Greyriver Shifters

by Kristina Weaver

  “Hannah says I should tell you I wanna see your balls.” I snort, making him splutter out an agonized laugh.

  “Oh God, don’t ever listen to her. She used to eat tree bark. It’s addled her brain.”

  My giggles intensify to the point I have to grab my stomach to ward off pain, and I look over at him again, feeling inexorably sad that this is the meat of our talking. How pathetic is it that I’m terrified to even talk to him because…because I have no clue what to really say?

  Don’t listen to him! It was green tea, and it’s good for your skin. I think. Shit constipated me like a mother. Heh, pun. I’m so smart.

  I snort, roll my eyes, and swallow down a yawn. I’m starving and feeling shitty and I have two assholes for conversation. God, my life sucks.

  Tell him you like him.

  Don’t.

  You do! Oh come on. Let me see what he does if you say something sweet. Please?

  “Hannah says I should tell you I like you because she wants to see if you’re capable of reacting to sweetness,” I mumble, watching his face as avidly as Hannah is.

  Blain grins, the curl of his mouth a slow movement that makes the whore in me sigh and fan my panties. Honestly, I should not be attracted to this male. The blood loss is making me loopy.

  “I am, bria. I am especially capable of it after I’ve eaten something sweet,” he purrs, making both Hannah and I giggle.

  Mental eye roll. He thinks he can call you sweet, offer you oral when he isn’t—

  “Yeah okay, player.”

  Blain shrugs, the action taking a lot out of him, but it’s when I see his leg move as he shifts that I sit up and shove everything else to the background. Holding my breath, I watch him, his face, his legs, going from one to the other as he tries to settle and get comfortable. After the third time I see him move, his knee shifting out from beneath the blanket that I gasp and grab his foot.

  “You just moved.”

  “What?”

  “You just moved your leg!”

  Blain grunts and shifts again but doesn’t respond, and I mutter a curse when I realize he’s out for the count, leaving me on the couch, in a strange place, with nothing to do but stare at the walls.

  I’m so lost in thought that it takes me a while to focus when I hear a voice calling out to me and look up to see his mother standing in front of me, impatiently snapping her fingers I my face.

  “There you are! Goodness child, you’ve been staring into space for the longest time. Here! The maid told me to give you this and make sure you ate and took medication.”

  I barley hear her as she lifts a tray to my lap and shakes out a napkin over my lap. The smell of roasted chicken, potatoes, and carrots slams into me, and my stomach growls, the cramping ache of hunger waking me up more than Mrs. Seers’ grating voice does.

  My hand shakes when I lift the fork, and I almost collapse by the time I raise the chicken to my mouth and hum in pleasure. I’m not feeling strong though, and I flinch in surprise when a hand grabs the fork and another mouthful reaches me.

  I blink up at her, my eyes going wide when I see her looking down at me, the softness I see disappearing when she shoves the fork into my mouth with a sniff.

  “You shouldn’t be here.”

  I hear animosity in her, something I can’t understand because no matter how opposite we are, I have never treated her poorly. I tell her that and swallow hard when she looks up at me with blazing blue eyes so like her sons it stills my breath.

  “Not hurt me? You treated my children like garbage for years. You said the most unpleasant things to my daughter without once trying to pull your punches. Your family is…”

  She trails off, and I hear nothing good, even in the words she doesn’t say. Normally I’d defend my family without thought and rip this bitch a new one. Now though, I can’t say a thing. Whatever she thinks, chances are that it can’t all be lies.

  “I…made mistakes,” I admit, taking another bite she holds out to me.

  Being fed like a young isn’t top of my list, but at least she’s not shoving my face into the plate. I’ll count my blessings.

  “We all make mistakes, child. It’s how we fix them that makes us worthy. I made more mistakes in my life than I should get away with, and my penance is being alone for the rest of my life.”

  I don’t know what the heck to say to that, so I keep watching her and eating, my gaze focused on the way her black hair is now streaked with strands of grey.

  “You should decide what it is you want—”

  “Right now, all I’m thinking about, all I want…is to get better and get your son better and figure out what to do.”

  “Well, you’re going to have to think about that, child, because this isn’t a game. My son may not be your ideal, whatever you young folks call it nowadays, but you’re here now, and that means you can’t go back there.”

  I sigh, my heart hurting, and swallow the food with a dry throat. I can’t go back home, that is completely true, and I don’t have a job or any money, so the truth is, all I have is Blain.

  Great.

  Chapter Six

  Blain

  The moment I regain consciousness I know that I’m healing the way I should. The pain from my throat is all but gone, though I still feel enough tenderness to know that I’ll need another day or two to get over it fully. I also have movement in my lower limbs now, even if I’m still too weak to get up and stand on my own two feet.

  I’m not exactly happy about that, not with my body still weak and plans still in need of carrying out, but when I open my eyes, the first thing I see is Julia, stretched out at the foot of the couch, fast asleep and holding onto my foot.

  The sight makes me freeze, and for the first time in my life, I don’t know what to do. Before this whole debacle, I’d have probably kicked her off the couch just for laughs.

  Right now though, I find myself staring at her, my eyes drinking in her beauty. Julia is…gorgeous. She’s the most beautiful female I have ever laid eyes on, and that is saying a lot because I cannot tell you how many females I’ve fucked in my short lifetime.

  All of them, every single one, have been drop-dead gorgeous and pedigreed to the wazoo, but Julia…

  All that striking red hair, the color of blood, flames, and shining gold. It’s a color unlike any other, and despite my mind knowing this, I have steadfastly avoided redheads my whole adult life.

  Right now I grudgingly know that the reason for my avoidance is that no other female will ever measure up to her. She’s beautiful in a way that makes me want her so fiercely I feel my cock perk up and go hard, the scent of her, the slow return of that citrusy musk ramping up the need inside me.

  I can’t scent her. I keep repeating it over and over, as I watch her sleep, the need building inside me at odds with the weakness I currently feel. After at least thirty minutes, I see her stretch, the grimace that scrunches her face making her look younger than her years and blink awake to stare blearily at me.

  I can’t stop the grin from blossoming on my face, nor the very real clench in my gut when she smiles back softly and yawns.

  “You look loads better.”

  “I feel it, though I’m not rearing to go into battle just yet,” I admit, scowling when all I can manage is to throw my legs over the side of the couch and sit up, my chest pumping with the exertion.

  Julia laughs, the sound breathy and filled with sleep and that husky quality only females get in bed. I want to hear that sound again, only next time I want it to be after waking beside her after a night filled with sex.

  I want that so badly I have to hunch over to hide my hard-on when she stretches and sits up. Running a hand through my hair, I look over at her from the corner of my eye and wonder for the first time just what the fuck I should do now.

  I’m no different from the male I was just days ago. I still want this pack governed by laws that I believe will protect them from egocentric Alphas like Silverton and many others. Only now I have to
consider that the female sitting beside me is mine, to protect. To care for.

  I somehow doubt that it would serve us if I went ahead with plans to have her father shamed and removed from his seat.

  “Well, you look better. A lot better. I think I should give you blood—”

  “That won’t be necessary. I’ve used the phone to go on that goo-goo thing, and I know how to use those tubes the Kilter boy left here. I will, of course, assist Blainton until such a time as you are well enough to give him the blood.”

  I whip around, my mouth dropping open when Mother walks into the room, carrying two breakfast trays, one in each hand, and places them on the coffee table before peering down at us both.

  I have never in my life seen my mother this…rational and sane, caring…

  “Mother, I—”

  “Oh, do shut up, Blainton, and eat the breakfast Cass walked me through making. I’m afraid my culinary skills are quite frightening and all that made it to the plate was the toast. Julia dear, stop that middle-class gaping and sit up straight. Posture is not a choice, it’s a breed.” She sniffs, tucking a napkin into my collar with the air of a female unused to doing such things.

  I’m still shell-shocked when she breezes out and turn to see Julia laughing so hard she has to place her tray back on the table before she spills her coffee.

  “Oh my God! She is hilarious! I thought I’d hate her on sight, but she’s so like your sister it’s sick. She never says anything nice. In fact, she’s a bitch, and yet she’s…I can’t even explain her!” she crows, making my lips twitch.

  I like that laugh. I really do. It’s sweet and sexy and filled with a freedom I haven’t felt in a long time. Too bad she won’t laugh that much in the future.

  Unless you don’t tell her, I think, rubbing my chin contemplatively.

  No, why should I. I don’t have to talk to my…whatever she is right now about any of my plans. Just because I stopped them long enough to save her and Cass, does not mean that everything I have worked for means nothing. I can continue, albeit in a very covert way, and still get everything I want.

  Namely her, Julia, in my bed and under my roof without losing an ounce of momentum.

  “Don’t underestimate her, Julia.”

  “Jules. You should call me Jules since we’re…” she blushes and looks away, her delicate throat working in a way that makes me harder.

  I find I like her blushes, and even more, I like the way she seems uncertain and shy with me. It’s a novelty, something I have not experienced with other females before.

  It signifies…but no, she cannot be…innocent?

  I dismiss the thought completely and shrug off the pleasure that it would bring me before pulling on my mantle and being the bastard I am.

  “We’re…what exactly, Jules? Best friends?” I quip, snorting when her head whips around to me.

  I see a vulnerability in her eyes, something that makes my chest ache before I shove it away and push it back because I’m not about to play games with her. Well I am, but I refuse to have her play with me. That’s not where she will ever have me, panting after her like a stray mutt. No, it’s simpler, better for us both, if we get it all out of the way right here and now.

  “I…well…I mean, we’re…Fated. And I…blooded you,” she says, fidgeting with her fingers nervously.

  I look back at her silently, keeping her on the knife’s edge of discomfort for long, drawn-out moments before I sigh and nod, the expression I let settle over my face one of…acceptance.

  “I know, and yet…I can’t understand why, Jules. You hated me not moments before things went bad for us. I don’t understand.”

  “You saved my life! You…you didn’t let anyone hurt me and…and I just…I mean…why are you making this hard for me?!” she cries, her discomfort pushing her to rise and walk over to the window.

  Should I tell her the nightdress Mother obviously gave her is almost transparent in the grey morning light? I decide against it when she turns and I see her nipples peeking through the fabric.

  My dick hardens to a painful degree, and I have to fight like hell not to give off scent right now and lure her to me. My scent is for my female, only for her, and since I have been around Julia more and more, I find myself wanting to let it off and send her into heat.

  “Maybe I can’t understand why a female who despised me suddenly cares if I live or die,” I muse.

  “You’re my Fated! I owe you my…loyalty. I owed it to you to give you blood and save you and…and Cass was right. I judged you unfairly and, maybe, I mean, it wasn’t fair.”

  “What if it was?” I ask, pulling the blankets over my lap to hide the state of my cock. “I am a bastard, Jules.”

  She shifts her feet, discomfort making her stiffen before she takes a deep breath and looks back at me with her head held high.

  “I don’t know what I should say here, Blain. If you’re not wanting me here…I mean, this is it for me. I practically threw my family away, and I have nowhere to go,” she whispers.

  Power. I feel power streak through me at her softly spoken words and arousal fill me to the point that my scent seeps out, filling the room with musk.

  Jules shifts on her feet again before her head shoots up and those blue eyes meet mine. I see the moment her wolf rises. Her eyes flash, the blue going brighter and smell her answering pleasure when her sex heats and wafts out a hint of her own arousal.

  I grin, my mouth turning up in a cocky tilt, and let my eyes travel down her body, taking her in in her entirety. Her breasts are two heavy globes, tipped with tight nipples that poke through as if offering me succor, her skin takes on a glow, and the “v” between her legs is letting off her own scent.

  “Come here, bria,” I rasp, sitting back when she takes a cautious step forward.

  I don’t move. I don’t say a thing, just sit back and wait when she stops in her progression and looks around uncertainly. I’m still putting off scent. At this point, I can’t stop it even if I wanted to, and the smell of lust is so thick in the air that it chokes me.

  I’m hard, pulsing, and ready to do more, so much more, but this is on her. She needs to choose; she has to want me all on her own, without Fating or her family’s opinions dragging her down.

  It’s a bastard move, I know, but for now, it’s all I’m willing to give. We’re not friends, not destined for some hardcore love story. What we have is this. Sex. Understanding. We can be together under these terms until such a time as I decide what I can give her.

  “Blain…”

  “This is it, bria. You and I are not in love. We are on opposite spectrums of the scale. We’re Fated. Maybe that isn’t enough for you, and if that’s the case, then you should turn around and go upstairs to a guest room. I’m not offering a fairy tale here, female. You helped me when I needed help, and I appreciate that, but if you have some little girl fantasy that we’re in love and living the happy shit your brother or friends have with their females then…that is not me,” I say, spelling it out for her and stifling a whine when my cock pulses.

  I want her so badly right now not even my fatigue can stop me. If she walks away, I don’t think I could handle the letdown.

  “What if…we get to know each other?” she whispers, surprising me when she comes forward to stop in front of me.

  “You won’t like what you find,” I assure her, lifting my hands to grasp her hips.

  Jules shifts, looking down at me through lazy eyes that shine with need. I want to pull her to me, lift that night gown and impale her on my cock. I have the need, the savage desire to take her right here and now and bite into her shoulder so hard she’ll take my seed and flourish.

  Instead, I hold her loosely and look up at her while she bites into her bottom lip and swallows.

  “I like what I’ve seen enough that I know I want you.”

  Her soft whisper is all I need, and I pull her to straddle me, groaning in the back of my throat when her heat settles over my cock. I could take
her right here and now, come, and get off without putting too much effort into it, but I find myself hard pressed to be selfish after her hard-won admissions.

  Do I like that she’s here because she has no choice? Oh, who the hell am I kidding, I don’t care. All I seem to care about is having her sex heating my dick and the knowledge that soon, very soon she’ll be mine.

  I don’t care if that’s wrong, if people don’t like it. Hell, I think I get off more on the fact that this is stirring trouble.

  Pulling her closer so that she’s pressed up against me, I smile and lick my lips, looking down into desire filled blue pools, savoring her gasp when I slide her over me slowly.

  “You like what you see, my female?” I croon.

  “Blain—”

  I stop her words when I rip the hospital gown over my head and lift the nightgown to her hips, exposing her and seating her wet slit over my naked cock.

  We’re covered by the blanket at my hips, but it’s obvious what is happening here, and should anyone happen to walk in, it would be clear that I’m pleasuring her.

  I like that. I relish the air of danger as much as I like the way her sex pulses against my shaft, moistening the hard stalk. One adjustment and a push are all it would take to fill her. I could be balls deep and in heaven in mere seconds.

  “I like…” she gasps, pushing closer on a moan when I adjust her and slide over her clit.

  “Oh!”

  “I like it too, bria. Tell me, do you like this, hmm?” I drawl.

  My hand goes down to her heat, slides through the damp cavern and pauses with one finger just rimming her opening. I almost come when she tightens there, as if sucking at me in a silent plea for more.

  “Blain I—”

  “What about this, baby?”

  Biting into my lip to stop myself from losing it, I slide one finger knuckle deep into her and groan when she jerks and presses closer. She’s hot, wet, in need of me, and going into her heat so fast it’s all I can do not to throw her to the couch and fuck her mindless.

  I resist though, wanting this, needing to play her and make her crave this part of me no matter what she may see later. I’ll tie Julia Silverton to my side with desire and passion and do just what the hell I please because I know that in this, she still wants me.