The fact Shaw wanted them to have a commitment was a thing she found very comforting. Maybe she’d never lose him. Maybe they’d end up getting married and live a happily-ever kind of life.
It all certainly felt that way as he kissed her so intimately. She felt adored by him, and she had to admit her heart filled a little bit with each passing moment with more than just lust for the magnificent man.
Her body began to crest, and it spilled into another orgasm. This time Shaw hurried to get his cock back inside of her, thrusting as he looked down at her. “I’m about to fill you full of my seed, baby.”
Robin writhed underneath him as her orgasm wasn’t waning at all with the knowledge that he was about to come too. “Oh, God, baby!” she cried out as their bodies broke open.
But she froze as a terrible growling sound came out of Shaw, and she saw him change. Tanned skin became black fur, his mouth morphed into a snout filled with giant sharp teeth that snapped in her face.
Her screams filled the room as the wolf retracted back into Shaw’s face. “Let me go!” she screamed at him.
Shaw could only stare at her. What the hell just happened?
Chapter 15
Robin’s body shook as her face contorted into one of complete terror. And all Shaw could do was sit and stare up into the heavens and hope like hell he could find the right words to make it all better.
“Shaw!” Robin screamed. “Uncuff me right now!”
“I can’t do that,” he finally said then got up and pulled his jeans back on. Pacing back and forth, he tried hard to think of what he should do now. “You’ll run if I let you go.”
“You’re damn right I will!” she couldn’t stop yelling. Her mind was reeling, going a dozen directions all at the same time. What did I just see? Could that thing be real? Did he slip me some kind of drug that induced the monster? No matter what the answers were, the only thing that mattered was she had to get out of his home. And right now. But he wasn’t letting her out of the cuffs. Robin was trapped.
Shaw came back, sitting by her side. Robin cried out as she pulled her body as far away from him as she possibly could, yanking the cuffs so hard they cut into her flesh. “Robin, stop,” he urged her and pulled her to where she wasn’t hurting herself. “Listen. I need to explain this to you.”
“No explanations will fix this, Shaw,” she cried, tears streaming down her cheeks. “Please, just let me go.”
He shook his head. “I can’t.” He kissed her forehead, and she jerked her head back. “Please, Robin. Just listen to me.”
“There’s not a thing you can say to make this better. You’re some kind of monster, and I’m not about to hang around until you decide to eat me.” She whimpered at the thought. “You’re not going to eat me, are you?” Her eyes pleaded with him.
Shaw chuckled. “Well, you are delicious.”
She shrieked and cried harder, sobbing with fear, “No!”
“I’m kidding.” He rubbed her shoulders, and she tried to jerk away from him, but only ended up hurting herself as she did. “Stop all that jerking around, baby. If you can calm down and we can talk rationally, then I’ll let you out of those cuffs. But I’m not about to do that until I can see you’re going to listen to me.”
Her heavy breasts heaved up and down as she tried to get control over herself by taking deep breaths. “Shaw, just let me go. I’ll never tell, I swear. If you ever cared for me, you’ll let me go.”
Shaw knew he was getting nowhere with her, so he decided to evoke her sympathy. “Robin, I can’t help what I am. My parents are both wolf-shifters. It’s not like I wanted to be this way. And I’m not nearly the monster I seem to be.”
Her whimpers ceased, and her eyes grew soft as she thought about him being born that way. But what could she do about any of that? She only needed him to let her go, and she’d leave him alone, and he could leave her alone.
“So you don’t eat babies or kill unsuspecting virgins?” she asked, being totally serious.
Shaw laughed and shook his head. “No, I don’t do either of those things. I eat what I kill. And I kill wild animals.”
“Have you ever killed a human?” she asked as her curiosity began to get the better of her. And she found her tears had stopped falling.
Shaw had killed a few humans in his time. They had it coming, but he knew she wouldn’t understand, so he lied, “No, never a human.”
“And those men you hang with,” she asked, “what are they?”
His jaw clenched as he knew he wasn’t supposed to divulge information like that. But Robin was meant to be his mate, and she’d know about all of them soon enough. He nodded his answer. “They’re like me, but not killers the way you’re thinking.”
She seemed like she was calming down now, and Shaw let one of her wrists out of the cuff. “Thank you. Now how about the other?”
He shook his head. “You’ve got a little way to go, and I have more to say.”
Her brows cocked up high. “More that might have me running?”
“It might.” He moved back as she pulled the blanket up to cover her nakedness. It killed him that she was shutting herself off. He could see it in her eyes. She was afraid of him now.
“Shaw, you and I can’t be together. You have to understand that. I’m sorry for your—for lack of a better word—affliction, but I can’t be with you.” She pulled her legs up, curling into as much of a ball as possible while still cuffed to the bed by one hand.
“Just because I’m a shifter, you can’t be with me?” he asked, trying to hit her with prejudice. He hoped that might soften her up some.
“Um, yeah,” she said as she stared at him. “Did that hurt when you changed like that?”
Shaking his head, he answered, “No. Like I said, I was born this way. The change is felt but more like pressure instead of pain.”
“Aren’t there female shifters like you?” she asked him as she pulled her knees up to her chin.
Shaw hated how she felt as if she had to protect herself from him. Only minutes earlier she had let him do anything he wanted to her. And now there she was curling herself into a ball to protect herself from him. Not that anything she did would keep him from getting to her if he really wanted to. Not that he’d force himself on her.
“There are.” He wasn’t sure what she was getting at.
“Then why me, Shaw?” She looked at him with wide eyes that spoke to him, telling him she really did not understand.
“Do you not feel a thing for me, Robin?” he asked her as he moved back to sit on the edge of the bed. He stared into her green eyes and knew he’d seen sparks of feelings she had begun to develop for him.
“That doesn’t matter now.” She averted her eyes.
He took her by the chin and made her look at him again. “Robin, do you feel anything for me? Leave what I am out of it.”
“I was starting to really like you. But now…” she said.
He kissed her once, softly. “I’m still me. That’s only one part of me.” He rested his forehead against hers. “Don’t stop us now. Please.”
“Shaw, please understand why I can’t do this. You were a man, and then you were a wolf, snapping his long sharp teeth right in my face. I can’t be with you.” The tears began to flow again as her heart began to ache for the man and herself. “You have to let me go.”
The truth was she had loved being with him that day. She loved what they’d been doing. Her body had never felt so much pleasure. And she was sure no other man would ever make her feel the way Shaw had. But he’d also made her more afraid than she’d ever been as well. Like so afraid her heart nearly stopped.
“You’re cold,” he murmured then put his arms around her, holding her tightly. “It’s a lot to absorb, I know. But you will take all this in. Your brain will wrap around this fact, and you’ll come to accept it. I can’t let you go.”
Robin’s heart began beating hard, and she grew even more afraid. Was Shaw never going to let her go?
Had that always been his plan or did it only come to him once he turned into a wolf on top of her, in what appeared to have been an accident?
“Shaw, what do you mean by that?” she asked him with fear etching her voice.
“You see, Robin, I can’t let you go. My wolf wants you. That’s why he broke free for a moment. He’s wanted you since the moment we smelled your intoxicating scent.” He felt her body shiver as he held her.
Robin couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “Shaw, you don’t expect me to have sex with that monster, do you?”
He shook his head. “Not the way you are now.”
She went silent. What the hell did he mean by that? A chill took over her body. Did he mean to do something to her? And what would it be?
Her brain couldn’t comprehend what he’d meant by that.
Shaw made sure to hold her nice and tight as he said the next words, “Robin, the wolf wants you and so do I. You’ve seen too much now to let you go, even if my wolf would allow that, which he wouldn’t.”
“Shaw, you’re scaring me even more. Please, just let me go. I’ll never say a word about this, about you or your friends. I swear that to you,” she begged him as her fear grew to monumental proportions. What’s he going to do to me?
“Baby, if things could be let go, then I’d gladly let them go. But they can’t. You’ll have to be changed by me or when the wolf takes me over during the full moon—which is only in a couple of weeks—he’ll find you, and he’ll bite you. That makes the risk of you dying during the changing process greater. Your risk of dying is lowered if I do the biting.” He hugged her and heard only one thing from her. A scream, then her body went limp in his arms as she fainted.
Chapter 16
Robin found herself in the middle of a dense forest, the full moon’s light bouncing off the snow. Everything became crystal clear as she peered around, listening to every little sound, smelling every little scent that drifted on the slight breeze.
Elk!
She turned her head and cocked an ear to listen for the animals she’d caught wind of. The slightest sound of a hoof pawing the snow to get to the vegetation underneath it filtered into her ears.
Walking at first, she began to run as the scent became stronger, filling her nostrils and making her mouth water. Soon she’d get to eat, and she was starving.
Her long legs moved easily over the snow-covered ground. She came to the edge of a small cliff, seemingly ending her hunt. But then her eyes caught sight of three elk, two of them were small enough for her to catch.
Without thinking, she jumped off the cliff and flew through the air in silence, hitting the snow with a light sound. But it was enough to stir the elk from their grazing and when they saw her, they all three bolted.
She picked up speed as she chased them. No matter how much they ducked and dodged, they couldn’t shake the she-wolf who’d found them. Robin could smell the fear in the air as they became more and more frantic.
Getting close enough to the larges one, she made a leap for it, but it managed to turn itself around entirely, leaving her with a mouthful of snow instead of delicious elk.
With the confusion, the larger animal disappeared into the woods, leaving the two younger ones alone and helpless. They seemed to be in shock without their mother to show them where to go. The two small elk began bellowing, calling to the mother who’d left them to become a meal for the hungry she-wolf.
Just as Robin was closing in on the two shivering creatures, she heard growls come from all around her. She paused her forward motion to look around and found five sets of eyes watching her. More wolves and they were after a kill that was rightfully hers.
She growled at them fiercely, letting them know she wouldn’t be giving up the scrumptious creatures that cowered in fear just feet away from her. She’d fight the males if she had to, but she would eat that night. Her hunger was driving her insane.
The five males came closer, and her growls grew louder, but so did theirs. She could see they were set on getting what she’d corralled.
As they came into the open, the little elk cried even louder for their mother to come rescue them. But their mother was nowhere to be seen. Their fate was set.
The largest wolf, the black one, leveled his piercing blue eyes on Robin, showing his teeth that were much larger than hers. She barked and snapped her jaws in his direction. She would show no fear to him or any of them. Her teeth were sharp too, as were her claws. If he came at her, he’d leave with some lacerations too.
A blond male wolf moved in closer too, flanking the black one on his left. One by one, the other wolves fell into position around their leader. On the right the darker blond wolf came up then a brown one moved in on the left, and finally a brown one with lots of gold in his fur took up the last place on the right. The whole pack was coming to get her, ignoring the tasty young elk.
Robin had no choice but to turn to face them, so her back wasn’t to the pack of wolves. And with her movement, the elk took off into the safety of the woods. And she couldn’t follow, or the wolves would surely chase her and attack her from behind. No, she had to stand her ground. Or at least retreat very slowly.
Robin knew she was no match for five huge males. Her growls continued as she backed up slowly. Her empty stomach clenched and cramped as it knew she’d lost the easy meal that it had hoped for.
Her life, far more important than being hungry, had Robin doing the smartest thing, backing away nice and easy. But no matter how far she retreated, the wolves just kept coming. For every step she took back, they took one forward, the distance apart never growing or widening, merely staying the same.
Finally, the cliff she’d jumped off of to get to the elk stopped her, and she was stuck. Now the distance began to close between her and those who sought to end her life.
But why? She wondered. Why her? What had she done to these males to make them want to kill her?
When they were only inches apart, they stopped. The growling continued until Robin understood what would save her life. She went to her stomach and whimpered as she looked away, averting her eyes to let them all know she had submitted.
The growling stopped, and the black wolf jerked his head to the right. The dark blond wolf ran off and came back with a rabbit, hanging limp and lifeless in his strong jaws. One small trail of blood ran down it, leaving drops of red on the white snow.
The wolf laid the rabbit in front of the black wolf and the four stepped back and sat on their haunches. The black wolf eyed Robin and then cocked his massive head as he looked her over. Then he shoved the rabbit to her, using his nose to push it.
She whimpered as her stomach growled in hunger. Then she took it into her mouth and ate it up quickly before the male changed his mind. He’d fed her instead of killing her. It was a nice surprise.
But as nice as it was to have a full belly, things didn’t stay that way as the black wolf began to bend and shift. The cracking of bones, the grinding sounds as they shifted, made Robin yelp as the terrible noise hurt her sensitive ears.
Then the wolf was no more, and a naked man stood in his place. His dark hair hung only from his head, waves cascaded to his broad shoulders. The she-wolf was confused. Where had the wolf who’d fed her gone?
The man produced a red leash and came toward Robin who barked and snapped at the man. His eyes danced as he commanded her, “Stop.”
One simple word from him and she did as he’d told her. She lay back down and let him put the leash around her neck. He pulled on the leash, making her get up. “Come.”
She followed the man who walked through the snow, naked yet not seeming cold in the least. The other wolves came in to flank them both as they went where, Robin had no clue.
Fear was in the far reaches of her mind, but there was something else too. Hope. She had hope the man would feed her and give her water to drink, and s
he’d no longer have to look for those things.
Maybe he wouldn’t be so bad to her. Maybe he’d allow her to run free most of the time. But when they got to a huge cabin deep in the woods, he took her to a cage and placed her in it. He and the other wolves went inside, into the warm home, leaving her alone in the cage.
She began to cry and howl, as she’d have fought the man if she’d known this was how it would end for her. Trapped in a cage. Out in the cold. And as she looked around she found nothing to eat or drink as well.
Her cries grew louder as she mourned what she’d lost. Her freedom.
Robin woke up to the sound of her own cries and found herself being held but no cuff held her to the bed. She choked back the sobs and tried to move her arms, but she couldn’t as she was held too tightly.
“Baby, you okay?” she heard a man ask her.
She turned her head and gasped. “Why?” she cried.
Her body was bare against his. And he pulled her even closer to him as he shushed her and kissed the top of her head. “Everything will be okay. You’ll see.”
But all Robin could do was cry and plead, “Let me go, Shaw. Please, let me go.”
Shaw found himself near tears with her pitiful pleas. If he could let her go, he would. But she didn’t understand that his wolf didn’t think the way he did. His wolf was wild and had limited compassion for anyone.
He kissed her once more on top of the head and rocked with her. “It will all be all right. You’ll see. Just rest, baby.”
Robin closed her eyes, but she knew rest wouldn’t help a thing. No matter what Shaw said.
Chapter 17
Robin couldn’t just rest the way Shaw had told her to, as her mind went a million miles an hour. “Shaw, listen to me. I can get far away from you when the full moon comes. You don’t have to do this.”
Shaw’s guilt mounted as the woman cried in fear. “Do you really think you can walk away from me and never look back? Because that’s what you’d have to do, Robin.” He let her go and stared down at her, hating to see her so afraid of him.
Daddy Plus One: A Single Dad Secret Baby Billionaire Romance Page 64