Tuesday Teaser 6/30/15: Daughter of the Wolf Clan

It’s almost July!! That means it’s only a little over a month until the release of Wolf’s Princess. I expect to see it up for Pre-Order in about a week at the publisher and Amazon in about two weeks. That’s just a guess. As soon as I know anything I’ll be sure to let you know too. Also, don’t forget about the newsletter giveaway!

And now, here’s the next bit of Kit and Olivia. The end of chapter 5  isn’t quite working for me. I’ll go in later and add some more emotion and tension and hopefully make it flow better. But Chapter 6 is up next, and then we get some real tension. 😉

Her moan stabbed him like a knife. Her face was so beautiful. He couldn’t help himself. He lowered his head and put his lips on hers. For one wonderful moment she accepted his kiss, but all too soon she jerked her face away. He hid his hurt and turned her questions back on her.

“How many brothers in your pride? Your family?” he corrected himself.

“I have two brothers.” Her chin lifted as she stared in something close to a challenge. “The Clan has over two hundred men.”

He understood her meaning well enough. She came from a large pride and they would search for their stolen queen. The knowledge sank like a stone in the pit of his belly. “They won’t find you, Olivia.”

“Yes, they will, Kit.”

It was the utter assurance in her voice that shook him. “No, no one can find us here.”

His mate rose to her knees and fixed him with an urgent stare. “My father is called He Tracks the Wind in Lakota. He’ll find me. I told you that. And if he has to, he’ll bring the entire Clan to rescue me. How many men are in your Pride, Kit? Two dozen? The clan has twenty dozen. They’ll destroy your Pride.”

“No!” It was a visceral denial. “No one will ever destroy the Pride again. Never again.”

The urgency in his mate’s face faded to confusion. “What you mean, again?”

He had never spoken of that time. He didn’t remember it. He only knew the stories, but they were bad enough. “The day I was born, the pride was discovered by humans. They slaughtered almost all of us. Only the young survived. The queen who bore me had been badly wounded and I was born two months early. She died.” He closed his eyes against the unfamiliar sting of tears.

When he opened his eyes he saw Olivia’s eyes were wet. “That’s terrible. Years ago some men stole some of the women of the clan and murdered them. That’s one of the reasons why they protect women so fiercely.”

“Your pride understands what it’s like then. Did you notice there are no elders in the Pride?”

“No,” she whispered. “I didn’t see any old people in the other cave.”

“That is why we hate humans.”

The warmth of her hand on his arm eased the old hurt and rage. “Not all humans are like that.”

“But your family will destroy the pride to get you back. You said that.”

She withdrew her hand. “Yes, they would fight to get me back, but they wouldn’t murder people who hadn’t done anything to them. Kit, let me go.”

“Never.” It was a flat statement. “You are my mate. I can’t let you go.”

“You have to. I’m not rejecting you. You can come to my house and court me properly. We can take our time to get to know one another.”

Why did she have to insist on leaving him? “No.”

“But you have to!”

“I said no.” When she opened her mouth again he gripped her chin and his fingers and stared deeply into her eyes. “Sleep, my mate.”

He’d never seen anyone come so close to shaking off his compulsion. “Sleep,” he commanded.

Gradually she lost her fight against sleep and slumped against him a warm, precious weight that he swore he would never give up.

Chapter Six

Her head hurt. That was all Olivia could think of at first. And her hip was sore from the hard ground. Then she became aware it was dark and a heave weight was draped over her chest. An arm. Kit’s arm! She peered through the dark, trying to figure out where she was. Kit’s cave, she decided. They were lying together a few yards from the banked fire. The barest hint of a glow lit the outline of his long hair where it spilled over his broad shoulder and onto hers.

She sighed when she remembered his refusal to let her go. The story he’d told her –yesterday?— explained her reluctance to bring harm to his family. They had suffered enough, and though the Clan wouldn’t murder the women or children, they would probably kill anyone who tried to keep them from retrieving her. She had to escape. Could there be a better opportunity than this?

Slowly, carefully, she moved away from him, easing her leg from between his, and untangling his hair from hers. Her heart thundered while she stepped over him. It jerked into agonized stillness when he caught her hand.