The brunette had the most angelic face. One that could rival pictures I'd seen in Bibles. Maybe she'd been sent here on a mission by a higher force to help humanity. Well, hopefully, not to nag me about mating. Boa's the one who needed the nagging. I'd still permit him to bite me in a heartbeat. I'd be his, risk childbirth for him, smile, chat with folks like Ginny.
"You're quiet," Ginny accused.
Hell. She's the one who said I'm all grown up. What doesn't she understand? "Life keeps pushing me forward." Like Tornado's mate. I slid my gaze down her gray t-shirt to the flat belly she tucked inside her blue jeans with that shirt's hem.
No evidence of a child in tow today.
"What's it been now? Three years?" Ginny extended a manicured hand to touch my arm. "You're even more beautiful than last time I saw you." She grinned a wicked grin.
As if she knows my sire's intent. And do we have to talk to adult women like they're children incapable of functioning without a gratuitous compliment? Or is this just a way for Ginny to nag me about mating like a motherly Clan head's mate? Time to play along though. "Well, thank you. I don't see a difference."
"I was wondering if I could show you something."
The little sad smile she forced noted the woman might fear my reaction to her idea of show and tell. What could she possibly want me to see? Oh well. A little mystery is just what I need to brighten my day. "Okay."
We set off walking through the sea of dining families seated in the courtyard. She greeted each and every person as if everyone was as important as the breaths she drew. The people returned her enthusiasm and focused a moment of scrutiny on me. Then, returned to finish their suppers.
I shouldn't feel awkward. Really. I'm acting like my sire. I should strive to understand and mimic Ginny's behavior. After all, Boa just might come through on the marking. Just might place me in Ginny's position. Oh, what is taking the man so long to decide the time is right to bite?
"Alright, it's just around the corner," Ginny lilted, veering around the side of the standard ringed-structure of Shifter lodges.
So much logic resonated in the simple circular series of lodges of Shifters. Shifters protected their clan while they coexisted with humans. And humans relied on the shifting power of Shifters for protection in The Wild. An interesting symbiotic relationship. Why couldn't that logic imbue me with a new perspective?
"What do you think about this community?" Ginny asked.
Almost conspiratorially. Why? I'm not in the position to criticize the Death Summit way of life involving far too many people. More than I'm used to. People who required a woman like myself be involved in activities inside the outpost walls. A palisade keeping me locked away from the endless stretch of forest, flowing water, and free roaming animals. But I don't have the luxury of stating my mind. Any negative point I spoke would be taken as rude. A safe answer is best. "It's a large outpost. That makes for many friendships. Death Summit is so different from my sire's small isolated outpost." Not one thing negative about this village nested in that observation.
"Being the only woman among a pack of alphas?" Ginny asked
Well, we truly have two betas. But those are my younger brothers who have yet to hit puberty. Croc had managed to sit back and allow those sons to experience life without a lot of fatherly instruction. Maybe there's hope they won't turn reptilian on me the way my other kin had blossomed following Croc's thunderous alpha footsteps. "I suppose so."
"Suppose?" She stopped, turning her back to a Shifter's wooden door. "You can't be serious. Your sire is so, um, argumentative." She stared me down with a challenging controlled smile.
Just what does she want? "Alright. It's true. What's your point?"
Her mouth split with a sinister grin as she headed back wherever we were going around the never-ending curved wall.
Fortunately for me, turning her evil smile out of sight. Maybe I should run for The Wild. "You know, it's bad enough Croc treats me like his stunt dog. Now, I have to deal with the mystery of what you're up to."
She shot me a wink. "Don't worry. You're going to love what I show you."
That remains to be seen.
She halted at a door. "It's right inside."
A chill skittered across my flesh.
"Oh stop looking at me like that," she groaned. "Here," she shoved the door wide.
Boa stood in the lodge's firelight.
Shirtless. Wearing those bloused camouflage pants that made his waist look even trimmer. Shirtless. Muscles bulging like he'd just wrestled a bear. Yes. Bulging stressed muscles skirting his washboard abs. Oh. Yes. I could love what's inside that lodge. Ginny is an evil conniving woman.
His gaze locked upon mine.
Yes. Look at me. Sprout fangs.
He nodded his shaved head.
"The Elders will be busy for hours," Ginny whispered. "I'll say Boa went into the forest. That he must have gotten caught up in the hunt with other Shifters. Grant it, he'll look irresponsible."
Holy crap. Irresponsible Bitterroot clansmen. "Father will note that. Maybe this is a bad idea."
"Don't fritter away your life on a fear of angering your sire. Life changes in a heartbeat AEI. Don't waste a moment on love." Ginny backed away from the open door.
Out of sight. Gone. Leaving me to stare at the only thing worth watching. My Boa in all his magnificence. Would he send me away unmarked again? I'd die all over. Not good.
Jaw squared, he strode toward the wooden planking of the door, wearing an intense expression.
Driving my heart into a round of thrash-and-rattle. What did it matter that Croc would sink into a rage if he found me with Boa? Or smelled a Bitterroot's scent on me? I guess Ginny is right. This is life AEI. I could die the minute I stepped outside of Boa's lodge. Why must I care what my sire thinks? I'm too old to be living with him anyway. Grant it, there's no such thing as a spinster after the extraterrestrials arrived and harvested ninety percent of the human population. Women are always in demand…
Boa's broad hand, the palm that rubbed me into a frenzy of carnal need, fell against the hard door, his strong fingers splayed, and shoved the squeaking wooden barrier even wider, pressing into the wood with his shoulder blades, watching me, making room for my entrance.
He'd gone to Ginny for help. Confided in her. Just to see me.
To be with me.
Probably even spoke to Tornado.
This rendezvous can't be about Boa using me to mete out revenge against Croc's clan. No, this is about me. Mating me. Possessing me. Love. I'd be damned if I didn't grab onto all those bare succulent muscles this chance. I crossed the threshold.
Three steps into the fire-lit darkness, I halted.
Not a sound whispered behind me. This damned place needs floorboards!
What will he do? I need him to come to me. To prove his intentions. I stood there.
Waiting.
The door squeaked, shutting.
The scraping sound of Boa engaging the wooden beam to bar anyone's entry ended with the rattle of the two-by-four dropping into the notches created to hold the wood.
What a simple lock. A simple solution to our privacy. Will he mark me now? Please. Oh please. I just can't leave again. Not again.
The whisper of grit ground beneath a boot against the hard-packed earthen floor noted he came to stand behind me.
Strong hands slid around my waist.
Curling those big fingers to grip my sides.
"Why are you worried?" he asked.
His Wolf senses my emotions. Or just the way I stand stiff as a board with anxiety. "Betrayal." Of what, he would have to surmise. And there's the bed. I studied the simple green bedding draping the long narrow elevated mattress butting up against the wooden wall.
A green woolen military blanket with a white whip-stitched edge where someone took the time to reinforce the fabric to ensure the blanket would last many years. That's what I needed. A little whip-stitching. Something to ensure I lasted many years to be with my Boa.
If he really wants to keep me.
He pressed his firm warm length into my back, snaking his arms around me possessively, making certain I noted the extra long firmness of what he had hidden away just for me.
Nice steely shaft I'd met the last time we spent time together. Not just treasured memories are associated with that meeting. No. But I could learn to forget the bad one where he didn't mark me. Will he do so now? The Gods know, I don't want to leave this room. Ever.
His warmth enveloped me like a cocoon.
Comforting. Mesmerizing. Just to turn. To fall into his cocooning strength. To merge and meld into the strong woodsy smell of him. That's why women gave up their freedom and mated. To be with a warrior like Boa.
His mouth fell against my ear.
Fluttering. So soft yet so firm. Contradictions. Probably because of his obvious need working like a crowbar against my tail. Maybe I should run with the gentle boost it seemed to try to give me toward the door.
He exhaled more warmth against my ear.
The skin on my neck tingled.
The room shrank down to a cozy sweet mass of shadows and muscles.
Just to have his mouth march across my skin, kneading up a slew of my desperate pleas.
"Ginny will not betray us," he hummed, squeezing around me from every direction.
Oh the way those lips fluttered. Safe, he makes everything safe, for me.
Everything inside me melted into a rush of warmth that settled out low in my belly.
"Thank the Gods," I think I whispered.
"I was so worried you'd be back home waiting for me on Saturday." He planted a warm kiss on my temple.
Closer. Lean closer. Latch that mouth onto my pounding jugular.
"So worried you'd be worried. Or worse. Then you walked into the meeting lodge with your sire." He pressed those wicked lips against my cheek and gently squeezed my skin with his mouth.
Over and over. Massaging a path down to my neck. As if begging me to answer. And I wouldn't give him the truth. Not yet. "Well, I knew running away from Croc would have looked suspicious when Croc announced I was attending the gathering with him. Especially when I can't stand being around Wolverine."
His seductive mouth vanished. He turned me to stare into his glowing eyes. "Why Wolverine?" he asked, his tone now serious.
Maybe I should have been more careful what I said. "Croc wanted me to mate him--"
"I know that. Besides, he's your first cousin. That's not a good choice. Your sire is insane. Why Wolverine?" Boa practically snarled.
Like I needed a reminder. But my mate, yes, my mate by his jealousy, would react protectively. I slid my palms up, across the stacked rungs of his washboard abs, watching his gaze flick between my hands and eyes as the heels of my palms glided over the pliant mounds of his breast muscle and onward to the back of his solid sinewy neck. "And you're my second cousin. So, we're all related and not planning on a happy family reunion. Who needs Wolverine? He's an ass. I can settle for you." I shot him a wicked grin. "If you still want me. How do you feel about that?"
The yellow of his eyes flickered to a deep flaming gold.
Well, if I said too much, then so be his anger. But his persistent focus on me made me want to say more. To set off his jealousy tearing at my clothes. Or something better. Because my body is humming. No aching. Down where he knew how to remedy the annoying throb of neediness. Can there be anything better than his amazing mouth pressed over every inch of my body?
Rip off my clothes. Yes. Now.
He tickled a line with a fingertip across my jaw line from my ear to my chin and tipped my face all the way up to study me. "I see your temperature flaring red, Willow. For the record, you're more sky blue. Soft. Refreshing. Whatever you're hiding about Wolverine doesn't have to ruin our time together tonight." He barely brushed his lips against mine and retreated to study my reaction. "But red, kitten, red really works for me."
So the darker gold in his eyes is his Wolf's infrared vision instead of night vision. Used to assess my reaction to him by fluctuations in my body temperature. If only I could do the same. I wouldn't be wondering what we shared between us. "No fair. I don't have your superpowers."
"I'll make it up to you." His delicious lips stretched into a promising grin.
I ached so badly between my legs that my knees threatened to buckle. "Kiss me, Boa."
He barely chuckled. "I think you're going to be a demanding little mate." He planted a soft kiss on my forehead and locked our gazes again. "One that requires lots of undivided attention." He kissed the tip of my nose, moved, and hovered, watching. "Probably so much I won't get any hunting done. We'll starve this winter." He grinned. "But we'll be warm."
Oh, sweet promises.
He slammed his mouth down over mine.
Kissing. Prying my lips farther open with his wedge of a tongue. Almost lifting me off the floor with his powerful upper arms wrapped around my back. Like his namesake. Choking me into submission. Or maybe it was just I couldn't get enough of what I really needed. Him. On the bed. Or the floor. Shoved into the wall the way Wolverine did Mary. Hell. Boa can drag me down to Croc's lodge and put on a show for my sire if he wants. I whimpered into his warm wet mouth.
The world swung until I rested in his arms--him carrying me to the bed.
"Mine," he growled, boring a hole through my eyes with the sparking orbs of his eyes.
My soul shivered with that declaration of ownership.
Say it again.
His arms started poking me.
In an odd way.
He's shifting.
His Wolfen hairs sprouting on his limbs. Runaway Wolf is a good thing. Loose. Uncontrollable. I'd get marked this time. Totally possessed. And some say mating a Shifter in his Wolfskin is the most amazing experience.
Chapter Four
Nothing was more important than the careful manner in which Boa undressed me like some sacred object. One piece of clothing at a time, pinning me down with his overwhelming mass of muscles and firm bone against the squeaking bed. Everywhere. His seductive skin was everywhere as he kissed each new inch of my skin he exposed, slowly moving that massaging flesh of his over the revealed stretch of my humming flesh as if he feared I'd catch a chill. Gods. He knew the power of those scorching kisses. How I'd melt into the cool cotton sheets he'd placed my body upon.
He inched along my ribs in that agonizing manner, toward my navel.
To tickle me to death with his wily tongue. "No, Boa." I tried to shove his scratchy Wolfen-hair-covered head away.
Hard unyielding immobile head.
He growled.
Who could argue while a enormous shape-shifting man paid homage to her jerking body? I tried to suck down a breath and hold it in.
But his dogmatic licks circling my navel only demanded I quiver and flinch against his face. His wicked tongue dipped into that indentation and wiggled.
Gods-be-damned purposely. "Boa," I whined.
He didn't stop.
Or refused to. The evil Shifter.
His fingers slid down to the button at my denim waistband and wriggled until worming the metal through the buttonhole.
To lap and suck me to death. Torture. He's torturing me. Like his prisoner. Why?
He popped the button free and gently jerked my blue jeans down my hips.
For what? To have his way with me as he'd done before?
My body trembled with a soul-consuming shiver that bottomed out between my legs in quaky achy need. As if my body had a mind of its own. Had its own expectations that even a sane woman couldn't avoid.
****
Trying to wait, to hold back Wolf, was impossible. Willow's thrashing and pleading kept luring Wolf from the chasm. To claim her. Her delectable salty scent rooted in his nostrils and made his hard-on throb. Ache. Pulse with pain. Until Wolf would settle for nothing but a mouthful of fresh dripping bloody mate. Now, that really doesn't sound so bad.
Her hands clawed into the bedding.
&nb
sp; Tried to anchor her to something stationary. Good. Because Wolf isn't finished with her. I yanked the blue jeans off one of her legs, then the other.
Each of those slim bare limbs would have been better off wrapped around my waist or thrown up to her shoulders. Yet, both bent at the knee, propped up on the bed. Blocking my view of her pink salty folds.
Bite mine, Wolf snarled and sucked down one mind-boggling gulp of Willow-laden air.
That Gods-be-damned thought is the only thing I could think of for as long as I could remember. Bite her. Claim her. Against her will or with her consent. But Willow isn't the kind of woman to be toyed with. She'd do whatever she intended when she felt like it. And where would that leave me? The wind would vanish if I tried to tie it down.
Life without the wind would be dull and miserable. No jangling leaves in the breeze. No blasts of fury in a storm. Hot stagnant air could kill everything. But if I made her beg to be claimed…I slid my hands across those firm soft thighs, shoving both wide, down to the bedding, baring her pink Well of Immortality.
Oh, yes. The salty pool from which all life springs.
Mine, Wolf growled.
"Boa," she groaned, tossing her head from side to side in a sea of white hair all splayed out around her beautiful face. "I need you." Her hips ground into the bed, pushing those firm thighs against my palms, the action as if anticipating Wolf devouring her Well.
Oh, Wolf was cocked full of need. Locked. Loaded. Ready to shoot first and ask questions later.
Mark, Wolf begged.
Not with Croc ready to rip my throat out. We can't do anything until Tornado gets all of the Shifters here to back me. Only then will Croc back down from telling Willow what to do.
Wolf snorted and dove.
Toward the pale curls dusting the Well. To the divine aroma of sweet mate. He thrust his nose into those warm moist folds.
Her body flinched as she gasped, wet softness trembling against his mouth.
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