“That’s a wolf term.” His look was warning.
“Well, what would you call him?” Casey looked over to where Nathaniel was in close conference with Victor, an older man with a grizzled beard.
“Mostly, we just call him Nathaniel. Everyone knows who he is.” James took a sip of beer and cracked his neck.
“Who was the white wolf?”
“Old enemy.” James shrugged. “It’s…difficult to explain.”
“You just don’t want to tell me, because you don’t want me spilling all your secrets.”
“That, too,” he admitted.
“I’m not going to.” Casey grinned at his dubious look. “I mean, come on—I tell my family and friends I saw three men turn into bears and fight a pack of thirty wolves, and I shot a few wolves. I don’t even have a scratch. They’re going to lock me up and make sure I never have a shotgun again.”
“You make a good point.” James settled back in his chair. “We’re just told…never to let anyone know. We grow up learning to hide what we are.”
“So are you humans who transform into bears, or bears who transform into humans?”
“Both? I don’t know. I guess we’re human. We’re always born human, and then we learn to control the transformations. I hated learning to walk as a human, I still remember that. It’s so much easier with four legs than two.”
“I hadn’t thought of that.” Casey took a sip of beer. “So there’s…a whole world out there of people like you.”
“Shifters. Yep.” He looked up. “Nathaniel’s coming to talk to you. I’ll go check on the burgers.”
“How are you?” Nathaniel asked as he arrived.
“I’m going to have a pretty righteous bruise from the shotgun, but otherwise okay.” Casey smiled up at him. “How are you?”
“I’ll be all right. You got all of the major things.” He gave a rueful smile at his arms; peppered with Band-Aids. “And as you saw, I heal quickly.”
“Ridiculously quickly,” Casey agreed. “So…what happened out there?”
“You remember all that stuff your dad told you about wolves? Well, it’s usually true…but lately, around here; the wolves are getting bolder. Every year, a few more farmers were reporting livestock gone, people were reporting that they lost their pets, kids were saying they saw wolves in the woods.” He sighed and rubbed his head. “Well, that wolf you saw, the white one—he wasn’t just a shifter; he was a mage, too. He was doing something to the native wolves around here, changing them and their instincts. And he was part of the spell, there was no undoing it without him agreeing to, or dying. We told him what he was doing wasn’t natural, that we’d stop him if he didn’t stop it on his own. And he’s been out for us ever since. Today, he thought he’d caught me alone. And he sent real wolves, not shifters, to make a point.” He sighed heavily. “They didn’t have to die.”
“I’m sorry,” Casey murmured.
“It’s not your fault. They’d been turned into monsters. Nothing anyone did would have kept them from attacking. But maybe…maybe the ones that are left will turn back into what they were.” He looked over at her, draining the last of his beer. “Thank you for coming out there. I hoped you wouldn’t, but it was a close fight, even with James and Victor. If you hadn’t been there; I don’t know what would have happened.”
“I’m glad you’re safe.” Casey leaned back in her seat and crossed her legs, letting her eyes drift over the muscles in his arms and across his chest.
He noticed, and his eyes darkened with desire.
“Come with me.”
“But James—”
“Come on.” He pulled her into the house and up the stairs, stripping off his shirt when they reached the landing and pinning her against the wall. One kiss and her knees went weak. “So, one thing to know about shifters…”
“Yes?” His fingers were undoing the buttons on her shirt, and hers were tangling with his belt buckle.
“They have exceptionally good hearing.” He smiled down at her. “So you’re going to need to be very quiet.” His eyes locked on hers and his smile grew as he trailed a finger down between her legs, watching her bite her lip to keep from gasping. “Good.”
He picked her up and tossed her onto the bed, dragging her shorts off and smiling appreciatively at the lacey thong she was wearing.
“Very nice.”
“Your turn.” She shrugged out of her shirt and watched hungrily as he slipped off his pants and briefs, and bit her lip when she saw him at last. “Also, uh…very nice.”
“You should be naked,” he said lazily. He watched as her panties and bra came off, smiling, and then he crawled onto the bed with her, kissing her as his fingers slid between her legs again. She arched when he parted her. His thumb found her clit and stroked it gently, and his fingers slipped easily inside.
“So wet already.”
Casey bit back a moan.
“Good girl.” But he shifted, kissing down her torso and along the curve of her hip, tracing it with his lips and tongue before bending to put his head between her legs.
“Oh, no fair.” She whimpered when his tongue parted her. He was kissing, licking, stroking as his fingers thrust into her, and she bit down on her own fingers to keep from moaning again.
“Tell me what you want, Casey. Tell me what you want me to do to you.”
“Please don’t stop,” she whispered, her back arched. She was not going to be able to stay quiet much longer if he kept going like this.
He must have known it, too, because his fingers withdrew and his lips trailed up. His kisses traced around the curve of her breast, and his tongue flicked at her nipple. When she gasped aloud, his hand came down over her mouth.
“I think you might be quieter with something in your mouth,” he suggested. His grin turned into a gasp of his own when her hands found him, and he lay back as she moved.
She licked up the length of him, circling the tip with her tongue and kissing it before taking him in her mouth. She couldn’t close to fit the length of him, but she took him as deep as she could, tongue and lips working, little moans starting in her throat when she saw him clench his hands to stay silent.
When she straddled him, he held himself rigid while she sank down onto his cock. His eyes were open to slits, and he looked pleased to see her gasp at the size of him. She moved her hips cautiously, and he groaned as she rode him, his hands clenching around her ass.
“More.” A command, and she felt herself clench around him at the sound of it.
“Yes…sir.”
He growled at that and flipped her over, pinning her hands over her head as he drove into her. Casey bit her lip to muffle her cries. He was driving deep, grinding his hips against her so that she shivered with pleasure, and she was writhing, moving her hips to beg for more. It would never be enough, she was sure. She wanted more of him; she wanted him to ride her hard. She wanted to make him come.
“Turn over,” he whispered in her ear.
“Yes, sir.”
“You keep doing that,” he muttered, “and I will be very tempted to make you scream my name.”
“Mmm.” Casey settled on her stomach and lifted her hips. She bit her lips when he slipped his fingers inside her, parting her for his cock.
He fucked her slowly, just like he’d promised earlier, and Casey felt herself melting at each stroke. She was pressing her hips back. His hand covered her mouth, and she could hear his harsh breathing in her ear. Each thrust was slow, and she whimpered against his fingers when he withdrew.
Slowly, so slowly she could barely be sure of it, his pace increased. He drove harder, faster into her, and Casey spread her legs to let him go deeper. She could feel her pleasure rising, urgency building each time he thrust into her, and from his faint growl in her ear, she knew he felt the same.
It seemed forever that her pleasure built, but they both tipped over the edge unexpectedly, in a moment. His lips found hers as she came, and pleasure spiraled outwards, making her
mind go blank as she spasmed around him. Their hips were still moving, greedy for more even as they reached their climax.
When the world came back to normal, Casey heard him laugh, low in his throat.
“Perfect,” he murmured. He rolled away, and then held out his arms so she could nestle against him.
“Perfect,” she agreed.
The End
Part IV
Bear Baby
About the Book
A circle of friends is a thing to cherish. For Tessa Johnson a summer trip to the Blue Ridge Mountains of Northern Georgia is just the thing to take the edge off of a rough year and what has turned out to be a very tumultuous time for one of her friends. She has no idea she’s heading straight into fate and a world she’s only ever dreamed of. And her friends are coming with her.
A string of mistakes leads to some very interesting interactions with the very stoic Hale Masters. Tessa can’t keep her eyes off him, and the promise of excitement and passion that flares in his eyes makes her school-teacher heart beat. He makes her want to let her hair down but she holds back. Would such a rich man be interested in her when her two beautiful best friends are far more his type? Or is she wrong and she’s just what the Alpha male has been looking for?
Tessa finds herself conflicted and lost but with her friends around, encouragement to break her own rules is never far. Letting go is a hard thing to do but Tessa wants to give Hale all he asks for and more. An emergency at home changes her plans however and Tessa takes it as the answer she’s been seeking. But is it really the one she wanted?
Chapter 1
“Tessa! We’re leaving in twenty minutes, where are you?” My friend Kaia’s voice came blasting out of the speaker of my mobile phone and I wanted to smother her with my pillow. Well, smother the phone with my pillow at least. Cracking an eye open I peeked at the glaring green lit numbers. It was five minutes to six, what was her problem?
Then I lurched up. It was five minutes to six, I’d overslept! Telling Kaia I’d be at her place in ten minutes I scrubbed my teeth and face, almost using the toothpaste as my facewash, threw my toiletries in a bag, and grabbed the bag I’d thankfully packed the night before. It was vacation time and I’d almost missed it.
I looked down at the clothes I’d thrown on, a conservative button up top in a shade of electric green that was about as wild as my wardrobe got, black slacks, and shoes my other friend Cora called “the erection crushers”, and sighed. I’d promised the girls I’d wear some of the new clothes I’d bought but they were packed up and I didn’t have time to change. I only had five more minutes to get to Kaia’s house if we wanted to hit the road and get to the Singing Stones Resort in the Blue Ridge Mountains we were heading to on time. I wanted to miss the morning traffic in Atlanta and only had a few minutes to spare.
Hoping I wouldn’t get caught speeding, I floored the gas pedal of my SUV and drove away from my home, hoping I’d turned everything off and locked all of the windows and doors. I was singing a version of the Mad Hatters frantic cries about not being late to myself and kind of felt like Alice after she fell down the rabbit hole. The world was surreal without coffee and breakfast, something I’d have to rectify along the way but not just now, I needed to pick up my girls.
I finally pulled up to Kaia’s house with a screech of protesting brakes as I threw my foot on the pedal. Cora and Kaia were at the curb, looking at me in disbelief and awe. I never drove like this, I was never late, and I was certainly never unpredictable. At 28 I was one of the most conservative, mature, “together” people I knew. I dressed to suit my job and to garner respect, I’d paid off most of my student loans and was now working to save up for a house, I owned my own car that I bought on my own because my credit rating was excellent, and I was always on time for work.
I rolled down a window as Cora and Kaia stood there, still gaping at me.
“Yes, I know. The world has just ended, hell has indeed frozen over, and yes, there are probably zombies roaming the earth as we speak. Get in before they find you.” My joke fell on stunned ears but the other two women, my best friends and coworkers, finally got into the car after loading their luggage. Kaia sat up front while Cora climbed into one of the back seats.
“So what happened?” Kaia asked after five minutes of silence. She was looking at me as if she was afraid I’d go off, or perhaps would spontaneously combust.
“I stayed up late reading that horror book you gave me. Then my alarm didn’t go off. So here we are, on time but I still feel like I’m supposed to be rushing. This isn’t a good start to our day.”
“Girl, we’re fine, slow down. If we get stuck in traffic, we get stuck in traffic.” Cora spoke up from the back seat, her fingers already busy clattering on her phone. I had to guess she was blogging this part already.
With a slight smile, I looked at my two friends and pulled into our favourite fast-food restaurant for some country ham biscuits and coffee.
“We’re going to be huge when this vacation is over.” Kaia protested but I noticed she didn’t turn her biscuit away.
I drove away from the window and back onto the interstate, my biscuit almost gone already. Kaia and Cora are my two best friends, beautiful, intelligent, and excellent educators. We are as different as day and night though, both physically and mentally. Even our personalities are different but somehow that brought us all closer together and made our circle of friends even stronger.
Kaia is half African American and half Caucasian, her skin a light coffee color with dark brown, almost black hair. She’s tall, well over my five foot six, and athletic but with exotic features that make her a stunning beauty at 27 years old. Combine all of that with her clear grey eyes and she is simply stunning. I often stared at her in wonder at just how perfectly symmetrical and beautiful she is, both on the inside and out.
And Cora! I glanced back at my friend in the rear-view mirror. Cora was about three inches shorter than I, and much thinner than my plush frame, but she was gutsy, beautiful, and didn’t put up with anybody’s junk. Cora could provide for herself and now that she was pregnant she’d become almost fierce about her independence. I think she was even more “with it” at 25 than I had been. The girl was going places if her pregnancy didn’t slow her down.
The baby’s father ran like a track star when he found out about the baby, breaking Cora’s heart. He’d apparently fled back to Ireland, too cowardly to stick around and take care of his own child. But Cora had me and Kaia, she’d be fine.
Cora was gorgeous in her own right. Copper red hair that just gleamed in the sunlight, with tumultuous green eyes that could never decide if they wanted to be a silvery green or a brownish green. The color changed with Cora’s mood and only highlighted just how beautiful she was.
I, on the other hand, had your average light blond hair, dark blue eyes, and was overweight. An avid walker I was often frustrated by my inability to shift some of my weight. Despite my unmarried status, I looked like your average housewife with a conservative streak that bordered on obsession. I hated showing any skin that might be deemed inappropriate and would often wear light jackets even in the summer. In Georgia that can be a very foolish choice.
I didn’t like to draw attention to myself, though, and this made dating, much less finding a life-partner, very hard to do. If I’d lose ten more pounds, you’d be able to see that my face was more pointed than round, but it just wouldn’t move. Kaia had suggested seeing a doctor about it and I was considering it. I hated the way I looked but there was nothing I could do about it. So I hid.
Kaia and Cora had made me promise that on this vacation I wasn’t going to hide, however. I even had a two piece bathing suit in my suitcase, though it wasn’t as tiny as the ones Cora and Kaia had likely brought with them. I had shorts, and short sleeved shirts, skirts that only went as far as my knees, and I’d even brought some sexy lingerie, instead of my usual cotton and serviceable sets.
Our motto on this vacation was “laissez le bon temps
rouler”. No, we weren’t going to New Orleans, and we weren’t going to Vegas, but we were going on vacation and the good times had to roll. It’s what we were going for. And if I met a guy, I told myself, I met a guy. And then the good times might indeed roll!
Chuckling to myself I took the exit we’d planned to stop at and drove us into the world’s largest baby store. We’d plotted stops along the way, so that we could check in by eleven without having to wait, and this was the first of them. I wasn’t looking forward to an hour spent in a baby store, looking at cribs and diaper sets, but it was Cora’s choice.
Three hours later we were pulling into the parking lot of the resort and wondering how we were going to get home if we bought anything else. We’d bought baby clothes for Cora, hiking gear for Kaia and me, and some mirrors for my hallway at a handmade furniture store that I simply couldn’t live without. My SUV was full! Kaia and I went to the back of the vehicle to do some juggling to get our luggage out while Cora giggled in her seat.
“I guess we should have waited for the shopping part until we were on our way home. But you guys got me such lovely things! I’m going to love wearing those maternity tops when it’s time!” Cora was so enthralled with her daydream about her new tops that she didn’t notice we’d got out the luggage and were waiting for her.
“Come on girly, get a move on. I thought I was the slow one today?” I called out to her.
Sticking out her hand Cora giggled when I took it. She was only four months along, and barely showing, but she was already having difficulty moving around. I kissed her cheek as she got out, and we all moved into the resort.
The exterior looked like a four floor wood cabin with a pine façade and dark green tiling. With lots of windows, we could see that the place had great views of the mountains and the balconies on the front would be a great place to spend a peaceful moment during our vacations. We each had our own room and we couldn’t wait to get in them. We’d wanted the rooms with the Jacuzzis but the price was just too far out of our budgets so we’d settled for rooms with views.
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