by Edith DuBois
“You smell perfect.”
Elena didn’t know what possessed her, but she discovered her hand snaking down his arms and around his backside. Running her palms over the hard muscles of his ass, she gripped his cheeks and pulled him toward her. He moved his hand away from her, and her pussy ignited when his hard cock nudged against her through their pants. He rubbed its bulge against her clit, causing the muscles in her cunt to quiver.
“I need to…” He began unbuttoning her jeans. “I have to taste you, Elena. I want to taste you.”
Elena felt her cheeks flaming. None of her boyfriends had ever done that to her. She’d always wondered what it felt like, but suddenly, she was too embarrassed to let him do that to her. “No, Joseph, please.”
He stopped at the panic in her voice.
“What is it?” He held her face, searching her eyes.
“Please don’t.”
“Don’t what?”
Elena could barely breathe, much less say it out loud. Her skin felt like it was on fire, and all she could do was plead with her eyes and hope that he understood. His hands went back to her jeans, so she put her hands over his, trying to stop his progress. “Please, I don’t want you to do that.”
He snatched her tiny hands up in his. “Elena, look at me.”
She continued to stare down at their hands, too mortified to meet those black, burning eyes. “Beautiful Elena…” His voice was so tender. It begged her to trust. Taking a deep breath, she looked up at him. He put a hand to her cheek, rubbing his thumb across her bottom lip. “If it’s a matter of not wanting me, say the word, and I’ll stop.”
Elena didn’t say anything.
“Are you scared?”
She nodded.
“Why?”
Elena bit her lip, fearing her confession was too intimate, too exposing. She didn’t want to be vulnerable. She wasn’t ready for that.
“Please. You can tell me. Everything will be all right. You are safe.”
“What if…” She didn’t think she could get the words out, but Joseph waited patiently, not rushing her, only watching her with his steady dark eyes. Taking a deep breath, she whispered, “What if I don’t taste…I mean, what if it’s not…”
“Hey.” He pressed a soft kiss on her lips and then pulled back to look in her eyes. “Do you trust me?”
She nodded.
Without another word and without taking his eyes away from hers, his hands began working on her jeans again. Elena’s lips trembled, but she didn’t stop him. His eyes held her steady.
When he had tugged her pants and panties down over the curve of her hips, he placed his hands on her hip bones. “I want you to close your eyes, Elena.” He waited until she did so, and after a moment he placed a kiss on each of her closed eyelids. She sensed him kneeling before her, and then he blew a hot breath over her pussy, sending shivers up and down her body.
His mouth closed over her clit, his firm lips holding the little bud and massaging. Elena flattened her palms against the door behind her, taking huge breaths, trying to find order. But as soon as Joseph’s mouth had touched her pussy, all semblance of reason in her mind exploded into chaos.
His tongue darted out and flicked against her clit, and Elena’s hips rolled toward him. His hands gripped her more firmly, holding her in place. Then, thinking she could take no more, she moaned when she felt his tongue push inside her pussy. His tongue moved in fast, assertive movements, pushing against her insides, licking and lapping and laving. One moment his tongue was soft and wide, moving in slow, lazy patterns. Then it was hard and tight, jabbing and poking at her, unrelenting.
Waves began to build deep inside her. Each roll of his tongue made them wider and wider, higher and higher until Elena was sure they would explode out of her. As they reached their peak, Joseph pressed a thumb hard against her clit, rubbing vigorously against the throbbing nerves. Elena’s hands flew to his head and held him as she cried her release. Her hips rolled and thrashed as the waves crashed violently through her, carrying her far away from everything she knew.
A few moments later she realized Joseph had rocked back onto his heels and gazed up at her with an intense satisfaction. His tongue moved deliberately out of his mouth to snatch up some of her liquid off his bottom lip.
She snapped her mouth closed, realizing that it had been hanging open in shock. “No one’s ever done anything like that to me. That was…it was so…”
Joseph frowned and rose to his feet. “You deserve that every time, Elena. I don’t know what sort of experiences you’ve had in the past, but…look at me.”
Elena bit her lip and looked.
“I want you to promise me something.” She was again unsure of what to say. She didn’t want to make any promises she couldn’t keep, but what Joseph had given her felt precious. She didn’t want to risk ruining it with her fear.
He held her chin. “Promise me that no matter what, you won’t be afraid.”
“I don’t know if I can do…”
He smiled down at her. “You’re doing it. Even now, you’re scared to say it. Elena.” He put his hands on her shoulders and held her tight. “You’re safe with me. I want you to know that. You have to know. Don’t ever be afraid of me. Okay? Can you at least promise me that?”
Elena felt like there was more to the promise than she understood, but all of sudden, Joseph looked like the vulnerable one, like he not only wanted but needed her trust. The words slipped out of her mouth before she could come up with an excuse to keep them inside.
“Okay,” she said. “I promise.”
Chapter Five
Caleb tapped his foot on the worn tiles of the Savage Valley Family Hospital waiting room. He hadn’t been to the doctor’s office since he was a little boy, and it felt strange to be there now. A few families and a few elderly people were spread out through the spacious lobby. A young mother and her toddler were at a play area. The little boy was moving some wooden beads along a metal-wire structure, and every time they clanked noisily to the other side of the structure, the sound grated harshly against Caleb’s nerves.
It felt like every noise, every smell, every sight that wasn’t Elena irritated him. The past two weeks had been torture. He’d been avoiding Elena. He had to. If he saw her, he wouldn’t be able to stop himself. He would become an animal. His only prey would be Elena and her pussy.
After he had shifted back into his human form a few weeks ago, the gravity of his actions slammed into him. He couldn’t take his morning walk with her. He couldn’t sit next to her at the diner. He couldn’t even go near her. One sniff and he would lose his mind. Elena would be horrified. He couldn’t do that to her, so he’d stayed out of her way.
And he wasn’t the only one affected by the Elena-free quarantine. Joseph had shown up at the office whistling the next morning, but that tune had soon fizzled out when he found out about Caleb’s impetuous, foolhardy actions. Now Joseph felt obligated to keep his distance from Elena until Caleb could get his lust under control. If that were even possible.
But still, if they were going to be with her, it was either both or nothing. No in between.
Apart from Joseph, the Greenwoods were the only ones aware of his predicament and had been warning him anytime they saw Elena to help him steer clear. He was beginning to wonder, though, if he could stay away much longer. Sometimes just the thought of her scent scratched at something feral deep inside him. That’s why he’d come to the doctor, he told himself. The Ashleys were bear-shifters, too. Perhaps Thomas Ashley, Savage Valley’s family practitioner, would have some sort of solution for him.
“Deputy Caleb Kinman,” Thomas said with a wide grin and an outstretched hand as he walked into the lobby. Caleb shook the proffered hand.
“It’s been a while, Thomas.”
“Sure has. Follow me on back.” When they got to Thomas’s office, Caleb sat on the parchment-covered bench, feeling awkward.
“So what can I do for you?”
Caleb
understood why, out of the three Ashley brothers, Thomas was the family practitioner. His older brother, Elias, was the best and most respected surgeon in Savage Valley and a great part of the surrounding region. He was a brilliant man, but he was also a little weird and awkward around people who weren’t under the influence of anesthetics. Thomas’s younger brother, Franklin, was the town’s veterinarian. With Savage Valley’s close quarters to the wilderness, Franklin dealt with all sorts of critters in his office. From cats and dogs to raccoons and flying squirrels, he took care of them all. Sometimes, though, Caleb got the feeling that Franklin would rather spend his day cooped up with a bunch of squawking animals than deal with fellow human beings.
Thomas was the most outgoing of the three, the easiest one to talk to in a social setting. He was relaxed and a good listener—great qualities for a family doctor to have—but even so, Caleb didn’t particularly relish discussing his reasons for visiting the doctor’s office this afternoon.
“Everything okay, Caleb?”
“Everything’s okay. I just came by to see if you could prescribe me some sort of…”
“Yes?”
“Umm…I guess it would be a sort of…a suppressant, I guess.”
“You have a cold? How is that possible?”
“No, no. I don’t have a cold.”
“Okay, well, what are your symptoms?”
Caleb shifted his weight on the bench, making the parchment crinkle loudly beneath him. “Umm…it’s kind of…you know, I did something I shouldn't have.”
“Oh?” Thomas’s eyebrows shot up into his broad forehead. “Like what?”
“Well, have you seen that photographer that’s working for National Geographic?”
“Do you mean Elena Ward? She came in here for a checkup the other day. British, right? Real cute. Sweet, too.”
Caleb’s muscles tightened. He knew he was supposed to think of all the bear-shifters as his brothers, but at Thomas’s words a growl rose up Caleb’s throat. Visions of a ripped jugular flitted through his mind.
Thomas only smiled. “Looks like I’m not the only one who’s noticed. Anyway, what about her?”
“We used to take hikes every morning. We had a little incident a few weeks ago, and later I went out after I had shifted, and I…” Caleb shrugged and met Thomas’s eyes for a long moment. He watched as the dawning realization crept into the doctor’s features.
“Oh.” Thomas blinked a couple times. “Oh shit. Did you…did you, you know…seal the deal?”
Caleb shook his head, his confession making him feel even more miserable and stupid.
“Damn.” Thomas frowned. “Gimme one second. I think Elias would probably know more about this than me. I’ll be right back.”
Thomas was out the door before Caleb could call out for him not to bother. He would deal with it himself, he wanted to say. He’d rather continue to suffer than have the whole damn bear clan know how stupid he had been. That was the first thing Caleb’s fathers had told him after he shifted his first time. They were always, always supposed to go deep into the forest, where no humans ever ventured, to shift. This way they would greatly reduce the risk of coming across the scent of a woman. Once they smelled a woman while in bear form, they were bonded to her whether they wanted to be or not.
Usually the bear-shifters liked to wait until they wanted to propose marriage to even tell a woman that they were bear-shifters, much less shift in front of her. This could prove quite a problem in modern times. As people generally wanted to know if their spouse was good in bed before accepting an offer of marriage, the bear-shifters could come off as a little old-fashioned when they proposed marriage before even bedding a woman. If she accepted him, then and only then would he shift in front of her. Caleb was lost in his musings when the door swung open and Thomas returned with his somber-looking older brother.
Elias frowned at Caleb. “Thomas told me what you did.”
Much to Caleb’s chagrin, he actually felt himself blush a little. He hadn’t blushed since he was fourteen and accidentally saw Kelsey Pinkerton sunbathing topless in her backyard when she thought no one could see through her wooden fence. Joseph had shown him a hole, though, and Caleb had taken advantage of that hole. The image of Kelsey Pinkerton and her bare pink breasts got him through his first adolescent summer.
“I’m assuming you have taken precautions to ensure that you don’t accidentally come across her.”
Caleb nodded.
“We don’t have anything meant for suppressing sexual desire. Of course, that can be a side effect of certain drugs, but I would have to give you an antidepressant, which is not an option. Is there anyone else you could…” Though it was small, Caleb noticed the hesitation in Elias’s words. “Is there someone to help with the release?”
“Hell no!” Caleb’s roar surprised everyone in the room, even Caleb. He clamped his jaw shut and glared at Elias. “I know you don’t know what this feels like, but it’s not simply sexual desire. It’s more than that. It’s…well, it’s her. It’s Elena.”
“Elena Ward?”
“You know Elena?”
“She came in yesterday. The photographer?” He looked to Thomas for confirmation, and Thomas nodded. “She was cute. Sweet, too.”
Caleb frowned at Elias, thinking something a little off in the way the doctor had said it. It sounded too familiar. But on top of that, he didn’t like another man speaking so casually about Elena, and a growl rumbled low in his chest.
Elias watched him with a cold eye. “Down, boy.” Then he turned to Thomas. “Why don’t you give Franklin a call? This seems to be more his area of expertise. Plus, he can fix any type of animal.”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa. No one is getting fixed. And do we really need to drag Franklin into this? I’ll just head on home.” He made a move to get up, the parchment crinkling louder than before.
Thomas held a hand up at Caleb telling him to wait a second as he pulled his cell phone out of his coat pocket and dialed. “Let’s just wait and see what Franklin has to say about it.”
After he dialed, he put the call on speakerphone. Caleb hunched over on the bench, glaring at the Ashley brothers who wore matching looks of concern on their faces.
“Dr. Franklin Ashley speaking.”
“Hey, Franklin. I’ve got Elias and Caleb Kinman here with me, and we need to ask you a quick question.”
“Go ahead.”
“Seems Caleb got a little whiff of Elena Ward while in bear form.”
“Is that the photographer from London? I met her this morning at the bank.”
“That’s the one,” Thomas said.
“She’s cute. Real sweet.”
Caleb’s head snapped up at that statement. That was the third time he’d heard Elena described in exactly those words, and something was starting to smell real fishy in the Savage Valley Medical Center.
Both Elias and Thomas had their eyes glued to Caleb, watching his reaction. A small smile and a teasing glint lit up Thomas’s features. Caleb jumped off the bench.
“What the hell is going on here?”
Thomas tried to hold it back, but he couldn’t and snorted with laughter.
“What the fuck, guys?”
Elias, usually so serious, had a small grin stretching his lips, and Caleb could hear Franklin starting to laugh on the phone.
“You all knew?”
Thomas had begun to laugh heartily, and he nodded at Caleb’s question.
“Jeremiah told us,” Elias said.
“That prick.” Caleb shook his head. “Did he tell everyone?”
“Probably.”
“Shit, I might as well stay holed up until she leaves. I’ll never hear the end of it from you assholes.”
“Why don’t you just get it out of your system?”
Caleb gave Thomas a hard look. “What? You want me to ‘casually’ run into her at the diner? And then do what?”
“Her,” Elias said.
Thomas and Franklin burst into l
aughter.
“Right there on the Kinman booth.”
“Dicks. All of you. And that includes Jeremiah.” Despite the exasperated tone in his voice, the idea of plunging into Elena’s sweet pussy in the diner with a crowd of onlookers had Caleb’s blood pumping hot and fast into his already overeager cock. “Did she even come in here?”
“Nope,” Thomas answered. “Jeremiah called us up as soon as you left the wildlife center, so I knew what you were here for as soon as you walked through the door. Thought you deserved a little harassment for being such a fool.”
Caleb growled and headed for the door. “Have a great afternoon.” He gave them the ol’ middle-finger salute.
As the door swung behind him, he could hear Franklin’s voice on the phone. “Are you sure you don’t want to head over here? We can get you fixed up real nice. It’ll be quick. I promise!”
Thomas’s laughter followed him all the way down the hall.
* * * *
Elena’s hiking boots were supposed to be specifically designed to make as little noise as possible when walking through dry grasses and leaves. Maybe she was a klutz. Maybe it was the drought. Maybe her ears were oversensitive at the moment, but she felt like Bigfoot walking through the forest that morning. It seemed like every leaf she stepped on squeaked out in annoyance, every branch she brushed against snapped in protest to her presence.
Her morning hikes, while affording her plenty of opportunities to photograph the elk mama and her calf, just weren’t as exciting without Caleb. It had been over two weeks since she’d seen him. Not just on the trail but anywhere. It was like he’d totally disappeared from Savage Valley.
Elena sighed. That wasn’t entirely true. There had been a few occasions when she’d thought he was nearby or that she’d almost run into him, but he always seemed to disappear. She’d pulled up to the diner a few nights ago, and she knew—she positively knew—that she’d seen him through the large glass panels. But when she walked through the glass doors, he was nowhere to be found.
A branch snapped underfoot, and Elena gritted her teeth. It was so warm out. When she’d arrived in Savage Valley almost a month ago, the weather had been warm but not uncomfortably so. Over the last couple of weeks, though, the lack of rainfall had started to become more noticeable each day. The grasses, which had been lush and welcoming upon her arrival, were yellowing. The dirt on the path was crumbling and cracked like dry skin. When the wind blew, the air became hazy with dust.