had gone better than planned. Though she insisted upon claiming Sean, as was her right as a Ravager female, she agreed to extend her pack by one, to allow the same number of Ravagers the opportunity to bond.
Kate refused to talk to him, no surprise there. Instead of forcing her to listen, he avoided unnecessary tears and dealt with her future mates. While he could sense Jesse’s and Logan’s conflict about leaving his pack, the pair couldn’t hide their excitement over Kate. Some undercurrents he’d been missing of late, apparently.
Annoyed that Dom always seemed to know what he didn’t, he also had a firm talk with Malcolm. Once again, Dom was right. Malcolm’s guer suited his, and the charming Ravager had a definite thing for Vicki, Dom, and Eric himself.
Now all Eric had to do was conquer one small, inconsequential Conduit.
He snorted. Inconsequential. Ha.
“We going to do this or what?” Dom asked, his eyes gleaming. “You know a hunt is the best way to forge the ties we need. A public claiming won’t do it. Word is spreading about the scent marker all over her. You really nailed her, didn’t you?”
Eric glared.
Dom laughed. “Right. Look, the Ravagers who saw her in action respect her, but the few who didn’t need to see what she can really do. They’ll feel better about her if they know how ferocious she is. Then they’ll tell their friends out in the city. Before you know it, human mate or not, you’ll be ass deep in congratulations. Maybe even diapers if all goes well. Of course, that’s provided Vicki doesn’t bolt when she realizes you claimed her…accidentally.”
Eric swore. Dom seemed to enjoy his dilemma way too much. “I’ll seduce her. The woman’s as hungry for it as I am.” Which secretly thrilled him. “Hell, the last few times I had her, she was begging for it. For me.”
“Okay.”
“She was.” Eric felt defensive. So Vicki hadn’t exactly begged him until he’d given it all he had to seduce her. She tested him at every turn, and the hell of it was she got him hard by being so fucking stubborn.
“Give me until tomorrow to set it up. And Prime, make sure you include Malcolm in your hunt. No better time to introduce him as a new member of our pack,” Dom said with a wicked grin. “I’ve been wanting a piece of him for a long time.”
“Why do you wait until the last minute to tell me these things?”
“Timing had to be right. He’s ours, Prime. Just like Vicki.”
Eric sighed. “Just like Vicki, great. If Malcolm’s anywhere near as difficult as Vicki, I’m not just going to fire your ass. I’m going to kick it from here to the Lawless territory.”
Vicki had a bad feeling about Friday night’s events. The entire clan—those in attendance at the Savage homestead, anyway—rallied in the large area behind the house bordered by the tree line. They whispered and pointed when they saw her. Some looked at her with respect, others with caution, and a few with hostility. She wondered if they didn’t want her around Ravager tradition or if she’d irritated one and all in some other way. Who the hell knew?
Sentries had been positioned throughout the woods to prepare for this thing everyone called a hunt. According to Dom, the hunt celebrated past Ravager tradition, when the Ravager males used to hunt for their females in the years when females were plentiful, before life and their society changed. Since Ravagers considered their females sacred, no one was ever harmed during a hunt, but the exciting predator to prey relationship reminded everyone where they’d come from.
A place not of this world, Vicki thought, uneasy. In Cross Step, where everyone was different, it was easy to forget that most of the town’s citizens came from other planets.
Movement around her alerted her to the fact that half the Ravagers had transformed into their guers, while others, like Eric’s pack—her pack—remained in human form. Diana stood next to Sean. Neither looked at the other, but anytime a male stepped too close to Diana, her cousin pushed him back with a welling of fierce energy.
Vicki blinked in astonishment, wondering just when Sean’s possessive streak had formed. For days he’d been bitching about being marked. Now, it seemed, he’d staked his own claim on Diana.
Kate remained apart from the others. Jesse and Logan stood behind her, their attention on the dark-haired female. The cloud of lusty energy swelling around the threesome built and built, and