.

  Johann successfully pushed the shorter but stockier lunewulf back a few more feet before Gaston jumped to the side. He took a shot at Johann, his fist a lethal weapon that missed Johann’s head by inches. Johann ducked, then moved to the side quickly and punched Gaston in the gut.