by Kate Douglas
Of course, Jake knew he’d never experienced sex with anyone like he had with Shannon. What happened between them was amazing. Unbelievable.
Absolutely perfect.
He lifted his face from Shannon’s shoulder and kissed her lightly on the mouth. There were tears in her eyes. Jake knew he’d put them there, either with his thoughtless words or actions—or both. But how the hell did he apologize when he wasn’t sure which thing he’d said or done had hurt her?
The down and dirty sex, or the fact he’d forced her to admit she couldn’t have children? Hell, he’d never been good with women, never could figure out how their minds worked.
He sure as hell didn’t know why he’d lost control, but he needed to find out. Had to make sure it wouldn’t happen again…though, if she couldn’t conceive, was there really any risk?
Damned right there’s risk. Every time he made love to Shannon, he fell a little bit deeper, tied himself to her a little bit tighter. If she wasn’t Chanku…no, he couldn’t think of that.
Jake pulled away from her warm body, felt his shrinking penis slip out of her slick folds as he bent down to retrieve her sweatpants. She took them from him without words.
Feeling less than human, Jake pulled his jeans on, turned away and went into the house to wash up. It wasn’t until he got into the brightly lit bathroom that he realized his cock was covered in streaks of blood.
Suddenly it all came clear. Shannon was bleeding, essentially in heat like any wolven bitch. Had her scent brought out the beast in him?
Her Chanku scent?
Jake grabbed the edge of the sink with both hands. Held on so tight his knuckles turned white.
You goddamned sonofabitch.
Could he actually be that lucky? Could Shannon’s body be changing so quickly? Damn. He stared at himself in the mirror, not knowing whether to give thanks or weep. Helpless. He felt so pathetically stupid and helpless. There were so few Chanku, they knew so little about their own kind—and almost nothing about the females.
He grabbed a washcloth, rinsed it out and cleaned himself. Pulled his jeans back up over his hips, but left them unzipped. Slowly, methodically, Jake rinsed out the cloth and threw it in the hamper.
He looked down at his hands. They shook like he had some sort of palsy. He balled up his fists. His arms trembled with the urge to punch something. Anything.
Something important had just happened out there on the porch, something primitive and elemental, and totally unexpected.
The beast had taken over the man, if only for a brief moment in time. Without permission, without warning, he’d almost lost control, almost taken a woman in Chanku form who was under his protection.
Talk about walking on the edge. Wanting Shannon, needing her, feeling her pulling him closer, yet not having that definitive sign she was Chanku was driving him nuts.
Until she actually changed…not until then could he be sure. Jake had five more days before Mik and AJ showed up. No matter how much he’d argued for more time, Luc had insisted. Was Luc trying to force the issue? Was this how he intended to pay Jake back for his attack on Tia? Let him get this close to his own Chanku bitch, then turn her over to Mik and AJ?
Damn…he hadn’t even thought of that. Could Luc be that cruel? No matter. Jake had five more days of supplementing Shannon without interference, no matter what Luc intended.
Getting paranoid, are we?
No shit, Sherlock. He wasn’t sure his heart could take it. Shannon was still human, but she was coming in to heat, or at least her pheromones were. Mason had warned them, there was no controlling a Chanku male around a bitch in heat. It was hard enough when the women weren’t bleeding, but for all Jake knew, he’d react like that to any woman on her period.
It wasn’t like you could tell until you fucked…
Mik and AJ, for all their love for each other, would be sniffing around an unmated Chanku bitch, unless the pills worked really fast and Shannon changed before they got here.
Even then, he still had to convince her she wanted him for her mate…for the rest of her life.
Shit. Jake whirled around and leaned back against the counter, scrubbing his face with his hands. How the hell was he going to work this? He couldn’t warn Shannon what was coming, couldn’t tell her about Chanku until he was sure she was definitely one of them.
Once she changed, he had to convince her, had to make her want him enough to be willing to commit. Enough to mate with Jake in wolven form, to bond completely and essentially tie herself to him, both figuratively and in reality.
It wasn’t like there were all that many unmated Chanku females around. So far Tia was the only one Jake had ever met, but Tia loved Luc, so if he wanted a mate, it had to be Shannon.
Was that so bad? Hell, no.
Sex between Chanku in wolven form—the ultimate prenuptial agreement. Once tied, the relationship was forever. Unbreakable. If anything went wrong, if either AJ or Mik took her first, Jake could lose the only woman he’d ever loved.
Love? He couldn’t even be certain about that. He wanted her. Desired her. Couldn’t imagine life without Shannon. Okay, for the sake of argument, he’d call it love.
Five more days. Mik and AJ would be here Saturday. He had five more days not only to change Shannon’s entire sense of who she was, but to convince her to link her life forever with a man she hardly knew. One who was currently holding back important, life-altering information from her to suit his own needs.
Yeah, like that would really endear her to him. Jake shook his head in dismay. “Only you, Trent. Something like this could only happen to you.” Zipping up his pants, Jake went back outside to Shannon.
Chapter 6
Feeling absolutely numb, Shannon washed herself in the bathroom, cleaning away Jake’s semen and her fluids even as her body still trembled. She’d never admitted to anyone the fact she was sterile. Never even told Tia, but she’d just blurted it out to the only man she’d ever considered as a mate. If that didn’t turn him off, nothing would. Men like Jake wanted sons. Strong, powerful sons to carry on their name.
He’d not get them from Shannon. She wondered what he was thinking, how he felt about her now? Jake had gone into the smaller bath off the master bedroom. He’d been there for a long time, but Shannon was in no rush to see him right away. Not only was she obsessing over his reaction when she’d said she couldn’t get pregnant, she was still trying to figure out what happened out there on the porch.
She’d never experienced sex like that. Never. Good lord, talk about your wild, untamed-animal sex! There’d been a feral glint in Jake’s eyes, a sense of otherworldliness about him that might have been frightening if she hadn’t been so turned on. She’d felt Jake in her head, felt as much anger as lust when he’d taken her.
Just thinking about the deep, hard penetration, the need she’d felt in him, made her hot. Made her feel again. Took away the numbness, the pain. Picturing Jake driving deep inside her, Shannon finished cleaning herself off, then glanced down to make sure she’d gotten everything.
Pale streaks of blood covered the white washcloth. Shannon stared at it a moment, confused. She hadn’t bled for years, not since the severe infection that damaged her reproductive organs…the same infection that rendered her infertile and stamped the importance of condoms into her then-teenaged brain.
Why now? The sex had been hot and rough…maybe a small tear? No. She’d feel something like that. Shannon rinsed the cloth and wiped herself again. No blood. Just those first small streaks.
To be on the safe side, she folded up a tissue and stuck it in her panties, then pulled on her sweats. A chill raced across her flesh. Shannon rubbed her hands over her arms, surprised by the sensitivity of her skin. Something about her felt different, but whatever it was remained so subtle she couldn’t figure out what had caught her attention.
Shaking her head, she headed back out to the front porch. This whole situation was beyond weird. She really wanted to talk to Tia, needed to find ou
t what the hell was going on, how long she’d be stuck here with a man she hardly knew.
Yeah. Right. A broad grin blossomed across her face. A couple more days like today and she’d know everything there was to know about Jacob Trent. It wasn’t easy to hide secrets from a woman who read your mind.
And to think she’d never believed in all that “psychobabble” stuff! There was no denying what she’d experienced with her own mind.
Shannon was sitting on the front step when Jake finally came out on the porch. She glanced up, smiled at him, then went back to staring at the forest. “Hi. I wondered where you were.”
“Cleaning up. Shannon, I…”
“Don’t apologize. Please?” She lifted her head and glanced at him, then went back to staring at the woods. “I don’t know for sure what’s going on between us, Jake, but please don’t apologize for something we both enjoyed.”
“I was afraid I hurt you.” Jake sat down beside her, not touching, but close enough to feel her heat. “I don’t usually lose control like that, but there’s something about you that really gets to me.”
She laughed. “You certainly don’t need to apologize for that. I can’t think of a single woman who wouldn’t consider the fact she can make a man lose control something to apologize for. That’s a compliment.”
Shannon leaned against his knee, her supple body warm and inviting. Damn. She was so beautiful. Jake sniffed, wondering if he might actually be able to identify what had aroused him so thoroughly. She smelled fresh and clean, of warm woman and some kind of sweet shampoo. No, there was nothing out of the ordinary his nose could pick up, but his cock was already straining against the tight confines of his jeans.
Shannon shifted, putting more pressure, more of her warmth against his leg. Jake felt the need rising in him, stronger now, felt the fine edge of his control slipping. She must be right at the pinnacle of her heat. He had to get out of here. Had to run but it was daylight and too dangerous for the wolf. Besides, he’d never get away from Shannon without raising her suspicions.
“How long are we going to stay here?”
Her question caught Jake by surprise. “I really don’t know. This all happened so fast, we didn’t have a plan, or at least there’s not one I know about. Mik and AJ should be here Saturday. I think they’re planning on staying for at least a couple more days, but it depends on Ulrich’s success in Washington and whether or not they can call off the guys hunting for you.”
“Why do they want me?” She looked up at him. Jake realized he was staring at her mouth, wanting to taste her again.
He caught himself. “Probably because of your link to Tia and Ulrich Mason. I don’t know all the details yet, why they kidnapped Mason in the first place.”
But he did know. AJ and told him enough about the breeding farm, the sick plans Secretary Bosworth had for Chanku females.
Shannon took a deep breath and let it out. Jake watched her breasts rise and fall, fascinated by their gentle, unbound swell beneath the sweatshirt. “Is there a store nearby? If we’re going to be here that long, we’ll need supplies. Plus, I think I might have started my period and I don’t have anything with me…obviously.” She grinned at him. “Talk about traveling light.”
“There’s a little town just a few miles up the road. Get your leathers on and we’ll take a ride.”
Take a ride. Is that all this was? The bike practically hummed, slipping along the narrow lane between the tall trees. Jake felt the deep throb of the engine, smooth as silk and just as sensual, the warm grasp of Shannon’s hands around his waist, the heat of her upper body pressed against his back.
He’d been in a constant state of arousal since this morning…hell, since he’d first laid eyes on her, unconscious in the back end of the damned car. It was more, now. Deeper, More intense. Something had changed over the past few hours. His body’s response had reached a whole new level of awareness, and while he wanted to believe it was the proximity of a Chanku bitch in heat, it might just be the vision of Shannon in tight leather pants and jacket. The combination of leather and her perfect body just about tipped his fantasy world on its ear.
They crossed a bridge over a small river filled with cattails and small willows, then entered the old town on a main street shaded beneath brilliant red maple trees. Shannon hung on as Jake coasted slowly past storefronts and empty lots, leaving a trail of swirling fall colors behind them.
Shannon washed her hands and wiped down the counter. The groceries were all put away and they’d eaten a light dinner. She felt oddly restless, yet unusually exhausted from their trip to town. Still, it was too early for bed and, without any television, there wasn’t much to do other than read. Taking her glass of wine into the main room, she grabbed the mystery she’d bought in the little general store in town and found a comfortable spot near a gas-burning lamp.
Jake walked into the room, dressed in shorts and expensive looking running shoes. His chest was bare, the muscles rippling beneath the dark hair that arrowed down from his pecs to run beneath the elastic band of his shorts.
Shannon caught herself staring at the dark trail, wishing she could follow it with her mouth. When she glanced up, Jake was grinning at her.
“Should I try and guess what’s on your mind?”
She shook her head, laughing. “Nah. I’m much too easy to read.”
Jake laughed with her. “You look beat, but I really need some exercise. I’m going out for a run. I’ll probably be gone a couple of hours. Will you be all right alone?”
Shannon nodded. “I’ll be fine.” She gestured at her wineglass and the book. “I’ve got my survival gear handy. Be careful. It’s almost completely dark out. Remember, there’s a wolf out there.”
Jake leaned over and kissed her gently on the mouth. “I’ll be careful and I know the trail well enough. Don’t let anyone inside. If you hear anything unusual, lock the door and throw the bar. It’ll keep you safe. The cell phone’s on the kitchen table.”
He slipped out the door, loped across the clearing and disappeared into the dark woods. Shannon watched the space where he’d been, then glanced toward the kitchen table. Just like Jake said, the cell phone sat there, fully charged.
Shannon set her book down, got up and walked into the kitchen. She’d been going along with everything Jake wanted since he rescued her. It wasn’t in her nature to accept someone else’s control so easily. Rubbing at the weird tingling in her arms, Shannon punched in a familiar number. It was time to look for answers from another source.
She stepped out on the front deck, phone in hand, and found a clear signal. Tia answered Shannon’s call to her cell phone on the first ring.
“Ohmygawd! Shannon! I’ve been worried sick about you. Are you okay? Jake said they’d kidnapped you and gave you some kind of drug. How are you?” Tia took a quick breath, then blurted out, “What do you think of Jake?”
Damn, it felt so good to hear Tia’s voice! “Jake is amazing. If your guy Luc is anything like Jake, you’re probably having trouble walking.”
Tia laughed. “Just about. You wouldn’t believe what’s been going on since I got back to San Francisco. There’s a lot I can’t talk about yet, but Shannon, it’s so amazing being here with Luc, with my dad, with the other guys. I just heard that AJ and Mik are coming out to stay with you and Jake at the end of the week. Wait until you meet them!”
“Don’t tell me. They’re just as sexy as Jake, right?” Shannon tried to imagine adding two more guys with Jake’s sex appeal. Shivers ran down her arms at the mere thought of all that testosterone in one room.
“Oh yeah. These guys are so hot. I can’t wait ’til you meet these two.”
“What’s the deal, anyway? Why are they coming?” Jake hadn’t offered any explanation. In fact, he’d seemed a bit disgruntled over the fact Luc was sending the two men to Maine to join them.
“That’s what I really can’t discuss yet. Pack Dynamics is a lot more than just a detective agency. They’re into some prett
y sensitive stuff and we can’t risk our conversation being tapped. The point is, Luc feels you might need some extra protection in a few days and he wants to make sure you and Jake are safe. A lot depends on my father’s current mission. Just trust me. And Jake. You can trust Jake.” She paused, but before Shannon could ask another question, Tia grilled her again. “Well? What do you think of Jake? Is he not the most interesting man you’ve been with in a long time?”
“Like forever?” Shannon snorted. “You knew exactly what would happen if we met, didn’t you?”
This time Tia sounded wistful. “I guess I hoped. Shannon, I’m not sure what Jake’s told you, but I’ve met the most amazing man. I actually knew him years ago when I was a kid, but I never dreamed that we…well, I never thought I’d love anyone the way I loved you, but what I feel for Luc is so powerful it’s frightening. I want you to find what I’ve got. I’m hoping you’ll find it with Jake.”
Shannon was the one to laugh this time. Would she find the same love with Jacob Trent that Tia had with her man? Only time would tell. “I hardly know him. The sex is amazing, and we have this really strange connection. I can’t explain it, but there are a lot of barriers between us as well. Maybe in time…we’ll see…”
“I have to go, sweetie. Luc’s calling me. He wants to go for a run.”
“A run? You?” This time Shannon’s laughter felt perfectly natural. “Sheesh. Jake’s out running right now, too. In the dark, if you can believe it! I’m going back to my glass of wine and a book. I sure hope this amazing desire to exercise isn’t catching.”
Tia laughed. “You might be surprised. Take care. Be safe.”
“You too.”
Shannon stared at the cell phone after she hung up. Tia sounded so happy, more content than Shannon could recall. Rubbing at the increasing irritation along her arms, Shannon turned off the light, grabbed the afghan and her glass of wine and went out on the front porch.