He straightened up slightly and yanked off his shirt in one smooth motion, her own top following a moment later to expose her soft white breasts and bare stomach, his roughly tanned complexion contrasting against her pale skin as he slid his hands up her body as though claiming every bit of it. Another gasp escaped her lips as he squeezed her breasts hard, the texture of his fingers almost scratching her as he slid one hand around her back to press between her shoulderblades, lifting her up into another kiss that sent his tongue deep into her mouth, enveloping and caressing her own as she let the shivers of pleasure gripping her body overwhelm everything else. Her arms were pinned beneath him, her palms resting against his chest as if in a futile effort to push him away, her fingertips testing every firm inch of muscle before her nails raked their way down to the thickly defined contours of his stomach.
She relished the force with which he handled her body. It might not have been something she was even consciously aware of, but she needed that firmness right now, the kind of insistence that brooked no room for hesitation or doubt. Had he been gentle with her she might have started thinking back to the nights she's shared with Harper, the tender passion and loving embraces that left her warm and content...
This kind of lovemaking didn't warm Arpil, it burned her, and she longed for more of it.
Cyan drew back, her lips clutching at his wet tongue all the way to the tip as it escaped her mouth, and he pressed her down against the furs again by the shoulder. He reached for the buckle of his belt, her own fingers working feverishly to unfasten her jeans and tug them down to expose her eager sex, barely managing to get them half way down her thighs before Cyan was on top of her again, her hands sliding away to clutch at his powerful body.
His shaft pressed against her trembling stomach, the crown rubbing gently against her navel as he lifted her legs up, her knees crooked over his parted thighs. She twined her ankles together behind his back, locking his body in close against hers, desperate to keep him there.
He felt for her hand as he kissed her again, his fingers groping their way up her forearm and around her wrist until his thumb pressed into her palm and she clung on tight, his grip almost bruisingly hard. The taste of him filled her mouth now, the air between them warm with scent of their bodies, tinged with the fragrance of sex and the musky animal tones of the furred hide wrapped around them. The heat of the fire beat against her left cheek, Cyan's hot tongue working within her mouth as his body brushed against hers, every touch of skin on skin driving away the chill of the cabin. Her hard nipples grazed his chest, the gentle friction tingling through her breasts and down towards the swelling knot of pleasure in her belly.
April closed her eyes as he lifted himself up and guided his shaft to its place between her legs, his breath heaving in her ear as she bit her lip in anticipation, tightening her ankles around his back and squeezing his hand tight.
Thankfully he didn't wait. He didn't go gently and tenderly, the way Harper would have, he thrust into her hard in one motion, the burning pain lancing through her stomach and taking her breath away as she exhaled a ragged mix of a sob and a whimper. The size of him hurt her, but that was good, it was what she wanted. When Cyan hesitated she dug her fingernails into the back of his hand and shook her head, tangles of loose red hair clinging to her face as she jerked her chin back and forth, and in an instant he was breathing heavily into her ear as he pulled back and drove himself in deep with another burning thrust.
Tears of painful pleasure fell from her eyes. Cyan's forehead pressed against hers as she gripped his shoulder with her free hand, feeling the freshly healed marks the feral's teeth had left in him beneath her fingertips. Her smaller body rocked beneath his powerful frame as he worked his rhythm into a steady pace, the pain of his friction gradually receding ever time he slid into her.
It was a good pain. The knot of pleasure inside her throbbed and ached, desperate to break and relieve her of all the stifled feelings bottled up inside.
His hips struck against hers over and over again, his length filling her completely, pressing uncomfortably against her back wall until her body relented and stretched to accommodate him.
Her feelings of helplessness and fragility reminded her of her first time all over again, but this was far different. Back then she'd been hesitant, almost afraid of the idea of being this intimate with a man; now the opposite was true. It was everything else that frightened her. Everything out there.
She lost herself in the rhythm of Cyan's body pressing against hers, closing her eyes and sinking into the warmth of the fire and the softness of the furs, and the tantalising friction between her legs that was tinged with hot soreness. She caressed his firm body and clung to his hand, not even thinking of who he was, only that he was someone. Someone to care for her, hold her tight, and protect her from everything she was afraid to confront.
Her lips were sticky with his saliva, the kisses coming breathlessly over and over as she lost herself in the moment, a dozen little touches and tastes and tingles working her to the brink until her thighs were gripping Cyan's waist achingly hard, pulling him into her relentlessly as each thrust pricked the bubble inside her that was ready to burst.
April's body shook so violently with her climax that she had difficulty breathing. Her groan of pleasure caught in her throat, turning into a choking gasp before it left her lips, her fingernails scoring deep red marks across Cyan's shoulder as the rush of pleasure drove every negative thought from her mind for a blissful instant. She bit her lip, desperate to cling on to her peak, and her heart sank as it began to ebb.
Then Cyan was growling in her ear, hissing a sharp exclamation of breath as her nails raked his body, his fingers tightening around her wrist and holding her down as his free hand curled around her lower back to drag her hips up against him. His lips found her neck, his teeth tightening against her skin, and the sinking feeling was washed away in another flood of pleasure as he drove himself into her with renewed passion, forcing her to a second peak of orgasm that she'd never experienced before.
She shook within his grasp, squirming helplessly as if trying to wring every last drop of pleasure out of her body, the intensity of it gripping every muscle and nerve until it exhausted her. She met another crest, and her eyes rolled as Cyan's ferocious passion only seemed to increase with every gasp and spasm she gave him. He didn't back down, he pressed on and on, reaching places she'd never before experienced and refusing to let her relax, even when she was a trembling, whimpering mess.
* * * * *
He couldn't help himself. He knew it wasn't right, but every brush of her lips and squeeze of her hand urged him on, her body telling him the things his mind didn't want to admit. He was hungry for her, her sweet red lips and soft white skin, the fiery tangle of hair clinging to her face, those beautiful green eyes that glanced up at him every time they opened in between crests of pleasure.
It had been a long time since he'd felt such passion from a partner, and longer still since he'd felt it so pure and genuine. He kept looking for signs of reluctance, trembles of anxiety or cries of discomfort, but even when he could tell he was hurting her she still still clung on and dragged him in as though her life depended on it.
By the time her body shook with the throes of her first climax his doubts had receded into the back of his mind until they were out of reach, the feral instincts of his inner wolf taking charge and flaring brighter than ever as she responded to his passion. He couldn't just be satisfied with giving her what she wanted, he needed more. As she cried out he buried his face in her neck, kissing and biting with such hunger that he marked her pristine skin with his teeth, driving himself into her harder, faster, oblivious to the exhaustion of his muscles and the ache of his injuries.
He was an alpha. Perhaps he'd forgotten that, or at least tried to, but this was what truly stirred his blood deep down. He wanted to please her, take charge, fulfil everything she could ever want of him and more. Being in control, and being with a female who wante
d him to take control, was a pleasure stronger than any he'd felt in years.
April trembled and whimpered beneath him, but her voice still ached with need, her fingers still curling tight around his hand as he held her wrist against the furs. Only when he'd exhausted her, when her throes of ecstasy had finally subsided and her slick inner muscles had loosened their writhing grip on him, did he finally feel his pleasure cresting.
He grabbed her tight by the back of the neck, clenching his teeth as he let out his climax in a series of powerful, heaving breaths, his chest rising and falling with each rush as he buried himself deep inside her, twitching and throbbing as surge after surge gripped his tensing muscles from base to tip.
It was an urge he'd bottled up for far too long, and setting it free was like relieving a burden he hadn't even known he'd been carrying.
With a final gasp of breath he relaxed, loosening his grip on April's hand, and looking down at her as she panted in the afterglow.
Neither of them said a word. Their eyes shared the same vacant understanding, knowing what they'd just done but unable to react to it. He looked away, his resurfacing human thoughts warring with the pride and contentment of his inner wolf.
April shifted beneath him, and he eased himself to the side as he withdrew from her, resting back on the furs and turning his gaze towards the fire. He tucked their fur covering around them, and she rolled over, resting her head on his shoulder and curling into the warmth of his body. He let her stay there, squeezing the girl's hand softly as her exhausted breathing gradually slowed until he was sure she was asleep.
At least he'd given her that much. A night's sleep on an evening like this was more than most could hope for, even if she'd be worse off for it in the morning.
Would she regret this, in the long run? He didn't see how she couldn't. Maybe her partner would have understood. Maybe the grief really would have driven her over the edge if he hadn't been there.
Did he care for her? She was just a girl. Beautiful, sweet, conflicted, but beyond that, who was she? Just another werewolf.
Another werewolf that his inner beast had now gotten a taste for.
He watched the flames slowly dim, but he didn't disturb April by getting up to feed fresh logs into the grate. Taking a deep breath, he crushed the predatory feelings to the back of his mind, his brow furrowing as his inner wolf fought back in vain.
He hadn't earned the right to want her, nor did he deserve it. One good deed—if tonight could even be called that—wasn't enough to wipe the slate clean.
He'd look after her. He'd make sure she had a life to piece back together amongst her pack, just like he'd told himself he would. And then he'd move on.
April whimpered and squirmed in her sleep, but she didn't wake again until morning.
Cyan's eyes didn't close till the sun came up.
* * * * *
April didn't even have a blissful moment of thinking she was lying back in her cabin with Harper when she awoke. She knew immediately, the realisation shocking her awake with a start as though she'd just risen from the climax of a terrifying nightmare. Her dreams had been vague and painful, but they hadn't let her forget.
She rolled away from Cyan, hoping he was asleep, and tugged her jeans back up from where they'd tangled around her right ankle, hanging half-off. She groped for her top, shivering without the warmth of the furs and Cyan's body, and dressed quickly with her back to him before shuffling over to the fire to stuff a log into the dull embers.
White light filtered through the shutters, and morning had brought with it a clarity that she'd lacked the previous night. Her chest still ached with grief so badly that it almost hurt to move, her stomach heavy and nauseous, but she no longer felt as lost as she had before.
She would have to get back to the others. They'd need to know what happened. It wasn't unusual for someone to be gone for a day or more, but in weather like this they'd be worrying about her and Harper by now.
She pressed a trembling hand to her face, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath as she summoned up the strength to stand. She was hungry. She had to eat, finish getting dressed, and get herself back to camp through the blizzard. How would she tell them? She'd go to Ingrid first, and Blackthorn. They'd be able to tell the others. And then there was the problem of her future now that she was without a mate...
She swallowed, pushing that problem to the back of her mind for now. One thing at a time.
The floor creaked beneath Cyan's heavy boots, and she paused. There was her final problem.
She waited until he'd dressed before forcing herself to stand, brushing her tangled hair back as she turned to face him and spoke. "We should head back soon. The others will be wondering what's happened."
Cyan watched her carefully as he slid his arms into his jacket. "Are you sure you're ready?"
She nodded. "I just want to get it over with. We can head back, and then I'll talk to Ingrid, and she can tell the others, and then—"
"And then what?"
She shook her head. "I don't know, Cyan, I just need to do something, I can't wait around here. What I said last night, I didn't mean it, and I..." Her voice faltered. "You can't tell anyone. Not just about what I said, but about what we— what we did. For your sake as much as mine."
"I know, I doubt they'd understand."
She had been expecting an "I told you so" to follow, but it didn't come.
"It's more than that," she said. "Our pack doesn't like outsiders, especially not when they... interfere. I know Ingrid said you could stay for a while, but nobody's allowed to be," she paused, "intimate, with anyone from outside the pack."
"April, last night wasn't—"
"I know! It wasn't anything, and I don't want it to be," she said a little more sharply than she'd intended. "But the others wouldn't see it that way. It's all about trust, responsibility—and if they knew they do more than just send you on the way with a slap on the wrist!"
"So what would they do?"
"I don't know." April bit her lip. "But it would be bad."
Cyan nodded slowly and turned towards the table, opening up the package he'd left there the night before and tugging out a strip of dried meat before offering it to April. "Alright, I'll make sure I keep it to myself. Have something to eat, you'll need it for the walk."
She took the piece of jerky and gave him a faint smile. The pair of them shared a thin breakfast of the salted meat and water from the snow pan over the cabin's table, neither speaking or meeting the other's gaze. She didn't want to be this close to him right now. She needed space to think, to grieve, and Cyan was sitting in the middle of all of it leaving her with mixed emotions of gratitude and guilt.
Did she regret what they'd done? How could she not. The thought of what the others would say and think of her if they ever found out burned her cheeks with shame, threatening to drag her back to that terrible place she'd ended up in last night.
But if she hadn't given in to that urge to kiss him, would she still be there? Would the pain of her loss have broken her if he hadn't been around to help ease the burden?
She wanted to thank him, embrace him, tell him that he'd helped her through the hardest night of her life, but the thought of so much as smiling at him right now wracked her with guilt.
It wasn't right, especially not with an outsider like him, and what would Harper have thought of her right now? She couldn't even entertain the idea of getting any closer to Cyan.
* * * * *
The snow was still blowing in thick and fast when they stepped outside, heavy drifts building up against the struts of the cabin and carpeting the mountain slopes around them. Cyan was tired and aching from his sleepless night, but April's newfound confidence helped him snap back into focus. She was dealing with it, and that was good. Her detachment from reality the previous night had genuinely worried him, but the girl seemed to be made of sterner stuff that he'd first thought. She knew that practicality had to come before more grief, and that was always a positiv
e sign. He respected her for it, and that only made his feelings towards her all the more uncomfortable.
They made the trek through the blizzard in their wolf forms once April had reassured him that she could manage it, covering the distance much faster than they would have on their human legs. Her wolf was a russet brown, lithe and quick, with sharp eyes and a slender tail that curled as she ran. She seemed inquisitive, but out of place in the snowy wilderness. Just like April, the wolf running alongside him possessed a curiosity that seemed at odds with the rest of her.
He hadn't believed her when she'd told him she hadn't meant what she said the night before. There was part of April that questioned her pack mentality, and rightfully so, but she didn't seem to know how to reconcile it with the rest of her. Like so many of their kind, she was torn between her human and animal sides. Just like him.
Cyan took a deep breath as they shifted back into their human forms after catching sight of the Highland Pack cabins through the snow. He looked at April, but her chin was up and her eyes dry, her jaw set with determination.
"You'll be alright, April," he said.
"I hope so." She glanced over at him, hesitating for a moment before holding out her hand. He took it and gave her a reassuring squeeze.
"Thank you again," she said, then let go and stepped towards the cabins.
Several of the Highland Pack were gathered in the central area despite the weather, Ingrid and Blackthorn among them. The group talked in hushed, intense tones, and Ingrid seemed to be arguing with an older woman whose heavily lined face was squinched up in a permanent scowl.
Broken Moon: Part 2 Page 3