Claimed by Desire (5 page)

“As much as I hate to say it, you were right.” Rafe was out of breath and glistening with sweat. “This is one hell of a mountain range. From Draco territory it doesn’t look as menacing.”

He stuck his arm behind him, waiting for Misty to hand him his clothes.

Even though Misty had seen him naked countless times, he still felt the need to face away from her after shifting. Could he really be shy after all they’d been through?

She opened his duffel, pulled out his clothes and tossed them to him.

He dressed in a rush and strode to her side, slinging the bag over his shoulder. “We don’t have much time,” he said. “They must’ve spotted us flying over. Any idea how long Hollow Pass is from this side to the other?”

Trying to sense danger around them and coming up blank, Misty shook her head. “Half a mile. Maybe more. It’s not documented so I can’t be sure. “

“Well we’re about to find out.”

Misty grabbed Rafe’s hand and led him into the menacing pit of Hollow Pass.

*

They walked for what seemed like miles. In the dark. Clutching each others’ hands. Soft rushes of water echoing through their ears. Rafe had heard there were waterfalls on the merfolk side of the range, but he’d never traveled that far. From the constant hum of running water all around them, yet nowhere at all, he figured the rumors were true.

“You sure this comes out the other side?” Rafe whispered, each foot treading lightly on the dirt floor. Werewolves were tricky suckers. Traps would be right up their alley. “Feels like we’re walking in circles.”

“There’s rumor of a tunnel in merfolk territory, hidden beneath a waterfall that cascades down the ridge. I’m thinking…I mean, I hope Hollow Pass and the merfolk tunnel are one in the same.”

“You didn’t sound so doubtful when we were in Draco territory this morning.”

“I was afraid you wouldn’t have come this way.” She squeezed his arm as thunder rumbled outside the pass. Although he was fully aware danger lurked around every corner, Rafe couldn’t help but think about her hand squeezing other thick parts of him.

“You have to admit,” she whispered. “It’s kind of exhilarating. Exploring somewhere no one’s ever been.”

Her voice was soft. Seductive. Soothing in the most erotic way. “I wouldn’t mind exploring a bit more of you.” Deciding he couldn’t keep his hands off her, not for another second, Rafe snaked his arms around her waist, twirled her around and pressed her flush against the wall. Misty gasped, the glimmer in her hazel eyes shining with excitement.

He captured her mouth with his and kissed her slow and soft, as if this one stolen moment was the last one they’d share. As she moaned into his mouth, opening wide, slanting for him to explore deeper, his hands slid down her glorious body. Oh, how he wanted to memorize every inch of her! He held the full weight of her breasts in his hands. Pressed against the flat span of her stomach. Gripped the gentle curve of her hips.

Every touch, every whip of her tongue against his, made it harder for Rafe to pull away. Her kiss deepened, dragging him away from the danger of the moment and into a world where nothing existed but the two of them. He plunged his hand into her hair and arched her head so he could claim more of her lips. They were addicting. Deliciously sweet…

As the heat between them crackled with something more intense, Rafe pressed against her. Every muscle tensed. His cock screamed for release, swelling against his jeans. He wedged his knee between her legs and nipped at her bottom lip. When she widened her stance and whimpered into his mouth, Rafe had the overwhelming urge to jerk down her pants and lick her like a madman…until she crumpled down the wall, screaming his name.

He smudged a searing line of kisses down Misty’s neck and—

With a jerk, he pulled back.

“What is it?” she asked, dragging her fingers around the back of his head.

“Shh…” He peered into the dark on either side of them, trying to figure out what was responsible for the cold chill creeping into his bones.

Misty gripped his backside and lifted her hips to meet him. He could feel the heat between her legs radiate through his clothes. Good Lord, how could he concentrate? He swallowed hard, took a step back…and suddenly felt the weight of werewolf eyes upon them. “We’re about to get some company. Come on, we’ve got to move.”

They peeled apart and careful-footed through the cave, Misty a safe step behind.

“Stay close.” He guided her along, squeezing her hand. Not far up ahead, a pinprick of light set into the wall caught Rafe’s eye.

As they came closer, Rafe realized it was a brightly burning candle held up by a block of wood and a few nails drilled into the wall. From here, the path broke off in two directions. The trail directly in front of them widened and curved to the right, out of sight. The path to their left narrowed to a point they’d barely be able to squeeze through. And although that path was smoothed out on the sides and lit by candles every few feet, it threw off a nasty canine vibe.

“This is promising,” Misty said, swiping her hand over the tip of the flame. It licked at her fingers, flickering down the paths. “It means someone was down here recently to light the way.”

Rafe didn’t understand how a werewolf in close proximity was a good thing, but was too focused on paying attention to his surroundings to fight her on it.

“I say we follow the candlelit road,” Misty said, pulling him toward the lit path, her long red ringlets flopping behind her.

“I say you’re insane. Do you
want
to run into a werewolf or something?”

When her eyes met his, they glowed iridescent in the candlelight, taking his breath away.

“I’ve been trying to tell you…they won’t harm us once we tell them who we are and what we’re looking for. If they
are
angry that we’re down here, I should be able to pick up on that emotion before we’re in range. Maybe they could show us the way out so we don’t waste our time winding down tunnels that lead farther into the mountain.”

A series of low growls echoed through the tunnels, raising the hairs on Rafe’s neck.

“What makes you think we’d let you leave?” a baritone voice asked.

Rafe slid in front of Misty, his arms spread protectively to his sides. “Where was your empath sensor that time?” he bit out.

She pinched him beneath the arm. “It’s not like an alarm goes off or something.” She squeezed his shoulders, her body hugging his. “Something stronger must be blocking my ability to sense them.”

At first Rafe only saw one werewolf, slinking out of the shadows of the left tunnel. The shifter, though still in his human form, was as beastly and hairy as a wolf. Greased black hair fell to his shoulders in a matted mess. Mud clung to his naked torso and dark washed jeans. His werewolf marking was black and tribal, snaking around his neck, down his side and over his arm.

When the other werewolf came out of the shadows behind him, moving slower and more deliberately than his pack mate, Rafe knew
he
was the one to keep an eye on. The shifter was smaller than the first, but threw off an air of total dominance as he closed in on their position. Platinum blond hair flopped over his eyes. The angles of his face were as sharp as the rocks around them. And his werewolf marking was charcoal-black with long thick vines and jagged thorns that covered his bare chest.

“Don’t belong nowhere around here, Draco,” the smaller wolf spat, attempting to circle them. “What business you doing?”

Rafe kept himself between the shifters and Misty, matching them step for step. “We’re just passing through.”

As the smaller shifter sized Misty up, sniffing the air as if he could smell her fear, Rafe had to use all his strength to tone down the rage firing through this gut. The last thing he needed was to start a fight with two werewolves—who were clearly looking for trouble—on their turf.
Damn it
, how’d Misty convince him to come through Hollow Pass? They’d just barged through the werewolves’ fucking front door.

“You’re not Draco,” the wolf said to Misty as if he’d just realized it. “Not Sindraco, either.”

She shook her head, although the canine didn’t need an answer. Shifters could sense other shifters a mile away. Now that he thought of it, Rafe sensed a dozen or more werewolves stalking to their position from the left and right.

“Feeler?” The burly one scratched the back of his neck and grimaced.

“Empath,” Misty corrected.

“What one of your kind doin’ back here?”

Their presence was making the wolves uneasy. Rafe had to get Misty out of there. Fast.

“No empath come round in five years. Maybe more. What your business here?”

“We’re traveling to the far reaches of Feralon.” Misty’s voice was laced with fear. “If you’d be so kind as to allow us to pass through, we’ll be out of your hair in no time.”

Thunder shook the mountain, drowning out the wolves’ laughter. Rafe pushed Misty behind him farther.

“Don’t mind if we take you to our Alpha, do ya’?” The larger one closed in. “He might have somethin’ to say `bout a Draco and a Feeler taking a bird-eye of our land `fore the boundary talk.”

Meeting their Alpha was the last thing Rafe and Misty wanted. Alphas were temperamental werewolves—egomaniacal leaders who would gladly slice the throats of trespassers to send a message of uncontested dominance to the rest of their pack.

“We weren’t scoping out anything.” Rafe maneuvered around, Misty flush behind him, so that his back faced the path dead ahead; the one that widened to the right, then disappeared. It was the only one giving off the faintest hint of a cold draft….

Misty gripped Rafe’s biceps tight, and peeked over his shoulder.

“Tell your Alpha to speak with Queen Elixa about the reason for our presence here,” Rafe said. “He’ll get the answer he needs and know we mean no malice.”

The shifters followed him step for step down the tunnel, backs hunching, fangs elongating. In seconds, they’d barely fit in the pass. They’d grow over eight feet tall and become solid walls of muscle and fur and snapping teeth.

“That’s not good enough,” the smaller of the two growled. “If you wanna pass through, you’ll pay a price.”

“I think my buddy here’s got the right idea.” The husky shifter moved closer, eyeing Misty hungrily. “I might like a little plaything to toss ‘round in the storm out there. You feelin’ the stir in me, empath?” He swiped a fat wet tongue across his lips.

“There’s no need for any of this,” Misty pleaded. “We didn’t mean to intrude….”

With a howl, the smaller werewolf dropped to all fours and leaped at them. Thick layers of fur draped over his torso and back. His body exploded with muscle. The larger wolf followed his command and shifted, snarling in rage. They were larger and more menacing than Rafe expected; blocking all the light from the pass.

Rafe’s protective instinct flared to uncontrollable levels. In a burst of movement, he shielded Misty from their attack, shifting into dragon form before she could clamp her eyes shut. Muscles exploded over Rafe’s body, ripping his clothes to shreds, sending the duffel bag flying into the wall. He sliced his wings through the air like battleaxes, the weight of them hitting the wolves midflight. Misty screamed, hiding her face in Rafe’s chest.

The wolves cried from the force of the hit and jumped back. They foamed at the mouth, their eyes burning violet in the dark.

Misty didn’t waste any time. She snatched their bag, slung it across her back and wrapped herself around Rafe’s chest. With the size of the tunnel, there was no way she could ride his back without being scraped off the top. As it was, Rafe’s wings couldn’t extend full length. What surprised him the most was that he didn’t even have to tell Misty how to hang on. It was as if she’d read his mind.

Rafe bounded down the tunnel, following the hint of a cool draft of air, his wings scraping the walls. Behind him, the wolves snapped at his tail, gouged their claws into the tips of his wings and howled for other wolves to join in the scramble.

Beneath him, clutched to his chest and belly, Misty whimpered. Her hands slipped.

Pain seared through Rafe’s tail as a set of fangs pierced his flesh. He let out an agonizing bellow that reverberated against the walls. But he kept going. Had to keep going.

Massive teeth thrashed back and forth like a scissored blade, cutting him deep. He had to focus hard not to shift back to human form. It went against every instinct in his body to remain a dragon. Injuries couldn’t transfer between forms. Shifters were anomalies of natural selection in that way. If they didn’t change forms to recover, they risked death.

Now, as the larger wolf took a bite out of Rafe’s wing, every fiber in his being screamed to shift back and heal.

But he couldn’t leave Misty. And he could protect her better this way. Shielding her body with his.

Despite the pain searing through him, Rafe pushed harder, ramming into the wall to dislodge the fangs from his wings and tail. He turned the blind corner in the pass. And faced an opening covered by falling sheets of water.

Wolves snapping at his back, Rafe bounded off the ground, let his wings unleash with a loud snap and burst through the wall of water. The two werewolves skidded to a halt…but it was too late. They tumbled through the waterfall, falling into the lake below like chunky stones.

Rafe and Misty soared.

But only long enough for Rafe to realize his tail and wings were torn to shreds. He veered right, left, fumbling through the wind and rain, searching for a place to land. Below them was an enormous lake, the size of a small sea, surrounded on three sides by rocky, impassable cliffs. On the farthest side of the lake, beyond a rock seawall used as a dam, was the ocean, sparkling white in the twilight. And behind them, covering the ridge from tip to base, was a series of waterfalls that merged into one gigantic wall of water.

No land for werewolves to conquer. Nothing but waterfalls, lake and sea.

Merfolk territory.

Rafe had the fleeting thought that they weren’t going to last long…as Misty slipped from his chest and fell through the sky.