Wild Instincts - Complete Edition (Werewolf Erotic Romance) Read online

  I let my tongue glide along the underside of his shaft, my lips stroking up and down his swollen length, tracing the smoothness of his skin and tasting the salt of his arousal oozing against the back of my tongue as I bobbed my head, taking as much of him inside my mouth as I could before his glans pressed against the back of my throat and I was forced to pull back. I felt him twitch and his fingers tense every time I curled my tongue around the sensitive head of his cock, sucking and stroking and caressing with my mouth until he was heaving with excitement again, my free hand moving up to grip his thigh as I propped myself up on an elbow.

  Sirrus continued to thrust into me from behind, his hips striking against my soft cheeks with increasing vigour as he held me tight. Between the stimulation of his cock sliding in and out of my sopping wet sex and the taste of Ethan between my lips, I soon felt the beginnings of a third climax welling up inside me, and once again the desperate worry from earlier returned. I had already come twice, and still my instinct was writhing just beneath the surface, stirring my arousal on and on, demanding that I submit to the exquisite pleasure of the two men making love to me for the third time in a row. It felt as though it had diminished, but I knew my wolf was still far from sated. Was this how it was going to be every time now, if I wasn't with Thorne? I shuddered, unable to discern in my confused, aroused state whether it was from anxiety of pleasure.

  I tried not to think, to blot out my human thoughts and let my wolf take control as she so often did in these moments, but she was reluctant to step forward. She knew that neither the male thrusting into me from behind nor the one twitching in my mouth was the mate she wanted, the one worth baring herself to completely and utterly. I might have thought that sating my instinct was a simple matter of finding someone willing to have sex with me, but my wolf had her own needs and desires. They were becoming more specific, more complex. Perhaps she hadn't even known it herself for the longest time, but the feral companion sitting at the back of my mind no longer seemed as straightforward as I'd always assumed her to be.

  Ethan groaned, and I whimpered with longing as his fingers tightened in my hair, pressing himself forward insistently between my lips as his cock tensed and twitched hard. I dug my fingers into his leg, sucking in hungry breaths through my nostrils as the strong taste of his climax spilled out into my mouth, coating my tongue and spattering against the back of my throat as he came. I curled my tongue around the crown of his cock, relishing every little twitch and gasp I could coax out of him as his scent bathed my tastebuds, swallowing the sticky mess in my passion even as more surged from the tip of his shaft.

  I was desperately close now, Sirrus groaning in my ear as his cock thrust rapidly between my legs, the taste of Ethan rendering me almost dizzy with excitement as my sweaty body writhed and squirmed on the rug.

  With a final gasp Ethan pulled out, caressing my cheek as I swallowed the last of his orgasm. I threw my head back against Sirrus's shoulder, panting for breath as my fingernails dug into his hip, longing for the slick friction of out bodies rubbing together as he drove me closer and closer to the edge. I felt Ethan's fingers on my stomach, and with a gasp of surprise I looked down as he lay in front of me, his warm tongue finding my clit almost instantly as he nuzzled between my legs, stimulating me with his mouth at the same time as Sirrus plunged into me with his cock.

  It was too much for me to endure, and with a shriek my fingers balled the blanket up into a tight fist, my whole body convulsing as Ethan sucked on my tender bud, caressing it all over with his tongue, the sensation almost unbearable. I came horrendously hard this time, my eyes rolling as I experienced the intensity of both partners pleasuring my sex at once, both my clit and my inner walls burning with shattering bliss as I screamed through my orgasm.

  I felt lightheaded as I came down in the afterglow, vaguely aware of Sirrus pulling out and groaning as his warm semen spattered against the small of my back, rubbing himself between my cheeks as he gasped and the hard tension of his body gradually relaxed.

  My first impulse was to be disappointed, wanting to feel the satisfaction of him finishing inside me, but my thoughts were suddenly drawn back to Ethan, the son of two generations of werewolves. I took a deep breath, wondering whether I'd been foolish to disregard the risk so readily with my previous partners. Children might be rare for our kind, but after my talk with Agatha I now knew that they were still a very real possibility. I rolled over on to my front, brushing back my hair as I caught my breath. My instinct had grown mercifully quiet. It hadn't gone completely, not like it had after my nights with Thorne, but it had dimmed enough for me to regain control once more.

  A warm hand touched my shoulder and I looked over at Ethan with a smile.

  "All good now?" he said.

  "Mhm." I nodded, my voice cracking a little. "Thank you. I think my wolf's had enough now."

  Ethan returned the smile and slumped back against the blanket, the three of us laying in silence as we recovered.

  We didn't talk much on our way back down to the camp. With my human mind back in control I was starting to feel uncomfortable about what we'd just done again, though Ethan and Sirrus seemed to take it easily in their stride. They were probably used to it, taking care of girls with my instinct when they had no mate to attend to their needs, but all I could think about as we descended the slope was Thorne. My guilt had returned, even worse now that I'd enjoyed that final moment with my two handsome partners so much. Though it was a silly thought to admit to, I'd almost hoped that my instinct would have stayed strong after my last climax; that it would have proved, somehow, that Thorne was the one and only male for me.

  I mentally scolded myself for those feelings. Thorne would have told me the same. I'd done what I needed to do, and it was a good thing that my instinct had finally gone quiet. I didn't feel any differently towards Ethan and Sirrus now that it was over, and my feelings for Thorne were still intact and just as strong as ever.

  But the guilt still lingered, coupled with a fresh worry about how temperamental my instinct had been in the midst of the act. My wolf only wanted Thorne, that much as clear now. Ethan and Sirrus had been enough to satisfy her in the end, but that didn't change the reluctance I'd felt from her in the heat of the moment, the mild impatience with my partners and the frustration at how gentle they were by comparison.

  My future with Thorne was still just as uncertain as ever, and if we were apart for much longer I dreaded to think how much more difficult it would be to control my instinct in the days to come. I breathed in the cool forest air and tried to tell myself that it would all work out for the best. I had Agatha's assurance that she'd do all she could to persuade Rowan that Thorne deserved a second chance. He seemed like a reasonable Alpha, and the Wood Pack were good people. I had to hope.

  I could tell something was wrong the moment we stepped back into the camp. The smaller clusters of pack members had come together, everyone congregating around the large central fire. It seemed as though most of the Wood Pack were there, almost a hundred werewolves standing in silence as they watched. My stomach knotted with anxiety as I broke away from Ethan and Sirrus, pushing my way through the crowd until I found room to clamber up on top of a tree stump for a better view. Agatha was standing off to the side of the fire, her arms folded, a grim expression on her face. It was the first time I'd seen her outside of her tent.

  Rowan stood in front of her, his expression no less severe as he addressed the assembly. "...would expect no less from any of you, but we can't afford to make exceptions. The reason we stay safe, the reason we're not like the Mine Pack, or the Highland Pack, or any of those other bands of werewolves, is because we keep each other safe. Each one of you is precious to me, and I can't afford to risk that safety by letting us repeat past mistakes."

  My throat tightened, and I felt Ethan's hand on my shoulder as he climbed up next to me. This wasn't good. I could already hear the people around me muttering.

  "That's why it has to be done. Hawthorn can't st
ay with us, and I can't overlook him returning after being exiled. He'll be punished, and sent back out on his own. That is my decision."

  My knees began to tremble, the anxiety in my stomach growing until I began to feel queasy.

  "You'd really send him back out there, with the Mine Pack on the prowl? You might as well be sentencing him to death." Agatha said with a grimace.

  "The Mine Pack only kill the ones who refuse to join them. Hawthorn gave up his right to live amongst decent werewolves a long time ago. Be thankful I'm at least giving him a chance."

  The hubbub amongst the crowd erupted into raised voices and accusations. I stumbled on the tree stump as someone pushed past, my own voice joining the cacophony of yelling and bickering as I struggled to climb down and push forwards through the crowd. An arm wrapped around me, holding me back as I struggled and kicked, desperate to get to Rowan and plead with him to reconsider, tell him how Thorne had changed, beg him to understand...

  "Don't, Lyssa!" Ethan said as he held me back. "Not now, not in the middle of all this, you'll only make it worse!"

  "Get off me!" I grabbed at Ethan's arm, struggling to pry him off me. Desperation and fear burned at the back of my eyes, my heart heavy with dread and overwhelming guilt. Had I betrayed Thorne by doing what I'd done? Was this my punishment, getting to see him cast out into the woods and left to the mercy of the Mine Pack?

  My vision blurred with tears, struggling to get away from Ethan until my strength left me and my voice cracked with a ragged sob. I could hear Rowan yelling over the others, trying to restore order, but his voice was lost amongst the rabble, a dozen disagreements going on all around me as the swell of bodies pressed in.

  I felt Ethan wrestling me away from the crowd, and at last I let myself go limp in his grasp and stumble away from the meeting area. I couldn't tell what was going on, whether the majority were in favour of Rowan's decision or against it. It didn't seem like it mattered. If Agatha hadn't been able to persuade him, what chance did Thorne have now?

  I felt sick, burying my face in my hands as Ethan sat me down against a tree. All my patience had been for nothing, and all my hopes for a happy future with the Wood Pack had been burned away in less than a minute. Thorne couldn't stay here with me, and I couldn't let him go out there again on his own.

  My agonising wait was finally over, and my worst fears had been confirmed.

  —7—

  Judgements

  I sat against the tree with my face in my hands, struggling to calm my racing thoughts and pounding heart as the Wood Pack argued all around me. Rowan's decision to exile Thorne had stirred them into a frenzy. The calm and friendly werewolves I had lived with for the past few days were snarling and yelling, several shifting into their animal forms in the heat of the moment, adding their savage barks to the clamour of raised voices. It was a crashing mix of arguments and outrage and high tempers, and not even Rowan's booming voice could calm his pack down.

  Amidst my worry for Thorne, another harrowing thought clutched at me, drawing up a desperate sob from my lungs; all of this was down to me and him. We'd brought this conflict to the Wood Pack's front door, and now they were practically at each other's throats. What if someone lost control? Someone young, with a powerful instinct like mine or Thorne's? The growling and snarling already sounded vicious, and all it would take was a single angry swipe fuelled by someone's feral urges to turn a heated disagreement into something far more dangerous.

  I couldn't let it happen.

  Ethan knelt beside me with a hand on my shoulder, but I pushed him away as I sprang to my feet, ignoring his protests as I swallowed my grief and waded back into the crowd. I tried to ignore the impassioned voices surrounding me, but it was obvious that Rowan's decision had stirred up a hornet's nest.

  "This doesn't make us any better than them!" someone yelled behind me. "We can't hand-pick who we take into the pack and drive everyone else out! Thorne's a good guy, I never wanted—"

  "—can't feel safe with someone like that around!" another voice cut across as I pushed my way between the tight press of bodies, a bony shoulder suddenly thudding into my cheek and sending me reeling.

  "We can't afford to think like that, we're not humans, even if you still wish we were!" a third person yelled close to my ear.

  "Stop it all of you!" I cried, tugging at the jacket of a broad-shouldered man in front of me. I took a deep breath, tasting blood from my aching cheek as I filled my lungs to yell again. "This is about me and Thorne, you don't need to do this!"

  The man in front turned and shrugged me off irritably, glaring as I stumbled away. I jerked my leg back at the last moment as I almost tripped over a snarling wolf, her teeth snapping together inches away from my boot.

  "Who are you, anyway?" the man spat before turning right back to the argument he'd been embroiled in, barely even giving me a second glance.

  They weren't listening to me. None of them were listening. And why should they? As far as they were concerned this was all to do with Thorne. I wasn't even a member of their pack. It didn't matter that I'd seen him control his instinct—none of them knew that. As an outsider, what was my word worth, anyway?

  "Please, just stop!" I cried weakly, but another body crashed into me as someone reeled backwards from a hard shove, knocking the wind from me as I tripped over the growling wolf again and hit the ground hard. Everything was coming apart. It was all my fault.

  I gasped for breath, covering my head with my hands as hard boots kicked up clods of soil all around me, twisting away from the angry she-wolf as the conflict raged on.

  Someone was going to get hurt any second now. Probably me. Ethan had been smart to pull me away, but I'd dived straight back in, and now he was nowhere to be seen. I struggled to shield myself from the kicking paws and feet all around me, barely making it to my knees before the back of someone's leg hit me in the stomach and I doubled up again, my body wracked with pain as I wheezed from the lack of breath.

  I didn't know if I could get up. My sudden spurt of courage had quickly drained away along with all my energy, and I hadn't been able to calm the crowd for even a second—or had I?

  The clamour didn't seem as loud as before. I could hear Rowan barking something, his voice cutting through the sea of voices more clearly than before. The feet around me stopped kicking, and the snarls of the nearby wolf dulled to a low growl.

  I squinted and looked upwards, expecting to see concerned faces staring down at me as they realised how far they'd gone, but all I saw was more turned backs. The werewolves of the Wood Pack were staring at something, their arguments quieting one by one as they caught sight of this new interruption.

  I crawled to my knees, clutching my stomach, and a stiff hand helped me to my feet as I brushed my tangled hair out of my face and rubbed my watering eyes. I couldn't make out what was going on through the press of bodies that obscured my view of the central meeting area. Rowan was talking, but his voice was softer now as the hubbub died down, and I couldn't make out what he was saying. I squeezed my way through the crowd, ignoring the angry comments of the people I pushed aside until I reached the middle.

  The group had pulled back from the central fire, giving Rowan and Agatha some space again, along with the newcomer who had joined them—the woman who now held the attention of the entire pack.

  She was short, with curly brown hair falling to her neck and a sincere expression on her face. She wore a long hunting jacket and a scarf bunched up around her neck, and as she approached Rowan I couldn't help but notice the limp in her walk.

  "Your word doesn't count for more than anyone else's, Niya," the alpha said, his voice subdued.

  "Doesn't it?" she replied. "Besides you, who else is in a better position to judge Thorne?" She spoke softly, but her voice was balanced and confident. It was the sort of voice that made rooms fall silent so that everyone could listen, and it was having that exact effect on the crowd of people around me.

  "Listen to her, Rowan," Agatha said.
"She knew Hawthorne better than anyone, and she agrees with everything Lyssa told me." The old woman gave me a nod, and Rowan glanced my way for a second before grimacing and turning back to Niya.

  "I wanted to make this decision while you were away," he said. "Damn it, Niya, neither of us can afford to be sentimental when it comes to deciding what's right for our pack."

  "Were you afraid I'd change your mind?" she said, and then turned to address the crowd, her eyes meeting mine for the briefest of moments as she spoke. "If I can forgive Thorne, then surely the rest of you can as well. We shouldn't punish him for his instinct any more than he's been punished already. We don't drive people out because of their instincts, we help them cope with them. Isn't that what our pack's always done?"

  The assembly began to murmur again, voices muttering in both agreement and dissent, but many of the naysayers I'd heard earlier seemed to have grown quiet. The general tone from the pack seemed to be one of approval. Rowan raised his hand to quiet the voices before any more disagreements could break out again.

  "You're asking me to put the pack at risk."

  "Thorne is part of our pack." Niya reached forward and took Rowan's hand, then leaned in close and lowered her voice. Whatever she said next was too quiet for anyone but herself and Rowan to hear, despite dozens of ears straining to pick out her words. The Wood Pack alpha closed his eyes and sighed, and Agatha stepped forward to put a hand on his shoulder.