What he found left him momentarily speechless.
Elsie pulled her white gown over her head and dropped it into a heap on the ground. Subtle, perky breasts pointed at him from above a flat belly and narrow hips. She had smooth, long legs. Perhaps the witches of Balmar Heights were in the regular habit of hair removal. Maybe it was magic. Despite being petite, those legs were long enough to wrap around Zackary’s broad hips.
“Oust nada, yayo jur egun. Diena ou tagos. Araw des voda ferus,” she whispered.
Zackary swallowed. “What are you doing?”
Bright blue eyes stared back at him. “That was a spell to prevent pregnancy. It lasts for a full day.”
Zackary’s groin throbbed, nearly popping out of his shorts. His chest rose and fell rapidly, arms starting to shake.
How could she stand there so calmly offering herself to him? Someone needed to warn her. Protect her.
Zackary wanted to be the one to protect her. He also wanted to mate her—spread her open and bury his cock deep inside her. He’d never been with a female, but living with the pack, he’d seen enough over the years to understand the fundamentals. There were shifters who weren’t shy about fucking in front of the community, especially during the full moon celebration. Dance partners would pull one another to the ground and go at it right there in front of the bonfire with the drums beating in the background.
He knew the actions, could see them playing out inside his head.
His unruly cock wanted to thrust inside her and pump out seed until her cunt was spilling over, marking this female as his.
How could Zackary do something so indecent to Elsie?
He wanted to protect her. He also wanted to fuck her. He couldn’t do both, not unless he claimed her. But he couldn’t do that either.
Zackary raked his stubby nails through his scalp and groaned.
“Moon above, Elsie. I want to. I want to so bad, but we can’t.” He squeezed his eyes closed. When he dared reopen them, he did a double take to see that Elsie was once more dressed.
She smiled, but it looked forced. “That’s okay. I was being too frisky. I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable.” She lowered her head, eyes on the ground as though she’d done something wrong.
Anguish howled up Zackary’s throat, but it didn’t make it past his lips. He didn’t want Elsie to feel bad on his account. He wished she could understand that he wasn’t worth it, that he was trying to do the decent thing even though it killed him.
“Can I kiss you?”
Elsie’s lashes lifted and her eyes flashed as she frowned. “Do you want to kiss me?”
She had no idea how hopeless he was when it came to her. He stepped up to her and stared into her blazing eyes. Pushing some of her hair over her shoulder, he whispered into her ear, “I want everything with you.”
Then his lips claimed hers in a punishing kiss to demonstrate just how much he wanted her. Elsie clawed at his back, as though expressing her unspoken frustration. She couldn’t hurt him if she tried. His muscles were thick as hide.
Elsie kissed back with an intensity that wasn’t there yesterday. He wasn’t sure whether he wanted her to calm down or keep going in this wound up way. Maneuvering her onto the grass, Zackary pulled her on top and lay back, guiding her head against his to continue the kiss. He loved the taste of her mouth, as fresh as forest air. He wondered if that, too, was magic. It made him want to suck her in like oxygen. He wanted every last breath. To consume her, then revive her, and repeat the process all over again.
When her hand reached for his groin, he didn’t stop her. Elsie yanked his shorts down then wrapped her delicate fingers around his thick, engorged shaft and stroked up and down. When Zackary groaned, she thrust her tongue inside his mouth. She worked his cock faster. The pleasure was blinding. Blood rushed through his shaft and his balls tightened. Elsie’s hand was tight around him, pumping him so good. When she gripped the foreskin around the tip and pulled it over the head, he felt as though he might die of euphoria.
Zackary’s hand shot out, grabbing her by the wrist right before he exploded. His thick fingers tightened on her slim ones as they pumped his cock several more times in unison, releasing warm spurts of cum. His body shuddered with release, cock still standing on end, coated in his pleasure.
Blissed out on his back, Zackary knew he was done for. They still had the entire afternoon together. He’d recover and, when he did, he’d do the unforgiveable and mate her. He’d do anything for her—even if it meant damning himself.
chapter eight
Victory at last. Elsie had finally managed to get Zackary’s shorts off.
After bringing him release, he’d pulled the tight pair of khakis free before heading to the river to rinse off. He crouched in the water, the current flowing over his shaft, washing away his seed. Elsie couldn’t take her eyes off him. She kept her dress on because it seemed to make him more comfortable. She’d feared she’d scared him off for good when she removed it earlier. It had hurt when he turned her down, but she suspected it had less to do with his feelings for her and more to do with his inner demons. She hoped he’d get over it soon and claim her. His orgasm had been a promising start. She smiled to herself. What need of enchantments did she have? Relationships simply took patience, love, and time.
Time was the problem. She was down to fifteen days.
Zackary sat in the river, submerged from the neck down. His eyes drifted closed, a contented smile on his lips. His pleasure brought Elsie joy. Despite everything, she couldn’t help feeling like they were meant for each other.
She pulled her dress above her knees then sat on the edge of the river and stretched her legs in the cool water. Arms propped behind her back, she lifted her head to the sky and closed her eyes, bathing her face in sunshine.
She loved that they could spend time together without having to speak and still feel comfortable. She wouldn’t have minded lazing around all afternoon.
Water splashed with the sound of Zackary standing. Elsie lowered her face away from the sun and opened her eyes, taking in the sight of river water dripping down Zackary’s muscular chest, thighs, and legs. It clung to the dark patch of hair above his cock.
He waded into the shallows, up to his ankles, and faced her. Pulse racing, Elsie stared at his naked body, transfixed. Zackary kept still, not meeting her gaze. His thoughts looked miles away from the hollow as water dripped off him and he began to dry off in the heat of the sun. As he dried, his cock hardened, growing thick and long.
Once his body was no longer damp, Zackary stepped onto the shore, eyes now locked on Elsie’s. She scrambled up the bank using her wrists and feet, not making it far before Zackary planted a foot on either side of her, staring down with a firm set of his jaw.
“I’m a mongrel, Elsie. A big, dumb brute. Tell me to get lost. Say it quick before I do something you regret.”
Knots jerked inside her stomach to hear him say such awful things about himself.
“Stay,” Elsie commanded, enraged by his words. They hurt her, too, because he was none of those horrible things, and she cared about him.
His nostrils flared. He dove down, his great big body looming over hers, blocking out the sun.
Elsie’s breath quickened. Chills of anticipation rippled over her skin. Her nipples tightened. Thick arms were propped on either side of her, Zackary still holding back, despite calling himself a brute. Ironic, when he took such care not to crush her.
He dipped his head to her chest, nipping one hard peak through the fabric of her dress.
A gasp of pleasure blasted up her throat.
Wetting the material over her breast with his tongue, Zackary bit down gently and tugged.
Elsie bit her tongue to keep from crying out as pleasure and pain shot through her. She was afraid he might stop if he thought he’d hurt her. She grabbed the back of his head, holding him to her breast so he’d keep going. A deep, smug chuckle shook Zackary’s shoulders, helping her relax until he repeated the torture on her o
ther nipple.
Sweet moon above! It was like there was a string connecting her breast to her core. Her inner thighs dampened with the slick heat of her desire.
Zackary pulled her dress above her hips, coarse fingers skimming her thighs. They traveled to her center and glided across Elsie’s arousal. Zackary’s finger slipped inside her easily. His face brightened, a look of pleased fascination entering his eyes. He pushed his finger in deeper then added a second one after feeling how wet she was. Both fingers slicked through her in pleasurable strokes.
Closing her eyes, Elsie pictured him spreading her open and joining their bodies. She imagined them grinding together until reaching their climax, and Zackary emptying inside her. Being filled with his seed would be like a claiming of sorts. She was so close to breaking her curse and discovering happiness in the process. Perhaps it had been a blessing. If she hadn’t been cursed, her father would have wanted her to stay at Balmar Heights. He never would have gone to such lengths to seek out Tabor and ask him to take Elsie in. She would have never met Zackary. Big, beautiful Zackary whose fingers slipped out of her and spread her legs apart as he positioned himself.
He held his cock in one hand. The tip was slick, weeping to have her the same way she slicked in readiness to take him in.
Zackary inched closer, bare chest rising and falling, eyes intent on their joining. The head of his cock pressed between Elsie’s legs. He sank into her slowly, his brows furrowed and mouth parting, concern followed by surprise flickering over his eyes.
Had he thought he wouldn’t fit?
Her body took him in, one slick inch at a time, filling her until they were fully joined.
Elsie’s lashes fluttered closed, and a sigh of pure ecstasy wafted from her lips.
But before Zackary could rock his hips to begin their mating, a howl crashed over the hollow soon followed by frantic snarls.
A vicious growl arose, one he would have recognized anywhere. Even before a rabid wolf bit Vallen, his snarls had always set Zackary’s teeth on edge. Angry. Always angry and out for blood, Vallen had reveled in the hunt. When he wasn’t hunting, he’d gotten his kicks by hitting his son. At least he’d spared Zack’s mother from his brutality. She’d been too frail to handle Vallen’s brute force, but it hadn’t spared her from his cruel tongue. Long before the vulhena attacked the pack’s elders, she’d wasted away in Vallen’s shadow.
It was an ill omen that he’d resurfaced the moment Zackary joined with a female.
He jerked his hips back, pulling out of Elsie abruptly as the sound of angry wolves erupted across the hollow.
He felt like he’d entered heaven only to be ripped back to hell.
“Stay here. Don’t shift,” Zackary said frantically, scrambling to all fours.
Before Elsie could say anything, he shifted and took off running westward past the blackberry bushes. Dirt flew behind Zackary’s paws as he raced in an arc near the Forest of the Ancestors. He blasted through Hudson’s neighboring territory—no shifters to be seen—streaking into the western hunting grounds and the horror that awaited.
The howling had moved to the southwest, traveling deeper into the forest. The scent of wolves clung to the earth, along with a body, bleeding over the dirt. Zackary ran past it, taking off after the group pursuing Vallen. He snarled in fury, claws digging into the trail. He could smell the bastard’s rank scent in the air, growing stronger then fading, taunting him. Zackary changed his course, feeling as though he was being jerked around in different directions. This was his home, his territory, and yet he felt like he’d entered an ever-changing maze that was baiting him and screwing with his mind.
He headed toward the falls, spurred on by the howls of his packmates. Keeping along the western border of Wolf Hollow, Zackary ran steadily for what felt like hours before reaching the bluff.
A dozen packmates stood near the ledge, voices raised, and arms jerking angrily. Zackary shifted then pushed off the ground and hurried over, staring across the valley below. There was no movement. No wolf. Only wide-open space.
Vallen had gotten away. He always got away.
Night had fallen by the time a large gathering collected in the glade.
Zackary returned with the small group that had run after Vallen before reaching a seeming dead end at the bluff.
Jolene was dead, her human body ripped apart three feet from a tree she had likely run toward in a failed attempt to climb to safety. Her body had been moved to the communal cabin and shut inside to await burial beneath a tree in the Forest of the Ancestors, close to where she’d been patrolling.
Jolene’s patrol partner, Patrick, had been bitten while in wolf form. While nearby patrol wolves pursued Vallen, Patrick had managed to run away before anyone could stop him.
Lacy and Maureen sat huddled together crying on a log, Elsie beside them with her head bent and sad blue eyes unblinking as she stared at the ground.
A large log collapsed into the bonfire that had been lit, causing sparks to erupt.
Bow and quiver in hand, Tabor stomped over to where old Jager sat, slumped on a log.
“It’s time to put this mad wolf down once and for all,” Tabor announced to the crowd.
This was met with instant encouragement.
“We’re not losing any more of our packmates to that rabid beast!” An angry chorus went up.
“I volunteer to go after him,” Tabor continued.
Not that long ago, packmates had sneered and resented him for his powers. Now they cheered like he was their damn hero.
“I’ll go with you.” Sasha stepped over to his side, chin lifted.
“I will too,” Raider said, less enthused. He towered above the crowd; arms folded over his bare chest. His mate, Jordan, stood by him frowning.
Aden lifted his hand briefly. Whenever there was danger, he volunteered. Zackary would, too, since it was his damn dad who’d gotten more of their packmates. Before he could offer, Rosalie yelped. “We can’t have all the big males leaving us unprotected.”
“I’ll stay in the hollow,” Wolfrik said, putting his arm around his mate, Kallie.
Jager nodded then looked at Sasha. “In your condition, you should stay, Sasha.”
The pureblooded female snarled. “Vallen got away from me once before. I won’t let him get away again.”
“We should break up into two hunting parties,” Raider said. “One group needs to go after Patrick.”
“What if they try to bite you?” Rosalie squealed.
“We’ll bring guns,” Sasha said. “I think this situation warrants their use.”
“Yes. Take them,” Jager said. “I don’t want anyone else getting hurt.”
“I can go after Patrick,” Aden said.
Jager rocked slightly in place, scratching the back of his wrinkled hand.
“Yes. Good,” the elder said. “Raider can stay here in case either of the mad wolves double back.”
“Take Ford with you.” Raider looked at his burly cousin who had come over from the den. Ford nodded once.
“I’ll join one of the tracking parties,” Emerson said, sweeping her long blonde hair over her shoulder to fall down her back.
“You should stay,” Ford said.
Emerson rolled her eyes. “Believe it or not, I can handle a gun.”
“Zackary will join Sasha and me.” Tabor’s sharp voice gave him a jolt. Green eyes glittered at him through the dark. The half-shifter sounded excited at the prospect of hunting Vallen down and making Zackary watch. Well, he could preen all he wanted. Zackary wanted the mad wolf gone as much as everyone else.
Eventually, Jager retired, his limp more pronounced than usual when he left the glade. None of the single shifters slept that night. It was a lasting kind of torture that dragged on with conversations whispering around him between muffled sobs.
Justin and Wiley joined Zackary sitting beneath a tree, their faces grim.
“Sorry, man,” Justin said, tapping him once on the shoulder.
“Yeah, sorry,” Wiley said.
Zackary clenched his jaw. He wished they wouldn’t apologize. He would not mourn Vallen. If Tabor wanted to make the kill shot, he could have at it. Maybe Zackary should confess that he’d mounted Tabor’s sister after he was done dealing with the rabid wolf—let him take a shot at him too. He probably deserved an arrow through the heart or a bullet to the brain. While he’d been defiling the delicate female, Vallen had closed in on Jolene and Patrick. If that wasn’t a sign that he shouldn’t have touched Elsie, he didn’t know what was.
“What kind of female would ever want a mangy mutt like you on her back or your grubby hands pawing her?” Vallen had jeered at him. “You better learn to jerk yourself off, because that’s the only action you’ll ever get in Wolf Hollow.”
Was he still a virgin? Their joining seemed too brief to count. But they had joined. The howls had been several seconds too late to stop them.
Had Elsie been a virgin? Somehow, he doubted that. The half-shifter acted like she knew what she was doing. She even had a spell to block pregnancy.
How many wizards had she slept with?
Zackary shook his head violently. It wasn’t any of his concern. She’d probably been curious, that’s all. She wanted to compare wizards to wolves. If that was the case, she should have picked someone more experienced than him.
He gnashed his teeth, glowering into the flames of the bonfire, a low growl humming from his throat.
Wiley gave him a light pat on the back, mistaking his affliction for the nasty issue of his father.
When the first traces of morning light finally appeared on the horizon, Lacy and Carter poured dry grains from baskets into the cauldron and added river water for porridge.
After all the chatter that had gone on past midnight, everyone stumbled into line, yawning.
Zackary didn’t have much of an appetite, but he filled his bowl and made sure to eat everything inside, knowing he might be gone for a while. Vallen was a tricky bastard. He’d evaded every single hunting party to go after him in the past. Sasha had been intent on ending him after he’d bitten Chase’s sister, Rebecca. The pureblooded female had disappeared for a couple days, giving her elders and the entire pack a scare. In the confusion, her scent had gone cold, leaving them to worry that like Wolfrik, at the time, she might not return. She’d returned in a fit of frustration that Vallen had run her ragged before vanishing into the wasteland. Who knew how far the mad wolf would lead them?
Moon Cursed (Wolf Hollow Shifters Book 4) Page 8