“I’ve wanted to kiss you since the moment I first saw you twenty years ago,” he whispered.
Willow smiled and ran one of her hands through his hair.
“So what are you waiting for?” she gasped, as their lips almost touched.
He dipped her back slightly and she felt a rush of excitement. As he pressed his lips against hers and kissed her fiercely on the mouth, she went to putty in his arms. The kiss was so intense it took her breath away and she never wanted it to end.
“Scar,” she whispered as she looked up into his eyes, “I think I’ve been on hold for you.”
And he nodded and smiled. Because he knew exactly what she meant…
9.
The following morning, Willow awoke with a smile spread across her face as wide as Main Street. She rolled onto her back and looked up to the skylight and felt like singing, she was so full of joy. After she and Scar had left the woods, he had taken her home and kissed her goodnight like the perfect gentleman, and ever since, he had been all she could think about.
“So crazy,” she said aloud to herself. “A friend I played with as a child has come back and remembers me. And not only that, he wants to claim me.” She still couldn’t believe it. It was all too good to be true.
She had spent her night with broken sleep and fevered dreams. She had tried to recall the house in the woods and remember her time there with Blu and Scar, but nothing was forming. He had been so familiar, but all she could place him with was amongst another group of kids that were always hanging around together in the middle of town.
It sure is funny what your brain does to you, she thought.
When she was up and about, she changed into her uniform and prepared herself to go back to Arlo’s. She was already dreading seeing him because she had the distinct feeling she was in for more of a grilling, but she would have to hold her head high.
She swept her hair up and pinned it half off her head with a jeweled clip and then she started on her makeup. She smirked to herself as she smoothed blusher over her cheeks and dabbed on some dark lipstick. She never made this much of an effort usually, but now that she had a love interest walking around town, she wanted to look her very best.
She grabbed her purse and headed for her door, and when she turned back and looked at her apartment, it didn’t bother her that it looked like her closet had exploded and all of her cosmetics were strewn about the place. She was genuinely happy. And it was the best feeling in the world.
She stopped off at The Hideout and grabbed a coffee in a paper cup before she slipped on her shades and made the short walk to the bar. She felt worn out from all of the tossing and turning she had done since the early hours, she had been far too excited to sleep and all she could think about was the possibility of seeing Scar again.
When Arlo’s came into view, she braced herself and just vowed to keep her head held high. She was her own person and she was neither half bear nor half wolf, so really, as long as she didn’t pass information between the two sides, she had nothing to be ashamed of.
“Morning,” she said cheerily as she walked through the door and caught sight of Arlo leaning over the counter. His eyes looked heavy and rimmed with black bags. “You okay?”
He looked up at her and yawned. “I guess,” he said miserably.
Willow took off her jacket and hung it on the peg behind the bar before she sat down on the stool next to him and sipped her coffee. They had a couple of hours before the doors opened and apart from doing a stock check and a quick extra clean, there didn’t look to be a whole lot for her to do.
Arlo sighed and looked at her and she could see then that he was troubled.
“What’s going on?” she asked.
He moved his jaw and sighed, as if he didn’t even know where to begin.
“I don’t know how to tell you this, Willow,” he said heavily. “But I can’t have you working here anymore.”
The words came flying out of his mouth like a slap and she sat back against the backrest and glared at him, waiting for him to laugh or tell her that he was kidding. But his face remained serious and like stone.
“What?” she asked with confusion. “That’s not funny, I’ve been here for years.”
“Yeah I know,” he sighed and whistled through his teeth. “And I tried to warn you.”
“Is this about Scar?” She jumped to her feet and slammed the cup down on the counter. “He didn’t even do anything, he left town to make sure peace was kept, that’s all!”
Arlo sighed and rubbed his temples.
“It doesn’t matter anymore if he did or if he didn’t,” Arlo said as he looked up to her and held her gaze. “What matters is that my kind and his kind, they don’t mix, and I can’t have someone close to me who is also close to one of them.”
He got to his feet and turned around. His hands were on his hips and he was full of rage. But Willow was about to outdo him on that front.
“This is fucking stupid,” she spat as she got to her feet and spun him around so that he had to look at her in the eye. “I’ve been loyal to you for nearly three years and now you’re just going to get rid of me because of a guy you don’t like?” She shook her head and laughed. “How old are you, for God’s sake, Arlo? And why do you think you have any control over my life?”
He looked at her in disbelief. “You really have no idea what you’re getting yourself into, Willow. This thing is bigger than you ever could imagine.”
“And yet, you’ve made it perfectly clear I have no place in it,” she said. “I’ve never even dated you or any of your friends, so why would it matter it I decided to date Scar? It’s not like I know anything serious about you or the bears, and now I’m being punished. Well, thanks, thanks a lot!”
She reached behind the bar and grabbed her jacket and in her haste, she knocked over the coffee. It splashed down the wooden bar and pooled onto the floor.
“I didn’t want it to be like this,” he said. “But I have others I need to be loyal to as well, and they said that this is the only way.”
Willow glared at him for a moment, unsure of whether to laugh at him or slap him. He had been her friend once, she was sure of it. And now he was throwing her away because of some silly, ancient feud which she didn’t even have a part of.
“Seems like you want it to me,” she said icily as she turned and walked toward the door. “And don’t worry, I won’t bother you again.”
She slammed the door behind her and felt the tears welling up. She was shaking and her whole body felt like it was about to burst. She was humiliated and betrayed. She and Arlo had been such good friends, why couldn’t he just want her to be happy? She never would have done anything to jeopardize him or his business, but he had just thrown her away at the first sign of something he didn’t agree with.
That’s not a friend, she thought.
She walked, defeated and broken, toward Middle Park and slumped down on the bench that looked up to the mountains. It was such a beautiful day, and yet, inside, she felt dark and rotten. She wiped a tear away from her eye and held in her cries tightly. She had to calm down and pull herself together. But it all felt like too much.
She pulled her knees up to her chest and hid her face in them. She allowed herself to cry for a few moments, just so that she could move on, and her shoulders heaved as her sobs tumbled out of her.
When she managed to regain her composure, she looked up and wiped the tears away. She was done with feeling like shit and she wasn’t going to let one small setback define her. She got to her feet and pulled out her cell phone. There was only one person in the whole world who could make her feel better in that moment. As she dialed Scar’s number, she knew she wasn’t going to spend one second more feeling guilty for having feelings and being pulled toward someone she could genuinely see a future with. She no longer owed Arlo anything, and she was more than ready to open herself up to the possibility of love.
“Scar?” she said as he answered in a groggy half-asleep haze. “It’s me,
I need to see you…”
And she listened as he told her his address.
She walked into the woods out on the other side of town and was surprised at how different the vibe was further down Main Street and where she had come to learn that the bears spend the majority of their time. She saw faces she was certain that she hadn’t laid eyes on before, and she noticed things and places that she was sure had never been there.
I must have never paid much attention, she thought as she rounded a corner and stepped away from the shops and restaurants and headed into a more residential area.
Scar had told her that he was temporarily staying in one of the smaller log cabins that he was leasing from one of his friends. He hadn’t had a proper place to live in Lost Creek since he was nineteen and he wasn’t yet ready to take the step to committing to something when he didn’t even know whether he would be able to stick around.
As she approached the small cluster of cabins in the middle of a clearing, she breathed in deeply and steadied herself. She had already been through so much, but she knew what she wanted now and it was exactly the same as him.
She wanted love. She was sick of her life being on hold. She wanted to throw herself in head first and just go with the flow and see whatever the fuck happened. She was sure it couldn’t be that bad!
“Hey,” he said as he leaned against the side of the doorway, his hair messed up and his eyes tired with sleep. He was only wearing a pair of jeans, which he had just pulled on, and they weren’t even done up properly, the buttons hung open at the top and revealed his well-defined muscles that ran down to his groin. His chest was so tanned and she could tell that it would be rock hard. She bit her lip and took a step forward. He looked so fucking sexy, she wasn’t going to be able to keep her hands off him.
“I like what I’m seeing,” he whispered.
“What’s that?” she said playfully.
“You… all worked up… Wanting it…”
Willow bit her bottom lip and smiled back at him. The second she had seen him, she knew that everything was going to be okay. He held out his hand and she reached up and slid her palm into his as he helped her up the steps and into the doorway. As they looked into each other’s eyes he wrapped his arm around her waist and Willow, in turn, grabbed hold of him and let him pull her close. She breathed him in and could feel the fire running beneath his skin. He was so much more than she could ever hope for. She had never felt so open to the idea of giving herself to someone, and she wanted him to ravage her. She wanted him to shift into a wolf and sink his teeth into her whilst he fucked her hard.
“I can’t stay away,” she whispered.
“Good,” Scar said with a wicked grin, as he pulled her inside and slammed the door behind them.
10.
He kissed her deeply on the mouth and walked with her back into the middle of the cabin. He was so strong and powerful, Willow knew that if he wanted to, he could do anything to her, and it turned her on. Scar’s touch was both rough and sensual. And he pulled her close to him and spun her around as he took hold of her ponytail and breathed into her ear. He ran his hands across the back of her neck and clutched her throat as he nibbled on her lobe gently and used his other hand to cup the soft swell of her breasts beneath her uniform. Willow was unraveling and opening up to him and she felt as if she was melting into his arms. It was all happening so fast, but it felt so right. She wanted it more than anything.
“Scar,” she gasped as he ripped open her shirt at the front and the buttons popped open and scattered across the floor.
She could feel the sharp poke of his desire in the base of her spine and she opened her legs wide as his hand traveled down from her breasts, across her stomach and navel and down between her thighs. He teased the top of her shorts and slipped his fingers in the waistband as he expertly undid the buttons and slid them down to her knees. She moaned as he groped for her and teased her with his fingers, flicking her gently with his thumb and dipping himself inside of her ever so slightly.
When she felt him inside of her, her whole body shook. She hadn’t been touched by a man in such a long time, she had almost forgotten what it was like. How good it could be. And she was so slick with her juices that it only riled him even more. The feeling of her being so hot and ready for him was sending him into a frenzy. Willow felt completely at his mercy, and she waited for him to do with her whatever he wanted.
He stripped her quickly and held onto her throat as from behind her he pulled down his own jeans and they fell to the floor with a jangle. He took her hands and pinned them in front of her against the rough cabin walls and then he pushed her up against it so that her stomach and breasts were pressed flat, and opened her legs wide so that she could barely breathe for lust. Her pussy was aching for him, and as he pulled her buttocks back to meet his groin and teased her with his cock, she was trembling, waiting for him to enter her. He held her tightly and in one quick movement, he thrust his huge, rock hard length inside of her tight cunt from behind, and she gasped and moaned as pleasure rocketed through her.
Scar’s thrusts were so powerful and slow, Willow found it hard to hold on. She was spiraling out of control and felt as if she was going to unravel at any given moment. But she wanted to hold on, because she wanted to experience the feeling as long as possible, she didn’t want it to end. She longed to keep her grip on him tightly and feel every inch of him. She would wait until he was ready to explode inside of her and collect every last drop. His thighs tensed more with each passing second and as he pulled out of her and spun her around to kiss her full on the mouth, she knew that she would never be able to love another man again. Now that she had found Scar and given herself to him, there was no going back. He was claiming her.
She looked into his eyes and she could see the beast within him and she wanted him to release it. She could see the animal inside of him, shaking its way to the surface.
He lifted her up and wrapped her legs around his waist, and then as he thrust himself into her once more and looked at her deep in the eyes, she was sure she saw a flash of the wolf she knew he could become. He grunted loudly and moaned as his whole body tensed and shook. He was so hard and so deep inside of her, as she gripped him tightly and felt the hot spurt of his load shooting up into her, she too came in a crashing wave of ecstasy.
They fell to the floor and Willow curled up into his arms. She looked up at him and at his heaving chest and she could see something ferocious in him that he was finding hard to control.
“Let it out,” she panted as she ran her hands through his hair. “I’m not afraid…”
Scar growled and his lip curled. He was full of rage and power. In an instant, his eyes flashed over from ice blue to white and then his whole body shook. His skin split and jet black fur sprung up in its place, his mouth contorted and drew out in length, whilst his teeth were bared and his fangs were sharp.
“Oh my,” she whispered as she watched him turn into a wolf before her very eyes. But he wasn’t just any wolf… He was the biggest and most handsome wolf she had ever seen. He was tall and proud, a giant. He was another species altogether.
She had never seen anyone shift before, and even though she had been expecting it, she was still shaken and her heart was still pounding in her chest. She ran her hands through his fur and looked into his eyes and Scar howled up toward the ceiling.
Willow backed away and pressed her back flat against the wall. Her heart was pounding and she was scared. But she was loving every second.
As his body jerked and he started to shake, it was a matter of seconds before his fur was gone and his tanned, toned skin was back in its place. He looked across to her with his incredible blue eyes and he swept her up in his arms.
“You have no idea how long I’ve wanted to be myself with a girl. And now I can.”
Willow smiled and kissed him lightly on the lips. Because he could, he really could. And now she had found her true calling. She was clearly never meant to be with the bears.
But they had prepared her for where her life was going to lead her eventually.
Scar carried her over to his bed and laid her down on the soft blankets and pulled them up around her. An icy chill was rolling in from the mountains and as they lay there together and night drew in, she knew that she would never find another happiness like it.
11.
They had been on the road for several days, but it was starting to feel as if the end was in sight. Scar had a cigarette clamped between his teeth as he looked out over the desert and the summer breeze blew back through his hair. From her vantage point on the step outside of the gas station, Willow could watch him for as long as she wanted. There were moments when she still had to pinch herself to make sure she wasn’t dreaming.
But he really was hers.
And she was his.
She got to her feet and walked over to him with a wide smile on her face and she climbed onto the back of the bike and wrapped her arms around his waist.
“I reckon about another hour, then we should be there,” he said as he turned his head to the side and kissed her.
“Great,” she smiled. “I’m looking forward to seeing him after all this time.”
Since Scar had arrived in Lost Creek, he had told her a lot about Blu, and now they were nearly at his door, and they were going to help him pack up his stuff and take him back to where he really belonged.
After Arlo had fired Willow and she had told Scar what had happened, it had made him all the more determined that he and Blu would not be ousted from their rightful home. Magnus, one of the older pack members of The Lost Alphas, was sick, and both of them deserved to be there with him. They would not shy away and have regrets.
It had been a whirlwind few weeks, but Willow didn’t want to have any regrets either. She had bounced back after her initial setback, but now, it didn’t even seem to matter that she had lost her job and the way of life she was used to. Scar had walked in on it and shaken things up, but he had also changed things for the better. She had never been so happy, and they were moving forward each day and learning more and more about one another, and it was the best feeling in the world.
SCAR (LOST CREEK SHIFTERS NOVELLAS Book 2) Page 6