by Kim Fox
“I do,” she said, turning to look at Cole in a dreamy way. “That is pure magic.”
“It’s so hard,” Rory said, grimacing as he looked down at the ground. “I wanted to surprise her with a day full of fun but she has to work today.”
“Oh no,” Jennifer said, frowning. “I know how it feels to be separated in the beginning. It sucks.”
“Yeah,” Rory said, giving his best Oscar performance. “It hurts my heart to be away from her.”
“That’s too bad,” Cole said, grabbing the bag from his hands. “I guess you’ll have to see her after work.” He shot Rory a warning look that the wolf shifter ignored.
“I hope that my heart can take it,” he said, clutching his chest.
Rory hid his smile as a thought dawned on Jennifer. “Cole,” she said, pointing at her mate with a smile on her face. “It’s your day off today. Why don’t you cover for Candice so that Rory and her can go fall in love?”
Rory waved her away, shaking his head. “I don’t want to be a bother,” he said to her.
“Yeah,” Cole said, butting his head in. “He doesn’t want to be a bother.”
“It’s no bother, right Cole?” she said, raising her eyebrow at her mate. “You’ll be able to hang out with me all day.”
Rory grinned as he was about to drive the final nail into the coffin of Cole’s day off. “I’m sure that he’d rather spend the day with his mate than doing something boring like fishing all day.”
Cole was staring at him with a look that would melt a dragon shifter.
Jennifer grabbed her man’s arm and pulled him in through the open door. “It will be fun,” she said, smiling at him. “We can do little visits to each other while Rory and Candice fall in love.”
“But…” Cole muttered but it was no use. His day was as good as gone.
“Don’t forget to feed the fish,” Rory said before darting up the stairs.
He hurried down the hall, laughing at Cole as he approached the room where Candice was sleeping. He quietly slipped in and smiled when he saw the stunning fox shifter spread out on the bed. It had been torturous to leave her this morning but he got what he wanted: The day off with her.
Her eyes fluttered open as he sat on the bed, admiring her red hair that was splayed out on the pillow.
“Good morning,” he whispered, excited to tell her the great news.
“What time is it?” she asked, bursting out of bed. “I have to get to work.”
Rory smiled as he watched her race around the room, grabbing the clothes that she was wearing the night before and wiggling into them as she bounced around in a panic.
“You have another day off,” he said, grinning as he explained that Cole was taking over for her.
“Sleeping with the boss has its perks,” she laughed. “Are you sure that Cole is okay with it?”
Nope. He’s not.
“Of course he is,” Rory lied. “He’s always happy to help his fellow crew members out.”
They decided to grab a quick breakfast and then phase into their animals to let them roam around in the forest together.
Rory’s inner wolf had been on edge for a few days now ever since Drake had returned. He kept pacing around within, yelping and whining like he was agitated and bothered by something.
He just needed a morning of being a wolf in the forest. That should settle him down. But it was weird. His wolf never acted up like this.
Candice washed up in the bathroom and they quickly passed Cole on the way outside.
“Thank you so much, Cole,” Candice said, clasping her hands together as she stopped in the lobby.
Rory grabbed her by the belt and pulled her toward the door before Cole could answer.
“I hate you so much right now,” Cole said, glaring at him over the desk.
“No fishing Bubbles,” Rory answered, sticking his tongue out at him before slipping out the door.
It was a beautiful day in the late summer where the air was hot and dry and the possibilities were endless. They strolled over to the trailers, already talking and laughing as they enjoyed each other’s company.
“Rory,” Joan called out from the campfire. She walked over with her hands on her hips and a smile on her face. “Hey, Candice,” she said smiling like she was saying hi to a friend rather than an employee.
Rory’s inner wolf whined and started moving around inside of him. Easy boy. We’ll be in the forest soon enough.
“When you have a few minutes today,” Joan said, “go to the river and grab a few fish for the kitchen. Jennifer is making some-”
Rory stepped back in shock as his wolf let out a low challenging growl deep from within. His heart started racing as his wolf growled again, nipping and snapping to be released.
“What are you doing?” Joan asked, her eyes widening in shock. She stepped back as her little frame started shaking wildly. Her bear was trying to break out of her skin.
“I don’t know,” Rory said, gulping. “He’s never done that before.”
Rhett came racing out of his trailer, right on cue. He stood in front of Joan, whispering to try and calm her bear down.
“Listen to my voice,” he whispered softly as he held her hands. She had her eyes closed, breathing heavily as she tried to control her inner animal. “Everything is okay. Put your bear to sleep.”
A few tense minutes passed and Joan opened her eyes, her crazy bear under control for the moment.
“Was that a challenge?” Joan asked, her exhausted eyes locked on Rory.
Rory shook his head. “No,” he said, even though it had been a challenge. He absolutely loved Joan and it had been his idea for her to become the crew’s alpha so he had no idea why his wolf was challenging her authority now. It didn’t make any sense.
Unless…
“It felt like a challenge,” Joan said, breathing heavily.
Rory glanced over his shoulder at the forest, wanting to get out of there. He didn’t trust his agitated wolf to keep quiet.
“My wolf just needs some fresh air,” he said, backing away from Joan. “I’ve kept him cooped up for a few days.”
Joan shook her head as she turned to Candice. “Make sure he doesn’t do anything stupid.”
***
Deep in the forest, Rory gasped as he watched Candice phase into the most stunning fox that he’d ever seen. He smiled as he looked into her sparkling amber eyes and saw Candice looking back at him from within.
Her fox’s fur was the same red color as her hair, but with her cute snout and long bushy tail, the similarities stopped there.
Rory peeled off his clothes as Candice’s fox bounded ahead, waiting beside a tree for him. He was still shaken by the incident with Joan.
His wolf had never done anything like that before. He was never a dominant wolf and Rory loved Joan. They had even spent many hours in their animal forms and his wolf always got along great with her grizzly bear.
He couldn’t help but think that it had something to do with Drake.
“Just forget about it,” he muttered to himself as he pulled off his shoes. Enjoy your day with Candice. Cole will make you pay for it after so you might as well enjoy it.
He took a deep breath and let his wolf come forward. The animal burst out of him and turned away from the stunning fox, looking back toward the inn.
No…
Now that he was trapped inside his wolf’s skin he could feel his intentions. And they weren’t good.
His wolf was still loyal to his old pack. To his birth pack.
And to Drake.
His wolf’s loyalty ran deep and he was devoted to his original alpha, no matter how much his human form hated the horrible man.
The wolf raised his head and ran. He sprinted through the forest, past the trailers, across the field, around the screaming guests, and onto the road.
He was running back to his home.
Running back to his pack.
And running back to his true alpha. Drake.
> eight
What a day.
Candice sighed as she turned off the lights in the lobby, leaving one over the desk for Bubbles. The day had started off so promising before it all turned to shit. A fun day off with Rory would have been her first choice of things to do today, so it sucked extra bad when it didn’t turn out that way.
She had been in her fox form, waiting for him in the forest when he just took off running. Candice had thought that he was playing a game with her so she had followed him, trying as hard as she could to keep up, but the wolf was fast and she had lost sight of him somewhere around the curve in the highway.
After an hour or so of waiting, she returned to her clothes, phased back into her human form and relieved Cole of his duty.
She spent the rest of the long day glued to the reception desk with one eye on the phone and one eye on the door, hoping that Rory would walk in or at least call to let her know why he had ditched her.
“You were right, Bubbles,” she said, sighing as she looked at the floating fish. “That’s why you don’t date coworkers.”
It would be awkward enough to face Rory and have to hear his explanation of why he ditched her, but then if she didn’t like the answer, she would still have to come back here every day for work. Talk about awkward.
“I’ll see you tomorrow, girl.”
Candice turned toward the door and gasped when she saw Rory standing there, looking exhausted. He was leaning against the door frame, looking at her with sad, tired eyes. His hair was a mess, his clothes filthy, and his body slumped forward like he had just walked through hell.
“Are you okay?” she asked, dropping her bag on the ground and hurrying over to him.
She grabbed his arm as he swayed on bare feet.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered as he hugged her with heavy arms. “That’s not what I had planned for the day.”
Candice guided him over to her chair and helped him sit down. She grabbed a bottle of water out of the mini-fridge behind the desk and opened it for him.
“Thanks,” he said after downing two-thirds of it in one long gulp.
She sat on the desk, watching him as he finished the rest of the water.
“Where did you go?”
“Idaho.”
“Idaho?” she repeated, staring at him in shock. “By car?”
“Nope,” he said, taking a heavy breath. “My stupid wolf tried to run across three states to get back to my old pack. I finally got a hold of him in Idaho. I managed to phase on the side of the highway.”
“Did anyone see you?” Candice asked, leaning forward. She was always so paranoid of a human seeing her phase.
“Just a kid in the backseat of a car,” he said, shaking his head. “I’m not worried about it. His parents will just think that he’s bored and making stuff up if he says anything.”
She sat there staring at him, not wanting to ask the most obvious question.
“Why would your wolf want to return to your old pack?” she finally asked.
Rory wiped his forehead with his hand as he closed his eyes. “Remember that guy that came here? The one on the motorcycle?”
She nodded.
“He was my old alpha,” Rory explained. “He’s the alpha of the pack that I was born into. My birth pack. He came back demanding that I return to them.”
“But you’re in a new crew now,” she said, trying to understand. “Joan is your alpha.”
“Not according to my wolf,” he said. “For some reason, my wolf is still loyal to him.”
“Oh,” she said, leaning back as she watched him. “That’s not good.”
He stared down at his hands as his shoulders drooped forward. “I’m finally happy here with The Wilde Crew,” he said in a flat voice. “I don’t want to go back.”
“So,” she said, rubbing his shoulder. “Joan can be your alpha. Can’t her bear put her dominance over your wolf and he’ll submit?”
Rory shook his head. “It’s not that easy with wolves. They’re social animals. Pack dynamics run deep in our blood. I don’t even understand it sometimes. He follows who he follows.”
“How can you make him see that his loyalty is in the wrong place?” she asked.
He looked up at her with sad, tired eyes. “I thought about that as I jogged through two states.”
“And?” she asked, looking hopeful. “What did you come up with?”
He sighed.
“Nothing.”
***
Rory felt much better after a hot shower. His wolf growled and then whined as Rory towel dried his hair, wanting to come out again.
Shut the fuck up. I’ll lock you in the pound if you try that shit again.
He was so fed up with hearing his wolf complain. He had acted like a spoiled pup for the entire time that Rory was jogging home, thrashing around, barking and yelping from within.
The stupid mutt had already ruined his day with Candice and now he was trying to ruin Rory’s night as well.
It’s not going to happen. How can I put a muzzle on an inner wolf?
Rory had managed to overtake his wolf somewhere in the forest in Idaho after running in a full sprint for hours. His wolf got distracted with the scent of a deer and Rory managed to lunge forward and rip out of him. He was naked without shoes, deep in the Idaho wilderness.
He backtracked, following his wolf’s scent until he came to a suburban area where he managed to sneak into an unlocked house and steal some clothes. The man of the house’s shoes were too small so he stayed barefoot for the rest of the way home.
Stupid wolf. How can I trust to let you out again?
He couldn’t. And that was the really messed up part. He had no idea how to make this little problem go away and he definitely couldn’t keep his wolf locked up within. They would both go crazy.
“Feeling better?” Candice asked, slipping into the bathroom of Rory’s trailer.
He looked at her gorgeous face in the reflection of the steamy mirror and nodded. How could he not feel better in her heavenly presence?
His problems would still be there in the morning whether he stressed about them or not. So tonight he could take the night off of worrying and enjoy the presence of the stunning girl in his trailer.
“I’m sorry again for ruining our date,” he said. He really felt terrible about it.
She took his hand and walked backward into the room, pulling him along. “You still have time to make it up to me,” she said with a grin on her lips.
Rory’s heart started beating harder than when he was sprinting across highways earlier that afternoon. Candice never took her eyes off of him as she sat on the bed and hooked her finger into the wet towel that was wrapped around his waist.
“You’ve had such a hard day,” she said, biting her bottom lip as she tugged the knot of the towel, making it fall to the floor. “Let me help you relax.”
Rory shuddered as she reached out and took him in her hands. His breath quickened as he hardened in her grip, stroking him slowly as she puckered her luscious lips.
All of the hardship of the horrible day just melted away as she opened her lips and took him in her mouth, swirling her tongue around the tip of his hard cock.
He hissed out her name as his body tingled; her lips, hands, and tongue making him forget everything. Candice closed her eyes as she hummed in pleasure, stroking Rory’s long shaft before sucking it once again.
He had run home all afternoon to be able to see Candice before she left for the night. It had been tough keeping up a grueling pace in the hot afternoon sun without shoes on but she was making it all worth it now.
She moaned as he sank his fingers into her hair and pulled her head away. Candice was breathless, looking up at him with glazed over eyes and an open mouth.
“Turn around,” he said, running his thumb over her bottom lip.
She didn’t ask any questions. She quickly turned around, dropping her body onto the bed with her ass in the air for him.
Rory slid
her pajama pants down her legs taking her panties along with them. Her perfumed scent of arousal filled the air, making his dick painfully hard. Fuck, she smells amazing.
She looked amazing too with her tight shirt that stopped short of her naked ass. He grabbed a fistful of the light pink shirt as he stepped forward with his hard cock in his hand.
“Mmmm,” she moaned as he dragged the head of his dick over her wet folds, spreading her legs a little wider for him.
He held his breath as he pushed inside of her, filling her with one slow thrust.
“Oh, fuck,” she moaned, grabbing onto the sheets and yanking a corner off of the mattress. He grabbed her curvy ass, staring down at her spread cheeks as he slowly pulled back, enjoying every silky wet inch.
Maybe it was the wolf in him but Rory loved doggy style the best. The feel of Candice’s round cheeks under his fingertips, the look of her arched back, the smell of her sweet hair were all driving him insane as he picked up the pace, moving inside of her with a steady yet controlled rhythm.
Their bodies melted together, molding as one. Rory’s grunts started coming out faster and stronger as his body clenched, every muscle tight with anticipation.
He loved the soft noises that she was making as she writhed on the bed, yanking the bedsheets toward her in balled-up fists.
Candice’s body clenched first, seizing tightly as her orgasm ripped through her. The sight was so erotic that Rory quickly followed, thrusting hard inside of her and releasing his seed deep in her pussy.
His breath was ragged and out of control as he clung to her body, relishing every second of it.
When it subsided, he fell onto the mattress beside her, totally spent as he caught his breath. His physically exhausting day was catching up to him again and he could barely open his eyes.
Candice curled up against him and kissed his cheek softly as he drifted off to sleep.
He was so tired that he could finally ignore the wolf that was still whimpering within.