“I can’t shift,” I said.
“There’s nothing to cook, so you have to,” said Hudson. “Now, come on, get up.”
I didn’t move. I pulled my knees up to my chin again, huddling away from them. “I can’t.”
“Stop being a brat, Piper,” muttered Hudson.
I lifted my head. “I’m not.” I took a deep breath. “How dare you say that?”
“Look, I get that this isn’t an ideal situation for you,” said Hudson, “but fighting us on everything isn’t going to help anything at all. This isn’t about anything other than eating, okay. No one will do anything to you while we’re in wolf form. You have our word. So, get over it, and shift.”
“You don’t understand,” I spat out. “I don’t know how. I’ve done it like three times in my entire life, one of which was in your stupid conclave. I spent a lot of time learning how to keep it from happening on a full moon, and now I don’t know how to do it.”
“Well, that’s okay,” said Hudson. “It’s simple to learn.”
“Just… relax,” said Kale, as if it were the easiest thing in the world. “Can’t you feel the wolf all the time, rearing up in your body, trying to get out?”
My skin crawled. Yes, I knew what he was talking about, but I strove not to pay any attention to that. I spent my whole life trying to keep from feeling it.
“Let it out,” said Kale.
“No.” I shook my head violently. Couldn’t he understand that was the worst thing in world?
Hudson sighed. “She’s not going to cooperate.” He reached over and tugged me off the bed.
“Let go of me,” I said, struggling.
Hudson hoisted me up into his arms. God, I was being carried everywhere these days. I pounded my fists against his chest, but he ignored me and carried me out of the cabin, out of those sliding glass doors I’d seen. He set me down on the brick patio.
Kale had followed us.
I tried to run back into the house, but Kale blocked my path. He pulled his shirt over his head.
I looked back and forth between them. “If you think I’m taking off my clothes—”
Hudson’s hand on my neck, just like the old man’s. My voice died in my throat.
“You know how to force her to shift?” said Kale.
“Not really,” said Hudson. He leaned close, whispering in my ear. “If you don’t take off your clothes, then you’re going to ruin them.”
“They aren’t even my clothes,” I hissed. “They don’t even fit me.”
“Suit yourself,” said Hudson, and his fingers began to move over my neck.
I pushed at him.
He grabbed onto me, pinning my arms against my sides with one of his arms and pulling me against his chest. “Let out the wolf, Piper,” he breathed.
And the hell of it was that I could feel the wolf inside me, prancing and excited, clawing her way up my spine, just itching to get out of me. “No,” I choked.
Hudson’s fingers stroked my neck. He seized my skin.
And it was all over. I screamed as the animal rushed out of me, sinking its claws deep into my skull.
As my muscles twisted, as my bones stretched and strained, Hudson let go of me.
My world was a haze of pain, but I watched as he tugged off his shirt and pants and the wolf’s body seemed to flow through him, like the currents of a river. It looked so peaceful, so easy.
But I was in agony.
“Stop fighting it,” yelled Kale, as he unbuttoned his pants.
Within seconds, he was a wolf too, another effortless transition.
I fell to the ground, feeling claws and fur tear aside my skin.
And the wolf took over, and I was no more.
* * *
I woke up from ecstatic dreams of running and leaping under the moon. I had ambled through the foliage of the woods, the night enveloping my body like a warm blanket. Everything had been perfect, peaceful, and right. For the first time in my entire existence, I’d known that I was doing exactly what I was meant to do, that I fit perfectly into the rhythms and currents of the universe.
In my dreams, there had been blood too. Delicious, hot gushes of it, flowing over my pelt as I sank my teeth into our prey. My pack and I, we had caught it together, and we had feasted…
It had been a lovely dream.
When I woke up, I felt languid and lazy. I stretched, and my bare skin collided with other bare skin. Opening my eyes, I realized that I was sleeping on the floor of the cabin. All three of us were in a pile of bodies—legs and arms thrown over each other. It was warm and comfortable here, and it too felt peaceful and right, being surrounded by all this flesh, by my pack—
You don’t have a pack, I told myself. I sat up. Yeah, all three of us were naked all right. And we’d tracked mud and leaves in from the outdoors. My own body was a little bit dirt streaked. I rubbed my eyes.
“Good morning,” whispered a voice.
I looked down to see Kale smiling sleepily up at me. He was taking in my bare breasts admiringly. I tried to get up, move away from him.
He wrapped an arm around my waist and yanked me back down to the floor, pressing the length of his body against mine.
Oh. Wow. He was really hard.
I felt an involuntary stirring between my legs. “Kale,” I muttered. “Stop it. Let me go.” I looked over at Hudson, who’d promised to keep Kale “off me,” but Hudson was still asleep. He’d curled into a ball now that we weren’t huddled up with him. He looked peaceful.
“Shh,” soothed Kale, his hands smoothing over my skin.
I gasped. I had to admit that touch felt nice. I closed my eyes. “I mean it. Don’t.”
His mouth on my jaw, on my clavicle.
Shivers went through me.
“You’re so fucking sexy, Piper,” he growled, and his fingers traveled over my breasts.
I sighed.
He traced circles around my nipples, making them stand up tall and erect. “You like that, don’t you?”
I moaned a little. “Stop,” I said feebly. But it felt amazing, like it was letting in the hot, gushing pleasure of the dreams, making everything bleed together into a world of goodness and perfection. I relaxed, giving him more access to my breasts.
He pinched one of my nipples.
Shocks of sweetness traveled down my torso, electrifying my clit.
“Do you really want me to stop?” He pinched my other nipple.
I was lost in the sensation. “No,” I murmured. “Don’t stop.”
He ran his hand over my belly, down to the inside of my thighs. “You do like it.”
“Mmm hmm,” I gasped.
He tickled the tops of my thighs, stopping just short of the place that I most wanted him to touch. “You want me to stroke your clit, don’t you?”
“Yes,” I breathed.
“Ask me nicely.”
I groaned.
He nudged tantalizingly closer, and then stopped.
I let out a breath. “Please, Kale.”
“Please what?”
“Touch me.”
“Touch you where?”
“Touch my pussy,” I choked. “Please.”
And then he was rubbing me, doing the same thing he’d done before, one finger rubbing my clit, another inside me.
I arched my back, bucking my hips against him.
“I love seeing you like this,” he whispered. “I love watching you fall apart under my touch. You can’t get enough of this, can you?”
I couldn’t answer. It felt too good. I panted.
Suddenly, he pulled his fingers away.
I made a strangled noise—disappointed.
“Shh,” he muttered, turning me over onto my stomach. His finger was back on my clit almost immediately, reaching around to toy with my sensitive nub. He pressed his body against mine. “You’re too sexy like that. I need…”
He was inside me.
I grunted. I was wet enough for him, but I hadn’t been expecting
it, and he’d just shoved himself all the way in.
He kept up his rhythmic rubbing of my clit, but he lifted my hips with one hand and began to drive himself into me.
I felt assailed by pleasure. His cock felt enormous in me. I wasn’t sure if he’d felt quite this big before, but last time, he hadn’t entered me until after I’d had an orgasm. This time, he seemed almost big enough to be almost uncomfortable, but not quite. He dragged in and out of me, and I could feel every inch and ridge of him.
Shit, I realized. He’s not wearing a condom.
This terrified me and also turned me on. My pussy clenched.
He felt it. “Good girl. Come for me, Piper.” His finger on my clit went faster.
The feeling ballooned, swelling as it overtook me. He felt so good, and my whole pelvis was tingling and happy and ready. Inside, something was pleasantly tightening on itself, winding closer and closer.
I groaned and gasped, pumping my hips against his cock.
“You like it when I fuck you don’t you?”
“Yes,” I managed. “Yes, fuck me, Kale, fuck me.” And my orgasm washed over me. The tight thing inside me popped open, like a firecracker, banging and sparking again and again. It was all-encompassing, intense and wonderful, and I cried out over and over, giving voice to my release.
Kale pushed deep, deep into me, lodging there as he came too, pumping himself into my body.
My eyes snapped open, because suddenly, with the orgasm over, the terror seemed to be a bigger thing than the arousal. He was coming inside me. Without any kind of barrier. That wasn’t—
But that was when I caught sight of Hudson, who was now wide awake, eyes open, and watching us.
My breath caught in my throat, and guilt stabbed into every fiber of my being. How had this happened? How did Kale do this to me? It was as if he could touch me and take away my will, as if he could force me to do his bidding. I remembered the first night in his kitchen, how I’d had to force myself to submit to him, but by the end, I was putty in his hands. He’d somehow done it again, and I was angry with him.
Kale disengaged from me. He eyed Hudson. “What? It was my turn.”
Hudson sat up, glowering at Kale.
“I don’t see why you’re so pissed,” said Kale. “And if you’re worried about her not wanting it, as you can see…”
“Shut up,” I muttered, curling into a ball. This was awful. Where had my brain gone? How had I let him do that to me?
Hudson got to his feet, and that was when I noticed that he had a huge hard-on. His thick member was standing at attention, sticking straight out from his body.
Huh. He was obviously angry, but he was turned on too. He couldn’t hide that.
But Kale didn’t seem to be noticing Hudson’s dick. Instead, he looked worried. He scrambled to stand up and backed away. “Look, Hudson, maybe if we—”
“Shut up,” Hudson said. His voice was scratchy. He looked down at me.
I looked away.
Wordlessly, Hudson knelt down next to me. Gently, he pried my arms away from my legs, easing my body to straighten out.
“Hudson,” I whispered, “I was barely awake, and he started touching me.”
“You shut up too,” he said. He nudged my legs apart, settled between them.
Oh my God. Was he going to…?
“Look at me, Piper,” he murmured.
Slowly, I raised my gaze to his.
His eyes seemed to pierce my soul. I couldn’t handle it, and I averted my gaze.
He snatched my chin and forced me to meet his eyes.
We stared at each other like that for several seconds. I could smell his Hudson smell, but it was more intense now, wilder, because the scents of the woods were mixed in. Again, I felt as if my dream was coming back to life, all of its intensity. But this time, it was combined with something luscious and soft as well.
Hudson grasped his cock and pressed it against my opening.
I gasped a little as he slid into me.
He let out a soft noise as well. And he kept looking into my eyes.
It was overwhelming now. Hudson was inside me, and he was starting to move, and we weren’t saying anything, but now I felt as if the comfortable, easy silence that always fell between us had somehow gotten inside my veins, and that it was pulsing through me. I felt relaxed, happy, and good.
Warmth drifted from my pelvis into the rest of my limbs.
And Hudson started a slow rhythm inside me, his cock stroking me, every languorous thrust pulsing pleasure and peace through me.
He groaned. He kissed me.
I opened my mouth to him, sinking further into him—we’d created a little world here, and there was nothing else. I could only think of Hudson, and I felt as if we were making love outside on a bed of pine needles, trees reaching up to the shining bright sun, a pleasant breeze blowing over us. All the while, a slow, steady delight built inside me. It felt good, it felt amazing, and it was just prodding me open, pushing further into me, taking me towards the brink in the most delicious of ways.
I wasn’t sure how long I was lost there in that other pleasure-world. I couldn’t tell the time, and I couldn’t pay attention to anything except Hudson’s body. He was my everything. No—he and I—we were something else. I felt as if we’d joined together and created this sensation, as if I’d never quite been whole until he’d filled me. I was complete now, and I needed Hudson to fit into me and make me perfect. We belonged like this. We belonged together.
When we came, we did it at the same time. It was as if I was a pitcher filled with bright, good sunlight, and that light filled all the way to the tippy-top. It began to slosh over as the first twitches of my orgasm found me. And then more spilled, and the twitches twitched on top of themselves, light and heat spilling all over me. Soon the sunlight was pouring over the edges, and I was writhing and wanton beneath Hudson, gasping and sighing as he came with me, and we toppled over the brink together.
When we were done, my whole body trembled. I sought Hudson’s lips again, and he kissed me throughly. Then he buried his head against my shoulder, breathing hard. He was shaking too.
We lay like that for another several seconds, basking in it, trying to handle the fact we were coming back to earth.
And then—abruptly—Hudson got up, pulling himself out of my body.
I felt it sharply, as if part of my being had been ripped away.
Hudson stood over me, every part of him shuddering. He swallowed. And then he turned and went out the glass doors onto the patio. He stood there, stark naked, his back to me.
I sat up. My whole body felt weak.
“What the fuck?” said Kale.
I looked up at him, unsure of what to say.
Kale stalked out of the living room. He went into the bedroom and slammed the door.
I sat there, just breathing, for a long time.
Finally, I got up and went outside to Hudson. I approached him from behind, and I touched him, because it felt like the most natural thing on earth to touch him. I placed my hand on his back—his wide, wide back, full of taut muscle.
He jumped like he’d been burned.
“Sorry,” I whispered.
He took several steps away from me. “You weren’t fucking him just now because you needed a place to stay,” he told the trees.
I bit my lip. I didn’t have an answer for him.
“There is something between us,” he said. “You can feel it too.”
“Yes. It’s… it’s incredible.”
He turned to look at me. “It’s weird.”
I flinched.
“I don’t even know you,” he said. “And I can’t stop thinking about you. I dream about your body. Every time I’m alone, all I can think about is your body and what it’s like to have my mouth on your skin.”
I felt a return of our closeness from before. I reached out for him.
He turned back to the trees. “I don’t know why. You’re nothing but a fucking slut.”<
br />
CHAPTER FIVE
It hurt that Hudson was so dismissive of me, but I couldn’t exactly blame him. My behavior didn’t make any sense. I couldn’t explain it at all. I felt drawn to Hudson, and it was a good feeling, warm and sweet. I could see myself waking up with Hudson every morning. I could see myself cooking him breakfast, curling up next to him while he watched TV, just… being with him. And I knew it would be right. I’d never felt such a powerful draw to another person.
Hudson was right. It was weird.
But it was so nice that I wasn’t frightened of it.
Still, if I felt so strongly about him, why was it so easy to let Kale put his hands all over me? And—damn it all to hell—why was I letting either of them have sex with me? This wasn’t a healthy situation. I was losing my mind.
Maybe the stress of being captured and held against my will had fried my brain. Wasn’t there some thing when kidnapped people started falling for their captors? Stalking Syndrome or something?
Whatever.
Neither of them was paying a bit of attention to me, and it would have been a good idea to make a break for it now, but I didn’t have any clothes. I wondered if I was going to have to spend the rest of the time here completely naked.
I bet Kale would like that.
I felt angry.
And sweaty and sticky and gross. I was still dirty from being out in the woods, and then I’d woken up to a whole lot of action with two equally dirty-from-the-woods men. I decided to take a shower. There was a robe in the bathroom, and I figured I could wear that afterward. It was better than nothing.
The shower felt amazing. I emerged feeling cleaner and calmer.
Kale was still shut up in the bedroom, and Hudson was nowhere in sight, so I explored the final room in the cabin—a sort of den containing a desk and a big mounted deer head. But there was also a single bed in that room, so maybe it counted as a separate bedroom.
When I looked in the closet there, I hit the jackpot. There were clothes in there. Female clothes, only a little bit too big for me. I pulled on a pair of baggy jeans, found a belt to cinch it around my waist, and found a shirt as well.
There were even shoes, but they were far, far too big.
Still, I might be able to make it barefoot. I wondered how far out this cabin actually was.
Under a Raging Moon: Part Two Page 5