by Celene Lowe
"I can't do that!" I protested.
"I think you can Selina, you're more capable than you know."
"How do you know that?"
His easy grin broke through the tension in his face. "I can sense it," he smiled.
That same comfortable feeling of protection washed through me again. Sliding forward, I reached out with my toe and prodded the seemingly sheer rock face until I found a small lip. I eased myself down, scraping my back against the rock as I did. But the pride on his face made me stifle the urge to cry out. I slid my other leg down, hoping to find another toehold.
As I stretched out, the granite under my fingertips suddenly crumbled away. I pitched forward with a yell as I fell straight down, head first towards the boulder strewn forest floor. I squeezed my eyes shut and shrieked, waiting for the impact that never came.
Instead I found myself scooped up in Zev's arms. He had caught me easily, like I weighed no more than a feather. As I lay cradled in his arms, he looked down at me.
Suddenly there was nothing else in the world but his face. The forest died away, and the sounds faded until there was only him and his green eyes searching me. My heart sounded loudly in my ears and I inhaled the heady mix of scents that surrounded him. There was the smell of the forest and the clean, manly scent of his sweat. But underneath all of that was something else. Something primal. A musky, wild scent that I could almost taste on my tongue.
My body responded to it without my heart understanding. I inhaled him, letting the smell wash over my tongue and through my body and my cells came alive when it touched them. Suddenly everything was clearer and brighter. The whole world was cast in bright, high relief.
And then there was a sound, a low sound, a rumbling bass like the start of an earthquake. Zev's face seemed to waver in front of me, suddenly indistinct. It shimmered and shifted like something underwater. It should have been terrifying but I was only focused on those green eyes.
"I knew it," came the growl.
From somewhere outside of myself I knew that he wasn't actually speaking. It was a voice in my head as clear as if he had shouted into my ear, but he hadn't said a word. I had only heard his thoughts.
"What did you know?" I answered him.
He set me down. As soon as my feet touched the earth, he had me pressed up against the boulder. Still keeping me pinned to him, he lifted his hand. I cringed in spite of myself, steeling myself for a blow, or a slap of some kind.
Instead he touched my forehead. Then he softly brushed my hair out of my eyes and smoothed it down. Before I could open my mouth to protest, his lips were on mine. The world slid sideways as he folded me into his arms and pressed me backward, my back scratching against the hard granite of the boulder. His lips were soft, but his kiss was not. The hard, insistent pressure overwhelmed my hesitation and I yielded to him with a sigh. Holding my hair in his fist, he pinned me against him. Sandwiched between the boulder and the hard granite of his chest, I had nowhere to go.
"Do you know what you are?" He hadn't spoken, he couldn't have with his mouth on mine. But I heard him anyway.
I shook my head as he kissed me further. A small sound escaped my throat and Zev seized the opportunity to part my lips with a rough stab of his tongue. My mouth was suddenly filled with the taste of him. It was like honey in my mouth, his tongue swirling with mine. My head was swirling, my thoughts delirious with the heady taste of him.
"Your parents didn't tell you about what you could do?" It was a question in my head again. I didn't want to think about it. I didn't want to tell him about my drifter bastard of a father that knocked up my mother and then left town. I didn't want to tell him about my drunken, self-hating mother who disappeared for weeks on end and came home with twigs in her hair. She was why I had never been in the forest. I had hated anything to do with it until right now.
"I understand."
He had heard me even thought I hadn't said a word. How could I when his hands had begun to move over my body?
He lifted me up and pressed me into the rock. The rough granite scratched my back deeply, but I didn’t care. All of my thought was focused on the feel of his warm, strong chest against my own.
He held me there suspended, my back against the boulder, my whole body supported in his strong arms. I wrapped my legs around his waist and flung my arms up on his shoulders, clinging to him like a child climbing a tree.
With one hand, he sought under my shirt. I wiggled a little to let him lift it upward and moaned softly when he broke his lips away from mine to take one of my soft pink nipples into his mouth. My body broke out into goosebumps as he yanked up my shirt and exposed my heaving breasts to the chill air. His hot mouth found the peak of my nipple and I heard a low, animal sound emanate from my throat. I clawed at his chest again, snaking my hands down to cup his firm buttocks and pull him closer, the throbbing in my core beating the same rhythm as the blood in my ears.
With one expert flick of his tongue, he had me moaning again as little darts of pleasure shot through me. I felt a flooding downward pleasure as a sudden rush of desire coursed along every nerve. When he kissed me again, all that mattered was that his lips were hot against mine. Our tongues met and mingled, sparring wildly as he clutched handfuls of my hair. I welcomed the pain and snaked my hands under his shirt to claw at the rock hard muscles of his chest. He hissed as my fingernails dug into his skin and yanked my head back to sink his teeth into my neck.
I moaned again, my senses wild. I felt like I knew everything there was to know, all at once. Understanding that had eluded me all this time was suddenly at my fingertips.
And I suddenly understood that we were in danger.
Zev knew it as soon as I did. His head shot up from my neck and he growled.
I was growling too.
He sniffed the air. "We need to move." He said the words out loud, emphasizing the danger we were now in.
I was already running. The danger was behind us but coming on fast. I could smell it, and my mind's eye could see it. I smelled the blood in its mouth and saw the slavering jaws. I smelled the leaves and twigs that were stuck in its coat and the faint scent of decay and death that followed it. It was huge and powerful and very angry at us.
"Faster!" Zev shouted. He sprinted past me, grabbing my hand as he did so. When his hand closed over mine I felt a surge of power that had been lying dormant inside of me. My body suddenly felt too small to contain me. I heard a growl rip from my throat as I leapt over a fallen log, tearing through the forest so fast that the trees were a blur.
And then it was over. I sensed it as soon as Zev did and we both turned to look behind us. We couldn't see what had been chasing us, but we knew that it had stopped.
"We reached our territory," Zev explained.
I sank to the forest floor suddenly exhausted. "Okay," I panted. "I'm going to need some explanations here."
He looked at me with those green eyes. "Don't you understand yet?"
I opened my mouth. "Can you please speak English to me instead of thinking at me? How the fuck are you doing that, anyway?"
He grinned that easy grin of his and dropped to a crouch. "Do you ever feel like you're about to jump out of your skin?"
I nodded. "All the fucking time." Adrenaline was coursing through my veins, along with a deep agitation that his presence was causing in me.
"Watch." His hand shot out and held my face. He lifted his other hand until it was between us. "I'm gonna jump out of my skin too."
His hand wavered. Once more I saw him like he was underwater. It shimmered and shifted in my sight, the image swirled dizzily and I had to blink several times to clear the water that had come to my eyes.
And then it wasn't a hand anymore. Zev's arm now ended in a great, shaggy gray paw.
A wolf paw.
Holy fuck. I thought.
"I know," Zev spoke in response. "I'm a shifter. And Selina, you are too."
"What?"
"You're a shifter, that's why you can hea
r my thoughts. I'm sorry no one has ever told you before today. That's why you don't fit in with the human world. You belong here, in the forest."
"And," he held my face closer, placing that heavy paw behind my head and drawing me close to his green eyes. "You belong with me.
Even though I could feel the heavy paw behind my head, even though the sharp claws were raking lightly into my scalp, even though I knew I could hear his thoughts as loudly as his words; even though I knew all of these things were true and real, I still said it.
"You're crazy."
Instead of answer either with thoughts or speech, he grinned and moved over me. He forced me backwards until my back was on the ground, cushioned by the fallen leaves. He moved over me so that his shaggy head was backlit by the sun. "Let me show you then," he rumbled. "Let me show you that we belong together.
He bent forward, moving slowly, tipping my chin up to brush my lips with his. They were warmer and softer than I ever thought possible. His lips crashed into mine, robbing me of my breath and my ability to speak. Then just as quickly he pulled back up to kneel above me. I watched him watch me, devouring me with his eyes. The wonder and desire in them was something I had never seen before.
He reached for the waistband of my jeans. In two tugs he had them down over my hips. I lifted them obligingly, though my breath caught in my throat. This was my first time. This was as far as I had ever gone.
He paused like he had heard me. I saw him shake his head slowly as if trying to clear away a fog. "Okay then, Selina," he whispered. "Okay."
He slowly peppered my neck and throat, and then moved down to the soft, firm peaks of my breasts. He flicked his tongue and curled it around the tender bead of my nipple. I gasped and arched toward him, my body opening for him like a flower to the sun. I willed him to go faster in my thoughts. My whole body was suddenly on fire.
He pulled up from my breasts and grinned and I felt his thoughts teasing me. He was taking his time, toying with me
He took one of my nipples into his mouth. With his free hand he cupped my other breast, taking the nipple between his fingers and tweaking it. I squeaked involuntarily and my toes curled.
He moved me down so that I was lying on my back. I arched toward him again, certain that he was ready to take me. I opened my legs invitingly. But once again, he bent his mouth to my breasts, trailing kisses from valley to peak.
I gasped and squirmed, the fire in my belly nearly driving me out of my mind. I couldn’t believe how slowly he was moving; how this person who wasn't quite human, was taking his sweet time to drive me out of my mind with desire for him.
I began to pant each time his mouth met my skin. He was bringing me close to the edge just by kissing my breasts. It was unbelievable, and yet the mounting pressure could not be denied. I started to thrash, my whole body going taut.
I sucked in my breath as he shimmied my panties down. I gasped when his tongue parted my folds, finding that place, tasting me tentatively. He moved slowly, at first, letting me relax into a rhythm. I melted into him, feeling the answering downward rush as his tongue coaxed small cries from my lips. I put my hands on his head, telling him exactly where to stay. He grinned up at me from between my legs, his dimple shining wetly. "That's it," he smiled.
“Pleeeeeeease…” I squirmed, not caring that I was begging him.
He pulled back and hovered over me, his body glowing in the soft afternoon light. He was everything in this moment.
“Please,” I panted again.
Zev knelt up and moved his hand between my legs. I arched my hips, pressing myself frantically into him.
Chapter Seven
Zev
It took everything he had not to shift right there and have her as a wolf. She was spread out on the forest floor below him, her chest heaving with a mixture of desire and fright. She was the most desirable thing he had ever seen, and he feared what his wolf would do to her if he released it.
Instead he took a deep breath and let his human have his day. He pulled her T-shirt to the side and bent his lips to her soft shoulder. The small noise that escaped her lips inflamed him further, and he moved his lips upward, trailing kisses along the length of her neck until he reached the delicate skin of her earlobe. He lightly drew his teeth across the soft skin, resisting the urge to bite and taste her blood in his mouth. For this restraint he was rewarded with another kittenish gasp. That was all he could take.
All of his life had been waiting for this moment. When he finally had his mate trembling underneath him.
"You are so fucking beautiful," he rasped against her ear, tasting that delicate lobe again with a flick of his tongue. "And I'm going to make you know it."
He pulled himself up to look her in the eye. Those wide blue eyes were gazing at him with a tantalizing mix of passion and trepidation.
He meant to wash that trepidation away with his tongue.
When he lifted her shirt, she wiggled and threw it over her head impatiently. He dove immediately for the soft rise of her breasts, letting his lips seek and then find the soft pink nipple. He drew it into his mouth, feeling it pucker and harden against his teeth as he gently dragged them upward. A flick of his tongue had them flushed and standing at attention, just like his cock was.
The need pounded in his groin but he ignored it. This had been too long in coming to rush though to the end. Instead he let his lips travel down from the peak and into the valley between her breasts. She snaked her fingers into his hair, trying to draw him up to kiss him, but he had another goal in mind. He let his tongue flick downward, stopping to trace the outline of her navel, before he pinched the pull of her zipper and unfastened her jeans tooth by tooth.
She lifted her hips slightly to accommodate him as he pulled down to reveal the creamy flesh of her thick thighs and the sweet, white cotton covered mound that was his focus. He could feel the heat rising off of her already. The unmistakable scent of her desire permeated the air and his wolf howled inside of him. He couldn't wait to taste it. For a moment the savagery took over. He heard the sound of stitches popping as he tore her panties free to reveal the glistening pink wetness they had hidden.
She leaned backwards with a soft, hissing noise, and pressed her hips upward. He caught the soft mounds of her buttocks and lifted her until her thighs rested on his shoulders. When he knelt upward, lifting her hips to the sky, her strength gave out and she fell flat on her back, completely at his mercy.
At first it was just a lick. Just to see if she tasted as sweet as she smelled. But when that slick honey poured over his tongue, he was possessed. Pulling her roughly closer, he buried his face into her cleft. She stiffened, clamping his head between her thighs and he let her grind herself against him for only a moment before he pressed her belly down. When he had her on the ground again, he slipped a finger inside of her and pressed his other hand downward, catching the spongy flash of her G-spot while he let his tongue dance along the scalding hot folds that hid her buzzing clit from view.
"Jesus!" she cried, panting hard, and he felt the walls of her pussy clamp down on his finger, trying to drag him upward. He groaned at the slick tightness, wanting nothing more than to plunge himself inside of her with wild abandon.
But not yet. Not yet. This was her first time and he needed to do this right. She was poised at the precipice and he meant to send her flying.
He bent his head again and concentrated his full attention to that furious nub. When his first lapping strokes exposed it to the air, she gasped and bucked upwards, pressing into him to tell him exactly where to work. Her fingers raked through his hair and down his shoulders, clutching and clawing blindly. Her mouth was opening and closing soundlessly. She was nearly there.
He pressed down onto the nub with an authoritative thumb and slipped another finger inside of her. She gave a strangled cry, arching clean off of the ground as she panted and gasped his name, her pussy tightening rhythmically as her juices poured over his hand. He watched her as she came, wild and uninhibi
ted; her eyes squeezed shut in a grimace of pain and ecstasy. He couldn't wait a second longer.
When she heard the jingle of his belt buckle, her eyes flew open and she sat straight up and stayed his huge hands with her tiny, trembling ones. She looked up at him and gasped, still catching her breath. "I'm ready," she gasped. "Let me."
He watched her fumble with his belt buckle. He had to grit his teeth and resist the urge to swat her away and do it himself. But when his cock was finally freed from its prison, he had his blessed relief from his torment when he felt her lips close around his tip.
She looked up at him and closed her hand around the shaft. "I don't know if I'm going to be as good as you," she murmured. "I've never done this before. So you tell me what you like."
"Selina," he groaned in sweet agony as her hot mouth enveloped him. "You are more incredible than you know."
She moaned slightly in response, her throat vibrating against his shaft. He snaked his fingers into her hair, gripping tightly, having to hold himself back before he thrust himself deep into her throat. She moaned again when he gripped her hair tighter. "Oh god," she gasped, pulling herself free with a wet smack, "keep pulling my hair."
"You like it a little rough?" he growled in surprise.
She cocked her head to the side. "I guess I do," she grinned lazily, and slid her lips down the length of him again.
He needed no more encouragement. Gripping her hair firmly, he thrust himself into her mouth. She made a small choking noise and then moaned louder. He could feel her throat closing around the head of his cock and he nearly lost it.