by Kate Douglas
Blanking her mind to the inevitable, Tia quickly slipped out of her jeans and sweater, folded them carefully, and then removed her panties and bra and placed everything carefully on one of the deck chairs. The night air felt uncomfortably cold. Her teeth chattered, as much from the chill air as from nerves. Her nipples beaded and she wrapped her arms around herself. Luc stepped close and drew her into a hug.
He rubbed her cold arms with his extraordinarily hot hands. Tia wanted to concentrate on his words, his hands, anything but the length of his cock pressing against her belly.
Impossible. She pressed close to him, felt his erection grow firmer, longer, thicker. Then she heard Luc’s soft chuckle.
“Suddenly I’m warm enough. You’ll warm up when you’ve got fur. I’m going to shift. I want you in my head, feeling what I do, watching with your eyes, with your mind. Don’t shift this time. Just watch.”
He stepped away. Are you with me?
Tia nodded. Yes.
Shivering, she tightened her arms around her waist and watched as Luc smiled at her, then leaned over. By the time his hands touched the deck, they were wolf’s paws with thick, dark nails. His powerful body stretched, his tail waved across his back like a flag. Luc looked up at her, amber eyes glowing, the face of the wolf in her dreams.
He’d told her to wait. She couldn’t. Tia looked into Luc’s beautiful eyes and her anxiety fled. She’d followed the shift in his mind and suddenly it all made perfect sense.
There was no pain or fear. Instead, Tia felt her world come together, as if she’d done this a thousand times before. She leaned forward as if to touch her toes. Her bones and muscles flowed smoothly from one being to another. There was a brief sense of disorientation, just as Luc described. Then she found herself looking up at the larger wolf and seeing delight in his eyes.
Tia held up one paw and then the other. Her coat was much lighter than Luc’s, with more of a reddish tint. She no longer felt the chill in the air. Instead, the night was filled with scents and sounds unnoticed by her human senses.
Moonlight bathed the meadow in a brilliant glow as bright as the noonday sun. The trees no longer loomed dark and menacing. Though her colors weren’t as sharp as with her human eyes, Tia felt as if she’d entered a multilayered tapestry where sound and scent became an extension of sight.
Eyes wide with wonder, she turned to Luc. He sat quietly, watching her. Are you ready to run?
Oh, yes! Tia stood and shook herself, then followed Luc’s leap from the deck to the soft meadow grass below. She’d always prided herself on keeping fit, but the four legs now powering her across the meadow and into the forest were beyond anything she’d ever imagined.
Luc yipped, a joyful sound of play, and streaked down a narrow trail with Tia in hot pursuit. She caught up to him near a small stream, nipped at his flank, and leapt over the water. A big-eared jackrabbit, startled by two wolves in the forest, took off running. Luc followed with Tia close on his heels. They leapt over fallen logs, scrabbled across rocks and under thorny blackberry vines where they lost their prey amid the brambles.
They raced on, running for the pure joy of speed, the sense of freedom and the unique beauty of their wild nature. Tia felt powerful, alert, and wild, yet still aware of that human part of her, alive with the wonder of Chanku.
Aware, too, of the sensuality of this marvelous form, the purity of motion, the perfection of her wolven body. The world of the deep forest teemed with scents and sounds never before experienced, an entire universe of sensation beyond her human perception.
As wolf, Tia felt it all. Reveled in the wonder of a new world layered closely upon the familiar. She breathed in the scents of moss and decay, of new growth and living things, but most of all, she celebrated the rush of feeling for Lucien, for his alpha status, his powerful wolven body clearing the trail ahead.
When she’d agreed to his claim, when he’d called her his own, Tia had no idea the commitment she’d made. Now the words made sense. As wolf, as Chanku, Tia understood the power of that single vow.
It wasn’t for the night or for however long it worked. It was forever. Period. A bond so powerful even death could not sever the link.
Was she ready? Tia didn’t know. Didn’t want to think about it now, not with the wind in her face, the sights and scents of the night all around her, as foreign to this wondrous form as if she’d landed here from another planet.
Later. She’d think about it later. For now, Tia ran.
Finally, panting, tongues lolling and eyes glittering, Tia flopped down next to Luc in a marshy patch of grass. She stretched out full length in the damp carpet, rolling over to her back. Luc crept close, his muzzle mere inches from hers. His long tongue swept across her face and he nipped softly at her ear.
Before she could react to his nearness, his delicious scent, Luc sat back on his haunches. It’s almost dawn. We’ve run all night long. It’s time to rest.
I know. Now that we’ve stopped, I realize I’m really tired. How far is it? I have no idea where we are.
Follow me. Not far.
Tia trotted along behind Luc. It really wasn’t all that far, as distance went. Not far at all. But she knew that this night, this experience, had taken her farther than she’d ever dreamed possible.
Luc had told her nothing would be the same once she shifted for the first time. That she would never again see the world through human eyes without weighing the view against her Chanku perception. Following his trail through the forest in the early light of dawn, Tia finally understood.
She understood something else, as well. Something Tia wasn’t certain she was ready to accept, though the promise tugged at her heart, filled her thoughts.
She would follow Luc anywhere.
For as long as he wanted—wherever he went.
The shift from wolf to human felt rather anti-climactic. The moments following, anything but. Standing in the cool morning air, shivering without her heavy fur coat, Tia smiled uncertainly at Luc. Her body felt tight, her skin ultrasensitive. Luc had said she would be more aroused just after her run than she’d ever been in her life.
He hadn’t exaggerated. Alert to scents and sounds as never before, almost painfully receptive to her own body’s needs and desires, Tia ached with a deep, overwhelming sexual hunger. She ran her tongue across her upper lip, tasted the salty flavor of sweat from their long run.
Tia tilted her head to the sky and inhaled, expanding her lungs. She recognized Luc’s musky, male scent, like an aphrodisiac to her already highly stimulated libido. Wrapping her arms around her body for warmth, Tia caught herself gently massaging her elongated nipples, just for the sharp rush of desire that arrowed straight down between her legs. Like a fuse, lit and ready to explode, her body hummed with need and desire, her mind raced with the words she wanted to say, the questions she wanted to ask.
She couldn’t. Not now, not with Luc merely a breath away, his naked body so close she felt the warmth radiating from his skin, smelled the dark forest and primal scents of the night just past.
Not with her own body ready to ignite, primed for sex, impatient and restless. She glanced at Luc, wondering why he hesitated, why he hadn’t taken her here under the stars, beneath the moon. He looked different, somehow. More powerful…feral. His eyes glittered and there was a dark shadow of beard he’d not had the night before. A sheen of sweat glistened through the thick mat of hair on his chest. His shoulders seemed broader, his muscles larger, as if pumped from their run through the night. His overlong, dark hair was mussed and tousled, the inevitable question mark hanging forward across his forehead.
Tia swallowed, the sound audible in the still of the early morning. Swallowed and fought an overwhelming need to drop to her knees in front of Luc, to take his swollen cock, now standing so proudly erect, between her lips.
Arousal, hot and insistent, pooled in her belly, crawled across her limbs. She looked into Luc’s eyes and read matching desire, a need every bit as powerful as her own. Givin
g in to carnal hunger, she licked her lips and smiled innocently, then slowly, surely, knelt before him and raised her head.
Luc’s eyes widened when her mouth found the taut crown of his cock. She licked the dark head with the tip of her tongue, circling the tiny slit to taste the pale drops glistening at the tip. Luc’s hands shot down and fisted in her hair when she sucked half of his length into her mouth. She tightened her lips around him and sucked hard and then raised her hand and cupped his heavy testicles in her palm. Luc moaned, a long, low sound of need and desire.
Sure now, more confident, Tia stretched her lips around Luc’s engorged cock and sucked him deep and hard, inhaling the rich, musky scent of man and forest. His hips thrust forward. Tia closed her eyes and matched his rhythm, hollowing her cheeks with each pull and then slowly withdrawing. She clasped his taut buttock in one hand, softly caressed his balls with the other.
Luc’s muscled thighs trembled and she smiled around his swollen cock, squeezing lightly as his testicles drew closer to his body. Confidence growing, Tia took him closer to the edge and then slowly, carefully dragged her mouth his full length before releasing him.
His cock bounced against his flat belly, erect and weeping, glistening from crown to base where she’d suckled him. Luc moaned when Tia nuzzled against the sensitive crease of his groin.
“I’m cold.” She licked the inside of his thigh with a long, slow sweep of her tongue. He tasted so good, she did it again and then nuzzled the side of his hard cock, licked the soft, wrinkly sac holding his testicles. Luc groaned and thrust his hips forward, silently begging for more.
Tia planted a wet kiss on the rounded head of his cock. “Let’s take this inside.”
Before she’d even finished her sentence, Luc had Tia wrapped close against his chest and was rushing through the door into the warmth of the cabin.
Chapter 9
For twenty years he’d been Chanku. Run freely as the wolf, experienced the sensuality, the untamed, feral perception and heart-stopping thrill of a body so in tune with nature, so much a part of the whole, so powerful and agile that mere humanity was but a dull respite between life on four legs.
Tonight Luc had discovered an entirely new level of existence. Running, hunting, being wolf—with his bitch beside him.
They might not be mated, at least not yet, but he’d never felt so in tune with another creature, human or wolf, in his entire life, never felt desire so strong nor passion as hot. Now Luc carried her inside into his den. Tia snuggled against him, his willing captive, her scent arousing, her desire obviously as strong as his.
Luc buried the hated memories, the visual of Camille Mason standing at the edge of the thick foliage in Golden Gate Park, her eyes blazing as she stared intently at her killer. At him.
Buried the feel of the warm gun in his hand, the pressure of his finger against the smooth trigger, the sharp retort and even sharper recoil as he aimed, fired…killed.
Tia’s fingers brushed across the stubble on Luc’s jaw and thoughts of that long-ago night fled. Luc bent to kiss her palm, then carried her on up the dark stairs. He flipped the wall switch in the loft, bathing the room in soft overhead lighting. Flecks of pitch on the log walls glistened like golden jewels and the corners disappeared in deep shadows.
Perfect. Everything about this moment was absolutely perfect. He’d thought her beautiful as a child; as a grown woman coming into her Chanku nature, Tia was absolutely magnificent.
In moments, she would be his.
Kiss me, Luc. Tia’s arms tightened around his shoulders and she raised her lips to his. He tasted her, the fresh flavors of the forest, the flavors of the woman who had run beside him as a wolf.
In all the years since Ulrich had taken him through his first shift, Luc had imagined a woman as perfectly attuned to him as Tia. A woman such as his mentor had loved, Tia’s mother.
Some nights, after more brandy than was prudent, Ulrich had talked passionately about his Camille.
About her sensuality, her limitless passion and free spirit. Their marriage had been an open one. With the Chanku ability to control reproduction, there’d been no risk of unwanted pregnancy. Their immunity to most human diseases removed that risk as well, which left both Camille and Ulrich open to fully explore their sensual natures.
Without guilt. Without risk. Each had taken numerous lovers, yet they’d loved one another unconditionally. Camille’s need for risk-taking, though, went beyond sex. Running as a wolf in daylight, in Golden Gate Park, had gotten her killed.
Ulrich’s anger still simmered beneath his words of love, though it was obvious that Camille had truly been his fantasy come to life…his one true mate.
Now Luc’s fantasy nestled in his arms. A woman perfectly designed to be his mate. Even her flavors matched his dreams. He thrust his tongue into her mouth and tasted the dark woods and the chill night air. Her teeth scraped against his lips as she suckled him, drawing him deep into her mouth.
Groaning, Luc lowered Tia to the mattress nearest the door. Pale ivory sheets shimmered in the muted light, a perfect backdrop to her dark skin. Still kissing her, Luc pressed Tia’s body against the sheets, rubbing his chest over her full breasts, abrading her tender skin with the hair covering his pectoral muscles and abdomen.
She arched against him, turned away her head to bare her throat. He nipped her, just below her left ear, marking her once more. She moaned. Luc sucked hard at the tiny bite, bringing blood to the surface. Creating a brand that would linger well for the next few days.
Mine!
Yours. Always yours, Luc. Please! Help me…I’ve never felt like this. I’m burning inside. I need you.
Luc pushed Tia’s tangled hair back from her face. Her lips parted, her eyes were wide, almost frantic with desire. Hips undulating, her mons pressing against his engorged cock, she looped one long leg over his buttocks, pulling him even closer against her.
Luc grabbed her wrists in one hand and tugged her arms over her head, holding her still with the weight of his lower body. Slowly, methodically he plundered her mouth, nipping, licking, invading.
She kissed him frantically, arching her back to bring her breasts in contact with the thick hair on his chest. Her taut nipples brushed across his and Luc shuddered. He arched away, then slid back from Tia’s mouth to capture one elusive nipple between his lips.
Sucking hard, pressing the sensitive point between his tongue and the roof of his mouth, he dragged a passionate scream from Tia. He laved that nipple gently with his tongue, then turned his head and grabbed the other, pulling it deep, sucking and licking until she bucked against him. Her sobs and needy cries made him even harder. With her hands still trapped in his strong grasp, Tia drew up her knees and raised her pussy, connecting with the sensitive underside of his cock.
Slick and smooth, she tilted her pelvis and rubbed against him, dragging her fluid-drenched labia back and forth along the length of his cock. Heat on the upstroke, then cold when the night air touched his hot flesh as she slipped away. Over and over, rubbing hard against him, faster, her cries more frantic, her body jerking against his, each motion punctuated by incoherent sobs of need and pleasure that brought Luc nearly to the edge.
His own breath coming in short, sharp gasps, he reached down and grabbed his cock, fumbling in his haste to get inside her swollen cunt. Finally, as she slipped low against the root of his penis, her buttocks resting on his balls, Luc tilted his hips just enough to find entrance.
He almost came with his first thrust. She was hot and wet and so damned tight, her needy flesh giving way almost reluctantly before his long, slow glide deep inside. Muscles held him like a hot, wet velvet glove, but the slick layer of lubricating moisture eased his way. It took forever, yet lasted barely a heartbeat before Luc felt the head of his cock touch the mouth to her womb. His balls rested solidly against her perfect ass, caught in the tight cleft between her buttocks and thighs.
Still holding her arms above her head with one hand, Luc shifted
his hips to better position himself within Tia’s welcoming passage. Seating himself firmly, he planted the crown of his cock directly over her cervix and tilted his hips a fraction more.
Tia arched her back and screamed. Her pussy tightened, holding his cock in a living vise, squeezing and undulating around him. Caught by surprise, it was all he could do to keep from joining her climax.
Instead, Luc slowly withdrew and then just as slowly filled her again. Her muscles clenched and spasmed around him, sucking hard against his cock. Tia whimpered and wrapped both legs tightly about his hips. Luc released her hands and knelt back between her legs, lifting her buttocks in his broad palms, arching her back as he raised her to meet him. He thrust hard and fast, sliding in and out amid the sounds of Tia’s fervent cries and the wet slap of flesh against flesh.
He opened his mind, careful to keep those necessary barriers in place, and searched for Tia. She was there, a screaming crescendo of sensation and lust, arousal beyond imagining, passion spiraling out of control. As he linked with her, a second climax shattered Tia’s body and sent shock waves through her mind.
Every nuance of Tia’s passion crossed the link, became part of Luc’s experience, senses added atop his own, blended layer upon layer to become more of the whole, more powerful, more intense.
He felt every thrust deep inside her pussy, experienced the pleasure/pain of his huge cock forcing its way past tissues not accustomed to a man of his dimensions. Felt the broad head bump against her cervix, only this time he sensed it through Tia’s body, not his own.
He would have pulled away, afraid of hurting her, but he knew, because of the link, how she reveled in the pain, needed the sense of being filled beyond what her body should have accepted. Wanted the perception of submission, needed his domination, from the weight of his body holding her down to the tight grasp of his hands bruising her buttocks.
Tia needed his lips, his teeth, his thrusting tongue plundering her mouth, savaging her breasts. Her body cried out for his hard cock pounding against the entrance of her womb. Her heels dug into the small of his back, her sharp nails raked his shoulders.