Tam hopped her twenty-some-odd feline pounds onto my lap.
"See," he chuckled, pointing his chin at the cat. "You can't leave. The cat will miss you. The rest of us are too busy to feed her needs by sitting around and petting her all day."
Guess he didn't buy into my being too exhausted to leave because he added another reason for me to stay. And what a funny thing about the cat being female too. That's me. The cat who needs to be petted all day. Not a Wolf. A cat. Female Shifters are Cougars. Cougars wind up mated to Wolves making cats Wolf pets.The Big Bad Beast obviously doesn't have time for a pet. And has no idea what he's just said…
"I'll bring you some more food." He departed in a blink.
Leaving me to the soft fur of the purring feline. Huge cat. One large enough to keep itself warm with all that extra mass a normal house cat didn't have.
The cat flicked the white tip of that tail left and right.
Almost as if it baited me to stay. Or leave. Rather, make a decision. "Well, I am." I scratched its head.
"You're what?" Hostillian said.
The door finally whined as if it had been threatened to remain silent while the Big Bad Beast snuck up behind me. "I told the cat I'm glad I met her." What he didn't know wouldn't hurt him.
He reclaimed his seat beside me with a dish of cherry cobbler. "She's a good cat. Quiet. Soft. And she makes sounds of contentment." He shot me a wily sideways glance.
As if equating me to the cat. "Some cats are happy enough to be around men. To garner their affection." That should shut him up.
He arched a dark brow. "And you aren't? You looked pretty content with the students the first day you arrived."
True. But something just sounds insulting about that point altogether. "I'm normal, Hostillian." Not even a female Shifter. Just a woman who is useful to him.
He nodded sinisterly. "You don't have to point out you're a Normal to anyone."
Normals are pains in the asses. Normals need Guardians like I need him. Needed him with my little illness that Shifters don't catch. I'm just a burden. In his way. I need to go. Soon. Tomorrow. I'll eat. Build up my strength. Leave tomorrow. After all, I spent my life proving to him that I can take care of myself.
****
She's too quiet for a woman who should be content to sit with a man she's happy with. I watched Josie eyeing me and the cat warily where she sat beside me on the bench.
Something is wrong. I should have already wrapped one arm around her shoulders. Pulled her close. Let her know I'm happy with her here with me. But Josie had that distant look in her eye. The look of a feral cat about to leap for freedom. And I just can't bring myself to heighten her sense of claustrophobia. She'd eaten everything I brought her. Warmed up in the sun. Sucked down a good hour's worth of fresh air. Maybe she's just tired. Still worn out from the fever. "Want me to help you back inside? We've got some good reading. There's checkers. Cards too." I'd get her engrossed in a battle on a game board.
"Okay." She shoved off the bench without casting me a glance.
Those damned bare feet on the ground are going to make her sick again. I grabbed her lightweight form into my arms and carried her the other step to the doorway, planting her feet firmly on the threshold.
She didn't bother wasting a glance on me for the favor and headed into the cabin's shadows. Maybe I upset her. Or she'd managed to finally reflect on Wolf having his way with her. She probably hates me. Despises how I couldn't control my inner beast. I'll just have to prove I'm not an animal.
Two hours later after playing three games of checkers, she finally made eye contact with me. Those bright eyes twinkling with a few coy smiles. Probably because she kept beating the pants off me. Not that I wouldn't strip down to permit Wolf to play with her. I would have if Panther had something better to do than loiter in the cabin making biscuits. Even more so, Josie had the mind of a steel trap with checkers. One destined to keep my Wolf locked tightly in her corner. But I just can't seem to make her laugh uncontrollably. The way a woman caught hopelessly in love laughed with her mate. If she did, I could stop worrying about how she's going to bolt. What's eating away at her now?
She yawned, wide, stretching her arms overhead.
Tired. I should have guessed that much. "Need a nap?"
Play, Wolf began pouncing with gusto.
Way too uncontrollably the way my groin leapt like a stick to toss in a game of fetch. I tried to suck down a long deep breath to stifle the reaction.
She settled back down with a measured stare. "I think I need to rest."
Maybe I can worm my way into bed with her. "Alright."
She shoved up.
Without a wobble. Good. She was out of reach on the other side of the table. Maybe that's where she needs to be. At a distance. Just enough to give her space. To mute her sense of claustrophobia.
Play, Wolf whined and clawed at my ribcage.
Let her go. Give her some room to think.
Wolf whimpered.
I know how he feels. Have known for years. But sometimes, you just have to let nature run its course. Especially with feral animals. It's never easy winning one's trust. The Gods-be-damned Wolf should know that. He's a damned animal.
****
Josie jolted awake from a strange sense of being watched. Maybe I'm just dreaming, she thought. Like when you're kind of awake and think you heard someone call your name. And you snap out of sleep to lie there with your eyes shut. Listening for the call again. But the hairs began popping to chilly attention on the back of my neck. I popped my eyes open.
Hostillian sat in a chair beside my bed.
Watching me in the sexiest damned pale buck-skin leather vest that hung like flimsy fabric. Just draped him enough to look like something super soft you needed to pet. The thing didn't have a button hole or strap of leather to tie the sides shut leaving those muscles and washboard abs exposed for all to see. Well, just me. Dear. Gods.
"Feeling better?" he rumbled.
Deep and sexy. As if I just might have had a relapse. Did he wait, worrying about me having a relapse like I'm more than the cook? Or…Why even mention the rest when I'm sprawled out, perfect for the taking? Dressed, yes. But in a position of readiness. I shoved up from the bed to avoid promoting such an idea. I need to move. "Yes."
"The students will return soon for supper. Would you like to go for a walk? Just a little to stretch your legs and get some more fresh air?" he asked so gently.
He sure is worried about my welfare. I studied his serious gaze where he leaned forward, those bare arms bent where he'd planted his elbows into his thighs. And where in the world had he found that straw cowboy hat while I looked away for two breaths? It's like the aliens absconded with my Big Bad Beast and replaced him with this sexy thing in faded blue jeans who cooed at me.
"Well?" His dark eyebrows arched.
How could any woman say no to that sinister-yet-authoritative beard encircling the lips I know would have me flat on my back in a second if they barked the command. But he hasn't dealt decrees with me. Has he? No. Maybe I'm wrong about him. Maybe he isn't controlling. Merciless. Maybe he's really a nice guy.
Hell. He certainly has me sputtering maybes now. Sneaky beast. Still, more time spent with him might stand as a good test of whether he's the same old Big Bad Beast or not. "Okay." I swung my feet to the floor's slick wooden planking.
"Shoes, Josie," he rumbled softly.
Well, he couldn't wait another minute to growl instructions. Oh well. I guess I'll need shoes one way or the other.
He kicked the scuffed toe of a black combat boot toward my feet, knocking my slip-on gray sneakers my direction on the floor from where he must have placed them. "Knew you'd need these today. I didn't like you barefoot outside before." He managed a slight glinting grin.
My heart flipflopped.
That's the kind
of handsome expression a girl waits a lifetime to see when alone with the man of her dreams. But what do I get? Sneakers and a command. Sneakers instantly transformed into sneaky…Note the irony. I thrust my feet into my shoes and got them beneath me.
Who knows how many tons of raw steel and undulating muscle towered beside me in a flash. He was there. Almost protectively. Then I saw his elbow. Covered in that supple flesh only found on living things. Things without a strand of body hair. Well, he had some on his head and probably down there. But I couldn't remember what was down there except for the things that made me feel really really good in the darkness with those huge luminous golden Wolf eyes hovering everywhere. Pinning me down.
Choking me with a don't-move stare. Even in my memory.
He just watched me now though.
In those well-worn blue jeans that had frayed rips running horizontally across his thighs. Could anything be sexier?
Well, at least he's keeping his orders to himself now. I can deal with a little stroll down to visit Marine to scope out my escape route. Accompanied by this male that made my heart rattle. I slid my fingers across the warm pliant bulge of muscle of his forearm.
Something wiry inside moved beneath the taut skin.
Like he adjusted something. To make it better. Pretty much perfect. Thick. Strong. And hanging on beneath that cowboy hat felt like the wisest thing in the world to be doing. Oh. My.
He winked.
My heart pattered.
Damnable organ. Winks aren't good. But I'm not about to swap hitching posts with anyone. And I'm staring at his unwavering gaze like a mindless idiot.
He exhaled long.
Like he opened a valve to reduce some pressure before sliding his gaze to the door. I just held on.
Wanting to hold on. Oh. Yes. Isn't this what I'd always wanted? To feel significant to him? So important that he'd stop everything and spend every moment with me? That's foolish. Right? What man has the time AEI to give that kind of attention to a woman? Especially a woman who can kick his tail. Tail. What I'd do if I thought about that hard steely part of his anatomy. Geesh. Peel those ripped blue jeans down. Let that thick cock of his come out to play. Where in all that is sacred is Marine? I need to get the heck out of here before those dangerous thoughts consumed my ability to reason.
He led me into the warm sunshine and veered me toward the barn.
Good. I can see where he stuffed all my tack. Decide how I'm going to get everything back together to escape in one piece unnoticed before weirder things unfold.
The sunlight hadn't weakened but cut through the treetops from an angle noting it had to be about four in the afternoon.
Damn it. Hostillian led me around the side of the barn.
"The students aren't back just yet," he noted casually.
Okay. I can see that. But why the side of the barn? The barn. It's contents might help me on my journey. I just need to get through the doors.
Two steps later, he turned me along the backside of the barn where about five feet separated a few work tables from the thick fence of logs planted on end in the ground forming the outpost's circular palisade. Plenty of tools, metal containers, and other odds and ends that the weather wouldn't hurt were stored in neat stacks, lined up, or leaning against the back of the barn. Tidy. Yes. But a store of objects best kept out of sight in case an unwanted guest stepped through the outpost's gate. Someone who might fancy all these things necessary for survival.
"There's a lot of work here to do this summer," Hostillian suddenly explained. "I still need to build that storage building to house all of this equipment."
As if I had some hand in his grand plan. What could the plan possibly be?
He suddenly halted, grabbed my waist, hoisted me upward with those huge palms encircling my waist, and planted my butt on a workbench's hard flat unforgiving surface. I sat, staring him in the eye.
Calculating, questioning eyes.
His jaw ticked.
"You can help me here, Josie. Keep an eye on what needs to be done during the day at the lodge while I have the teens work on construction elsewhere." He planted an elbow on the table next to my thigh, eyeing me with a forceful gaze that demanded a reply.
He was still tall the way he leaned. But something about his demeanor screamed he had no clue what I'd say. And he'd been fine running the outpost without my help. Why does he suddenly need assistance? And why does he look like he's holding his hat, begging?
"Don't go, Josie."
Where did that come from? And why is my heart diving off a cliff? Because I like how he keeps telling me to stay with him. As if my leaving would hurt him. Will it? Little old me. Sitting here on this work table like a child whose feet couldn't touch the ground to save my skin if I needed to run. From the Big Bad Beast.
A thickness lodged in the back of my throat.
Probably my heart the way it was jouncing like someone dropped it from a cloud and made it bounce all over the place until it got wedged in some crevice somewhere back there.
"You never say anything. Like you need to think when I say don't go." He lifted the hand on the arm he didn't lean upon. One casual finger bent as if extended, and reached up.
While I stared, watching his warm brown gaze slowly blink, his hand moving in my periphery to run that fingertip beneath my jaw to the tip of my chin and turn it up with a delicate push, ever so slightly, even more until I couldn't look any place but into those warm coffee-colored eyes.
"I don't want you to go, Josie."
Did he bring me out here to speak privately? Away from Panther? With that damned hat and sexy leather vest accentuating his tanned undulating muscular biceps and gorgeous smile. Hell. Isn't this everything I ever wanted? Needed? Him doing the asking?
A chill skittered through me.
Need. Damnable need.
I ached low in my belly.
Between my legs. For him. He must have known the way he ran his fingertip back to stretch the length of that wily appendage flush with my jaw line. The way he curled that palm around my cheek to hold my mouth right where he wanted it as his moved closer. So blessed closer to cover my lips in the amazing warmth of his.
He sighed when his lips sealed around mine.
Filling me with something more than hot awareness. More like melting me. Did I sink? My body seems to be falling. Some direction. Into the softest most comforting piece of throbbing man no woman could ever imagine existed. It was like he wasn't there but certainly is. All strong wily tongue prying my lips apart to suck the sanity right out of me. Because that's where it went. Right back from where he'd exhaled his own. Into him. Like only the air from my lungs could keep him alive.
Gods the way I ached between my legs. I just had to run my palms out, fingers splayed, pressing them against his hot pliant flesh stretched across the firm washboard of his ribs, beneath the velvety soft hide of his vest, around to the sinew of his back, down, so sliding downward along the curve of his spine to that glorious ass.
There should be a law about gorgeous men wearing pants. No pants. They get in the way. And I'm going to die if I don't have a little direct pressure applied to the throbbing pulse between my legs. His fault. Yes. That nagging ache is his fault. And he'll heal it with some direct pressure. What idiot is clueless about first aid AEI? Hostillian better not be, or I'll bleed out the way he's making my insides melt! I slid my fingertips beneath the waistband of his jeans.
Into seductive warmth. That's him. All seduction. Warm. His body moving with the grace of a sidewinder now. But who cared. He already pulled my thighs apart and wrapped my legs around his iron waist with those strong hands. Needy hands that did anything but hint at letting me go.
My heart melted in another rush of internal billowing magma.
Rolling so far downward that it had to sear the bare flesh of his belly where he pressed it against my gro
in. If only that heat would burn away my shorts. Oh. Yes. I'd be that much closer to having his cock back inside me. In heaven. He owed me another trip to that mythological place before I put distance between his confusing body and my traitorous heart. I wrapped my arms around his shoulderblades and pulled the solid heat of his big thumping chest as close as possible.
His sucking mouth wandered across my cheek to my neck and latched on with so much suction that the only thing I could think of was how, if his massive arms hadn't held me upright, I would have slid off the table.
His hands fumbled with the hem of my shirt, and his mouth released my neck.
He gurgled the most magnificent growl.
Deeply inside his chest. Rumbling. Like he warned everyone to stay away.
He can make that sound anytime.
"Open your eyes," he growled.
Oh. Absolutely no talking.
He pulled free of my arms.
Why? I popped my eyes open.
His golden Wolf eyes studied me with the most assessing stoic mask.
A raw purely wild and demanding expression that sent a tremor through every cell of my being. With his nose tilted downward, just enough to make me think I dare not move, his gaze could lay me out immobile on the table. But who said I'm going anywhere until I'd had my little trip to heaven? Hello, Big Bad Beast. I'm waiting for a little more therapeutic direct pressure.
He yanked my t-shirt over my head.
Abruptly. Well, at least he didn't rip it. I couldn't return to the lodge topless. I guess. But he didn't seem to care about forethought in the hungry way he focused on my bra. Or breasts. Or the clasp in between by the way his hands cupped the bulges.
Gurgling another chugging sound, he slid both thumbs beneath the clasp.
Or just toyed with my thrashing heart. Because if he doesn't get that Gods-damned stretchy lace off, I'm going to scream. And not the way he'd want me to.
Big Bad Beast (Werescape) Page 11