by JJ Jones
“I’m sorry you have to go through this.” I somehow felt like it was my fault. I didn’t know why I felt like that. Maybe it was my own nature to blame myself.
“I don’t think this is your fault,” he mumbled in my ear.
His hot breath sent shudders down my back. “I just wanted to say that, in case we find out that it’s my fault,” I told him. “I’m so sorry.”
“This can’t be your fault,” he assured me. “It has to be someone trying to hurt me.” He made the statement and I really didn’t know how to respond to his assertion. Instead I let him continue to speak. “I won’t let you get hurt by this. I promise you.”
“What if it’s not your fault? What if it’s something from my past?” I asked, knowing that we could suffer so much more if he felt like I had betrayed him. “What if it’s me? What if it’s my fault?”
“That doesn’t matter to me. There’s nothing in your past that would make you deserve this. I’ll protect you. I promise you that.” He stared into my eyes and I could feel myself start to melt.
“Look, we’re both under a lot of stress. Let’s not worry about promises.” It was starting to get a lot heavier than I was ready for. I balked under the pressure. After all, we barely knew each other. “These feelings can be our minds playing tricks on us.”
“Let’s not make promises, yet then,” he told me. “I didn’t mean to push. I’m sorry.”
“No, it’s just me. I don’t do well with commitment. That’s why I’ve been single for so long. That’s why I never mated,” I confessed.
I don’t know why I had to tell him that. It wasn’t like I wasn’t aware of the problems that I had suffered. I knew about my own complications with relationships, but I didn’t know what prompted me to tell him my own issues.
“I haven’t had the time to mate. I stay so busy all of the time. My pack mates are talking about finding me a mate,” he told me. “Well, that’s not why. I just don’t think that I could give a woman what she needs. It’s not like I haven’t had relationships, human style relationships.”
“I’ve had a few too,” I told him. “I just couldn’t put myself into it.”
He looked at me. His face was so close to mine. I could feel his intense gaze in the flickering light of the fire. It was almost romantic in a stranded-in-the-wilderness type of way.
“Would you give me a chance when we get out of here?” He asked the question and it hit me just like a more permanent proposal. “Just let me take you out.”
“Okay.” The word was a whisper.
Nothing I had ever said felt as right as that word. It might have seemed flippant, but my heart was beating hard in my chest. I felt my breath start to quicken as he looked at me, his eyes captured my gaze and I became acutely aware of his hand around my waist and resting on the small of my back. We were still dressed, but I felt naked. I didn’t feel bad about it, either. Something about being naked with him felt perfectly normal and expected.
I gulped back my feelings and shifted a bit closer to him. His lips were less than an inch from mine now. I was close enough to feel his shallow breath against my lips and there was something primal going on between us. I wouldn’t know how to explain it to a human, the kind of connection that was forming at that moment was intense and something that seemed like it would last forever. I didn’t know if that was true or not, but I wasn’t opposed to checking it out as his lips shifted just a bit closer to mine. He was kissable now, close enough for our lips to touch. All I had to do was slightly turn my face and we would have that contact.
I did it. I don’t know what made me think that it was a good idea. To be honest, in my real life, I would never have made that kind of choice. I barely knew this man, but we had already spent one night together. One more night wouldn’t make a difference, would it? I kissed him and his grip on me tightened. He pulled me close to him, a protective embrace that made me forget where I was for a moment. I closed my eyes, losing myself in the feeling of his hard body against mine.
“What are we doing?” I asked him, my lips still pressed against his.
“I don’t know.” Well, at least he was honest. “Do you want me to stop?”
I considered for a moment before I answered. I could feel him tensing up, getting ready to pull away from me. I realized that I didn’t want him to pull away. In fact, I wanted him closer.
“No.” I was breathless. “Don’t stop.”
That was all he wanted to hear as he pulled me closer to him. My arms wrapped around his neck and I pulled him closer to me as well. We were as close as our clothes would allow us to be. I could feel his hardness pressing against me through our jeans.
“I can feel you.” I traced one of my arms down his body and began to stroke him through his clothes.
He growled. “Damn it. You drive me crazy,” he admitted as he rocked his hips towards me, begging for more without having to say it. I worked his zipper and he moaned against my lips as I freed his organ.
“Do you want me to stop?” I was teasing him. I already knew the answer.
“No.” He was panting as my hand wrapped around him, touching him as he began to rock his hips harder and harder. “I want you.”
“I want you too.”
It didn’t take us long to remove our clothes. I don’t know how we managed to do it so quickly in our bed of leaves, but we did it. That part of it was all kind of a blur, something that really wasn’t worth remembering as we positioned ourselves. I climbed on top of him, pausing as his body seemed to twitch at every touch of my skin. I needed to feel him and slowly began to lower myself onto him.
He wanted me. I could tell by the way his body reacted, by the growls that seemed to echo through our small chamber that we had made out of branches and leaves. It took a long time to finish my descent onto his manhood. I was panting and struggling to keep myself in control. I wasn’t going to last much longer after this point. I started to bounce, moving up and down on him as I brought myself to the edge of release. I screamed over him, feeling the sensations of his hands running over my body, touching me in places that I hadn’t been touched in a long time.
It was bestial. No words were exchanged as we did more than make love. It was in the realm of mating, but it wasn’t official. We had a connection that seemed to transcend the moment that I was in. We had forgotten about the dangers of the forest. It was just animal noises and a struggle for breath between every moment. We needed each other, and we gripped each other as we rode to the edge of pleasure together, it was the second time for me as I shifted my body against his. I groaned as my release came closer and closer. His eyes were wild and his hands were on my hips. I needed this as I screamed my body’s intentions to him. He groaned and started to make me move faster and faster.
We finished together, and then I collapsed on top of him. It took me a few minutes to regain my breath and roll off of him. He gazed into my eyes and I met his stare. I needed to feel his arms around him, but I was suddenly ravenous. I reached up and picked up a piece of the meat. We spilt our meal then carefully conserved every bit of the water that we could. A few swallows would have to do for now. He reached out of the tent; it was starting to get heavier now.
“Finish your water. We’ll refill with some snow.” The precipitation was a blessing from the sky. We could make it through this.
“Too bad we don’t have any better way to haul water.” I groaned and stretched after our sunlit moment in that tiny little tent.
“We’ll make it. Let’s refill the water a few times until we have enough.” He looked at me.
There was something behind our conversation, something behind our smiles and our motions. Something hidden. Someone on the outside could never understand the subtle communication that we were sharing. We drank until we had our fill. It was nice to be fully hydrated for a short while, but slipping out to go to the bathroom became unbearable.
It didn’t take us long to decide to sleep in our furs. We both changed, watching each other
and cuddled in the warmth of the fire. It was where we were meant to be. There was something about it that was comforting, and while we cuddled through the night we both drifted in and out, keeping a careful eye on the fire, but we slept, each of us managing to gather a few hours before it was time to prepare for the next day. We had a breakfast of dried deer meat and melted snow. It was delicious and prepared for the next line of our trek. It was going to be hard to track through the fresh snow, but we had to continue to try.
We had traveled for most of the day when we started hearing things in the distance. There were voices ringing out through the snow-covered forest. We went into stealth mode, slipping through the trees as silently as possible. We had to find out way through. I was wearing his clothes and he was wandering as a wolf. I hung back, hoping I wouldn’t be spotted. I wasn’t jealous. If I had been in the form of the wolf, I would have been able to slip through the underbrush with a little more tact, but I wasn’t, so I had to hang back and wait for him to return and let me know what had happened.
When he returned through the forest he wasn’t trying to hide. He had his head up and his tail wagging. That told me everything that I needed to know. I followed him to the camping people. There were three people around a campfire that looked up when we approached. It was clear that my companion recognized these men, but none of them looked familiar to me.
CHAPTER SIX
We had barely reached the edge of the camp when the bullets started to fly. They barely missed Devin and he dodged into the underbrush. There was no time to ask questions, no time to explain, no time to figure out what was going on. I struggled with my own breath as I tried to determine what direction the bullets were coming from. I didn’t have time to do anything other than to burst into action, trying to take some cover behind a tree. There was only so much time to hide, so I dove for cover. I could smell the acrid odor of hot silver. I knew what it meant. They were trying to kill us.
I saw two of the shifters that were in the camp take off into the shaded forest. They were after the shooters. I followed them into the forest, changing as I moved through the brush. It would be better to stay low. It was a different thing to change on the run. There is something freeing about it as I made my way after the other shifters. There was going to be a fight. We didn’t start it, but we were going to finish it.
It didn’t take us long to track down the assailants. They were on the top of a hill with plenty of firepower to keep us from climbing up to get them. I wanted to curse, but I could only growl in frustration. I was behind a log, glancing over it occasionally while the gunshots continued. I couldn’t see a clear path, but someone was coming up behind me. I snapped around, trying to figure out who it was. I recognized the scent immediately. It was Devin and he was in his wolf form. He stared at me for a moment and we both turned back to face the men that were shooting at us. The truth was, I hadn’t had much experience with hunters. That was the nature of not being a particularly important individual.
I sniffed, communicating with Devin. “Who?”
He huffed at me. It was a kind of animalistic shrug. “Don’t know.”
“Why?”
“I’m Alpha,” he told me in the way of the beast.
There was no way to use diction or specific language like that. That wasn’t the way we did things. Still, I will try to translate the conversation as well as I’m capable of doing. We communicate through a variety of smells, actions and small noises. It’s hard to explain. Hopefully, I can make it clear.
“Hunters?” I indicated the men that were shooting at us as we spoke.
We were in a fairly safe spot and needed to make a plan. So far, I couldn’t smell blood. That was good. No one had gotten hit, but we had to figure out how to get up that hill to the men that were camped up there.
“Yes.” There was doubt there. He couldn’t know for sure, but agreed that it was the best guess that we had.
“Others?” I indicated the other shifters that were trapped like we were.
“Friends.” He obviously knew these people.
While I had heard that already; I was kind of happy to hear that he trusted these men.
“Why here?”
“Don’t know.”
“Did friends bring hunters?”
He was expressing a great deal of displeasure at the idea that I was putting forth. “No.” It was something that couldn’t be argued, more like a ‘hell no’ than a regular ‘no.’ He refused to entertain the idea that we had been set up. “Friends are friends. Hunters are hunters. Friends do not work with hunters.”
“Agreed. This is strange.”
“Agreed.” He nodded at me and we continued to watch our assailants.
They had stopped firing for the time being. I watched them; they appeared to be searching for us, bringing out some rather specialized equipment. I didn’t know what it was, but I thought it must be some sort of thermal scope, something to help them to see us. We would have to do something soon. I knew there was only so much that we should do.
I looked at him and his muscles were twitching. He was planning to charge up there during the momentary distraction. I wasn’t sure how well this was going to work, but we weren’t going to be able to wait this out. They had forced us to this point, now we had to respond. We were predators, capable of great violence when pushed out of our own comfort zone. He charged up the hill, foam flying from his mouth as he growled and howled the attack, leading all of us behind him.
We had to do something.
I saw one of the hunters struggle with a small sidearm as we got to the top of the hill. I moved to him, intent on defending myself, but I wasn’t going to make it in time. The man had the weapon pointed straight at me. There was no time to get out of the way, but suddenly there was something in the way. I couldn’t identify it right away. It was large and grey, and right in the path of the speeding bullet. The weapon had already struck the wall in the way before I realized whom it was. It was Devin and I was watching him fall. I have to admit that I lost my mind in that moment. Several others and myself leapt on the man that had taken down the Alpha. Needless to say, he didn’t last much longer.
The fight was still going on around us as I changed back into my human form, gripping the man in my arms. He was shifting back to human himself. I screamed a horrific sound. My pain seeped into the surrounding trees as I held him to my chest, the tears running down my cheeks and onto him. The fight seemed to continue on around us, a slow motion encounter that belonged in the movies. I could see bodies and bullets flying. I was totally exposed, but nothing seemed to come my direction. I was alone, trapped in my grief. I couldn’t really explain it. I didn’t know him well, but flashes of a future that would never happen rushed into my head. I saw an entire relationship in time lapse as I cried over his body.
He reached up to me, his arm weakly trying to touch my face. I leaned down and he began to whisper, “Fynna.” It took a lot for him just to say my name.
“I won’t let you die. I won’t let you die.” My mind raced over dates that we would never have as I watched him bleed onto my lap. I was crying.
“I-I-I—” He couldn’t finish whatever he was trying to say.
“Hush, save your strength. We need to get you out of here,” I consoled him.
I could hear the growling and snapping coming from around me. The shots had stopped coming. I wasn’t paying much attention, but there were no more bullets. The wolves sounded angry as I held the man in my arms and sobbed over him.
“I’m going to save you,” I promised him.
I could smell the silver in his wound. The monsters had been out to kill him. They had succeeded, and I had no idea why we had found ourselves in this situation.
“Fynna.” He was calling my name and his eyes were closing. I could hear his breath growing ragged and strained.
“You’re going to live. We’re going to save you. I promise.” I told him, and hoped against all hope that I could keep that promise.
&nbs
p; “It will be all right,” he said, fighting against his dying breath.
One of the other shifters put her hand on my shoulder as I cried over the loss of the man in my arms. A part of me wouldn’t face the fact that he was dying. I knew what she was going to say and I shielded him with my body.
“You won’t do this!” I demanded that she respect my wishes. “We can save him.” I wasn’t going to hear any insistence to put him out of his misery.
“I’m trying to save him. You have to let me help him.” Her voice was soft, almost as if she felt sorry for me.
I was dragged away from him, my grief keeping me from really doing anything other than reaching for him. I wanted to scream at her to leave him alone as she poked at his wound, but it was too much. I was too tired to fight against what felt like a thousand arms holding me back. Maybe she would keep her word. Maybe she would be able to save him. I didn’t know how she was going to do it. There were no bandages, nothing to give first aid with.
“I can save him.” Still her face looked sad.
“What do you need?” The voice came from behind me.
“Someone will have to give.”
“I’ll do it. I’ll die to save him.” I was sobbing, kneeling on the ground.
“You won’t die,” she promised me and for some reason I trusted her. “You will be bound to him. When one of you dies the other will. It will be the way of things. Can you live with that?”
“Yes.” I didn’t even have to think about it.
She reached toward me. “Come here.”
I stood, my legs wobbled under me as I walked toward her. She started to chant. I couldn’t understand the words and I started to understand. This was magic. I had witnessed it from a distance, but I had never been so close, never been a part of the mystical ritual that she was starting. She pulled something out of her bag. It was a green powder – no, it was bits of leaves that she sprinkled over my head, then over his wound. I didn’t understand. I don’t think I will ever understand what happened, what I volunteered to do. She continued to chant and I watched her work in awe, still not a hundred percent sure that I could trust what was going on. Still we didn’t have much time.