Jacob sensed it too. He reined up sharply and sat sniffing the air, his lips slightly parted. He looked like an animal gathering information from a scent. When he focused his attention on her again he said, "I smell bear." He kicked his horse in that direction.
She wanted to call after him, This is when we call the sheriff's office. Because that's how things were supposed to work. But the memory of the deputies up in Jacob's face stopped her.
She turned her own horse after his and followed.
* * *
Chapter Four
No way to approach the house without being seen. The desert was too flat and too empty. So they rode straight at it, as definite as if they were expected for a visit.
"This doesn't make sense," Jacob muttered as he rode.
Cara didn't respond. Her skin was covered in goosebumps despite the heat. Something was wrong. That there were no guards. There was a strong sense of bears nearby.
The sensation of wrongness was strong enough that she could feel it. That meant for Jacob the feeling had to be overwhelming. Cara was ready when he pushed the horse to lope, covering the last of the distance to the house.
He dismounted without seeming to check around him for anything. She followed him, grabbing the reins from his horse with hers and throwing them around the porch railing before she ran onto the porch after him.
He wasn't protecting her anymore. If she followed, he'd keep her safe. He wouldn't waste anymore time trying to convince her. He glanced once at her, then at the door. One hard kick by the doorknob sent it splintering and crashing inward.
He went through the door so fast he caught the rebound on his forearm. Cara was on his heels.
They fanned out without discussing it. She took the upstairs, heading straight up and searching every bedroom, every closet, every bath. The house was sprawling. It took several minutes.
She heard him when he found the cellar door. She head him start shaking it.
Her boots left tracks in the desert dust on the wood stairs. "Let me find a crowbar, a shovel or something." The cellar door still stood shut fast.
"No time," he said, and faintly she realized she could hear voices from the other side. Her hand slapped hard over her mouth.
Jacob blurred in front of her. The musky smell of bear filled the air. She coughed, blinked, and watched as the grizzly reached out with gigantic paws and ripped the door from its hinges. He threw it onto the floor behind him.
The voices were clear now, begging for help. She almost started down the stairs without waiting but he held her back, nosing past her.
They were in the cellar. Just Gemma and Colby. Chains kept them in place, pinned to the concrete walls. There were empty water bottles around them and nothing else. No blankets for when the temperature dropped in the desert night. No food. Nothing.
Colby lunged for them the instant they came into the basement. He turned into a bear the minute they came into sight. Gemma shouted, fighting the chains, but even Colby in bear form couldn't break free. She stood no chance. Bloody rings on her wrists proved she hadn't stopped trying.
Colby roared. Gemma fell back, straining against her chains, as far from him as she could get. Cara ran to her, which only made her flinch. They'd never met. Gemma had no idea who she was. Her eyes went instantly to Jacob and Cara saw Gemma trusted him.
"It's OK. I came with Jacob. We've been looking for you two."
Gemma nodded, her eyes instantly leaving Cara and going to Colby and then to Jacob.
"Don't let him loose!" she shouted.
Jacob spun back to her. "What? Why?" He looked back at his cousin and sniffed the air again, letting it run over his tongue. He swore.
"What?" Cara was lost. She was trying to find a key for the shackles. Even if Colby couldn't be freed, Gemma could. "Jacob? What is it?"
"He's starving. When did they last feed you?"
"Three days ago," Gemma answered. She told Cara, "Key's over there. They left them on the back of the door." Her voice splintered and she broke off, coughing. "Water ran out yesterday."
Cara ran to the basement door and grabbed the keys, throwing them to Jacob. "I'm going to look for food," she said.
As if there'd be anything edible in the ranch house, but there might be outside. There were apple trees.
"There's beef jerky and Power Bars in my saddle bags," Jacob said without looking at her. He was working the key into the cuffs on Gemma's wrists.
Cara nodded and ran. Upstairs she found nothing edible in the pantry – there were some canned goods but the cans were rusted and there was no can opener. The door had been removed from the refrigerator, which smelled sour anyway and was totally empty.
Outside she gathered apples and the jerky and Power Bars from Jacob's horse and went back inside. No way the food she could provide would be enough for Colby, in bear shape or out of it, but hopefully enough he could shift back to human and make it to the city. She found a tiny first aid kit in the bags, too.
Once they'd eaten, and Gemma's wrists were cleaned and bandaged, Colby relaxed enough to shift slowly back to human. His eyes were far more golden than Jacob's, maybe because he'd been shifting a lot once the food ran out and the panic set in.
Once he was human, Jacob unshackled Colby. They went upstairs into the sunlight. Gemma shivered at the sight of it and headed directly into the light, standing at the edge of the porch as the others sat on benches against the house.
"Any chance they're coming back?" Jacob asked.
Colby swallowed the last of the water from the bottles Jacob had brought. "They haven't been here in days. I think they were going to leave us." He held his hand out to Gemma, but she pulled him into the light rather than leaving the sun.
"So everyone they've taken is dead?" Jacob's voice sounded flat, wounded.
Cara went and put her arms around him without even planning to. He drew her closer and waited.
"I don't think so," Gemma said. "They're locals, four men, all the kind that wear the anti shifter t-shirts and make noise at the rodeos. They're not in hiding because – " She broke off.
"Because nobody cares what happens to shifters," Colby said angrily. He was law enforcement back in Texas. He had to deal with the prejudice every day he was working.
"And because no one expects this," Gemma said, her voice soothing. "Anytime anyone goes missing the police have at least an inkling it might have been on purpose. And shifters are supposed to be – " she shrugged unhappily and glanced up at Colby – "Unstable." She tightened her lips in a rueful smile. "Sorry."
"We need to get back," Jacob said. "Can you ride? We can double up. I want to see if the sheriff can stop ordering us out of town long enough we can look at some mugshots."
"Or start with the owners of the ranches," Cara said, and filled Gemma in as they walked to the horses.
"We can probably find most of them online," Gemma said. "That way we don't start with law enforcement."
Something about the way she said it made Cara wonder if she knew something about one of their abductors. But there was time to find out later. For now, like Jacob, she wanted to get them back to Vegas and somewhere they could rest, eat and drink and shower.
They'd worry about finding the anti shifter league later.
Jacob rented two rooms at the first hotel they came to. It was still rural enough that arriving on horseback wasn't overly weird. He'd call for someone from the stables to come pick up the horses.
In the meantime – "Two rooms?" Cara asked. She expected an answer like didn't she want to clean up before they all met again, or somewhere to relax while they waited to talk with Colby and Gemma and search images online.
He didn't bother with any kind of subterfuge. He put an arm around her and said, "If I'm reading the signals wrong, this would be a good time to tell me, little one."
Cara blushed to the roots of her hair. But she'd waited for years for this. She wouldn't give it up just because she was suddenly shy.
Standing on tipto
e, she wrapped her arms around his neck. "You're not misreading any signals," she said.
After all the heat and sunlight in the desert, the cool water in the shower felt like heaven. Jacob insisted she go first. The bathroom was bigger and more elegant than she expected when they were still so far off The Strip. The shower was a walk-in of natural stone.
Her skin felt thirsty. She stayed a long time under the spray.
Long enough he came looking for her.
Cara's face was in the spray, her hands working the shampoo back into her hair when his arms went around her waist.
She tensed, but relaxed the minute his husky voice said, "It's me," directly into her ear.
She turned within the circle of his arms, and spun them so the water beat on his back. Spray from the shower caught in his hair, making a halo of droplets.
His eyes half closed. His lips were parted. He still held her, Cara's wet, soapy body pressed up against his. He was hard, very hard, his cock trapped between their bodies and throbbing to the beat of his heart.
The water splashing against her skin felt hotter. She thought she was blushing from head to toe. To overcome the sudden shyness, she moved, pulling his head down to hers. Instead of surrendering her mouth to his, she kissed him, hard, letting her tongue dart into his mouth, then slowing, tasting him purposefully. Her hands stroked the long muscles in his arms, and moved to his chest, every stroke taking her lower.
His hair was soaked now. Rivulets of water ran over his face. She tasted them as he kissed her, felt the heat of the shower as he licked down her throat. Her head tipped back and the water beat on her breasts where it came over his shoulders. He followed the streams of water, lapping down to her breasts, sucking and licking the nipples. The buds were hard, like raspberries, pink and eager. The caress of his teeth set her on edge. Her heart pounded faster. Her breath came more shallow. She moved so one of his legs slid between hers, opening her up. She let herself rub against his thigh, feeling his erection in the curl of her hipbone.
Abruptly his hands were on her breasts, and Jacob was kneeling in front of her. Shower water caught her in the face, stopping her from any protests, any attack of shyness. His mouth moved over her belly, along the downy trail of golden hair that led to her shaved pussy. He made a sound of pleasure as his tongue darted down and separated her, lapping into her, licking long and hard and hot into her core.
Cara put her hands out, found the shower wall, angled herself so she could press her shoulder blades against it, supporting herself. Jacob, kneeling before her, took one of her legs and gentled it over his shoulder, opening her so he could lick and touch. His fingers were gentle, but the pads were roughened, almost leathery, almost like paw pads. She shivered as he touched her, sliding one finger up inside her, stroking it in and out. His knuckles grazed her hard, hot bud. She gasped, inhaled water, choked and laughed, and pulled her leg back, knelt so they were face to face. His mouth tasted of water, of her.
"We should get out of here before we drown."
"Maybe not quite yet," he said, and knelt up on his knees.
She grinned, ducked and bent, gasped at how hard and long he was, how amazingly thick. She put both hands on his shaft, stroking, watching his head go back and his face turn to the shower spray.
"Oh, god, Cara, if you're going to – " He didn't finish his sentence.
He didn't have to. She ducked her head and took him deep in her mouth. Her cheeks hollowed and her lips sucked and all the while she played her tongue along the sensitive underside of his cock, making him buck, his cock twitching in her mouth. Over and over she pulled back until he almost slid from her mouth, then took him deep again, sucking hard, making him moan in a way that almost sounded like a growl.
He pulled away from her, stood easily and slapped the shower controls off. His hand was huge when it wrapped around hers and she remembered him as bear, remembered her nerves.
She felt none of that now. He was human, golden, beautiful, perfect. He was thick and hard and muscular and wet with shower water as he scooped her up and carried her to the bed. Laying her down, he knelt on the floor between her legs, gave her a long lazy look with liquid gold eyes and began to kiss, lick, suck and bite his way up one thigh and down the other, trading back and forth, his breath tickling over her core where she melted and ran with lust.
Her fists closed around the sheets, bunching them at her sides. She strained toward his mouth. He laughed, and lapped at her lazily until she ground against him. "Jacob." Her breath came and went in sharp jolts.
Without warning his fingers were inside her again. She gasped and twisted, taking him deeper.
"You're so wet. You taste so good." He dropped another kiss on her tight, throbbing bud and then knelt up onto the bed, his legs on either side of hers. His cock teased her now, touching and retreating and she was the one growling, thrusting toward him as if she could capture him and drag him into her.
It only lasted for seconds, the divine torture, and then he relented. Both arms went around her shoulders, cradling her up to him. His mouth found hers, hotter than the sunlight had been. His hips cocked and he found her entrance. Cara moaned, feeling him there, and didn't press, didn't buck.
She waited while he kissed her. She waited as the moment played out.
He kissed her one more time. Then he slammed his entire length home inside her, filling her.
Cara bit her lip, looked up into his eyes, and saw him watching her, his face glazed with pleasure, his eyes only half sane.
She laughed and coiled her legs up and around him, locking her heels on the small of his back. He sank deeper into her and she could feel him touching everything inside her, hot and hard.
She could feel it when he started to come, felt him start to pull away. She increased the pressure of her legs where they wrapped around his back, as if she stood any chance of holding him against his will.
Her teeth on the edge of his ear, she said, "I want to feel you come inside me."
For a startled instant he didn't move, then he pumped his hips hard, driving into her, making the ripples of orgasm speed through her body again. She held onto him, raked her nails on his back, and felt him shudder over the edge into his own orgasm.
Seconds later he spilled over onto the bed beside her, panting. Cara, laughing, curled into his side, letting his arm go around her, pulling the sheets over both of them. Their hot, sweaty bodies felt instantly chilled by the air conditioning.
Her right hand came to rest on his chest. Under it his heart pounded. She circled her fingers over the place where his muscle jumped with every beat. Circled and touched and played. Letting her fingers tickle his nipple. Making it stand up in the cool of the room.
"What are you – "
"Oh, come on. Surely you can figure it out."
"Little girl, I don't know if you know how the male body works but – "
She rose up above him, first up on her elbow, watching him as her hand moved down over the sheet, finding his cock half hard again and rubbing it through the cloth. He gasped at the sensation, losing the end of his sentence.
"I think I've just had a pretty good exhibition of how the male body works." She leaned down and took his earlobe in her teeth. Her breath was hot. Her tongue was in his ear, just past her teeth, which were sharp. "Besides, I have it on good authority you're in your 20s. Not even 30 yet." She ran a fingertip down his chest, across his navel, reached between her own legs and fondled him again. He was getting very hard.
"Been a long day," he said, but his eyes were teasing. He wasn't protesting.
Kenny (Shifter Football League Book 2) Page 114