A Lycan's Mate Read Online Free

later, she thought. Jurisa
turned to see he had reverted to human form again. He seemed unable
to support his own weight anymore and was leaning heavily into her.
Jurisa probably could have dragged him into the clearing, but he
had to make it on his own feet. The rules, the damned rules.
     
    Jurisa alternately pushed and pulled him
towards the clearing, scraping her skin and pulling out fur on
twigs and branches. The other alphas were in the woods around them
now, searching, fighting, following dead ends she'd laid down long
ago. Jurisa's lungs burned. Her body cried out at her. Dragos was
half-passed out, but he stayed upright and kept moving.
     
    They burst into the clearing just as Jurisa
felt the other alphas at her back. She collapsed to the dirt,
slipping back into human form with Dragos gasping beside her. Three
alpha males ran into the clearing behind and were blocked by her
pack materializing out of the woods around them. With some snarling
and posturing, they ceded to the pack.
     
    Jurisa allowed herself the luxury of reaching
out to lay a hand on Dragos' heaving chest, pleased to feel the
firm thrum of his heart beating underneath. Jurisa of the Cold
Mountains had claimed her mate.
     

Sample:
    Lycan’s Sacrifice
    By Chandler
Dee
    Sanda trembled inside, her willful body
refusing to remain stoic in the face of death. If only she were a
braver woman, or perhaps a little more ignorant of what was coming
for her.
     
    Presently, she knelt in the grass clearing of
the sacrificial place where she had been sent by her people. She
had been trembling forever it seemed, almost since the decision had
been made. The decision for her to be the Lycan’s sacrifice this
year. Sanda knew it was an honor to be chosen. Her death would
stave off attack from the Lycans for another year. The
circumstances, the result of cool bargain struck between humans and
the Lycans hundreds of years ago. The Lycans have their high, cold
mountains to the East and humans had the fertile valleys and
temperate plains to the West. In exchange for annual sacrifices,
the Lycan's blood thirsty temper remained in check.
     
    She knew it was an honor. She felt happy to
do it. Her family would receive congratulations, respect for their
sacrifices. Even before she left, Sanda had noticed the change in
way people treated them. Sanda serving as the sacrificed this year
raised her family's standing in the eyes of the community. It would
make things easier for her younger siblings when they sought work
and families of their own. At the moment, the thought didn’t make
her feel much better though.
     
    She'd seen the same eyes extending unspoken
sympathy along with congratulatory handshakes and gifts for her and
them. The dark cloak she wore now was a gift from the town council.
It served as a death shroud given to every sacrifice. Death at the
hands of the Lycans was not pleasant. She'd heard stories ever
since her earliest years around the hearth fires about how
bloodthirsty Lycans ripped, shredded and disemboweled their
victims. Sanda wished she had accepted the potion offered by the
town leader that would make her senses dulled. At the time, she was
filled with bravado and turned him down.
     
    Now it made her queasy to think of it, and
the trembling increased tenfold. She could not stop shaking. She
could not sit still in the misty rain while she waited for death.
If only Sanda could get a hold of herself. It would make it easier
to believe she was at peace and ready for this fate. Her body had
other things in mind, betraying her fear with its incessant
movement. If only they would hurry up and get here and end this
torture.
     
    Sanda’s eyes flitted towards every sound in
the darkness. She did not want to see it coming. She thought about
pressing their hands to her ears to hide the sounds of growling and
snarling she imagined the Lycans made on approach to their prey.
The fear made her twitch at every sound, made her strain to hear
it. She could not