by Vivian Arend
She had never done the slow morning after the wild sex the night before. She left. Enjoyed herself then hit the road so there would be none of the awkward morning-after stuff.
Although this wasn’t awkward, which meant it had to be a dream, and when that mysterious hand rose and circled her nipple with a firm fingertip, she moaned happily.
Had to be a dream. Her breasts weren’t playboy-bunny style so were usually ignored by the guys she’d taken into her bed. Her wolf had never cared about the lack of attention to small details of foreplay. When she was looking for release, hot and sweaty and fast was just fine. But—oooh, another reason she was sure this was a dream—she actually liked having her nipples played with. Only a fantasy lover would know to pinch lightly and send shivers through her body. Only the imaginary male in her life would scratch his nails over the rigid tip and draw another gasp from her lips.
She should have gone in for a different field of science than animal husbandry. Maybe a psych department, one with a research facility where she could have signed up to be an experimental subject in dream seduction.
That oh-so-talented hand left her breasts and trailed over her belly. She held her breath in anticipation. And right about the time he cupped her mound, middle finger pressing on the perfect section to wake up her clitoris…
Her brain woke as well.
The hand doing magical things stilled as she involuntarily sucked in a shocked gasp. There was a very aroused crossbreed shifter lying pressed up against her naked body—naked? When had she lost her clothes?—and this was no dream.
He kissed her neck. “Relax, I won’t do anything you don’t like.”
Well, there was a problem. She pretty much liked it all. Except the in a cabin with an audience bit.
“Trust me,” whispered past her ear a second before his tongue began tracing the edge of her earlobe, and she was lost. Even more gone when he slipped his tongue into her ear briefly. She would have jumped a good foot off the bed if he hadn’t had her pinned in place.
Trust him? Oh boy. Everything blurred together as he touched her slowly, fingers slipping through her curls and dipping inside.
She was such a dirty girl. He didn’t ask, but she did it anyway. Running her foot along his calf where it lay next to hers, she lifted her thigh and draped her limb over his, effectively opening her core to his touch.
If he didn’t get that as a clear invitation, she wasn’t sure what would. Fireworks going off? A radio announcement? A sky writer?
Chase tilted his hips, and his erection pressed more firmly against her lower back as he rolled them both slightly, using her leg as a lever to drape her over his lower body. He brought up moisture from her core and teased her clit. Once. Again.
She was so sensitized from the dream and the past days longing for this man’s touch, she was liable to have the fastest orgasm of her life. That couldn’t be good.
One thick digit pressed deep inside as he rubbed the heel of his hand against her clit, and she was gone, passage clutching his finger as her climax blew. Her ears rang and there was this tingling aftershock racing over her skin, and it wasn’t going away because he didn’t stop. He touched her and teased her, playing her perfectly again and again until she had to bite her lips to stop from screaming.
Chase rocked against her as he worked his fingers in and out of her slick passage. It was somewhat surreal, to have the light sneaking in the windows, the continued rumble of snoring from at least a few of the men, and Chase doing dirty and wonderful things to her. And when he pressed his mouth against her neck and sucked?
White lights in front of her eyes, deer-in-the-headlight type, total out-of-control response as she orgasmed again. The sensation was nearly eclipsed by the bite of his teeth on her neck muscle, almost as if he was holding her in place as he continued to rut against her. He pulled his fingers from her body and grasped her hip, stickiness ignored as he held on tight.
Wetness spread over her back as he grunted, and the scent of his release mixed with hers and, oh Lordy, there was another reason why shifters shouldn’t have even non-sex sex in the same room as other shifters.
He pushed her onto her belly and levered away the sleeping bags, probably to keep from getting stickiness all over them. She buried her face deeper into the pillow and enjoyed all the little happy pheromones racing through her. The wet patch on her back somehow added to her contentment, as relaxed as she’d been in days. Maybe months.
Amazing what an orgasm by someone’s hand other than your own could do.
When Chase pressed his big warm palm against her back she didn’t move. When he slipped his fingers through the seed he’d left on her skin, she rumbled with happiness before forcing herself to stop. Okay, not a human thing, or maybe not a human thing all the time, but having him rub his semen into her skin like he was painting her was so utterly wolfish she was floored.
Yes, he was probably doing it as an extra step for her own safety, creating a clear marking to warn off other shifters, but her brain didn’t care. It was so. Freaking. Cool.
And if her friends back at vet school saw this, they’d need therapy.
The snoring in the room had lessened, and at least one person exited the cabin. Shelley stared at the wall and wondered if they could stay in bed until the place was empty. Chase continued to touch her, only now his talented fingers were massaging her tight calves.
If she groaned again, would the guys in the room think they were still at it? And did she really care? Because this felt so very, very good.
Chase adjusted position, crawling over her, and she flushed at the vivid images racing through her brain. Pictures of him lifting her hips and taking her from behind.
Seems once she’d let the sex fiend out there was no holding her back. Chase dug his thumbs into her hamstrings and dragged upward to press deep into her butt cheeks, and she gasped.
Yeah, a virtual orchestra of grunts and groans. She was so classy.
Chase leaned over her, the heavy weight of his groin resting against her ass as he covered her back and kissed her neck. “Time to get up, lazy bones.”
Up. Like that thing between his legs was once again up, if she was any judge of male anatomy. Shelley tried to roll out from under him. He merely trapped her once she rotated halfway, and then she was in real trouble because now they were face to face and… Yeah, that naked thing and the up stuff were a definite reality.
As hot as the situation was, she fought for control. “This is so not fair,” she complained, lifting her hands with the intention of pushing him away.
Hmm, palms to hairy chest.
She was a goner.
Chase smiled. “Just wanted to be sure you were okay.”
The unspoken rest of the sentence was there in his laughing eyes. The…make sure you’re okay and not going to kick me for being too forward and smearing my jism all over you.
“Oh, move it, Chase. We’ve got a long way to go.”
But not nearly as far as she’d thought before this little escapade. As in, she really and truly was ready for a romp with another shifter which, after so long of doing without, was about the most wonderful thing she could imagine.
Chase got them breakfast. Packed. Said goodbye to the two shifters still hanging out at the cabin, and led Shelley into their second day of the wilderness.
He had to slow his pace three times before he finally hit a section of trail that was clear enough for Shelley to take the lead and go her own speed. It wasn’t that he was in a hurry to get anywhere—
Liar.
First he’d justified his rapid tempo on feeling great after making Shelley come. Plus, coating her with his seed had been so damn hot he could be expected to have a little more vim in his vigor. Neither was the real reason he was marching like a crazy man.
Somewhere inside he’d realized that today’s destination was his cabin, and there they were guaranteed privacy. Didn’t matter if Delton was still in the area. The man would hightail it out soon enough.
Even if Jones were around, the boy would be fine in a hammock in the bush for the night.
He and Shelley were going to have a night alone with a bed and no snoring shifters keeping an anxious ear and eye on them.
Deciding what to do to her first was driving him mad because there was no longer any doubt where this was going to end. Whatever had kept her from wanting sex with him before was gone.
And if he was at all familiar with female anatomy, Evan had been wrong about one thing. Shelley was either no virgin, or she’d at least played with some toys over the years.
He tripped and barely caught himself from tumbling to the ground.
Okay. Thinking about Shelley playing with sex toys was not allowed while hiking along the ridge of a mountain.
They followed the same routine as the previous day. Forward motion, break for a snack, hike again, repeat. They didn’t talk about much. Certainly not about the cabin and him waking her up. But she smiled and fluttered her lashes at times, and he caught her staring when he stripped off his shirt to dip his head in a creek to cool off.
The last section of the trail opened up enough they could walk side by side, and Shelley fell into step with him.
“So, one thing, Chase. What’s with the Silver business?”
“I wondered if you’d catch that.” He grinned. “Yeah, it’s easier sometimes, since a few Mikes or Daves in the area can mean having to say ‘the Dave that lives by the bend in the creek’. I got the handle Silver a few years back—the hair and my last name, I guess.”
She frowned, hands clutching the backpack straps at chest level as she concentrated. “Last name. Johnson. How does that turn into Silver?”
He sighed. This part made him a touch insane. “Arghh, avast ye maties.”
Shelley laughed. “No. Long John Silver?”
“Never said they weren’t a creative lot up here.”
She matched his speed. “They’re good people, aren’t they? On the whole?”
“They are. Misunderstood, kicked around. Some of them are out of touch with reality, but whether that’s from being in the bush or what drove them into the wilderness in the first place, I’m not sure.”
“Why’d you end up here? If you don’t mind me asking.”
He shrugged. “Told you I can’t control the shift. Which group is going to welcome me in? The wolves or the cats?”
She sighed. “Yeah. Shifters aren’t always the most forgiving of differences.”
It was the perfect opportunity, again, and this time he couldn’t allow the chance to slip past. “What’s your story? You live in Whitehorse but you aren’t a part of the pack? That’s not wolf.”
“That’s the type of wolf you know up here.” She said it with a bit of attitude, as if daring him to prove her unsuitable for his part of the world.
He wasn’t about to fight her. “You do fit in up here. More than I expected. But that doesn’t answer my question. Why did you not know the Alpha?”
“Just moved.” She paused. “Well, that’s not the entire truth. I did just move back, but I left Whitehorse years ago almost as much of an outcast as you would be.”
He waited. Didn’t need to fill the air with noise when she obviously had more to say.
“Funny how some thoughts drag you back to being twelve years old again and sad that people don’t like you.” Shelley took a deep breath. “I promised myself I wouldn’t complain anymore, so just the facts. I can’t shift. Not sure why.”
Impossibly, Chase felt his cheeks heat. “You ever try to trigger your wolf?”
She coughed. “Yes. Didn’t work.”
His tongue tangled in his mouth. He wanted to say something meaningful like Damn shame. Or, Sorry to hear that, but the only thing his thick skull fixated on was if she’d tried to trigger her wolf, she was most definitely not a virgin. Suddenly the nice firm mattress waiting in his cabin was more important to reach quickly than before.
“Chase?”
“Yeah?”
He slowed his step and she stared at him as they walked. He was sure she was going to ask him if they were going to have sex.
“How…I mean…do you think? If it’s not any trouble…”
Trouble? His dick woke up and paid attention. “What, Shell?”
She grabbed him by the arm and pulled him to a full stop. “Can you show me how you changed just a part of you like that?”
He snorted. Then laughed. And as her face brightened at his response, he laughed even harder.
Oh, Chase, this is what you get for having sex on the brain. The woman didn’t want in his pants, she wanted to further her education.
He forced his lustful thoughts into line and gestured her down the path. “I don’t mind.”
“How is your shoulder? Any better? Worse?”
Her tone indicated the doctor was in the house. Chase had to stop from imaging her in a short little white skirt wearing nothing up top but a stethoscope. He rotated his arm thoughtfully. “About the same. A little hot, a little achy. Just not getting any better.”
“I have an idea I want to try when we get to your cabin.”
“Sure.”
“And I want to see you change only partway.”
Bossy thing. He liked it. “Yeah.”
Shelley looked up at him. “One other request, if you don’t mind.”
“What?”
“Next time you plan on us hitting a dangerous situation, warn me ahead of time. I don’t mind thinking on my feet, but I’d prefer a little head’s up.”
She was right; he’d been a jerk. “Sorry. And I will.”
They topped the hill that overlooked his cabin. He watched her face instead of glancing over the familiar panorama he’d witnessed a million times. For some reason he felt a deep need to see her response. To have her excited about the place he’d built for himself in the bush. He tried to explain away the longing as the normal anticipation of bringing a stranger home, but the desire was more than that.
She was getting under his skin in a way that wasn’t very smart.
Her eyes lit up then a crease folded her brow. “Chase? Is that your place?”
“Yeah.”
She turned those mesmerizing dark eyes to meet his. “Why are there dozens of people gathered on the front porch?”
He snapped around to look. There was no denying it. His usually tranquil home was swarming with men. Pouring in and out the door, some sitting on the front clearing he liked to call a lawn. Some were pitching tents.
He’d been invaded.
Chapter Eleven
Caroline turned over another set of records and forced herself to concentrate. Her least favourite part of the job. Paperwork sucked, but she refused to let herself get behind when it looked as if the hotel would be overrun in the next couple weeks once the full contingent of bears arrived in town.
Enigma wrapped himself around her ankles, and she scooped him up mindlessly, the soft fur ball an amazing balm to her tight nerves. She flipped one-handed through pages as he settled in her lap. Stroking her fingers through his soft fur again and again was like playing with a worry stone. Relaxation rose.
He seemed to enjoy her attention as well. By the time she made it to the bottom of the pile, the kitten was purring like a train.
“How can a little thing like you make so much noise?”
His ears twitched, but other than that, he didn’t move.
Behind her the door opened and closed. “Caro? You here?”
“In the office.”
Evan’s footfalls came closer. “I need the contact numbers for the Miles Canyon—achoo. Achoo.” He stopped in front of her desk, wrinkling his nose. “Don’t tell me. Let me guess. That furry thing is in—”
He sneezed toward his elbow another couple times before groaning in frustration.
She rose to her feet, tucking a protesting Enigma against her body. “I’m so sorry. When I promised Shelley I’d babysit her cat, I had no idea you were allergic.”
Evan grabbe
d a handful of tissues from the box on the desk then backed toward the window. “No reason for—achoo—you to expect this.”
He propped the window open, stepped in front of the fresh breeze that rushed in and breathed deeply.
“I can find someone else to look after him.” Caroline felt horrible, but couldn’t stop a small smile from escaping.
Evan’s eyes narrowed. “What?”
“Nothing.” She straightened up and wiped her expression clean of all amusement.
He stepped forward menacingly then stopped as Enigma meowed. “Tell me what’s got you smirking, or I will get revenge.”
Caroline snickered. “Fine. I never expected such a great and mighty Alpha to be floored by a teeny little thing like this.”
He sneezed again.
And again.
She giggled.
“It’s not—achoo—funny.”
Caroline tried to stop, she really did, but by now just the thought of giggling made her laugh. Add in Evan’s terrified expression as Enigma escaped from her arms to land on the desk and stalk toward him.
She was dying.
Evan tossed her a dirty look as he stripped off his shirt. “I will get you later.”
“Me and my little dog too? I mean kitten?” Caroline squeezed out the words. “So, you need contact numbers. I can do that. Well, sort of do. I still haven’t been able to figure out who the current leader is over there.”
Evan tossed his shirt on the desktop, and the kitten dropped to a crouch. His tail twitched as he stalked forward to pounce on Evan’s shirt and bury himself in the fabric. “How can an entire pack keep their Alpha undercover? It’s just not very typical wolf behavior.”
“Because most packs like to brag on their leader?” Caroline watched in fascination as he continued to strip. “Is there a reason you’re getting naked in the middle of the afternoon? Not that I’m complaining, not really.”
Evan finished a sneezing jaunt before being able to speak. “Experimentation. I want to see if I react to the fur ball in my wolf. In the meantime, find the file on the Miles Canyon pack and read me the parts about any activity they’ve had in the city over the past ten years. Oh, and that information you found about the last bear territorial settlement. If we’re about to be—achoo—invaded I want to know possible troubles to be ready for.”