by Roxie Noir
Jake broke away from her and leaned his forehead on hers, his hand still in her hair, both of them breathing heavily, and Ariana took the opportunity to slide her hands up his chest to the top button of his shirt, and, quickly and neatly, she undid it.
He looked down at himself, then at her, and a slow, half-teasing smile spread across his face.
“I thought it was complicated,” he said.
Her hands were still on his shirt and they slid down to the next button. She felt like her core was on fire, heat coursing through her veins, her heart pounding. She wanted this so badly it hurt.
“I thought about it real quick,” she said, a slow smile coming to her lips. She popped the next button free, opening Jake’s shirt further across his chest. “Turns out it’s pretty simple.”
“And?”
“And, take your shirt off.”
Jake took a step back, his eyes twinkling. Without breaking eye contact, he unbuttoned the rest of the buttons on his shirt and then tossed it aside, standing there in just his jeans.
Ariana couldn’t think of anytime that she’d seen a better-looking man. If he was hot when wearing clothes, he was scorching when he was shirtless: broad and heavily muscled in a way that suggested he’d gotten there by a life of hard physical work rather than going to the gym.
She literally felt weak in the knees.
“What about you?” he asked, closing the distance between them, taking her by the waist.
“What about me?” she asked, running her hands down his chest to his stomach. He was warm, warmer than most people, she thought. The hair on his chest was soft and thick, narrowing to a line of fur at his bellybutton that led underneath his belt.
He kissed her again, pressing their faces together harder this time, his need growing obvious. Ariana ran her hands all over him, pressing herself against him, wanting to be enfolded in his enormous arms. Then he broke away again, and a split second later, she found herself hoisted into the air.
She let out a small, very girly squeal.
“Put me down!” she demanded. He was carrying her like she was a doll, with almost no visible effort expended.
He grinned again, his face close to hers, and then strode across the room and tossed her onto the bed.
Ariana squealed again, and then laughed out loud.
Still grinning, he was on top of her, kneeling over her on the bed, the hem of her shirt in both hands. For a moment, Ariana was uncertain, but then her shirt was off, just her bra on.
“God, you’re beautiful,” Jake whispered, and then he kissed her again.
Ariana felt her her skin was electric, every touch resonating over her entire body. He pressed himself to her, and through his jeans she could feel his rock-hard member. The sensation of it there brought a jolt of heat to her as well, and before she even knew what she was doing, Ariana was tugging at Jake’s belt, trying to get it off of him.
“Not yet,” he murmured into her ear, his fingers tracing their way down her neck. Ariana made a tiny gasp as she shuddered from the sensation — how on earth did he know her neck was her weak spot?
He nibbled his way gently down her neck, and Ariana let out a little sigh as he moved to her shoulder, taking her bra strap in one hand and tugging it down her arm until he’d just barely exposed one nipple. He moved his hand to it and stroked her, just barely squeezing and rolling it between his fingers.
Then he took the nipple in his mouth, just barely sucking at it, pulling down her other bra strap as he did. Ariana felt like a boat tossed on the waves of arousal, barely keeping her head above water.
Jake moved his mouth to her other breast, tugging at her bra a little more, and Ariana moaned, more loudly this time. She thought she heard him chuckle, his breath tickling at her sensitive skin, but she couldn’t be sure.
Finally he moved away again, trailing kisses down her stomach, dipping his tongue into her belly button.
Ariana giggled. She couldn’t help it, she was ticklish.
“Tickles?” asked Jake, his face still against her skin.
“A little.”
Quickly, she arched her back and reached behind herself, releasing her bra and tossing it away somewhere in the room. Right then, Jake undid the button on her jeans and undid the zipper, slowly. She thought she could feel each tooth separate itself, her arousal throbbing with every moment.
Then, in one smooth motion, her jeans and underwear was all off and Jake was kneeling between her legs, his breath hot on her sex.
Ariana squirmed and, despite herself, tried to remember the last time she’d done any pubic maintenance. It had been... a while. She tried to press her thighs together, to get Jake’s head out of her wild bush, but he wasn’t having any of it.
“You don’t have to,” she gasped. “I haven’t... it’s been a while,” she said lamely.
“Of course I don’t have to,” said Jake. He kissed the inside of one of her thighs, sending an electric shock directly into her core. “I want to.”
Then she felt his tongue on her lower lips, dancing between them, moving up to her clit and flicking it back and forth, teasing her. Ariana couldn’t help but snake her hands through his hair just so she could hold on as he sent her into a state of pure bliss as his tongue drove her wild. Somehow, he knew exactly what to do to her: the right pressure and the right frequency, constantly building.
Before she knew it, Ariana felt like she was on the edge of a cliff and in danger of falling off, moaning and gasping.
“Stop,” she said. “I’m about to come.”
Jake didn’t stop. If anything, his tongue got a little faster, a little more insistent.
“I mean it,” Ariana said, and she meant to say something else but the words came out as a long, gasping moan instead as Jake drove her right off the edge.
Her whole body convulsed and she felt as though there were fireworks shooting off inside of her, the sensation taking her over utterly. It was all she could do to hold onto Jake as she cried out in ecstasy, her fingers twined through his hair, her toes curling in the bedspread.
Finally, when she stopped, he came up for air, resting his chin on her belly and grinning at her. Ariana couldn’t think of anything to say — her mind had gone utterly blank and her body just felt spent.
Jake kissed her inner thigh one more time, sending sparks through her body, and stood up to finally take his pants off. Ariana propped herself on her elbows to watch as he slid his jeans and boxers off, deftly, her eyes widening when his cock sprang free.
Then, he scratched his head with one hand and looked sheepish.
“Do you have any...”
“I’m on the pill,” she said.
Jake grinned and practically leapt for her, closing the distance between himself and the bed in one easy move. He buried his face in her neck, biting and tickling her there until she gasped in pleasure and giggled at the same time, his hands between her legs in the meantime.
Ariana arched her back and then, finally, felt the tip of him at her entrance. She pushed herself toward him, wanting desperately to feel him inside her, and was rewarded when she felt him sink down into her channel.
They moaned at the same time, Jake seeming to melt into her as Ariana felt his long, hard shaft penetrate her. She’d never been with someone so big before, but more importantly, she couldn’t remember ever wanting it this badly before — her desperate, aching need to have him in her.
Her hands closed on his hand, clutching at him, pressing him to her even when he was completely inside her.
“Oh god, it feels good,” she whispered. Jake just groaned into her neck, the sound reverberating through her entire body.
He hoisted himself onto his elbows and looked deep into her eyes, pulling out and thrusting himself in again, shutting his eyes in pleasure as he did. For a few moments they stayed locked together and Ariana wrapped her legs around his back, wanting to keep him there, inside, forever.
All at once Jake buried his face in her neck again, wrap
ped his arms under her and, suddenly, rolled them over, Ariana now on top.
“Oh!” she exclaimed. Despite everything, she felt herself blush.
“I want to watch you,” Jake said. His hands were locked on her hips, holding here there, on him. Ariana pushed herself up, her hands on her chest, finally sitting astride him cowgirl-style.
“Gorgeous,” Jake murmured. He reached up and tweaked one nipple, and Ariana felt the pleasure rush through her body all over again.
She rocked back and forth on him, slowly, savoring the feeling of him inside her, letting the pleasure build and build, the fire slowly rekindling.
At last, moving feverishly, she couldn’t hold herself back anymore and the fire inside her exploded. Ariana moaned loudly, half-shouting, as she came. Her body seemed to be moving of its own accord now, her hips moving smoothly back and forth on top of Jake.
When she finished she felt limp and sweaty, but wonderfully satisfied.
“Don’t stop,” gasped Jake, half-growling through his teeth. “Oh God, don’t — ohhhh...”
His eyes squeezed shut and Ariana felt him empty himself deep inside her, his hands so tight on her hips she thought they might leave bruises.
Breathing hard, she bent down and kissed him and he kissed her back, hard, his lips almost trembling. Then she rolled off and tucked herself against his side, drifting off to sleep.
* * *
Jake was almost afraid to breathe, worried that any movement he made might erase what had just happened. He played it over and over again in his head: take off your shirt, she’d said, her fingers already undoing the buttons. When he’d come to her door, he’d only intended to talk to her, straighten things out, and beg her not to leave yet, but her pull had been so strong and so fierce that he’d been utterly powerless against her.
Not that he had any problem with what had just happened. It was the most right he’d felt in years.
Snuggled into his side, his arm around her, Ariana moved a little and Jake looked down. Her eyes opened.
“Was I asleep?” she said.
“Sort of,” he answered.
She yawned and turned onto her back, still pressed against him. “Sorry,” she said.
He moved his hand and took a strand of her hair out of her eyes. “I don’t mind.”
Ariana draped one arm across his torso, trailing her fingers through the fur there. She seemed like she was thinking about something, and Jake let her be, just for a moment. It wasn’t like he could think of anything to say at the moment, either.
“I don’t usually do this,” she said. “Sleep with people I barely know. Actually, I’ve never done this before.”
Jake picked her hand up and kissed it, then let it fall back to his chest, where it curled against him again.
“Me either,” he said. “I just came over to ask you not to leave yet, I didn’t mean for ...this... to happen. I just can’t resist you.”
Ariana said nothing, but she blushed, just a little.
“I don’t know if I can stay,” she said. “I think Theresa has to get home.”
“Please?” Jake asked. “Now that I’ve met you I can’t just let you go. Please.”
Ariana wriggled.
“I’ll see what I can do,” she said.
“There’s that log book,” Jake suggested.
“That’s probably got a couple days’ worth of follow-up questions,” she said.
Then she went quiet for a few minutes.
“I guess I should go,” Jake finally said, though he didn’t get up. “You should get some rest.”
“Stay,” Ariana said.
“If you insist,” he said, putting both his arms around her. They fell asleep that way.
When Jake woke up the next morning, he didn’t know where he was for a split second, and then the previous night came rushing back to him. He turned his head to kiss Ariana good morning, but she wasn’t there. He felt her pillow in alarm, but it was cold.
Quickly, he sat up and put on his pants. Part of him knew that he was worrying needlessly — she was probably at breakfast or something — but he couldn’t help it. He couldn’t stand to lose what he had only just barely gotten the night before.
Right as he was about to leave the room to look for her, the door unlocked and Ariana came in, balancing two cardboard coffee cups. He rushed to help her, grabbing one.
“Are you leaving?” she asked.
“I was going to go look for you,” he said.
“Sorry, I woke up really early,” Ariana said. She sat in one of the armchairs in the room and sipped at her coffee.
“Well, good morning, beautiful,” he said, kissing her on the forehead.
“I called the CRF,” she said.
Jake raised his eyebrows and waited.
“They agreed that I should stay here for at least another couple of days and look into things,” she said, and Jake heaved a sigh of relief. “Honestly, besides us there’s only one part-time employee, and she’ll have her hands full with Theresa’s worker’s comp for a while,” she said. “I don’t think they’re going to be paying me much attention for a while.” She sipped her coffee again.
Jake couldn’t help himself. He grinned so hard he thought his face might crack open.
“You’re not going back yet?” he asked.
“Not yet.”
He took her coffee cup out of her hand and set it on the side table.
“Want to do some Bigfoot research right now?” he asked, pulling her onto his lap. He kissed her, and even though she rolled her eyes, she kissed him back.
Untitled Document
PART TWO
Alpha Country
Prologue
The sun had just slipped behind the jagged mountains, leaving everything different shades of blue. The grizzly bear ambled along the lake’s rocky shoreline, sniffing here and there, looking over its shoulder. It looked like it was contemplating the lake, thinking carefully about how the rocks smelled, slowly coming to some sort of conclusion.
Finally, the bear stood still, carefully watching one single spot off in the trees. It stood like that for minutes, expectantly, both ears perked in that direction.
The lake was remote and at high altitude, a difficult place to get to for even the most hardcore, punishment-loving backpackers. The bears had this part of the Canadian Rockies to themselves, and they certainly knew it.
At last, the trees shook a little and the bear on the shore moved his ears back and forth, just a little. Then the other bear charged out of the trees at top speed: this one was a little darker in color and a little smaller, though they were both big, even for grizzlies — almost four feet high at the shoulder, nearly seven standing on their back legs.
The bear on the lake waited until the new bear was almost up to it, then reared onto his back legs, roaring at the new bear, which stopped it its tracks to rear up and roar back. The sound echoed from the stark, rocky mountains and from the smooth, glass-like lake.
At last, they stopped roaring and dropped back onto all fours.
Then it got interesting.
Simultaneously, the bears started to change: their fur retracted, their heads shrunk, they grew skinnier until they were humans. Two big, burly, naked, male humans who were still very hairy.
“The fuck were you thinking?” growled the bigger one, the bear who’d been waiting by the lake. He had light brown hair and long sideburns, and he crouched on the pebbled lake shore, not looking at all cold even though it was well below freezing.
The other man, dark-haired, bearded, and younger, shrugged. “I had to try,” he said.
“Idiot.”
The bearded man sat back on his heels and picked up a pebble an inch or two long, then hurled it at the lake. It sunk immediately. He sighed. “I never did learn to skip stones,” he said.
“Tell me about the human,” the first man reminded him.
“You know Jake?”
The older man frowned. “Jake what?”
&nbs
p; The bearded man thought for a minute. “Started with a K?”
The older man gave the younger one a long, irritated look, then spoke up. “Kodiak?”
“That’s it!” he chucked another rock at the lake, with the same results as the first. “Anyway, he’s broken protocol and banged a human girl.”
The older man nearly growled, showing his teeth. “It’s more than protocol,” he said through his teeth. “It’s our way of life. It’s our tradition. If one shifter mates with a human, what next? In fifty years the bloodline will be useless. We’ll be lucky if our grandchildren can shift into koalas.”
“Koalas aren’t technically bears—“
“Not the point.”
“Sorry.”
The older man snorted and looked around them. Then, fur began to emerge from his arms and neck.
“Wait!” said the younger man.
The older man stopped mid-shift, still human enough to speak. “What?”
“Can I come back now?”
They stared at each other.
“Please?”
The older man considered him for a long time, the younger man dropping his eyes and fidgeting a little. “I’ll talk to the pack,” the older man said, reluctantly.
“Thanks.”
Then they both shifted all at once, fur sprouting, skulls growing, bodies widening. As bears, they sniffed each other once, tentatively, then set off to opposite ends of the cold alpine lake.
Chapter One
Ariana looked doubtfully at her tiny sublet kitchen. When she’d looked at the place the week before, she’d been in kind of a rush and hadn’t noted some important things about the place. Its lack of oven, for example. The fact that, while the stovetop technically had four burners, they were so tiny and close together that it was impossible to fit more than two pots on it at once.