The Lake

BRAX

Running with my Spitfire had become my favorite thing to do. Any spare chance I got, I was inviting her with me.

On patrol, for fun, because I couldn’t handle the emotions in the pack anymore, I ran, and she always came with me.

It helped, having her there, having her shadows there to fend off the negative.

And there was a lot of it.

The pack was riddled with desolate hopelessness. They were starting to lose the fight, the fire we needed to beat the vampires.

The attacks were coming daily now, and more wolves were getting hurt.

And then there was Tabby’s death, the witches’ snub, Derik’s parents.

It had hit too hard on all of them, and I felt every part of that.

I tried not to let it get to me, but I had never had to be so controlled before. Normally, there was enough good to balance what went on inside me when I collected others’ emotions, but not this time.

The pack spent their nights at the tavern, with their mates, pretending like they weren’t saying goodbye, but they were.

Every patrol was tense; every team sent to take out a small camp of vamps felt like another sacrifice. There was no hope left. Every day, the pack wondered who was getting buried next, and I had no answers for them. None of us did.

The vamps were strong, and we were doing what we could to hold them off, but they were coming harder and harder.

Lorelai tried to rally them, to keep that hope alive with her magic feeding us, keeping us strong even in the dark winter, but there was only so much she could do.

I ran harder through the forest toward the lake, my mate hot on my heels.

She was getting faster but still couldn’t catch me.

I grinned and slowed to meet her, running next to her to make sure nothing got to her before I got them.

We had to protect her; she was all we had left. Without her, we were fucked.

The vampires were only coming every now and then; they hadn’t made their final move yet, which gave us time to get ready.

But it also gave them time to do the same.

I searched the trees of the forest, sending my shadows out to inspect every bit of it. There were no vampires close. They were always somewhere, but they weren’t around the lake.

I raced Lorelai there, then shifted.

She did the same, grinning, puffing as her face was framed by the torch flames. Her naked body was highlighted under my glare, and I licked my lips.

“No way, Brax. We’re here to train, remember?” She raised a brow, then turned away and picked up some clothes from the spares we left in a cubby in one of the trees.

She slid the shirt on, and I sulked.

“We could fight naked?” I smirked, going to the same cubby and reaching past her to grab a set for myself. I purposely brushed up against her body, smiling at the sharp intake of breath she took.

“No, we can’t, or we’ll never get any fighting done,” she said breathily, then stepped back to put on some pants. She tied them tight, then went over to the lake.

It always shone like the moon was on it, even in winter when there was no moon to be seen. It made her glow like she had the moon on her too.

It was an addicting sight, seeing her like that. She had a fire the rest of us lacked, and she held it there for all of us when we didn’t have the strength.

It was why she was our perfect mate. The perfect luna.

I pulled on my clothes and followed her to the lake’s edge.

“You think you can beat me now that you’re a full wolf?” I raised a brow at her. She nodded, smirking with a mischievous glint in her eyes. I loved that look. It meant I was in trouble, but when it came to Lorelai, being in trouble was half the fun.

“I’ve been practicing.”

I paced around her, checking over her small body. She didn’t look like much, but she could be just as fierce as the rest of us, if not more. I admired that, but I had to make sure she could handle a vamp if they came for her again.

She was right, though; she had been practicing. With me, with Kai. We had been training with her and her shadows since Zale had been taken, and again when she got back from the vamps.

She tried to train with Derik, but he was too soft on her, letting her win, too analytical of every move, stopping to explain. Then they fucked and got nowhere. It was a cycle, so usually, Kai and I tried to be the ones training with her.

Now she could hold her own, but she had shifted. She was a wolf and could rely more on her strength, not just her magic.

I needed to make sure that was true.

“Kai has been training me. He said if I beat you, I get a treat.” She grinned wickedly.

I laughed. Of course, he had bribed her. Always a challenge involved with him.

“What kind of treat?”

She smirked and shook her head, refusing to tell me. But the way her breasts pebbled beneath her shirt and her scent permeated the air, I knew it was sexual.

“And what about if I win? Do I get a treat?” I teased.

That had her circling me back as we sized each other up. She gave me a one-shoulder shrug.

“I’m sure Nikolai wouldn’t mind,” she taunted back, and I barked out a laugh. He wasn’t going anywhere near my dick unless it was inside our mate.

“Enough stalling, Spitfire. Show me what you’ve learned,” I said, inviting her forward.

She smirked, then ran at me.

She was fast, much faster than before, but she still missed me.

At least I thought so until her shadows wrapped around me and yanked me back to her, so she could kick me back with a solid ~thunk~ to my chest.

I propelled backward, grinning as my chest ached. I rubbed it and sauntered back to her. My shadows poured out of me, holding hers off.

Then she cheated and added her magic. Our shadows and her magic fought as she came at me again.

We sparred for what felt like hours. She got in hits all over my body as I defended. I attacked as if I were a vamp, making her catch me, playing cat and mouse with her since it was their favorite game.

She caught me and pinned me to the ground.

She was right; she’d been practicing. I grinned up at her as she held my throat, squeezing with her fist aimed at my head.

Her eyes were wild, her lips shining from where she licked them. Her skin was slick with sweat, her eyes glowing purple.

But she wasn’t holding me tight enough in my legs. That was my cue. I lifted my leg, ramming her ass with my knee, destabilizing her enough to knock her off me. As she went down, I caught her, laying her on the soft grass before climbing over her and pinning her.

My fingers wrapped around her throat, my legs clutching hers so she couldn’t do the same to me.

“Always pin the legs. Your body weight alone isn’t enough, so make sure you lock them in with your legs,” I said, and she nodded, sucking in a breath when I gripped her throat tighter.

I leaned closer to her. “A vampire will already have their teeth in you if you make a mistake like that, understand?” I said. She nodded.

It was harsh, but it was the truth, and those kinds of truths always fueled her harder. Before I could make a hilarious joke about something else being inside her, she shoved a metal blade into my thigh.

I grunted and released her as she kicked me back. Her magic and shadows grabbed me and yanked me back from her. She grinned, spinning her little blade that was still tipped with my blood. I leaned against the big tree her shadows had put me by and hung my wrist over my knee.

I smirked at her. “Cheating. No weapons, Spitfire,” I said as my thigh burned and stitched back together. She shrugged and kicked my leg out so she could climb on my waist. I held her there as she slid the blade back into the back of her pants.

“A vampire won’t play by the rules,” she said, changing my own words on me and firing them back. Fuck, she was everything I ever wanted in a mate. She wasn’t docile and sweet, doing whatever I asked like a damn slave. She could take it; she could give it.

I grabbed her face, pulling her face to mine as I crushed her mouth with mine. My heart ached with the mating link as my need for her grew. She gripped my hair in her fists, yanking it out of the band, running her finger down the blue braid before cupping the back of my neck and meeting my kisses.

She sighed against me, fidgeting on my waist as she pushed her tongue along mine.

“We’re meant to be patrolling,” I breathed against her.

She nodded. “Uh-huh,” she whispered, then kept kissing me. I rolled us, my body over hers as I kissed over her neck. A small growl erupted from her chest as I hit the spot behind her ear that the others hadn’t found yet.

It was my secret, and that growl? It had never happened before. I pulled back and grinned down at her. She shook her head.

“I don’t know how I made that noise, but I don’t want to talk about it,” she said breathily, with a blush on her cheeks.

I chuckled and leaned down to nuzzle the spot again, raking my teeth down her lobe. She growled again, not an angry noise. More like a purr.

“Oh my god.” She covered her face with her hands. I peeled them off her, trying not to laugh at how embarrassed she was, but she was fucking cute.

“It’s a good sound, Spitfire, trust me,” I said and kissed her again. She shook her head. “No, it’s awful,” she said, trying to get away from me. Nope. I yanked her back again and kissed away her protests.

“A she-wolf growling for her lover? Sexy as fuck.” I kept kissing her between my words.

“A luna growling for her mate? Irresistible,” I said, kissing each of her blushing cheeks.

“For you. I’m never letting you kiss me there again,” she huffed before covering her ears. I grinned and kissed her lips softly.

“And if I find other spots that make you growl like that? You’ll never let me there again?” I asked, teasing my fingers down her body, tracing each line of her stomach to her waistband. I slipped my fingers beneath it. She sucked in a breath and gripped my bicep, stopping me from going further.

“Never,” she warned. She seemed serious, and I grinned, pulling back, letting her sit up. I dragged her face to me and gave her a kiss.

“I’m not risking that, Spitfire, but if you change your mind, I’m here.” I winked, then stood up and went over to the lake. She followed, brushing herself off.

“What are you doing?” she asked as I pulled off my clothes. “Going for a swim before we go back on patrol. Want to join?” I asked. She looked at the water with a frown, then back at me. “I don’t know.”

“I can help you stay above the water,” I offered. She frowned harder. “I want to. But last time was kind of terrifying.” “You won’t find any shadows in here, Spitfire. Only ours.” She edged forward, looking down into the water. She stepped back again.

“Is it cold?” I shook my head. “Refreshing, not cold. And I’ll tell you something about this water,” I leaned in closer.

“It’s as magic as we are. Just ask it to warm up, and it will,” I said, grabbing her hand and leading her to the edge again. She still looked nervous.

“You don’t trust me?”

She nodded. “You know I do.” She fiddled with the hem of her shirt.

“But something is making me not want to. I think I’ll watch this time. Maybe after winter, I could try,” she said, eyeing the water with a deeper frown.

I looked at the water, then at her. She didn’t understand it yet, but she would. The water was more than it seemed. It was a balm on everything inside, at least it was for me. And the water area pack. We were connected to it on another level, and that made it easy to trust. But she would get there.

“I’ll get in first, and if you feel like coming in with me after that, then I’ll help you, okay?” I asked.

She smiled and nodded. “Okay.”

She sat down on the edge of the lake, crossing her legs as I shed the rest of my clothes.

I took one last scan of our surroundings to make sure we were alone, then jumped in the water. It fucking burned. My skin felt like it was being torn off, and I screamed under the water, shooting to the top as my shadows hissed and screeched in the water.

They tried to help me out of the water as I thrashed my way through, but the water was like lead, weighing me down. My chest felt like it was going to explode, my brain was suffocated of thoughts. The light of the lake was gone, the refreshing, calming feel of it was non-existent.

It had turned, and I hadn’t even sensed it. When had we betrayed it? I wasn’t sure, but it was not letting me out. I held my breath, fighting the water as it tried to take me to its depths. Normally that’s exactly where I wanted to be. Not this time. I knew if I let it take me there, I wasn’t coming back.

So I fought. Hard and with everything my anchored body had. But I didn’t know if it would be enough this time.