by Lilly Cain
Light at first, he kissed her until her heart began to pound in a rhythm that matched his. Then he slanted his head and took it deeper, reveling when she returned the pressure.
She opened to him, and he took the opportunity offered, licking her lips and sliding his tongue into her mouth. She tasted dark and delicious, maybe Helen and magic and the night mixed together. He traced his fingers down her arms, then up her sides until he brushed the edge of her breasts. She shivered.
When he cupped her breasts through her T-shirt, they both moaned. She wasn’t wearing a bra. He pulled away a bit, enough to leave her lips and look in her eyes. She stared at him, and then leaned in. That was invitation enough. He tilted back onto the bed and brought her with him. The mattress wasn’t all that wide or long but it was heaven. She straightened her legs and the last bit of sanity he had fled as her yoga-pant covered heat fit perfectly over him.
If she’d still been naked, he would have taken her immediately and hard. Thank God, she’d dressed after her shift. He had to do this right. They’d be on the road again in the morning, and knowing her, she’d try to push him away again before they approached another band of Rom. It might be their only time for a while, and he wanted—needed—to know he’d given her his best.
He kissed her again, or maybe she kissed him. He took his time tasting her, and she ground against him in response. Going slow was going to take some willpower. He explored her breasts with both hands until she huffed in frustration and pushed him out of the way so she could pull off her T. Damn. Her breasts were beautiful, small and perfect and creamy with rosy tips. He leaned up on one elbow and took her breast in his mouth, sucking hard. He palmed the other and kneaded her soft flesh. She moaned in encouragement and ran her hands over his chest to tease his nipples in turn. She pinched one, and he wrapped an arm around her and rolled them both over, so she was underneath him.
He kissed her throat, her collarbone, her breasts. Then slid one hand down the delicate skin of her belly to the edge of her yoga pants. He ran his fingers over the seam of the material from hipbone to hipbone while he circled one of her nipples with his tongue. He drew her deeper into his mouth and slipped his hand down to cup her heat.
She spread her legs wider in response and he smiled at her eagerness. Everything was going fine until she grabbed his cock through his jeans and rubbed. Next thing he knew he was hauling her yoga pants down and pressing his fingers deep inside her. His own pants were down around his calves, and her hands were wrapped around him. He fought for control. Helen had to get the very best of tonight. He slid down between her legs and tasted heaven. She shuddered. Again. And again, and then she arched her back and cried out in release.
A condom. He retrieved a packet from his jeans pocket and tore it open. Jesus. He might explode soon. He kicked off the jeans, got on his knees in front of her, and rolled it on. He took a long breath. She was making him lose his mind. He caught her legs in each hand, centered himself and tried to slow his breathing as he pressed inside her.
It took everything he had to take it slow and savor the moment, the intense pleasure of being completely engulfed in her. He set the pace, a slow one, goddamnit, and let go of one leg so he could stroke her. Her eyes blanked and she whimpered and shuddered under him. With each thrust in, he circled her clit, until she tried to feebly push his hands away. Instead he picked up the pace and thrust harder, keeping up the circles with his wet thumb against her sensitive flesh.
“David…” She moaned his name, and pleasure wound down through his spine, straight to his balls. “David!” she screamed, stiffening under him in a hard orgasm. He came too, hard enough to make his vision blurry. She was everything he’d ever imagined.
She threw back her head and howled. Not something he’d imagined there. But he’d take it.
12
The double bed was entirely too small. David had wrapped himself around her, which meant he was also partially over her. And she needed to pee. Getting untangled was a chore when all she wanted to do was to stay with him, sleep in and maybe have morning sex. Finally, she managed to slip off the bed. He groaned a little, but his eyes stayed closed and she grabbed her yoga pants and T-shirt and headed to the bathroom.
She’d just finished getting cleaned up when a soft tapping at the door caught her attention. Eva. David had mentioned the grandmother—an honorific term that carried a lot of respect but perhaps no family ties—wanted to have tea with them before they left.
Helen flipped the lock on the camper door and waved the elderly lady in. “Good morning.”
“Good morning. And how was your run last night, dear?” Eva stepped inside and placed a covered basket on the table. Helen stood back and hid a smile as the tiny woman took charge of the tiny kitchenette and quickly put a kettle to boil. Helen had never had a grandmother that she could remember, and magic and curses aside, this one seemed like the epitome of what she’d imagined family could be. Bossy, knowledgeable, caring.
“I’m so sorry for the way I acted last night—”
Eva waved the comment away and laid out three cups and tea strainers, and the same loose tea as the afternoon before. As she did, Helen caught the slight sounds of David stirring. With a groan he climbed out of bed and staggered a bit to the bathroom. Eva lifted her eyebrows and smiled. The man didn’t have a stitch of clothing on. Maybe having family drop by so early in the morning wasn’t the best of things after all.
David called from the bathroom. “Helen, was that Eva?”
She had to laugh. “Yes.”
“Could you bring me some clothes?”
Eva smiled indulgently and Helen grabbed his pack from the bench and handed it to David when he cracked the door.
“You feel better now that the moon is waning, yes?”
Back to business. “Yes. I really am sorry about running off.”
Eva stood and collected the kettle, now boiling and beginning to whistle. She poured the water. “I understand the ways of the ruva, dear. The need to be free. It comes from the magic that makes our path.”
“Do you think Ms. Donceanu will take it away? The curse? I really am sorry about the camp. I didn’t understand about your people and the land didn’t seem to be of any real use. The hospital was perfect there.”
Eva studied her for a moment. “Do you really hate the wolf, Helen? Hate the strength, the passion, the freedom that comes with it?”
Helen sucked in a breath. Her heart pounded and she could almost hear the wolf’s undulating howl. The one she’d made last night, bidding the moon goodbye. And passion? Was her passion with David simply a bit of the magic? She’d never had the kind of response to a man as she had to him, but was that real? Her heart thumped oddly in her chest.
David opened the door to the bathroom. Thankfully, he’d found jeans and another button-down shirt and wasn’t giving Eva another show. Had he heard Eva’s question?
“Good morning, Grandmother. Sorry about that.”
“It’s a morning full of apologies. Not to worry. I still appreciate a good looking man.” She patted his arm as he sat and he blushed at her comment.
Eva didn’t seem to be waiting for Helen’s answer and that was a good thing, because she didn’t have one. She lifted her tea strainer from the cup and picked up the tea to blow on the hot contents. The aroma filled the room and seemed to fill her too, soothing and warming her. She closed her eyes and concentrated on the scent and tried to still the ache in her stomach.
Not give up the curse? How could she not give it up? It changed her every month into an animal. David hadn’t really seen that, the actual change, she’d sheltered him from it because she could imagine what his expression would be, the horror on his face…
“Helen? You okay?” That same face, filled with concern looked at her now.
“Yeah, sorry.” She pulled in a shaky breath, and took a sip of the tea to hide for just a second.
Eva drank some of her tea, clearly unbothered by the heat or by Helen’s distract
ion. “You will find Bianca Donceanu and her band only a few stops ahead on the path, at Blowing Rock on the edge of the Cherokee National Forest, at a large ground where the bands meet. I do not know if she will consider your request. Or if she will listen to you at all. I know she was angry. But the path is changing and more change is to come. She knows this too.”
She reached out and touched Helen’s hand. “But be careful. As I mentioned before, there are those who value the ability to become the symbol of our freedom. They feel you do not deserve the chance to experience it.”
“We’ve met them.” David’s voice was deeper than normal, an expression of anger that didn’t show on his face.
Eva’s lips drew down in a grimace. “Ruv Danior is the leader of that particular pack.” She paused, her expression thoughtful. “The wolves help the magic. More magic, more wolves and more wolves, more magic.” She stared at Helen. “We need them.”
Right. Okay. So maybe Helen had been cursed as a kind of balance because they’d lost the campground? She hadn’t answered Eva when the grandmother asked her if she was sure she wanted the curse gone. Maybe she didn’t. Or maybe she did, but she wasn’t saying either way.
Lots to think about in that very short conversation. What was said, what wasn’t.
“Good luck.” Eva stood. “Don’t worry about the camper. One of the teens will be assigned to clean it. Someone usually needs to be punished for something. She grinned and walked out the door without a goodbye.
“Here’s your hat, what’s your hurry?” David said sardonically. “Let’s go.”
But Helen didn’t seem to hear him. She drank her tea slowly, clearly lost in thought. He took the time to gather both their things and when he opened the door to take them out to the SUV, she didn’t move.
“Sure, sure, shining knight in armor one day, valet the next,” he joked to himself. He shook his head when he spotted the teen boy from the campfire the night before, the one with a chip on his shoulder and connections to the wolves that attacked Helen. Maybe he couldn’t help her with her internal struggle, not yet, when she wouldn’t let him in, but he could help her with this.
“Hey,” he said and nodded to the boy while he popped the trunk open.
“You leavin’?” The kid looked around like he was afraid someone would catch him talking to the stranger.
“Looks like it.” He threw the bags into the back and slammed the hatch. “Need something?”
“About last night… I know the wolves. They don’t like your woman. She’s an ingrate. Not happy with her gift. One that she shouldn’t have gotten in the first place. Some say the grandmother is slipping, giving her the power when she took away the land. But anyway, they are gonna come after you again, if they get the chance. Maybe you shouldn’t go to the gathering.”
David leaned against the vehicle. “Why are you warning us when you were so angry last night?”
The boy shifted uneasily, scuffed his sneakers in the dust. “After the fire, they thought I was on their side. I am but… I don’t want anyone to get really hurt, you know?”
“Yeah, I know.”
“Okay, I gotta go. Be careful or your lady’s gonna end up dead, even if she is a wolf. They can’t heal from everything.” He didn’t wait for David to say goodbye, just slipped away between the RVs.
“Interesting.” Wolves could be hurt, but not by everything? So they healed well? What hurt them, then? Silver, from the old werewolf shows and what Helen had said about it burning her. Another bit of information to file away.
They could be in real, mortal danger. Time to think about why he was here exactly. He loved a mystery, and this was a doozy, and he wanted to help. But most of all he wanted more time with Helen. She was nothing like Sharon, who needed everything, and eventually needed too much. She was the opposite, never asking for anything, and pushing him away when she thought he was getting too involved.
He’d considered it before, but now was the time to be sure. What did he want from her?
The answer was easy: everything. He wanted to solve the biggest puzzle of all with her: life. Imagining being without her now hurt. Was this what love was like? A choice between pain with her, fighting the wolves and solving the curse, or face the pain of trying to live without her? No choice at all, there.
He walked back up the three steps to the RV door and pulled it open. “Come on, time to go, wolfgirl.” He shot her a quick grin at her irritated expression.
Helen sat quietly in the car, watching out the window as the landscape sped by. It seemed David’s voice had replaced that of her father. His advice whispered in her ear. Take it one step at a time. I don’t care what anyone thinks. Be with me.
David spoke into the silence. “Look, I think we need to stop and get a place to have a break. A motel or something.”
He hadn’t taken his eyes off the road as he spoke and she studied his profile. Was he beginning to regret coming along with her on this crazy trip? It didn’t seem real to her, the whole thing and she was the one turning into a wolf, so what did he feel about what they’d discovered?
He glanced at her. “We need to refuel, and I don’t mean the car. The blog says that the bands meet at this place for a couple weeks every year, to catch up with each other. So we have the time. We need to think about what we learned and take a bit to think about what to do next. The Rom aren’t what I imagined. We need to consider our approach. And we need to do laundry.”
There it was again, that word, ‘we.’ It thrilled her to hear it. He used it a lot and it heated her up inside. A break wouldn’t be so bad, with him. And yes, they had a lot to think about.
“Okay. Real food would be good, too.”
He looked concerned for a moment. “I haven’t seen you eat too much lately.”
“Squirrels, mice, rabbits. Best not to think about it too hard.”
“Oh.” He stared at the road.
Great, she’d grossed him out. She looked down at her lap and the well-worn jeans she had on. How far she’d come from the perfectly dressed woman with the corner office and daddy issues. Working on survival did that. And having someone else to consider for a change.
“Do you need to run tonight?”
“Yes. It’s the last night that I have to be the wolf. I can hold it off after this until the moon is nearly full again.”
David pulled off the highway and turned into a small town. A few turns later and he was parked at a small motel with a clean-looking front. “That’s the first time you called yourself a wolf, rather than a beast. I like it.”
Fire burned in her cheeks. Was that true? She’d thought of herself as the wolf lately, even talked to it in her head. Was she becoming comfortable with the curse? Accepting it somehow? Lately, it seemed as though she’d had more control over the change and over herself once she became the wolf. “I guess I’m getting used to it.”
“Let’s get checked in and find a laundromat and then get some supper.”
A good plan. Letting him lead at times was also something she was getting used to. That could be dangerous, if her father had been right about anything. “Why are you with me?” She had to ask. What was this need he had to help all the time? He’d admitted his preoccupation with the urge to help. But why?
He pressed his lips together and stared out the window. His hands gripped the wheel. She waited and finally he turned to her and spoke. “I…was involved with a woman once.”
The wolf in her growled a bit, but she stayed quiet.
“My brother always called me a Boy Scout. I was one, but that’s not why. I like to help. I talked to a therapist for a while, and I understand I have a sort of compulsion to help. Because I enjoy being needed. Something that comes from being from a big family. But that was after. Sharon needed me. She needed a lot of things. I became what she thought she needed most, what I thought she needed, but I wasn’t enough.
“In the end, nothing was enough. She took drugs. She found other men. And then she killed herself. She never g
ot what she really needed, which was professional help. I let her down.”
Helen breathed shallowly. She didn’t want to smell him when he remembered another woman. Or worse, when he remembered her loss. Was that all she was? A replacement for someone he hadn’t been able to help? A charity he felt an urge to aid? A woman in distress?
Asking was out of the question. If she pushed too hard, and she knew she could, she could drive him away. And for once she didn’t want that. Didn’t want to stand alone just to prove her father wrong. She wanted David. In and out of bed. Definitely in her life. But she wouldn’t let him think he’d failed.
“You didn’t. She was sick and you were there.”
He looked at her, his hazel eyes full of pain. Tiny tired wrinkles edged the corners and marred his forehead. “I know. Like I said, I saw a therapist. Something Sharon refused to do. I’m okay with it now, for the most part.”
She laid a hand on his thigh, rubbed.
“You’re nothing like her. But I still want to be there for you. You have all this strength, this power in you. You’re amazing.”
She kissed him then, but a little part of her wondered what would happen when her problems with the Rom were solved.
Hours later, laundry accomplished and supper devoured, she bounced on the bed a few times and then stood to pace. David concentrated on his cell phone, emailing instructions to his secretary and making excuses to a few people about meetings he was going to miss. He looked up occasionally, checking on her.
God, she liked the way his T-shirt hugged his broad shoulders and thick chest. And although he was seated, she could appreciate the tight line of muscle in his legs. Having another glimpse at his ass would be nice. She paced to the window and looked out for what had to be the fifth time. The moon was taking forever. When the darkness was complete and the moon rose, she’d run.
“Getting antsy? Want to go for a walk? We can find a place that you can change safely. We can take the car to the edge of town. I’ll even let you hang your head out the window.”