Chapter 6 - Elena

Three days passed in Nightstar, and Elena's wolf was beside herself. Having stayed in the guest room, only leaving for necessities like food and the bathroom, she was champing at the bit for a good run.

Why she was hiding away in the guest room anyway, she wasn't sure. It wasn't the first time she had been around the senior members of her brother's pack. All the wolves who lived in the manor, save for the mates of the senior wolves, she had known for over a decade. Then there was Hanson. And she had run into him one too many times already.

Hell, she didn't even know why he affected her so badly, but she was damn well not going to try and find out. She was determined to stay as far away from him as possible.

And that was exactly why, when she eventually couldn't take it any longer, Elena crept carefully from the guest room, sniffing as she went.

If she so much as caught a whiff of him, she was going to turn and run like the wind right back to her room. She couldn't face feeling that way again. The memory of the way her heart fluttered, how her belly reacted, how every muscle ached to draw closer to him was simply too much to bear.

If she allowed herself to give into that feeling, to give into the aggression and passion that welled up inside her when she so much as smelled his scent, she was sure she would be lost forever. Maybe that wasn't such a bad thing. Oblivion didn't sound so awful, not after all she had been through.

She had so little left to live for. But Jason would never forgive her if she gave in like that, and she would never forgive herself if she betrayed him.

I have Eddie, she reminded herself as she slipped out of the manor. Her big brother was all she had ever needed before she found her mate, and now he was all she needed again. She just had to keep her head on straight for long enough to get through the worst of this grief, and then maybe she would feel better.

That was why she had come to Nightstar in the first place. Eddie's closeness always made things easier on her. At least, it used to, though she was having a hard time feeling it at the moment.

Lucky for her, it seemed most of the pack was true to the werewolf way of living, and it seemed everyone else was still asleep. She couldn't exactly blame them. The sky was barely blushing pink with the rising of the sun as she made it into the woods unhindered. Wolves weren't exactly early birds, and silence in the morning was natural around a pack, but Elena was surprised that not a single one of the army brats, as she liked to jokingly call them, appeared to be up.

It wasn't something she thought to dwell on too long. Her wolf was clawing too violently at her insides.

The sounds and smells of the forest were calling to her. Finding a tree with a hollowed-out trunk, she practically ripped off her clothes and shoved them inside.

Then, with one last glance over her shoulder, she let her wolf loose with one last thought for Jack's rule of not wandering too far.

She would run the perimeter of the woods if she had to in order to exercise her wolf, just so long as she felt a brief respite from the damn bitch's urges.

The release was instant. The sheer, overwhelming joy of her first shift in days was truly intoxicating. It was thrilling and mind numbing all in an instant. And, thoughtlessly, she gave her wolf the reins in order to run and be free, losing herself in the shift until suddenly, she realized she had made a terrible mistake.

Skidding to an abrupt halt, Elena lifted her nose and pricked her ears. The peaceful quiet of the morning had changed. It was eerie, dead silence now. Not even the leaves rustled in the breeze. In fact, even the breeze that had ruffled her fur seemed to be holding its breath.

Elena held her own, realizing far too late that she had crossed the scent markers of the Nightstar pack's borders.

She took a hesitant step backwards. Something was wrong, terribly wrong, she just couldn't put her paw on it.

Then it hit her like a ton of bricks—or, more accurately, a ton of wolf.

Her attacker seemed to come out of nowhere, barreling into her from the shadows with snapping jaws.

Elena barely had time to dodge away and avoid a nasty bite to the neck. Still, her attacker landed on top of her, and they rolled and rolled, wrestling with tooth and claw.

The scent of him was all around her, one she most definitely didn't recognize. It was foul in her throat as she bit down, aiming for his neck to pin him down. All she got was a mouthful of thick fur, and he shook her off all too easily.

Purposefully, she used the momentum of his shaking to roll herself away, pouncing back to her paws immediately to turn on him again.

The giant, snarling brown wolf was more than twice her size, but as he came lumbering toward her for another attack, she realized she had something that he didn't: agility.

Waiting until the very last moment, right when he was almost upon her, she darted low between his front legs and slipped right out behind him.

Taking advantage of his confusion, she twisted as she went and snapped her jaws closed around his ankle. Twisting her head as she gnawed on his leg, hoping to do as much damage as possible, she pulled his leg out from under him.

He went down like a sack of potatoes, grunting as the air was knocked right out of him.

Thanks, Ed, Elena thought as she howled with triumph. Her brother's careful training when they were younger really had taught her a thing or two, even if she would never admit it to his face.

But it appeared there was one lesson he had taught her that she had failed to remember. She had gotten far too cocky, and before she knew it, a second wolf was on top of her, pinning her to the ground with claws digging painfully into her shoulders.

The snarling in her ear was a definite warning to not try and fight any more. But what other choice did she have? She had no idea who these wolves were. They most definitely weren't Nightstar wolves. They smelled nothing like Eddie or Jack or even Hanson, who all shared similar elements in their scents after having been united so long as a pack.

No, these guys smelled of forest and leaf mold and worse, pig shit.

And whoever they were, they were certainly here to cause trouble.

What they didn't realize was that Elena was used to trouble following her, and though she had little left to live for, she never gave up without a fight.

Closing her eyes, she breathed out a long, deep sigh and allowed her entire body to go limp.

Whimpering just a little, low in her throat, she allowed the second attacker to believe he had gotten the best of her.

He couldn't have been more wrong.

She felt his grip loosening. More than that, she felt the wave of excitement that rushed over him as he began to believe he had been victorious.

Then, just as she prepared to show him he had been wrong, she saw something out the corner of her eye that made her blood run cold.

Thick red fur flashed right past her. A shiver ran through her body. Now, she was hopelessly outnumbered. Two wolves she might have been able, to handle but a third was pushing it.

And with the first already clambering back to his paws, she was done for.

Even Eddie couldn't have trained her enough to take on three male wolves that were all at least twice the size she was.

But just as she started to give in to despair, something marvelous happened.

The weight of the wolf on her back was gone so suddenly that she sucked in a sharp breath of relief.

The sounds of snarling and fighting filled her ears as she scrambled to her paws and whipped around to figure out what the hell was going on.

And that's when her heart stopped. The third wolf hadn't been another attacker, after all. In fact, he was taking on both of her attackers at once, and he was doing so with glorious agility.

Elena didn't think she had ever seen a wolf so swift or speedy. For one so large, he moved like one half his size, clawing and biting, pulling with swift lashes of his head or knocking away with an aggressive shoulder bump.

He made quick work of getting the two attacking wolves so tangled up in each other that they appeared unable to figure out who was their friend and who their foe.

Then, just when Elena thought perhaps he might finish them both off, he turned and bared his teeth at her.

It was an unmistakable order. She had to run. And so she turned and did just that.

Hearing paws pounding behind her, she glanced back to see a streak of red following.

Her rescuer was right behind her. Then he was running right beside her. And finally, when they were well within the pack's borders once more, he swiftly cut in front of her and blocked her path.

Elena just barely managed to skid to a halt before barreling right into him.

With a low growl, she started to shake off her wolf, wishing to give him a damn piece of her mind. But the growl caught in her throat.

With the foul scents of the enemy wolves fading from her nostrils, she got a good sniff of her rescuer, and her heart stopped.

Crouched in human form before the great hulk of a red wolf, she cowered with realization. Hanson!

The second he started to shift, too, she caught sight of his gorgeous human face, and all hell broke loose inside her.

"What the hell were you doing?" she demanded angrily, surging up onto her feet and shoving him backwards in the process. "I had that under control!"

You idiot! You stupid, stupid idiot! she thought even more angrily.

"Excuse me?" Hanson asked, his gaze darkening, a cocky brow raised as he crossed his arms over his gloriously bare chest.

Fuck! She gritted her teeth, realizing he was just as completely naked as she was. The total lack of clothing between them was even more infuriating.

Unable to bear his closeness, she shoved him hard again, forcing him backwards even as she took a step back of her own.

"You could have gotten yourself killed back there!" she snapped at him. "I didn't need your help. I had everything under control!"

Hanson laughed, he actually laughed, and Elena didn't know whether to claw his face or kiss him just to shut him the hell up.

She had to shake herself mentally for even thinking of doing so. This wasn't right. All of these things she was feeling towards him weren't right. The uncontrollable anger and violence, the unbearable urge to jump on him and kiss him and tear off his invisible clothing, the need to slap herself for ever feeling this way and him for making her feel anything at all. It was all simply too much to handle.

Hanson cocked his head and stood a little straighter. His movement put everything right into prospective, and catching a wondrous glimpse of the large package hanging between his legs, she raised her chin in the hopes of avoiding staring at it like a damned fool.

Her mouth watered with the thought of what it might be like to taste him, and it only made her even angrier.

Everything right now was so damn wrong. Why did it have to be him? Why couldn't it have been Eddie or Jack or even Kane? Why couldn't it have been a couple of she-wolves that came to her rescue? Why did it have to be him ?

His scoffing laughter made her growl low in her throat.

"What the fuck are you laughing at?" she demanded, placing her hands on her hips. His eyes lit up with even more amusement and she again wanted to slap herself for being such an idiot.

How did she ever hope to be an aggressive, frightening she-wolf when she was in human form and he had almost a foot on her?

God damn it! She bared her teeth at him and snapped, "Stop laughing at me. Stop it, you flea brained shitbag!"

But that only seemed to make him laugh more and Elena's cheeks grew red hot with embarrassment and fury.

"Fine. Go ahead and continue laughing," she snarled at him, feeling traumatized twice over. The thought of his getting hurt because of her was bad enough, but to be laughed at to boot was too much to bear.

Whipping around, she turned and started to stalk away.

"Whoa, hey, where do you think you're going?" Hanson demanded, and sparks shot up Elena's arm as he grabbed hold of her wrist, yanking her back around to face him.

Gazes locked, Elena's world spun out of control. Why did he have to smell so damn good?

And hell, those eyes, they were reaching right into her and holding her in place. Frozen to the spot, she glowered back at him and hissed under her breath, "Let go of me."

Slowly and with great purpose, Hanson removed his fingers from her wrist. Still, his fingertips brushed her skin, making her heart hammer.

He was close, too close. And yet, Elena couldn't step away. He was naked, too naked, and Elena could imagine all too easily all the things that could happen while they were naked.

"It isn't safe out here alone," Hanson said softly, his gaze darkening seductively. Elena's entire body quivered as his eyes lowered to her lips.

Did he want to kiss her as badly as she wanted to kiss him?

Breathlessly, she responded, "I'm not alone."

That's when all hell broke loose all over again. They collided like a pair of rabid animals, the sexual tension too much for either of them to bear.

A tangle of arms and legs, they kissed, the passion so intense that it almost knocked Elena right off her feet.

Then she was off her feet, picked up into his muscular arms with his warm hands cupping her buttocks.

The next thing she knew, her back was pinned against the nearest tree trunk, her legs wrapped around his waist with the tip of his cock tantalizingly close to her pussy.

Wrapping her arms around his neck, she kissed him as if he were the very air that she breathed. She needed him more than life itself. Damn, she actually felt alive for the first time in months.

His touch was electric as he cupped her breast in one hand and squeezed deliciously. His other clenched around her buttock as he rubbed his cock against her.

Instinctively, Elena opened her legs wide. She needed this, she needed him.

Propped against the tree trunk, his body pinning hers to the bark, she was perfectly positioned to take him. His huge member sprang up between them, bouncing against her clit. The sheer, teasing pleasure of it made her groan low in her throat.

She couldn't take the waiting anymore. If he wasn't inside her soon, she might go insane with longing.

Reaching between them, she gripped hold of his cock.

The second she did, it was as if a bucket of cold water had been dashed right over them.

Hanson seemed to snap out of whatever had come over him in an instant, pulling back just enough for Elena's feet to hit the ground.

In the next second, he lashed out, striking the tree trunk above her head with his balled-up fist.

"Fuck!" he growled, his tone so filled with emotion that it brought tears to Elena's eyes. "We can't do this. You're Eddie's sister!"

"So what?" she demanded, her wolf whimpering with desperation. "You're a grown man. I'm a grown woman. Eddie is Eddie."

She shrugged her shoulders, looking at him with longing. But even as she spoke, guilt began to gnaw at her stomach.

"What the hell is the deal with you two, anyway?" Elena asked, closing her legs tight. The mood was gone quicker than it had come, and yet the longing remained.

Hanson stepped back, scoffing. He rubbed his hand over his mouth and growled, "Hell if I know."

Elena's stomach twisted when he turned away from her. She was about to question him again when he added, "You should leave before I do something we'll both regret."

His voice was strained, and just looking at his muscular back, Elena could see the tension rippling through him as if he had clenched every single muscle to stop himself from turning back around to face her.

Pushing herself off the tree trunk, she raised a hand to touch him. Her fingertips lingered just beyond him, tingling with the desire to grab his shoulder and force him back around to face her.

She wanted to do things, all kinds of things that she would likely regret indeed, but she couldn't quite bring herself to attempt it.

"Hanson?" she whimpered, hoping that maybe she wouldn't have to be the one to initiate. His entire body quivered before her eyes.

"Go," he snarled, "before I change my mind and never let you leave."

This time, she was the one to quiver. His words were a threat, that much was clear, and yet her wolf was more than happy to take him up on the challenge.

It was only the smallest part of her rational human mind that made her turn back towards the manor.

I can't do this to Jason, she thought, using the guilt that grew inside her to stop herself from turning right back around.

She needed to run again, far and fast, before desire overwhelmed her once more and she threw herself at Hanson all over again. And so, she shifted, darting for the manor before she had a second to change her mind.