Rubbing Linne’s smooth skin with my palm, I ground my teeth absently as we stood staring behind the glass window into the hospital room at the dozens of wolf shifters lying in beds. She stared up at me in anticipation and I nodded my head for her to go ahead, and her body started forward as she left my side, slowly making her way towards the door and into the room behind the glass. She walked down the main aisle and stopped and stood in the middle of eight dozen occupied beds. There were so many bodies that the tiny hospital that served the town had to convert the basement to hold them all. Luckily, this place didn’t see much action, so there were enough beds and a few to spare. Respirators hissed and sucked, and the beeping of heart monitors trilled in the still, deathly heavy atmosphere.
Behind me stood all of the clan that had been at the party, all cautiously curious as if seeing a dangerous animal at the zoo. It was honestly pathetic, but I couldn’t really complain considering Linne had agreed to let them watch. Leaning on the window sill, I licked the roof of my mouth heavily as Linne’s wings enlarged and spread elegantly.
Even the fact that she was about to murder a hundred people didn’t make her any less beautiful; in fact, I found her more attractive. She stood facing the window, naked from the waist up, and her perfectly small breasts combined with that confidence blaring from her eyes sent desire flooding into my veins.
“Are you ready?” Linne’s naturally husky voice washed down my skin to leave goosebumps in its wake, and I jerked my head in a nod. Spreading her wings wide, she took a deep breath, and my gaze flickered down to watch her perky, rosy nipples harden.
I wasn’t sure how much longer I could go on like this.
But any sexual thoughts that threatened to dominate my mind disappeared with the ringing that trilled in my ears, cancelling out all other sounds. Tearing my eyes off Linne, I stiffened at the dead, still bodies that surrounded her, while every heart monitor gave off a shrill, monotone beep that rang above the blood pounding against my ear drums. Every wolf showed different signs of death – one close to the window was bleeding out of his eyes, ears, and nose, and the human form next to him bruised as if he had internal bleeding.
She killed them all instantly, and no two deaths were the same.
“What the actual fuck…” Breathing heavily, my awe swept through the crowd of onlookers as they edged closer to the window on either side of me. Flying to Linne, my eyes widened at the wicked smirk that tilted her lips, and her wings twitched as magic flowed between the axillar like electricity flowing between metal conductors. My mind flung back to the night she’d trapped the wolves in their minds, and my heart stuttered slightly.
Not from fear, but from anticipation.
“Get out of the way – move!” Hammering in my chest, my heart pumped with adrenaline as a low, powerful growl burst from my throat, and I pushed my way roughly to the door only a dozen feet away. The atmosphere bore down on me before I even flung open the barrier and entered the room, but Linne’s magic didn’t work on me. Running down the aisle between rows and rows of dead wolves in both forms, I threw myself at my mate to send us both tumbling to the ground.
The shock of it, of rolling into the metal legs of a bed, snapped Linne out of her destructive daze, and she gasped and arched. Her powerful wings beat against the linoleum, pushing beds and sending bodies toppling to the floor with sickening thumps. Straddling her waist, I held her cheeks in my palms until her eyes focused on me, and I leaned down to rest my forehead against hers.
“Relax.” Purring heavily, I brushed my nose to Linne’s as her chest inflated sharply, shivering as her nipples grazed my shirt. “You need to learn to control yourself, Linne.”
“It is difficult…” Murmuring softly, she exhaled softly onto dry my lips, and they tingled with the urge to connect with hers. “You are so weak minded…”
“Mmm – your powers don’t work on me, though.” My declaration only earned me a sultry giggle, and my cock jumped against my jeans. “I’m going to kiss you…”
Nuzzling Linne’s cheek gently, my hands moved to tangle with hers, and my heart squeezed when she didn’t protest. Brushing my lips against the corner of her mouth, I held myself rigid above her, and her thighs pressed against the sides of my waist. Blood rushed into my ears, and the smell of her overwhelmed the stench of the hospital room, and the wolves and men alike.
The slightly creepy notion of dead bodies around us lay forgotten for a moment.
Linne’s plump lips were soft, faintly tasting like grilled chicken and collard greens, and I couldn’t contain my groan. Shivering, I ground against her belly, and her mouth parted in a gasp to make way for my tongue. Magma replaced the blood in my veins, and my cock strained against my jeans as the smell of her own arousal slithered up into my nostrils.
“Good…” Grinning wickedly at her moan, I tangled our tongues to taste her, and a tickling sensation slipped down my left arm. Linne’s feathers rustled as her wing folded, caressing the ugly blotches on my bicep down to my elbow, and I broke the kiss to pant harshly. Her eyes sparkled brightly with desire and something else – something deeper – and I bumped my nose against hers to sigh.
“You’re beautiful.” Whispering softly, Linne lifted her hand with mine to touch the back of my palm to my chest, and my smile turned tender. “I like your kisses.”
“You’re the only woman I’ve ever kissed – the only one I’m ever going to be with.” Muttering my deepest secret, my lips trembled, and my heart squeezed tightly at the unbound happiness that raged across Linne’s face. Her smile was so bright, it threatened to blind me, and I sucked in a sharp breath. “Want to get out of here? Go somewhere without a carpet of bodies around us?”
“Okay. Where will we go?” Expectant confusion dribbled from Linne’s tongue, and I held her hand to my chest as I straightened atop her. “Is it the same place the human Chad’s little cousin takes dates?”
Holy fuck – really? Shaking my head even as incredulous exasperation flooded my veins, I tightened my grip on Linne’s hand.
“No – we’re not going to a motel, Linne.” Climbing off her, I helped her to her feet, but her wings didn’t shrink like I expected them to. Pushing back the curiosity, I led her by the hand down the aisle and out the door, but the only people waiting for us were Alpha Jackson and five hospital nurses. “Follow me.”
Alpha Jackson must’ve sent everyone else away in the few seconds I had been in the room, but that didn’t stop the questioning looks from the nurses. The two females were green with nausea, and the three men weren’t doing much better. Still, I didn’t stop to entertain whatever shocked confusion they’d fling at me.
“Okay.” Heading towards the elevator with Linne padding behind me, my body thrummed with the urge to shift. I never wanted to voluntarily shift in front of anyone before, but she wouldn’t look at me like I was a freak. She wouldn’t see my black fur and wonder why I hadn’t offed myself after my first shift.
She would understand the pain of being abandoned by her parents because of what she was.
“Do you think your clan will accept me now that they know I am not a threat?” Posing the question as we entered the elevator, Linne stared at me with those sparkling, hazel eyes of hers so innocently that she took my breath away. Wrapping my free arm around her waist, I nodded curtly, and she let out a sigh of relief to smile broadly. “Good. I do not want to kill them.”
“Why?” Even though I’d only witnessed it once, I wasn’t an idiot; something akin to euphoria took Linne over when she fought. I had a feeling that what I saw only scratched the surface, though. The more powerful the enemy, the more intense the desire she had to exterminate him or her. Shrugging at my question, she stared at herself in the reflective walls as we headed to the ground floor.
“They are your clan. The people that took you in when your own parents did not want you.” Reaching to stroke the discolored, smooth blotch on my forearm gently, Linne turned her gaze to me to inhale sharply. “You are beautiful, and someone here saw that. Just like the human Chad gave me a chance, you were given a chance. I will protect the human Chad, and I will protect these people just as they protected you.”
“That’s very noble of you, Linne.” Mumbling softly, I pressed my lips to her crown even as she snorted delicately.
“It is not noble. It is sensible. The human Chad can hardly be considered an ally, and if Bareiijnr does come after me, I will need help.” Even as she tried to justify her decision, Linne blushed up to her ears, and affection wiggled into my heart. “It is common sense.”
“Sure it is.” Smiling up at me bashfully, Linne licked her lips before the elevator trilled and the doors came sliding open. “You just want them to like you.”
“I want you to like me.” Linne blurted out the desire, and I couldn’t help but laugh when she went beet red. Squeezing her to my side, I guided her out of the elevator and through the lobby while she just stared at her feet, intending to take her to get dressed.
I never could’ve imagined the kind of person she was while I kept watch over her during her coma. I never could’ve imagined the changes she would put me through even when she wasn’t trying to do anything more than articulate her wants and thoughts. She really was childlike in this way, and I hoped it never faded as she got used to this realm.