Instinctive - By Cathryn Fox Page 0,60

the tracks, and our late-night swims in the school’s aquatic center. He was on the swim team and we’d often sneak in.” A pause and then: “I have a hole inside me that will never go away, thanks to Vall. He stole my innocence, my life. I hate him. So much so that I recently bought a gun and loaded it with silver bullets.”

Jaclyn gasped. “You want him dead?”

“Hell, yeah, I want him dead. But I wasn’t going to use it on him. I was going to use it on me, because some things are worse than death, Jaclyn.”

“Like what?” Jaclyn asked gently, coaxing her friend to open up.

“Like submitting to Vall. Truthfully, life would be good here without him.”

“Why didn’t you leave?”

“And go where? These people are my family now. They’re all I have. If it just wasn’t for Vall . . .” She blinked and attempted a smile. “I was ready to end it all until I met you, Jaclyn. There is something about you, something that reminds me of the man I loved and lost. I can vaguely feel him on you. Smell him on your skin. Like he’s come back to me through you somehow.”

“Was he panther?” Jaclyn asked.

Sunray shook her head. “No, and I know this all sounds insane, but it’s the only way I can explain it.”

Jaclyn smiled. “After everything I’d been through over the last couple of weeks, I’m well past thinking anything is insane.”

Slyck touched Sunray’s hand, bringing her attention around to him. “What about Ciaran, Vall’s first? How would he be as a leader?”

“I think he’d be fair, but I won’t submit to him, either,” Sunray said. “I made a promise a long time ago. . . .”

Head down, looking emotionally battered, Sunray shivered, and everything inside Jaclyn reached out to her. She ached to soothe her friend’s pain, to push back the cold and fill the void, if only for a little while. It shocked Jaclyn to think that underneath that sparkly, passionate exterior, Sunray was nothing more than a chunk of ice, completely frozen.

Jaclyn knew there was only one way to help her. Since mating was part of their culture, a primal way to show both love and acceptance, Jaclyn exchanged a long look with Slyck, and reading her intent, he nodded his consent. If there was anything they could do to help Sunray’s internal disposition match her bubbly exterior, Jaclyn wanted to try. She was driven by a need to help build the trust among the three of them and show Sunray that they were her family now. Jaclyn inched closer until their thighs touched.

As though moving of their own volition, Sunray’s hands reached out to both Slyck and Jaclyn, searching, needing. . . . Slyck dropped to his knees in front of her. “We’re here for you, Sunray.” The intimacy in his gesture seemed to catch Sunray off guard.

“What do you mean?” she asked.

“We’re your family now,” Jaclyn explained and raked her fingers through Sunray’s soft blond hair. “We want to mate with you tonight, to create an impenetrable bond among us by bringing you into our small circle—to show you how much we care for you.” With that, Jaclyn brushed her cheek over Sunray’s, and burrowed close to her neck, a low purr sounding in her throat.

“You don’t need to be lonely anymore, Sunray. You have us now,” Slyck added.

Jaclyn inhaled and noted that, unlike Sunray’s aged alpha leader, her friend had a warm, sweet puppy smell. Slyck was right: Sunray was different from the others.

Aware of the heat building among them, Sunray closed her eyes. Sunray squeezed Jaclyn’s hand as though understanding and accepting the gift they were offering her. Jaclyn could see the hardening of her friend’s nipples beneath her silk blouse. “I’ve been lonely without him,” Sunray admitted, her sweet-scented breath warm on Jaclyn’s face.

Slyck touched her cheek and let his hand trail to the buttons on her blouse. “You don’t have to be alone anymore, Sunray. You have us now.” Jaclyn’s hand slid between Sunray’s jeans-clad legs, making their intentions very clear.

With her breath quickening, Sunray turned to Jaclyn and licked her lips. Color bloomed high on her cheeks. The desire in Sunray’s eyes and the new closeness among them all prompted Jaclyn into action. She brought her mouth to her friend’s and kissed her deep. With fevered need, Jaclyn greedily drank the passion from Sunray’s lips.

“Come with us,” Jaclyn whispered.

Slyck helped the women to their feet and ushered them to the