Sadie understood at once what he was asking.
“You want to run, don’t you?” she said, leaning forward to speak into one furry ear. It swiveled back to catch her words. “That’s why you brought me here—to run. To gallop.”
The Buck tossed his head up and down and pawed the earth eagerly with one sharp hoof.
Sadie’s heart began to race. Did she dare? She was riding bareback with nothing to hold on to but his pelt and she was so high up that a fall could really injure her. Middle-aged Sadie—the calm, sedate woman who had moved to Cougarville in the first place—would have said no. The “mom” part of her would have been horrified at such a foolish risk and the sensible adult would have dismissed it out of hand as completely ridiculous.
But Sadie had changed and not just physically—she felt daring and alive, all her senses heightened. She felt new, like she was becoming someone completely different from the weary mom and wife who had driven two kids to soccer and ballet, served on the PTA, put up with her cheating husband, and taken care of everyone but herself for so many years.
She was becoming the new Sadie and the new Sadie was up for anything.
Leaning forward, she wrapped her arms as far around the Buck’s massive neck as she could and whispered, “Go!”
Mathis’s Buck took off at once, leaping into action with one powerful lunge of his muscular hindquarters. He raced for the end of the long clearing and Sadie held on for dear life, clinging to his pelt as the wind whipped in her face, making her eyes tear up.
It was like flying.
Her hair streamed out behind her and after a moment she realized she was shouting at the top of her lungs—words of encouragement and whoops of pure joy. It seemed like her body was too filled with pleasure to contain it all—she couldn’t remember ever feeling so alive . . . so intensely happy in her entire life.
“Go!” she shouted in Mathis’s ear. “Go faster—go!”
He went, making great, leaping bounds across the long moonlit oval that made Sadie feel high enough to touch the stars. They reached the end of the clearing and he made a wide turn and started back at high speed. Again and again they raced back and forth, the Buck bounding and leaping with Sadie clinging to him and laughing and shouting encouragement.
It was amazing . . . mind-blowing . . . the most incredible experience of her life—Sadie never wanted it to end.
At last, however, the Buck slowed to a walk at the end of the clearing where they had entered. He was blowing hard but he stamped and tossed his head—Sadie had an idea he was asking her whether she’d had enough or if she wanted to keep going.
It was on the tip of her tongue to tell him to go again when Sadie realized how extremely sore she was getting. She hadn’t ridden in years but even if she’d been in good practice, riding Mathis in his Buck form was nothing like riding a horse. Her bottom felt positively tenderized and her tailbone was going to be sore for days.
“Okay,” she told the Buck reluctantly. “I guess maybe we should call it a night.”
He snorted in agreement and began the winding trek back through the trees to the cabin. Long before they got there, though, Sadie knew she was in trouble.
All the leaping and bounding and running and rubbing had made her incredibly sensitive between her thighs. As the Buck walked home with his rhythmic tread, she found herself swaying on his back, her legs spread wide, helpless to overcome the pleasure that grew with each of his long strides.
I can’t . . . can’t do this . . . can’t feel this, she told herself sternly as she swayed helplessly along. But no matter how she shifted or tried to rearrange her legs, the ridge of the Buck’s spine hit her in just the wrong place—Or just the right place, Sadie thought, depending on how you looked at it.
She tried to think of anything to take her mind off the growing pleasure—her weird life in Cougarville, her ruined cabin, Fiona’s strange, nearly incomprehensible method of bookkeeping—but nothing worked. Her mind kept wanting to show her Mathis naked in the moonlight instead—his tall, muscular form and deep green eyes calling to her. Those big hands that felt so good when he washed her hair . . . the warmth of his broad chest when he cradled her against him . . . the delicious, spicy scent of his skin. Everything about him made her want him. And he wanted her too—hadn’t he said he’d like to rip off her clothes and lick her all over?
Sadie had to bite back a moan at the thought and a rush of hot desire ran through her. God, what would it be like to let him do that to her? To be with him? He was so big, so strong and yet she’d felt the tenderness in his massive body when he held her. Would he go slow and be careful with her? Or would the animal inside him demand that he breed her hard and long?
She had a mental image of herself, down on her hands and knees on the forest floor with Mathis behind her. He would run those big, warm hands all over her naked, trembling body and then he would spread her legs, pressing the head of his cock deep into her waiting pussy. She would moan and open up to receive him as she gave him what he needed—what they both needed so badly . . .
Between the inescapable pleasure and the recurring fantasies, by the time they got back to the cabin, Sadie was right on the edge—so close to coming she could barely breathe. Mathis’s Buck came to a stop right beside the tall rock and she clambered stiffly off, relieved to be able to close her legs again. Yet when she did, she nearly yelped at the sharp sensation that went through her.
Sadie couldn’t ever remember feeling so sensitive in her life and she was beginning to wonder if it was only from riding Mathis while he was in his Buck form. Was there something else going on with her? Some part of the Rejuvenation process she had yet to learn about?
As soon as she was safely on the rock, the Buck took a step back. A shiver seemed to run over his entire shaggy pelt and then the Shift began, only this time in reverse.
The process was much more rapid this time—fur receded, limbs shortened dramatically, and the massive rack of antlers shrank back into his forehead all in the space of seconds. It seemed Sadie barely had time to blink before Mathis was standing before her naked and wild-looking in the moonlight.
“Sadie . . .” His eyes were half lidded with desire, his fists clenched at his sides. His shaft was hard and throbbing against his flat belly. “I can smell your heat.” His voice was a low, raw growl. “I’ve been smellin’ it all the way home.”
Sadie bit her lip. Her whole body suddenly seemed too hot—the down jacket smothering her. She unzipped it and let it fall to the rock she was standing on, trying to breathe. The chilly wind felt good on her exposed flesh—it made her nipples into tight little points and teased between her spread thighs, sliding between her swollen pussy lips to kiss her aching clit.
“Sadie . . .” Mathis took a step forward, his eyes filled with a feral need she could feel building inside herself as well. “You’re so hot and wet . . . I could feel it against my back when you rode me.”
“I can’t help it.” Her voice came out in a breathless whisper. “Your back . . . you were rubbing . . . rubbing me . . .”
“Here?” He took another step forward and thrust his hand between her legs.
Thanks to the rock she was still standing on, they were almost eye-to-eye so he didn’t have to reach far to get to her. The minute his hot, hard palm connected with her sensitive clit, Sadie came, the orgasm hitting her hard and fast the same way it had the first time he’d ever touched her.
She gasped, ripples of pleasure running through her like shockwaves. She had to grab his broad, bare shoulders to keep from falling as her knees suddenly went weak and wobbly. “Mathis,” she moaned. “Oh God, please.”
His mouth found hers and then he was sliding inside her, two long, strong fingers slipping deep into her hungry pussy as he took her mouth in a hard, demanding kiss.
Sadie moaned helplessly as he thrust inside her, scratching at his shoulders as she spread her legs wider, wanting more of him, helpless to resist what he was offering.
But just as she felt close to coming again, Mathis withdrew.
“Can’t,” he growled, his deep voice filled with a mixture of shame and desire. “We can’t do this. I made a promise and I’m gonna break it if we go on like this.”
“I know. I’m sorry,” Sadie murmured. “I . . . I didn’t mean to.”
“I didn’t either.” He took a step back and breathed deeply, as though trying hard to control himself and clear his head.
“Maybe . . . maybe we should go back to the cabin,” Sadie offered in a shaky voice.
She tried to get down from the rock but the aftermath of the intense pleasure made her clumsy. She slipped and would have fallen if Mathis hadn’t caught her. Somehow she found herself half naked in his arms, her legs wrapped around his waist.
The thin T-shirt she was wearing was rucked up above her waist and she could feel her pussy, wet and hot and open, pressing hard against the warm bare skin of his muscular abdomen.
Mathis’s eyes went wide, then narrowed, and a growl of need rose in his throat.
“God, sweetheart, so wet,” he groaned and then he was kissing her again, kissing her with the passion and need of a man who hadn’t allowed himself to come near a woman in over ten years.
Sadie could feel the weight of that built-up need inside him but there was something else as well—a wild edge that must be coming from the animal side of him.
His rut, she thought deliriously as he explored her mouth, sucking her tongue and lapping hungrily as the delicious kiss continued. He said his rut made him crazy—made him want me. Need me.
She needed him too—just as badly.
Mathis pressed her back against the rock—it would have scraped her raw if the down jacket hadn’t been in the way, covering the rough surface. Somehow their positions changed and Sadie slipped down his big body until she felt the hot, hard length of his cock nudging the wet, slippery folds of her open pussy. The broad head of his shaft rubbed over her swollen clit enticingly and Sadie couldn’t help herself, she thrust her hips up, trying to get more of the delicious sensation, rubbing her open folds wantonly against the hard club of his sex. Her pussy honey coated his shaft, slippery and warm.
Getting him ready, she thought deliriously. Ready to take me . . . ready to fuck me.
Oh God, were they really going to do this? Was he going to take her here, in the open, under the nearly full moon?
For a moment it seemed he was and Sadie wouldn’t have tried to stop him. Her own need had grown—the same desire she’d felt the night before when she kissed him was back tenfold, making her hot, making her want him. She felt empty inside—she wanted to be filled. Fucked. Bred.
But then Mathis was pulling back again, breathing hard, like a man who had just finished a marathon.
“We can’t.” His voice was low and rough. “I can’t.”
“I’m sorry.”
Sadie sat up, still aching with need but she tried to shove it aside. What was wrong with her anyway? The old Sadie would never have acted this way—so wanton and hot and impulsive. She’d never even had sex anywhere outside the bedroom—even in college her ex had been a prude about such things. He preferred missionary position with the lights off and since he was the only man she’d ever been with, that was pretty much the limit of Sadie’s sexual repertoire.
“I’m sorry,” she told Mathis again. “I . . . I don’t usually act like this. I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”
He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “If I had to guess I’d say it’s a combination of my rut and your Juvie hormones. God, if only you didn’t smell so damn good.”
“I don’t smell anything at all. Well, other than you. You smell amazing.” His warm, spicy, masculine scent seemed to fill her nose, making her want him even more but somehow Sadie resisted.
Mathis frowned. “This is bad. You’d better not go into town tomorrow.”
“What?” Sadie frowned. “Why not? I have work to do.”
“You can’t go—not smelling like this. Your scent is ten times stronger than it was before.” He inhaled and a low growl rose in his throat. “Makes you too damn hard to resist.”
“But I can’t just stay at home until this . . . Rejuvenation phase or whatever it is passes,” Sadie protested. “Besides, I can’t stay in my home at all—not with the roof the way it is.”
“I’ll deal with the roof in the morning.” Mathis frowned protectively. “I just don’t want you going anywhere near other males smelling so hot. Most of the males in Cougarville are Betas—there’s no way they’d be able to control themselves.”
“But—”
He shook his head. “You thought the scene in the Piggly Wiggly today was ugly? That would be nothing compared to what might happen if you risk letting that scent out in the open now. It’s too damn hot, sweetheart.”
Sadie started to protest again but then she had an idea. Thinking of the incident in the grocery store reminded her of something the Piggly Wiggly manager had said.
“What about covering my scent?” she asked Mathis as he helped her down off the rock. Even touching his hand made her want him but she repressed the desire ruthlessly.
“What?” His eyes narrowed. “Where did you hear that?”
“It was what the manager of the grocery store said to me when he kicked me out. He said once I found a male to cover my scent I could come back but I wasn’t welcome until then. So . . . could we try that?”
Mathis sighed and rubbed the back of his neck.
“I don’t know. Look—it’s freezing out here. Let’s go inside and we’ll talk about it.”
“Okay.” Sadie wished she could reach for his hand but any contact at all didn’t feel quite safe. She contented herself with walking beside him, but the moon had gone behind some clouds and she tripped, stumbling on the uneven ground.
Without a word, Mathis swung her into his arms and held her close as he carried her into his cabin.
Thirteen
Mathis didn’t want to put her down, even once they’d gotten indoors. But it was too damn dangerous to keep holding her like that, especially when he didn’t have any clothes on. He had no idea what had happened to his pajama bottoms—they were probably lost in the forest somewhere, not that he cared.
He put her down and went back to the bedroom to get a new pair—black this time. He wondered as he did if she had any idea of what she was suggesting. Covering her scent wouldn’t be easy—especially since it had increased so dramatically after their ride.
Mathis supposed he should have expected that—allowing a female to meet your animal side was usually something a Shifter only did with his chosen mate. But he’d needed to prove to Sadie he was telling the truth and it had seemed like the fastest and simplest way. Also Shifting usually helped his rut—but this time it had made the rut worse—much worse. He sighed. Maybe it was just her scent making him crazy—anything was possible with a Juvie. They were so rare that no one person seemed to know everything about them and how they affected other Shifters—well, except maybe Fiona.
Usually after a Shift he felt tired and achy—it was, as he had told Sadie, excruciatingly painful to allow his Buck to take over. But this time was different—he’d barely felt the pain as he changed for her. And the feeling of her soft, supple form pressed against him, her light weight on his back and her arms around his neck as he galloped up and down the clearing that was his private territory had energized him.
God, he wanted her!
Can’t have her, though, he lectured himself. I already had my shot—can’t form another life-bond, not even if I wanted to.
However, he had placed her under his protection. Given that, he either had to keep her here or make sure she was safe when she went to town. Great.
Mathis scrubbed a hand over his face.
This wasn’t going to be easy.
Sadie curled on the big leather couch in front of the fireplace, basking in the heat. She had taken off the galoshes Mathis had loaned her—how sh
e’d managed to keep them on when he was galloping all over the place with her on his back was more than she could figure—and now she was down to the soft white cotton T-shirt he’d loaned her.
She was well aware that the thin material was nearly see-through—the soft glow of the firelight showed the pink points of her nipples under the white cotton and the fact that she wasn’t wearing panties was also apparent. Sadie didn’t care. She knew she ought to want to be modest and hide her body but if she was honest with herself, she’d been enjoying the feeling of Mathis’s eyes on her from the moment she’d put on the revealing item of clothing.
Maybe it was her younger, firmer body or maybe it was the new Sadie coming out but for whatever reason, she was feeling daring tonight.
I want him, she admitted to herself. She no longer cared about the age difference or the strange things she’d learned that night. The memory of his hot, insistent kisses and the feeling of his hard shaft rubbing against her . . . rubbing into her made her whole body light up with need.
But she couldn’t have him—couldn’t ask him to break the promise he’d made to himself—a promise he obviously took very seriously. Just keep your feelings to yourself, Sadie, she told herself sternly. And try to stay out of trouble.
Hopefully Mathis could help her with that—maybe he could tell her how to cover her scent so other Shifter males wouldn’t go after her. She didn’t need repeats of the coffee shop and the Piggly Wiggly every time she happened to stand too close to some horny Beta.
Listen to me—already using the terminology. Sadie was amused at herself and surprised at how easily her mind was accepting everything she’d learned that night. But maybe part of her had always known she was somehow different. Maybe down deep she’d always had a sneaking suspicion that—
“Hi.” Mathis’s deep voice broke her train of thought and Sadie looked up to see him standing in the living room entryway, looking at her.
“Hi.” She sat up and smiled. “Are we going to talk? About, you know, covering my scent? Because I really do need to get to work tomorrow.”
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