Animal Instincts Read online

  Animal Instincts

  AnimalInstincts

  Published by Phaze Books

  Also by Brenna Lyons

  Black Sail

  Conquest

  Mama’s Tales

  The Last of Fion’s Daughters

  The Color of Love

  We Shall Live Again

  Phaze in Verse

  “The Fire God’s Woman”

  from Coming Together: Under Fire

  Last Chance for Love

  Fates Magic

  Rites of Mating

  In Her Ladyship’s Service

  Matchmaker’s Misery

  This is an explicit and erotic novel

  intended for the enjoyment

  of adult readers. Please keep

  out of the hands of children.

  www.Phaze.com

  Animal Instincts

  A Phaze Roar HeatSheet by

  BRENNA LYONS

  Animal Instincts copyright 2008-9 by Brenna Lyons

  All rights reserved under the International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, organizations, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

  A Phaze Production

  Phaze Books

  6470A Glenway Avenue, #109

  Cincinnati, OH 45211-5222

  Phaze is an imprint of Mundania Press, LLC.

  To order additional copies of this book, contact:

  [email protected]

  www.Phaze.com

  Cover art © 2008 Debi Lewis

  Edited by Kathryn Lively

  eBook ISBN-13: 978-1-60659-146-8

  First Edition – March, 2009

  Printed in the United States of America

  10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

  Warning: the unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in prison and a fine of $250,000.

  Glossary

  Wul male—buck

  Wul female—bitch

  Wul mother—dam

  Wul father—sire

  Wul young—cubs

  Wul pack leaders—alpha buck and alpha bitch

  Lyx male—tom

  Lyx female—fem

  Lyx pregnant/nursing female or the mother of a particular Lyx, no matter how old he may be—queen

  Lyx father—sire

  Lyx young—kit

  Lyx nest leader—the queen’s-queen (the eldest able-bodied female in the nest)

  Animal Instincts

  Chapter One

  Anha arched her back, thwarting Thoman’s move to bite her neck even as she drove her bottom toward the pillar of his cock. Some fems let toms mark them indiscriminately; Anha was not such a fem. Though it was unlikely that she’d find a true mate, Anha wanted to go to him unmarked if she did.

  Thoman hissed lightly in his displeasure. “Little tease.”

  On some level, he was correct. Still... “All unmated toms want is the pussy.” She purposely used the human term for it as both a pun and a further tease. “It is pride that makes you seek more.”

  As if I am not seeking more? She pushed away that thought. It was for another time and place.

  Thoman drew in Anha’s scent noisily, stroking her hood with two rough fingers. Her pupils widened, sharpening the contrast of the lush forest around them in the half-light of the moon. She rasped the tip of her tongue over her lengthened fangs, her mouth watering in need of an end to this maddening heat.

  Thoman played his cock at her entrance, growling out his thoughts aloud. Her heat had her slick and ready...more than ready to be stuffed full of randy tom cock.

  Anha nodded, her breathing hitching as he pinched at her hood. She drew in the scents of her heated core and his pungent musk, soil, growth and decay...and Wul.

  The shock of the final in their vicinity sent her into motion, knocking Thoman’s hand away and scrambling from beneath him. His hand grasped at her hip, then released her. He turned and stood, placing himself between Anha and the enemy, as any tom was expected to.

  Anha came to her feet, her enhanced vision picking out three of the curs. She let her vocal chords shift slightly to rumble the information to Thoman, uncertain that his lesser abilities could provide it for him. His nod was curt, and she let her throat revert to a human shape again, lest she tire herself unnecessarily when the need to fight might arise.

  The Wul were clothed, and they stood between the two Lyx and their clothing. As Anha watched, one of them lifted her jeans from the ground, scenting them. The threat wasn’t spoken, and yet she shivered in understanding.

  “What do you want, Wul?” Thoman’s voice was coarse, a sure sign that his fangs were extended.

  Anha swallowed hard. Unless one was exceptionally old or strong, that was the most either Lyx or Wul could do without a powerful moon. She could do more, but she’d only prove it if she had to.

  The one holding her jeans settled a look of warning on them. “I want, little cats, to know what two Lyx are doing on Wul land. Surely, you scented our mark.”

  They hadn’t, which probably meant the Wul had laid the marks after they’d passed. It was an old trick that the Wul used to justify ambush. Since the precious old growth was in dispute, one never knew who would scent and claim it next, but it was good luck to conceive broods in the sacred wood.

  Thoman scanned over the line of Wul, apparently deciding that it was not his night to fight them. “Then we will take our leave...with apologies to your alpha for this trespass.”

  Anha held her breath, looking for some sign of acceptance from them. It would be an embarrassment to walk back to the nest in the nude, but it would be a welcome exchange for death.

  “I think not,” their leader stated, scenting her jeans again, leering at her.

  She shook her head in disbelief. They’d rutted on Lyx fems before, but never one in heat as Anha was. Her heart pounded in terror, and her mouth went dry. The copper taste of blood rose up strong in preparation to fight or run.

  There were tales, old stories of half-breed abominations. Were they true? Would she catch a half-Wul brood instead of one from the deposit Thoman had made the night before?

  The Wul started to circle. Thoman tensed, hissing and growling, his fine, black hair standing on end. The lead Wul closed on him, growling deep in his throat, and Anha shivered in response, her gaze darting between the alpha of this small group and his betas.

  Whatever the sound the Wul made meant to a male, Thoman seemed to lose his composure. He pounced on the larger male, his mouth opening to bare his fangs.

  The Wul dropped her jeans and dealt a staggering punch to Thoman’s head. His pack brothers held their places, shifting back and forth as if preparing to stop her if she attempted escape.

  Thoman came at him again, and the Wul administered another blow; this one took the tom to his back. Before Thoman could react, the alpha was on him, sinking his fangs into the tom’s exposed throat.

  Anha leapt toward them, though she knew there was little she could do. The other two Wul were suddenly upon her, not engaging Anha but keeping her from the fight.

  She showed her claws...literally. Anha shuddered in pleasure as sleek fur appeared on her fisted hands, bones shifted, and her claws extended.

  One
Wul pulled back; the other bared his fangs and took a step toward her. Anha lashed out, gouging tracks in the closer beta’s face to drive him back.

  He recovered quickly and howled out his intent to hunt, to kill. She braced herself for a fight. Though the howl meant the older toms and fems would be on their way to defend the territory, they still had time to kill her...or commit other offenses against her.

  A growl brought the closer two to a halt. The abrupt change startled Anha so much that she didn’t note the third moving until he had her by the wrists, pinning her to the nearest tree. He extended her arms above her head, his legs between hers, forcing hers out.

  He surveyed what he could see of her body, finally meeting her eyes. The deep brown was disconcerting, so different than the green-gold or ice blue of a Lyx. For a moment, they stared at each other, neither moving.

  “Bind her wrists.” The slightest edge of his fangs peeked past his lips.

  Self-preservation reared up, and Anha hissed at him, fighting the strength of his grip. It was of no use, of course. Like most males, Lyx or Wul, he was larger than a fem, and Wul were larger than Lyx. In moments, they had the belt looped around her wrists and cinched tight, cross-threaded to secure the woven strands.

  Anha stilled, abruptly aware of her position. She was full-out against him, her legs hooked around him, his erect cock nestled to her still-heated core.

  Hotter!

  No. It was a trick. It had to be.

  The Wul cycled his hips against her, and her body’s answering call named her a liar. Admit it or not, she wanted him more than she’d wanted Thoman...more than she’d wanted any tom of her species.

  It’s the heat. My body is confused.

  But that was a lie, too. Anha had been through heats before. She knew well enough that the heat didn’t make an unacceptable male acceptable or a loathsome one appealing.

  Then why do I want him? She rejected the idea that she found the Wul buck appealing, in some way. That was a stomach-churning idea.

  He backed off a step, then a few more, dropping to his knees with Anha wrapped around him, following her down to the soft forest floor she’d thought to share with Thoman. It was all she could do not to press up to him in an unspoken plea for more.

  “Hold her arms down.”

  The grip on her forearms was rough. The hands exploring her body were anything but. Anha swallowed down a moan of pleasure.

  The Wul’s weight left her, and he wrenched her legs from his waist. His hips thrust forward, forcing her as wide as she would go, pressing the evidence of his arousal to her.

  It was too much sensation, too potent. Anha closed her eyes and rode the ridge of his body, needing the joining as she never had before.

  “Such a good little pussy,” one of the others taunted.

  She froze, her heart sick. What am I doing?

  “Silence, Seten.” The promise of death was in the alpha’s order.

  Noises broke the silence, and Anha opened her eyes to investigate them. The Wul leader was patiently disrobing, his lightly-furred chest appearing from behind the blood-stained shirt. His chest fur was the same red-brown of the thick pelt on his head. The sound it made was crisp, not the silken slide of a Lyx tom’s fur.

  Anha dimly noted that the blood on his shirt was Thoman’s. She should be appalled, sickened, enraged...

  Then the shirt was gone, and the Wul started working at his jeans. Her thoughts scattered, and Anha stared, watching his length appear, her body weeping in welcome. Her muscles felt warm and weak.

  He was over her again, his face buried in her throat, growling but not in pleasure. It was a sound of warning that sent shivers down Anha’s spine.

  The strokes of his face against her were universal. He was a tom scenting a fem, drowning the scent of a rival tom...or whatever the Wul called their males.

  He worked his way down her body, stroking his musk-laden hair and skin over her, nipping at her breasts and stomach. By the time he started lapping at her nether lips, Anha was writhing beneath him, her breathing ragged, her body stoked to a steady burn.

  One of the other Wul tweaked a nipple, and she stilled, tensing. The growl from below sent the other tom into retreat. Then he was working his way up her body again, washing away that scent with the rest.

  He settled over her, his cock poised to take her. The joining came a few finger-widths at a time, a torturous stretching. He was wider than any tom she’d taken before him, making her feel deliciously full.

  He was longer, too. Anha cried out softly when he surpassed her normal range. Still, he eased in, coming to rest against the gates of her womb...and held there, teasing her.

  Anha trembled, awash in an unfamiliar sensation.

  “You’ve never had this large,” he guessed.

  One of the others chuckled, then sobered at a sharp motion from the one impaling her.

  “Have you?” There was a challenge in that.

  Anha considered lying to him, but she found she couldn’t. She shook her head silently, blinking back tears at the expected taunting.

  None came. He nodded then eased back, thrusting up into her again.

  She whimpered in a mixture of pleasure and discomfort. A few thrusts later, those whimpers turned to sighs of satisfaction. As if her body gave him some signal, his thrusts quickened, deepened, and he grumbled something she couldn’t comprehend.

  Anha felt her climax rising and fought down the sounds she wished to vent. No matter how good it felt, this was a Wul...the enemy.

  Of course, she couldn’t stop the physical responses of climax. Nor could she hide them. He groaned as her body milked him toward release, lifting her hips to thrust harder into her.

  His come was hot, an insistent drumming in counterpoint to his continuing thrusts. His cock swelled within her, a gentle caress of stimulation rather than the barbs of a Lyx tom. Anha cried out harshly in response, dizzy in pleasure, tears she didn’t remember shedding cooling on her cheeks.

  His mouth covered hers, forcing her lips open beneath his. Anha met him in a fierce kiss, entrusting her vulnerable tongue to the mercy of his teeth as he did with hers.

  Lyx seldom kissed. It was typically something reserved for mates. Still, she wanted this Wul’s kiss as she’d wanted the rest of him.

  “Mattayas,” one of the others growled. “This is foolhardy.”

  Mattayas. She committed it to memory.

  He released her lips, locking gazes with her, his cock subsiding slowly. Something feral burned in his expression.

  “If you waste much more time,” the third stated, “no one else will get a taste.”

  Her heart sank. Of course, he was going to let the others play at her. She was a prisoner and meant nothing to him.

  Animal Instincts

  Chapter Two

  Mattayas felt a sick twisting in his stomach at her look of hurt...at the disappointment in her ice blue eyes.

  What was wrong with him that he was acting so out of character? Screwing a Lyx bitch that was fertile, heedless of the old tales? Risking her kiss?

  His mind had taken leave at the first scent of her, and the scent of another male on her was maddening.

  His cousin Seten lowered his head, taking one of the Lyx’s pert little nipples into his mouth. She closed her eyes and turned her head away, clenching her teeth. There was no sensual show now. Her body cooled around his still-raging cock. To his shock, fresh tears glistened on her dark lashes. She sobbed.

  His next coherent moment was the realization that he had his hand wrapped around Seten’s throat. He didn’t question why he’d do such a thing. She’d sobbed, and Seten had scented the Lyx. Either was reason enough.

  “Do not touch her,” he growled.

  The young bitch stared at him, seemingly as stunned by his actions as he was himself.

  Mine. Mattayas shoved Seten further away, then slid from the bitch’s body, smiling at her shiver and mew of protest.

  “Turn over,” he ordered her.
/>   It was madness. He was ordering her into the submissive, demanding that she take him as she would a mate...or at least one she wanted a brood from.

  She nodded her agreement. His cock released a stream of come that simply.

  “Mattayas,” Seten grumbled, an unspoken rebuke for his folly.

  He didn’t answer. Instead, he hooked two fingers inside her heat. The little bitch pressed her hips up, thrusting against them. She bit her lower lip at his withdrawal, drawing a bead of blood with her half-extended fangs.

  Mattayas stared at her, hungry for her body again. “Release her, Tragan. Let her turn.”

  The buck released her arm, though he grasped the length of belt dangling from her wrists to keep her from attacking Mattayas with her clawed paws. Though she’d laid Tragan’s face open in four lines, it seemed she had no urge to harm any of them.

  Confirming that impression, she pulled her legs back and rolled, pillowing her head on her bound hands and settling high on her knees to spread for him.

  Oh, Luna, yes! Would that he had the night to feast on her. But, he didn’t. Tragan’s war howl would bring the Lyx all too soon.

  Mattayas thrust into her, his heart pounding at her gasp of delight. He eased his hand from her waist to her clit, and she circled her hips against him, taking all he had to give.

  The need was pressing, and Mattayas pounded into her, thanking Luna as the bitch met him, push for push. She half-swallowed a cry of pleasure as climax took her, and her body urged him on.

  Mark her. Luna, but he had to.

  Mattayas grasped her shoulder, dragging her throat up to his mouth, his fangs extending fully. He expected her to shy as she had from the Lyx buck.

  If she does, I will hold her down to do it. She must carry my mark. He didn’t question that it was so.

  She didn’t move to avoid him. The bitch swung her black hair to the side, tilting her head to invite him.