by Tay LaRoi
Zoe came with a start, freezing above me as if her climax had surprised her. I’d felt her swell within me, and I knew she was close. I had wanted it to happen that way. “Aria... I’m so...”
I shook my head. “I don’t mind at all.” I didn’t want to hear that she was sorry for coming in me. I liked that she had. She pulled out of me, and I brought my hand back between my thighs now that there was no danger of touching her. I stroked myself as she lay down beside me. She was bright red as she watched me, and when she kissed me, I knew that even though we’d only just met, she really cared about me. I came with her mouth against mine and her hand gently cupping my breast.
As I lay there struggling to catch my breath, I turned into her arms. The floor of the cave was no longer as comfortable without our pleasure to distract me, but I didn’t want to get up either. I didn’t want to let go of her anytime soon. I could see the storm over her shoulder as we lay there, and I watched the snow fall as she quietly drifted off to sleep in my arms.
After a few hours, the snow started to let up, and by dawn, the sun shone down on the white landscape around us. Zoe was still asleep as I walked to the mouth of the cave and shivered in the cold. The snow was deep, and it would take us a while to get to my pack, but we couldn’t stay in the cave much longer either. In my pain, I’d forgotten my rabbit under the tree the night before, and with this much snow around, hunting anything would be difficult. We couldn’t stay out another day without food and water.
I went back to Zoe’s side and kissed her cheek to wake her up.
“Did the snow finally stop?” she mumbled.
“It did, but getting to my pack is still going to suck. It’s really deep out there.”
She groaned and got to her feet. She gathered her things, putting them all into the backpack. I had let the fire die overnight. We’d been okay, but we would have been better if I had kept it fed. There would be plenty of warmth at my pack though.
“It’s about two miles away,” I warned her.
She pursed her lips and didn’t look happy about the prospect of trudging through deep snow for miles. I wasn’t either, but it was the only way to get home. “Okay. I’m ready.”
I shifted, and she did as well. She kept the backpack between her teeth and followed me out into the forest. The cave had been a good place to wait out the storm for the night, but it was no place to stay for longer than we absolutely had to. My leg felt better as we made our way through the deep snow.
Nearly half the day was gone before I brought us to the front of the pack. Our houses were barely discernable through the snow and trees around them. I howled as I came to the entrance of my alpha’s home.
Flynn came out at my call, followed by his mate, Mark. He smiled when he saw me, and I shifted so that I could introduce Zoe. “We were worried about you,” Mark said, giving me a hug.
“I got hurt and Zoe, here, healed me, and we took shelter in a cave,” I quickly explained. I turned to Zoe, who was still a bear. “It’s okay. Go ahead and shift. They won’t mind. I promise.”
Zoe shifted, and as soon as she was fleshy again I went into her arms. “She needs a pack,” I told Flynn.
“And she’s welcome here,” he said, just as I expected him to.
Zoe smiled down at me, and I saw tears in her eyes. “I’m glad I found you.”
“Me too.” I leaned up and kissed her gently.
About Caitlin Ricci
Caitlin was fortunate growing up to be surrounded by family and teachers that encouraged her love of reading. She has always been a voracious reader, and that love of the written word easily morphed into a passion for writing. She comes from a military family, and the men and women of the armed forces are close to her heart. She also enjoys gardening and horseback riding in the Colorado Rockies where she calls home with her wonderful husband and their two dogs. Her belief that there is no one true path to happily ever after runs deeply through all of her stories.
Website: www.caitlinricci.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/caitlin.ricci.7
Twitter: https://twitter.com/CaitlinRicci
Other books by this author
Roadside Rescue
One Wish
College Discipline
An Unexpected Shot (with A.J. Marcus)
In the Shadows
The Little Crow
The Broken Butterfly
Midnight Kisses
L.J. Hamlin
The crowd in the bar was a little thicker than usual and more diverse, all kinds of supernatural creatures gathered in the outskirts of New York, ready for the meetings between the grand councils. Bella Thistle was on the witches’ high council, but not in such a high position that she was worried about going to a bar the night before a midday meeting. She could feel a pulse in the air from the collective energy of so many of the otherworlders being in one place, and it felt good. Bella lived mainly in the human world, running a magic shop that catered to real witches and warlocks but attracted more human novices than those with magic in their blood.
She reached the bar and found a space to lean against, so she could wait for a drink and relax a little while. She’d hardly touched the shiny wooden surface when someone bumped into her. Bella wasn’t quick to anger, but she turned to ask for an apology and paused.
The woman who’d bumped into her was tall and had black hair shaped in a cute gothic pixie cut. Her whole look edged on goth, from the heavy black eyeliner around her blue eyes to the plum lipstick on her full lips. She was curvy, sexy, dressed in jeans and some band tank top that showed off the tattoos on her arms, including one of a wolf howling at a moon with two stars above three threes in front of it, the traditional tattoo for shape-shifter enforcers—werewolves, to be exact.
“Um, hi. You bumped into me, but it’s okay,” Bella said in a rush, feeling like she was fourteen again and faced with a pretty girl.
“Sorry. Let me get you a drink. I’m Cassie.” The werewolf offered her hand, and though Bella could be shy, she was not a total hopeless case in social situations. Cassie’s hand was warm and firm, broken up only by the feel of a series of cooler silver rings, and despite the tales, Bella knew they were probably real silver. It was only poisonous to weres if ingested or injected into their bloodstream somehow. A silver bullet would harm them, but touching silver would not. They weren’t Superman, and silver wasn’t their kryptonite.
“I’m Bella. You don’t have to get me a drink,” Bella said when she took her hand back, but she made a little space so Cassie could properly join her at the bar, which she did, bringing them close together. It wasn’t an out-of-place sight in a busy bar on a Friday night.
“I want to, if that’s okay. I could use some new company for a while. My workmates are getting on my last nerve. You’d be doing me a favor,” Cassie said with a sultry smile, and Bella didn’t think she could say no to anything when faced with that look.
“In that case, I’ll have a gin and tonic, please. You’re here for all the council gatherings, I take it?” Bella asked as Cassie leaned closer to the bar, trying to catch the eye of the bartender as well as giving a great view of her cleavage. Bella tried not to stare like some frat boy at a wet T-shirt contest.
“Yeah, a werewolf representative. Can you do me a favor?” Cassie asked.
“What?” Bella was captivated by the goth cutie in front of her, but she wasn’t the type to do something foolish for someone she’d just met.
“Make sure I’m facing you when you talk to me. I’m deaf in one ear, so what I miss I pick up by lip reading. I don’t need to sign, but I can,” Cassie explained.
“I can do that; no problem, and I’m here with the witches’ council.” Bella watched as Cassie focused on her mouth as she talked. It made her feel shivery inside, even though she knew it was only out of necessity. The bar was so loud with the music playing and people talking that it was hard for Bella to hear. She could only imagine how much harder it must have been without hearing in one
ear.
“No nosy questions. I’m impressed,” Cassie said as the barman appeared. She placed an order, and before Bella could reply, she had a cool glass of clear liquid in her hand, a slice of lime poking out of the top.
“Way I see it, you’ll tell me what you want me to know, and I have no right to any information you don’t volunteer. My grandmother was partially deaf in both ears. She signed.” Bella had loved her grandmother very much, but she’d been a very stern and traditional woman. Bella didn’t think if she’d lived into Bella’s teen years they’d have got along so well, or that her grandmother would have approved of her sexuality. Bella had never even heard her grandmother say the term bisexual.
“That’s a good way to be. Can you sign anything? I wasn’t always part of the deaf community. I lost hearing due to a small stroke; was like someone just turned down the volume on the world all of a sudden,” Cassie explained.
“I remember a few. Like, I can thank you again for this drink,” Bella said as she did the hand sign for thank you.
“You’re welcome. We could get a table if you like. Might be easier to talk. There’s one over in the corner.” Cassie pointed.
“Yes, let’s sit.” Bella had butterflies in her belly as she walked over to the table. She couldn’t remember any other time when a woman who was totally her type—slightly butch, slightly goth—turned up and started talking to her. It wasn’t that Bella didn’t get attention. She was tall enough, willowy and not too thin, with a little padding on her waist and hips. She had long red hair and green eyes and very pale skin, and she’d never had too much trouble getting dates. But she’d never felt instant lust like this before.
“So you’re a witch then? They don’t let humans on their council, only pure bloods, right?” Cassie asked.
“Yeah, I’m a full-blood witch. The council can be kind of snobby about heritage and bloodlines. It’s all kind of old school for me, but my parents wanted me to get a job on the council, especially my dad. He’s on it. My grandfather was on it, and back a few more generations.” Bella enjoyed some of her work with the council, but she hated the elitism.
“I get that. Pack and the council are family business too for weres, but we don’t tend to follow our fathers. I’m sure you know it’s more a matriarchy for werewolves. Women are in charge,” Cassie said with a grin.
“Witches are supposed to be all about women’s power, but you still get a lot of old-fashioned warlocks telling us all what to do.” Bella rolled her eyes.
“I have a feeling no one really tells you what to do. You have this defiant energy, something wild about you that my wolf side picks up on. Not to make assumptions, of course, but I’d bet my paycheck from the council that you’ve had a fight or two with the stuffy old warlocks.” Cassie smiled. She had a disarming smile, beautiful, but not fake like some people. There was a warmth to it, even though her goth look was a little more hard-edged, the spiked belt, the band on her shirt.
“I might have had an argument or two, especially with those who don’t agree with my lifestyle.” Bella rolled her eyes. She hated that phrase, the way people said it, like it was a choice or a different kind of diet, like vegan for moral, not health reasons. Her sexuality was not a choice.
“Lifestyle?” Cassie raised an eyebrow as she sipped her drink.
“I’m bisexual, and very open about it. Most witches are of the belief that all kinds of love are beautiful, whoever and whatever the gender of those expressing it. But the same old men who think us witches should stay quiet and learn our place, they disapprove.” Bella thought she was safe telling Cassie about her sexuality, as she got the vibe that Cassie was interested in her in a not altogether straight way.
“Me, too. I mean, I’m bi, too. It’s hardly ever a problem with other wolves. You get the odd ignorant wolf, those who don’t understand, and it turns to hate, but my pack is cool. They accept me as I am. Hell, my mom even tries to hook me up with girls. I suck at flirting. She’s way more outgoing, so she nudges me.” Cassie laughed, and Bella felt a swoop in her stomach. She was not some schoolgirl anymore, who fell in love at the drop of a hat, but she felt a strong pull toward Cassie.
“My mom isn’t that relaxed about my love life. She talks about me getting married, settling down, starting the next generation of our family. I have two brothers, both older, so they get that lecture more than me. But still, I think my mom likes to pretend her baby girl is a virgin.” Bella snorted.
“Virginity isn’t a big deal to wolves. Even with the het wolves, the main attitude is if a female finds a worthy male, she should take her pleasure and then decide if she wants to keep him around to father pups,” Cassie explained.
“Wow, kind of wishing I was born a werewolf. I love magic. I love the way it feels, but I hate some of the BS that can go with it. Like, is it so bad if I just want to get laid?” Belle said, only blushing slightly.
“I don’t see anything wrong with you wanting to get laid. Kind of hoping you’ll come home with me after we get to know each other better,” Cassie said honestly.
“At the moment, we’re on the same page.” Bella grinned. She very much wanted to be alone with Cassie.
“That’s a relief. Sometimes I’ve thought I was on the same page, and instead, I was in a completely different book. Would you like to dance?” Cassie asked.
“Okay. You’ll have to lead. I’m not that great a dancer,” Bella admitted, knocking back her drink so she didn’t have to leave it at the table. She wouldn’t have drunk again from a glass she’d left alone. She’d never been spiked, but she knew women who’d had their drinks drugged.
“I’m cool with leading, but I’m sure you know how to move,” Cassie said with a mischievous smile.
They stood and made their way over to the crowd of people dancing. Cassie took Bella’s hands, and it was the second time they’d touched. Bella felt heat, not just warmth from Cassie’s skin, but energy, as was sometimes the way for a supernatural. Cassie encouraged Bella to put her arms around her neck, while Cassie’s own hands came down to Bella’s waist, bringing their bodies close.
They kept things PG, but Bella had never wanted to be the dirty-dancing type more, even if it got her kicked out of the bar or had someone complaining. There were groups of girls dancing together, but in more a gal pal way, and Bella thought it was clear by the closeness of her and Cassie’s bodies that they were not just being friendly.
They talked a little as they danced, simple things to see what they had in common. It seemed like they were compatible from their conversation, but that wasn’t what Bella was listening to—not her brain, but her gut—the other senses a witch trusted in more than logic. She felt connected to Cassie. There was an intensity between them, and Bella had learned not to waste time in life. She got lucky enough to have Cassie bump into her and be interested. She wasn’t going to waste the opportunity.
“I kind of want to kiss you,” Cassie said, looking at Bella’s mouth.
“Only kind of?” Bella wet her lips.
“More than kind of. Can I?” Cassie asked, her hand hovering close to Bella’s cheek.
“Just keep it PG-13 so we don’t get kicked out, but I’d like you to kiss me,” Bella said as they swayed together.
Cassie’s touch was gentle but firm when she put her hand on Bella’s jaw. Bella knew there was great strength in those hands, that as a werewolf Cassie was ten times stronger than the average human, but she was so careful as she positioned Bella exactly where she wanted her. It had Bella’s heart racing, as did the anticipation.
The world didn’t fall away when Cassie brought their lips together. Bella could still hear the noise of the bar, but it ceased to matter. She wanted to drown in the feeling of Cassie’s mouth on hers, in the energy that passed between them. Lust always had a wild feel to it for a witch, but the wildness in the energy she felt was greater than ever. Bella wondered if it was because Cassie was a werewolf and had that built-in wild side.
It wasn’t till Cassie
said her name that Bella realized she’d closed her eyes for the kiss. She opened them and saw the naked hunger in Cassie’s gaze, making Bella shiver and ache a little inside.
“I need some air. Come outside with me?” Bella asked, making sure Cassie saw her lips in case she needed to read them. The dance floor was closest to the speakers, so it was noisier there and might have been harder for Cassie to hear.
“Okay.” Cassie nodded.
Bella took Cassie’s hand in hers and led the way through the crowds of people. They were soon at the door, pushing it open and leaving the warmth of the bar for the refreshing coolness of the night air. Bella walked to the parking lot and her car. She’d only had one alcoholic drink, so she was fine to drive, but she wasn’t in a rush to get home, especially if it meant going alone.
She leaned against her car and reached out, hooking a finger in Cassie’s belt loops and tugging her closer. Bella was aware she couldn’t physically make a werewolf move if they didn’t want to, so she knew Cassie was letting her bring their hips close together, their breasts pressing lightly against each other. Bella slid her arms around Cassie’s waist, holding her close, loving the feel of her strong body.
“I thought you asked me to lead?” Cassie said with a teasing smile.
“We’re not dancing now.” Bella pressed a kiss to the exposed skin of Cassie’s neck where there was a beautiful red rose tattoo.
“It’s a kind of dancing. My mother calls it the mating dance,” Cassie said, her attention on Bella’s mouth. Bella wasn’t surprised when Cassie moved in for another kiss. They let it deepen, lips moving together, and Bella slid her hands underneath Cassie’s tank top to feel the smooth, warm skin of her back.
“Do you always lead?” Bella asked when the kiss broke and they took steadying breaths.
“I don’t have to lead. I like being led, too. But being a wolf, doing the job I do for the council, I have a reputation, the kind that makes people think I need to always be in charge.” Cassie sighed.