The Mating Project

  Evernight Publishing

  www.evernightpublishing.com

  Copyright© 2014 Doris O’Connor

  ISBN: 978-1-77130-791-8

  Cover Artist: Sour Cherry Designs

  Editor: Karyn White

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

  WARNING: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. No part of this book may be used or reproduced electronically or in print without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews.

  This is a work of fiction. All names, characters, and places are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  DEDICATION

  To all my lovely readers. Thank you for your encouragement and most of all thank you for reading.

  THE MATING PROJECT

  The Projects, 3

  Doris O’Connor

  Copyright © 2014

  Chapter One

  Ten years prior

  "No, no bleeding way. He's old enough to be my father."

  This couldn't be happening to her. No bloody way was she having this discussion now. Maria looked to her mother, but for once her mum didn't look at her. Only Mum's clenched jaw and fists were any indication of her feelings on this. Clearly this was one of those occasions she would stand by Dad, no matter how ridiculous the notion was.

  Fuck the blasted mating project, and fuck you, Dad, and the council.

  There was no way Maria could utter those words out loud, though. But, dammit, he couldn't expect her to just lie back and think bloodlines when her whole future was at stake here.

  "And you're of age, and need to do your duty." Her father ignored her outburst and carried on speaking. She knew that face. His mind was made up, and there was no arguing with him when he was like this. "Maria, you know the rules as well as I do. The council has decreed Anton is your mate, and it is your duty to submit to him."

  "Well, I won't do it. You can't make me." She stomped her feet and crossed her arms over her chest to hide her emerging claws. Her cougar almost foamed at the mouth to be let free. Not that it would do her much good. Her father's animal was larger and stronger than hers, and she could see his beast pace behind his eyes.

  "I have no intention of making you, Maria. I know you will your duty." There was such absolute finality behind those words, that Maria almost missed the shadow that crossed her father's features. He shook off the hand that his wife, Judith, had put on his tightly curled biceps, and stalked from the room. The deliberately careful way with which he shut the door to his study behind him spoke volumes.

  "Mum, please, you've got to talk to him. He'll listen to you. He can't make me do this." Maria blinked back tears, and her mum pulled her in for a hug.

  "I'm sorry, darling. His hands are tied. You're a pure blood cougar, and you have to mate with another pure blood. Those are the rules. You know that."

  "Well, I don't give a flying fuck about the rules. Why can't I choose my own mate? It's not fair. Carter and Jake don't have to put up with this shit. They're out there screwing whatever they can find, and no one tells them they have to mate."

  Her mum tightened her hold on her and then stepped back. Maria slapped a hand over her mouth, half expecting her mum to drag her away and wash her mouth out with soap. Swearing was not something Judith Anderson tolerated in her house, and, sure enough, disapproval radiated off her in waves.

  "You're distraught, so I will let that language pass for now. You know full well it's different for males and, trust me, your brothers are doing their bit. If they actually manage to impregnate anyone, they will find themselves mated so fast their head will spin."

  A smile lit up Judith's face, and Maria rolled her eyes. Why were mums always in such a hurry to get grandchildren? Not that Jake and Carter would oblige in that regard. Maria's brothers might be womanizers extraordinaire, but they had no intention of settling down anytime soon, had even less inclination to become parents, and they were always careful. In fact one of their presents to Maria for her eighteenth birthday last week had been a box of condoms with a note attached.

  Have fun and make sure whoever you're having fun with uses one of these. Or we'll be forced to take his head off, and you know that's just too messy. x

  Maria had blushed bright scarlet and spirited that box away, before anyone else noticed. Carter and Jake had smirked at her every time they had seen her since.

  Yes, her brothers might be seen to do the council's bidding, but in reality they did their own thing, which was exactly what Maria was going to do. How the hell was she to achieve that goal when she was mated to Anton de Souza?

  An involuntary shudder went through her, and her cougar hissed her annoyance. Her animal liked the look of Anton even less than Maria did. She couldn't even begin to explain to herself why she disliked him so much. She just did.

  "It won't be so bad, Maria. Not once you get to know him, darling. Your father would never have agreed to this, if he didn't feel you two would make a good match." As though her mum had read her thoughts, Judith came straight to the heart of the matter. "He's an experienced man and a powerful cougar, and he's an original. Mating with him will guarantee a safe future for you and any cubs you'll hopefully be blessed with. He's also steady and reliable and will keep you out of trouble."

  Maria snorted at that.

  "He's boring in other words, and will order me around, you mean. I wasn’t born yesterday, Mum. And if he's so powerful, why didn't he mate years ago, and get a houseful of cubs? I don’t like him, and the thought of sleeping with him gives me the chills. There, I said it."

  Maria knew she was pouting like a petulant child, but she couldn't help it. Instead of being annoyed, Mum merely smiled.

  "That's only natural, my lovely. I was a nervous wreck the day I mated your father, but it all worked out all right."

  "Well, of course it did. You and Dad are true mates, and you love each other. If I have to be mated that's what I want, not something forced on me by the council in an effort to keep the bloodline pure. I'm not a fu—I mean I'm not a brood mare."

  Maria stopped herself from swearing in the nick of time, and Judith's smile deepened.

  "Have I ever told you how I met your father, my dear? I mean the real story, not the one we tell at dinner parties? Well, I know I haven't, but let's just say you remind me of me at your age. I was just as headstrong and full of ideals, and there was no way on earth I was going to be mated to the man the council chose for me. Oh no, not this cougar, so the first time your dad and I were alone in a room together, I let my cougar out and have at him. I didn't win, of course. Your dad humored me for a bit and then overpowered me, and well…" She grinned, and Maria made gagging noises.

  "Pleaaaaase, spare me the details, Mum. Those are mental images I do not need right now, and that doesn't make any sense. You two are good together. You do that whole mental connection thing that only true mates have, so how … Oh."

  "Yes, oh." Judith patted Maria's arm. "I'm not going to say that will happen with you and Anton, because, quite frankly it might not, but every one of my friends had their mates chosen for them, and even if they're not true mates, they have grown to love their partners. Take Aunt Constance, for instance—"

  "They've settled, you mean." Maria interrupted her. "Don't tell me Aunt Connie is happy. You can't want that sort of life for me, Mum. Surely you want to see me happy with a partner of my choosing? I want to go to Uni, damn it. I want a job and a career, not change nappies, and be lorded over by Anton de Souza."

  Judith shook her head and sighed.

  "It really wouldn't be like that, and I know for a fact that Anton has agreed for you to stay on in educati
on and to pursue your career. Once you've graduated there's a place for you on the Mating Project."

  An ice cold fist closed around Maria's throat, and she forced her next words out past that restriction.

  "So I can be held responsible for matching up genetics and forcing young women into matings they don't want? I don't think so, Mum."

  An uneasy silence fell between them, and Maria shivered in the cool breeze that came in through the open French doors.

  The outside called her, and her beast strained to break free. She needed to run, to push her body into exhaustion, to hunt down prey on her father's estate and kill. And if the unsuspecting deer she killed happened to have De Souza's face in her mind, then who was there to blame her?

  "Shift and run, Maria. It will help you think, and I'm sure you'll come to the right conclusion. Your father would never force you into a union you didn't want. He loves you first and foremost, and he will protect you, but he can't keep you off the council's radar forever. Anton has already waited several years for you to come of age, and he…"

  Maria didn't listen to the rest of her mother's speech. She simply shed her clothes and shifted mid leap into the garden.

  There was the shimmer of tears on her mother's face when Maria turned in her cougar form, tail impatiently swishing back and forth.

  "At least stay on our land. There's been report of hunters."

  ****

  "I'll have no part of this."

  Malachi Luca stared down his father and Alpha of his pack, all too aware of the agitated wolves surrounding them. They had come baying for blood, and that's what the Alpha was going to give them. Hunting down humans and unsuspecting shifter females was not something Malachi considered sport. Let alone when it took place on council property.

  "You will do as you're told, boy." His father's snarl joined in with the growls of the crowd, and Malachi's wolf bared his teeth. Testosterone surged through his system, and his muscles bulged and grew as he struggled to keep his beast in check. His wolf was a restless bugger tonight, and Malachi felt the inexplicable pull to the forest. It was almost as though someone was calling to him, someone who his wolf couldn’t wait to connect with, but that was nonsense.

  Malachi didn't believe in any of that airy fairy stuff, but he couldn't deny that something felt off tonight. Maybe it was just the deep seated disgust he felt at this monthly run his father organized.

  "No can do." He growled his answer, his voice already more wolf than man, and with a bone jarring crunch his father shifted into his wolf. Much larger than an ordinary wolf, his black beast snarled at him.

  As your Alpha I command you.

  Then I'll leave the pack.

  A stunned silence followed that announcement in Malachi's head, before the pack all started shouting at once, and he closed off his mind.

  His father leapt at him, but with the lightning fast reflexes of youth, Malachi dodged the move and shifted himself. The Alpha's teeth snapped thin air, and Malachi gave his wolf free rein.

  At barely aged twenty he stood a good foot higher than his father already. Nonetheless the older wolf would not back down. He charged again and again, and each time Malachi moved at the last moment. When at last the Alpha tired and shifted back to human, Malachi bowed his head, and approached the older man he had once looked up to.

  Chest heaving with the effort to draw in air, his father simply stared at him.

  "Fight me, dammit, if you're challenging my leadership. But no, your mother gave birth to a fucking pussy, who is afraid to get his muzzle bloody. You're no son of mine, and you're no longer welcome in this pack."

  Fury churned through Malachi's gut at the mention of his mother. The gentle she-wolf had passed away last year, and whatever slim grasp on reality his father had had, had died with her. It was only the thought of how much his mother had loved the man in front of him, and the promise Malachi had made to her on her deathbed, that stopped his wolf from ripping the man's throat out. That would make him as bad as his so-called father.

  So, instead he threw his head back and howled his farewell, and without a backward glance he turned his back on the life he'd known. The forest called him, and that indefinable scent in the air that got stronger the more he ran. His paws ate up the damp earth, and he breathed in the freedom of being on his own. He didn't need the pack, or the damn council, who turned a blind eye to his father's escapades, just because he was one of the originals.

  Politics sucked, and they could all go screw themselves. The scent got stronger still, and he slowed his pace. There was movement to the side. He was downwind, so the cougar slowly circling her prey hadn't spotted him yet.

  The young female was skilled. He had to give her that, even as his wolf's fur rose at the underlying scent of cat. There was a far stronger scent that called to him as though she was a siren of old, and it made his hackles rise.

  No Fucking Way!

  She couldn't be what his wolf was panting in his ear. Fate wouldn't be that cruel. With an elegant leap the cougar made her move, and brought the unsuspecting deer down in a move he had to admire, until a new scent in the air made his wolf growl.

  The cougar, too, stopped, and raised her head, and across the distance their gazes connected. For a split second they simply stared at each other, and Malachi felt the connection between like them like a physical punch to the gut. The stench of approaching humans broke the moment. The hunters made enough noise for a herd of elephants, and that was before the rapid sound of gunfire shattered the quiet solitude of the forest.

  Despite his disassociation, his former pack members came through loud and clear, and Malachi's wolf whined his distress. Hackles raised he growled and swung his head round to the young female. Malachi willed her to run, to get away, but she didn't move.

  Tail swishing from side to side and teeth bared, she looked ready to pounce, and her cat's hiss joined his own growl at the impending threat. This wasn’t her fight, yet she seemed poised to defend her territory anyway. A foolish move in the circumstances, but one he admired anyhow.

  With a long howl he forced himself to turn his back on her and trekked back to his pack. If they were under attack, he had to join in. It was the right thing to do, after all, even if it might well kill him.

  ****

  The fierce looking wolf took Maria's breath away. It stood higher than her cougar, and the russet colors of his fur shimmered in the moonlight filtering in through the trees. She could almost sense his thoughts, as her cougar trained all her senses on this male. Deer forgotten, her heart leaped in her throat, and she stood spellbound by the pull between them. He seemed to sense it, too, because he nodded at her, and his amber eyes narrowed. She heard his wolf's whine seconds before the approaching scents made her beast snarl.

  Humans, and a large number of them, pursued by a pack of wolves. The large cat inside her snarled and hissed. Neither one of those approaching ought to be on her father's land. This was cougar territory, and Maria was as certain as she could be that she hadn't crossed boundaries. She was close to their territory lines, her beast having had to run to clear itself of the disgust coursing through its veins at the thought of being mated to Anton.

  How curious that the mere thought of Anton brought on such a strong reaction, yet this strange wolf's scent didn't cause her to gag. Rather the opposite, Maria's animal wanted to rub itself against the male wolf, and roll over in submission. Perhaps it was just as well there was an incoming threat. It stopped her from making a complete fool of herself. Maria could just see her parents’ and brothers' reactions to her returning smelling of dog. After all that's what wolves were—glorified mutts, beneath her majestic animal's attention—or at least that's what Maria had always been taught to believe. This lone wolf, however … he had her thinking all sorts of salacious thoughts she had no business thinking.

  Best stop those thoughts right now, Maria.

  Gunfire snapped her head up, and she noticed her wolf leap and bound away toward the noise. Her wolf?
<
br />   There was no time to process those thoughts, as a lonely, masked human broke through the tree line, his gun trained on her. Maria crouched and leapt at him, only to be brought down by pain flaring up in her shoulder. Paralysis spread from the entrance wound with astonishing speed, and she made heavy contact with the forest floor. Winded she struggled to get up on all four paws, but her front leg would not support her weight. Another sharp pain hit her straight in the chest, and Maria couldn't breathe. The world went black as her tormentor’s heavy boots appeared in the corner of her vision.

  Chapter Two

  Maria came to on a dirty, cold stone floor. The scent of humans and wolves was everywhere, and she swallowed the bile back down. She wasn't alone in the room, or maybe she was, but she sensed a presence watching her. Anger poured off that presence, irritation, and lust aimed at her. It made her cougar want to curl in on itself. Maria tried to summon her animal forth. Being this exposed would be easier to deal with in her cat form, but it was useless. Try as she might, she couldn’t shift. Instead she lay trapped in her human form, naked and shivering, and chained to the filthy floor. Others’ screams echoed in her ears, and she winced and curled tighter into herself, partly to keep warm, partly to shield herself from the evil stare she sensed.

  There was movement, the heavy step of boots and an animalistic growl that sent slivers of ice cold fear across her skin. She was no match for any man without her cougar, and the animal just borrowed deeper inside her body. What the hell was wrong with her, and where in God's name was she?

  If only she could shift she could be out of these chains and do some serious damage to whoever stood watching her. She raised her head slightly to sniff the air, to get the scent, but all she could smell was the stench of fear, urine, feces, and sex. Surely those should never be used in the same sentence, but here in this dismal cell, and she was in a cell, a furtive glance around told her that. Here, in this abhorrent place, those smells were all around her. The ground she lay on was stained with blood, not hers, but some unfortunate female’s. In her befuddled state she couldn't make out which species, though if she had to guess, she would have said cat. There was something familiar about that smell, stained though it was with the fear and pain of whoever had been chained in this place before.