He is Ghost

No Time.

She rolled over, expecting her hand to fall onto something warm. Hard skin stretched taut over a broad chest, maybe even the contours of his chiselled stomach. Anything to cement that the soreness all over her body was from something other than a fight this time. 

No dice.

No matter. The soreness was too real to ignore or dismiss, especially when it lingered in areas of her body she was too ashamed to admit. Her eyes opened, taking in the empty space beside her. She could still smell him, his skin only recently detached from the sheets. Neira could even see the outline of where his body had been - where he had sat up to look at her over his shoulder. 

Who knows where he went now.

She sat up, scrubbing a hand over her face and taking the silk sheet with her. She moved her hand from her face to cover her neck. It was swollen, the skin raised and no doubt red in patches from Judd fighting his instincts to bite her all over again. She could still feel that insufferable mark just inches from her fingertips, throbbing with the claim. It was less than yesterday, less in the forefront of her mind. 

Neira shifted and the soreness erupted in places she didn't know she could be sore. Sore and hungry but... not aggressive, no, the wild animal below her skin was belly up, tongue lolled out the side of her mouth with a sleepy grin on her face. 

She felt more like herself then she had in days. She dropped her hand into her lap. Neira wanted to run, play with Sada, and eat all the potato chips she could find. No more sex. At least not until her body stopped feeling like it had been run over by a truck.

She rolled her neck and groaned as the skin pinched in the swollen patches. She stomped into the bathroom and checked herself in the mirror.

Yup. Her neck looked like it got attacked by an octopus. A very angry octopus.

She swore and dropped the sheet to examine the rest of herself in the mirror. Her hair was a fucking disaster, sticking up in places it shouldn't. It desperately needed a brush and an elastic. And a fucking wash. She probably stunk too, of sweat and sticky sex or something worse. Her shoulders and arms were covered in bruises.

Judd hadn't been gentle with her.

She could remember the hours and hours of hard sex they had just endured. She could only blame herself. She was a raging ravenous animal, but at least she wasn't in pain and she hadn't killed anyone yet.

It wasn't as if she didn't like the sex with Judd. She understood now why their kind craved it like she craved potato chips, it was exhausting and time-consuming but oh so fucking good. She would much rather spend the heat getting rammed into by an angry male and loving it, then be writhing in excruciating pain for weeks on end.

Sex bruises or skin on metaphorical fire?

Sex bruises all the way. She would even take the hickeys over and over before a single day again alone with the heat.

She moved to the wall by the facet of the shower, the sunlight streaming in through the window and beating against her naked skin. Today was going to be a hot one.

As she flipped the handle on the facet to hot. She paused when movement caught her attention out the window. It was Aja, arms wrapped around Sada seeming to hold her back. She couldn't see their faces from up here, only the tops of their heads. Neira scrunched her brow.

She pressed her forehead to the glass. From the edge, she could see Lincon and Landon disappear around the corner of the house.

She rushed back into the bedroom and to the window that overlooked the bed. Three figures emerged from the tree line, three people she did not know. Judd seemed to know them, his back was tight as he faced away from the window and towards the strangers. Lincon and Landon flanked his sides, shoulders tight.

Judd had to have known when they crossed the border into his territory. Why didn't he stop them from making the nearly two-day treck into the center of his land?

Stupid. He hadn't gone off to stop them at the border because he was too busy keeping down an angry shewolf.

Or maybe he had invited them? Maybe he wanted them to come here.

She knew she was lying to herself.

She couldn't hear what they were saying, but she could tell it wasn't a casual conversation. The stranger's face was tanned, though not as dark as Judd's olive skin. He was nearly the same size as Judd, though maybe a bit taller. She couldn't tell much from up here, but she could clearly see his black eyes.

The stranger's stance changed, tighter, stronger, taller.

Challenge.

The involuntary instincts sparked within her. Challenge, challenge, challenge.

Not a challenge to her, but to her male. Hers.

Unavoidable, unignorable, indefinite. 

Judd changed too, accepting the challenge. His back rippled, the skin stretching over vibrating muscles. His fingers twitched, the wolf inside him trying to tear its way out through his fingertips. 

And she was shaking. Vibrating with aggression and anger and there was no release for her here.

Her fingers were sliding the window to the side without her knowledge. There was no time. They were stalking toward each other. No time. No time.

The gound closed up underneath her as she shredded her skin and leapt from the third story window.