Shifting Solitude (Outlaws, Fangs and Claws Book 1)

by Cheyenne Hart

  No, you're a human, just like her. Take it easy.

  "Mmm, your cock tastes good," she said. "I like a nice hunk of meat. You got any requests, baby?"

  "I'm hungry," he said.

  "Oh, okay. Nothing wrong with going down on a hooker. Way more men that you think do it, and I'm way cleaner than some whore you'd pick up at a bar."

  "I'll bet you're not that clean," he said, "but I wouldn't want that anyway."

  She leaned back and spread her legs--no panties of course, her neat ribbon of pink flesh waiting for him.

  Colton puffed out his diaphragm, bringing his face closer to the luscious little spot. "You do smell good." He put both hands on her bare knees and spread them farther, before he kissed her right on the outskirts of her opening. It became wet as his lips touched it.

  Taking another quick look at her perfect cunt--he wondered if she'd had surgery to achieve that, like she'd obviously done to her tits--he dove back down and tongue fucked her, trying to eat her more than he could.

  The pretty, plastic hooker planted herself back into the sofa cushions. She spread her arms out over the backrest and let herself be taken away.

  Colton was enjoying himself so much--more than he had in a long time--more than he ever had. So much, in fact, that he didn't notice how different he felt. Before he could even try to control himself, he started to change.

  He growled into Sunset's cunt, still eating her out.

  The hooker screamed.

  Colton yanked his hands back in time to stop from puncturing her skin his new claws.

  "What's happened to you?!" she asked, white with terror. And just like that, she sounded like the young woman she was, instead of a veteran street walker. "Get off me!" she screamed as she grabbed her handbag and ran out the front door, slamming it behind her.

  Colton didn't move much. He shut his eyes tight and waited for her to leave. Maybe it wasn't so bad. Could have just been his finger nails, the claws, that had shocked her. A few errant hairs too thick to be a man's, nothing strange. Maybe he'd look in the mirror and be relieved to see nothing much had changed. He was glad it had happened with a hooker though, because she was unlikely to call the cops.

  Before the mirror hanging against the wall, he managed to force himself to look at his reflection. There were certainly werewolf features, but he still looked a lot like himself. He hadn't felt the partial change happen, as deeply engrossed as he was in her sultry sap which was blessing his mouth. He had felt his skin tightening back, returning to normal, after she'd run out. She must have seen him closer to werewolf form than he was now. That must have been quite a sight.

  Maybe she'll tell herself it was a skin condition. Yeah, or some disease maybe. That'll freak her out big, but once she gets the all-clear from her doctor, it'll be like some fucked up dream to her.

  It's not like she didn't leave with a nice chunk of cash at least.

  This was going to ruin his life, and in more ways than one.

  He hadn't shifted form completely yet, so maybe he could fight ever becoming light those fanged lowlifes who attacked him. Colton decided to dedicate himself entirely to getting closer to the Bloody Claw gang. He'd get to the bottom of this, and find a way to fix himself--no matter what the cost.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  They didn't speak to each other for a good while. They just had little grins and the unsure movement, like two children who'd been busted at the refrigerator after bed time, sneaking chocolate cookies and soda. Hallard didn't know what to say, but he was too relieved to worry about it for long. It was all meant to fall into place so easily now, he had found a mate at last, after all.

  Melody just seemed serene, from the time they'd come together, through grabbing their clothes off the sweaty ground, and sliding back into the pickup. "Can we stop to wash up, stud?" she said as they passed a sign for a gas station. "Are you hungry? I could eat something big." She giggled and put her hand on his leg. "Maybe not so big this time. Some fried chicken or a burger would be amazing though."

  "That's a great idea." His dick sparked at her touch and suddenly it seemed necessary to go for another round. Too late, though, they were on the move again. Should have acted sooner, he thought. But he had acted at all, at least, and he'd finally fucked this woman who'd started as a ghost in his dream.

  They bought their food and carried the greasy paper bags back out to the pickup, along with hot coffee, and Melody had a bottle of water too.

  They sat and ate alone together in the pickup. "It was kind of busy in there for such a small place," said Melody.

  "I hate crowds."

  "You really do, don't you? What about individual people though?" She peeled back the slick paper of her cheeseburger with the lot, hold the onion.

  "Them too." Hallard pressed his head back into the seat. "Don't worry, I think I'll be able to tolerate you, for as long as you'll stick around."

  "Stick around? To you? I guess it would be difficult to pull myself away at this moment. Why, you worried about me going somewhere?"

  Hallard shook his head, but didn't do a very good job hiding his concern.

  "Don't worry, I'm not going anywhere, Hallard. Not when you can fuck me like that." And she made herself go red around the cheeks.

  After they'd finished wolfing down their food, they left the vehicle alone while they each used the humble facilities. Hallard was glad the men's room was empty. It was older than he was, and needed repairs. But it was fairly clean and smelled of fresh chemical lemons. He looked in the mirror and realized how stupid-happy his face was. "Geeze, you're really sucked into her," he said without thinking. But he was.

  He locked the door. Even after he'd taken off his shirt, used warm water and soap to give himself a thorough whore's bath, and gotten a satisfying clean--he still stank of Melody. It turned him on and again his dick came alive. This wasn't the time or place to do anything about that, so he finished up and went back to the pickup.

  He wasn't used to waiting for a lady to finish in the bathroom. The whole routine of even going indoors was a long shot from pissing wherever he was in the woods. Finally, he eyed her coming out of the bathroom.

  There was a group of young guys standing around by the bathroom, smoking cigarettes and trying to look cool. As Melody walked by them, one of the kids whistled at her. And she was level-headed enough to just ignore it as meaningless. But as she went by without giving them a second glance, the same kid called out, "Hey, baby, nice tits."

  "What?" she said, turning around on a dime. "You'd better watch your mouth, little boy."

  "Or what?" he replied, standing up straight to look impressive; he wasn't.

  Hallard looked around sheepishly and got out of the pickup. As soon as he started walking over to the group, the teens took a look at him and walked away silently.

  "That's right, run home to your mommies, little boys!" Melody called out. She was breathing heavy, chest pumping in and out, and her hands were shaking.

  "Are you okay?" asked Hallard as he went over to her. "You're shaken up, aren't you?"

  "I just, why can't a girl just do her thing without being harassed? Shit, I'm mad. Screw it."

  "Should I have done something?" asked Hallard. He wasn't used to social situations like that.

  "To those kids? Of course not. No, just having you there made me feel safe. Should we go?"

  "Sure. I'll drive."

  "Hey, it's definitely my turn to drive now," she said as she came around to the driver's side door. "Come on, you can't keep taking double shifts."

  "It's not like I was up all night."

  "Yes, but I know how good I am in the sack, and you must be physically and emotionally spent. You are too tired from my expert love making skills, mister."

  "You're pretty cute," Hallard said. "Okay, okay. Yes, I am."

  They got into the car, Melody at the wheel.

  Hallard said, "You know what though, I really am. Fuck ..." he rubbed his crotch and the good vibrations started up a
ll over again. "Wait," he said as they were pulling out of the gas station's meagre parking bay. "What's that smell?"

  "I don't have your shifter sense of smell. What's wrong?" she asked.

  Hallard knew that smell, but it was covered with gas and diesel, grease from the run down car garage that was attached to the gas station and diner. He focused and it hit him with a fright.

  "Wolves, they're near, maybe somewhere upwind and not too close though." But the wind was coming past the gas station and out toward the pickup. He spotted them. "Shit. Drive, drive. Act normal."

  "Okay, calm down. Where are they," Melody said as she put it back into gear and took off at a moderate pace, not too slow.

  Hallard nodded toward them while looking away.

  "Shit," she said.

  There was a van, nothing unusual about it, about ten years old maybe. It didn't look like a gang's van, but there were some shady looking fuckers getting out of it. Behind the wheel was a big guy wearing sunglasses and a bandana on his head. They were all wearing leather jackets with a bloodied claw on the backs. They might have looked over at the pickup, or maybe not.

  "Just keep going. I don't think they've seen us," Hallard said.

  "I'm sorry I made a scene like that. They must have seen that. Shit!"

  "No, no, you didn't do anything wrong. I think we're okay anyway."

  "Let's hope so," added Melody as she turned out onto the road and drove away.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  They both agreed it was a bad idea to continue down the highway right away. So, they went along a detour that would take them around some low mountains.

  Hallard looked at the map. "It's going to take a lot longer, but I guess we have no destination in mind anyway."

  "We can play it safe then," Melody said. "It's not like we're on a schedule right?"

  "Even though it's going to take three, four, hours longer to get to the next town."

  Melody couldn't help but pick up some sarcasm from him, even though that was totally out of character. After driving for a bit longer, she had to ask, "Do you blame me for getting us caught?" she finally asked.

  "We haven't been caught. They didn't see us."

  "I guess I'm still feeling a bit weird. I didn't mean to cause a scene. I should have just kept my mouth shut. I'm sorry." Melody was started to believe what she'd just said, even though she could feel herself getting worked up about nothing."

  Hallard was hesitating to reply.

  Is he was already starting to regret helping me in the first place? she wondered.

  "Hey, calm down. Yes, we know that was the wolf gang because of their jackets. Doesn't mean they saw us, or even that those guys were out this way because of us. They have no way to know we took off. Probably haven't even found my cave yet. Even so, they don't know we're here." He said it earnestly.

  Melody could tell he was just trying to keep her calm. "I'm not the one who wanted to stop in the first place," she said.

  "What? You wanted to get something to eat. So did I though."

  "I don't mean that. I mean before that, when we stopped for, well you know." And your pussy's still throbbing from the best fuck you've ever had, she added to herself. She didn't care though. God, she wanted to cut up some nice, fat rails of speed and snort them up. No, that was all behind her now ...

  "I don't regret a thing," Hallard said plainly. He looked out the passenger window and remained quiet.

  Melody sighed and looked out at the golden landscape. It sure was nice out that way, the farther they got from the city. "I'm sorry," she said.

  "You're still craving, aren't you?"

  Melody nodded.

  "You'd need a bear's constitution to not be. It's only been a matter of days." He smiled.

  She smiled back but didn't mean it. Already, she could feel herself starting to mess things up all over again.

  They drove on, as the minutes melted into hours, dragging out into boredom and anxiety. The sun had closed the gap between itself and the horizon by half, when they past a sign advertising a bed and breakfast.

  "Hey, look at that," said Melody with longing. So much for a first date.

  As if reading her mind, or maybe just reading her face well enough, Hallard said, "What do you say to stopping for the night here? I'm sick of cheap hotels."

  "Really?" She tried to force back her excitement, because there was no way they could do something so frivolous. "I mean, we can't really waste our time on something stupid like that ..."

  "Can't we? We don't have any specific place to go."

  "But the van. I already messed up there." Melody felt a sense of bitter sweetness about the prospect of having a date under these circumstances.

  "This seems like a good place to hide out for the night, don't you think?

  "You're sure?" she asked with growing excitement.

  Hallard nodded. "We can lay low here, and besides, I need a good cut of meat in me."

  "That sounds amazing!" Melody was so distracted that she started to veer a little away from the faded lines in the middle of the burning road. "Whoops. God, do you know how long it's been since I've gone on a normal date with a guy? Wow ..." It didn't matter that she was acting like a teenager who just got asked to prom by the coolest kid in school. Or, that they'd already gone beyond the realms of first date in so many other ways. Melody fucked plenty of dudes she just met, and then never saw them again. But she didn't think twice about their feelings either

  They arrived at the bed and breakfast, which was far away from the freeway or any other properties.

  Melody said with enthusiasm, "This is such a neat little place. Look at that beautiful cottage. You know, I've always had a thing about going to live in a cottage on a farm, out in the countryside with birds and animals. I guess you couldn't tell that from meeting me, but it's true." She tried keep herself from getting too worked up about an ad-hock date on the run with a guy she just met.

  "You really are happy, aren't you? That makes me happy," said Hallard.

  She leaned over and planted a wet kiss on his bristly face. Hallard had not been shaving lately. It was a man's face though, rough and dark in its aroma. Melody licked her lips and added, "Thanks. I think I need to practice saying that word a lot more. Thank you for everything you did for me."

  "Getting you caught up in all of this mess?"

  "Remember that I was already pretty deep in it before you first saw me." A memory of Grave, the beastly bastard changing form on top of her, while deep inside of her.

  The drugs were the whole reason she'd let herself get into that position. Never again, she reminded herself.

  "I guess we both screwed each other over then?" Hallard said.

  The place was a large cottage with stone walls. There was another building beside that one, removed by maybe twenty yards. It was obvious that it had been built a lot later, but the overall facade was in keeping with the appearance of the original building.

  "This is a dream place. Aren't you glad we had to take a detour now? I'm not such bad luck after all."

  "Melody, it wasn't your fault," he said.

  But she couldn't stop blaming herself. That little guilt in the center of her heart was leaking out something black, like oil but much worse and harder to get rid of.

  Hallard knocked on the door and they stood there waiting for someone to answer. A chilled breeze went by the two new lovers, as though something were out in the fields around them, hiding among the scattered trees. The sun was still hanging in there, but it wasn't nearly so bright as when they'd made love beneath it.

  "Maybe there's only someone here during vacation time or weekends," stated Hallard with disappointment.

  "I don't even remember what day of the week it is. That's bad, right?"

  "I spent most of my life not knowing what the day of the week it was. No big deal."

  Someone opened the door: a stout lady with a slight hunch, as though life had been sitting on her upper back for far too long. She wasn't t
hat old though, maybe in her late sixties, early seventies.

  "Hello there," she said, looking first closer at Hallard, then at Melody, and back at each of them. She became somehow lighter when she smiled at them, like the weight of the world had lifted off her back, and color came to her face. "Oh, my, what a handsome young couple. Your wife is so pretty, you've done well. Will you need a room, dears?" she said to both of them, looking back and forth with a cracked but honest smile.

  "You do have any?" asked Melody, cheering up instantly. "We were worried you wouldn't, or that you weren't open." She paced up to the open door and smiled at the shorter woman. "If it's not too short notice, we'd love to book a room for tonight, I mean starting now if that's possible." It felt strange to Melody to put on such airs for a stranger, but she felt special and wanted the night to be as magical as possible.

  "My, we certainly do. And me and my husband live right in this house, so we're open every day. That's except for when we go visit our daughter. She has two of the most beautiful children, a boy and a girl. Jeffrey and Alese, their names are."

  "Really? That's great," said Melody. She wasn't sure how to run with that line of conversation. Polite introductions were one thing, but small talk about family and normal life? And all while she was dead-sober? She suddenly felt like she needed a drink.

  "But you're probably tired from driving," said the woman. "Why I get you your key, and a menu for dinner. You're gonna love my cooking."

  As soon as Melody and Hallard got into their room, he placed his hand on her waist. They kissed, for the first time since their hot fuck session.

  "Ooh, I just remembered I can take a proper shower," said Melody. "Say, what do you say we put a pin in this and make it real special?"

  "Sounds fine to me. I think I'll take a nap and let you have the bathroom all to yourself, okay?"

  "Thanks."