Wild Winter

by Amelia Wilson

  “How did you become… how did my grandfather become… a shifter?”

  “I don’t know about Connor, someone had to make him one, someone has made all of us. I was with a girl, she had the gift, and she passed it to me, and well, she’s long gone, but the gift is here to stay.”

  Sasha was surprised to find that talk about another girl stung her, it wasn’t the time or place for her crush to rear its head, but there it was anyway. She shoved the feeling aside.

  “I’m so confused,” she said.

  “I know,” Hunter said. “It’s hard to take in, but just know that I’m sorry you found out like this, if I thought there was any chance Kurt would do this, I would have been here, I would have been watching you.”

  “How did you know to come tonight?”

  “I didn’t, I just got lucky. I wanted to speak with you, I got caught up at work, and I got out late. I’m glad I came when I did, Kurt was going to kill your grandfather.”

  Sasha pressed her palms to her eyes, and she groaned. “I can’t believe any of this. I saw it with my own eyes, and I still can’t believe it.”

  Hunter nodded, and then he turned his head and sniffed at the air. “Damien,” he explained, before jogging to the front door and opening it.

  Coming up the long drive was another pickup truck, this one silver and glinting in the moonlight. It parked, and Sasha, who had joined Hunter at the door watched as an older man with graying hair swept back in a long ponytail climbed out. He held a small case in one hand, like an old-fashioned doctor’s case.

  “Where is he?” he asked as he moved up the stairs.

  “Living room,” Hunter said, letting the man in. Damien didn’t greet Hunter, nor even acknowledge Sasha, he just hurried inside and set himself upon his knees by her grandfather. He pulled the blanket back, exposing Connor down to his pelvis, keeping his privates covered.

  “My God,” Damien said. “This was Kurt you say?”

  “Yes,” Hunter said, having come into the living room as well, Sasha on his heels.

  “He’s too far gone then,” Damien said. “We will have to...” he trailed off.

  “Yes,” Hunter agreed, nodding.

  Damien turned to his bag and opened it. He pulled out a small white crystal. As Sasha watched with wide eyes, the man held the crystal between his thumb and forefinger and passed it over Connor’s chest, inches from his skin and the wounds which crisscrossed his body. The crystal began to glow, and then it slowly turned red.

  “I don’t understand,” Sasha murmured.

  “I will be some time,” Damien said without turning. “Leave me to it, I will need you later Hunter, do not go far.”

  “Okay,” Hunter said, turning and taking Sasha by the hand, leading her into the kitchen. There he parked her at the small round table and then set about making a pot of coffee. Neither of them spoke, at least not until they were both at the table, steaming mugs set out before them.

  “This feels like a dream,” Sasha said, shaking her head slowly.

  “If only it were,” Hunter replied. “There will be much to discuss with my pack. Something like this has never happened here.”

  “You’ll kill Kurt?” she asked.

  “Yes, we will have to. This cannot stand, your grandfather is our leader, the alpha.”

  “Good,” Sasha said, surprising herself. It seemed as though she surprised Hunter as well, but the man did not comment on it, only looked at her with wide eyes and then busied himself sipping from his cup.

  Sasha set her half empty cup aside and groaned. “What the hell is going on?” she asked. “I have to be dreaming, right?”

  “Afraid not,” Hunter said. “It’s a lot to take in.”

  Sasha only nodded at that, and then they fell into silence once more and stayed that way until Damien called for Hunter from the living room.

  “Stay back,” Hunter said as he stood and moved from the kitchen, knowing Sasha would follow him. She stood in the doorway, watching as Hunter moved forward and knelt down beside Damien. The two men thoroughly blocked her view of her grandfather, and she couldn't make out any of the words Damien was saying, his voice hardly even a whisper. At intervals, and at Damien’s urging, Hunter placed his hands upon Connor’s chest.

  An hour passed, and then another, the two men quiet and chanting. Then, it seemed as though it was all over, and Hunter stood and moved away from the couch on unsteady feet until he collapsed into a nearby chair. Sasha started towards him.

  “He is tired, drained,” Damien said, turning at last to acknowledge Sasha. “I’m Damien, and I’m sorry we had to meet like this,” he held his hand out as he spoke and Sasha shook it.

  “Is my grandfather going to be okay?”

  Damien put a sad smile on his face. “Yes, from this attack at least. From what I understand of his cancer, it’s aggressive. That’s beyond my abilities.”

  “What were you doing to him?”

  “What allows us to change, to shift, is an ancient magic. And so, an ancient magic is needed to fully heal from our attacks. Of course, most of us do not attack anyone. We are protectors, and that is how we like it. We keep this land safe, and have for some time.”

  “What’s wrong with him?” Sasha asked, motioning to Hunter, who was sitting on the chair with his eyes closed.

  “The woman who made him a shifter was made such herself by your grandfather. Hunter is in his bloodline as we call it. As such, he could use his life force to help your grandfather.”

  Sasha’s head was spinning. Damien gave her a moment and then spoke.

  “They both need rest. I’m going to have two men come here to guard the place. We can’t know what Kurt will try next. They’ll stay outside, but I must insist that they be here.”

  Sasha could tell it would do no good to argue.

  “Okay,” she said, still trying to wrap her head around everything that had happened so far that night.

  Chapter Five

  Before he left Damien helped Sasha get her grandfather into his bed, and then they helped Hunter to her room, where he laid down and quickly went to sleep. By then two men had arrived in a Jeep (Sasha was interested to note it wasn’t a truck) and Damien left. The men didn’t approach the door, they just sat in the Jeep, having it facing back down the driveway, and occasionally one of them would get out and make a slow lap around the house.

  It was late, and Sasha was exhausted. She checked on her grandfather, then on Hunter, and then she went to the living room, and after quickly duct taping a piece of cardboard over the broken window, she lay on the couch and fell asleep, leaving all of the lights on.

  When she woke it was still dark outside, and she consulted a clock ticking away on the wall. It was four in the morning. She went to her room, saw Hunter there, asleep. With some hesitation, she moved into her room, to the bed, and she pulled the covers back, sliding in beside him.

  He stirred but did not wake. Sasha curled up beside him, fully dressed, as was he, and she went back to bed.

  She woke when the sun ran across her eyes, shining red in her vision, through her eyelids. She groaned and blinked and rolled away from the sun, putting her back against Hunter.

  He shifts then, throwing his arm around her. Her body tensed for a moment as he ground his hips forward, pushing his stiff member against her backside. Sasha thought he had to still be half asleep, that he had no way of knowing what he was doing, but then his lips were at the back of her neck, his fingers pushing her hair to the side there so he could kiss her skin.

  His kisses were light and soft, and Sasha closed her eyes and felt her body relax. His hand went to her hips, and he pulled her back against him further, her plump cheeks pushing up against his erection.

  “What are you doing?” she asked breathily, but he didn’t answer. He kept kissing her neck, trailing little kisses up and down along her spine, and Sasha found herself pushing back against his member, which was as hard as a rock and felt massive. She rotated her hips, pushing against h
im, and then pulling away and then pushing against him again.

  Since she took over he could move his hand from her hips, and he slid it forward, his fingers sliding under her shirt, the tips running along her flat stomach. She went to turn around, desiring nothing more than to be kissing him, but he put his hand on her side and stopped her from doing so, and then his fingers slid around to the fly of the jeans she had slept in, and the deftly undid the button and unzipped her pants.

  Sasha held her breath as his hand snaked down the front of her pants. Strong fingers lingered on the silky front of her panties, and then she was parting her legs ever so slightly as his hand slid between them. He rubbed her womanhood through the material of her panties and Sasha couldn’t help but moan as she felt her juices begin to flow.

  They lay like that for a long while, both breathing heavily. His fingers ruled her asher ass pressed back against him. She tried to turn again and this time he didn’t stop her, pulling his hand from her pants so she could. They pressed their lips together, their tongues shoving forward to dance.

  As they kissed they began to undress, her hand undoing his fly and then helping to push his pants down, his boxer briefs catching her fingers and coming away too so that besides a shirt he was nude. He broke the kiss long enough to take the shirt off and toss it to the floor, right where he had kicked his pants and underwear, and then they were kissing again, even as he pushed her onto her back and reached down to take her pants off.

  Her shirt and bra came next, and they were both nude, their bodies together, his fingers finding her wet spot once more, this time able to slide inside her, and he did just that, and she moaned against his mouth and reached for his rigid member, wrapping thin, petite fingers around it.

  Soon he shifted so that he was atop her, and she spread her legs to his hands on her thighs, pushing her legs open rather roughly, but she loved it, and she wanted it, and she reached down to grip him once more and help him slide home.

  “Yes,” she groaned, and he went to work. His hips bucked against hers, slowly at first, but soon he seemed to be unable to contain himself. He bent his head to find one of her breasts with his mouth, his lips playing lightly across her erect nipple, the tip of his tongue flicking over it to her immense satisfaction and delight.

  “You drive me wild,” he said, as an explanation to the way he was making love to her, quickly, hard, pulling almost completely out and then slamming back down, hitting her spot every time. He was making her own body scream out for his and soon she felt a blissful feeling developing in the pit of her stomach.

  As she neared orgasm, hoping against hope that he could hold the furious pace, that he wouldn’t finish before her, she found herself thinking of what he had been, the wolf. She thought of how her mind had just accepted it, how she wasn’t questioning it, Hunter was simply a wolf or a man who could become a wolf, and that was that. But those thoughts were quickly shoved aside by the immense pleasure she was feeling.

  She had her arms wrapped around Hunter, her nails painfully dug into his back, her eyes shut tight, and she didn’t even realize she was speaking aloud, but Sasha was, and she was saying, over and over, “Don’t stop, don’t stop.”

  He responded to that, his hips somehow, incredibly, picking up speed, their skin meeting with loud slaps. He let the full weight of his toned and muscular body rest upon her, she felt his scratchy chest hair pressing against her sensitive nipples, felt his flat stomach rest upon hers. He reached down, his strong hands gripping her by each thigh, holding her legs open, his manhood sliding in and out of her.

  “I’m there,” she said. “Don’t stop.”

  He didn’t. Hunter kept pushing in and out of her and Sasha felt a wave of passion roll through her, from her stomach down to her toes, which she curled as the orgasm rocked her.

  When she was done she lay panting, and Hunter took it as a sign that he could take care of himself now, and somehow, once again, his thrusting sped even more, and soon Hunter was practically panting, his head on her shoulder as he continued to buck atop her.

  “Inside me,” Sasha groaned. She had been on the pill for years, even when she didn’t have a steady boyfriend because she always had thought being safe was better than being sorry. Sasha had no idea if Hunter could even get her pregnant, she didn’t know what the inside of his body was like. Being a man who could become a wolf, she didn’t know if they could have children, and really the thought was so far from her mind at that point that she didn’t consider things like that until much later.

  Without much warning, the young man thrust forward and held there for a moment, and his perfect white teeth nipped at her ear as the young woman felt his hard penis jump inside her as he climaxed. A few more pumps and more sperm, and then he slid out of her, lay on his side and smiled over at her as he fought to catch his breath.

  “Wow,” he said, and then they kissed.

  Chapter Six

  Sasha and Hunter spent the morning in bed, talking, kissing, rubbing one another, but they didn’t make love again.

  “I should check on grandpa,” Sasha said, as she climbed nude from her bed and found her clothes, pulling on her jeans without bothering with underwear and a tee shirt.

  The old man was snoring in his bed, the scratches on his face already fading to shiny white scars. She returned to her room to find Hunter dressing.

  “Are you leaving?” she asked.

  “I have to,” he said, turning to her and taking her in his arms. He kissed her and then stepped away. “We have to find Kurt. The pack and I.”

  Sasha nodded.

  “There are men here, they can keep you safe,” Hunter said.

  “How did you know there were people here?” she asked.

  He laughed and tapped the side of his nose.

  “I don’t understand any of this,” she said with a laugh.

  “I know,” Hunter said. “I just need you to recognize that you’re in danger. For whatever reason, I think Kurt has set his sights on you. To hurt your grandfather I supposed, to hurt me.”

  “Why would he want to hurt you? I understand grandpa I guess if Kurt wants to be the leader.”

  “Your grandfather wants me to lead. Kurt would rather kill me than let me lead us in peace for years to come.”

  “Who doesn’t want peace?” Sasha asked. “He sounds ridiculous.”

  “He is,” Hunter said. He had finished dressing, and he sat on the edge of her bed to pull his socks and boots on. “He doesn’t want peace because he thinks we’re better than humans, and… other things.”

  “Other things?”

  “There are a lot of things in this world just below the surface, things you never knew about.”

  “Well I didn’t know anyone could turn into a wolf, and I didn’t know I would sleep with a wolf this morning, so I’ll take your word for it,” Sasha said, trying her best to make light of the subject.

  “Just stay here, alright? Take care of Connor, and promise me you won’t go anywhere without those men outside.”

  “Okay,” Sasha said. She could tell by Hunter’s tone, but the pain and anguish and worry in his eyes, that this was serious. If she strayed from her protectors, it could be the end of her.

  She said goodbye to Hunter at the door, grabbing his shirt and pulling him close to her. They kissed, long and hard, and then he stepped away. She watched him talk to the two men in the Jeep, and then he got into his truck and drove off.

  As he made his way, Hunter couldn’t help but think about the morning he had just shared with Sasha. He had never been with a woman who was so accepting of his other side or desired it so strongly, even the woman who had sired him. It was refreshing, and Hunter was sure he had fallen in love with Sasha.

  She would be in the back of his mind all day, both a fond remembrance of what they had done that morning and worry for her safety.

  His first stop was at Damien’s house. It was a log cabin in the woods, and the man opened the door before Hunter could even knock, as
though he had been expecting him.

  “Come in,” Damien said.

  “I’m here to figure out what we need to do about Kurt.”

  “You know what we must do,” Damien said.

  “I know, I need to figure out how we’re going to do it. Kurt has those in the pack who are loyal to him.”

  Damien nodded. “And we have those who are loyal to Connor. And to you.”

  Hunter had needed to hear that, and he smiled. It seemed as though the pack would need him to take the lead on this, long before he was prepared to take the lead. But he would step up, and he would do it.

  “I need three men who we can trust,” Hunter said. “Help me come up with some names.”

  Damien nodded and shut the front door. Then, the two wolf-men got to work.

  There was a knock at the front door just before noon. Sasha was in the kitchen, cooking soup, hoping her grandfather would wake and be hungry. The knock sent a shiver of fear running up Sasha’s spine, but she turned and went to the door, breathing a sigh of relief when she looked through the window and saw one of the men from the Jeep standing there. He was younger even than her and Hunter, with tan skin and blonde hair. She pulled open the door.

  “Hey there,” the young man said. “I’m Kyle. I was hoping I could speak to your grandfather quickly,” he said.

  “I don’t think he’s awake,” Sasha said, leaning on the open front door.

  “I know, I mean, I figured, I didn’t mean I needed to talk to him, I just, we’re all pulling for him, and I kind of just wanted to see him. Pray maybe.”

  “Oh, sure,” Sasha said with a smile, and she stepped back so the young man named Kyle could enter. “He’s upstairs, first door on the right.”

  “Thanks,” Kyle said, and he went up the stairs. Before shutting the door, Sasha glanced out at the Jeep. The vehicle was aiming away from the house, and she could see that a man sat in the passenger seat, his neck bent awkwardly, his head against the glass. Sasha watched for a moment, and the man did not move. He must be asleep. She shut the door, locked it, and went back to the kitchen.