by Selena Scott
She snuggled up even closer to him, stilling when he winced a little bit. “What is it? The moon or your burns?”
“Burns,” he replied, feeling unexpectedly candid with her. Hiding his reality seemed pretty pointless at this point. “I usually put on this cream stuff after I get them wet.”
“Is it in your bag?”
He nodded and she dug through and found it. He laid there patiently, quietly, nervously, while Ida stripped him of the clothes she’d just dressed him in, rolled him on his side and started applying the cream.
Her soft hands over his knotted skin made him grit his teeth. He forced himself not to squeeze his eyes closed the way he had when the nurses had tended to him in the hospital. Ida wasn’t like them. She took care of him. She cared for him. She wasn’t disgusted by what he was. He surrendered to the feel of her hands working him over, never having felt more vulnerable in his entire life. She rubbed the cream onto his burns from his ankle to his armpit, humming to herself the entire time, her hands gentle and firm at the same time.
At the end, she didn’t bother putting his clothes back on. She just pulled the blanket on over both of them and snuggled in, her even breaths eventually lulling him to sleep.
***
He awoke a few hours later with restless, untenable energy coursing through him. He felt antsy and irritable. The discomfort of not being healed enough to shift was back in full force. He sat up and scraped a hand over his face, trying to stay quiet and not wake Ida. He considered unzipping from the tent and going back to the hot spring. Or better yet, dousing himself in the icy creek and then getting back in the hot spring.
But the idea lacked shine without her there with him. Even so, he didn’t want to disturb her. He was just crawling toward one end of the tent when he felt her hand against his back.
He turned back and there she was, blinking at him, her glasses-less eyes looking delightfully sleepy. It was still completely dark outside but he could see her with perfect clarity.
“You all right?” she asked, sitting up and letting the blankets fall away from her. His eyes dropped down and he saw that at some point, she’d taken her pajamas off so that they were both naked now.
He grunted, his eyes on her beautiful body. “Moon energy.”
“Come here, baby.” She beckoned him back to her and, completely in her thrall, he crawled back over the blankets and into her arms.
What started as her giving him a sleepy scalp massage turned in to kisses along his chin and neck. Moments later, those kisses were on his mouth, long and dreamy and deep. Soon, she was pressing herself against him from her head to her toe, her fingers tight against his back and chest.
He rose to the occasion. Still feeling the restless irritability that came with not being able to shift, Phoenix was a little bit rougher with her than he had before. He held her hair tightly in one fist and gripped her in place for his kiss. He took from the warm, soft of her mouth, drinking her down like she was the antidote for his discomfort. And wasn’t she?
His hands crawled with discomfort so he dragged them over her smooth stomach, he played with her breasts, he buried his fingers between her legs. She tightened and convulsed against him, begging him for release and then screaming her pleasure into his mouth. He was drunk on her. Drunk on everything he could give to her.
She’d held him so deeply in her web for so long and thrumming with energy, Phoenix suddenly needed to return the favor. She was an unspooling ribbon of relaxed woman in his arms so he flipped her over, putting her on her hands and knees in front of him.
When he put his mouth on her from the back, spreading her open with a hand on each side of her, she moaned, low and long, and lost her grip on the earth. She melted forward, almost all the way down but that wasn’t what he wanted. He pulled away from her, administered a sharp slap to her ass that made her yelp, and then pulled her back onto all fours.
Registering his own roughness, he paused for a second, slicking his palm over the place he’d just slapped her ass and she pushed back into him, her chin tipping over her shoulder.
“More,” she whispered.
He growled, low in his throat, slapping her ass again and then diving back in. She came on his tongue, a trembling, begging mess that thrilled him deeply. Her body, shaking and open and his. Yes. He knew, looking down at her through the dark, that this was exactly what his heart must look like at this very second.
The thought had him gripping her hips hard, lining himself up behind her. There were a million ways to have sex, he knew this now. But he’d already shown her how the man inside of him felt about her. Right now, all he wanted was to show her exactly how the beast inside of him felt for her. He needed to claim her, rut her, make sure she never questioned how badly he wanted her.
He slid a palm down her spine all the way until he gripped her shoulder, her hair falling across his knuckles. “Yes?” he grunted, slicking the head of his cock through her welcoming wetness.
“God, yes,” she moaned, pushing back just slightly.
Phoenix fitted himself inside of her and then thrust forward, seating himself all the way to the root. She screamed, went up on her fingertips and his grip on her shoulder tightened. He took a moment and held there, made sure that she felt every single inch of him inside of her. His second hand moved down to join the first and he clasped her to him by both shoulders, his fingers meeting loosely at the bottom of her throat. And then the pressure was too great and he had to start thrusting.
The moonlight streamed into the tent over their shadowed, writhing bodies. Phoenix’s deep grunts mixed with Ida’s helpless moans. The slap of their skin against one another was obscene and hot and fulfilling to him in a way he’d never before known. He’d had dirty sex before. But to have it with Ida, my god. This was his sexual identity right here. This was the sex he was supposed to have for the rest of his life. The kind that ended up with him all the way inside of her.
He leaned forward, braced his weight with one hand and pressed his chest to her back. One of his hands tangled in her hair and he pulled her head to one side, his teeth needling at her neck as her body jolted forward with every one of his possessive thrusts. And then he planted both hands, his body forming a protective shield between her and the rest of the world. And even as he took from her, she gave, opening her legs even further, her voice, eventually giving out. This time, he didn’t pull out. He stiffened against her, one arm looped around her waist to smash her pussy all the way against the base of him. He unleashed his pleasure inside of her, no thoughts of anything but her tight, hot channel as he shook against her.
“I won’t,” he told her again, remembering what she’d asked him before. His weight collapsed them both forward and he rolled off of her, out of her, pulling her over onto his chest.
Her lips found his, her hands on his face and chest. Sleep, and peace, found him promptly.
He woke again, with dawn’s light just starting to peek at the edges of the sky, but that’s not what woke him. It was Ida’s mouth between his legs. He grabbed her silky hair and hung on for the ride before she climbed over his lap and sat right down on his dick, taking him inside. She planted her hands behind her and introduced him to a new position, giving him quite a view of her gorgeous, needy body. She rode him sweetly, sleepily, lazily and he returned the favor by playing with her clit. He went over the edge first and she followed quickly after, his thumb circling her over and over until she trembled with sensitivity and pushed his hand away.
Afterward, she dragged him back to the creek and then the hot spring where, finally, he felt the moment the moon fully set. He was himself again, at peace again.
But something had changed. Fully and completely, he was a different man than he’d been when they’d arrived at this campsite yesterday.
His life was simple again, the way it used to be. He was no longer waiting interminably for something that might never happen. Instead, he’d found something he’d never even knew he’d been missing.
&n
bsp; CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
“It’s -you don’t understand- it’s the best sex of my life.” Ida whispered the last part so that only Wren could hear her from where they sat next to one another on the porch of the salon.
“Well, it was already the best oral of your life, so it follows that he’d be good with his dick too, right? I mean, it’s the same general principle. The sex, oral or otherwise, is good if you’re not a selfish asshole and you pay attention to what your partner likes and dislikes.”
Ida almost laughed aloud but didn’t want to hurt Wren’s feelings. “Well, yes, I suppose. But you make it sound so mechanical. Sex with Phoenix isn’t good because he’s following some rulebook. Most of it is because he’s so… so… him.”
Wren gave her a quizzical little frown. “Your very own prince charming?”
“Don’t make fun of me! I know I’m not in a fairy tale.”
“Ida. You remember that as soon as he’s healed, this man is leaving, right? He’s one of the good ones, sure. Especially because he’s been nothing but honest with you. But the man’s dearest ambition is to live out the rest of his days on the backside of a mountain as a different species than you.”
“I— I know that.” Ida looked down at her fingernails. Wren was right, of course, but she didn’t have to be quite so rude about it. “I haven’t lost sight of that. I guess I’m just…”
“On a sex high?”
“Maybe.” Even as she said it, Ida knew it was a lie. She wasn’t on a sex high. She was on a love high.
She done the stupid, the risky, the inevitable. She’d taken him to the woods, fucked him silly, and left her heart behind in that hot spring. Even knowing that he was just upstairs, a few floors away from her, getting ready for his first day of work, Ida felt strange and too far away. She’d gone bonkers for the man. There was no denying it.
And it was going to destroy her when he left.
So be it.
She had her whole life to make her peace with it and she only had a short time with this man.
“Oh, shit,” Wren said after a second, reading Ida’s expression with the dexterity of a very old friend. “This isn’t about sex, is it? This is about love.”
Ida frowned, hating that she was so transparent but also relieved that there was at least one person she could talk to about this. “Oh, jeez. Yes. You know it is. I never stood a chance.”
“Who are you in love with?” Quill asked from the bottom of the porch stairs, a funny expression on his face.
Ida and Wren both jumped. “Shit, sneaky! Make some damn noise next time.”
Quill pulled a face at Wren. “I made plenty of noise. You two were just too busy gossiping to notice me.”
“We weren’t gossiping,” Ida said. “We were discussing our lives. There’s a difference, you know.”
“So, you’re not going to tell me who you’re in love with?” Quill asked, teasing her.
“Shh!” Ida glanced back at the house. It was bad enough that she’d told Wren. She didn’t need Quill spilling the beans to Phoenix.
Quill followed her gaze to the house, understanding lighting his features. His face fell into an even funnier expression. “Oh,” he said meaningfully, apparently understanding exactly who she was talking about. He strode up the stairs and halfway into the house. “Be, uh, careful there, Ida. The Wolfs won’t be around forever.”
And then he disappeared into the house, leaving both Ida and Wren to stick out their tongues at him as he went.
***
Quill climbed the stairs up to Dawn’s room on leaden feet. Now Ida was in love with Phoenix? Jesus, this just kept getting more and more complicated. At first, it had all seemed so easy, so manageable. And now one of his friends, a good woman, had her heart on the line as well?
He wasn’t usually such a softy. He generally was ruthlessly dedicated to his tasks. There was just something about the Wolfs. Something about—
He stopped walking, peering through Dawn’s open door. She sat on the floor, her legs spread in almost a perfect side split as she leaned on her elbows, flipping through flashcards that he’d made her. She’d learned her alphabet astonishingly fast and was already mastering three letter words. He watched her lips move soundlessly as she sped through the words on the card.
She wore leggings and a button down flannel shirt. Her hair was still too long and thick and hung mostly in her face and he was grateful for it. He really, really didn’t need to further confuse things with a pesky attraction to Dawn.
No matter how attractive he already found her elusive voice to be. No matter how cute she was sitting on her floor, quizzing herself on flashcards. No matter that ever since he’d taken her to the bookstore, she actually spoke to him.
So, things were more complicated than he’d originally thought they’d be. So what? Was it anything he couldn’t handle? No. He’d survived the fucking internment camps for god’s sake. He could handle one girl—
“Oh! Hi!” Dawn spotted him in her doorway and scooted up so that she was sitting on her feet, her dark hair tumbling to one side. “I’ve been working on my flashcards! And I’m pretty sure I know them all. But I’m a little worried that I just memorized them, instead of reading them. Either way, I’m excited for our lesson today. Can we go back to the library?”
Her eyes were filled with light and excitement, her feet neatly tucked under her.
Goddammit. Quill’s heart pounded in his chest just looking at her.
Ida and Phoenix. Dawn, happy and excited. This all just got so much more complicated.
***
“Dude, I can’t believe your level of improvement, my brother!”
Phoenix realized that he must really be getting better if Watt had referred to him as ‘dude’ and ‘my brother’ in the same sentence. He couldn’t help but smile over at his redheaded friend. Was there any reason to deny that over the last twenty four hours he suddenly felt like he could lift an entire tree over his head? “Yeah. Feeling pretty good.”
“You turned a real corner since the last time I met with you,” Watt said, walking a circle around Phoenix where he was carefully doing quad presses. “I’m amazed. More flexibility, more strength.” He leaned closer and inspected Phoenix’s side. “Even your burns look more healed. Amazing. You stumble on the fountain of youth or something? What’s your secret?”
“Ida.” Phoenix had never mentioned his romantic entanglement to Watt before and he did so now almost involuntarily, as if he couldn’t not say her name aloud. And besides, it was the truth anyhow. She was the reason for his rapid recovery, his good health, his good mood. She was the reason that for the first time since the fire, Phoenix’s life held purpose and meaning.
Watt’s face knotted up. “Ida who? Ida Greer? Your mentor?”
“Not my mentor anymore,” Phoenix said through a grunt as he carefully lowered the weights on the machine down with control, making sure they didn’t clank. “She’s my woman now.”
Watt’s eyebrows lifted. “Dang, brother. Good for you! Ida’s the best.”
Something tightened in Phoenix’s chest. “I know she’s the best. That’s why I like her.”
It bothered him to hear Watt talk about Ida and Phoenix wasn’t exactly sure why. Sure, he didn’t like that they’d gone on a date and kissed, but Ida had already explained how little she’d enjoyed that. There was something else that nagged at Phoenix.
“Good for you, man,” Watt said, dropping down onto the mat into the first round of stretches they were going to do together. “I’m glad you’re having a little fun with the locals before you head back into the hills.”
Ah. There it was. The thing that bothered Phoenix. He’d known, based on how well he knew Watt and his attitude toward women, that Watt would assume Ida was just a bit of fun. After all, that’s what Watt himself had been after with Ida. She’d been nothing more than a pretty pair of lips he’d wanted to kiss at the end of the night. Something protective rose up in Phoenix, not because Ida was a woman an
d he was a man and she was his to own. But because Ida’s humanity was important to Phoenix. Honestly, it was why he’d fallen for her. His clumsy-sweet human.
She didn’t deserve to be thought of in such a diminishing way by Watt.
“I won’t be,” Phoenix said in a low voice.
“Having fun?”
“Heading back into the hills.”
Watt blinked at him, apparently completely taken off guard by that particular statement. “I’m sorry. What?”
“Ida asked me not to leave. I’m not leaving. I’m staying with her.”
“You’re staying with her. In Portland. As a human.” Watt’s tone was still completely shocked.
“As a human until I can start shifting again and then, I don’t know. I’ll split my time as much as I can so that I can be both wolf and man. Ida’s not unreasonable. She doesn’t want me to never be a wolf again. She just doesn’t want me to only be a wolf.”
“Wow, dude. So you, like, really love her, huh?”
“Yeah.”
Something tickled down the back of Phoenix’s spine and he turned to see that he was being watched by the same man who had talked to him before. The creepy one who Watt had chased away. The man looked between Watt and Phoenix, obviously listening to their conversation.
Phoenix turned away, unsettled by the entire exchange and listened to Watt babble away about women.
***
The Director frowned at the number that was calling him. It was one of his agents in Portland, though not the one he’d prefer to hear from. His favorite and most trusted agent was getting harder and harder to get ahold of, something the Director would have to rectify with his employee immediately.
The secondary agent, the one who’d been wanting so badly to prove himself to the Director sounded almost surprised when the Director answered the call.