3: Fera - Pack City Read online

  Honestly, what empowered me was probably the scent of my brother and Leer coming toward us. They were mind-talking. Leer asked, I thought you told her not to leave P.C.

  I did, dammit. I’m gonna wring her little neck.

  You smell that?

  They were talking about me. With my body ready to change, Big Brother had put down his foot. Told me not to get outside the perimeter. And technically, I was still inside the limits.

  Just barely. And just because I’d been stopped.

  I need to explain something. When you’re ready to go into the first shift frenzy, you have a definite urge to smell some fresh air, if you know what I mean. Maybe take a little run, check out some new sights. Fuck your brains out with somebody you never met before.

  So you can imagine my brother’s irritation at the thought that I might go out and get pregnant with some freak’s bastard. Or worse, a human of no breeding. Not kin, like Kayty.

  Did I mention that my brother is Leer’s right hand man now? Or that his name is Hood? Got a really nice set of markings when he’s in lupus. Almost perfect.

  Well, about as perfect as you can get, really. And he’s bigger than Leer.

  Some say he should take over the pack. I’m sure he’s thinking about it. But, for now, he and Leer are cool.

  Mr. Vocal prompts, “Thinking up something good?”

  “Yeah.” I kinda smile. “Something real good.” Thinking on how to get you rapists crying.

  More of that damn hoarse laughing rose up. Jackals, they sounded like.

  I almost wanted to run, now that I was pretty sure Leer and Hood were on their way. Probably end up in all the dogs being put down.

  Don’t think I didn’t look to the woods outside of Pack City.

  Thought I saw something move, too. Narrowed my gaze.

  “I’m game. How about you?” The others agreed. For some, there’s not much they won’t do. It was easy to peg those bozos.

  “Shift.” It was an order.

  “Ah, not so easy,” Mr. Vocal apologized. “Some of us, ah, we need to get mad to do it.”

  “Fine.” I turned up my nose. “Just fuck yourselves, then.”

  Apparently that irritated Mr. Vocal, because he freaking changed in a heartbeat. And maybe his sudden change made the others nervous. The next thing you know, the woods were filled with the sounds of all of them popping and grinding. Some of them had on some painful expressions, took way too long to change. I jumped at a few of the bone-crunching snaps. They have to shift through crinos to get to human, so the view of this gruesome scene was pretty ugly. And, like I said, these were not prime specimens of the species to begin with. And most of them, as humans, were ugly as hell.

  Definitely a bunch of scrawny cocks. Though, I think they felt bigger down there as humans than they did in the previous form.

  I laughed a little. I knew I could outrun them all if they were on two legs and I got a head start. Even if they took a minute to change. It would be enough. Too easy. Really.

  What I didn’t realize was that the losers had been waiting for me. Pre-shift behavior, I guess, is pretty predictable.

  And honestly, I probably should have mentioned...I’m like a princess in the pack, not that we have royalty per se. But I am one of the few clean blood descendents left. Makes me a good breeder.

  Since I felt pretty safe, I dropped to my belly and said, “I was serious about fucking yourselves.”

  Okay. I’ll tell you now, even though they were lying in wait for me, they were carnal beasts first and foremost. Just having me say the words out loud made their cocks reach, throb and ache.

  I took my turn, looked them in the eye one by one and said, “Go ahead. Stroke yourself. I want to see.”

  What I really wanted to see, suddenly, was them all coming at the same time. Or maybe servicing each other. I couldn’t make up my mind. Pictures floated quickly, in and out.

  But, again, something in the woods, the slightest movement, caught my attention, stole some of my enjoyment. So, with one eye on the troupe and the other on the woods, I commanded them, “Squeeze your balls. Harder.” Yeah, I had to grin. “Harder.” Talk about pinching the blood flow.

  I think they liked it.

  “Now stroke.”

  It was pretty funny. I mean, really. Just picture it.

  Mr. Vocal asked, “And what do we get for this?”

  “Self-satisfaction?” I smiled bigger. “Or you want something else?”

  “What I’d really like is a little piece of your ass,” Mr. Vocal, I think, wanted to talk dirty to me. You know, interactive-like, instead of me just telling him what to do.

  Leer and Hood were a lot closer now. Hood said, Remind me again why you didn’t want me to lock her up.

  I made a face at that. It was common practice to lock a chick in a safe little place until her first change is over. Maybe keep her there for a bit until she gets a grip.

  Leer said, Kayty insisted. She really likes Fera. And she’s got her own ideas on how women should be treated.

  She has no idea what Fera’s capable of.

  Oh, I think she’s got a good idea. She went through it herself, you know. Not that long ago.

  She’s not wolf born. She has no idea. Hood’s voice had a guttural edge to it.

  Again, it was all mind talk. They were slinking, I bet, with every plan to sneak up on me and catch me doing something wrong. Seems like it doesn’t matter what I do, it’s wrong--leastwise that’s what Hood tends to think. Or so he tells me. He’s such a prude. Uncommonly private. Ya can’t trust a guy like that, can ya?

  “Why don’t you come over and give us a lick.” Mr. Vocal had no idea how un-fetching comments like that are. He waggled his stupid little spindle toward me.

  I said, “Why don’t you drop to your ass and lick yourself? I’m sure you’ve done it before.”

  Of course, he couldn’t do it in human. He’d have to go back to lupus. I immediately took it back. “I mean, wait.”

  His fingers stilled. I know he was a little confused. I mean, after all, I was talking dirty to him, but being bitchy. And I kept my distance. So that was one of those deals where he wasn’t sure if he was doing good or not. Stupid fuck.

  “I really would like to see something unusual.”

  He and his friends rubbed themselves harder. Guess they couldn’t help it, what with a female saying she wanted something more.

  “Why don’t you taste your own juice?” I batted my eyes.

  Hood asked in mind talk, Fera, if you can hear me, you better let me know where you are.

  Answering him would have stopped my fun. I couldn’t wait for him to find us on his own.

  “You mean, like this?” Mr. Vocal slid a finger over the hooded end of his cock and then put it to his lips.

  I asked, “You like the way it tastes?”

  I know he was thinking this could be one of those damned if I do, damned if I don’t situations. He took a gamble and said, “Yeah.”

  “Good. Lick his cock, please.” I let my nose dip toward the guy next to him. “All of you, pick a friend.”

  They weren’t sure if they wanted to do it. I mean, you could tell some of them were up for it. They’d turned to the guy next to them.

  That’s when Leer and Hood found us.

  Hood exclaimed, “What the fuck?”

  I tried not to laugh.

  Leer turned a sorry eye on his pack brothers, breathed out through his nose a few times and, I’m sure, struggled for words. See, two dogs fucking is fine. Many dogs fucking is okay. But no females in the party, that smacks of straggle packs. No breeding. I’m not saying it’s bad. Just...not our deal at Pack City.

  Now, I didn’t realize it, but the little bit of excitement there had really started to get my juices flowing. So you could say that, even though I don’t really go for it, it did kind’ve turn me on. In fact, I was a little disappointed I didn’t get to see a little more action before the others showed up.

  But my
scent had definitely caught a little wind.

  Bitches started to circle in.

  And I think Leer forgave that sorry lot, just on basis of the fact that I was to blame. Irritated me a little. I mean, well, I don’t want to get into that. But mark my words, you don’t want to make a bitch mad. We tend to carry grudges.

  Kayty arrived, took a look around.

  Did I mention that the sudden arrival of everybody else didn’t make those knotheads take their hands off themselves? They kept on stroking, and started releasing in spurts. Out of the corner of my eye, I watched Mr. Vocal dump his seed, then lick his fingers. And yeah, he was watching me the whole time. I pretended not to notice.

  The smell of fresh semen had everyone’s nose twitching.

  Again, though, I felt more than saw, a movement in the woods outside the perimeter line. I sat up. But you can sure as hell bet my ass was on the ground. Whatever was out there, I think, had come for smelling me. And it scared me, not knowing what it was.

  I peered toward the shadows, and that’s when I saw him.

  Chapter Four

  “Fera!” Hood’s voice had me snapping my head around in a quick swivel. “I thought I told you to stay close.”

  That annoyed me. “I needed to stretch.”

  Hood’s gaze strayed to the losers. “Some stretch.”

  “I need to run.”

  Kayty said, “It’s coming. I can smell it.” She meant my change.

  Leer agreed. “Everybody in P.C. can smell it.”

  “Fera, why don’t you come back to the council cave? It’ll be safer for you there.” Kayty’s compassion almost suckered me in.

  But the eyes in the woods, I could feel them still. And I wondered who, or what, had smelled me and come. Come to make me come. That thought made me grin to myself. I wanted to come, go, out and see--and come. The thought kinda drumrolled through my brain, repeating itself until I forced it to quit, tried to gather my wits.

  “You think I’m not safe here?” I asked Kayty, but my gaze strayed around the circle. I’d just unloaded half the loser guns in Pack City. Most of the others were mated already. Not that it wouldn’t have stopped them from doing it doggie style with me, if I wanted. But I wasn’t yet primed. You know how it is with a dog bitch, when she’s not ready? Or a woman who doesn’t want sex, but has an ardent pursuer? We just ain’t backing up for it, ya know?

  I assured them all, “I guarantee you, I won’t be taken before I’m ready.” My voice rose. I wanted it to carry to my stalker.

  “Nevertheless, why don’t you come inside?” Kayty practiced her crooning voice. She used it on small pups, Leer and now me. I wanted to roll my eyes.

  But that would have been disrespectful. Instead, I dropped my gaze to her feet and got up, shoulders hunched, and said, “Fine.”

  It wasn’t fine, though. I took a few steps and looked back over my shoulder. Something in me wanted it to leap in and steal me away, or fight my whole damn pack. I know, there’s no sense in that sort of thinking. But then, that all goes out the window when it starts.

  And my shifting had started. As I walked behind Kayty, listening to the grumbled complaints of others--some whining because they’d missed the loser’s twenty-gun salute--so to speak, there weren’t really that many of them. Some complained because they wanted to see me endure a little pain. Blood envy.

  Did I mention that some don’t survive the first change? It can be pretty horrific. I think maybe some of my kin were half hoping that would happen to me. Not because they didn’t like me, really, but it would kind of put Hood in a different place. He wouldn’t be able to lift his head up, because everyone would wonder if our blood was tainted. And, like I said, he’d run his mouth pretty good on that matter.

  I wasn’t worried about that, though. I started to walk, heard the mutterings, and suddenly started to feel my muscles stretch, tighten. I reached out with my neck, let out a little whine, had to stop.

  Kayty looked over her shoulder at me. “You okay?”

  “Yeah.”

  She waited a second, watching me. I saw her nose wiggle. Then her head whipped around. Mr. Shadow wasn’t, apparently, a secret any more.

  They all smelled him about a second later. But--no one moved. The only way you could tell was by that stillness, a sudden silence. Leer flicked his left hand in a simple gesture. Two bitches slipped away.

  He said, “I think the den is too obvious. Take her to the other place.”

  “Right.” Kayty grabbed my collar.

  Gaia-damned collar. Stylish little piece of human apparel. I thought it was cute. Now I knew why my brother had groaned and promised, “You’ll be sorry about that little piece of rebellion.”

  I dug in my feet. Let my eyes flash. This other place had to be the lockdown. A garrison. A hellhole.

  She assured me, “Just until. I promise.”

  Now, Kayty’s word had always been as good as gold. I had no real reason not to go. They were looking out for me. I tried to tell myself that.

  But curiosity and raging hormones were really ruling my brain and body. I whispered, “I don’t want to be locked up.”

  She’d been studying up on history. She whispered back, “Just be glad they’re not cuffing and shackling any more, Fera. Come on.”

  We took a few steps toward P.C. main.

  Now would probably be a good time to talk about the one type of werewolf that I think you’re most familiar with. The ones that are bitten. Mutants. The unnaturals.

  We really have laws against making that happen. But you may have guessed...the losers sometimes get bested. They attack with intent to kill, but get run off before the job is done. Usually, if we hear about an unnatural, the pack takes a trip to the city, does a quick and efficient hunt, takes care of the problem.

  No one wants to report an unnatural. At least, in any way that would suggest they’re responsible for the creation. Sloppy half-kills are worse than massacres in our opinion.

  So, sometimes losers make mistakes. Who doesn’t? But their mistakes become nightmares; confused beasts whose hunting and killing instincts have been heightened, as well as their night vision and other senses. Their instincts also draw them to us. Sometimes they steal our weaker members. Believe it or not, they terrorize us. They certainly have a heightened urge to mate.

  I should also say here that we generally don’t go after the human population for our meals. Oh, we kill them plenty--when we interact in the business world and they get in our way, or that sort of thing. But we are pretty selective in our ‘prey.’ And honestly, humans can’t run fast enough to give enough thrill for a hunt. And they tend to paralyze somewhere in the brain section when they’re under extreme stress. We are, above all, predators of the highest order. We like a challenge. Sorry, average humans just don’t make the grade.

  Snicker.

  A deer provides a better challenge than most people.

  So, you’d think that an unnatural would be the ultimate in prey, especially after they go crinos.

  Some think so.