Blackberry Wine

by Blackberry Wine [MF] (epub)

  She raised her upper body.

  Close to my bare chest, almost trailing the tip of her nose along my flesh, making my skin crawl with the simple act of her nonexistent touch.

  Every vein and artery in my body pulsed.

  Mirroring the hush and whir of salty metallic blood beneath her delectable tender skin.

  Bite, Wolf murmured.

  Oh, I'll bite her for certain soon enough. What would it matter if I lost control now? Lost control and marked her? Wild sex usually burned off the alcohol fumes quickly in a Shifter. Mating would clear my mind.

  No. I need to be stronger. I need to protect her.

  She paused.

  Too Gods-be-damned close. Eye-to-eye with me. Smelling of delicious warm fruit. Hovering. Fruit for the picking.

  Her warm palm settled against my chest.

  Burned a hole through my ribs like a woman's iron left too long on clothing.

  "Colt?" she whispered, her warm breath buffeting my lips.

  A warm cocooning sound. "Yes."

  Her other hand curled around my fingers.

  My fingers still gripping that wine bottle so tightly that the bottle should have shattered. Then I wouldn't have to suck down more poison…

  Her fingers slid up and down my knuckles.

  Petting me.

  "The wine bottle drives me mad," she said.

  Why? She's toasted. "What do you mean?"

  Her face cocked sideways with an equally crooked smile.

  What now?

  Her hand slipped away.

  To land upon my stinging cock. Even sheltered from her touch beneath the pants, I felt like her skin was everywhere. Begging me to touch it. Lick it.

  Her eyes still glinted with an expression of knowing nobody could miss.

  She had meant that the bottle's neck was shaped like my cock.

  Mine!

  Wolf is going to be the death of us. Or this wine.

  ****

  He was all over me in a blur of motion, stripping my boots and clothes off as if that half a bottle of wine I'd tricked him into consuming had stripped him of his ability to reason. Good. I'll be marked in no time. Especially since he'd pulled off his clothes as well. But he'd furred out just as quickly. As part of the blur of motion. And then he was on top of me.

  I'd only had a little wine, faking drinking to keep my awareness where it needed to be to lay my trap and snare a Wolf. Just what kind of woman would I be if I had let others do the choosing for me? Well, forget that. Because this big snarly Wolf might still be human in the face, but he's got his big stick ready to play fetch. Yet, I'm lying here where he tossed me down. On my back, and he's shoving my legs open. Just what is he doing?

  He needs to hurry up. "Come here, Colt."

  He shot me a glance then crawled between my legs.

  Between them, on his knees, ignoring my call. Leaving me feeling awfully exposed in this position.

  Rites of possession. "Colt?" Do I sound afraid? Weak? Oh, God, what is he going to do to me? I tried to shove up onto my elbows.

  He growled, grabbed my hips, and dragged me across the scratchy concrete about an inch toward him.

  Just stay calm. This is my fault. I can handle it. Survive. What's the worst that can happen? I'll be possessed, right? I laid back on the hard unyielding floor.

  He shoved my knees open, all the way to the formidable flooring.

  With fingers. Still with hands and fingers. Not long sharp claws that tear soft sensitive skin…

  He plunged.

  Like dived off a cliff. Right into--

  There. Face first. And I need a shower. But who could run when splayed like a gutted carcass for a beast's feast?

  I couldn't grab anything to hold onto. Anything to make the world stop quaking. The extraterrestrials have to be using a new weapon to cause earthquakes. Or he's causing those things inside me with his mouth. Nibbling. Licking around and around. Snarling and sucking. All those things I'd read about. All those things I'd heard. Are true. Divine. I tried to lie still. To just enjoy the moment where every organ inside my body melted and rolled down to where his mouth waited to consume it because my hips are about to rattle my legs out of their sockets.

  I'm so tired.

  Now I know why Ebony's hands shook so bad when she even thought about rites of possession. The worst has yet to come. Still would come. And I wouldn't be able to fight him off if I wanted to the way he's exhausting me.

  Babies. He said lots of babies. That means I'll survive to have them. Who couldn't survive this? It's like before with him inside me. Amazing. Even though I have to look like I'm having a seizure.

  But the smell. I have to smell down there.

  My hand hit something.

  Hard. Cool. The wine bottle. I'll just use it to…I poured wine all over me, trying to get it down there.

  Colt went crazy.

  Licking. Slurping. Climbing along my body while he lapped up every drop that managed to cling to my quivering skin. Then he rammed that shaft of his inside me.

  More like wedged. By the glow in his eyes, his Wolf had to have taken over completely. Had to have made everything larger. So large that I yelped with satisfaction.

  He froze and stared into my eyes.

  Studying me. Probably wanting to know if he hurt me. No. This is anything but painful. And all that grazing wiry hair. God, Shifters can make women lose their minds. More. I need more. Why isn't he moving? I rocked my hips to get the man to move.

  He groaned and then started thrusting.

  Back and forth. Making my inner body tremble and clench. My whole body took over. Blessed, subconscious. And matched his hulking furry rhythm. He better not stop. Not until I screamed my last itching scream that tickled for release.

  He howled, thrust into me, and fell over.

  Atop me.

  Oh no. Not. Dead? "Colt?"

  If I didn't feel his heart thrash or his ribs raking me while he breathed, I'd think he was dead.

  He can't be.

  No. He's passed out!

  Before he marked me. I shoved him off me, tested his sleeping carcass for cognizance, and decided to dress myself to set out in search of Thomas.

  The orange light has just gone.

  But before I left, I hid the men's pants and boots. Even those Colt had been wearing. Searching for clothing might stall him long enough for me to snoop around my homestead before I'm told what I can and can't do by a Shifter who still hasn't marked me.

  Men. I climbed through darkness, up the stairs, and stepped into the cool night air that hadn't been forced to vacate the barn. Maybe the extermination ray didn't work.

  Not a sound from a living thing found me in the darkness.

  No sound of life. Well there's only one way to learn about my future. I stared at the moonlight gilding the open doorway where the barn doors hung wide.

  Could the extermination beam have killed everything?

  And what about Thomas? He's the only person I can really count on now. I hurried toward the doorway.

  Everything was quietly normal in the pale moonlight.

  Normal. Just like me. Unlike the Shifter who'd gotten two pieces of me and failed to repay in kind. Well, I'll find Thomas and all will be well. I entered the oddly-silent house where almost-banked coals glowed enough to illuminate a path across the shadowy room . I hurried back to the secret door.

  It slid open without delay.

  Revealing darkness.

  Is that an omen? My uncle has to be alive. "Thomas?"

  Chapter 10

  "You smell like you've bathed in wine." Thomas waved his hand before his face.

  And that's the welcome I'm to receive? "I could smell far worse."

  Ebony watched from beyond Thomas where a solar lantern lit Thomas' wall to wall bookcases in his secret basement. They'd even eaten a nice meal from the food stored in the refrigerator. And I'm chastised for smelling of wine. "I've been worried about you for hours while you've had a picnic. The l
east you could do is act glad to see me."

  "Oh, I'm sorry, Raven." Thomas hustled over to give me a one-arm hug and release me. "Come in. Eat with us. There's plenty of cheese and crackers. I was just about to pull out some salami."

  No cheese-and-cracker meal would be complete without cured meat for Thomas. But there's no time to sit and dine. "We should be packed and ready to depart."

  Thomas took two steps toward the food spread atop a plaid wool blanket and turned to me. "What? Why?"

  "The aliens could be coming. We need to appear gone."

  Thomas and Ebony stepped one step toward me then eyed each other. "Why?"

  "Colt said."

  "Colt? He spoke to you?"

  They don't need to know where Colt is or what we were doing. "Yes. He's busy. Make certain you've got everything in your packs."

  "I can't hike, Raven," Thomas said carefully.

  "You won't have to. We'll retreat using the mining cart and hide out in the bunker." Colt can't be angry about that decision. Hopefully, he will wake before we have to leave.

  "Where's Colt?" Thomas asked.

  I should have known that one was coming. "Knocked out." Or close to it. "He'll be along shortly."

  They focused on their packs and left me alone.

  Now I can think about what I want to do. I can keep scouting around. Or I can sit tight with Thomas. Whatever. It will be my choice. And I won't drown it in wine to make it happen.

  But my damned subconscious kept wanting to go check on Colt though. Fine. I'll sit here and wait for him to come to me. After all, I went to him.

  ****

  When I came around with the concrete gnawing on my human hide, faint light shown down from the cellar doorway. The whole place reeked of that accursed wine. And Raven. Lots of Raven. Her scent was rooted in my nostrils. But she's gone. That's got to be a sign that Wolf went loco on her.

  My pants are gone too. Why she'd taken them makes no sense. But she'd run away with my boots and pants as well as herself. And she did something with every pair of pants that had been stored down here.

  Females. She's a tricky as that drink she makes. Or I'm being too hard on her. After all, she was awfully upset during the night. And I'm the one who drank the Gods-be-damned wine. Just how much though?

  Two bottles lay on the sides on the floor.

  Well, I don't think I emptied more than part of one. But after Wolf caught sight of her open legs, the memories end. Yes. Gone. The memories and my mate.

  At least, I can recover one.

  Pants or nude. No problem. I headed up into the murky shadows of the barn.

  The daylight shining through the open doorway revealed the telltale beige of dead vegetation blanketing the ground everywhere I could see. So the livestock would be dead too. And if Ebony and Thomas had stayed in the basement, both would be alive. I scanned the distance and pulled Wolf into my ears to listen for any sign of aliens beyond the doorway.

  Nothing but wind whispered a hello.

  Fine. Time to hunt a mate. I had to be a sight walking across the hard-packed earth of the front yard. But what's a man to do without pants? I know what Normals think. Shifters are brutal animals. We even terrify them with our shaved heads. But she took my pants! I can't walk around looking domesticated if someone took my pants.

  Find mine! Wolf snarled.

  Civilized. I am. And I hope I can appear remotely civil when I find her. I walked across the front of the main house.

  No big-eyed mate on the porch. Or in the main lodge. Thomas' secret door couldn't keep me away though. I opened it.

  "Who do you think that is?" Ebony whispered.

  "Don't know," Thomas answered.

  A pistol cocked.

  Well, they're about to find out. Eyeful or not. I headed down the cold hard steps into a dome of light cast by a single light bulb dangling overhead.

  Ebony averted her gaze. Thomas pointed one thick finger and began to speak. Raven dashed between us, throwing a towel around my waist.

  "Where are my pants?" I asked.

  She grinned a painful grin, stepped rearward, and shrugged, leaving the ends of the towel in my care.

  "Raven took your pants?" Thomas cooed.

  She turned to her uncle. "Don't speak to us that way."

  The old man's graying eyebrows arched so much that surely they'd be stuck in that position forever.

  Thomas strolled over to me with the look of a knowing sire in his eye. "You better not be playing games with my child, Shifter."

  Oh now he talks sensibly. "Look, we're all alive. Let's not mince words over how we managed the feat."

  Thomas didn't halt his forward stroll until he was a good stride away. Then the omniscience on his mask stretched into a different emotion. He canted close to me, sniffing like a Wolf. "You smell like you've bathed in wine too."

  Thank goodness his muzzle isn't as finely-tuned as a Wolf's, or he'd smell female. And I bet the one-arm tinker would find a way to man a shotgun.

  "There was an accident," Raven said, scratching the back of her head.

  Ebony eyed us both with the same omniscience that kept washing over Thomas' mask. Both people had enough sense to keep their comments about sex to themselves.

  "Colt?" a man shouted.

  Vermin.

  By the time I lead the way through the front door, the homestead's gate was open wide. My sire straddled his big black stallion about eight feet from the front porch's weathered planking. Buck was on his bay to Vermin's left. Stag sat atop his gray horse on Vermin's right.

  Buck's expression couldn't have been calmer. Although, Vermin and Stag's expressions seemed to enjoy my new attire. There's nothing like a man standing outside among his peers in nothing but a pink towel. I'll just act like nothing is out of place. "How far did the extermination ray reach? Up to the outpost?"

  Stag shook his head.

  ****

  Not Buck. I don't need him here now. Not without being marked by Colt. Well, nobody will question who I choose. I stood right behind Colt on the porch, not touching him, but peering around the muscular bulges in his upper arm, at the three riders.

  Who cares if I look weak? He looks strong enough for both of us. But if he loses his mind and decides to hand me over to Buck, everyone will know the power of a woman with two pistols.

  "The outpost is fine. The garden wasn't touched. There's plenty of food to put away for winter," Stag announced, his gaze flicking to mine.

  As if I'm the woman who will be processing the food.

  Colt glanced back to where I stood. Obviously, following Stag's line of vision. But Colt didn't glare or cut me through with a cold gaze.

  He looked back at his relatives.

  All cookie-cutter in brown leather and digitized camouflage.

  "Well, it looks like you have everything under control," The gargantuan male in the middle said.

  His horse even shifted his footing as if unsettled at the bellowing statement.

  Buck and Stag started laughing.

  "Oh, come on, Colt," the big man said. "You gotta admit that pink towel makes the perfect outfit."

  "Don't you have anything to do?" Colt thundered. "Like go scout for aliens."

  The big one in the middle shot both brothers a look that quieted them.

  With all that long blond hair, he has to be the clan leader. Only clan heads get to grow their hair long.

  "Well, when you can all think seriously about what happened here, let me know. I'll fill you in." Colt turned.

  Towering over me, fisting the end of his towel in one hand. Huge like a blackened silhouette with the sun scowling behind his shoulders. But he blocked the bitter sunlight.

  "Hold on," the clan head barked. "Tank and Trace are scouting the woods. Ram is up at the cabin, keeping an eye on things in case any Normals survived and go looking for food. So, that leaves dealing with this place."

  Colt's darkness stiffened and sucked in a deep breath before he turned back around. "Vermin, I know
it looks bad. And I intend to explain--"

  "Buck's heading out today. He won't be back until winter," Vermin said. "There's been a call for Shifters."

  How does that have anything to do with Buck's claim upon me?

  "Oh?" Colt said.

  His tone changing from apologetic to curious. Why? And why would Buck leave when I'm his? I watched the horsemen through the gap between Colt's chest and arm where he'd planted his palm on his hip.

  Buck nodded at Colt, reined his red horse around, and left through the gate.

  What just happened? "Colt?" I whispered.

  He shot me a calm sideways glance but flicked it back to his sire.

  "Okay, Stag and Tank were going to stay here with you to help with the tinker's homestead until spring." Vermin scanned the place. "But the garden is dead."

  That's when I noticed the brown plants. Everywhere you looked, something stood dead the way it had happily revered the sun yesterday. Every tree beyond the perimeter wall was just as brown. Just as dead.

  My heart sank.

  To bottom out and die in my stomach.

  All of it's gone. My garden. My blackberries.

  Sunlight hit me.

  Tried to bore through me like some vile ray. That's how the aliens had done it. They'd burned my future away with a ray. Tried to kill us all like cockroaches.

  But we have more seeds.

  We can plant again.

  And Thomas can think up all sorts of solutions.

  "Raven?"

  Colt was staring at me, from one step down the porch steps. The glaring sunlight couldn't shift as quickly as he had moved and avoided the sun's attempt to shroud his face. Worried didn't describe the expression on his strong face.

  "It's going to be alright, Raven," he reassured.

  Yes. We have so much stored underground. So much food, bullets, medicine, technology. Everything will be fine. But Colt still hasn't marked me. I stared into the blue depths of his eyes. "Maybe."

  His brow pinched.

  Just enough to show he couldn't unravel the meaning of my reply.

  "I told you we'd be together," he added.

  Yes, he had. But he was in possession of his pants then. Now, he's wishing he had more than a pink wrap. He'd played me. I'd played him back. Here we stand, both of us staring each other in the eye. I'm back to a standoff in how many days?