by Sammie Joyce
My skin broke out into a million little bumps and I fell against his neck, my mouth moving up to sample the lobe of his ear. He let out a small sigh and I took the encouragement, hands reaching up to cup his face as my head dropped lower against his chest.
It helped that he was already without clothes, the shift up the mountain rendering him naked and open for me to caress and discover. I paused to explore every crevice, my hands trailing over him as his found and cupped my swollen breasts. I was already eager for him but not before I was done my journey of his body in its entirety.
Davis released a feral moan when I found his center, the noise only enhancing my excitement. I wanted him to know the ecstasy he’d shown me countless times over the past weeks.
Taking him into my mouth, he cried out and I sighed at the sheer size of him, knowing that in moments, he would be inside me again.
His hands laced into my hair and soon, we found ourselves in a semi-frantic rhythm as I felt him grow harder.
“Wait!” he groaned, sensing that I was about to take him too far. A part of me didn’t want to stop but the need to have him as a part of me overtook that and I reluctantly released him, our eyes meeting again.
“Come here,” he growled. I wasted no time climbing onto him, losing my own pants as I moved until I straddled him fully. Gently, he glided himself inside me but even so, I couldn’t help but cry out by the feel of having him there. I wondered if I would ever get used to him.
His handsome face twisted into a sexy grimace as his strong hands gripped my waist, guiding me against him in deep, even thrusts until I was gasping. In mere moments, he had drawn me to the heights he had already achieved and I fell forward with a moan, my breasts grazing his parted lips as I shuddered with sweet release.
Davis’ fingers closed around me tighter and I fell into him fully, matching his climax with my own until we were both nothing more but a puddle of trembling arm and legs, quivering in the aftermath of our physical love for one another.
I felt like I had become a part of him in those moments, our bodies one unit as if we’d been built that way. Our breathing was in synch and for the longest time, neither of us moved as the wind picked up around us.
I was startled to see that the sun was starting to set and I wondered how long we’d been out there already. The day had escaped me somehow but such seemed to be the case when I was with him. Time had no meaning anymore.
Davis was the first to break the spell between us, his lips brushing against my forehead as he carefully slid me off his body and onto my side. I curled into him instinctively.
“I could stay like this forever,” he murmured. “But aren’t you supposed to be in school?”
I remembered my head cold, but suddenly, I couldn’t find a hint of the sniffles I’d endured anywhere.
“Sick day,” I chuckled and he stared at me dubiously.
“You don’t look sick to me,” he chided and I shook my blonde tresses.
“I was when I woke up,” I replied but I knew he was right—we needed to get going. Dad would be home from work soon and he’d wonder why I was well enough to go out but not well enough to go to school.
“We should head back,” Davis said and I could hear the resentment in his voice. He didn’t like the idea anymore than I did.
“Yeah,” I mumbled. “We should.”
Still, we didn’t move for a long time, our eyes locking as I searched for the strange lights I’d seen earlier. They weren’t there anymore but I knew that whatever I had witnessed lived deep inside him. I couldn’t wait to find out what else I’d learn about this man, this mate of mine.
Slowly, we untangled ourselves from one another and I dressed, admiring his nude form through my peripheral vision. He called me his muse but he had inspired me in ways I never knew existed. The emotions he had aroused in me, the passion and the courage, I felt the woman I was about to become on the brink of exploding.
Without warning, Davis again shifted back into his bear body and I eagerly mounted him, burying myself deep into his hair to savor the scent of him as we made our way down the mountain.
We paused at the lip of the shifter compound and he told me to wait as he morphed back into his mortal form. I didn’t question him but when he returned a few minutes later, I saw where he’d been.
He was driving the BMW.
I cast him a wary look and he laughed.
“I asked Hud this time,” he assured me and I giggled, slipping inside the passenger seat as he held the door open for me.
“Do you think they’ll ever learn to accept me?” I asked quietly when we descended further along the unknown roads toward town.
“It will be a process,” he replied honestly and I loved him for his candor. He didn’t sugar coat anything and I appreciated that.
“But,” he continued, a small smile on his face. “What’s not to love, really?”
I slipped my hand into his and our finger entwined as we made the rest of the drive in a comfortable silence.
No matter what the future had in store for us, I knew we’d prevail—as long as we were together.
27
Davis
I dropped Lowell off at home with a deep, sweet kiss and watched her as she hurried into her house, seemingly alarmed when she saw her father’s truck parked in the driveway.
“Uh oh,” she mumbled, slipping out of the car. “I’m going to have some explaining to do.”
I wondered how much trouble she was really going to be in. Certainly not more than me, and it was with this thought, I returned home to endure whatever punishment my father sought to dish out.
I stopped at Hud’s first to return his car and he gave me a half-grin that didn’t quite meet his eye.
“A human girl, huh?” he joked, trying to make light of the situation. “I have to admit, I wouldn’t have guessed it.”
I sighed and stared at him, wondering if it was even worth it to discuss my feelings for Lowell with him or if he was going to dismiss me the same way my father had. I saw the look in his eye and realized that he was genuinely trying to understand what was happening.
Our whole lives, we had been told that the humans couldn’t be trusted, certainly not with our secrets. How could they understand when they weren’t like us after all?
Yet Hud was at least trying to get it, trying to figure out what the appeal was in something we’d always been told was a danger to us all. Maybe I could explain it to him. Hud hadn’t found his proper mate yet. He didn’t know what it was like to be in love, fully and completely. In truth, I wouldn’t have understood it either if it hadn’t happened to me.
“She’s a good person, Hud,” I said falteringly. “She won’t hurt us in any way.”
“I believe you believe that,” Hud told me in a way that made me want to groan.
“It’s true and I don’t know how else to show you,” I said simply. “If she was going to hurt us—”
“She would have done it by now, yes, I heard that argument,” Hud cut me off. “But that’s not what I mean. I mean…how could you fall for someone like her?”
My eyes widened and a small smile played on my lips.
“Someone like her? You mean someone brave and beautiful?” I began. “Someone willing to risk everything for the man she loves? I could think of worse females to call my mate, Hud.”
To my surprise, I saw a glint of appreciation in his eyes.
“She’s that good?” he asked slowly and I nodded.
“She is.”
He grinned, sincerely this time and nodded.
“Well, if my best bud says she is, maybe we’ll have to go on a double date sometime.”
I grunted loudly, the memory of the previous night’s date still fresh in my mind. No, I wasn’t angry anymore but still, I had to admit that I was leery about the term itself.
“Maybe,” I relented, tossing the keys at him but I had to admit that I was feeling more optimistic now that Hud seemed to be coming around. If only I could
say the same thing about my father.
“I have to go,” I told him and Hud nodded wisely.
Good luck with Papa,” he volunteered as I headed out of his cottage.
Yeah. I was going to need it.
* * *
I found my father at home, perched in his eagle form on a chair, overlooking some papers. I swallowed a smile at the scene, knowing that he would have to shift back to do any work but also realizing that he didn’t care. He was just happier in his animal skins than his human one, just like all of us.
When he saw me, he instantly morphed back and I waited, holding my own words until he could unleash his diatribe upon me.
“You’re home.” The only two words he spoke sounded shocked. I shrugged and nodded.
“Where else would I be?”
“Going off to sulk in the woods and ignoring elephants in the room seems to be more you style.”
“Do we have an elephant shifter now?” I mused sarcastically. Dad smiled sardonically.
“I had no idea that Emmett was coming up here today,” I told him and Dad held up his hand in that way that infuriated me so badly.
“I don’t care,” he said flatly. Indignation rose inside me. What was the point of trying to have a conversation with this man when he was so determined to treat me like a baby?
“Fine,” I huffed, spinning to leave. I shouldn’t have come.
“I’m not angry at you, Davis.”
Now those were words I’d never thought I’d hear in my entire life. As quickly as I’d turned, I pivoted back to a hundred and eighty degrees, my jaw almost on the ground.
“What?”
“I’m not angry at you.”
I blinked, sure that I was dreaming this entire scenario and waited for the other shoe to drop when I didn’t wake up.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“B-because you were furious a few hours ago,” I reminded him. “You were just about ready to start a shifter civil war.”
Dad snorted at my hyperbole.
“Hardly. In fact, that’s exactly what I’ve been trying to avoid, Davie. Don’t you get that?”
I heard the slight sadness in his voice.
“All I’ve ever cared about is keeping you and this community safe, son. Maybe I haven’t presented that very well but my intent was always pure. I never wanted violence or unrest in this compound. We have lived here peacefully for years and that’s why we have rules.”
Here it comes, I thought, my jaw locking.
“But the problem with rules, is that there are exceptions every single time.”
If possible, my jaw dropped lower. Who was this guy and what had he done with Flint Locklear? My father never admitted being wrong about anything.
“That girl is your mate,” Flint said. “I can tell by the way you look at one another. She would do anything to protect you, including taking on a bunch of unknown shifters. Does she realize she could have been killed if she’d chanced upon the wrong group today?”
I swallowed the lump of worry in my throat.
“She doesn’t care,” I murmured. “And I won’t let anything happen to her, Dad.”
“No,” he agreed. “I don’t think you will—provided you’re around to do anything about it. But you won’t always be with her, will you?”
The words only enhanced the feeling of unrest in my gut but I knew Dad was just trying to scare me.
“Dad, she’s my mate,” I swore and he nodded.
“I know and I’d be a fool to try and stop whatever it is you two are doing here,” he agreed. “That’s why I’m not going to.”
I gaped in amazement, wondering what kind of trick this was but he didn’t say anything else.
“R-really?” I managed to stutter. “We have your blessing?”
“Really,” he replied. “I wouldn’t call it a blessing per se, but I’m not going to stand in your way if you intend to pursue this.”
A rush of wind escaped my lungs and I wanted to shout with joy. I’d finally won a battle with my father, maybe the most important one of my life.
“But she’s not going to be around much longer, is she?” Dad added thoughtfully. My blood chilled at the ominous sound of the question.
“Why do you say that?” I growled. He looked at me innocently.
“Won’t she being heading off to college next year?”
And suddenly, the wind was knocked out of me again. I hadn’t even thought about what was going to happen when Lowell went off to college. I’d been so concerned with the right now that I hadn’t looked that far into the future.
“Maybe you can go with her,” Dad chirped and I felt a rush of nausea at the idea of moving out of the sanctuary we’d built and into the city. In my mind’s eye, I saw the thick smog and heard the din of a subway. I couldn’t live like that anymore than I could expect Lowell to stay here with me.
Now that I had a whole new list of worries to consider, I suddenly wanted to go and hide out in the woods again.
Yet a steel rod of pride fused against my spine and I held my head up, refusing to succumb to the idea of running away. Lowell and I had already overcome impossible odds and we would overcome this one too.
I just had no idea how.
28
Lowell
Even though I didn’t know exactly what time it was when Davis dropped me off, I knew it was still too early for Dad to have been home from work.
This can’t be good, I thought, entering the foyer with a thudding heart. I became a statue of pure shock when I turned the corner and saw who sat in my living room.
I am never going to turn this corner again without expecting some kind of horrifying surprise, I realized, shaking my head as I forced my feet forward.
“Hi, baby,” my mom called, rising from her spot on the sofa. The grim expression she’d been wearing all but disappeared when she saw me. “How have you been?”
I looked desperately at my dad who remained expressionless as he tried to read mine. I think my feelings were fairly evident.
“W-w-what are you doing here?” I managed to sputter. Words were sticking inside my mouth and my throat and suddenly the worst thoughts popped into my head.
“Oh my God! Is it Marcus? Aiden?” I gasped, my knees weakening. My mother forced a laugh and shook her dyed blonde head. People used to tell me how much we looked alike when I was a kid but it was difficult to tell now. She looked like a stranger to me, someone I vaguely recalled from childhood. I wasn’t even sure if I was happy to see her.
“Your brothers are fine,” she assured me, shooting my dad a look I couldn’t decipher.
Half-brothers, I immediately thought resentfully.
“Oh,” I sighed, relief filling me. I might not have known the kids but the last thing I wanted was for harm to come to them. Another thought popped into my head. “Is it Aaron?”
“No, sweetie,” Mom said in her borderline condescending way. “I’m here for you.”
What would those words have meant for me a decade ago? How many nights had I gone to bed, pining for my mother to come back and take me?
Now, however, the statement filled me with dread.
“What?” I said, slowly stepping further into the living room. “Why?”
I looked at my dad who sighed deeply.
“Let’s be honest, honey. You haven’t been doing your best since we got to Alaska. Your grades are slipping, you’re skipping school and that stunt with the pot and the werebear…”
My head jerked up, heart in my throat at the mention of Davis.
“T-that was just silliness,” I said quickly, my voice cracking slightly. “I thought we were past this.”
“Then that drug counsellor came,” Dad continued and I felt a flash of panic seize my gut.
Note to self, kill Kea when you see her next. If you do see her again.
I didn’t like the way this conversation was going.
“Dad,” I breathed, trying not to sound desperate. “Dad,
honestly, we’re past all that. It took me a while to get adjusted but I’m good now. I’m where I want to be.”
He raised an eyebrow.
“Your mother has invited you to Malta to finish out your senior year,” Dad concluded and the reason for my absentee mother’s visit became apparent.
“We’d love to have you, sweetie,” Mom cooed like she was still speaking to a little girl of six and not a grown woman. “Malta is so beautiful.”
“I know,” I shot back. “We all used to live there, remember?”
I saw my mother blush but my father, unsuccessfully, tried not to smile.
“I’ve already started at Novak. Yes, I haven’t been working as hard as I should have been but I’ve already starting applying to colleges and the paperwork alone of moving countries for school…”
I was babbling, desperate and my mother stepped forward.
“I think you’ve been lacking a mother’s touch,” she said softly, darting a contemptuous look at my father. “That’s why you’re acting out.”
The disbelief growing in me was strong and furious.
“And whose fault is that?” I snapped before I could stop myself. “Where the hell were you?”
“Lowell!” Dad hissed but I didn’t care. For ten years, I’d wanted nothing but my mother to return for me and now, now she pulls this? I didn’t need her anymore; I didn’t want her.
Mom’s face turned stony.
“It’s easy for you to cast blame, Lowell when you only know half the story.”
“It’s hard to get the other half when no one’s around to tell it,” I retorted. I could tell Mom was about to do what she did best. As I predicted, I watched her snatch up her purse and spin to leave.
“Robert, clearly you’ve done a terrible job raising her,” she spat. “I was wrong to have left her with you.”
She paused at the threshold and gave me a look that was meant to inspire guilt.
“If you change your mind, you know where to find me,” she said haughtily.
“Do I?” I barked out at her before she was out of earshot. “I never did before.”