Colton's Dilemma (Shadow Breeds)

by Dara Nelson

  She tossed and turned throughout the night, occasionally crying out to no one in particular. Finally, as the black night turned to the grey dawn, her eyes flew open, she gasped and sat up in the bed. She had a panicked look on her face as she glanced around, and she obviously had not yet realized that she was naked. Her covers fell to her waist, revealing her beautiful breasts – her nipples hard, as she looked frantically around the room, “Where? Where am I?” she gasped, her panic obviously growing. He calmly stood and walked over to her, “Relax, Miss. You’re safe now,” he said as he gently reached down and pulled the covers up to her chest. It was then that she glanced down and realized what he was doing. “Oh my God. What? Why am I naked? What have you done? Who are you?”

  He chuckled slightly as he returned to his chair in the corner, “For a woman who only a few hours ago begged for my help, you sure are full of a lot of questions,” he whispered.

  “I, I, I begged for your help? What do you mean? Do I know you?” she whispered, calming slightly. He could still hear her heart racing though, and it made him hungry. He suppressed his hunger by swallowing hard.

  “Don’t you remember anything? You stumbled to my door and begged for my help. Said you were being chased or something. You don’t remember any of that?” he said.

  Her hand moved up to her matted hair and she whimpered. “No, I don’t. Have I been here before? Do I know you? What is your name?” she said as her panic began to grow again as she tried to work her fingers through her dirt-encrusted hair.

  He stood again and walked over to her, “Miss. Please calm down. Careful with your head, I don’t want you to pull your stitches out. My name is Colton, Doctor Colton Renner. Why don’t you start by telling me your name?”

  She had a pained look on her face as her eyes met with his, “Before I do that, can I ask you one more question?”

  He nodded to her, “Of course.”

  “Who am I?” she said as she began to sob, “Do you know who I am? I can’t remember my name. Oh god, what’s my name?” she sobbed as she grabbed his hand and held on for dear life. He sat on the bed next to her and she collapsed, sobbing, onto his lap. She held a death grip on his left hand as her tears flowed onto his legs, soaking his pajamas. She was so frightened and vulnerable. He found himself wanting to comfort her, protect her – something he hadn’t felt for a very long time, not since…..no, don’t think of her, don’t even think her name, he said to himself. He was surprised when he found his right hand coming up to her head. He caressed her head and down her arm, trying to soothe her. “Shhhh, it’ll be alright. You’ll be okay. You’ve had a traumatic experience. Memory loss often happens in cases like this, but it usually comes back in time,” he said.

  “Usually?” she gasped between sobs, “What if it doesn’t? What if mine never comes back?” she said and then it happened. She shifted her head slightly and her hair fell away from the back of her neck. His eyes went wide as he studied the symbol. She had been branded. There on the back of her neck was the new burn, bright red and swollen, clearly the shape of a wolf’s paw. She had been marked to be the mate of a pack leader. Did she know? Did she know this wolf-slash-man? Was she his girlfriend? Had it been her choice and then she changed her mind at the last minute? Or had she been chosen randomly? Unknowingly picked by the pack leader to be his bitch? Either way, Colton knew it was going to be trouble, big trouble. He leaned his head back on the headboard as her sobs finally quieted and she began to fall back to sleep. He softly mumbled, “Oh fuck, what the hell have you gotten yourself into, Colton?” Then he too closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.

  Chapter 2

  When he awoke, he could see daylight through the shades. He guessed, correctly, that it was around eleven in the morning. He looked down and was surprised to find her awake and staring at him with wide eyes. She blushed slightly when he caught her. “Good morning,” he whispered, “Feeling a little better?”

  She smiled slightly, “A little. But I’m starving. And I would love to be able to clean up a little, is that possible?”

  He nodded, “But of course. We will have to be careful with those stitches. Don’t rub them at all when you’re bathing. And we’ll have to carefully dry them thoroughly. I don’t want you to get an infection.”

  “A bath? I’m not big on baths. Couldn’t I take a shower?” she grumbled.

  He smiled at her. It was beautiful, dazzling, and it took her breath away. She hadn’t noticed until now how handsome he truly was. “You haven’t noticed the ankle yet, have you?” he said.

  She clasped the sheet to her chest as she sat up. “The ankle? What’s wrong with the ankle? Owwww,” she said as she flexed her feet.

  “Exactly. You’ve got a pretty bad sprain at a minimum, could be worse than that. And unfortunately I don’t have any crutches. So unless I held you up in it, I’m afraid a shower would be pretty difficult,” he said as a playful smile spread across his face.

  She was surprised as she found herself wanting to take him up on his offer. What the hell was she thinking? She didn’t know this man. Hell, she didn’t even know herself.

  “A bath it is then,” he said as he stood up from the bed. He smiled and blushed slightly as he caught the double-take she did when he stood. He never wore a shirt to bed, ever. When she turned to thank him for the bath, her mouth dropped as she took in the specter of his torso – the smooth plains of his chest reaching down to join with the chiseled six-pack, no, make that eight-pack, abs. She couldn’t stop gaping at him as he crossed the room. The face, his face was beautiful. His body, well that was something that was just begging to be ravished. Holy criminy, was he for real? To have somebody like that close enough to touch. It was all she could do to keep from drooling onto the bed. It didn’t get any better after he passed her either, because then she caught a glimpse of the round ass hiding under the pajama bottoms. Holy shit, did his beauty ever end? Was there anything about him that wasn’t perfect? She shivered slightly as she thought about what was dangling on the front side of that beautiful ass. I’m sure that’s perfect, too, she thought.

  She heard the water as it began flowing into the tub. After a few minutes, he emerged from the bathroom and walked to the edge of the bed. He kind of appeared confused, unsure of what he was going to do next. He quickly made his decision though, “Wrap the sheet around you. I’ll carry you into the bathroom,” he said.

  “Carry me? Why? Can’t I hobble into the bathroom?” she said.

  “We can try, but I don’t think that ankle is going to support any weight at all.”

  She wrapped the sheet around and made her way to the edge of the bed on her knees, flinching every time she moved her left leg. She held her hand out to him, which he grabbed with one of his. He moved to wrap his other arm around her waist, pulling her tight to him. They both felt the heat that ignited between the two of them, but both struggled to ignore it. She brought her right leg to the floor and slowly stood. The second her left foot made contact with the floor though, she knew. She hadn’t put any weight on it at all and still the pain shot through her body enough to make her groan and try to fall back on the bed. Before she could though, he moved swiftly, sliding his arm beneath her knees and scooping her into his arms. “I thought so,” he said as he smiled at the surprised look on her face. How was he lifting her so effortlessly? I mean, she definitely wasn’t overweight, but it’s not like she weighed nothing at all. Yet he carried her like she was light as a feather. She could feel the biceps on his arms bulging as they enveloped her. And those abs, oh my God those abs. The abs that she had admired from across the room were pressing into her side. Her breast was pressing into his chest as his pecs flexed when he held her. Thank God there was the sheet between them, she thought. She could only guess what this would feel like without it – and that made her heart race. His eyes danced at her and a smirk ran across his face, almost like he was thinking the same thing.

  He carried her into the bathroom and she gasped as she looked arou
nd. He grinned back at her, “Pretty nice, isn’t it? It’s my favorite room in the house, well, after my bedroom that is,” he said playfully. The blush spread from her head to her toes. Suddenly it dawned on her, the situation they were in. “Ummm, how are we going to do this?” she said as she tried to think things through.

  “Well,” he began as he sat on the edge of the tub with her on his lap, “First of all, we’re going to unwrap that ankle. My supplies out here are a little limited, I don’t want the bandage to get wet. Besides, I want to exam the ankle again after you’re finished in here.”

  “And then?” she said.

  He winked at her, “And then I have a plan.”

  “You have a plan? Is this plan going to work? Is this plan going to keep me from embarrassing myself? Well, embarrassing myself even more than I already am?” she said.

  “I sure hope so,” he said, smiling. “Now, can you unwrap the ankle and hand me the bandage? I’d try to do it myself, but with you on my lap, I’d pretty much have to bend you in half to reach your foot.”

  She blushed slightly as she reached for her ankle while thinking about another way that she wouldn’t mind it if he bent her in half – if her ankles were up around his ears as he pounded her. God, what the hell was wrong with her. She unrolled the bandage and handed it to him. He tossed it to the bathroom counter on the far side of the room. “Now, loosen the sheet from behind you. As I set you into the bubbles, lift the sheet off and hand it to me.”

  She stared at him for a moment. “That’s your plan?” she said as she tried not to blush at the thought of his bare arm around her back side with no sheet between them.

  “That’s my plan. Do you have a better one?” he said.

  She thought for a moment then shook her head, “No, I guess not.”

  As she began to loosen the sheet from her backside and he felt her bare flesh wiggle around in his lap with nothing but his flimsy silk pajama bottoms between them, he started to re-think his plan. And as he felt the twinge of his cock starting to wake up again, he really started to re-think his plan. His arm quickly slid underneath her and he lifted her off of his lap, taking off some of the pressure. But doing that didn’t alleviate the fire that was burning as her flesh made contact with his. The entire side of her body, including the side of her breast and ass, were in full contact with his uncovered torso. He took a deep breath to try to calm himself. It took a few seconds but he finally managed to feel the twitching in his cock, that was threatening to bring it to full attention and embarrass himself, dissipate. He started to think that maybe his plan might work as he moved to lower her into the water. There was a slight splash that he felt on his torso and legs but that was okay, or so he thought. She made sure the thick bubbles were covering her body then she handed him the wet sheet. He crossed the room and put it into the hamper. But when he turned around, that’s when he heard her gasp. He saw her mouth drop and he followed her gaze. His water-soaked pants were clinging to his front side, leaving little to the imagination of what hung between his legs. And what was hanging there was oh so impressive, she thought. She couldn’t tear her gaze away. He quickly reached for the nearest towel and wrapped it around his midsection, “Apologies, miss. I didn’t realize….” He stammered.

  “It’s, it’s okay,” she said then with a grin she added, “I guess now we’re even.”

  He couldn’t help but laugh, “Yes, I suppose we are.”

  “Do you have any shampoo?” she said, trying to change the subject, “I want to try to get this crap out of my hair.”

  “Of course,” he said as he reached into the shower and grabbed both shampoo and conditioner, “If you’ll allow me – I want to make sure we don’t damage those stitches.”

  “You want to wash my hair?” she said as her heart started hammering in her chest again.

  He licked his lips slightly –that combination of nervousness and sexual excitement that she was feeling - that was the kind of reaction that made the blood taste oh so sweet and his fangs ached to come down. He blinked a few times to try to clear his head. “May I?”

  She nodded her head and pulled her knees up to her chest. She tilted her head back and watched him. He grabbed a cup from the edge of the tub, scooped it into the water then brought it up and gently poured it over her head, careful to not let it get into her eyes. It took several minutes but he managed to get all of the dirt and blood loosened up and out of her hair. Then he grabbed the shampoo, squeezed some onto the top of her head and began gently began massaging her head, carefully avoiding the stitched up cut. She closed her eyes and couldn’t help but moan. “That feels really nice,” she whispered. He smiled at the look of complete contentment that was on her face. He liked that look. That look was beautiful. And the fact that he had put it there made it even better. He silently rinsed the shampoo out of her hair and then worked some of the tangles out with conditioner. As he rinsed that out he was surprised as he found himself dreading the end of their time in here. He was enjoying this. He was enjoying this very much. Her movements brought him out of his peaceful reverie. The bubbles were completely gone and she was fidgeting as she tried to cover herself. She was looking around for the drain to drain the bath, “How do I, ummm, how do I?” she mumbled as she searched around in the water.