“Jace”—Niki signaled as she landed in the courtyard—“with me. Bring Mags and Noa.”
Jace, who’d been stationed at the door of headquarters while the Prima was inside, saluted. “Yes, Imperator.”
The three warriors fell in behind her as Niki bounded across the Compound yard to confront the group of foreign Weres arrayed in front of the Rovers. The outsiders, in tailored black shirts, trousers, and boots, were wary, trying to hide their anxiety and failing. Their wide stances, folded arms, and subtly jutting canines betrayed their readiness to do battle. All, that is, except for the tall, slender, pale Were who stood slightly in front of the other four, her arms loose at her sides, the expression on her long, almost delicate face neutral, and her amber eyes taking in everything around her. The leader. The Alpha of that group, at least.
Niki landed a few feet in front of the leader, closer than she should have approached, but she didn’t care if a stranger in her own territory considered her actions a challenge.
“I am the imperator of the Timberwolf Pack,” she said crisply. “Alpha Mir has ordered you be provided secure accommodations.”
“I am Alpha Zora Constantine of the Snowcrest Pack,” the young dominant replied. She indicated a copper-skinned, black-haired female whose powerful shoulders strained the silk fabric of her tailored shirt. “Ash, the captain of my guard, and Ryan, Cybil, and Evan.”
The Alpha met Niki’s gaze as she spoke. Eye to eye, unblinking, unwavering. Calm, confident.
The challenge vibrated in the air and Constantine’s guards tensed. Beside Niki, Jace growled softly and edged forward, her right shoulder an inch behind Niki’s. Jace’s scent vibrated with lust and battle fever. Niki’s pelt shimmered beneath her skin and her wolf clamored for a tussle, but as Sylvan’s second, she needed to walk a fragile line. On the one hand, Sylvan would be unhappy if she and the visiting Alpha tussled, but on the other, Niki commanded Sylvan’s warriors, and she could not show submission to another wolf.
The visiting Alpha’s eyes swiftly morphed from amber to wolf-gold and a golden sheen rolled beneath the skin left bare by her open-collared shirt. After a long moment, Niki lowered her gaze from the Alpha’s eyes but did not dip her head. She could not challenge, but she would not submit. The Alpha rumbled softly, an acknowledgment of Niki withdrawing from the challenge, and a reminder that while she might be on foreign ground, she was indeed Alpha.
“The offer is accepted,” Constantine said.
Niki swiveled on her heel and strode toward the barracks. After a moment, Jace fell in on her left and the other two warriors on her right. Constantine and her guard drew even with them at an acceptable distance, refusing to follow but carefully not preceding them. So that’s how it was going to be. A constant demonstration from these newcomers that they would not be dominated. Niki smiled to herself.
If Constantine thought to challenge Sylvan in the same way, she would be sadly surprised. Sylvan would not expect another Alpha to submit, but she would not accept even a hint of challenge in her territory. She’d have the young Alpha’s throat before the visitor could pull pelt. Constantine appeared to be confident in her position, and Niki expected Constantine’s guard to come as close to challenging as they could as often as possible. She’d do the same in their place.
Any wolf who guarded an Alpha needed to be the most aggressive in the Pack. Here, in strange territory, surrounded by dominants and vastly outnumbered, Constantine’s guards would be driven by the nearly visible cloud of potent battle hormones and pheromones to fight…or tangle. Niki had learned supreme control fighting at Sylvan’s side for years, and even so, her need nearly drove her to give in to her wolf’s demand to fight. She couldn’t fight, but she could satisfy the agonizing gnawing in the pit of her stomach another way. Ever since Sylvan had returned, radiating power and sex to everyone within her range, Niki’s lust for her mate scoured her nerves like fingers of cut glass. Sophia was in the infirmary, dealing with the usual minor injuries of a busy Pack. Niki could be there in less than a minute, could take her in less time than that, could finally ease the maddening pressure in her sex. But not until her duty was done.
Niki picked up her pace and jumped onto the wide plank porch fronting the long narrow barracks. Jace landed beside her and grumbled softly, half whine and half growl. Her face dripped with sex-sheen, gleaming, stark, wild. She’d been immersed in Drake’s pheromones for hours, and now with Sylvan in the Compound, must be close to exploding. But she held, as the Prima said she would. Impressive.
Niki marched down the wide center hall of the two-story barracks, past the rooms on either side shared by soldiers and adolescent trainees, to a suite at the rear of the building. Three rooms, a large one in the center with two smaller on either side with connecting doors that allowed the Alpha’s guards access for security reasons if they needed.
“Will you require anything else?” Niki asked after opening the doors to the rooms.
“Not as of this moment,” Constantine said. “Are my wolves given leave to run? They’ve been traveling a long time.”
Niki nodded, again taking care not to dip her head lower than the Alpha’s, but not meeting her eyes. “There are trails that run inside the Compound perimeter—but they are likely to come upon our wolves if they go out without an escort. They may venture out, if they dare.”
Ash strode past her Alpha into Niki’s space. Her brown eyes were nearly black and ringed in silver-flecked gold. “We dare. And you should show some respect.”
Nick’s head jerked up and her canines punched down. “Remember where you are, Wolf.”
“At your Alpha’s invitation,” Ash said. “Are all the Timberwolves so poorly trained as you?”
“Stand down, Ash,” Constantine murmured. “The imperator is within her rights to demand we follow Pack protocol. You cannot traverse their territory without permission.” She smiled. “I would not allow it at Cresthome.”
Ash’s eyes narrowed and she swept her heated gaze over Niki and the others. “Yes, Alpha.”
“Jace,” Niki said softly, her gaze fixed on the impertinent captain of Constantine’s guard, “stand post outside and ensure our guests are not bothered.”
“As you command, Imperator.” Jace snapped a salute.
“We are perfectly capable of seeing to our Alpha’s security,” Ash snarled.
Niki ignored her. “Jace, Captain of our Prima’s guard, will be certain of that.” Insult delivered, Niki turned to Jace. “See to it.”
“As you command,” Jace said, canines gleaming as she regarded Ash. “Mags, Noa, you are dismissed. I’ll be here should you require me.”
The two sentries saluted. “Yes, Captain.”
With obvious reluctance, Ash stepped back into formation on Constantine’s left side.
“Alpha Constantine,” Niki said, “when I receive further orders from the Alpha, I’ll send word. Meals will be provided at the appropriate times.”
Zora Constantine inclined her head a degree. “Extend our appreciation to Alpha Mir.”
“It shall be done.” Niki turned and bounded down the hall, off the porch, and across the Compound to the adjoining building before Jace had time to follow her outside. Enough. Her duty was done, and her mate awaited.
Sophia was in the office she used when she wasn’t with an ill or injured wolf. She instantly rose from behind her desk when Niki strode in and slammed the door behind her.
“I wondered when you would come,” Sophia said softly, her silver hair matching the silver of her wolf’s eyes. “You’ve kept me waiting.”
“Only by the Alpha’s command,” Niki snarled, stripping off her shirt and tossing it onto a chair as she reached over the desk, gripped Sophia’s waist with both hands, and lifted her over the top. Sophia laughed as she slid down and settled against Niki, draping her arms around Niki’s neck, her breasts pressed hard to Niki’s chest. Sophia raked claws through the soft glimmer of red-brown pelt that lightly coated Niki’s torso. “You have been waiting too, haven’t you,” she whispered.
Niki growled in answer and pushed Sophia back until Sophia’s hips rested against the edge of her desk. Sophia braced her arms on the desktop and Niki dropped to her knees, the only Were in the world for whom she would kneel other than Sylvan. Sophia’s scent, sunshine and saplings, cascaded around her like a fist to the gut and a hand to her heart. Everything that mattered. Her sex pulsed painfully and Niki growled.
Sophia gripped Niki’s hair until Niki raised her eyes.
“These pants are brand new. Don’t destroy them this time.”
Carefully, deliberately, Niki unbuttoned Sophia’s pants and lowered them. She could have shredded them, but her mate enjoyed tormenting her when she was this ready, and she enjoyed giving Sophia control.
“Very good.” Sophia’s white claws raked through Niki’s hair as Niki bared her, one slow inch at a time.
Niki’s vision wavered on the edge of wolf sight, her body on the edge of turning. She held back the flood of primal chemicals boiling through her but only because her mate demanded it.
“Open your pants,” Sophia commanded.
Niki unzipped her pants and pushed them down as far as she could. She had no time to stand and shed them. She needed release or she would spill untouched.
“No more,” Niki growled, and took Sophia fast and deep with her mouth.
“Niki!” Sophia’s hips jerked and she pushed into Niki’s mouth, tugging Niki’s hair, riding her with chaotic thrusts and broken cries.
Niki stroked deep, pressing the tip of her tongue against the sensitive glands on either side of Sophia’s opening, and Sophia’s claws scored her shoulders.
“I’ve hungered for you,” Sophia gasped, an urgent whine undercutting her words. “I need you to take me. Take me, I need to fill you.”
Niki stroked the inside of Sophia’s thigh and teased her with a blunt-tipped finger, working her clitoris until Sophia moaned and flooded her with her essence.
“Oh yes,” Sophia said, shuddering as the last of the contractions rippled through her sex.
Snarling, Niki surged upward, wrapped an arm around Sophia’s waist, and buried her canines in the mate bite on Sophia’s neck. The bite she had longed for and feared for so long. But they were one now, and Sophia was hers. She trembled, the ecstasy in her heart matched by the pounding agony in her sex. Sophia spent against her thigh as the hormones burned through her, and then Sophia’s hand was between Niki’s thighs, massaging her, stroking lower to tease inside her. Niki threw her head back, the mate bite on her breast throbbing.
“Do it,” Niki pleaded to the only Were she would ever beg. “Please. Please. I need…”
Niki trembled, whined, went blind with agony, and then Sophia bit, claiming her. Niki exploded, drenching Sophia’s hand with all that she was. She dropped to her knees again, this time from weakness, her thighs trembling too hard to hold her upright. She pressed her cheek to Sophia’s sex. “I love you.”
Sophia stroked her head, brushed the sheen-soaked strands from her face. “I love you too. My mate.”
“I can’t stay.”
“I know,” Sophia said. “I sensed the newcomers. Powerful dominants.”
Niki snarled, her canines lengthening. “They will not come near you.”
Sophia laughed. “Really? You think they interest me?”
“You are Omega. They will be drawn to you.” Niki tipped her head, met Sophia’s gaze, letting her wolf ascend. “And you are mine.”
Sophia’s fingers rippled over the mate bite on Niki’s chest, making her sex tingle and tense.
“You think I don’t know that?” Sophia chided. “You think that’s not what I’ve wanted all my life? To be your mate?”
Niki, grinned. “I like hearing it.”
“I like saying it.” Sophia kissed her.
When Niki rose, Sophia rubbed her cheek against Niki’s shoulder. “Why are they here?”
“I don’t know,” Niki murmured, “but the Alpha has called a war council.”
Sophia drew a sharp breath. “Again, so soon. Will there never be peace?”
“We’re wolves,” Niki said, and for her, no other explanation mattered. “Peace belongs to the strongest.”
“Then go, Imperator,” Sophia said, “and do your duty.”