This week’s Wicked Wednesday brings you another installment of my urban fantasy involving a twist to the werewolf mythology, battles with vampires and a struggle for control in a werewolf pack. The tentative title is UNDEAD UPRISING and I hope you like this next free chapter that I’m offering you.
This chapter is after Helena and Catalina have met with their father, their half-sister Selena as well as one of their clients and tempers have flared during their meeting. Now Catalina and her father will discuss what needs to be done for both their company and the wolf pack.
For those of you who may have missed the first chapters, you can read them here:
Also, don’t forget this week’s b’day bash. Just visit any of the blogs listed below this week and leave a comment and you’ll be eligible to win a prize from me! At Barbara Vey’s blog, there are tons of other prizes as well!
I’ll be visiting all of these blogs and if you’ve left a comment at any of them, you’ll also be eligible to win a $25 Godiva gift card! The more times I see your name at the different blogs, the more your chances improve to win the gift card. So take a moment and stop by one or all to improve your chances of winning a prize.
The contest ends on Friday, March 13th at midnight EST, so be sure to get your comments in there on time!
Barbara Vey’s Beyond Her Book Blog for lots of fun and giveaways!
http://www.publishersweekly.com/blog/880000288/post/1240041524.html
Fresh Fiction: http://freshfiction.com/page.php?id=1602
Harlequin Paranormal Romance blog: http://paranormalromanceblog.wordpress.com/
Liberty States Fiction Writers (leave a comment on any of the blog posts): http://www.libertystatesfictionwriters.com/blog-read-around-the-world/
Long and Short Reviews: http://longandshortarchives.blogspot.com/search/label/Caridad%20Pineiro
Chapter 15
Catalina’s father examined the recommendations they had made about reassigning Frank Black’s detail. He rubbed his forefinger back and forth across his lips as he considered them. He tossed the papers onto the desk before him. “You’re sure about this?”
“Do you have some doubt about all our decisions or just one in particular?” Catalina asked, arching an eyebrow to emphasize her point.
“You have Hemmerich assigned internally. To the research section?” Her father grabbed the papers, looked at them once more and shook his head. “Seems like a waste of prime wolf.”
“So you do feel us desk jockeys are lesser warriors?” Her reiteration of his earlier words had a teasing tone since she’d had enough fighting for the day.
He grinned then, a devilish grin that lit up his eyes with amusement. “Hemmerich will feel that way. I love it.”
She chuckled and shook her head. “Papi, you never cease to amaze me.”
“Nor do you. I wasn’t sure you’d do the right thing — ”
“And you think putting Hemmerich at a desk is the right thing?” she questioned, interested in hearing her father’s rationale.
“Keep your friends close — ”
“But your enemies closer. It’s exactly what I thought,” she admitted out loud and crossed her legs, adopting a casual stance, but her father saw right through it.
“You’re worried about him?”
She shrugged. “I had an interesting visitor this morning.”
When he didn’t ask who, she continued. “Helena came to warn me about Selena and Hemmerich.”
“Selena isn’t someone you need to worry about. But I don’t like that she’s being used.”
“You knew?” She leaned forward onto the edge of her seat, confused by her father’s inaction.
He brought two fingers to his mouth, rubbed his lips thoughtfully before replying. “Selena is a great deal like her mother. Needy of affection. Honorable, but gullible because of that need.”
“Helena — ”
“Helena,” he said forcefully and pointed at her. “Helena is one you need to watch. There’s something . . . off about her. I don’t know what it is, but you need to keep an eye on her.”
She suspected what was off — that Helena was in love with her half-sister. Her father could never understand and if Helena’s offer of allegiance was true, she would keep her Helena’s secrets for now.
A first — she had never intentionally kept something from her father.
It was odd to have so many people warning her about so many other people. But she had no doubt which people she could trust. Helena and Selena were possibly not on that list. “Is there anything else I should know, papi?”
“Hemmerich won’t take kindly to this move. His pride — ”
“Is a dangerous thing. I’ve known that for some time.” Standing, she grabbed the papers off his desk. “Will you support me on these decisions? Hemmerich is sure to come to you to complain.”
He laughed and his teeth were a bright white against the blackness of his beard. “Mi’ja. Hemmerich has done nothing but complain for years.” After a chuckle, he added, “I will support you in all things. Except one.”
She had no doubt about what he referred to, but she wouldn’t be his daughter if she gave up so easily. “On that, I guess we will just have to agree to disagree.”
He inclined his head, the gesture one of affection and admiration. “For the moment. I will leave it up to you and your sisters to communicate the assignments.”
“And I will leave it up to you to deal with Hemmerich.” She left his study to head to the public wings of the building where their corporation conducted its daily business.
This week’s Wicked Wednesday brings you another installment of my urban fantasy involving a twist to the werewolf mythology, battles with vampires and a struggle for control in a werewolf pack. The tentative title is UNDEAD UPRISING and I hope you like this next free chapter that I’m offering you.
This chapter is after Helena and Catalina have had a not-so-sisterly discussion about their father’s wishes for the pack and Catalina’s romantic involvement with Ramon. Now Helena and Catalina must meet with their father, their half-sister Selena as well as one of their clients and tempers will flare during their meeting.
For those of you who may have missed the first chapters, you can read them here:
Chapter 14
The meeting with the annoying A-List asshole client began much like she had expected. He groused, he complained, he preened. Then he ranted that he wasn’t getting the kind of security he warranted. Not that anything had happened, it was just that his ego almost wished it would since that would confirm that he rated.
“Mr. Black — ”
“Frank, please, Catalina. After all these years, you and
I . . . We can be on a first name basis, can’t we?” He punctuated that comment with a leer.
“Mr. Black,” her father repeated, thankfully jumping into the conversation. She didn’t think she could maintain her tone of forced pleasantry much longer.
“We have our top people guarding you — ” her father began, but Frank Black would have none of it.
He pointed to Catalina. “I want her. She’s the best. I want her watching me.”
“Mr. Black.” She didn’t get to finish as her father covered her hand as it rested on the table.
“Catalina isn’t one of our field operatives, Frank,” her father explained.
“I want her or your employment is over,” Frank said, his handsome face marred by an arrogant sneer.
She looked across the table to where Selena and Helena sat. A cat that ate the canary smile sat on Selena’s face and concern etched lines into Helena’s.
Catalina suspected that she knew why — Hemmerich was part of the detail responsible for guarding Frank Black. A few discreet words dropped here and there to the prima donna movie star had been sure to elicit just this response. Hemmerich had played him and the human was too stupid to realize it.
She couldn’t have guessed her father’s reaction, however. He rose and extended his hand to the actor, who was inches shorter and not as well built despite his claim to action hero fame. “It’s been a pleasure having you as a client, Mr. Black. My assistant can recommend some other security companies on your way out.”
Shock crossed the actor’s face as well as Selena’s. “What? No one says no to Frank Black.”
The arrogance of the puny mortal, she thought and stood beside her father. “We do.”
“What?” he nearly screamed and took an angry step toward them, but Helena was already there, holding his arm.
He tried to shake her off, but couldn’t. As she tightened her grip, he actually winced and weakened at the knees.
“I believe we’ve made ourselves quite clear, Mr. Black,” Helena said, her tone brooking no argument.
“Let go.” His tone was almost pleading and Helena being Helena, held him just a little longer and a bit harder until the man cringed and began to sag.
When Helena finally released him, he said, “You’ll be sorry. I’ll tell all my friends about how lousy your services are.”
“Do that and you’ll be hearing from our lawyers. Or maybe from me, personally,” she said and took a step toward him, but the actor rushed out the door, mumbling about suing as he went.
“I think he wet himself,” Helena said as she glanced at her father and sister. With a sniff, she confirmed it. “Definitely. So what do we do now?”
Rafael sat back down and shrugged nonchalantly. “I think it’s time Hemmerich and the rest of Mr. Black’s detail did some desk duty.”
Selena immediately piped up. “Hemmerich’s too important to be jockeying a desk.”
“Really, mi’ja?” Rafael faced his second-born. “So I guess all of us aren’t. Important, that is.”
Selena blanched. Her hands fluttered in the air nervously as she backpedalled on her statement. “I didn’t mean . . . I’m sorry, papi. That’s not what I meant.”
“What did you mean?” Catalina sat beside her father as was her right as the first born and heir to leadership. She wanted Selena to be reminded of it given her earlier conversation with Helena.
“I meant . . . He’s better in the field. He’s a warrior.”
With each word Selena seemed to be digging a bigger hole for herself, unusual for her. She was usually the most diplomatic of all the sisters.
“So are we, hermanita.”
“I’m sorry, Catalina. You’re right. We’re all warriors, it’s just that . . . ” She fumbled, obviously trying to avoid yet another faux pas.
“Whatever you think is best, papi,” she said demurely and cast her gaze downward.
Catalina glanced at her father from the corner of her eye while he considered his three daughters, looking from one to the other before he finally said, “I think my daughters should decide what to do about Hemmerich and his detail. There’s a waiting list of clients who need our services. Put your sisterly skills together and find the right fit.”
With that, he walked out of the conference room, leaving the three of them staring at one another uneasily. They might be his daughters, but as for sisterly skills . . .
They were sorely lacking in those. They were pack members first and after that — their allegiances had generally been toward the respective mothers that their father had forsaken.
Except for her and Hembra, who had been raised almost like flesh and blood siblings. As for her two half-sisters, Catalina didn’t quite know what to think of that combo yet. She wasn’t sure she could trust Helena. And Selena . . .
Selena was an unknown commodity. One on which she had to get a handle. Reaching for the speaker phone before her, Catalina buzzed her assistant. When the young woman answered, she asked for the client waiting list and after, turned to her two half-sisters. “There’s four men we’ll have to reassign, including Hemmerich.”
Selena’s mouth tightened at his mention and she asked, “Do you have an issue with Hemmerich? Is there something we should know?”
Selena shot an uneasy look in Helena’s direction, as if expecting her half-sister to answer for her, but Helena kept her silence. Selena finally said, “Hemmerich and I are . . . involved. I’d rather his assignment be one that’s close.”
That Selena could be so forthcoming about her relationship with the other wolf was a good start. It meant she had nothing to hide . . . yet. And if there was one true adage in life, it was the one about keeping your enemies close. “I understand, Selena. We will certainly take that into consideration.”
A knock came at the door then, and she called out for Mary, her assistant, to enter. The young woman did, handed her the folder, and then quickly stepped out once more.
Catalina reviewed the first few names on the list and their requirements. She motioned to the papers. “Why don’t you both come over and take a look at this. After, we can make our decisions.”
And with that, they got to work on their sisterly skills and the reassignments as their father had ordered.
This week’s Wicked Wednesday brings you another installment of my urban fantasy involving a twist to the werewolf mythology, battles with vampires and a struggle for control in a werewolf pack. The tentative title is UNDEAD UPRISING and I hope you like this next free chapter that I’m offering you.
This is the morning after Catalina has become the wolf she hates. Ramon has been resting at her side and now they are arguing about Catalina’s fate. After, Catalina goes to office only to have a surprise visit from one of her half-sisters.
For those of you who may have missed the first chapters, you can read them here:
Chapter 13
The cold of the metal made him jerk back in surprise, but she pressed forward and held it there, forcing him back step by step until she trapped him against the wall.
“This is my destiny.” She pressed a bit more and the blade pricked his skin. She continued. “Death and destruction. Hatred and violence.”
Ramon wouldn’t be cowed by her actions. Hands outstretched, he pleaded with her. “Your destiny is to lead your people. To keep them safe. To keep the humans they protect safe.”
“My father’s words, not yours.” She dropped the sword to her side, all fight and desire gone from her.
He cupped her cheek as he pressed his point home in a more tender way. “What do you want me to say?”
“I . . .”
Catalina shook her head, because she didn’t really know what she wanted other than for him take her into his arms and promise her . . .
She dropped the sword, closed the small distance between them and wrapped her arms around him. “Tell me your destiny.”
He tightened his hold on her, almost to the point of pain, bent his head and whispered against the side of her face, “To be with you until the day I die.”
She wanted the same thing, only she feared that death would touch their lives much too soon.
#
The deep burgundy Armani suit hugged the curves of her body and accented the darker highlights in her auburn hair. Her power suit. The one she always wore when they had either an important or difficult client visiting.
She grabbed the stack of messages from her assistant who chased her down the hall. Slowing her pace as she realized the young woman had trouble keeping up with her, she shot her assistant a grateful smile. “Sorry. I’m on a Starbucks rush,” she teased and the young woman smiled.
“Then maybe I should have the venti mocha latte waiting on your desk for you.”
She chuckled. “Actually, it was a rough night so I could use the extra jolt. Thanks.”
“Rough, huh?” said her half-sister, Helena, as she walked toward her and after, followed Catalina into her office. Uninvited.
Catalina closed the door behind them, but before she could sit down, Helena wagged a finger at her neck. “You may want to button up.”
“Huh?” she said out loud, walked to the full-length mirror behind her door and took a look. At her neck, barely visible as it finished healing, was Ramon’s love bite. “Oh.”
Helena came to stand beside her, sniffed and then wrinkled her nose. “Human? Papi’s still putting up with that with so many wolves eager to — ”
“Why are you here?” she asked as she moved away from the door and to behind her desk, where she sat down and crossed her legs.
Helena smiled — her Big Bad Wolf smile — before plopping onto a black leather chair before Catalina’s desk. “Are those Jimmy Choo? Very nice, hermanita.”
“Helena. You and I are — ”
“Barely social, I know. But rumor has it that Papi’s decided you will lead and unless you fuck it up somehow — ”
Her sister emphasized the point with her carefully manicured hands. Nails artfully done, just like the rest of her. Her blonde hair perfectly styled. Brows waxed to emphasize the sharp arch that framed stunning crystal blue eyes.
Cold eyes, she thought. “So you’re here — ”
“To offer my allegiance. To warn you that Hemmerich is making trouble.”
“Hemmerich who couldn’t handle two vamps — ”
“He killed three last night. Or so I heard. Three less undead while you were chained with your pet.” Helena motioned to the Starbucks cup on the desk and before Catalina could refuse her, grabbed the coffee and took a sip. Then she grimaced.
“Too sweet.”
Sweet being anethma to her hard-edged and bitter sister. As the third born and a woman, her path to leadership of the pack was even harder than Catalina’s. “So, you want to be — ”
“On the winning side.”
Annoyance flared through her at the interruption, but she tamped it down. To give into it would give Helena too much satisfaction. Leaning her elbows on the arms of her chair, she steepled her fingers before her, conveying her position of power. “And if I don’t win?”
“Don’t win?” Helena asked with a harsh laugh. Leaning forward, she said, “That isn’t an option and you know it. Papi will never turn over control of the pack to anyone else.”
“There’s you. Selena. Hembra.”
“Hembra is just a child. A helpless unwanted child.” Bitterness flavored her tones and she could understand it well. All of Rafael Villalobos’s daughters were unwanted — second best to the son he had never had.
“There’s something else you’re not telling me.”
“Hemmerich has been courting Selena in the hopes she will choose him.” Helena flounced back on the chair as she said it, her annoyance all too obvious.
“Selena should be wise enough — ”
“She isn’t. She can’t see past his attentions — his sheep’s clothing as it were.”
One of her best traits was her ability to get a read on people. To gauge what they weren’t saying by their body language. Her half-sister was clearly angry. But she was
also . . . hurt. Worried. Jealous and not in a good way, she realized.
“Selena’s your sister,” she blurted out, unwilling to believe she was right with her observation.
Helena jumped out of her seat, obviously unnerved and uncomfortable. “Watch your back, hermana. Watch Hemmerich — ”
“And Selena? What do I do about her?” Her half-sister had to be well aware that if Selena acted against her . . .
Helena braced her hands on the edge of the desk and leaned forward until she was directly in Catalina’s face. “She is our sister. If you hurt her — ”
“Then help me keep her safe. If you’re so sure Hemmerich is behind something — ”
“I will keep on eye on him. On them,” she promised and as she hurried from Catalina’s office, she had little doubt Helena would do as she said.
This week’s Wicked Wednesday brings you another installment of my urban fantasy involving a twist to the werewolf mythology, battles with vampires and a struggle for control in a werewolf pack. The tentative title is UNDEAD UPRISING and I hope you like this next free chapter that I’m offering you.
This is the morning after Catalina has become the wolf she hates. Ramon has been resting at her side, armed and ready to protect her if necessary. Tortured by his love for her because he knows that what they both want can never be since Catalina is destined to lead the Villalobos pack.
For those of you who may have missed the first chapters, you can read them here:
Chapter 12
His gentle touch woke her as he undid the leather straps confining her to the bed.
“Buenos dias,” she said, her voice husky. Her throat sore, as it almost always was the day after. Most of her body ached from the transformation of the night before.
Ramon stood beside the bed, fully clothed in battle gear. “Buenos dias,” he replied and soothed a hand over her hair.
She reached up, which made her wince from the stiffness in her arms, and ran a hand across her dishevelled hair. “I must look a fright.”
He smiled tenderly. “Not so bad.”
“I imagine you’ve seen me looking worse,” she replied, thinking about how she must appear during the change. Gazing back up at him, she motioned to his clothes and asked, “Why are you ready to fight?”
Ramon shrugged. “I felt . . . uneasy with what’s happening. I wanted to be prepared.”
To protect her, she realized and worried about his safety if they were attacked. But she wouldn’t let him know her fear. Fear brought hesitation. Hesitation brought death.
She stood and touched his cheek. “Gracias.”
Turning his head, he placed a kiss in the middle of her palm. “For you, I would . . .” He stopped, almost uncertain, but when he met her gaze, she knew they had both been thinking the same thing.
He’d die for her just as she would die for him.
Trying to lighten the mood since she was tired of always being gloomy lately, she slipped her hand around his neck and said, “For me you would run my bath. Scrub my back. Massage fragrant oils into my skin.”
Ramon smiled as she had intended, leaned close and cradled her face. He dropped a quick kiss on her lips before placing his hands on her shoulders where he slowly kneaded the sore muscles there.
Her skin was soft, but beneath it were faint bruises attesting to the trauma her body had suffered the night before. Ramon had seen them before and yet, he didn’t think he could ever get accustomed to them. To seeing her hurt as she had been the other night and before. On those nights when her patrol had not gone smoothly.
But physical hurt would mend quickly unlike the pain in her heart which would take longer to heal. “It’s late. I need to be at the hospital shortly.”
When he moved away, she laid a hand on his arm to stop him. “I don’t want to lose you.”
He shook his head and grabbed hold of her hands. “You won’t. Ever.”
“I won’t allow the Gauntlet,” she said and embraced him.
He wrapped his arms around her tightly, buried his face in the crook between her neck and shoulder and kissed the lingering remnants of his bite from the night before. “You can’t avoid your destiny. As much as we may want to be — ”
“My destiny, Ramon?”
Catalina suddenly couldn’t bear being with him any longer. She shoved him away and strode to where her sword rested against the wall. In one smooth move, she grabbed it and brought it to his throat.
This week’s Wicked Wednesday brings you another installment of my urban fantasy involving a twist to the werewolf mythology, battles with vampires and a struggle for control in a werewolf pack. The tentative title is UNDEAD UPRISING and I hope you like this next free chapter that I’m offering you.
This chapter continues the scene where Catalina’s father, Rafael, has relived Catalina’s nightmarish birth. It offers some additional insight into how Rafael feels about having had to turn away Catalina’s mother, Marina, for the good of the pack he leads. Look for the next chapter shortly which brings us back to Catalina and her human lover, Ramon.
For those of you who may have missed the first ten chapters, you can read them here:
The beep of his wristwatch dragged him from his half slumber. From the nightmarish recollection of the day Catalina had been delivered to them and Marina had died, but been reborn.
Reborn, but not whole and unscathed. The damage that Catalina had done to Marina’s insides during birth had been so extreme that not even the regenerative powers of the werewolf had been able to repair the injury.
Marina had become barren. Unable to have any more children despite their repeated attempts over the next few years to have another child. A boy who would be strong enough to assume his position as leader of the pack.
He hadn’t wanted to put Marina aside, he thought as he finished his bath since the water had grown tepid.
But he’d had no other choice. His responsibility was to insure the continuance of the pack’s hierarchy. To provide the Villalobos clan with a leader strong enough to keep them safe.
It hadn’t occurred to him that none of his other wives would be able to give him the son he had thought so necessary. Or that Catalina’s birth had been an omen that she was different in a way never seen before. That she would be the strongest of any, whether male or female.
Possibly even stronger than him, he thought as he toweled down and after, headed to his bed for a short rest before the day began. A normal human day of a nine to five existence,
only . . .
He wasn’t human. He was a werewolf. The head of one of the most prosperous packs in the werewolf world. Respected and admired in both spheres for his leadership.
But as he slipped into his cold and empty bed, that brought little consolation.
Before we get into this week’s Wicked Wednesday, just a BIG REMINDER that next week’s Wicked Wednesday is a special excerpt from bestseller Lisa Jackson and a SPECIAL CONTEST!! Two lucky winners will receive copies of one of Lisa’s books, a T-shirt from Lisa and notepad. In addition, I’m going to toss in a CALLING T-shirt and box of books to the two lucky winners, so please drop by and leave a comment on the blog by midnight EST on August 26th for a chance to win these wickedly good prizes!
This week’s Wicked Wednesday brings you another installment of my urban fantasy involving a twist to the werewolf mythology, battles with vampires and a struggle for control in a werewolf pack. The tentative title is UNDEAD UPRISING and I hope you like this next free chapter that I’m offering you.
This chapter is a flashback to Catalina’s birth and what caused the split between her mother, Marina, and her father, Rafael. It’s a bit bloody for those of you who might be squeamish, but it does explain why Rafael had to set aside Marina, his own true love.
For those of you who may have missed the first nine chapters, you can read them here:
CHAPTER 10
New York City, 1982
Rafael gripped her hand tightly and said, “That’s it, querida. Hee-hee-haaaa.” He mimicked the breathing pattern they had practiced at Lamaze class.
Marina shot him a grateful smile and copied his actions.
“That’s it,” he urged, but then shot a worried look to the doctor.
The physician, an older wolf who had served the pack for a generation or more, calmly said, “Do not worry, Rafael. The baby’s almost here.”
Something clawed at the edge of Rafael’s consciousness. A preternatural sense that things weren’t quite right. It was strong enough that he felt compelled to go and see if anything unusual was happening beyond the birthing room. Bending close to Marina’s ear, he whispered, “I’ll be right back.”
With a kiss to her sweat-drenched brow, he rose and headed to the door when the first scream exploded from her. A blood-curdling howl. One he had only heard before when an animal struggled in the throes of death. Racing back to her side, he grabbed hold of Marina’s shoulders as her body vaulted off the operating room table. “Marina, what’s wrong?”
He shot another look at the older wolf, only the man was urgently calling out for help.
As a few nurses and another doctor came rushing into the room, the monitors and assorted pieces of equipment beeped and sent out all kinds of warning signals, but not enough to drown out the sounds of Marina’s screams.
He struggled to hold his wife down while the doctor prepped her and one of the nurses set up an I.V. Within moments, Marina finally calmed, but soon moaned fitfully as the doctor urgently sliced open her belly. Guts and the baby soon filled the physician’s hands.
Rafael didn’t even have a second to see the child as a river of blood suddenly poured from within Marina. It ran down her hip. Pooled on the edge of the operating table before overflowing to the floor. So much of it. Too much.
The older wolf called out for help and the other physician immediately joined the battle to save Marina’s life.
The two men frantically yelled out instructions to the nurses and technicians around them. At one point, someone moved him back from the table, as if to keep him from seeing what was happening to his wife.
It seemed like hours during which all he could hear were the warning sounds of the medical equipment and the anxious words of the doctors who were laboring over Marina’s inert body.
If the baby had cried during that time, he didn’t know. But it was crying when one of the nurses finally placed the squirming bundle in his arms.
“I’m sorry,” the nurse said as she stepped away and for the first time, Rafael stared down into the face of his child and
saw . . .
Not a werewolf or a human, but a mix of both. The nose and mouth were too flat for a wolf’s muzzle, but too long to be human. The ears were pointy, but more wolf than human. Soft reddish fur covered what parts of its body were visible and small paw-like hands had visibly sharp nails. Nails that tore at the blanket, shredding it when they made contact. Like they must have shredded Marina’s insides as the beast child struggled to leave the womb.
After he tightened the blanket around it, the baby howled and struggled against its bonds. Unsure of what else to do, he cradled it close and murmured calming words, all the time trying to also keep an ear on what was happening on the operating room table where things had finally gotten calmer.
But maybe not for a good reason, he thought as he noted the grim faces of the doctors as they stepped away from Marina.
Fear gripped him. He grasped the baby securely. It struggled against him, but he didn’t relax his hold as he moved to his wife’s side.
She was pale, her face ghost-like. Barely breathing. But she was breathing and at that, he finally relaxed his grip on their newborn child.
A beast child, he thought yet again before turning his attention to his wife.
Gently he stroked Marina’s cheek. Her eyes fluttered open. Her beautiful cocoa-brown eyes were consumed with pain. “Amorcito. You’ll be okay,” he said.
When she spoke, her voice was so weak that he almost didn’t hear the one word she uttered. “Baby?”
Fear unlike any he had ever experienced twisted his insides. He couldn’t show her the child. He didn’t think she could deal with seeing what they had created. But then Marina gripped his arm with surprising strength and once again asked, “The baby?”
He nodded and took a deep breath, preparing himself for her reaction once he pulled back the blanket to expose the child. Then he slowly eased the edges of the shredded cloth from the beast baby’s misshapen face, only . . .
Within the blanket nestled a thoroughly human looking child. One with a head of auburn hair the same rich color as the fur that had earlier covered its half-wolfen body. Bringing the child to Marina, he eased his arm behind her back to prop her up slightly so she could see their baby.
Marina smiled and passed a trembling hand over the baby’s head. “She’s beautiful,” she said and for the first time, he realized it was a daughter. He had been too frantic before to notice.
They had a daughter, he thought, but whatever happiness that brought was torn away as Marina went limp in his arms and all the monitors started their anxious warnings once again.
This week’s Wicked Wednesday brings you another installment of my urban fantasy involving a twist to the werewolf mythology, battles with vampires and a struggle for control in a werewolf pack. The tentative title is UNDEAD UPRISING and I hope you like this next free chapter that I’m offering you.
While Ramon is dealing with Catalina’s transformation and his tortured feelings for her, Catalina’s father is dealing with his own guilt and loss.
For those of you who may have missed the first eight chapters, you can read them here:
CHAPTER 9
In the early dawn hours after the night’s hunt was over, Rafael de Villalobos normally returned to his room for a few hours of rest. When he had been married to Marina, she would be at his side and the two of them would fall into bed together, as playful as young puppies before passion overtook them. Rest generally had waited awhile during those glorious days.
Marina, Rafael thought and rubbed at a spot over his heart that still ached with her absence.
Thoughts of his first wife drove him to the floor she shared with Catalina instead of his own bedroom. Quietly, holding his sword tight to his side to avoid any sound that might rouse them, he paused at Marina’s door and listened. No noise came from within and a niggling sense of concern drove him to open the door and peer inside.
Her chambers were as spotless as always, with not an item out of place. Marina had always been the Felix to his Oscar, he thought with a smile. The room was empty, however, and her bed looked as if it hadn’t been slept in.
Had she gone out this night? he wondered and experienced a pang of jealousy that in the moments after the hunt, she might be sharing another wolf’s bed.
Marina had always been an adept warrior, but he couldn’t remember the last time she had joined them during their pursuit of the vampires. Plus, no one had mentioned that she had paired off with anyone to track the demons or do anything else for that matter.
Which meant she might have gone out alone.
With that thought, his earlier concern blossomed into full blown fear. Only the strongest wolves in the pack hunted alone. Only a few could.
He exited back into the hallway and strode quickly down the hall to the door of Catalina’s gym. Once again he listened and from within came the rustle of sheets and a soft moan of pain.
Grabbing the doorknob, he was about to enter when from behind him Marina said, “She’s not alone and she’s fine.”
He whirled, surprised that she had managed to sneak up on him. But then again, he had let his fear blind him to anything but finding her. “Marina.”
His former wife, mother of his most beloved daughter, bowed her head low and adopted the subservient position expected when the leader of the pack spoke to one such as her. “Rafael.”
A mix of pain and passion washed over him at the sound of his name coming from her lips. “Look at me, Marina. For God’s sake, stand up straight and look me in the eye.”
She rose to her full height and met him head on, her gaze trained on his face. Despite the fact that she did as he commanded, a defiant spirit glittered in her eyes. “Is this what you want, Rafael? Does this make you feel better?”
Marina needed no answer to her query. Nothing could ever make him feel better about what he had done to her, no matter how many times he told himself he did it for the good of the pack. “Where were you this night?” he asked, almost fearful of her answer.
The needy note in his voice told Marina she could hurt him now, as much as he had hurt her. But she couldn’t find it in herself to lie and say she had been with another wolf. “I was with Hembra. It was time for her first change.”
Rafael glanced down the hall to the room of his youngest daughter. “Is she . . . Did she handle it well?”
“Better than most. She’s a strong girl. Smart. And she adores Catalina,” Marina said and laid a hand on his arm to emphasize her point.
A mistake. Beneath her fingers, his hard muscles jumped. His skin was warm. The soft hairs on his arm tickled. How she remembered what all of that felt like against her own skin, just as he remembered, she realized as she met his gaze again. It was hot with yearning.
“Marina,” he said and lowered his head toward her, but she ripped her hand from his arm and took a step back.
“I need to check on Hembra.” She hurried away before she would make a mistake as big as the one she had made the first time she had trusted her heart to him.
Rafael wanted to chase after her. Command her to come with him. Satisfy him. He could after all. He was the leader of the pack and she was just . . .
Marina.
Turning on his heel, he raced from their floor up to his own. At the door to his bedroom, his human manservant waited to help him take off his armor and stow his weapons. The man couldn’t do it quickly enough and Rafael growled a warning for him to leave. Alone within his room, he finished pulling off his protective clothing and tossed it to the floor. His sword soon landed atop the armor with an angry clatter.
The sound of running water snared his attention.
He walked to his bathroom where a warm bath awaited him. It might be just the thing to loosen his sore and tired muscles. To loosen any thoughts of Marina from his mind and wash them away along with the filth from his night of battle.
He eased within the sandalwood-scented waters and stretched out his big body in the oversized tub. Heat enveloped him as he moved lower until the waters spilled over his shoulders. He closed his eyes then, intending to rest for just a bit, but instead, visions of Marina came to him.
He gave up any hope of peace.
This week’s Wicked Wednesday brings you another installment of my urban fantasy involving a twist to the werewolf mythology, battles with vampires and a struggle for control in a werewolf pack. The tentative title is UNDEAD UPRISING and I hope you like this next free chapter that I’m offering you.
Ramon has made love to Catalina to help her maintain her human form for as long as she can, but now the transformation begins and Ramon must watch helplessly as Catalina becomes the wolf she hates.
For those of you who may have missed the first seven chapters, you can read them here:
CHAPTER 8
He quickly slipped from her side and stood to view her transformation. It began slowly at first, with the thickening of her muscles and the shift of them as they rearranged themselves. As the change gathered speed, Catalina writhed on the bed, yanked at the chains. Moaned as bones, sinew and muscle moved and morphed. Parts of her body popped and cracked as they slipped in and out of place.
He could only wonder at the agony it brought her. As a doctor, he knew just how a human reacted to such trauma. Did Catalina feel it as well?
Combined with the violence attacking her muscles and bones, fur quickly sprouted. A thick rich fur obliterated her alabaster skin. Finally, her beautiful face elongated, her mouth and lips losing most semblance of the human as her wolf’s muzzle erupted. She uttered something. It sounded like his name, but was lost in the growing cavity of her wolf’s mouth. In the strong jaws that could take life with just one snap.
Razor sharp fangs emerged. Glistened brightly. He imagined her slashing and killing with them. The wolf totally assumed control now. A wolf like no other within the pack.
Despite the many months they had shared together, the change still fascinated him. Maybe even repulsed as well.
Catalina’s wolf pulled at the shackles, trying to free itself. Bayed loudly at the frustration of imprisonment. When long minutes passed and the transformation finished, the animal’s attempts for freedom lessened, as if it sensed that to struggle against the restraints would be useless.
Ramon laid a hand on the wolf’s side and brushed the silky fur, a reddish brown color unique amongst all the wolves. A color so much like Catalina’s hair that he wanted to weep for the woman trapped within the beast. The werewolf didn’t shift beneath his caress, but whimpered, like a dog in pain and maybe it was. Maybe this was still Catalina responding to him. To his anguish on her behalf.
He met the werewolf’s gaze and as always, Catalina’s green-gold eyes stared back. The look there screamed human, which made him risk it all to reach up and rub his hand gently over her head. At that, the large animal closed its eyes and finally stopped struggling against its bonds.
He was mesmerized by the differences between Catalina’s wolf and a real one. Hands which while not human, could still grasp a weapon. The wolf-like body that could walk and fight upright, but on all fours, loped along elegantly. Quickly. A body stronger and larger than a real wolf and therefore, more dangerous.
Ramon gave Catalina’s head one final stroke, and then rushed over to secure the door to the room. Striding back across the large space, he armed himself from the weapons closet. He eased on the specially made armor — a gift from Catalina. Buckled on not one but two swords and for good measure, grabbed a loaded shotgun. The shells in the gun were packed with silver pellets laced with silver nitrate. Equally as effective against a vampire or werewolf.
Remembering what had happened in the last few days, uneasiness grabbed him more completely now that Catalina lay defenseless. He snatched a few extra shells and tucked them into his pocket. After, he returned to the pallet in which Catalina’s wolf rested and sat on the floor beside it, the shotgun across his lap; the swords within easy reach.
If anything decided to try and take advantage, they would have to get through him first. He only hoped he would be strong enough. With one last look back at Catalina, he considered what would happen if he had to set her free to protect herself.
He prayed the wolf might remember who he was and spare his life.
Copyright 2008 Caridad Pineiro Scordato www.caridad.com
Before we get to this Wednesday’s Wicked Excerpt, a big WOO HOO to the women of THE BIGGEST LOSER who finished 1 and 2 and may actually become the FIRST female Biggest Loser winner! Now, you can help make that happen since for the first time ever, THE BIGGEST LOSER is allowing the audience to chose who will be the third finalist!
So how can you help the women win? Vote for Mark to be the third finalist! Why Mark? He has less weight to lose and may not post as big a weight loss as Roger. Also, Mark has really shown that he’s a changed man in many ways. Give him a break since he would have likely been the women’s choice for the third finalist as well. To vote for Mark, please click here!
So now, here’s this week’s Wicked Wednesday which brings you yet a little heat from a story you’ve seen before — my urban fantasy involving a twist to the werewolf mythology, battles with vampires and a struggle for control in a werewolf pack. The tentative title is UNDEAD UPRISING and I hope you like this next free chapter that I’m offering you.
This is the continuation of the love scene between Ramon and Catalina as Ramon tries to help Catalina maintain her human form for as long as she can before her transformation to the wolf she hates.
For those of you who may have missed the first six chapters, you can read them here:
CHAPTER 7
He slipped his body between her thighs and brought his mouth to the center of her. As he nibbled and sucked at her clitoris, he slipped his fingers inside her vagina, his strokes sure and increasing in strength and penetration when she responded more eagerly to his caresses.
She pushed her hips up into his mouth and hands, pulled at the shackles keeping her prisoner. Every movement of her body, of Ramon’s tongue and lips and fingers, brought her closer and closer to the edge until finally, something inside of her — maybe the wolf that was so close to being released — took hold and sent her senses tumbling on a wild ride.
She gasped. Her head fell back as she called out her completion.
Ramon experienced her climax beneath his fingers as it crashed through her body. He heard her wild call. Not a gentle, satisfying release that would leave her sated, but a savage hunger that still wanted more because the wolf waited to emerge.
He sensed it in her body, although he didn’t know how, but he did. It brought both fascination and fear. Shooting but a quick glance at his watch to check the time, he confirmed that the moon would be rising shortly.
Catalina knew that the beast threatened as well, for she whispered to him, “Keep me with you for just a little longer, amor.”
He knew what she needed. Sex and pain helped her to keep control, if only for a few minutes more. That was important to her. But he couldn’t relent and make love to her. Doing so would lead them on a road to much greater agony.
Catalina watched as he stood and stepped away from her. For a moment he hesitated, standing beside the edge of the bed and looking down at her. She hoped he would undo his pants and release the magnificent erection beneath the denim. She ached to feel him inside her. To hold him. She yanked at her restraints, aching to hold him, but he had done too good a job. She could not get free.
“Easy, love,” he said, sat on the edge of the bed, and caressed her breast. “I’m not going anywhere.”
His hand trembled at her breast for a moment and his tender gaze met hers. “We both know we can’t.”
“I’m sorry. I know this hurts you.”
He grasped her nipple between his thumb and forefinger and tweaked it harshly, dragging a gasp of pleasure from her. With a tight smile, he wondered aloud, “Maybe I like the pain as much as you do? Maybe that’s why I linger here when I should leave.”
Even as he said that, the first stirring of the wolf crept into the edges of her consciousness. The wolf who devoured the scents of her musk, ripe in the air. The rapid beat of his heart and his unfulfilled passion. Saliva dampened her mouth at the thought of feeding on that passion. On his flesh. She shook her head, forcing such feral thoughts away.
“Por favor. It’s coming.” As her gaze met his, he recognized her plea for what it was.
“Stay with me, amor,” he said and slipped his hand down between her legs once more, found her with his fingers.
Sensitized from her barely completed climax, his touch immediately brought a response.
He stroked her roughly, rousing the desire she wrapped around herself like a protective cloak. She concentrated on the movement of his fingers. The slip and slide and pull of them. On the sensitive skin on her back, awakened with each restless shift of her body.
She howled, but the combination of pain and passion helped her drive the beast away. After the howl, she quickly met his gaze. His troubled eyes, dark with emotion, asked what he could not.
“I’m . . . here,” she confirmed and yanked at the chains on the wall in frustration at the rumble of the wolf in her voice. She closed her eyes, focused on his fingers caressing her nether lips and clitoris. Imagined that it was something else, stroking, bringing the heat of sexual release. A heat that felt almost cold now compared to the fire building within her body as it prepared to transform.
Ramon must have felt it also since he plunged his fingers inside her with more force, trying to satisfy her in the only way his honor allowed. A way far removed from what she wanted, but that she would accept . . . for now.
She called out at the pleasure of his fingers filling her and opened her eyes, kept them trained on his face as he pleasured her, his movements sure and strong, growing more forceful as her body responded yet again to his caresses.
Her breath rasped raggedly in her throat. Her body shook with not only the pleasure he brought to her, but with the awakening wolf as her muscles clenched and quivered, battling for dominance. She tugged at the chains and kept her mind centered solely on her lover as he moved his hand between her legs. As he dipped his head and suckled at her nipples and then, with a rough bite, brought a pleasure strong enough to let her hold onto herself. To keep the wolf in check.
He picked up his head at her human cry of satisfaction and knew that what was she needed. What she wanted. Pain. Human pain. Passion. A woman’s passion.
Replacing his lips with his fingers, he tweaked her nipples more forcefully. Buried his head in the crook of her neck and sucked until her skin bruised from the force of it.
“Dios, that’s . . . good. Harder, mi amor. Harder,” she urged him on.
When he tightened his fingers on the sensitive tips of her breasts and bit down on her neck, she cried out her need and raised her hips. He returned his hand to her center, increasing his penetration until it, too, reached the point of pleasure-pain. All that was within her consciousness now was his presence. His love keeping her with him until finally, regretfully, another climax ripped through her.
Ramon’s breath was rough with his own need as Catalina’s release rocked his senses. As she screamed his name in her human voice and struggled against the shackles to be able to hold him, he sucked in a breath and imprisoned the desire raging in him. One that wanted to tear off his clothes and plunge into her, howl like the wolf she would become as he imagined how she would feel surrounding him.
Somehow he drove that vision away and ran his hands up her arms, laced his fingers with hers to keep her human self with him.
She gripped his fingers tightly, but as her body relaxed, she softly said his name one last time.
She had lost the battle for the control she treasured so greatly.
Spring is here and as you know, I was complaining about the chill in NYC/NJ. My Blog Buddy Karen T. sent me this picture of how her Easter Sunday looked — CHECK OUT ALL THE SNOW! Brrr….
Way cold and so to help Karen and others still suffering from the effects of winter, this Wicked Wednesday brings a little heat from a story you’ve seen before — my urban fantasy involving a twist to the werewolf mythology, battles with vampires and a struggle for control in a werewolf pack. The tentative title is UNDEAD UPRISING and I hope you like this next free chapter that I’m offering you.
In this scene, Ramon is aware that Catalina’s father wants her to soon choose a wolf as a mate and is therefore denying Catalina’s demand that he help keep her wolf at bay by making love to her. Since pain will also restrain her transformation, Catalina has challenged him to bring her pain and Ramon is struggling with that request. For the rest of the scene, check out the free excerpt below.
For those of you who may have missed the first five chapters, you can read them here:
CHAPTER 6
Catalina’s words, ripe with her suffering, scourged his soul because he knew he could end her pain . . . for now. But despite knowing that she welcomed more from him, he could not give into her or to himself. Beginning something even for only the next few months would only make it harder on both of them after the Gauntlet.
She would be bound to another. No alpha wolf would tolerate his touching her. Only at the thought of someone else beside her, inside her . . .
Cold settled within him. Dead kind of cold.
But he would not love her this night or any other. He slipped the first restraint around her wrist, fastened it and said, “You know I cannot.”
“Tighter,” she commanded.
He yanked the fur-lined leather cuff just a bit more securely. Repeated the procedure with her other arm, giving one last tug to make sure the bindings were snug and then firmly chained her to the wall. The metal chain clanked noisily as she tested its strength with a pull.
“That’s it.” Her words were followed by a little mew of sheer pleasure.
He examined her face and after, her marvelous body. She was responding to the pain from the earlier whipping and from being shackled. Her nipples had remained stiff peaks and her legs shifted restlessly on the bed.
How many times had he seen her like this? How many times had he touched her? Wanted to make love with her before the moon rose and he lost her to the werewolf? Before he lost her forever?
Too many and yet, not enough. No matter how many, it could never be enough.
“Finish the job. That’s what you want since all I am to you is a duty,” she challenged, almost as if she perceived his weakness. The animal inside would recognize it. Play on it, knowing what he desired more than anything — to have her.
It wasn’t what he had wanted at first, in the days after the other wolves had saved him from a vampire attack and he had become indebted to them. It had happened slowly over the years as he had seen Catalina’s strength, goodness, and finally, her vulnerability. The last had stolen his heart despite the fact that he was human and she was wolf. Regardless of the nearly decade difference in their ages.
“What I want, amor, can never be,” he said and cradled her breast as he did as she had commanded. She gasped as he passed his thumb across her erect nipple.
“Don’t leave, Ramon. Por favor.” Catalina raised her hips in invitation.
He couldn’t refuse her plea any more than he could her command. Not when times like this were finite in number.
Slowly he inched his hand downward over her smooth skin and muscles which quivered as he got closer and closer to his destination. He met her gaze as he finally passed his hand over the dark auburn curls at the juncture of her thighs. The heat in her gold-green eyes confirmed she wanted him to touch her there again.
Catalina spread her legs and he slipped his hand down, parted her lips and sought out the center of her. She was damp and oh so hot that he groaned at the thought of what it would be like to be inside of her. His erection swelled painfully against the denim of his jeans. Somehow he controlled himself. He couldn’t take her that way.
The way others might have it occurred to him, recalling the two guards who had been there before him. He knew they had been her lovers. But he wouldn’t take her while she was chained. While she lay defenseless.
Taking a deep breath, he bent and suckled one of her nipples, teethed it gently and then just a tad harder as she raised her hips, giving him access to the swollen bud of her clitoris. As he loved her with his mouth, he scissored her clit between his fingers, massaged it until she writhed against the pallet. She dug her heels into the thick padding to urge her hips up to his hand.
Catalina sucked in a breath as he gently bit her nipple again. She pulled at the shackles at her wrists. Even with the soft fur lining, the edges of the leather chafed her skin painfully. As her back rubbed against the sheets, the welts on her flesh protested the contact. The slight sting as his teeth caught the tip of her breast combined with all the other sensations swamped her senses.
She cried out his name as he increased the pressure at the nub between her legs and after, trailed his mouth down her body until he rested between her legs. He paused but a moment to look up at her, as if asking permission, not that she had much choice.
He could do as he wished with her shackled to a wall, and yet honorable as he was, he wouldn’t do what she didn’t desire. His integrity being the reason why he was the one she wanted the most.
In answer to his unspoken query, she parted her legs in invitation.
Copyright 2008 Caridad Pineiro Scordato www.caridad.com
