Deadly Sins Ch. 01: Lust

Green eyes watched her. But they weren't his. They were the eyes of a hunter. A predator.

And they were full of hunger. For her.

Jesus, he hadn't been talking about hurting just anyone. He had been talking about her.

Eyes on the floor, Rayn dashed out of the elevator. She made a beeline for the club's exit, colliding with a hard surface when she was still several long feet away.

Strong hands grasped her shoulders and Rayn looked up into the face of the man Thane had called Cael. Then past him, taking in the various scenes of sexual depravity her fellow club goers were engaged in.

As she watched, a man lounging against the bar pulled his hips away from another man's mouth, creamy, white liquid pulsing from his erection. Flames ignited Rayn's cheeks.

Following her gaze, Cael muttered, "Jesus fucking Christ, what the hell is going on?"

Rayn yanked free, immediately bolting out the door into the cold night. Sucking deep gulps of icy air into her lungs, she didn't stop running until she reached her car.

*****

Thane barely resisted the urge to give in to his carnal instincts. His wolf howled at the restraint, thoroughly ticked he wasn't being allowed to do what he did best.

Chase. Find. Conquer.

But Thane had never taken a woman while in wolf form. And he no longer trusted himself not to shift with Rayn around.

The last time his beast had been this riled, the situation had ended with the gored throat of the male challenging Thane for position of Alpha.

So close to shifting, Thane's senses were extremely heightened. He could hear and smell the cautious advance of another. The familiar scent was his Beta's.

But with the sweet aroma of Rayn's pussy heavily permeating the air, Thane growled a warning. Upon threat of death, an unmated male knew to never approach the Alpha's bitch while she was in heat.

And Rayn was his. There was no doubt about it. No other man would ever know her.

"Cool it, Cujo," Cael quipped, appearing in Thane's view but maintaining a safe distance. "Where's the woman going?"

"My guess would be home." Thane forced a calming breath through his nostrils. Once...twice...thrice.

But he could still smell Rayn. Taste her. Feel her.

Wisely, Cael didn't press the issue. He gestured towards the end of the hall which led to the main area of the club. "Yo, it's some really freaky shit going on out there, T."

Thane shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts. "I know."

"No, Thane, you don't. You can't possibly. This is some freaky shit you have to see to believe. I mean freaky like orgy freaky. Like that time-"

"I know," Thane repeated.

Cael's expression was quizzical. "Since you seem to know all about what the hell is going on, enlighten me please."

"Sin."

"Sin? What are you talking about?"

"It appears the newest batch is coming of age." Thane's hair had come loose during his oral acrobatics. He raked a hand through it, mentally grappling with the knowledge of Rayn's identity. The moment she'd released in his mouth, he'd known. "She's one of the seven deadly sins."

"Get the fuck outta here. Which one?"

Moans of pleasure drifted down the hallway. "I'll give you seven guesses. Six don't count."

"Awww hell, man. You fucked her? Are you crazy?"

"I didn't fuck her."

"Great. Then you won't mind while I go do the world a huge favor and kill her." Cael pivoted on his heel. "Thank me later."

"Touch her and you will be the next to die." Thane paused. "Painfully."

Back still to Thane, Cael asked, "Then how do we handle this?"

Thane cursed vilely. He didn't have the first fucking clue. "I don't think she knows what she is, Cael."

After several minutes of silence, Cael's shoulders began to shake. The man was laughing.

"The hell is so funny?"

"That's a first. I mean, how the hell do you possess the power to destroy the world, but don't know it?"

"She doesn't possess the power solely."

Cael turned back around. "Semantics, my brother. She's one seventh of destruction. She can do some pretty hefty damage all on her own. Remember what happened in the nineteen forties when greed was allowed to run free?"

How the hell could Thane forget. Hitler had damn near decimated the Jewish population.

"Or how about wrath in the early nineteen hundreds with World War I immediately followed by sloth in nineteen-eighteen with the Spanish Flu? Total killed around what? One hundred million?"

"Well before our time, Cael."

"Doesn't matter. You need to think with the right head, T. Uncontrollable lust. HIV. AIDS. Now tell me where the hell you think we're all going to be twenty years from now. She has to die."

Thane snarled at his Beta's suggestion.

Backing away, eyes narrowed, Cael demanded, "Tell me you didn't do what I think you did."

But Thane didn't respond. Because he had done exactly what Cael feared. In thirty minutes, for the first and last time ever, Thane's wolf had bonded with a female.

Who was capable of worldwide mass destruction.

And werewolf's mated for life. Thane would lay down his life for Rayn's. Or become a feral animal capable in his own right of vast devastation to protect her.

Cael slammed his foot into the wall. "Goddamn you, T. Fuck!"

Thane was stronger, faster and meaner than his Beta. If he wished, he could kill Cael for his disrespect. And if it had been any other man, he would have.

But Thane let Cael grouse freely. There would be no repercussions. In the end he knew where Cael's loyalties lay.

Punching a fist into the wall, Cael said, "Fuck me for saying this, but you already know I got your back. What now?"