by Golden Angel
"I'm fine. Are you two okay?" His dark gaze was shuttered, his muscles bunched, like he was still prepared for war. Scary as hell and yet she felt safer because of it.
"Um, yeah, although I'd be better if Daniel would change back," she said. It was only a little lie. She was physically okay even if emotionally she was all over the map, and she really would be better if Daniel would shift, because she was starting to get worried he couldn't.
As if to confirm her concern, her brother made a regretful chittering noise and turned to look at her, his shoulders shrugging. He closed his eyes.
Nothing happened.
Opened his eyes again. Jesse sighed. It might just be the normal hang-ups of being a teenager, going through puberty, and struggling with a shift - especially in an intensely emotional situation. It was entirely possible his animal was just too agitated to let Daniel take control again - which could happen even to adult shifters with plenty of experience. Or it was possible this was some side effect of the procedure, which had saved their lives.
"Give him some time and let him calm down," Brady said, turning away to face the front doors again as he did so.
Jesse's squirrel twitched, its ears picking up noise outside - people coming closer. But Brady seemed calm, his muscles actually relaxing, so Jesse assumed he had identified whoever was approaching and they weren't a threat, which allowed her to relax slightly too. She stroked her brother’s fur, murmuring encouragingly, and hoping he was just overexcited and he'd be able to shift back soon - because if a fight started up again, she was pretty sure he'd have no problem throwing himself into it and at his current size she wouldn't be able to stop him.
It was pretty clear everyone who approached the hospital were on their side because they were all butt naked, Eli in the lead. There were a couple of really in-shape, muscular naked chicks that made Jesse want to hit a gym because she felt like a scrawny, sickly weakling the second she looked at them (never mind that she'd actually been sick so had a pretty good excuse), but most of her attention was taken up by the delightful beef and sausage parade.
Shifters weren't exactly shy about nudity, but with the dwindling squirrel-shifter population there hadn't been that many men around her age for her to ogle. And those men definitely hadn't been training for battle; quite a few of the squirrel shifters near her age had been lithely muscular, but what she was looking at right now was like a buffet of delicious, delectable dick. Eli was like, Chris Hemsworth-y with his golden good looks, broad shoulders, and thick muscles. The others were tall, short, average, compactly muscled, lean muscled, bulging muscles, in all colors of the human rainbow... some were show-ers, some were grow-ers, some had more body hair, some had less, some had none at all...
"Jesse! Stop looking at them!!" Her brother whispered furiously, which of course meant very little since everyone was well within shifter-hearing distance.
Oh good, Daniel was back to being human, and apparently mortified by her interest in the new arrivals. Nothing like good old fashioned sibling embarrassment to get a teenager under control. Of course, now Jesse was the one embarrassed as everyone focused on her and Daniel. With great effort, she kept her eyes at an acceptable level, rather than ogling the penis party. One of the women met her gaze and winked at Jesse, her lips curving into a little, understanding smile, like they were sharing some kind of private joke.
Jesse coughed and summoned a weak grin, meeting everyone's gaze. "Hello... is - is it over?"
Her eyes settled on Eli and she struggled to keep her focus above shoulder height. Very nice, very broad shoulder height. His blue eyes started to twinkle in amusement as Brady growled and shifted to block her view of Eli. Which made for a better view of Brady, and she was getting used to seeing all the blood.
Eli nodded. "It's over, unless there's anyone still in here to flush out."
"I don't think so," Brady said. He nudged one of the partially dismembered bodies on the floor with his foot. It squelched. Jesse tried not to gag. Her squirrel told her to woman-up. "These fuckers were looking for Montgomery and they were cocky because they had silver bullets." He snorted, like that was no big deal, but it made Jesse shudder as she restarted her visual examination of him, startled and worried. Regular bullets could kill a shifter if they were left in too long, but it was the silver ones that caused the most real damage. It was almost like shifters had a severe allergy to silver, which caused a lot of pain, inflammation, and reactions almost like poisoning.
"Is any of that blood yours?" she asked, her voice a lot shriller than it had been. She stepped forward, suddenly torn between staying by her brother's side and her sudden need to do a much more thorough examination of Brady's body, bloody or not. Because if any of that blood was his... well, she might be kicking a few of the corpses herself.
Blech... maybe not - she rethought that as soon as she heard the sickening thudding sound of one of the other shifters turning a body over to examine its face.
The expression on Brady's face as he looked at her was one of wariness and surprise, which she couldn't figure out.
"There's a small graze on my leg and one on my arm, but that's it," he said, half to her, half to Eli. She relaxed slightly, her eye caught by one of the women who was crouched down over one of the bodies, checking out the weaponry. Jesse was finally starting to get used to all the buff, naked man-meat on display as the others walked around and examined the bodies and what Brady had done. Even if they were nice to look at, none of them compared to Brady. They all seemed suitably impressed with the carnage, which made her feel proud of him, even if it was super gross.
"Oh, just go over to him," Daniel muttered, giving her a nudge. "I know you want to. Just... don't do anything gross."
Funny how, to Daniel, the maimed corpses, bloody floor, and body parts scattered across the room weren't repellent, but the idea that she might kiss or touch Brady in a sexual way was something to be grossed out about. Teenage boys.
The surprise on Brady's face grew, as did the wariness, as she came out from behind the reception desk and slowly approached him. His expression only made her steps even more slow. What was going through his head now? Why was he surprised? Why was he wary of her? Her squirrel didn't seem to care, it felt happy and safe in her head now that it was reassured the enemy was dead and Brady only had a couple of scrapes.
She stopped about a foot away from him, her eyes flitting over his arms, trying to figure out where he'd been hit under all the blood. Like, so, so much blood. Little rivulets of it all over his muscly arms.
"You really need a shower," she said, going for lighthearted. Brady grunted.
"Yes, shower and then a meeting," Eli said, his voice serious. "We're going to need to talk about this. Jesse, you and Daniel can stay with us while Brady showers or you can go with him, but you're both to stay with someone at all times. I'm pretty sure we caught everyone, but I don't want any mistakes or surprises."
"Okay," she said, nodding. "I'll -" She cut off, glancing back at her brother.
"You go with Brady, I'll go with them," Daniel said, trying to sound nonchalant as he nodded at the soldiers, but his eyes were glowing with hero-worship when he wasn't trying to check out the naked females. Yeah, he'd get used to that too. Jesse had actually kind of forgotten everyone but her was naked. Apparently lots of buff, naked men her age was a novelty she got over quickly. Or maybe it was just that she wasn't interested in any of them except the buff, naked man right in front of her, and he really needed to wash off.
And she was going to go with him while he did so. Without her brother.
Score.
******
Hot water sluiced over Brady's body as he scrubbed away the blood and tiny bits of brain matter and flesh sticking to him. The soap he was using replaced the smell of dead body with a nice, clean, fresh scent. He supposed he should be horrified about being covered in people bits, but he was way more worried about Jesse's reactions than anything else. She'd been scared when she'd seen his beast. Which, ye
ah, Brady liked being big and scary to his enemies, but he didn't like being big and scary to Jesse.
Once he'd changed back to human, she hadn't stopped being scared either. So scared he could smell it, and emotions could only be scented when they were particularly strong. Which didn't bode well for any kind of romance between them.
On the other hand, she'd let her brother out of her sight (granted, surrounded by trained soldiers and Eli, who promised not to let Daniel move more than ten feet away from him) and stayed with Brady. That was pretty much the only thing currently giving him hope that his plans to get to know his squirrel better (and eventually naked) weren't already FUBAR (Fucked Up Beyond All Recognition - a term he'd been taught upon arrival at Lakewood's training facility by Gunnar, the very mean gator who ran the training).
He was washing off as quickly as he could because Jesse was in the staff break room waiting for him. The staff showers at the hospital were damned convenient and Brady didn't want to go too far away just in case shit went down again. They might need him. Jesse might need him.
Protect!
Yeah, yeah, he was on it; he was already moving as fast as he could. If Jesse hadn't been waiting for him, he might have lingered... taken care of his baser needs... fighting had roused more than just anger and fear, he was now horny as fuck as well. But Jesse wasn't in here with him, she was in the other room waiting and so he needed to get to her. Not to relieve his hormones, but to comfort her. Hopefully make her unafraid of him.
Washing off the last of the soap, Brady hopped out of the shower and briskly ran the towel over himself. He was in such a hurry that he was still damp when he put his clothes on and the shirt stuck to his chest a little bit and the sweatpants clung to his thighs and his erection. Whatever. At least the shirt was long enough to cover his groin so he didn't look like a hormonal teenager walking around a high school.
When he walked into the break room, Jesse was sitting at one of the tables, knees tucked up to her chest, as she watched one of the TVs hanging from the ceiling. Her auburn pony-tail was pulled over one shoulder and she was stroking it, as if for comfort. Turning to look at him as he approached, she smiled, an almost shy smile.
"You look better."
"I smell better too," he said, coming to an awkward stop a few feet away from her. He didn't really know what to do now. Touch her? Or was it better to give her space until she touched him first, now she'd that seen his beast?
Her smile widened a little. "That too, yes. Thank you for um, downstairs. I'm sorry if Daniel or my presence distracted you."
"It was fine," he said with a shrug. "I'd have been just as distracted worrying about what was happening to you if I hadn't been able to see you." Which was the truth. Plus, it was probably best she'd seen his beast at its worst.
"Soooo... you're acting kind of weird."
Brady blinked. "I am?"
"Yeah. Did you get hit on the head or something?"
"No."
"Then why..." She gestured between them. "Why are you all the way over there? Why do you keep looking at me like you're afraid of me?"
"I'm not afraid of you, you're afraid of me," he immediately countered.
Glaring, Jesse got to her feet, crossing her arms under her chest. Brady did his best not to notice the way the ripe peaches of her breasts lifted slightly.
"Didn't we already go through this today? I am not afraid of you."
"You didn't think you were, but I smelled your fear when you saw my beast," he retorted, crossing his own arms over his chest. He'd been trying to appear nonthreatening, but if she was going to claim she wasn't scared of him then he wasn't going to hold back. Right now he almost wanted to intimidate her, wanted to force her to admit she had been scared, because if she kept denying it there really was no hope for them. Pretending a fear didn't exist had never helped anyone.
"Okay, so your beast is a little scary, especially when you're covered in blood, but that doesn't mean I'm really scared of you," she snapped back, dropping her arms down to put her hands on her hips. This feisty reaction of hers was not helping his erection at all. He wanted to grab her and kiss her to shut her sass up, and then do other perverted things to her. His beast enthusiastically supported the idea.
"You were scared of me even after I shifted back," he said, challenging her and holding his arms more tightly in place to keep himself from moving.
"No, I was scared of me."
"You?"
"Yes, me!" Jesse threw her hands in the air, the expression on her face turning a little lost. "My squirrel is different, and it's freaking me out, okay? I've gone from prey to something more like a predator and, for the first time, my squirrel and I are at odds about our reaction to violence and blood and gore. It's disconcerting and it's scary. I didn't like seeing all the bodies and blood downstairs; that's something my squirrel would have been in agreement with me about before, but now it kind of reveled in it. That's terrifying!"
The scent of fear and distress filled his nose and Brady couldn't hold back anymore. He stepped forward, gathering Jesse into his arms and pulling her in close to him. His poor little squirrel... in some ways, she was a fighter - she'd fought to survive, she'd fought for her family - but it was obvious she didn't like violence. Brady liked that about her, actually.
His own two sisters were both bloody-minded. Dr. Montgomery had been captured when he'd come with a group of mercenaries to capture them and bring them back; Bethany and Bailey had taken them on single-handedly until Bethany's mate and his pack had caught up with them. Sure, Bailey had thrown up afterwards - she'd ripped out a lot of men's throats - but that hadn't stopped her from being pleased with herself. Both of his sisters wanted to come to Lakewood for training. He was sure Steele - Bethany's mate - would convince Bethany not to, but Bailey was another story.
Jesse had wanted to be with him, but she hadn't actually wanted to fight, and Brady didn't consider himself a sexist, but he liked that she hadn't thrown herself into the fight. Especially because she didn't have any training. Both of his sisters would have just jumped in, even though they might have been more of a liability than help (the way they did when Steele's pack lands had been attacked) because they wanted to fight.
"It's okay, baby," he murmured into her auburn hair, pressing his lips to the shiny tresses as he folded his much larger body around her slighter one. "There's going to be some adjustments, but there's nothing wrong with your squirrel reveling in the violence - that's just your tiger coming out."
"I'm not used to the tiger," Jesse said, her voice slightly muffled because of the way her face was buried in his chest. She sounded a bit forlorn, and still a little scared. "I'm not sure I like it."
"I can understand that," he said softly, stroking his fingers down her back in a soothing manner. She was way too bony and frail after her long illness, making him even gladder she wasn't the type of person to throw herself into a violent fight. Maybe with some fattening up and training she could be a good fighter, but Brady would be totally happy if she decided she didn't want to become one. "It was scary the first time I felt my beast too. Especially because I hadn't had anything inside my head with me before."
His beast hmphed, but didn't protest. They'd worked out their own system of dealing with each other once Brady had stopped panicking every time the beast tried to take over their body. Now they got along quite well.
"I can't remember not having my squirrel in my head," Jesse said, turning her face to the side so he could hear her a little better. "I'm so used to her a certain way..."
Chuckling, Brady tried to ignore the way her small, soft breasts pressed against his upper body, and how good she smelled, and the way she was cuddled into him... he was barely managing to keep his desire for her under control, and thinking about how good she felt in his arms like this was not helping. "It'll probably be an adjustment."
Daniel seemed to be dealing with it better than Jesse, but then he wanted to be a fighter. Jesse obviously didn't.
Pulling back slightly, she tilted her head way back to look up at him. "So you're convinced I'm not really scared of you or your beast? I mean, he's scary, but I'm not going to run screaming or anything."
"He and I are both glad to hear that." Brady dipped his head down to give her a kiss.
He just meant for it to be a light brushing of his lips over hers. A comforting kiss. A mild kiss.
But Jesse went up on her tiptoes, her lips pressing firmly against his, and then they parted... and Brady's body shuddered as the scent of her arousal wafted up around them.
Chapter 5
Yes! Climb... lick... bite...
Jesse's squirrel wanted to climb Brady like a tree. He was definitely big enough. With his body wrapped around hers the way it was she felt completely safe, like she was encased in a cocoon of protection. And safe wasn't something she'd felt in a long, long time.
Okay, so the violence downstairs (and her reaction to it) had disturbed her, even frightened her. But she'd never felt in danger either. Never worried Brady wouldn't be able to take care of the threat. And now that he was okay, and all the gross stuff was washed off, and her squirrel was acting normal again...
Well it just felt really good to be pressed up against his hard body, feel his warmth around her, and it wasn't like he was uninterested... there was a very big, hard bulge pressing into her stomach. Her nipples were rubbing against the muscles on his chest as she kissed him, and she found herself wanting to rub herself all over him... leave her scent all over him...