Savage Hunger (Project Nemesis) (16 page)

Shudders rippled through him, as if he matched the intensity she was feeling in his own body.

She sucked in a sharp breath, feeling the painful ache ease off as he drove deeply.  Jasmine rose with each grinding thrust, urging him to move faster as she felt rapture teasing her on the edge.  She wanted to wait just a little longer, prolong the pleasure for as long as she could, but she could no more resist ecstasy’s lure than he could.

He glided inside her, driving her higher, reaching his own climax and spilling his seed inside her.

Relief flooded her being and a sense of bliss washed over her.  Something about his come eased the burning need inside her.  It should have disturbed her.  Instead, she felt right and whole.

Jasmine sighed, enjoying his warmth and nuzzling face.

She must have dozed off in his arms for a little while, for the fire had burned down to embers and the soup they’d made was low on water.

Low, deep voices caught her attention.

Disorientation confused her for a minute, and then she realized it was Zach and Lucas returning.  She lay there, listening to their conversation rather than getting up to greet them.  Something about them made her uneasy.

Dante went out to greet them and they continued talking in quiet voices.  She could only hear snatches of conversation, but it was enough to set her nerves on edge.

“…not sure if they’ll want to take her or not.  They might be following us even now if they caught our scent in the area.  I don’t like what they’ve been doing to the locals,” Zach said.

“We were all supposed to keep a low profile,” Dante said, his back to Jasmine and his voice muffled and barely distinguishable.

“I don’t like it.  We need to move at first light in case they decide to challenge or track us down.  They haven’t handled it as well as us.  They haven’t been able to breed,” Lucas returned.

“Agreed,” Zach said. “How’s she holding up?” he asked Dante.

Dante shrugged and glanced back at her.  “She’s been in heat, but you knew that, didn’t you.  You should’ve told me before y’all left.”

“We might have pups.  We need to get her and them out of here before anything can happen to her.”

Jasmine debated on whether to alert them to the fact that she’d heard everything they’d said.  She decided to keep the information to herself, and to remain still and feign sleep.

When they finally came to bed down with her, she was half-asleep again already.  They enveloped her in their warmth and scent, making her feel comforted and protected.  She struggled to make sense of what they’d said.  She knew they were wolf now, altered by a virus, but if they’d come inside her and created pups?  Did they mean baby or babies?  How could they know she was fertile anyway?

The questions only begged for answers she felt they wouldn’t give her.  Exhaustion tugged her back into unconsciousness and they slept.

***

The sun hadn’t broken over the horizon when they woke Jasmine up to get moving.  She didn’t argue with them, knowing something had happened, but she trusted they would tell her once they got on the move.

They packed up the vegetables they’d scrounged from the wild garden and everything else, then began a trek in the opposite direction from the village they’d found.

After the sun crested, dappling the jungle with light, Jasmine finally ventured to ask what was going on.

Zach glanced over his shoulder at her.  “You remember the others on the boat?  They’ve all been infected the same as we.  We had different drop off points along the coast.  Each set has formed their own pack as we have, except they haven’t had the outlet to release their frustrations.  They’ve been terrorizing the locals up and down the coast.”

“What?  What’s wrong with them?” she asked, nervously looking behind her and hoping they weren’t leaving an obvious trail for these men to follow.

“I don’t know.  Maybe it’s hormones out of control or the fact that they’ve had everything take from them.  We were all supposed to live off the land, but they’re just taking what they want from villagers.  When Lucas went in, the locals were terrified and spoke of chupacabra.  It was all we really needed to know that something was up.  They’ve killed a lot of livestock.  I’m not sure if they’ve actually attacked any people or not.”

“We knew if they were in the area, they might try to track us down.  It wasn’t any secret that we had you with us.  They saw you leave the boat.  Hopefully, they won’t catch on to the fact that you’re still with us,” Lucas said, touching her shoulder and moving a vine out of her way so she could duck under it.

“I hope not either,” she said.  “I want to stay with you guys.  Do you think we’ll be okay?”

“We just have to put as much distance between us and them as we can,” Zach said, grimly looking ahead.  “The other packs aren’t the worst of it.  There’s been American soldiers seen in the area.  Our worst fears are true.  The project is still out searching for us.  We should have done something with the bodies from that attack.”

“We didn’t have time.  It was too close to that village.  At least by leaving when we did, we had enough of a chance to put distance between us and them.  It’s obvious they don’t want to go into the jungle to look for us.  They think we’re sticking close to the villages.  It might be a good thing that the other packs are rogue and drawing so much attention to themselves,” Dante said.

“True.  Maybe it’ll be a positive spin.  We can hope,” Zach said.

After what seemed like hours, when Jasmine finally began to stumble from exhaustion, Lucas passed his bag to Dante and got her to crawl on his back to piggyback her through the jungle.  She didn’t want to be a burden, but she knew she’d been slowing them down.  Hell, if she wasn’t with them, they probably would have just shifted and run through the jungle like wolves and gotten the miles they needed to distance themselves.

That thought alone sent a shiver through her.  There was nothing stopping the other packs from shifting and following them, if they caught their trail.

Fear rode Jasmine hard.  She wanted to believe they would be okay, but everything inside her screamed the opposite.  Anxiety rolled in her mind, making her weary with fear for their safety.

She was certain if it came down to an attack, Dante, Lucas, and Zach would give their lives to defend her—and the very thought made her sick to her stomach.  They shouldn’t have to defend her.

She had a terrible fear that something awful was going to happen to them.

“Where are we going?” she asked Lucas, clinging to his neck and enjoying the feel of his strong muscles supporting her.  She felt safe with them.  Safer than she had in such a long time.

She hadn’t realized how much loneliness had affected her life and changed her as a person.  Being alone in the world was tough.  Having someone to care for and care about her made her feel whole again when she never thought that would happen.

“We’re heading home,” he said, breathing hard.

“You should put me down.  I’m no featherweight.  I don’t think I’ve had a man pick me up since I was a kid.”

Lucas chuckled.  “It’s fine.  It’s just this uneven ground that gives me problems.  Besides, I don’t want you being too tired.  You need your rest after everything we’ve put you through.  You wouldn’t be in this predicament if not for us landing on your boat.”

She sighed, hating weighing him down.  “I guess so.”

Near sunset, they stopped for a brief respite to eat and attend to personal needs.  Taking the break only increased Jasmine’s anxiety, however.  If she had to, she’d run through the whole damn jungle to make sure they were safe.

They began traveling again, but as dusk settled and darkness closed over the jungle, Jasmine could no longer see to walk without stumbling and trying to hurt herself.

Lucas lifted her onto his back again and hefted her through the jungle.

As much as she hated being a burden, she knew they had to keep moving.  She was incapable of traveling safely when she could no longer see.  She wished she’d had the ability to see in the dark as they did.

They traveled long into the night, taking only short breaks to sleep fitfully.  At least, she did.  When they woke her before light to begin again, her limbs were so sore from the rough terrain that she thought for a minute she might burst into tears.  She wasn’t one to get weepy at a little physical exertion normally, but that combined with the growing unease that they could be followed was enough to tear down her normal reservations.

Jasmine had no idea how they knew where to go or how they kept their bearings.  Every direction looked the same.  Had she been on her own, she probably would have spent weeks walking around in circles, following her own tracks.  For that matter, they could have been doing something similar to frustrate anyone following them.

She didn’t know and she didn’t care.  All she knew was that she’d have enough of staring at mile after mile of dense, green jungle.

They ran out of all the meat they’d managed to gather, as well as the found treasures from the garden that first day.  They’d managed to scavenge Chonta Pambil nuts that had fallen from the trees and scattered over the ground.  The find was a treat, giving them much needed fat and calories to keep them sustained.

Jasmine loved munching on nuts, and the treat invigorated her enough that she could walk much of the day on her own.  She thought perhaps her endurance had been built up since coming here, even though she was completely worn out at night time.

Heat and humidity had a way of doing that to a person.

At the end of another day, Zach finally decided they’d been going long and hard enough that they could risk making actual camp.  They’d happened upon a stream for the first time in days, and they were all looking forward to eating something more substantial and getting much needed rest, as well as a bath.

Dante went off into the woods to look for something to kill and bring back.

Jasmine went with Zach to the stream to clean up, but as much as she wanted to experience his loving and feeling secure in his arms, they were both too tired to do anything more than wash the sweat off their bodies and bring back water to boil to refill their bottles and hydrate.

When they returned, Lucas had built a small fire, and he’d cleared an area for their bedding for the night.  She would have liked to sleep off the ground, since it only seemed to seep cold into her bones when she lay directly upon it, but beggars couldn’t be choosers.

The very fact that they’d have something fresh to eat and a warm fire to sit by was enough to make her happy.

Feeling this was the best time to gather information, Jasmine spoke up.  “So what exactly happened to put us on the run like this?  I’ve been waiting for you to tell me the truth, but I didn’t figure it was going to happen unless I asked you point blank.”

Zach sighed, poking the fire with a stick.  “Riker is leading a pack along the coast.  They’ve discovered, much the same as us, that they can control the change.  They’ve been killing livestock and terrorizing the locals.  When me and Lucas reached the village, the people there were so frightened that our presence would mean
chupacabra
would come for them.”

“We think their pack has been looking to mate like we have and that’s why they’re so out of control.  They’re angry.  Resentful.  It isn’t hard when you’re like this.  If it wasn’t for you, we might be in the same boat,” Lucas said, trailing off and watching her.

Jasmine shook her head.  “Y’all aren’t like that.  I can’t believe you would hurt any innocent people like that.  So that’s why we’re running so hard?  You think they might want me?”

“Maybe.  They’ve been killing anyone who puts up a fight or stands in their way.  We can’t take that chance.  They might want the chance to breed with you.  Hell, anyone would,” Zach said, his face guarded and grim.  “We won’t let anyone hurt our pups.”

Jasmine felt a surge of warmth at his determined face and their protectiveness.  They obviously cared for her.  It couldn’t just be about the sex or they would have abandoned her somewhere by now.  They were doing this for her.  “Pups?”

“Babies.  Pups.  I know we’ve all come in you enough to make something happen.  You’ve had some kind of reaction to us and the virus.  You might not be infected, but it has definitely affected you on a cellular level.”

Instead of feeling horrified at the thought of being pregnant, it filled her with a surge of happiness.  She touched her stomach, wondering if life grew there.

Dante returned with a small, cleaned pig and spitted chunks of it over the fire.  Fat dripped into the flame, sputtering and smoking and making her stomach growl with the delicious smell of cooking pork.

“We’re going to have to find a doctor.  Jasmine will need one.  She could be pregnant with one or two babies and we can’t have her staying in the jungle until she has them.  They seemed to be heading south, where we’d been dropped off, so hopefully they won’t know we changed direction and are out-flanking them,” Zach said, eating some of the cooked pork and passing some to Jasmine.

She took it gratefully, listening to the men talk.

“Where are we going to go?  Brazil?  It’s too far.  The jungle’s too thick.  Jasmine will never make it, especially if she’s pregnant,” Lucas said, looking at her worriedly.

“I’m stronger than you think, guys,” she said.

They chuckled at that.  “I know you are, baby.  You’ve proved it time and again and that’s why you’re so perfect for us.  But we can’t help but worry about you though,” Dante said, wrapping an arm around her comfortably.

“So we make for the border and try to go into Brazil?  Plenty of doctors there,” Lucas said.

“We don’t have papers though.  That might be a problem.  I’m sure we can slip in under the radar if we stick to the jungle.  We’ve been in it long enough I know we won’t run into too many people there who’d question us.”

“I’m pretty sure if the other packs continue to head south the project is going to pick them up.  We left a pretty big calling card down there.  They’re big, mean, and just stupid enough to think we’ve gone back that way,” Zach said.