He is Ghost

Proud

"Neira!"

Judd was screaming her name, trying anything he could to break through to her while her half-formed claws were closing in around his throat. She had a knee on either side of his body, the weight of her pressing him into the mattress as she tried and tried again to kill him.

He had fallen asleep next to her, the smooth breathing of his marked lulling him into a place he hated to remember. But he couldn't ignore it, how good it felt to hear the sound of a calm sleeping female under his arm. It had only bitten him in the ass, or the face as she chomped sharp teeth at him.

"Neira," he growled loudly, using his arm to push against her.

Neira didn't answer; the heat was too far in her head. Neira was benched while the main player in this game took another lunge at his throat.

Fucking heat.

Judd snapped his jaws back at her, hoping to catch her off guard. It didn't work. She just snarled down at him with a murderous rage.

Oh, he did not want to do this again, bite her and deal with the repercussions - her repercussions. He didn't like it anymore then she did so she could shut the fuck up about it all. If she weren't so fucking proud, they wouldn't be in this mess. If Sada hadn't begged him, he wouldn't be in this mess.

It wasn't like she was some small regular female who could have easily been helped by anyone. No, she had to be a dominant female with a stubborn head and a proud heart.

Not for the first time, Judd wondered if he had bitten off more than he could chew.

She snapped down at him, and suddenly he had enough of the negotiations. His hand moved from where he was holding her back by the shoulder to wrap around a clump of her dark hair. He yanked it to the side and her head along with it. She yelped as her body hit the mattress next to him.

That was all it took for him to gain the upper hand. He was on top of her in the next second.

She had other ideas.

She rolled, bucking him off as she went and a foot went flying, nailing him in the crown jewels. Judd's eyes went wide as his fingers released her flesh only to cradle his balls.

Neira was standing in the next moment, feet on the floor and facing away from him. She turned, ready to lunge back at him and finish the job.

He groaned and pinched his eyes closed. Fucking cheap shot. Cheap, cheap shot.

She didn't get the chance. She shifted, pain lancing her face before she fell to the ground a wolf. Neira whimpered, shaking her pelt trying to rid her body of the pain. She shifted human again, body laying on the floor in a heap as a scream left her throat. Her fingers clawed at her legs, arms - anywhere that flesh roamed.

Judd could only watch her tear herself apart. She had forgotten he was here, and that gave him the advantage. She shifted again, the wolf whining on the floor.

He watched the wolf shake and shudder on the floor until she finally turned back into a woman. Her naked body was shaking, unable to hold the pain much longer.

He clamped a hand around the back of her throat.

Neira was still for only a second before she erupted into chaos.

Judd put his weight behind his hand, crushing her face into the floor. She was snarling like nothing he had ever heard. Her claws ripped into the floor, leaving marks in the polished wood. She couldn't move like this; she was pinned.

That alone would have stopped any female, but Neira was too fucking proud.

Keeping his hand on the back of her neck and still pressing her to the floor, he moved, so he was standing over the rest of her body. He bent down, taking his knee and pushing it into the small of her back - hard. Right where that tattoo on her spine ended.

She calmed, but only slightly. The contact from his body would take away the pain of the heat. But he didn't know how much contact would bring Neira back to the surface instead of the heat struck animal.

He bent, so his other leg was pressed against her side and pressed his free hand into the dip of her waist. She was still shaking but -

"Neira," Judd said peering down at her.

No answer.

He moved his hand up and down her torso, hoping to calm more of her.

"Neira," Judd said again.

No answer.

He dipped down, still rubbing a hand along her side and pressed his lips to her shoulder. An open-mouthed kiss on her burning-up skin.

"Neira," he said quietly, his mouth still on her shoulder.

A whimper escaped her mouth.

Judd knew she was still in pain; he could see the way it beat against her body. He tried to chase away the tendrils of it with his hand, smoothing along her back. He pressed another kiss on her shoulder.

Slowly, he pushed his knee off her back and on to the floor on the other side of her body. Another whimper escaped her mouth from the distance of his body.

Judd squeezed his eyes shut for a moment.

The hand on her neck moved onto her shoulder as he pushed her body to roll. There was blood on the floor from her wounds, still leaking and some filled with splinters. Her hands came up to cover her face, smearing blood as she did so.

"Sssh," he said as a noise jostled out of her throat. Oh, it was hurting her bad.

Two years she had survived it on her own, each day worse than the last. How she had made it this far, he had no idea.

Neira might be proud and stubborn and cranky and aggressive but it wasn't without the rights to be so.