Sani had explained as much, emphasizing why he had to be careful how much information he offered us, for it played into their hands.
They weren’t tricksters – they were creatures of manipulation. Hungry for power.
So any information was dangerous in their grasp.
Of course, while I was grateful Sani had told us far more than we’d known before, I also empathized with Big Bear. It sucked that we still knew so damn little. Meanwhile, that fiendish creature seemed to know far too much.
It was a conundrum that made me feel powerless. And I knew it weighed on my brothers too. How could you fight something you couldn’t know much about? How could you track something you weren’t supposed to speak of? How could you win against a creature who turned not only monsters but your very thoughts against you?
Shaking my head, I pushed those frustrations away. There was nothing that brooding about it would do, except make me jittery.
Yet what was left behind was fear and worry about Kalin.
While I knew I should probably feel guilty or even regret our kiss, I didn’t. I couldn’t. Just thinking about it made me smile and I had to wonder if it went beyond the heat of the moment…
I wasn’t sure she felt that same bone-deep need demanding to be satisfied that I did, but at least I knew she liked me. However, now my feelings for her were right on the surface, making the situation that much more convoluted. I had no idea how tonight would play out.
Some things are better left to impulse. No plans, came Kalin’s voice.
Slipping back inside, I grabbed my bag, cast an eye on the still sleeping Kalin, and then headed out back again. Sitting on the crumbling stone steps of the porch, I pulled out a sketchbook, letting my thumb drag over the edges over and over again.
I needed to lose myself in the mindlessness of sketching, the deep concentration, and the struggle of getting a line right. But the blank page seemed to yawn in front of me, while Kalin and my brothers played behind my eyes.
With a guilty start, for the first time in a few days, I wondered about where they were. We hadn’t been in contact – my phone hadn’t had a signal, and yesterday I’d forgotten it was in my back pocket when I’d dove into the river. So now we’d have to wait till we got closer to contact them.
But Burr and Cree must have reached Lake Mead by now, if not sooner. Had Rayner, Ben, and Hazel joined them? Were they still in River Hills? Had Ben managed to heal anyone?
Then my thoughts were back to Kalin. Why was the Crooked Man even after her? Would it be safer to leave her somewhere? Probably not, I thought, drumming out a beat with my pen.
Suddenly I realized I was completely on my own, and there was an instant sense of being torn in two.
Part of me was anxious to get to Lake Mead and help my brothers, to end all of this; but another part of me was content right where I was. Time seemed to slip away too quickly, now, and desperate, impossible wishes were cropping up. I wanted to keep going. I didn’t want this trip to end. And I wanted Kalin to stay with me.
Is that even possible?
I tried to imagine Kalin becoming part of this life and failed. As I’d told her, Hazel was a different story. The blue-eyed little shaman could sense danger now, slip away unnoticed, and land a mean kick. We’d been training her how to fight.
Maybe we could teach Kalin, figure out ways to keep her safe…
But even as I thought about it, my head shook of its own accord.
No. All of this was too much to ask of anyone, especially Kalin. After what happened to her sister, she’d want to leave this nightmare far behind, forget all about us.
About me.
Whatever was happening between us couldn’t last, no matter how I felt about her. Eventually, we’d make it to Lake Mead and this strange journey would end. And we would have to end with it.
Fists clenching, I felt my throat tighten as a searing burst of pain blossomed in my chest. I’d always known that a gift like this – a destiny in a hidden world – meant profound sacrifices.
It was part of the reason why I’d been so impatient with Ben five years ago – his constant questioning, his desperation to find answers – and why I’d been so furious when he took off.
Yet, even though I’d forgiven Ben, I’d never understood why he’d gone off like that.
Now I did.
My brain was seething with too many questions – questions I didn’t think I’d like the answers to.
It was the hour after sunset when the world was mellow in the fading after-light, and I was back inside the cottage, stepping around the room with the silence of a panther.
Long before I’d wound up in the Montana wilderness, running on four feet, I’d been a kid determined to sneak up on his father and grandfather. Both of them had the ears and stealth of a cat. It was a skill we’d used for a great variety of pranks and nothing more.
Later, after joining the military, my instructors had noticed that old skill in boot camp. After making it through, I’d been pulled aside and sent to another training ground. This one was focused on the art of stealth, spying, and silence. While it wasn’t imperative for a Navy firefighter, the military was interested in honing those skills in case of an emergency. Looking back, I also think they were hoping to persuade me to join the Navy SEALs. But I’d stuck with firefighting.
In a way, moving like this was like dancing. Motion became fluid as you tensed up certain muscles, letting others loosen, and if you thought too much about it, you’d trip up.
While I’d rarely used those techniques in the military, unless it was to pull one over on Cree, during the last five years the nickname “Stealth” became synonymous with survival. I was usually the first brother on the ground, scoping out the situation and getting the lay of the land.
I’d never used this ninja side of me for a situation quite like this, however.
At that moment, Kalin stirred and stretched, blinking as she sat up, and pushing her hair out of her face. Then her hands fell to the bed as she gazed around. “Wes?” Her eyes found me and her expression fell somewhere between disbelief and amusement. “What’re you doing?!”
I shrugged nonchalantly. “Oh, this? Thought it might be nice to have a little ambiance for dinner.”
After making us a dinner of steak and greens, along with some wine – everything I had picked up earlier in the overpriced store at the Marina – I’d stumbled across a cabinet stockpiled with candles. I supposed it made sense, this was the honeymoon cottage, but I’d snickered.
Then, I’d pictured the room filled with candlelight. Warm flame moving over Kalin’s brown skin, flickering in her eyes, and suddenly I was seizing a handful of them. I’d gotten lucky with the timing – I’d just finished lighting the last one when she’d woken up.
Kalin scrambled out of the bed and turned in a full three-sixty before turning back to me. “You know, Wesley Young, this romantic side of you is way too sexy. It’s unfair.” Her hands on her hips, she shot me a suspicious look. “What’s the occasion? Are you trying to distract me?”
Walking towards her, the weight of unsaid desire and truths seemed to crush me down, tensing up my shoulders when they should have been loose. Pulling her towards me, our lips crashed together, the intensity rocking me like the plates in the earth had shifted abruptly. Then we broke apart, and I saw the dancing flames in her eyes, just as I’d imagined, and held her face between my palms.
“Wes,” she said, her lips pulling up into a soft smile, and her cheeks a hectic flush. I tried to capture this in my mind, remember every hue of gold across her skin, the interplay of warm browns to deep velvety black in her hair, and the pink of her lips and cheeks. “You didn’t answer my question.”
“Did you ask a question?” I said in a teasing voice, walking backward, and pulling her with me. “I don’t remember. You must be starving, though.” I gestured at the table. “Marina grocery store was oddly high-end, so it’ll make a nice change from the jerky and dried out granola bars.”
>
“They weren’t that bad,” Kalin protested, smiling as she sat. But there was a flash in her eyes, a hard, suspicious look. “And I’d almost think you don’t want to answer my question.”
“Jeez, I made dinner, lit some candles, woman,” I said, my voice gruffer than I meant it to be. “Can you just enjoy it?”
Her lips pulled to the side. “Hm. For now. But you’re not off the hook, Young.”
As we began to eat, talking and laughing, some part of me wondered what my life was like before Kalin. I couldn’t quite remember. Sitting there with her across from me, her bun falling out and wearing my hoodie, I was filled with that particular satisfaction you felt when you finally finished a painting or a drawing. It may not have been perfect, but it was done.
Finally complete. Full circle.
Of course this picture was perfect to me in every way.
“Earth to Wes, hello. What are you staring at?” Kalin leaned across the table and tapped my forehead. “Wes!”
“Yeah, what?” I jerked upright. “Sorry, what did you say?”
Kalin glanced behind her, the table was next to a window, and she looked back at me. “Did you see something out there? What were you looking at?”
I laughed, settling my gaze even more firmly on her. “What do you think?”
Biting her lips, Kalin reached up to smooth her hair down, then skated her hand inside the collar of her shirt. “A hot mess?”
“A fierce, beautiful woman,” I said, leaning on my hand, almost feeling as though I were in a dream. “You’d be hard to capture in paint, you know that? I don’t think they make colors rich enough to capture you, Kay. Maybe if I use melted gold and fresh flowers… That light in your eyes, though. Passion, intelligence, determination. And your lines – gracious, curving, and powerful. Honestly, I’m not sure my clumsy hand, even though I’m not half-bad, could ever do you justice.”
Kalin’s hand crept up to her throat and she stared at me, wide-eyed.
Ducking my head, I hastily took a gulp of wine, and said gruffly, “Now who’s staring?”
She laughed then, her cheeks flooded with color, and eyes bright with that light. It was almost hard to look at her and I looked away, suddenly feeling like I’d gone too far, said too much.
I just wanted the end of our time together to be perfect.
She stood up then. “I’ll be right back. Bathroom.”
The minute the door clicked shut behind her, I got to my feet, unable to sit still a moment longer. Bitterly, I reflected on what a fool I was. I should just blow out the candles, stop before I made things ten times worse…
Sitting down heavily on the bed, I slumped forward, dragging my fingers across my scalp, then my haywire beard. I didn’t know what to do. My stomach churned with guilt and anxiety.
The door opened and I heard the soft pad of feet on the floor. Kalin’s scent whispered across the air in front of her. I looked up, about to explain, tell her everything, when my mind went blank.
Jaw on the floor, I watched as she stepped towards me, a teasing smile on her face, and a suggestive light in her eyes.
She was wearing nothing but my hoodie, zipped to her chin. The light moved across her bare legs, the strong curve of her calf, and then up across the muscles of her thighs.
I couldn’t move.
I wasn’t even sure I was breathing anymore.
She stopped in front of me, stepping between my legs, and her fingers, poking out from the ends of those long sleeves, held my face.
“I need your help, Wes,” She said this sorrowfully, but her eyes filled with wicked amusement. “It’s bad.”
“What?” I asked, my voice hoarse, as I gripped her elbows. I was beyond being able to tell if she was joking or serious. “What’s wrong?”
Kalin leaned in and kissed me. A growl started low in my belly and then rumbled in my throat. Pressure was building, just as it had the night before, and earlier today. Whereas those times I’d at least had some semblance of control, now I had none. Explicit, pounding desire screamed through me. Every last part of me craved Kalin.
I wanted to hold on and never let go.
We broke apart and a soft, sexy little breath brushed against my lips. “I’ve got this intense crush on you,” Kalin whispered, and I met her eyes. “And I can’t handle it anymore.”
Triumph and ecstasy now exploded deep in my chest, lighting up my nerve endings even more. I could feel the heat in the space between our bodies, like we were orbs of fire spinning around each other, now about to crash.
“Good thing I’m here, huh? What would you do without me?” I teased, but I heard a note of awe in my voice and a distinct shakiness.
“That’s just it,” Kalin leaned in close, her lips now moving from the corner of my lips to my ear, and I jumped when she lightly bit my earlobe. “I need to show my thanks.”
I’d known full well Kalin had a tigress side to her, one that was luxurious, confident, and sexy all in one. But it was one thing to know it and another to behold it.
My pants were now painfully tight. “Kay,” I groaned out, “I don’t know…”
As much as I’d wanted this, wanted her – God, did I want her – all of those things she deserved to know about me, about this time together, were filling my head.
“Look at me and say that,” Kalin leaned back, our eyes meeting. Her gaze was as fierce as a tigress, maybe more so. And shifter or not, I was only human.
I didn’t want Kalin, I needed her. She’d become everything to me.
She saw that in my eyes. I could feel the seriousness of those feelings crossing my face, sparking deep within, and in the moment before I crushed her against me, I thought I heard her catch her breath. But then I was stealing her breath, kissing her without restraint, and tasting her sweet mouth, filled with peppermint.
Chuckling when we broke apart, I rubbed her back. “You brushed your teeth?”
“Yeah, so? Shut up!” Kalin flushed.
“What else did you do in there?” I asked, my voice husky, and I tugged on the zipper of the hoodie. Slowly, I pulled it down, sensing Kalin watching me. Then I glanced back up at her and pushed it off her shoulders. It pooled on the floor. “You had this with you the whole time?” I asked through gritted teeth, my body shaking with the exertion of not devouring her on the spot.
She was wearing some kind of fancy red bra, one that pushed up her breasts, cleavage spilling over, and it was netted over with lace. It offered a tantalizing peek of the whole show.
And she was wearing matching panties.
“Packed it by mistake,” Kalin said in a breathless voice. “I was rushing…”
Heart pounding in my throat, I clenched my jaw, and then stood up, holding her at arm’s length. “Kalin, I think we should–”
“Oh my God,” she said in an exasperated voice, “stop being such a gentleman.” Shaking herself free and standing on tiptoe, she kissed me again.
Gripping her shoulders, my fingers caressed her warm skin, and I was gone. The kiss became desperate, hungrier, and now I couldn’t help but slide my hands along her warm back, now familiar, and growing hot under my touch.
Her fingers bunched the bottom of the hem of my shirt, tugging it upwards, and I reluctantly let go of her for a moment to help her tear it off, then pulled her against me.
Kalin’s hands slid along my bare stomach, making me suck in a hard breath. But I was barely paying attention, so focused on the pressure of her lips on mine, stroking my tongue into her mouth.
A groan escaped me as her hands brushed the outside of my pants, finding the hard bulge of my want. Then I heard the click of a belt buckle and felt the corner of her mouth quirk up.
Suddenly her lips were trailing down my chest, my abdomen, and then she was on her knees. The image of that, along with fiery lust and soft affection in her eyes, made me go hard as a rock. Another, deeper groan emanated from me as she tugged down my pants and I helped her, kicking them off. Fuck, I wanted this. I hadn’t ev
en realized how much.
Watching Kalin wrap her hands around my length, then her mouth, made fireworks go off in my brain. I had to grip the end of the bed to stay upright. It went beyond physical. It was that open give and take, the push and pull between us – all of that was spiking my adrenaline, stoking my want, and filling me from head to toe – just as much as her soft tongue and hands were.
Panting as I watched her head bob back and forth, I fisted a hand in her hair, guiding her along. She began moving faster and the intolerable pleasure built and built.
“Kalin,” I uttered in a harsh growl, as that pleasure spiraled up from within me and exploded in a burst of color and light.
A light, sexy laugh whispered by my ear and I sensed Kalin getting up. Blinking away the haze of my post-orgasmic bliss, I watched her stretch and smile. “Aw, Wes, who knew lil’ ole me could bring down Hercules himself?” Her voice was teasing, but there was a note of challenge in it. “Little shaky, big guy?”
Reaching out, I hooked an arm around her waist and dumped her onto the bed in one motion. She looked a little surprised as she bounced on the bed and I was on top of her in an instant. There was a look of excitement in her eyes, but also wondering if she had gone too far.
“We’ll see who’s left standing at the end of the night,” I said, staring down at her, before capturing both her wrists in one hand and pinning them above her head.
Her eyes went wide as I bent my head, kissing the side of her neck in no hurry whatsoever. Kalin’s skin seemed to jump at my touch and a breathy moan fluttered from her lips.
God, do I love this, Kalin, I thought. Kissing you.
Moving lower, I rubbed my nose in the hollow between her collarbones and Kalin arched against me. My free hand found her hip bone and I squeezed it.
The smell of your skin, your hair. Hearing those sounds of pleasure.
Her body twisted a little, as she squirmed under my touch, and I tightened my grip.
Bringing you this kind of pleasure… It’s all I’ve wanted.
Kissing my way to her breasts, I could feel her heart thundering in her rib cage.
HOTSHOT BROTHERS: Coyote Shifters Page 27