Fears

Fears is a historical Shadow Sprawl story that completes the current story arc.

Artwork by Samuel Pray

Sweat trickled down the side of her face but she didn’t move, not wanting to break the moment as Adriana lay curled on her side on the thick moss that carpeted the floor of the glade. His warmth surrounded her, holding her in a safe embrace as she nestled against him, aware of the fact they were both still naked, his cock semi limp and buried within her inner walls.

Fear rippled through her only to die a moment later. There was nothing to fear, not with what they had shared. He hadn’t hurt her. Hadn’t attempted to destroy her. Instead they had shared their bodies and he had claimed her as his.

They’d done it.

They’d broken the customs of their people and bonded, mated, whatever Marcius wanted to call it. They were one, his scent covered hers and her a spot between her neck and her shoulder ached from the bite that marked her as his. Her fingers itched with the need to shift and touch the mark but she didn’t want to disturb him, or break their more intimate contact, yet it would have to happen sooner or later.

“We can’t stay like this.” Marcius whispered against the back of her neck.

“I know,” she snuggled in, wriggling against him.

“Keep that up and I’ll have to take you again, my mate.”

His mate. The words sent a shiver through her body that ended at her core.

“Gods,” he growled and wrapped his arms about her, pulling her in tight against his chest. “You’re tempting me.”

But it was time to leave. Adriana sighed and pulled, slowly, out of his grasp. “We need to leave before they come for you or for me.” Her sisters. They knew she was here and sooner or later Liliana would report back to the rest of their sisters and the hunt, or rescue party, would be ordered to find them.

There it was again, that trickle of fear for what might happen to them.

Marcius tensed for a moment before he edges back, sliding free of her body before he released his grip on her entirely. She missed the warmth, the pressure of his hold but said nothing, not wanting to do something that would cause problems between them. Yes, she wanted his touch, to feel his lips against her skin again but this was neither the time nor the place.

“Time to get dressed… except that I don’t have anything to wear.” She moved to her feet and glanced down at the remains of her clothing. He’d sliced the tunic from her body which left her with nothing except rags.

“Ah, yes…” He shifted his weight, a hint of color touching his cheeks. “Could you do something with the remains?”

Adriana scooped up the pieces and lifted them up. It wasn’t exactly ideal but perhaps there was a way. “You didn’t have to cut this off.” She hefted them and flashed a smile at her mate.

Gods, her mate. She was mated and claimed by a wolf shifter. Not something she’d ever thought would happen but it was done and now they would more on, find a place and then what? Raise children of mixed blood? Children who would never be accepted by either of their bloodlines? Could they even have children?

“It seemed like a good idea at the time.” Marcius shrugged and retied his loin cloth.

A good idea at the time, well didn’t that describe what they’d just done? She shifted her weight and shook out the strips. With her bottom lip caught between her teeth she worked one piece into a loin cloth of sorts and bound it in place. The final piece she bound about her breasts, tying it in place so she wouldn’t bounce free if they had to run. It wasn’t an ideal situation but it would hold.

“We can’t stay here.”

“I know,” she glanced over at him. “The question is, where do we go?”

“I don’t know. I had a plan before I met you, but that was to travel and find my mate.” He turned, slowly, taking in their surroundings. “We’ve lost a good part of the night.”

She didn’t argue. The loss of the time had been for a good cause and she didn’t regret it but now as she looked at the moon through the trees, she knew they were running out of time. “There is a place I know, one my sisters don’t know about, and I think… it might work for us.”

The cave, it wasn’t much, but it would be safe until they made a decision on what to do next.

“Are you sure about this place?” Marcius tugged his tunic down and knelt to fix his sandals. “That your sisters don’t know about it, I mean?”

“Very,” did he doubt her word? She frowned at the thought. Obviously he did because he wouldn’t have asked her otherwise. “I’ve used it before, when I needed to take time where I would not be watched every moment. When you live with family there is seldom time when you can be left alone, as I’m sure you know all too well.”

He grunted his acknowledgment as he moved away across the clearing. “Which way?”

Adriana glanced down, at least her sandals were still in place and the makeshift garb would stand up long enough to get them to her cave. She had a few things stored there that would allow her to change her clothing and then - then what? Where would they go?

North.

They had to leave, move further away from both her family and his, and that meant traveling north, away from the pack, away from her sisters. How long would it take before they would realize that she wasn’t returning home? A day? Two? More? It didn’t matter, by the time they realized that she wasn’t returning, they would have a decent amount of distance between them.

“They might follow us though, my sisters I mean.” Adriana admitted as she walked to the edge of the clearing. “What of your pack?”

“The same.” He shrugged, half turning to look at her. “They will come for me, and for you when they realize we have mated.”

“To tear us apart?” She moved to stand at his side. “Or…”

“No, to separate us, and in your case likely kill you before you can conceive, if such is even possible between us.”

Children. She hadn’t even thought about the possibility of having young, let alone his young. “We’ll discuss it later, when we have time to do so.” She glanced back away from the clearing. “We need to move, before we run out of time.”

“Lead the way.”

She broke into an easy job, looking back over her shoulder only the once to make sure that he was following her before she turned her focus back to the trail. Her sandaled feet made almost no sound as she ran, making her way through the trees, the small trail barely visible unless you knew what to look for.

In silence they ran together, with Adriana taking the lead as they moved beyond the grove, through the trees as they traveled upward, the slope growing steeper as time progressed. The trees thinned out as they made their way through the countryside avoiding the few other signs of life that might have led them to other people. The last thing they needed was to stumble into either members of his pack, or her people.

Marcius moved ahead of her, his larger form blocking the trail, hands spread out to prevent her from moving in front of him. He signaled with his left hand and she paused, inhaling deeply, her skin tingling.

Something or someone was out there. A hint of sweat mixed with…

Wolf?

Shifters, it has to be shifters. Nothing else would make sense. The wolf smell was strong but so was the human scent and there was something else there, something that reminded Adriana of her mate.

His pack, his family, that was the only thing that made sense when it came to the scent.

She didn’t speak, didn’t make a sound. If they hadn’t caught their trail then a sound might give them away. Instead she watched him, her mate, the one who knew these people far more than she would ever be able to claim.

The muscles across his back tightened, his movements slow, deliberate as he shifted his weight, ready to break into a run at a moment’s notice.

Danger. Threat. Hunters.

The ideas rolled through her mind as she listened, searching for some sign that they were in danger. More than the aroma of another shifter.

A soft noise, little more than a shifting of debris, drew her focus and she eased, slowly, around in the direction of the sound. A footstep or a beast? A small rabbit or something else? No, the scent increased, the one it belonged to had moved closer than before and she let her fangs drop down, filling her mouth, her hands curled into a claw light stance, ready to strike, to defend herself if they came under attack.

Marcius raised his left hand, the movement slow and careful before he pointed at the trail and held up two fingers.

Two of them? Had she missed the signs? Or did he know more than she did about the ones tracking them.

Adriana moved, taking only a step before she stopped again, her nostrils flaring as she inhaled deeply. There was something else there.

Her people.

No, that’s not possible. Not with the shifters here as well. They wouldn’t work with them, not with this pack or any other.

Yet she was doing far more than working with a shifter. She’d laid with him. Spread her legs willingly for him and now they were hunted.

Would this be their life from this point on?

Hunted, tracked and for what? Because they had been born to different races? And if she carried young?

Marcius moved without warning, running to her side before he wrapped one arm around her waist, pulling her along side of him as they ran. She didn’t speak but kept up with him, focusing on keeping on her feet as they…

A heavy body slammed into her back, knocking her to the ground as she cried out, her hands taking the brunt of the fall as she slid along the leaf covered earth, rolling before she came back up to her feet. Wolf. Large, grey touched fur. Teeth exposed in a low, barely audible snarl as it paced toward her, saliva dripping from its jaws.

Not it. He. Male wolf with the scent of the city.

His pack.

“You betrayed us, sister mine.” Liliana moved from the shadows, another female at her side and a third that moved through the trees. “I had hoped you would contain your lusts and then find a suitable male to sate them with. Instead you gave into baser needs as if you were nothing more than a creature of Caine.”

Anger rippled into life through Adriana’s body as she moved to her feet, her gaze flickering from the wolf to the women and back again. Where was Marcius? Her mate? He wouldn’t leave her like this, wouldn’t abandon her, yet there was no sign of him.

“I have the right to choose a bed mate where I will.”

“Unless your choice endangers us all, sister.” Liliana moved closer, her steps silent, hands half curled into claws. “And his people want him back, but the danger is still there, even if they persuade him to leave you.”

Danger. What danger could there be to her people or his in what they had done? “What are you talking about?”

Liliana arched an eyebrow as the sounds of a scuffle reached Adriana’s ears. “You really don’t know, do you? You can’t scent it.”

No, that’s not possible. They couldn’t know this soon, could they? Yes, there was something different about her body, but she’d put it down to the sex they had shared. Her body couldn’t have… Goddess have mercy. Was she already pregnant?

“The first stirrings of life, my sister. I would have hoped it would be from one of our kind, but no, you lay with the wolf and now his people and your own must take care of this matter.” Liliana took a step toward her, offering her a small bag. “This would end it, or so our lady says. With the child gone we can move forward, and you will be welcomed back into the fold. The child cannot be allowed to breath. It is a danger to all of us.”

Adriana’s hands moved to her lower belly, the flat planes offered no hint of new life and though she wanted to deny the possibility she couldn’t. The words died in the back of her throat and her gaze fixed on the pouch. A child of mixed blood, had that ever happened before?

“You’re wrong.” Adriana took a step back and then a second, putting a little distance between herself and her sister. Beyond her line of sight the sound of the fight continued, growing with each passing moment, yet Adriana didn’t dare to her gaze from Liliana.

“About the herb? I doubt it. I don’t believe our lady would speak falsely about such things.”

She doesn’t understand. No, how could she when she has never been in my sandals? When she has never felt the claiming bite of a wolf shifter?

Why would Liliana or any of her sisters understand what she was facing. A choice between a child of her own, a child of her mate’s and the cold death that she would otherwise send it to, wasn’t acceptable. If there was a child growing within her body, she would fight for it, fight for the child and the life it might have.

“You’re afraid.”

“For you and rightly so.” Liliana admitted. “You are carrying a child that is forbidden by our people.”

“No, you’re afraid of what the child might mean. A possible bond between our people and a pack.” Forbidden? The idea was spoken of in whispers but when had there been a ruling that forbade the existence of such a child.

Fear. It was all about the fears that now plagued those who knew of the possibility of a mixed breed child. Yet she couldn’t have been the first one to potentially carry a mixed life within her.

“Step away from my mate.” The snarl of anger broke through their discussion. “Now.”

Liliana and the two other vampire females with her, turned to stare at Marcius. Naked, dripping with blood, he snarled, baring his teeth at the vampires even as they shifted, putting space between them, ready to defend themselves.

“She is our sister and we are here to reclaim her.”

“You came here to harm her and any child she may be carrying,” Marcius took a step toward them. “You brought with you two wolves, two shifters who I once claimed as friends and pack. Filled their head with fear and lies and turned them out to hunt us. To destroy us.”

Liliana curled her top lip in a snarl. “We are different races, our magic is not of a type that is meant to be mixed. You risk her life and your own by…”

“Run my mate, run!” Marcius didn’t let the woman finish. He launched himself at Liliana, ignoring the other two vampire females, shifting in mid air as he went from human to wolf in a heartbeat.

Blood and screams filled the air as Adriana turned, obeying the order her mate had given. Death, the scent of it was heavy but she didn’t turn back, didn’t look at the fight, instead she kept moving, running, her feet barely making a sound. Fear knotted her stomach as she ran and the bite that marked her as a claimed mate throbbed in time to the beat of her heart.

They would never give up. She knew that now. Even if Marcius escaped the fight with her sisters, they would come after them again and again.

Fear would rule their choices and all she would ever be able to do from this point on was run…

In the Shadow Sprawl setting, cross breed children who are a mix of vampire and wolf shifter are not allowed. In the history of this setting from this point on, no such child has lived long enough to see its birth. Though there have been many attempts, the pregnancy self terminates normally by the end of the first trimester - and it's believed this is because of the two sides of the child's bloodline cannot co-exist. 

Permission

Permission is a historical Shadow Sprawl story, continuing the current story arc. 

Artwork by Samuel Pray, created using Daz3D, Photoshop and Filter Forge.

Adult content Warning.

Adriana glared up into the amber eyes of the large grey wolf. Fear, that’s what should have claimed her in this moment. Fear of death, of pain under the teeth and claws of this creature yet all she could do was accept what was happening. She’d come to him, sought him out, placed herself in his path and now she would pay the price. Whatever that price might be.

“I’m not here to hurt you, my wolf.” The words, she knew she shouldn’t have uttered them, but they felt right. He was her wolf, a male she could not walk away from, nor would she even attempt to. “Listen to me, listen to your own heart, you know why I’m here, why I was drawn to you.”

The shifter tensed, hands curled at his sides, tension running across his shoulders. “If I had any sense I would run.”

“It wouldn’t work, you know I would follow you. I have no choice but to follow you.” Choice, no that had been taken from her the first time she’d caught his scent on the air. “Just as you would follow me if I gave into my fears and tried to flee.”

“Fear, is that what you think controls me?” Her male snapped. “I fear nothing and no one. Not even the likes of you.”

“What’s your name?” She took a step closer, keeping her movement slow and even.

“Why, so you can use that to bespell me?”

Adriana paused, letting her gaze move over the man, the shifter who stood in front of her. Did he not feel the pull between them? The drive that pushed her to move toward him, taste his lips and feel his skin slide over hers? He couldn’t ignore the draw, not and still breathe. It wasn’t possible, was it? She frowned, watching him, searching for some sign that he might be able to fight the pull between him, but the tension in his body and the hunger in his eyes said he’d already lost the fight.

He simply hadn’t admitted it yet - no, that wasn’t it, he hadn’t given himself permission to accept what lay between them.

“You’ve already cast a spell on me, haven’t you? It’s the only thing that makes sense. You’re dangerous to my kind and yet…”

“Yet you stand here, talking with me,” she inclined her head. “But there are other things than magic that might be behind our choices, don’t you think?”

Magic, the need to mate, the desire to be with the one who would end the questions that murmured away in the back of her mind. All she needed was a moment curled up with him, time pressed against his body until her hunger was sated. A hunger that no food would answer no matter how deeply she drank or how rich the prize. No, what she needed would come only from the joining of their bodies.

What if he will not agree to such a joining?

That was a possibility, one she had not allowed herself to think about before now, yet as she looked at the male in front of her, she couldn’t help but listen to the doubts that grew in the back of her mind.

“I want you,” the male growled.

“So, tell me your name.”

He snarled and turned away from her.

“I am Adriana, daughter of Lilith.” She lifted her chin, back straight, refusing to let her fears take control of her.

“Marcius,” he offered as he turned back to look at her. “My name is Marcius, son of… no, it doesn’t matter. That life is far behind me now. I’m not going back.”

“To Rome, you mean.”

He nodded, his lips pressed into a tight, thin line, removing the sensuality from his features. Hard, angry and filled with pride. If she had sense she’d turn her back on him and be done, but her body craved his, her jaws ached with the need to let down her fangs and taste him and she was well past the point of being able to walk away. Yet Rome was his home, the home of the most powerful wolf shifter pack that Adriana had ever heard of, so why would he leave?

No, it wasn’t her business, yet the question slipped out regardless. “What happened?”

“They picked a mate for me.”

Her heart sank. A true mate? Even her kind knew of the way the packs worked. You either mated for position, to form a bond, or you found your true mate. On occasions there would be other reasons but… “wait, who do you mean by they?”

His jaw set. “My family.”

Of course, who else would be responsible for such a choice? “You don’t want the female they’ve chosen for you?” Hope resurfaced as she watched the play of guarded emotions across his features. “Is she not pleasing to you?”

“No,” clipped and curt the single word spoke volumes. “It’s not her fault. The female has done nothing wrong, but she is not the one for me.”

“I see,” she forced her tight muscles to relax. “So you run. Why? Would they force the mating?”

“They see it as what is best for both the family and the pack as a whole. But I know she’s out there,” his gaze flickered to her, eyes widening for a moment before he looked away. “The one I am meant to be with does not live within the walls of Rome.”

“Not within Rome, but perhaps you’ve already found her?” Could that be what had brought them together? Was she meant to be with him? As a true mate? No, that didn’t happen between his kind and hers. No, whatever there was between them, it wasn’t a true mating. She wasn’t going to lie to herself… so why didn’t she speak out, dismiss the idea she’d given life to?

“You’re not pack.” The words lacked the curtness of a dismissal, though his eyes narrowed and uncertainty flickered across his features.

“No, I’m not.” She let her gaze move over his form, taking in his youth - old enough to be a mated male, but still young - and his sculpted form. Like many males of his kind, he hunted on both two feet and four, ran and fought, trained to defend Rome from danger within and without.

“I should leave, walk away from you before you strike.”

Did he still think that is why she had come to him? That she was a huntress with nothing more in mind than claiming her prey? What would she have to do in order to get him to understand that she was here for something else? How can I make him understand what is going on when I barely understand it myself? “I have no interest in feeding from you, unless you offer it willingly to me.” Odd, until she’d said that Adriana hadn’t known that was truly how she felt. Yes, she enjoyed feeding, all of her kind did, but this was something else. Her fangs ached, jaw throbbed and the need to sink her teeth into his throat, wrist, groin, anywhere that would grant her access to the rich, warm blood that pulsed beneath his skin, continued to grow, but she wouldn’t… no, couldn’t, force the matter with him.

He would come to her willingly or not at all, and those were the only options she would accept.

Marcius shifted his weight, his gaze moving from Adriana to the clearing and back again. “So, why can’t I leave?”

“Because you don’t want to.” She smiled, letting her own gaze lower to his waist. “You know this was meant to be.” The words felt hollow even as she gave them life.

Marcius snorted, his nostrils flaring. “Of course your kind would say something like that, seducers and vile blood beasts. I don't know what hold you have cast over me, but I will not..”

Adriana closed the gap between them, the time for talking was over and done with. She pressed against him, sliding one hand up over his chest, over his neck and into his hair. Her lips claimed his, silencing his protests before he could utter them.

He growled, tense, muscles knotted beneath her touch.

Would he pull away from her?

She tightened her grip in his hair, holding him close even as her nipples hardened and desire coated her inner walls. She moaned, sliding the tip of her tongue over the seam of his lips, teasing it. He shuddered under the soft touch, lips parting, welcoming her caress. Adriana pressed deeper, easing her tongue past his lips, seeking, tasting, stroking as his resistance crumbled.

Gods, she wanted more, so much more. The kiss, instead of turning her away, fueled her desires for more from him, from them as she groaned, her back arched, desire ruling her choices, her hunger for what they might share in this moment.

Our time together shouldn’t begin on the cold, damp earth, but in a bed, with lamps flickering and soft sheets sliding over our skin, or furs brushing against flesh.

The hard outline of his erection throbbed against her hip as he shifted his weight, pushing aside all thoughts of soft, warm beds and dry rooms. She couldn’t wait, didn’t want to wait, not when they could explore what they felt, what they wanted here and now.

Strong arms wrapped around her body as he moved into the kiss, taking control as he eased one hand into her hair, breaking the kiss for a moment, his words a harsh, ragged growl. “I am alpha here.”

Adriana wanted to protest, she was a daughter of Lilith, she didn’t bow to men, but if she denied him he might turn away from her. “This time, but we are both strong, both alphas.”

“Even the alpha she wolf…”

“Chooses her mate, she is not conquered, she offers.”

“But still submits in that moment.” He fisted his fingers in her hair.

It was an argument that she would have with him at a later time and place.

“Do you understand?” He tugged on her hair, baring her throat to his teeth.

Odd, the roles should have been reversed and yet her body answered his question with a hungry roll of her hips and a flood of warmth between her thighs. “Yes, I understand and accept.” She tipped her head, her hair still held within his grasp, lifting her chin to grant him better access to her throat.

Teeth scraped over her flesh and Adriana shivered, eyes half closing in delight. The threat of a bite, the pressure of his teeth, things she should have fought against and yet she surrendered.

Marcius pushed them back across the clearing, toward one of the largest trees, until her back pressed against the bark, tugging on cloth and skin alike. She whimpered, easing her grip on his hair to rest both hands on his chest, tracing the outline of his muscled chest. Marcius captured her wrists and yanked her arms above her head, pressing the backs of her hands against the tree.

“You will not move unless I give you permission to do so.” He leaned in, tracing the tip of his tongue over her pulse point. “Do you understand me?”

“Yes,” she groaned, hips rolling, her body eager for his. Simple words and it would be easy enough to follow through on that command.

“I said you will not move.” He tightened his grip on her wrists.

“I didn’t,” she protested, licking the tip of her tongue over her bottom lip.

“Your hips moved.” Marcius relaxed his grip on her arms. “You don’t move. Not without my permission.” He claimed her lips, silencing her protests.

Adriana’s eyes closed fully as she forced herself to relax and accept the pressure of his tongue parting her lips as he gained access to her mouth. He plunged, stroked and tasted, stealing her breath and thought alike as she struggled to hold position. Her body ached with the need to move, to press against him but she fought to obey. The kiss, oh, by the gods his kiss, this wasn’t something that she had expected. The way she reacted to it left her breathless as he broke the seal of their lips.

“This isn’t how it’s supposed to be. I’m a daughter of Lilith. We command. Conquer. We don’t submit.” Yet she obeyed him, unwilling to risk the loss of this shared pleasure.

“Submission to your mate is never something to be ashamed of.” Marcius nipped his way down her throat, teasing and tormenting her senses. “You will come to understand that.”

Mate? Had he accepted that was what had pulled them to this meeting? She wanted to question him, press for information but it wasn’t the time or the place, not with the way that her body reacted to his touch. Her nipples hardened, aching beneath the slow path of his exploration and she burned, deep within, needing him, hungering for his body, the feel of his erection sliding between her thighs and filling her to the core.

Her mate.

The shifters used that term, even the first house of Caine and Lilith used it, but her people did not. Such things were forbidden, but so was this connection with the shifter. He was prey according to her people, yet her body said lover, cried mate and demanded his touch.

“You like my touch, don’t you?” He moved one hand down her body, away from her pinned hands, and cupped her left breast, thumb moving back and forth over her nipple. “Yes, I can see it in your eyes but it’s more than that,” he slid his hand down from her breast and pressed it between her thighs, cupping her mound. “I can smell your hunger.”

A hunger she didn’t have permission to succumb to, not in this time, this place, or with this male.

He eased her robe aside, his fingers sliding over her slick, intimate flesh before he used one finger to part her folds. She gasped, eyes widening at the first touch between her swollen nether lips.

“Please,” she whimpered, the need to move growing with each new heartbeat.

“What is it?” He bent down, releasing her hands. “What is it you want?”

“I want you. I need you.” She needed to move, to press against his body and feel that release. Something that, right now, only he could offer her. She didn’t move her hands, but kept them above her head, pressed to the tree. He’d told her to hold position and she continued to do so, despite the cry from deep within her body. A cry that grew stronger and threatened to tear free of her scant control.

“You need permission. My permission. Don’t you?” He growled against her skin, pulling her tunic down to her waist with his free hand before he caught her right nipple in his teeth, teasing it with the tip of his tongue.

“Yes.” She admitted, her thighs tight, body aching. Each new touch either between her thighs or to her breast, threatened to tip her beyond the point of obeying and then what? Why does it matter? I’m not submissive, even in this moment I have the power to pull free and take what I want from him.

“Then you have it, move for me, show me  you need me.” He growled against her skin, fingers buried deep within her slick flesh. “Give yourself to me.”

To Be Continued Next Week.