Wild Instinct

by McCarty, Sarah

  Her fingers clenched to fists. “You’re a big boy. You could shower alone.”

  “But it wouldn’t be nearly as much fun as showering with my mate.”

  “Stop saying that.”

  He arched an eyebrow at her. “Still hoping it’s not true?”

  “Yes.”

  His smile didn’t budge. “Tough.”

  “Does nothing ever get to you?”

  “Peanuts.”

  “What?”

  He shrugged. “I’m allergic to peanuts. They definitely get to me.”

  That had to be a legacy of his human half. “What happens when you eat peanuts?”

  “I die for a bit.”

  “Good God, Gertie!”

  “Not a pleasant experience, but not to worry.” He grinned. “I bounce back.”

  His werewolf side. She walked over to the side table where a half-used pad of hotel stationery sat.

  “What are you doing?”

  She bared her teeth at him. “Making a grocery list.”

  She held it up. On it was one item: peanuts.

  At his bark of laughter, Josiah mumbled and turned over. “Keep your voice down,” she hissed.

  “Watch your respect.”

  It was on the tip of her tongue to mention she’d give it when he’d earned it, but truth was, he had. Which just irritated her more. “Oh, go take a shower.”

  “We already covered that.”

  Yes, they had, and she wasn’t letting her imagination go there again. “Then go to bed.”

  He cocked an eyebrow at her. “You’re awfully fond of giving orders.”

  “I find it saves time.”

  “Interesting.”

  “What?”

  He smiled that irritating smile. “Just that.”

  He reached for his fly. She took a step back and forbid her gaze to drop. “What are you doing?”

  “Getting ready for bed.”

  “You don’t need to get undressed for that!”

  “This is the first time in two weeks I’m getting to sleep in a bed. I’m getting comfortable.”

  She turned her back to the tempting sight. “What if the rogues find us?”

  “They won’t tonight. They’ll be searching the woods and caves west of here, I imagine, since it hasn’t been your pattern to frequent hotels. That should buy us one night of rest.”

  Something hit the floor with a slight plop. His jeans? It was all too easy to imagine what he’d look like standing there with nothing but underwear. Broad shoulders, lean hips and heavy muscle sculpted to perfection, made for a woman’s hands.

  My mate.

  Her hands. She licked her lips. Did he wear boxers or briefs?

  “Well, at least keep your underwear on. Josiah tends to wake up at night.”

  He laughed.

  “Please tell me you wear underwear.”

  “You know as well as I do I can’t lie to my mate.”

  He was standing there naked? Clenching her hands into fists, Rachel counted to ten, willing her pulse to slow, her desire to wane, the incredible urge to turn and ogle to die. “Oh, for Pete’s sake.”

  “Come to bed, Rachel.”

  Come, not go. “I’m not sleeping with you.”

  She nearly jumped out of her skin when his hands slid over her shoulders. How had he snuck up on her?

  “Yes, you are.”

  She didn’t have any choice but to turn when he urged, didn’t have any choice but to rest her body against his, as he pulled her close. Didn’t have any choice but to look up when his finger tilted her chin.

  “Tonight and every night from here on out, you sleep in my arms.”

  The thought was terrifying. She dreamed at night. “Have you never heard of courting?”

  Again that smile. His head lowered. “What makes you think I’m not?”

  Her lips parted. So did his. “This is not courting.”

  “It’s not?”

  “No.” His lips were so close, she could feel their heat.

  “Then what is it?”

  She wanted to moan, rise up on her toes, anything but stand there balanced on the razor edge of anticipation. “Seduction.”

  “Hmm.”

  The fingers under her chin weighed on her skin like a pending decision. Why didn’t he just kiss her?

  “Then I’m doing something right.”

  He was doing too much right. And she had too much to lose.

  “Josiah—”

  “Is asleep.”

  A sense of inevitability weighed her lids down. Her senses picked up the slack left by her lack of vision, adding to the appeal of his scent, his touch, his energy.

  “Oh, God.”

  “What?”

  The syllable whispered across her lips in a prelude to the kiss everything in her needed. Desired. Craved.

  She couldn’t wait any longer.

  “Damn you!”

  Rising up on her toes, she fitted her mouth to his. Lightning arced through her body, followed by a complete sense of bliss as his big hand cupped her rear and pulled her to him.

  “About damn time,” he growled.

  “Yes.” She’d waited a lifetime for this, and even if it couldn’t last, she needed to know what it felt like to have his mouth on hers, to feel his body against hers. She arched against his cock, catching it between her legs, her moan echoing his as he ground his cock against her clit. So good. Wrapping her arms around his neck, she pulled, needing to be closer, needing more of the fire, the perfection.

  Four sharp pricks of slight pain in her buttock alerted to the reality of the moment. He was going to rip off her clothing. A shudder took her from head to toe. Yes!

  She shook her head. “No.”

  His mouth bit at hers. “Yes.”

  Material began to give. His claws drew across her flesh in hot enticement. She shivered again. His mouth bit at hers again, his canines lightly scraping her lower lip as he sucked on it. She dug her claws into his shoulder and hung on.

  “I don’t have anything else to wear.”

  His big body went still against her. “Shit.”

  Her sentiments exactly.

  His hand left her buttock.

  She moaned at the loss.

  He kissed her hard. “Yeah.”

  The hand that had been cupping her buttock slid around her hip. He turned slightly, enabling him to cup her pussy. His thumb dragged backward over her clit, centered through her jeans. Her knees buckled as the sharp point of his claw pierced her clothing.

  “Oh!”

  “Goddamn,” he groaned into her ear. “I want to make love to you.”

  “Josiah,” she gasped.

  “I know, but son of a bitch, I will have this.”

  This was the press of his finger against her pussy while his claw raked lightly across her clit in a perfect symphony of pleasure. This was the mercurial rise of passion; this was the graze of his teeth on her neck, her shoulder, the curve between. This was the pleasure of a mate’s touch, a mate’s bite. . . .

  Fire poured through her bloodstream. A scream rose in her throat at the exquisite pain. His hand at the back of her head pressed her face into his shoulder muffling the primal scream.

  The swipe of his tongue over the wound burned in a hot culmination. Her breasts swelled and ached. Her womb clenched. And her knees buckled.

  Cur laughed and swung her up in his arms. “You, my sweet, are going to be very fun to have as a mate.”

  Burying her face in his neck, she muttered, “If you’re laughing at me, I’m going to kill you.”

  The mattress gave under her weight, shifting left and then right as he came over her. He smoothed the hair off her face with his palms before anchoring his fingers in the thick mass. His smile became softer, more encompassing, as he accepted the threat. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

  Seven

  THERE were a lot of things he should be keeping in mind, including the fact that the woman who was his mate was not to be trust
ed. Cur watched as Rachel helped Josiah over a log. The boy stumbled. Cur sighed. The boy was tired. So was Rachel. One night of rest couldn’t make up for two weeks of running, but neither was giving up. They had grit. And determination. He’d admire both if the latter wasn’t geared with how best to ditch his ass. He didn’t know how Rachel could on one hand acknowledge he was her mate, and on the other contemplate leaving him, but she did. Maybe her mind always worked that way. It would certainly explain her erratic behavior after fleeing the cave. Josiah smiled up at her. She smiled back and ruffled his hair. Cur just couldn’t believe it. Which meant there had to be another reason. One she wasn’t telling him. He growled under his breath. She should tell him everything.

  “Step it up. We’re losing daylight.”

  “I don’t understand why we’re not traveling at night,” Rachel pointed out for the third time, pulling her shirt away from her chest.

  Cur admired the way it clung to her curves when she dropped it back. “We will be, but”—he pointed to the ridge—“ I want to reach the top by the time it gets dark.”

  Rachel followed the point of his fingers. “Up there?”

  “Yes.”

  “It’d be faster in a car.”

  “There isn’t a road,” he countered for the third time.

  “A dirt bike, then.”

  “Aunt Rachel hates up,” Josiah interrupted.

  “Josiah!”

  His chin jutted out. “That’s what Momma says.”

  Cur grinned. The kid was giving away all her secrets. “A werewolf female with a dislike of exercise? I think I’m getting gypped.”

  Rachel glared at him. “Gypped is the least of what you’re getting if you don’t stop grinning.”

  “It’s just up she doesn’t like,” Josiah was quick to put in, coming up beside him. “She likes down.”

  “Then we’ll have to find her some down.”

  Josiah glanced at his aunt’s expression. “That might be best.”

  The kid had a point. As much fun as it was to tweak Rachel, her mood was definitely going south.

  “She’d probably like ‘up’ more if she slept more.”

  “Aunt Rachel never sleeps.”

  “Why not?”

  “She says it’s because she talks too much.”

  Interesting. “What do you think?”

  Another look over his shoulder at his aunt before he whispered, “I think she’s afraid of dream bandits.”

  “Dream bandits?”

  “They make her scream.”

  “As her mate I’ll have to help her with that.”

  “Good.” Josiah skipped to keep up, looked down and then back up. “Is it true? Does my mom have a new mate?”

  Cur shortened his stride. “Yes.”

  “Oh.”

  It wasn’t hard to tell where the kid’s mind had wandered. “Garrett is looking forward to meeting you.”

  “Is that his name?”

  “Yes.”

  They continued for a few more steps. “He won’t like me.”

  “What makes you say that?”

  “I’m not his.”

  “A lot of men love children not their own.”

  “Not wolves.”

  Cur glanced back at Rachel. Had she been poisoning the boy’s mind so he wouldn’t want to go back home? “Where’d you hear that?”

  “Mom.”

  Shit. “Your mom told you that?”

  Josiah marched along, chin down, shoulders set. “I hear stuff.”

  “Overheard” might be a better term. “Well, I think you ought to wait and see what happens rather than make up your mind ahead of time.”

  No response for five steps, then, “I’m going to live with Aunt Rachel if I don’t like him.”

  Ah. And now the crux of the matter. The kid was staking his claim. Just in case. Cur’s lips twitched as he fought back a smile. “I see.”

  Another quick glance. “And you won’t have any say about it.”

  The kid dropped back before he could counter. As a strategist, Josiah had potential. As a werewolf he had a lot to learn. When it came to Rachel, Cur intended to have all the say.

  “Don’t bet on it.”

  JOSIAH hadn’t been kidding. By the time they got to the top of the ridge, Rachel was frowning and muttering under her breath, cursing him, the hill and then him again. Cur reached back to help her over a rocky streambed. She pushed his hand aside. From his perch on Cur’s shoulder, Josiah said, “Told you.”

  “So you did.”

  He soothed his irritation by watching the sway of Rachel’s ass as she strode ahead. She had a cute ass. Well-rounded for her size with just that touch of plumpness that invited a man to cup. His fingers twitched. And squeeze. Definitely squeeze.

  He stopped by a large rock. Rachel kept going and that ass kept swaying.

  “Aunt Rachel!”

  Rachel turned at Josiah’s cry. Cur motioned her back before swinging Josiah down.

  “We’re here.”

  She stopped in front of him. “Where’s here?”

  Pulling the brush away from the rock, he revealed the opening to a cave. Inside sat two dirt bikes.

  “You couldn’t have left them at the bottom of the mountain?”

  “Nope.” They were too likely to have been discovered. And once they got on these, the race would be on. The sound of motors carried, and the only thing between them and home was Carmichael land and rogues. If he were alone, he’d have enjoyed the challenge. Burdened by his mate and a child, all he could do was grit his teeth.

  “Do you know how to ride?”

  He could have saved his breath. Rachel was in the cave, backing one of the bright red bikes out. She put on a helmet with a sense of familiarity. “Yes.”

  She handed the child’s helmet to Josiah. He put the helmet on with the same sense of familiarity.

  “You know how to ride.”

  Josiah smiled. “My daddy was the best.”

  The kid’s father had died more than two years ago. “Let’s hope you inherited his genes.”

  With a kid’s literalness, Josiah nodded. “My mom says I look just like him and Aunt Rachel says I have his coordination.”

  “Good, because some of the hardest riding you’re ever going to do is coming up tomorrow.”

  Rachel paused, buckling her helmet. “Tomorrow?”

  “We’ve got eighty miles between us and Haven. The quickest shot is straight through Carmichael territory, and in case you didn’t know, they’re a bit pissed at Haven right now.”

  “Why?”

  “According to them, they don’t like upstarts.”

  “And according to you?”

  “I think they’re annoyed their best Protectors jumped ship to marry humans and form a new pack.”

  She took off her helmet and shook her hair out. “So why are we going through their territory?”

  “There’s only so much gas we can carry and the rogues aren’t letting up. They want Megan, and you two are their leverage to make that happen.”

  “Sarah Anne will never give them Megan.”

  “I imagine Garrett will have something to say about it, too, but that won’t stop the rogues from trying.” And maybe succeeding.

  Josiah was over at the other bike, checking it out.

  Rachel whispered, “Even if they capture him, what can they hope to gain? No mother would trade one child for another.”

  “No, but any mother would try to get him back, which could create an opportunity. And there’s always the possibility they think Josiah shares Megan’s gifts.”

  Still watching Josiah, she pushed her long brown hair off her face, yanking her fingers through a snarl. “I hate this.”

  He turned her into his arms, feeling like a lifetime had passed since he’d held her against him. “I know.”

  That she didn’t fight him was more telling than her muttered, “Hate it, hate it, hate it.”

  Threading his fingers through her hair, he ma
ssaged her scalp. He wished he had better answers for her, but the reality was what it was. “Haven’s a start on change.”

  “Only if they allow it to stay.”

  “It’ll stay.”

  “Because you will it?”

  “Because we’ll fight for it. I may be a mixed-blood, Rachel, but when it comes to loyalty, I’m wolf through and through. You don’t need to worry about that.”

  “As if that was one of my worries.”

  Hmm. “If that wasn’t one of your worries, what was?”

  She pushed against his chest. “That.”

  He didn’t let her go. “You’re lying.”

  “I don’t care. I’m hungry, tired and irritated. In other words, not in the mood for fifty questions.”

  He tipped her head back, seeing the truth in her expression. Yes, she was. And she was dependent on him to take care of all her needs. Not just the sexual ones. Satisfaction spread through him. Damn, he liked knowing that.

  “I’m hungry, too,” Josiah piped up, coming back over.

  “Then I guess we’d better get to work. Josiah, put that helmet back on the bike. Rachel, put that bike back in the cave.”

  “And what are you going to do?”

  He shrugged his pack off his shoulder. “I’m going to fix supper.”

  “What are we having?” Josiah asked.

  “Roast beef?” Rachel asked hopefully, pushing the bike back into the cave.

  “Mashed potatoes?” Josiah added, hooking his helmet on the bike.

  “Green bean casserole?”

  “Yuck!”

  Cur laughed at Josiah’s disgust. “How about corn on the cob instead?”

  Josiah came scampering back. “You have corn on the cob?”

  Cur almost felt guilty, the kid sounded so excited. He handed him a granola bar. “You can pretend that’s corn on the cob.”

  Josiah took the bar, looked at the picture on the wrapper and sighed. “Maybe.”

  Rachel finished covering the entrance to the cave. “Say, ‘Thank you.’”

  The boy mumbled a thank-you and went to sit on a rock ten feet away. Cur handed Rachel a bar. She took it with the same lack of enthusiasm. “His world revolves around food. A few times I was sure we’d get caught because of his need to eat.”

  “It wouldn’t have hurt him to miss a meal or two. That stop at that burger joint almost cost you.” If he’d been a minute later arriving on the scene, the rogue tailing her would have completed the call reporting her location.