Pawn Among Wolves Ch. 05

Nothing.

Silently, she untied the sheet-rope from her waist and fastened the end to the tie-back behind the curtain, hidden from the room.

Her heart was stuttering. Even as a human, she knew whose room this was. She could practically scent him, sense him in the air. And he scared her. Sent her heart into overdrive and a shimmer of aching tension across her skin, her scalp creeping back towards the window. There was just something so powerful, so predatory sheathed under that smooth exterior. If he found her in his room... She stood frozen, shivering, breaths short and fearful.

Mac.

The thought of her wolf, of the cold, poisonous scar on his stomach, jolted her, and she pulled herself together, cursing herself inwardly to impel movement, before edging carefully out from her hiding place, heading to the door of the empty study.

To the phone.

Luckily, Mac's number was one of those she had memorised – from the old days, when she'd just lusted after him quietly, drooling on her own in her room at their flat.Mmmm.

Happy days. Although there was definitely something to be said for putting thought into action. Like licking – she could never have imagined how damn good he tasted, or how his skin shuddered lightly under her lips... or -Notnow, she cursed her stupid, wayward thoughts as the blood began to rush heatedly through her veins. The Wayward Ones, hauled to an abrupt halt in their abandoned, heedless rush into liquid fire memories, looked back at her with melting, reproachful eyes as she folded them up, stuffed them back in a mental drawer and turned the key.

That deep voice'll be whispering in your ear soon anyway,the smug murmur oozed disobediently out from behind the lock, causing her nipples to harden and the ache to tighten in her belly.Shutup.

"Marsh?" Mac's voice was deep, a slight rasp of sleep to the surprised tone as he picked up.

"Mac. It's me, listen." Gemma didn't dare speak above a whisper, hidden crouched in the knee space under the desk.

"What're you doing in Jon's rooms?" Mac's voice shot to an aggressive rumble, hackles audibly rising down the phone. Irritatingly, liquid heat pulsed between Gemma's thighs.He cares!squealed the insatiable corner of her mind. She ignored it, concentrating on why she was here, and fear for him dampened the heat rushing through her.

"I snuck in," she whispered back. "Shut up and listen."

"Gemma, get out of there – you're – you can't be found in his private rooms, he -."

"Iknow, listen to me," Gemma hissed at him, "They may find me any minute but I had to contact you, had to." She was almost in tears, worry tightening her throat, and abruptly she heard silence on the other end of the line. Then, "Listening, Picchu," he murmured softly. His tone was dangerous, poised, alert.

She explained swiftly into the silence echoing down the phone. His breath became slightly less angry, heavier with every word, while Gemma slowly became miserably aware of how far-fetched, how ludicrous it all sounded. She could feel her own doubts creeping into her tone as she faltered to a halt, and could hear him thinking what to reply through the calm breaths in the silence.

"I had to tell you," she whispered forlornly, "I know it sounds stupid, but I'm so scared, what if it's true?"

"It doesn't sound stupid, Gem," he breathed quietly back. "In fact, it explains a lot."

Her heart clenched – fear and relief, and she leaned silently against the polished hardwood side of the footwell, tears rolling down her cheeks. He really was being poisoned. Maybe. Oh please let him get better.

"Can you tell me the compound? Or actually, Will's just picking up, can you speak to him? - he'll understand better." There was a click and abruptly, another voice, brisk and calm, was on the line and Gemma heard herself reciting her theory again – a woman also cut in occasionally, posing additional questions, asking for clarity, sifting alertly through what Gemma could recall of the complex formulation.

There was a resounding silence after she had told them as much as she could, and promised to write out the formula for the MacKeld cubs as soon as she got back to her room – apparently they'd just been woken up and told to go and get ready to collect it.

"Can you use another treatment?" whispered Gemma. She heard the woman sigh, and then the silence down the line echoed ominously. "Mac, please!"

"Will?" Mac queried softly.

"There's the old method," murmured the male voice, his tones clipped with held-back feelings, "but it was never reported as very reliable, and I've no idea where we'd get hold of half of the ingredients nowadays. I'll look into it."

"I can find something," said Gemma determinedly, "I'll head back to the lab and sort out an alternative that will leach out this Argen, so –."

"This isn't Argen," murmured the woman, worriedly.

"And no way - don't you dare move from Marchmont, Picchu." Mac's voice was deep, harsh. "The Grey is definitely after you, and if he finds out you know this – they already killed Anne."

Gemma's breath stopped in her lungs. "What?" she murmured, sharply, shocked.That poor, prostituted young girl. "But I - I thought she'd be safe as a MacKeld!"

"Ambushed on the way back to the range with Sam – he barely managed to stay on his feet until Mark's squad arrived in answer their SOS, but the girl ..." the growl was rising in his voice, deepening, "She'd had her teeth filed. Torn to pieces. Defenceless."

Gemma gasped softly, a shudder of revulsion, "Why would a wolf do that?"

"For blow jobs," Mac's growl was disgusted, "Some yips wear caps, some idiots grind their teeth to blunt stumps to please their mates," his voice darkened again. "Then some - some I don't think have a choice, but that's an idea so alien to wolf culture that it's unthinkable to most."

Caught in hot memory, Gemma murmured, "So if I were a wolf, I couldn't have -," then suddenly recalled the other two listeners, and flushed scarlet, falling silent.

The silence echoed. Then she heard Mac rumble huskily, "Get off the line, you two." He wasn't talking to Gemma, and she heard the slight ping of a replaced receiver, her heart picking up as his soft breathing deepened. A long sigh sounded in her ear, and her blood tingled.

"Thank-you, Picchu." She had never heard or felt such warm depth of feeling in his voice, and it spread through her, warming her, heating her. He would be alright. She waited, peaceful now, despite her vulnerable position crouched under a desk in a forbidden room half way down a cliff. Some things were unimportant.

"Are you alright?" he murmured in concern.

"I'm worried about you – what's the alternative method?"

"No idea, Will'll let me know. Don't worry, I won't get any worse now, and we'll find a solution in time – there's no hurry. How are you?"

"Nick wouldn't know I knew, Mac," she pleaded softly, rushing the words out, "If I go and test a few possibilities, he'd have no reason to suspect, no way of knowing I was even there-."

"Gemma," Mac interrupted on a sarcastic drawl, "Nicolas has been after you from the start. Whether he suspects you're on to him or not is pretty irrelevant, I'd say, he'd try and collect whatever. You arenot safe elsewhere. Leave it. I'll be fine – William'll sort it. You need to get out of that room, stay safe in your own suite – it won't be much longer now."

"But -."

"Leave it," he growled deeply. "And get going, Gem, you - my blood is seething with the idea that you're in Marsh's rooms, even though I saw him in Himlesky six hours ago andknow he'd be hard pressed to be back yet." Gemma relaxed slightly at this piece of information. And the rough feeling in his voice. "Get back to your rooms, Picchu. Jon'll know that you've been there as soon as he gets in, but if he asks, tell him I ordered you to call me. Justdon't be there in his rooms - leave now."

Arrogant alpha. There was something very stirring in his vehemence. The heat in his demanding voice melted into her blood – she knew how much she loved the demanding side of Mac. But she wasn't one of his obedient pack.Not going just yet.

Gemma sighed huskily, "Bossy, bossy. Youdo need me to shut you up. Somehow. Hmmm. Let me think." And she swallowed, audibly, luxuriously, down the phone.

There was a harsh intake of breath. A pause for two heartbeats. Then Mac's voice came, silkily dangerous, down the line, "You really, really do not want to provoke me when you're in such a defenceless position, Gemma. I'm angry enough as it is that I've been forbidden to protect you while you finish healing."

Gemma instantly felt a little ashamed of herself. Although her blood wasn't cooling down, if anything it was simmering to the boil in response to his tone. She sighed again, her nipples hardening back to aching peaks. "I know, I just – I can't behave around you. Please, Mac, say something – um. Something to take to my lonely bed with me." Her cheeks heated to crimson as a pulse of heat surged liquid between her thighs and she whispered, "Please?"

What was wrong with her? Slept with him twice and now she was turning into an insatiable wanton? She never said things like that. Um. Except to Mac. Constantly.

His voice as he replied was deeper, controlled, soft biting words wreathed in silken heat.

"How about this, Gem. If you don't get off his phone and back to your room in the next fifteen seconds, then when I do get hold of you, I'll tie you to my own goddamn bed and make sure you learn what the consequences of scaring me like this are. And believe me, I'd make sure you were begging,begging mefor forgiveness with every breath."

Her heartbeat shot to racing in an instant, and her throat dried as a hot wave of lust pulsed through every fibre of her. She trembled uncontrollably, gulped in a breath, and rasped weakly, "Thanks."

"Ten," he shot back curtly, she could hear his anger deepening again - her blood was singing in response, heat thundering in her veins.

"I wish I could kiss you goodnight," she whispered huskily.

"Four. Dammit, Gemma." Her heart skipped a beat at the soft fury in his tone, but she could hear the tension of worry underneath and murmured softly, "Sorry. I'm gone. G'night Mac." And quickly, co-ordination completely shot, she lurched out of her hiding place to gently, shakily replace the receiver.

Her breath was heaving and she tried to keep it quiet as she edged back into the bedroom. Hot, hot want was aching between her thighs and she had to bite her lip to keep quiet as she scrambled fumbling back behind the curtain, shuddering. Was she insane? Of all the stupid, idiotic places to beg for phone sex – her cheeks flared again as she began dazedly to knot the sheet end back around her waist.

And she was pretty sure that her final goodnight had pushed her just past the time limit. What if Mac actually did carry out his threat?Oh please, please.Her lips parted and she had to bite hard on her lower lip to halt the moan that rose in her throat. Tied to his bed. Begging.Get a grip,she hissed at herself inwardly.

Gemma was lightly shuddering as she wrapped the sheet-rope back around herself and eased her overheated frame out into the cool night breeze. It played over her peaked, aching nipples, and she lost a little whimper into the darkness. She hauled herself up to the knot above her head as she edged sideways, scrambling back towards being directly underneath her own bedroom window. Her sweating hands slipped a little and she slid down, the silky sheets twined around her legs, until she was halted by the hard jam of the next knot against her aching, wet slit. A bolt of pure, numbing desire thundered through her and before she knew what had happened, she was in freefall, the adrenaline of terror finally shattering the tangle of lust clouding her mind, her scream smothered by the wrenching jolt of the knot around her waist as she landed on it, knocking the breath out of her.

Urg. Uh.

As she swung in a sickening, dizzying arc across the dark and light squares of the windows in the lower floor, Gemma furiously ordered herself to remain silent, regaining her breath, inwardly thanking her Dad for years of practice falls while rock-climbing. Her momentum then began to carry her on in a rising arc, sweeping her past a brief view of soft firelight on warm skin behind a long window– a lot of warm, bare skin, and realisation made her cheeks flare with heat just as she was brought up short, abruptly jerked to a halt when the sheet-rope above her caught on something. Desperately she grabbed at the edge of the next adjacent window to stop herself from swinging back into view as she heard a deep, roughened male voice murmur, "What was that?"

Heart pounding, Gemma stared, incredulous, at the wide open window she had halted just in front of. If she had swung two feet further, she would have gone splat into the pane like a cartoon character. She bit her lip savagely again as she smothered the insane urge to giggle, her toes settling gently on the small ledge crossing between the two windows just below her feet while she turned her eyes gratefully up to the flagpole above the first window that had saved her from such an ignominious discovery.

Then the urge to laugh left her abruptly as she heard the careless, husky silk of Madam replying, "Hmm. Obviously I need to work a bit harder at keeping your attention."

Damn.

Damn. Damn. Damn.

Mac really was going to kill her for this. Tie her to his bed. Both windows gave onto Madam's room, and there was no way she could climb up without swinging back past the first. She didn't know what Louise would do if she found here, but didn't really want to find out. Damn Mac for making her so damn fluttery just at the mere hint of his tying her to a bed.You asked.Her blood pulsed longingly again.Oh please. Control yourself, woman. What iswrongwith you?

A long, low moan drifted out on the night breeze.

That.

"Your musk smells so divine," the words were interspersed with soft slurping sounds. "Intoxicating, bewitching, and I have never felt you so hard." There was a touch of awe and – irritation? – in Louise's breathless voice, colouring her tone. There was also a strange lisp to her words, as though she was wearing a brace.

"Intoxicating," she repeated, and her voice was muffled on the word, a smothered grunt shutting her off, which was then echoed by the hard, rhythmic breathing of a large, excited male.

Oh-oh. Gemma so didnotwant to hear this, but she daredn't move, could only quiver, soundlessly, trying to close her ears. And trying to ignore the damn, unwanted tingling of her blood in response to the breathless sounds. A memory of Mac's muscled torso arched in pleasure as she muffled herself around his straining cock shuddered meltingly through her where she stood and Gemma again had to bite hard on her sore lower lip to restrain her whimper.Not NOW.

"What do you expect?" she heard the deep, male voice growl in angry reply. "You have to let us fight it out, Madam."

Louise made a soft, mewling sound, muffled, and a second voice added hoarsely, "Yes, that's it, take it deeper, Madam, relax."

Holy cow, there were two guys in there with her!

And – no way did Gemma want to join them, but the sounds sighing from the room made it even more achingly excruciating that she was stuck here at Marshmont, forced to listen to this. She hadn't seen Mac for days – long, increasingly aching hours. She could practically taste him on her lips. Gemma's tongue snaked out between her teeth, and licked slowly. Shewantedhim. Burnedto touch him. Hearhimmake those soft grunts of pleasure as she sheathed him inhermouth.Oh please.

"The Alpha is not back yet," the first voice interrupted her spiralling thoughts brusquely, "And the alfamme doft is driving us all crazy as she ripens – youhave to let us fight for precedence."

What?a tingle of unease ran up Gemma's spine, and a little rational thought crept back in, halting her gentle rubbing of her peaked nipples against the rough stone. She hadn't even been aware she was doing it, lips parted, dreaming of Mac groaning under her soft bites.

"Deeper, deepest. You love all of this fucking huge monster down your throat, don't you Madam Capped?" growled the second voice, "That's why you make us each inspect her now, while she's coming into blood heat. Scent her." The slapping, slurping gasps increased, tempo picking up as he groaned.

"Oh god, her scent," he groaned again, deeper, "Remnants of the alpha shiele melding into her doft, that intoxicating mix – ." He began to grunt fast, an impossibly rapid rhythm of muffled little cries, punctuated by squelching slaps drifting out to where Gemma clung, frozen, to the wall, the ache in her thighs still infuriatingly strong, despite the clear, cold thoughts congealing in her mind. Aroused and cold and furious.

What? What if -? Whenwas her period? No. No way. No way.

A loud, gagged female shriek suddenly exploded from inside as a deeper grunt joined the slapping noises.

"You want us this fucking hard all the time. This is what you want." The first male was growling, breathing deeply, rhythmically as he punctuated his sentences with further, deeper grunts. "Enjoy it while you can, Madam – i'll give it to you as hard and fast as you want." A second, muffled moan sounded on the air, punctuated by the pounding noises and both males' harsh, heavy breathing. "But tonight or tomorrow, she'll be ripe and then you won't be able to fucking stop us all from fighting for her any more, we'll be on the rut."

There was a shadow of shame in his voice as he continued angrily, breathlessly, pounding, "And you should've let us convey to the Alpha sohecould come home and have her. She's not turned - can't protect herself from one of us, let alone the pack. And the doft is already driving us insane."

"Fuck, yeah," groaned the second male, panting feverishly. "I've never felt this – I understand the legends of the female weres now. If they smelt like her..."

No way. No way. No way.

Oh.

Gemma was frozen, shivering, holding herself to the rock even as the infuriating pool of heat in her belly swirled and her blood tingled with unbearable, unprecedented lust. Damn. Damn. Damn. No way.

No.

Gemma tried to pull herself together to formulate a plan, tried to ignore the mental images heating her feverish blood from the sounds in the room, memories of Mac's husky growl, fantasies of being tied to his bed, begging – she just couldn't, couldn't cut it off. Except –NO. She wanted Mac. No-one else. Where the hell was he? This explained why she was so damn horny. So damn, damn horny. And why the guards left that uneasy, aching, quivering irritation in her stomach – getting worse these last two days. No. It couldn't be. She washuman, for god's sake.

Mainly.

What had Mac said? Healed within a week – and that had been three days ago. Her period was due tomorrow. No.

NO.

Damn damn damn.

Trying, trying furiously to ignore the inferno which had ignited inside her at the soft breathless sounds, and the lustful heat in the male voices – heat engendered byher, of wantingher -no -Gemma suddenly became aware of a soft slithering sound and looked up to see a white thing fluttering in the darkness toward her face. She flinched away, then recognised that it was a piece of paper on the end of a rope. In the shimmer of light from Madam's windows, she could read the stark capitals scrawled on it.