Dawn Released

Emil and Hanning lead the pack to the safety of the gates. Shane was already there, holding the guards, still loyal to Seff at gunpoint. "Good to see you boys," Shane said. Most of Seff's youths, the ones he'd intended to train as his personal army were among the crowd. Shane handed the gun to Emil, motioning to Hanning to open the gates.

Shell shocked, the pack wandered through, remarkably unscathed and intact despite the violence of the revolution. In the distance, the sky burned orange and red as the Grand Manor fell. The glory days were at an end and so was Seff's reign of terror. The wide expanse of open ground and clear starlit sky was a welcome sight to the horrors the pack had suffered. What was to become of them and where they would go from here, no one knew.

The twin wolves darted through the flaming hallways. Sniffing out their mistress as best they could. Their ears perked for the sound of her voice. They braved the flames and ignored the instinctive urge to flee the fire and choking black smoke as they searched.

Eloise battled the pulsing urges that buffeted her body and her mind. She couldn't lose it now. Not when her life hung in the balance by a thread. Seff might get his way after all. He wanted her dead. She pounded on the door and cried out. Somebody might hear her, but anybody with any sense was already out of the mansion. She was going to die a prisoner, trapped and alone. "Please! Help me!"

The wolves perked their ears. Turning to race back the direction they'd come. Following their sensitive noses they tracked her scent and the sound of her urgent pounding to a door. Barking nervously, they scratched at the door.

Nash and Tucker heard the sound of barking and the worried whimpers of wolves. "Eloise!" They turned on the speed as they crawled through the billowing smoke on their bellies. The air was choking and acrid with the thick smoke, impeding their progress. In the darkness, just ahead, Nash saw the white underbelly of a wolf standing on his rear legs desperately scratching at the door. He couldn't tell the wolves apart. "Catcher! Tracker!" He covered his face with the collar of his shirt and stood to run to the door.

Eloise pounded desperately on the door. "I'm in here!" She coughed and sputtered as the thick smoke seeped into the room. "Hurry!" She could smell the scent of man beneath the stench of burning wood. The heat rocketed through her, tipping her over the edge. She trembled as her body gave way to instinct and the storm of hormones. Her nails ripped at the carpet beneath her as she writhed in agony on the floor.

Nash and the wolves pounded against the door, trying to crash it in with the weight of their bodies. The door stubbornly refused to budge. Pushing past Nash and the wolves, Tucker analyzed the locking mechanism. He'd never been beyond the fence, very few had. But, he'd dreamed of finding a way out. Picking locks was a bit of a hobby, a way to pass the time until he managed to figure out a way past the fence.

"Allow me. The door and the jamb are reinforced with steel. You're not going to bully your way in. These things take a little more finesse." He pulled a long file out of his hip pocket and licked the sharp tip with his tongue. Gently, he inserted the file into the lock. He twisted and jiggled the file until he had it in just the right spot. Trying to ignore the heat, smoke, and the flames, patiently he worked the lock. Finally, with a ping, the doorknob broke free and the door swung open. He was not prepared for the desperate clutching of feminine fingers as they wrapped around his collar and dragged him inside.

"You're a young one aren't you?" Eloise purred as she dropped the male to the floor and straddled him between her thighs. The heat was as consuming as the flames destroying the grandeur around her. She didn't care. The ache had become unbearable. She had to do this. She had to make it stop.

Tucker scrambled out of the mistress's demanding grip. She was about to die and all she wanted to do was to have sex? Ok, so her thought process did have some logic to it after all. He wanted to screw before he died, but not right now though, mainly, because he didn't plan on dying just yet. "Mistress Eloise, we've got to get you out of here first."

He'd never seen the Mistress up close and personal. Damn, she was beautiful, in a Mrs. Robinson kind of way. Wild and brazen, her dark hair in a waterfall of tangles around her bare shoulders and the black silk of her top clinging to what had to be the most amazing set of breasts, the only breasts, he'd ever seen in person. She was in full- blown heat. His head swam with the powerful draw of her scent. He grinned slyly as she ripped at the collar of his shirt and dragged him down on the floor. "You're so pretty," he said in a daze of spellbound wonder. He was going to die, but damn, what a way to go.

The wolves scrambled through the doorway, growling and snarling at the boy pinned beneath their mistress. Tracker emerged from under the coat of his wolf's fur and then Catcher took on human form. They were hard, hungry, and desperate to get at their mistress. Males captured by the lure of the musky scent of her heat.

"Oh, aren't you boys cute. Come here, I missed my beautiful twins," Eloise cooed. She dismounted the male beneath her. Abandoned him for stronger, more suitable breeding partners. Through the haze of her lust she could not form a solid thought for her safety or for theirs. The house burned around them and all she could think about was easing the building, intolerable ache between her thighs. Let the Manor burn and them along with it. They'd die together. To ashes consumed by flame. "And so ready for action," she said. Smoothing a hand down the naked planes of their bodies her fingers wrapped around their stiff cocks.

"Mistress, we really have to go." Catcher groaned deep in his throat as Eloise stroked at his hard length.

"Now, mistress" Tracker sucked in a breath as Eloise pressed her mouth to his in a hungry, desperate kiss. He wrenched his lips from hers. "We'll love you as soon as we're safe, my mistress." The scent of her heat was intoxicating. He could almost forget that they were in danger. He could lose himself in the heat and wonder of her luscious body, sating both of their needs. But, the inbred sense of duty and loyalty over came his lust and he scrambled away from her, ignoring her pleas.

Catcher grappled with Eloise, prying free of her wanton embrace. He shook his head, clearing the effects of her luring scent from his mind. He, like his brother, was bred to protect her, first and foremost. Pleasure later. Safety now.

Tracker tugged at the bars on the window. Catcher joined in to help. Despite their powerful bodies and capable strength the bars held fast. Smoke billowed down the hall and he could sense the heat of the flames getting closer and closer. Catcher abandoned the uselessness of trying to escape out the window and ran for the door. Flaming roof timbers had crashed through the ceiling blocking the hallway and blocking the only other possible way out.

Nash wrestled with Eloise as she arched her back and ground her pelvis against his straining erection. Her scent caused his head to swim as he drowned in an ocean of thoughts that were not appropriate to the direness of their situation. She was in heat, aching and desperate to breed. Her fingers worked the bulge beneath the zipper of his jeans, causing him to suck in a deep, longing breath. He trapped her wrist in his grasp unsure if he wanted to restrain her or drag her to the luxurious bed and pound his length into the soft, swollen, musky center of her body. "Eloise, stop."

"I ache for you," Eloise groaned. Fumbling with his belt, she worked Nash's erection with desperate, searching fingers. "I need you inside of me, " she whimpered. He gripped her wrist and jerked her hand away from his fly. "Please, Nash, please give me what I need."

Nash swallowed hard. The begging desperation in her voice was hard to ignore. He wanted to put the both of them out of their collective misery and plunge into her sweet depths. Pump her full of his seed and breed the next generation of wolves. She rubbed her breasts against his chest, moaning at the sensations of soft cloth and his hard muscle brushing against her erect nipples. Nash could imagine the taste of her ripe buds, the salty- sweetness of her flesh on the tip of his tongue. "NO! Eloise stop it! We need to find a way out."

He gripped her wrists in his fists, ignoring the heave of her heavy breasts as she panted against his chest. Eloise dropped to her knees and rubbed her cheek across his pounding erection. Nash cursed and pushed her away. He ached for her. The musky scent of her arousal was thick, thicker than the smoke billowing into the room. Tracker, Catcher, and Tucker were not unaffected by the draw to her. They had to get the fuck out of here before the three of them ended up as corpses. Either by the fire or by their own hands as they battled to the death for breeding rights to Eloise.

Carter scrambled up the ancient drainpipe and eased his way onto the tiled roof making up the wide veranda that wrapped around the entire first story. The scene down below was absolute chaos. Wolf fought against wolf. There was blood flowing in the streets and the scent of fear and pain was heavier in the air than the smoke from the burning Grand Manor. To a vampire, even one as old as he, the aroma of blood, pain, and fear was a heady, intoxicating perfume.

A few had banned together and were trying to establish some sort of order. No one was going to try to save the Grand Manor from the flames. They were going to let it burn to the ground and whoever might be left behind inside was going to go down with it. Luckily, Carter had other plans.

He stared hovering between amusement and confusion through the cast iron bars. The scent of lust was unmistakable. Eloise ground against Nash, desperately clawing at his fly to get to his erection. The omegas were naked as the day they were born and sporting erections that would make event he most well endowed male envious. A mere boy, not even into his first shift, crouched wide-eyed and trembling in the corner. His fingers clenched into fists. It was obvious the men were going to come to blows over Eloise, but he didn't quite know what to make of the scene playing out before him. Didn't anybody realize the Grand Manor was about to topple into a heap of ruins? "Woman trouble?"

"God, you have no idea," Nash rasped. Eloise wrapped her legs around his hips and ground hard against him. "I could sure use some vampire help right now."

Carter chuckled. "Eloise, sleep." He wrapped his fingers around the bars and pulled with all his might. Once Eloise was subdued and limp in Nash's hold, Catcher and Tracker joined in, pushing at the bars as Carter pulled. The stubborn iron groaned as it gave beneath the force of the three of them. Finally, he pulled the bars open enough for Tucker to wiggle through.

Catcher retrieved the soaked curtains out of the tub and draped them over Eloise's sleeping body. He still ached with need for her as he took her from Nash's arms carried her to the window. Gently, he passed her through the narrow gap to Tracker and Carter. Tucker was right behind him, scrambling for safety. He growled as Carter unceremoniously tossed Eloise over his shoulder and with the grace of a cat, leapt from the roof of the veranda, landing on the balls of his feet.

Nash glanced at the burning grandeur that once was. The wallpaper, hand painted and imported from some distant corner of the world, drooped from the walls in sheets. The ceiling above his head cracked and groaned as the fire ate through what was left of the third story floor. He covered his head and dodged for the window, barely clearing the bars as the ceiling crashed down behind him.

Carter deposited Eloise onto the ground a safe distance away from the burning remains of the once Grand Manor. He shook his head in dismay as he scowled at the dozing woman. What the hell? She reeked of sex and desire. Tracker and Catcher stood naked, back to back, their eyes scanning the insanity of the chaos around them, protectively guarding her. Their erections and obvious interest in their mistress protruded proudly. "For god's sake, cover yourselves. I do not want to be witness to an orgy. What the hell is wrong with all of you? We're not out of danger yet and all you can think about is fucking?"

"It is the time of the mistress's heat," Catcher said. He knelt at Eloise's head and stroked her black hair back from her fevered brow, finger combing the silken, matted strands with gentle strokes.

"What?" Carter huffed as he hefted her off the ground and slung her over his shoulder, heading for the hole. He was not going to stand guard while these two idiots gang fucked a helpless, unconscious female. After what he'd seen transpire in the bedroom, he sure as hell wasn't going to wake her until they'd gotten to the fence. He didn't need a repeat of that particular scene.

At least the heavy, wet draperies helped to dampen her scent. The werewolves weren't the only ones affected by the heady, lush aroma of Eloise's condition. He was hard and aching, his cock stiff for a little feminine attention. He was a bit more discerning than the wolves. He liked his partners awake and willing because he'd made them that way, not because they were victims of biology. And he also liked to snack on a vein as he came. Something he really didn't think Eloise would want or appreciate.

"She is ripe for breeding," Tracker explained with the patience of an adult talking to an infant.

"Breeding?" Carter snickered. Well, he wasn't going to do her any good in that department then was he? His little swimmers were dead in the water. Vampires did not reproduce and given the sensuality and lusty natures of his kind and their insatiable appetites for the carnal, that was probably a very good thing.

"We can not resist the pull of her scent. We are as helpless against it as she. The only way to give her any peace during this time is to mate with her. We must fulfill our purpose," Catcher said proudly.

"Your purpose is to breed with her?" Carter asked mildly amused. Did these two twins share the same brain cell or what? They spoke with such conviction, as if they actually believed every word they'd said. He wondered where the closest vasectomy clinic was. These two needed to sign up right away. They were dangerous fuckers, all brawn and fierce instinct and apparently their instincts went straight to their groins. All this mystical mumbo-jumbo talk the brotherhood and the wolves spouted about duty, purpose, and honor was really starting to get to him, like a rash in a very sensitive place. He needed to finish this mission and return to the peace of his city, ASAP.

"No, our purpose is to protect and serve our mistress. Breeding will end her agony. It is our duty," Tracker said. He could not believe they were having this conversation with a vampire. What the hell did the fanged know about breeding, duty, or purpose?

"Some duty," Nash ground as he caught up with the trio. "I think she looks comfortable enough. Carter's way seems to be working just fine." There was no way anyone was putting their hands on her in her weakened, compromised state. No one. Not even him. Especially. Not. Him. He would not risk a bonding with her during her time of greatest need. Oh, it was tempting, and apparently, he wasn't the only one tempted. Catcher and Tracker were twins in every way imaginable...straight down to the bulging heads of their...well, never mind.

He knew little of Eloise's pack culture. But, surely she didn't...she couldn't. She wasn't bonded to the males. He would have scented it on her. "Carter and I will keep her safe. Make a sweep of the grounds and search for the others. Meet us at the rendezvous point in an hour," Nash ordered for no other reason than to get rid of them. As their pack master he had just as much right to their loyalty as Eloise did. The brothers growled, frustrated at being ordered away from their mistress, but they complied. They shifted into their wolf forms and melted into the darkness of the woods.

Carter filled him in as they trekked to the fence. Tristen was still out there with Kacie, working his way to the hole in the fence. The chatter in his head filtered through the earpiece. A majority of the pack had simply walked out of the main gate and was wandering to the temporary camp Hanning and Emil had set up to shelter them. The Grand Manor had toppled down and burned in a heap of smoking debris and the dust from the chaos was beginning to settle.

Eloise's pack was larger than he'd anticipated and when combined with Seff's they more than tripled his numbers. If a part of his destiny was to bring the Lost Children home, he'd more than fulfilled it. He'd welcome them into his home and into his pack. Take back the ones who wanted to join him and do what he could for the ones who did not. Their whole world had been turned upside down and burned in smoldering ruins. He was terrified for them and hopeful at the same time.

The birthing of a new dawn was not without its labor pains. Torr battled his father for his life. No one was stepping in to intervene. The fight was between the two men and at the end of the river of blood only one would come out alive. Youth had its advantages, but so did age and experience. Nash waited patiently for news of the outcome. He'd already planned his death and by whose hands he'd die. Maybe, fate had other plans for him though. If Seff won the fight, Nash would challenge him for the rights to this pack. He'd bleed for their hard earned freedom. If his destiny sent him to an early grave, so be it. Because, he had no plans of going there ahead of schedule alone. He'd drag Seff along with him, kicking and screaming straight into the spirit world.

"You people sure know how to throw a party, but damn, I'll be glad to get home." Carter teased as he adjusted Eloise's weight over his shoulder. Nash's mood had darkened considerably. His shoulders tensed before he forced them to relax. His eyes were watchful, scanning the woods for enemies. Their enemies were too scattered to be too much of a problem now. Carter knew, Nash wasn't worried about a random encounter with an overly zealous guard. Nash was preparing himself for the fight that might yet come.

Carter could put Seff down with a mere suggestion. Sleep. Torr wouldn't have to risk his life to end his father's existence. And if he failed to win the fight, Nash wouldn't have to battle with Seff for control of this pack. Sometimes though, the easiest solutions weren't always the best. Instinctively, he understood the value of fighting for your freedom and bleeding for what you believed in. Nash hadn't said a word about Carter stepping in to end the fight or avoid another one. They were deep in wolf territory and this was how things were done. Freedom won with tooth, fang, claw, and blood.

"That makes two of us." Nash followed behind Carter at a safe distance. The wet curtains wrapped around Eloise helped to drown out the draw of her scent, but his body still howled with acute awareness. Carter handled her with care, as if he knew Nash had chosen her as his mate. Assuming she'd have him after the heat passed and she had her own mind again. Nash had to give the vampire credit. Sure, after so many centuries of living Carter had undoubtedly seen some pretty strange this. And damn, wasn't it a very strange world?

Chapter 41

The wolves battled with claws, teeth, and wit. They circled and snapped at one another. Razor sharp claws dug into tender flesh and ripped it from bone. Lethal jaws closed shut, driving into muscle and unleashing the spill of fresh blood. Growls and shrill, hollow, cries of agony created the symphony that was the backdrop to their dance. One wolf would be victor. The other would be dead.