by Keri Hudson
She bounced faster, harder, further, fingers digging into his chest, clawing at him. One little fist curled and thumped down onto his chest, hard and passionate and sending waves of pleasure through him. She thumped down harder as he pushed up with his hips, her body tipping and rising above him. She was riding him like a bronco bull, her body reacting to his increasingly strong bucking and grinding, intensity rising between the two.
His orgasm stirred, ready to launch. But Bazz was a master of containment, and his will was strong enough to suppress it. He knew that once a certain point was reached, a half hour or so of continuous fucking, he could then go on indefinitely. And there was nothing he wanted more at that moment than to go on fucking that gorgeous pixie goddess above him.
Bazz pushed up and forward, sitting up and rolling over in one swift motion without ever losing his purchase inside her. He loomed over Phoebe, supple and smooth beneath him, gasping with delight to be subject to his whimsy. She pulled her arms up, shoulders arching as she pouted, forehead cramping, a lovely little whimper leaking up out of her delicious lips.
And Bazz loved having her beneath him, subject to him, sacrificed to him.
Bazz drove himself into her with rhythm and purpose, swirling action to accentuate the pumping action, and Phoebe’s cry told him she was loving it. Even through his own orgasmic tension, he could feel her body acting and reacting, juices collecting in superhuman levels.
Even Bazz felt some vulnerability, lying with her completely naked, exposed to every animal of the forest and even those of the city. People were likely going to be hunting them, and could come upon them at any time. For Bazz, the feeling of uncertainty and lack of absolute command on his home turf was an unusual feeling; one that drove his sexual thrill even further, his orgasm getting stronger and more impatient.
But it would wait as long as he desired, and so would she.
“You wanna come, Phoebe? You wanna come for me?” Her head jutted, biting into her lower lip. “Say it.”
“I wanna come... wanna come…”
“For me,” Bazz said, “you wanna come for me!”
“Yes, for you, just for you.”
“All right, Phoebe, all right… you are going to come for me, you are… but not until I say, you understand? We’re going to come together, but not until I say so.” Phoebe nodded again, and again Bazz said, “Say it!”
“Not until you say so…”
Bazz kept pumping in an even pace, long and steady pumps as he growled in her ear. “That’s right, sweet one, that’s right. All right, now listen to the sound of my voice.” She nodded again, eyes closed, breasts shifting between the two of them.
“Ten,” Bazz rasped into her ear. “You know what we’re doing here, baby, we’re starting at ten.” Keeping his pumping nice and slow and steady, Bazz said, “Ten... and then… nine, baby.” Phoebe nodded, her hips shifting and grinding to meet Bazz’s own commanding thrusts.
“Eight,” Bazz said, picking up the pace just a bit. Phoebe’s hips responded with a faster pump. “No, no, Phoebe, no rush, nooooo rrrruuuuuushshshsh.”
He kept pumping nice and slow, pushing her right leg up, knee nearing her breasts, thigh pressing against her ribs.
“Seven, sweetness, seven…” Phoebe nodded as his pace increased, going in even deeper, Phoebe crying out to take him in. “All right, Phoebe, all right… that’s so good, soooo goood. Six!”
Phoebe wriggled her hips to send waves of glorious temptation through Bazz’s body, legs jutting from sheer, instinctive pleasure.
“Faster,” Phoebe rasped, “please... pleeeezzzzzzze!”
“No,” Bazz barked, an insistent command followed by a loving purr. “No, no, nnnoooo… don’t make me start again.”
“No, please, no! I... I can’t take it... God!”
“You can take it,” Bazz said, “you can and you will!” Grinding down into her, sensing her body clench and tighten to suppress her own orgasm, Bazz knew he had her just where he wanted her, and that she was just where she wanted to be. He leaned down and pushed his lips up to her right ear. “Five now, baby, five! Getting closer, you sweet thing… closer…”
“Please…”
“Not yet, gorgeous, not yet… soon, but… not…yet…”
She spat out a frustrated groan, her face a twisted mask of encroaching ecstasy. Bazz increased his strength and speed and depth, the sight of that gorgeous creature beneath him stirring his own juices almost beyond the point of self-control.
“Four,” he said, “four, baby…” She cried out again and Bazz felt even more exposed, feeling the eyes of the woodland creatures upon them. Good, he thought, let them see how their king reigns supreme—over her, over them, over the entire mountain!
“More,” Phoebe whined, lips pressing together to withhold an impassioned scream. “Three, please… thrrreeeeeee!”
“Five,” Bazz said.
“No!”
“Six!”
“No, God, no! I… I can’t take it!”
“Don’t you dare come, Phoebe, don’t you do it!”
“Threeeeeeee! Pleeeeezzzzzze threeeeeee…”
“Okay, Phoebe, okay... three... sweet fucking three!”
Phoebe started pumping and grinding beneath him, her head shaking violently on that wooden porch, thumping the back of her head against the slats. In and out of that gorgeous, sweat-slicked creature beneath him, Bazz was in a state of perfect grace, dreams coming true before him, inside him, all around him. His life of isolation was over, he felt certain, and he would ensure it with just two little words.
“Two, Phoebe, two!”
They slammed their bodies together in a righteous riot, flesh slapping, her moans filling the night.
“You ready? Are you ready for it, Phoebe?”
“Yes, God, yes! Please, Bazz, now… now... nowwwww!”
“One, Phoebe… one!”
“Yes! Yesssss!” She pumped and writhed beneath him, her body quivering well beyond her ability to control it. He could feel her orgasm rocking her body, every fiber clenched and quivering.
His own orgasm bolted down his big vein and spat into her, his entire body dedicated to throwing out that hot package. It came in waves, a second explosion quickly following the first. His hips threw forward, her engorged lips clamping down and pulling to milk him dry of every pearlescent drop.
Their bodies remained rigid, tense, until a mutual relaxation overtook them both. Bazz’s muscles loosened as the last of his package was drained dry. He rolled over to let Phoebe rest on his chest, a serene smile on her gorgeous face. Their mutual musk collected around him, the two refreshed by the warm summer breeze.
Bazz felt perfectly at home, a god in his heaven, master of all he surveyed. Above him lay the secret to his happiness, his mate, and he would do anything to protect her and preserve the life and future they’d both worked so hard for and had sacrificed so much for. And the time of sacrifice hadn’t passed yet. But Bazz was determined that she not be the one to pay the price, almost certain just how high that price would be.
Life itself was at stake, not only for Bazz and Phoebe but for the entire human race. He was ready for the battle, but he knew he had a new vulnerability as well as a new strength.
Love.
It would be his salvation or his undoing or perhaps both, and they would come sooner than he could have imagined.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
They slept through the night and woke up bright and refreshed the next morning. Phoebe set about cleaning the cabin, dusting and sweeping and shaking out the drapes. Bazz couldn’t resist sitting back and watching her, sharing a smile and a wink as she busied herself. Bazz was overcome with a feeling of domestic bliss that he’d never known, in the cabin or back in Boulder. And though he’d had women before, women who’d fallen in love with him the way Phoebe seemed to be doing, he’d never felt for them what he felt for Phoebe.
He could imagine her keeping his house like that, in an old-fashioned way, del
ighting in his delight with her. She seemed like an angel, a perfect woman, the perfect woman. He could imagine her bearing his children, raising them in the loving home he never thought he’d be able to provide. Instead of envisioning the coming apocalypse, he could see a future of domestic tranquility. Bazz could suddenly see himself raising the next generation of ursine shifters, strong and ready to protect the earth. They would have their mother’s grace and sweetness, his strength and power, and their shared love of nature and essential humanity. All the sad, solitary years among the normalos suddenly made sense to Bazz, the price he had paid for a sweet paradise, if he could hold onto it.
And that only brought old worries to the front of his imagination. He knew that she had no place in the coming shifter apocalypse, that his enemies would use her and any children they had against him and against their cause. It had been the conundrum of his life, and it was even more clear as he looked at that radiant woman, his love for her seething in his very fibers. He could hardly remember his life before her, nor could he imagine his life without her. But he knew it wasn’t just his life that mattered, not just their lives at stake. If the lupes prevailed, the human race would be enslaved and butchered and subjugated, all other animals as well. As toxic as the normalos had proven, the lupes could be even worse, too ready to drive virtually any species into extinction.
Bazz could hardly afford to let his own personal happiness, his frustrated desires at long last fulfilled, result in such a catastrophe. But the only option was to cut her loose, which was unthinkable. He loved her too much, and she was still in too much danger. She needed his protection, and she seemed to want his company. He was more than happy to provide both.
Seeming to read his mind and his heart, Phoebe set down the broom and sat down next to Bazz on the porch swing.
“Penny for your thoughts?”
Bazz smiled. “They’re hardly worth that.” They shared a little chuckle, and Bazz explained, “Well, I… I know we can’t stay on this mountain forever. You’ve got your brother, your cause. I’ve got a generator, but we’ll need a charger for your phone, and you have other needs—”
“I need you,” Phoebe said, wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing him, long and loving, lips and tongues conjoining in perfect harmony.
“What about your brother? He needs to know you’re okay.”
Phoebe shrugged. “That whole protest thing’s blown over by now. I don’t see why we can’t just pop into town, maybe move back into your condo.”
“Can’t, not until we know it’s safe.”
“And if it is? If we can straighten all this out?”
“Then… you wanna move in?”
After a tender pause, she tilted her head, shrugging one shoulder. “If you’ll have me.”
If I—? Bazz could hardly say it. Instead, another kiss said it all, and the two stepped back into the cabin for another celebration of their new love. They closed and locked the door and started kissing, hands tracing now-familiar curves, inciting excited reactions.
***
They made love again, several hours of riotous intercourse and another extended period of respite. But Bazz soon got up and began getting dressed.
Phoebe propped herself up on her shoulder. “Where are you going?"
“Do some hunting for dinner.”
“You need some help?”
“It’s hard enough for one,” Bazz said. “I won’t be long.”
“But… I'm afraid, Bazz.”
He smiled and reached up, touching her chin. “I’m guessing those are two words you never thought you’d say.”
Phoebe’s own smile was rife with discomfort. “Maybe I was just... too afraid to admit it.”
“You wouldn’t be the first, and you certainly won’t be the last.”
“What about you? I mean, the way you are… do you ever get afraid?”
After a moment to think, which he didn’t really need, Bazz said, “All the time, but… not for myself. Still, I’ll leave you with the Winchester—that’ll keep anything at bay in case you have any trouble.” Phoebe nodded, but her pale face went even whiter. “Phoebe?”
“I… I can’t shoot.”
Bazz smiled and nodded. “I’ll show you right now, nothing to it.”
Bazz led her out to the front of the cabin. He cocked the rifle and held it in the aiming position. “Just think of the gun as an extension of your body. The bullet’s your fist, and you’re just reaching out and touching the target.”
He pulled off the shot, a cloud of dust and bark chips leaping from the trunk of a nearby poplar. He handed it to Phoebe. “You try.”
Phoebe took the rifle, unwieldy in her dainty grip. She raised the rifle, slowly aimed while squinting one eye, and pulled the trigger.
Click.
She looked at Bazz, who said, “You have to cock it.” She ignored his smile while she wrestled with cocking the rifle. “It’s harder than it looks.”
“I got it,” Phoebe said. She finally got it cocked and tucked it under her arm. But she held the rifle too low. Bazz stepped around behind her, raising the rifle and tucking the butt of the handle into her armpit.
“Tuck it in and brace against it. There’ll be a kick.” Phoebe squinted as she aimed. She felt good in his arms, and he felt good wrapped around her.
Bang!
Another cloud of dust and wood chips jumped from the trunk of a nearby river birch. Phoebe lowered the rifle and turned to Bazz with a happy expression, eyes and mouth smiling wide. But the cruel necessity of her lesson dampened their joy.
“All right, you keep the rifle. I’ll be back soon.”
“You don’t need the…” But the truth seemed to sink on. “Oh, right. Okay, see you soon. And be careful.”
Bazz offered her a little smile, looking her over. “I almost always am.”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Bazz stripped out of his clothes, standing naked in front of Phoebe, who seemed to drink in the sight of his naked body. Having given her something to think about, Bazz turned and stepped out of the cabin.
Once outside, the bracing breeze streamed up his nostrils, the smells of the golden currant and twinberry fruit heavy in the air collecting under the pine canopy. He shifted into his ursine form, flush with the strength and senses which came with it. His eyesight was magnified and multiplied beyond the capacity of any human, his sense of smell bringing the world to life. He was suddenly and acutely aware of the dead rattlesnake twenty yards away, rotting under a fallen hoptree.
Bazz growled, looking around the area without a single prey in sight.
Yet.
Bazz jumped into the hunt, an easy trot which took him up the hill with deftness and grace, a beast of his weight and size almost gliding up that rugged slope. Wild rose was heavier in the air, and Bazz picked up on traces of stag urine, fresh. The breeze seemed intent on beguiling him, but Bazz spotted a broken mahogany branch nearby. By the angle of the break, he knew it was the first mark on the stag’s trail deeper into the woods.
Bazz growled and began his pursuit, faster and quiet, eyes and ears and nose fixed on the lingering smell of the stag, clinging to the humid forest air. Bazz savored the feeling of the hunt, a tradition which connected him to beasts which existed before man. The spirits of the Tyrannosaurus Rex, the saber-toothed tiger, the great white shark, predators of every era seemed to flow through his veins, inflate his physique with even greater strength. He could smell the stag, in good health as far as he could tell. But he could trace its fear. The stag knew it was being stalked. It was running, Bazz was hunting, each playing their part in the cycle of life, neither a victim nor a villain, both following the mandate of the natural order.
But Bazz was a cut above any animal that was well known to man. He was the alpha of all alphas, the master of all who stumbled into his domain. He was a benevolent king, but he was the king.
Bazz ran up through a clutch of paper birch into a clearing, a steep slope of wet grass which gave the st
ag the advantage. It was a big six-pointer, graying, probably outcast and hoping for new territory.
The stag turned to face Bazz. The big animal huffed and shook his head, waving those deadly antlers. The stag also had the advantage of being able to fight downhill. It seemed a worthy trade for the stag, who seemed to know that if it kept running, it would be overwhelmed from behind.
It was a good gambit, but Bazz hardly thought it would be good enough.
The stag waited as Bazz charged uphill, his superior strength propelling him upward. The big stag lowered his antlers and drove forward to meet him. Bazz dodged those deadly points, sharp enough to do real, even permanent, damage.
The stag lurched and waggled those antlers at Bazz, who pulled the animal deeper down the slope and worked his way up and around. It wasn’t long before Bazz had the advantage of the slope as well, the stag facing an uphill fight against a superior creature. The stag even turned to look behind it, a thick clutch of fir and spruce trees at its back. Once again, if it fled, it would be taken from behind, where it was most vulnerable. So the stag stood its ground, something Bazz couldn’t help but admire.
Bazz lunged and the stag defended, legs splayed and head downturned, antlers at the ready. But Bazz cut to the side and around, trying to outflank the stag. The beast seemed to know it, but that was the point of attack and it was only a matter of time before he reached those vulnerable flanks.
Bazz circled the stag twice until he was both positioned above the stag and behind it. That was when Bazz lunged, biting into the stag’s anus, claws digging into its flanks. The stag tried to kick with its hind legs, but they hit Bazz with a pair of harmless thuds, too close to hope for any damage even to a normal alpha.
Bazz cranked his head to the side, feeling the muscle tear in his jaws, the stag crying out and trying to free itself from his terrible grip. The stag threw its head back as if hoping to use those antlers to cover its vulnerable backside. It shook its head, cutting into its own hide before having any hope of reaching Bazz’s.