He raised her and, as he let her slide down again, she arched her back, giving him full access. The head of his shaft pushed all the way to her deepest recesses. Again, he lifted her and let her fall onto the full length of him. Each time he pulled out, her body cringed at the loss of him, but every time she fell against him, her body rejoiced at the fullness, the completion of their union. Sparks traveled her nerves. The world around them seemed to swing drunkenly back and forth with every stroke. She reached for anything to help her ground herself, to keep from getting lost in the approaching tidal wave. She fastened her hands onto his shoulders, digging her fingers into his hard muscle.
He pulled Olivia upright against him, his breath hot and ragged in her ear. He turned his head and fastened his mouth onto hers. No longer did he let her fall against him. Now he pulled her down with force, causing the bone of her pelvis to collide with his, only to lift her and slide her down again. His tongue mimicked the movement of their bodies.
The orgasmic wave broke within Brian. Shudders flooded his body and his thick, quivering moan formed against her mouth. A split second later, as the heat of his climax drenched the walls inside her, her own orgasm crested and boiled through her body. Her breath caught in her throat. She bucked against him, no longer in control. Surges of spine-tingling pleasure tumbled through her every nerve ending. Her body clenched his shaft, the spasms inside her seeking to pull him even deeper.
They clung to each other until the waves of passion subsided. Brian slowly lowered them, together, to the rock slab. Still within her, he lay back and held her against his chest. He needn’t have worried about the cold of the boulder affecting her; she was still anything but chilled. The heat within her could have melted the polar ice cap.
A deep resounding groan came from within Brian as Olivia eased her hips back and forth along his. Her fingers brushed across his chest, and she licked his nipple, circling it with her tongue before taking it into her mouth and sucking on it. He said, “Woman, you’re going to be the death of me.”
“What a way to go though.” She sat up, still moving her hips. He closed his eyes and frowned with pleasure. She asked, “Do you suppose shapeshifters are naturally more sexual than the average human?”
He opened his eyes again, stroking her body with his gaze, the lust in them so strong she shivered. “Wolves are.”
“Good to know.” Olivia grinned and ground her hips against him. He rewarded her with a sharp intake of breath. She began an even rhythm, pushing off with her knees to lift her up his shaft, then lowering herself at a slow measured pace. Her hands massaged his chest. She watched his face, the tight grimace of building pleasure, the shallow quickening breaths through a pursed mouth, his tongue that darted out to lick his lips. He stretched his neck and arched his back, lifting his hips, rocking against hers.
She leaned down to kiss him, to add her tongue to the fire building within him. She licked his neck and then blew chilled wind on the wet skin. She took tiny bits of flesh in her teeth and nipped him.
His hands moved her body in an ever-increasing tempo. Small sparks tingled across her nerve endings. Every cell in her body felt electrified as the tension increased.
She leaned back, forcing him against the front of her inner wall, pressure mounting within her. A tight ball of energy that had been slowly building suddenly expanded into a stellar explosion that blasted through her and tore a wild moan from her lips. A second cry joined hers as Brian’s body jolted beneath her, lost in its own climax. Surge after surge of pleasure pulsed through her, matching his, until they were spent.
He pulled her to lie against his body. He reached a hand to her face and turned it to him. “As I said, you’re going to be the death of me.”
Chapter 42
They lay dozing in the sun until the air cooled with the ebbing day. Then they dressed and walked toward the cabin. Brian began schooling Olivia right away. When they reached a clearing, he stood and rubbed his beard. Where to begin? “Everything you do from here on matters. You have to learn to do things right and for the right reasons. Your griffin is like a newborn. All the instincts are there: how to walk, how to fly, how to fight. You aren’t coordinated enough to do any of it well yet. Like when you couldn’t walk. You’ll get the hang of everything quickly enough. We all do.” He smiled wryly.
Continuing, he said, “I’m not going to school you in mundane things. What I want to show you is that you, more than almost any other shifter, have a full arsenal at your disposal. That’s the biggest reason why griffins are known to be so fierce. “You already know you can change fully to your creature, or you can change one part of you. For now, change all the way. Desire the creature, and you’ll become it. Move slowly, it’ll hurt a whole lot less.”
“How do I change the speed?”
“Just think ‘slower’ or ‘faster.’”
She first glanced in the direction of the cabin, though they were far from it and Tony. Unbuttoning Brian’s coat, she let it drop to the ground. The sight of her smooth bare skin stirred his loins. He wanted to take her to the ground again and make love to her right there. He held himself in check. Priorities. She needed to learn to fight before Hall found them again.
She began to shift. The bones in her legs and arms lengthened and thickened to nearly twice their normal size.
She winced and the pace of her transformation visibly decelerated. Majestic wings grew from her shoulders. They took Brian’s breath away. They reached a span of at least seventeen feet. Truth be told, he was more than a little jealous of them. He’d always wanted to fly.
When she’d finished changing, she sat with a thump. He still found it odd that, as tall as he was, he had to look up at her. He began, “Okay. Let’s get started. Pick up something with your bird claws.”
Olivia reached for a smooth rock the size of a cat’s head, using her talons as fingers, but it slipped between them and scuttled across the frozen ground. She tried again, grasping at the stone with it pressed against what would be her palm if it were a human hand. No luck. He said nothing. She was clever, she’d figure it out.
On her third try, she scooped beneath the rock, cradling it in her talons. She held it out for him to see.
He clapped his hands. “Now, go grip that small tree over there.” He pointed to a deciduous tree with a trunk the diameter of a large cabbage. “Break it.”
Her brown eyes looked questioningly at him, but she wrapped her claws around it. She squeezed. Nothing happened. After a few moments, she adjusted her grip. This time, he saw that she not only squeezed, but she applied torque as well. The tree broke with a resounding snap. He nodded. Smart girl.
When she looked at him, her eyes glittered. It was infectious and he couldn’t help but grin in return.
“Well, let’s not kill another tree. Sink your claws into that one. Then pull out and rip it as deep as you can. Be careful pulling out though. I don’t want you to lose one of your fingers.”
Olivia swung her clawed hand at the tree he’d indicated. It landed with a thunk, like a knife stabbing a watermelon. Her talons buried themselves almost three-fourths of the way. She wriggled back and forth until they loosened, and then she removed them from the tree.
Rearing her eagle hand back again, she raked the bark of the tree, leaving gouges over three inches deep. She whirled toward him and bowed her beak to the ground.
He laughed, but those claws actually scared him. She could gut someone without even thinking about it. It was a good thing, but also a little daunting. He was used to being one of the baddest animals out there. How long would it be until she realized she didn’t need him to protect her anymore? Would she still want him then? How unconditional was her love?
She cocked her head to the side, watching him.
He’d been caught thinking. He brought his mind back to task. “You’re one dangerous gal. Just remember that. You can hurt people without meaning to. You’ve seen what you can do with your bird claws. Now take your lion claws and rake i
t.”
It wasn’t as easy for Olivia. At first, she tried to just rip her claws down the bark, but the force only pushed her away. She thought to hold the tree. That brought some small success. Though, the tears on the bark were only an inch deep.
“Think cat.” That was the only hint he was going to give her. She had to learn this on her own. Any technique he could teach her wouldn’t be as effective as what she taught herself. As if sudden inspiration struck her, she lunged at the trunk, gripping it with her eagle claws. Pulling herself off the ground, she brought her lion feet up between her talons and shredded the bark all the way down. The resulting grooves were over two-and-a-half inches deep in some places.
“Good. Let’s see what you can do with your beak. Try biting through the trunk.”
Obediently, Olivia turned her head to the side and bit.
He knew she wouldn’t be able to bite all the way through, but she needed to see how much force she could exert. After a moment, he said, “Okay. That’s good. Let go and take a look at the marks. You should be able to crush a man’s head with your beak.”
She backed away. Instead of open gashes, the trunk was compressed in two even halves; shreds and splinters radiated away from them. Apparently satisfied, she turned to him and let loose with a long string of chirrups and trills.
He laughed at her. “I have no idea what you just said.”
Olivia opened her wings to their full span with a snap. He wondered how long she’d been waiting to do that and, he had to admit, it was pretty impressive. What she wanted was plenty obvious. She wanted to fly.
“Flying is something you’re going to have to figure out on your own. But I’ll teach you how to club people with your wings. I’d imagine you can knock someone unconscious that way. Maybe even kill them. Unfortunately, that hurts you as well, so you’ll use your wings as a last option. Every day, we’ll practice these things and more. We’ll build your skill and stamina. I’ll figure out something soft to protect your wings when you club. You can change back to your human self now.”
Chapter 43
Brian pushed her to practice everything until it became second nature. She understood he had to make sure she was ready for whatever might come their way. She learned how to catch melons in her claws, gripping with the front set and ripping the fruits open with the hind set. She worked on attacking with her beak and avoiding those attacking her. She padded her wings with pillows, and she learned how to club people with them. They still hadn’t approached flying a bit, and she chafed at that.
Shifting back to human wasn’t so easy for her. All the things the griffin could do delighted her. Despite her initial success at a quick transformation, she spent that night curled up outside the cabin door, pouting.
Always, Tony stayed in the cabin. He’d stepped into the role of cook and provider. Whatever they needed, he fetched. Other than that, he stayed away from her and was always careful to have the .357 with him.
On the fifth day, Brian locked eyes with her and pulled off his clothes, slowly shifting all the way into wolf. Immediately, the griffin bristled at the hated animal’s presence, hissing and clacking its beak. Olivia felt like she was suddenly two individuals: herself and the griffin. And the animal definitely wanted its own way. She worked hard at keeping it contained, but she fought a losing battle. Before the griffin had a chance to overrun her, she tried a different tactic: turning, she ran a few steps, then lunged into the air. She flapped her wings, catching as much air under them as she could, and lifted ten, fifteen, and then twenty-five feet. It was difficult flying; the lion half of her just hung there, pulling her toward the ground. She angled her wings farther back and suddenly it was all okay. Catching a draft and floating upward, she adjusted her wings and body as the current shifted.
She was flying!
It felt like heaven. She was, indeed, the supreme creature on the globe. Maybe two miles out, she wrested all control from the griffin and turned toward the cabin where Brian waited. He’d shifted back to human form, wore a robe, and stood with his hand shading his eyes, watching her. She angled in close. Now, how did she propose to land? Maybe she’d soar in and run with the momentum once she touched ground. As she prepared to begin, she stole a glance at Brian. To her dismay, he abandoned the robe and again shifted to his wolf.
Fury from the griffin bolted through her. The beast ripped out of her grasp, let out a shrill cry, and beat its wings ferociously, gaining altitude again. The creature spun tightly and headed away from the cabin. Olivia fought her with everything she had. She laughed at herself, thinking how comfortable she’d gotten with the idea of being a dual-minded creature. She gave up and let the griffin fly. There was no way she was regaining control any time soon.
The creature flew a long way and she learned a lot, feeling the griffin move its wings. She learned to bank tightly, dive, let the wind lift her, and how to slow. Gradually, she felt the griffin relax, and she gently turned for home as the sun was setting. Even for an animal her size, it took over an hour to get there. It was nearly dark. As she neared, she again saw Brian, once more human and robed, waiting for her. But, as he pulled off his covering, Olivia was ready this time. She didn’t want to fight the griffin. Brian hadn’t shifted yet, and he was waiting for her to come closer. Instead, she changed to human form and plummeted toward the ground, trusting Brian would catch her.
He didn’t fail. Any other man wouldn’t have had the strength, but her Brian had a bad ass werewolf and all its strength inside him. What kind of hero would he be if he let her fall to her death? She landed in his arms and he staggered a bit, but he stopped her from falling all the way through. He set her on her feet, shaking his head, confusion and worry in his gaze. “What were you thinking?” He began dressing and handed her some clothes.
“I was thinking I wanted to sleep in our bed tonight next to you, not perched on some rocky outcropping miles from here.”
He ruffled her hair and smiled. “We have a lot of work to do to get the griffin willing to at least tolerate the wolf. And then, there’s the werewolf. Not to mention the tiger.”
“And if we can’t?” She voiced the worry that had nagged her ever since the first time she woke as a griffin and the wolf scent had upset her so.
“We will. We have to.” He said it because he believed it. One look in his eyes and she believed it could happen too.
Chapter 44
The flat gray of the sky looked pregnant with impending snow. Even the air had a crisp, wet smell to it. The pines, which usually whispered with the slightest breeze, were silent, as if in anticipation.
Brian hefted a watermelon the size of two basketballs put together. Olivia was flying somewhere nearby. It was the sixth day of her training, eight days since she’d become griffin, and eighteen days since the incident at her apartment. A light rain fell from a cool gray cloud cover. His breath came in vapor clouds.
With all his strength, he tossed the melon as high as he could into the air. Olivia dove and snatched it, her long scythe-shaped talons skewering it neatly. She brought one hind leg forward and ripped it open with her lion’s claw. Chunks of pink flesh and green rind fell to the earth.
“Nice!” said Tony with a dark scowl. He’d been standing by the cabin steps, watching. But now he retreated into the cabin, combing watermelon from his black hair with his fingers.
Brian grinned and gave Olivia a thumbs-up on her next pass. “Come down and we’ll work on the wolf thing,” he called.
She looped in a tight arc and lined up, lowering herself and barely skimming over the tops of the deciduous aspens, the firs, and ponderosas. Just as she prepared to land, she seemed to change her mind and took off.
Her second attempt brought her closer to the ground, but again, she hesitated and then climbed into the air. He hoped she wouldn’t try what she had done the day before, and fall from the sky as a human for him to catch. He readied himself, just in case.
On the third try, she actually touched ground and then fell in
to a rolling tumble, stopping against a swell in the slope of the mountain.
Brian ran to her, his mouth dry. If anything happened to her…
She righted herself before he reached her.
He asked, “Are you all right?”
Olivia nodded, her heavy eagle beak nearly touching her chest.
“That was quite some landing,” he said. “I don’t think you want to do that all the time though. Maybe some research on how eagles and hawks fly and land is needed. Shall we try the wolf?”
She trilled and nodded again.
Brian backed away, putting a good fifty feet between them. He undressed, keeping an eye on her. If she couldn’t control that griffin, then this could the most dangerous place for him to be. She could either fly away as she had the first time, or she would attack. And, while he would defend himself from her, he didn’t relish the thought. He could offend her as Tony had or, worse yet, he could hurt her.
His shift into wolf wasn’t as slow as the day before. He needed to be ready if she came at him. The rain plastered his fur to his skin and he growled softly. As a wolf, he liked swimming, but not rain.
Olivia stood her ground, though she snaked her neck forward and hissed at him. She clacked her beak and paced back and forth at the edge of the clearing, her wings lifted away from her sides aggressively. It was something birds sometimes did to make themselves look bigger. She didn’t need help in that department. But, it told him something about her. She was having trouble not giving in to the griffin’s instincts.
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