Untamed Wolf

by Wade, Cara

  With no other option, Jack knew he had to shapeshift. What did he have to lose anyway, he reasoned. The court was going to rule against him and all would be revealed in due time. Once he did, he wasted no time in charging. The man didn’t see him coming right away, but when he did, a look of sheer terror crossed his face. His own man stood stock still, as Jack had suspected he would. It occurred to him that his own team might try to shoot at him, but he took the chance. He wasn’t going to go on a mission and have anyone die under him.

  If he died, that was another story. He hadn’t heard from Sam since he had left Washington. He did call her to let her know he’d made it, but since then, they’d not communicated at all. He had a little over one month left here, and he’d all but given up hope of ever hearing from her. He wasn’t wishing death upon himself, but he wasn’t willing it away either. He was who he was, dammit. He would go down as himself, not trying to hide parts of himself to make himself more digestible.

  Within seconds he’d successfully outmaneuvered the man and alerted his own men that it was still him. He glared at the man that was in the bushes.

  “Next time, follow orders. You jeopardized our positions. That’s not how we operate.” He knew he sounded far more menacing than was necessary, but he didn’t care. The man needed to learn his lesson, and fast.

  More shots rang out suddenly and Jack jerked his head around to see where it was coming from just as a bullet whizzed past his head and another he felt slam into his chest. He looked down to see blood oozing out. His body shifted of its own accord and he looked on helplessly. Was this how he was going to end, he wondered to himself. He never even told Sam how he really felt about her. He dropped to his knees and fell back slowly, the light fading as he went.

  ***

  Jack stirred when he felt a poke on his arm. It was blunt, something round. He heard sniffling and fought to open his eyes. When he did, he had to blink several times for the fog to dissipate before he could see. Where was he? He tried to recall where he was last before he wound up here. He thought about the soldier who hadn’t listened to his instructions and was hiding in the bush. Then he remembered shots being fired.

  He focused ahead and found himself attached to several machines. When he tried to move he felt a sharp pain and clenched his jaw to keep from making any noise. He had no idea where he could be, the more information he gathered until someone came in, the better.

  “Don’t move too much,” a voice next to him said. It sounded like Sam. He must have really been attacked badly if he thought Sam was out here with him.

  “Sam,” he tried to say the words but no sound came out.

  “Here,” she said. She lifted a cup with a straw to his lips. “Sip slowly,” she cautioned.

  It sounded like Sam. The cool water slid down this throat, coating it. It felt sore but he was grateful to feel anything at all. “Sam,” this time the words came out but his voice sounded foreign to him.

  “I’m here,” she said. She pulled at his hand and he turned his head slowly to look at her. “Easy,” she cautioned. “You got hit on your neck too.”

  He felt the twinge of pain just as she spoke and jerked his head back into its original position. “Where else?” he asked. He wiggled his toes, good. Still movement there.

  “You missed every major artery and organ, according to the doctors. You really got lucky.” He heard her circling around to come to his other side. He closed his eyes. She sounded neutral, she wasn’t showing any emotion.

  “You’ll be fine,” she continued. “And as soon as you’re stable, we can go home. We’re in Germany right now. They got you out as soon as they could. Your team medic did a good job with the field dressings before they carried you out of there or you could have lost a lot of blood.”

  He didn’t hear anything she said after ‘we’ and ‘home.’ Maybe there was hope yet. He opened his eyes and came face to face with Sam’s large belly.

  “Wha—” Jack sputtered.

  Sam smiled. “Two more months and we’ll be parents,” she said shyly. “I never got a chance to tell you.” Her hands wrapped protectively around the protruding stomach and she edged closer. It bumped into him and he realized that’s what had poked him awake.

  Before he could process what she just told him, a nurse bustled in to take his vitals. Jack, still flabbergasted, could only look at her in awe. Sam bumped him again, lifting her eyebrows in invitation to touch her stomach. He complied, reaching out to lay a hand on it. Her belly was stretched taut around the baby. He felt a faint movement followed by a succession of strong, healthy kicks.

  “He or she,” he asked suddenly. “Whatever it is has more power than I do at the moment.”

  Sam laughed and nodded in agreement. “Tell me about it. It’s like I have a team of rugby players in there these days. Constant movement. I’m not sure when this baby really sleeps.” She covered his hand with her own. “It’s a she.”

  His chest swelled with pride and he smiled at her. A baby in two short months, he couldn’t believe this was happening. When he was out in the field, he’d felt so desperate, willing to jump into any line of danger, regardless of the risks. But seeing Sam and now thinking about their baby, he couldn’t imagine doing it again.

  The nurse put two pills into a container for him to take. “For pain,” she clarified.

  He nodded and tossed them back. He could feel deep ache near his ribs, and hoped the medicine would take care of it.

  “I’ll just use the restroom,” Sam said excusing herself.

  “You’re lucky to have such a beautiful, loving wife,” the nurse said with admiration. “Being pregnant and coming all the way here, taking care of you this past week. Hang onto her.” She winked and left him with his thoughts.

  When Sam returned, he was looking at the calendar on the wall. It was a marker board, but all the dates were filled in. “Which day did I land up in here,” he asked Sam.

  “Well, around the twelfth. I came on the fourteenth. Today is the twenty-first.”

  “You’ve been here all week?” Jack was incredulous. “Why?” The words left his mouth before he could take them back. It sounded rude, but he hadn’t intended for them to be that way.

  He saw her open her mouth to speak but she closed it again. “I...I had to be by your side,” she said finally.

  She looked vulnerable standing there. He reached out his hand to her and she came quickly to hold it. “I’m glad you came,” he whispered.

  Sam smiled, relief on her face.

  “What happened with the court case,” he asked suddenly. Fear gripped him when it dawned on him how he’d come to be in his current state. He recalled shifting and the few witnesses on the field. It was all coming back to him now. By now, news must have gotten into the public sphere. He was screwed even if the court ruled in his favor.

  “It was dismissed,” she said smugly. “It never went to court.”

  “What? How did that happen?” he asked, perplexed.

  “Let’s just say we dug into the reason the files weren’t all being released to us and found out that the officer in charge was the one releasing them, deliberately to taunt us. But also, he had a file or two of his own that he wasn’t going to name. He’s going through his own trial now. One of Papa’s friends has taken over his position. He should have been promoted in the first place, if you ask me.” Sam said smoothly.

  “I’m impressed,” he said. “But I knew I was in good hands. You remind me of your dad in that regard.”

  Sam’s eyes misted at his words and she gave him a watery smile. “Thank you. You remind me of him too,” she said with a short laugh.

  “Must be why he said we belong together,” Jack speculated. “We remind him of himself. The ego that guy had,” he joked.

  Sam looked at him and they both began laughing.

  ***

  As soon as Sam and Jack reached the house, they realized neither of them was in a position to carry the luggage up the stairs. Jack asked the drive
r to do so and Sam reached into her wallet to tip him extra for the trouble. They settled inside, each trying to take care of the other.

  “I’m fine,” Sam insisted. “I’ve been doing this myself since before you came. I’m just bulky right now. You need to be cautious.”

  Jack frowned. “If you had told me, I wouldn’t have left at all.”

  Sam frowned back at him. “I didn’t know that, and besides, you seemed eager to leave. Even left after we slept together. You never even called or bothered to talk to me that day. What was I supposed to think?”

  Jack sat up straighter and then winced, returning to his hunched position. “I left you a note!”

  “Where?” Sam demanded. She wanted to clear the air, and part of her was delighting in their first real fight.

  “On your nightstand,” Jack insisted. “I left it there because I saw that you were sleeping. I remember I came home late that night and from then we were back to not talking. You just didn’t want anything to do with me.”

  “Wait just a second,” Sam huffed. “We slept together? What do you mean I didn’t want anything to do with you? What do you think that means, anyway?”

  Jack scowled at her. “I’m telling you, I left you a note. And was I imagining things when you ran away from me and locked the door?”

  Sam didn’t say anything. He had a point there. She did run. “That was really just the first time. You scared me,” she said, crossing her arms. When she did, he belly jutted out further, and Jack’s eyes focused in on it.

  He rubbed it gently with both hands. They stared at her stomach as the baby woke from her slumber before beginning another round of kicks and turns. Their eyes met and they smiled at each other. Sam felt so full now and she hoped the feeling would last.

  “Wait,” Sam said interrupting their moment. “We need to finish this fight.”

  “Is that what this is?” Jack’s hand stilled, looking at her seriously.

  “Yes,” she replied.

  He threw his head back and laughed. “Owww,” he said immediately.

  “You can’t do that!” Sam exclaimed. She checked the wound around his ribs first and then the one by his shoulder.

  “I’m healing fine,” Jack insisted. “It’s just painful still.”

  “You show me where the note was,” Sam said tugging him to the bedroom.

  They got to the bedroom, and Sam noticed Jack was walking slowly. “Are you okay?”

  “Just need to lie down soon,” he said. His voice was strained. “I’m not in that much pain anymore, but I do feel drained.” Still, he looked around the table, and behind the table. “If you didn’t see it, it must still be here somewhere.” After a minute, he came up triumphant. “Here!”

  Sam was surprised. “I can’t believe it.” She scanned the small note and she felt her eyes grow wet. “I was just so used to assuming the worst. I thought you were like Papa back in the day. He loved me, but I always felt like he prioritized everything with the SEALs more than he did me.”

  “It wasn’t because he didn’t love you. It was because he loved you that he tried to give you the best, that he didn’t think he could give you. Your mom left because she had her own issues, and he didn’t think he would be able to provide you a good stable childhood if you were with him. He was right, Sam. It wasn’t easy.”

  Sam nodded. “I know that now. But it doesn’t make it less painful.”

  Jack pulled her into his arms. “I know.” He bent to place a kiss on her belly. His hands reached behind her to rub her back, and then they trailed lower to cup her bottom. He alternated squeezing and stroking them, building a pressure inside her that she’d needed release from since the last time they were together.

  “I want you,” Sam breathed. “All of you.”

  Jack looked at her in surprise. “Now?” He licked his lips. “Are you sure...you can?”

  “Trust me,” she said huskily. She pulled back the covers and helped him lie down in a reclining position. Straddling his lap, she gently pulled off his shirt and opened her top to reveal her full breasts. “I’ve had this scenario in my head for a long time.”

  “This specific one,” he teased, rubbing her stomach. “Are you sure about that?”

  “Well, there are a few changes,” Sam said rubbing the pad of her thumb over the injury on his shoulder. She leaned down to plant a light kiss on it. Moving lower, she left a trail of kisses down to his chest and began to nip at the tips. She smiled to herself when she heard the sharp intake of his breath.

  He began to grow thicker under her and she rubbed herself slowly against him. He groaned. “Sam,” a low growl rumbled in his chest and she grew more excited. “You can’t go too far or I’ll go too far,” he warned her.

  “What do you mean by that?” Sam paused in her assault of his ears and neck to ask.

  Jack’s hands dug into her rounded hips and he ground himself upward into her. She felt herself wanting to open for him and was glad she was wearing shorts that were easy to remove. Reaching between their bodies, Sam continued to undress him. She unsnapped his jeans, the rasp of the zipper filled the room. She scooted back and encircled his thickness with her hand. Before she could start stroking him, Jack stilled her hand.

  “I want you to be in control, really,” he said breathlessly. “But I’m not that strong right now.”

  The throbbing piece in her hand said otherwise, but she released him reluctantly anyway. “What do you propose we do,” she asked him.

  “I don’t want to frighten you,” Jack said with his eyes squeezed shut. “You have to understand that if something happens, and I shift, I’m still never going to hurt you. It’s usually something I have control over, but occasionally, I transform without will. I don’t want you to leave me if that happens.”

  Sam felt a wave of tenderness wash over her. Was that why he was hesitating right now? “Jack,” she said sweeping her hand across his forehead, clearing the hair away. “I’m sorry that I made you feel like I was that frightened of you. I was a little, but I’m over it now.”

  Jack was quiet for a minute. Sam looked at him questioningly. He exhaled. “I didn’t tell you that I was in and out of foster care when I was younger.”

  Sam felt her heart break at his words. He didn’t have to say anything more, she understood immediately why he had been distancing himself from her before he left. He was trying to protect himself from the pain of rejection. Her eyes welled with tears and they began to spill down her cheeks.

  “Hey, hey, hey,” Jack said in alarm. “What’s going on here? I’m fine, see?”

  “I should have just talked to you. Told you how I feel about you,” Sam was blubbering but she didn’t care.

  “How you feel about me?” Jack echoed. “And what do you feel?”

  “I love you, Jack,” Sam said trying to control her sobs. “Papa was right about you, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you how I really felt. If I did, you wouldn’t have gotten hurt.”

  “Sam,” Jack rose up as much as he could on his elbows and pulled her down to him the rest of the way to hold her close. “I love you too. I could have told you how I felt too. If you’re at fault, so am I. But you came and took care of me. You carried our child alone. You worked so many long hours on my behalf. You’re not at fault. I was just too dumb to realize what was in front of me.”

  After Sam’s cries had subsided, Jack helped her wipe her face, kissing her gently on her eyelids and then her mouth. “You still up for this?” he asked half-teasingly.

  “Yes,” she said, adamant. “I need you.”

  Jack reached into her open blouse and cupped her breasts. Sam let out a high moan, trying to maintain her control. One touch of his calloused hand over her nipple and she had to bite her lip to maintain her control. The nerves led straight to her core and electrified her in an instant.

  “How much do you love me,” Jack growled. He began tugging her shorts down. After a little adjustment, he slipped them off and tossed them aside with her underwear.
He started to remove her top, but she stopped him.

  “No, leave that,” she said. Sam was embarrassed by the big stomach that rested in front of them.

  “No, I want to see all of you,” Jack said. “You’re so, so beautiful right now.”

  Blushing, Sam allowed him to remove her shirt and tried to cover up the parts that had swelled to their capacity.

  Jack drew her arms down to his shoulders. “You hang on here and do what you want to do with me.”

  Feeling emboldened by his encouragement, Sam did just that. She came to her knees while he lifted his hips to shuck off his pants. She reached between them again and rubbed his tip against her sensitive nub. Closing her eyes, she continued to rub it until she felt herself taking him deeper and deeper until she eventually, she had sheathed him inside of her. Holding him in there for a few seconds, she squeezed her muscles around him before rising over him before plunging back down.

  “I love you, Sam,” Jack growled.

  Sam’s eyes had closed to find her rhythm but she peeped at him with one eye to see him admiring her body with wonder in his eyes. “You’re so beautiful right now, you have no idea what you’re doing to me,” he ground out.

  “I think I have somewhat of an idea,” she said breathlessly. She was feeling the pressure build already, and his words were carrying her over the edge.

  “Jack, I love feeling you inside me,” she said honestly. “I want you to let go. I want all of you.”

  Jack groaned, “Sam, you’re killing me. I can’t last much longer if you keep talking like this.”

  “Good,” Sam breathed. Her pace quickened and her breasts began to bounce with her.

  Jack captured them in his hands, “Oh, Sam,” his composure was slipping. Sweat poured from his temples as he fought to hold back. His hands slipped helplessly to her hips and they squeezed before sliding up and down her thighs.