by Krista Wolf
“An extension of the Paris Catacombs.”
Serena’s voice cracked. “The same one that ran beneath Holy Innocents’ Cemetery?”
“Yes.”
I wondered if she knew the rest of the lore. That heavy rains and overcrowding had flooded the catacombs with waterlogged corpses and disease until they were closed back in the 19th century.
“That part’s still miles away though,” I assured her. “This is only a network of tunnels that join up with them, built back during the middle ages.”
If my assertion made her feel any better, I couldn’t tell. I was already moving, quickly and efficiently, taking a series of well-remembered turns at every junction. The air was stale down here, and choked with dust. It didn’t stop her from keeping up though.
“H—How do you know we won’t get lost?”
“Because I know where I’m going.”
“Are you sure?”
I needed her to trust me, and I was fairly sure she did. Then again, there were all kinds of stories about people who’d been lost in the catacombs. People that were found years later; dessicated and mummified, after having run out of food and water.
“We ran these tunnels,” I said, “Damien and I. We did it only when we were out together, though. Never with anyone else.”
We spent the next few minutes in silence, Serena’s flashlight splashing the walls and ceiling and floor. I could see well enough without it though. My Lycanthropy provided me with partial night vision, which was a handy thing to have.
“Ah, here we are.”
I led us into a side chamber carved directly into the stone. It was a place I knew well. A place where Damien and I had spent a lot of free time.
“Shield your eyes.”
I lit the kerosene heater at the opposite end. Serena squinted as the room filled with a warm orange glow.
“Whoa…”
The place was our little hideout, and it definitely looked the part. There were two small mattresses and some bedding, all dragged down by us. In one corner was a large stack of books and a camping lantern. In the other, a few crates containing canned goods and some non-perishables.
“The two of you hung out down here? You and Damien?”
“Yup.”
“Why?”
“Because sometimes we just wanted to be alone,” I shrugged. “Especially toward the end, when we were looking to get away from the pack.”
Damien had called the place our ‘wolf’s nest’, a term I hated. Abruptly I noticed Serena was staring at me. All of me. I followed her gaze downward, and let out a short laugh.
“Oh. Right.”
My nakedness hadn’t even occurred to me until now. From a duffel bag at the base of my bedroll, I pulled out an old pair of shorts and slipped them on. Serena pretended not to look as I wriggled into them, which was cute.
“Spare clothes,” she said. “Probably a good idea when you’re a shape-shifter, huh?”
I smirked back at her. “You catch on fast.”
I could tell she wanted to say more. That maybe she was sorry for not believing us. Or maybe she just had questions, probably a thousand of them. Anyone would.
To her credit, she did none of that. She was too busy rummaging through a nearby first-aid kit.
“You’re cut,” she said, pulling out a pack of bandages and some disinfectant. I watched as she sank down on one of the mattresses and patted the spot beside her. “Come on. I’ll patch you up.”
The water jug we kept was nearly empty. It was still fresh though. She took some and used it to clean my wounds, which were nothing but scratches really. It gave her an excuse to touch me though, so I let her do it anyway.
“This one’s a little deep,” she said, smoothing a bandage over my shoulder. “Does it hurt?”
“No.”
“Liar,” she laughed.
She kept going as the chill slowly left the room. Soon it felt warm. Comfortable.
“We need to talk,” I said.
“About you leading me into a den of rabid wolf shifters?” Serena asked casually. I shuddered with anticipation as she wiped up the dried blood. Every touch made me shiver. Every point of contact was wonderful. “Well, I can’t say you didn’t warn me.”
I swore I could smell the heat coming off her. It had never been like this. The electricity between us was palpable.
“No, about something else.”
Her lips went all pouty. It only made her even more beautiful. “What then?”
“You saved my life,” I told her. “Our lives, actually. If you hadn’t stopped Lionel when you did, things would’ve gone bad for us back there.”
“You’re welcome.”
She went back to wiping. I had to put my hand over hers, just to stop her.
“Serena…” I said, looking straight into her eyes. She looked nervous. But beneath her nervousness… something much more.
“Y—Yes?”
“Tell me how you did that.”
19
SERENA
I could barely even sit next to him. That’s how overwhelming it was, the physical and emotional attraction. The inescapable compulsion to throw myself in his arms and just start kissing him, regardless of what happened next.
Plus, he was naked. Or at least he had been, until that blasted duffel bag at the foot of his bed. Who the hell keeps a spare set of clothes stowed away in some underground cave, anyway?
Werewolves. That’s who.
The whole thing still hadn’t registered in my brain. I mean yes, I believed it now. I couldn’t really deny it anymore, could I? But I guess it hadn’t sunk in. Not totally, anyway.
Dammit Xiomara...
She’d been right again. When would I ever learn? Probably never, I decided. And that was fine with me. Giving in to the old woman wasn’t something I—
“Serena?” Broderick asked. He was holding my hand now. Sending goosebumps up and down that whole side of my body. “Please. You can tell me.”
And now he was asking about my powers.
I couldn’t think. Couldn’t breathe. All I could sense was his proximity to me; the heat of his body, the smell of musk and sweat and the coppery scent of blood. And something else, too. Something more primitive and robust. Something that was driving me absolutely wild.
“Serena, I—”
Our eyes locked, and everything stopped. All I could hear was the sound of my heartbeat, echoed by his own. Beating together against the shadows and silence, other than the soft hiss of the kerosene heater somewhere far, far away.
I leaned in and he met me, crushing his lips against my own. It was like being swept away by a wave. A wave of love and lust and longing, a wave of ravenous excitement I’d been fighting and avoiding and losing the battle against, until all that was left was to lay back and allow it to finally wash over me.
And oh… oh God did it ever wash over me!
We kissed like lost lovers, like two powerful magnets clicking inseparably together. It couldn’t have been soft, couldn’t possibly have happened slowly. Instead my clothes flew off as he tore them away, my hands slipping between us to shove down his shorts, almost like the very presence of them offended me.
There were no words. Honestly, there was just nothing to say. Our tongues dueled as our bodies writhed together, and then Broderick was laying me out on the mattress, spreading me open with just the weight of his body.
I could feel his hard cock, trapped between our warm bellies. It was even bigger now, hot and engorged and throbbing like crazy. We kissed some more, my breasts mashed against his hard, beautiful chest, my nipples stiffening at the contact. The need to be taken by him was overwhelming. It was the most terrible thirst in the world, waiting to be slaked. The worst possible itch, begging to be scratched.
Nothing else mattered other than him — his body, his cock, penetrating me deeply as the only way to end the torment. Somehow I knew it would end with our mutual release; that if for some reason we stopped now I would surely di
e. There was only one thing that could satiate me, and him as well, for in my mind’s eye I could feel his pain, his torment, as well as all of my own.
Holy fuck just DO IT!
I bucked my hips against him urgently. Grabbed his strong, virile body and pulled it upwards as if I could possibly move it, as if I could somehow make him fuck me. I might as well have tried moving a building. Broderick had to be two-hundred and twenty pounds of sheer Scandinavian muscle, and that muscle moved only when he willed it to.
“Please…” I finally begged. “Please, you have to end this…”
The pain was in his eyes now too. I could see it there, building steadily, dragging down the corners of his eyelids until he looked almost sad. He’s prolonging it for a reason, I told myself. He’s got to be…
If he was, I couldn’t possibly fucking imagine why.
“Broderick… Broderick… Oh God…”
He lowered his chin and began kissing my neck. The feel of his lips dragging over my skin drove me crazy. I felt his tongue flick out, his breath warm against my ear. I couldn’t take it. It was too much…
I gasped suddenly as he shifted his weight, positioning himself between my thighs. When he grabbed my hips in his strong hands and lifted them up, I almost fainted with relief.
He looked at me, and his eyes gleamed with a life all their own. I chewed my lip seductively and nodded.
“Do it.”
He plunged inside me in a single stroke, causing us both to cry out loudly in sheer, ecstatic delirium. His expression was happiness, confusion, pain — everything at once, all of it crashing over his brain in an explosion of intensity and raw sensation.
MY GOD…
I watched relief flood Broderick’s gorgeous face as he soaked up the exquisite joy of being fully inside me.
20
BRODERICK
She felt glorious on the inside. Like I was being reborn.
Nothing had prepared me for how badly I’d need her, or how rapidly things would progress. The Call very quickly had become an unstoppable force. One that neither one of us could ignore forever.
It just so happened we were alone together — the both of us pumped with heat and adrenaline. And of course, we had a bed. Not that one was necessary of course, but it sure never hurt.
I would’ve liked to have taken my time, but the blood coursing through my veins said otherwise. It wouldn’t be over until we’d finished. Until both our brains flooded in that beautiful sea of endorphins, washing away our voracious, never-ending hunger.
Serena bucked hard against me, screwing back at me with a furious need to fulfill things on her end. In response, I grabbed her hips and gave it to her good.
She was sopping, dripping wet… and I was probably harder than I’d ever been before. As a result, the room heated up quickly. The smell of our combined sex permeated the air, the walls echoing with the grunts and groans of two desperate people fucking the absolute hell out of each other.
I paid careful attention as her orgasm grew near. She needed it of course, but I really wanted it to be good for her. She was beautiful, even disheveled, even with her dirt-streaked hair plastered over the pillow beneath her. I couldn’t help but slow down for a moment, relishing in the sight of my cock moving slowly in and out of her pussy.
“Do it…” she gasped again, spitting a lock of hair from her mouth. “You have to… you have to…”
“I know.”
I grabbed her wrists and fell backward, pulling her on top of me, never allowing myself to leave her body. Serena’s eyes rolled into her head as she impaled herself on me. Spreading her legs on either side of my body, she began bucking forward and back. She was so sensual. So unbelievably hot and sexy and—
“I’m— I’m gonna come…”
Her hands roamed all over my body as she screwed down against me. They wandered my shoulders, my chest, the flat of my stomach. Eventually they grabbed my wrists, then guided my hands to her breasts. I began rolling the nipples against my palms while squeezing gently.
“That’s it,” she gasped. “Oh fucking yes just like that!”
She came while biting her lip, head tilted back, her mouth screaming up at the sky. Or at least screaming up at the place where the sky would be, if it weren’t for the natural stone ceiling that was already there.
“Broderick!” she yelled at the top of her lungs. “OH BRODERICK FUUUUUCK!”
It happened in a long series of violent contractions; Serena came and came and then came some more. I watched her face as it happened, saw her expression go from desperate frustration to a smiling, delirious euphoria. She kept screwing herself against me, taking whatever it was that she wanted. Everything was for her, quenching her thirst, sating her hunger until finally she thought about me just long enough to look up and see where I was.
“You have to come,” she whispered, totally out of breath. She leaned forward and began kissing me all over my face. “Oh my God you have got to come!”
I definitely wanted to, so much it actually hurt. But I also wanted it on my own terms.
“OH!”
Serena was startled as I lifted her and rolled her over. I wanted to kiss her some more, to taste her mouth with mine. But more than anything, I wanted to look into her eyes. I wanted to see her expression as I took her. As I consummated our union… as I mated her, and made her my own.
I plunged back inside her, thrusting myself so achingly deep I knew it wouldn’t be long. She responded by spreading her legs wide. Her thighs were warm, her mouth wet. Her kisses so sweet they made me dizzy…
“It’s okay…”
Her voice made my heart sing as I drove into her. Harder. Faster. Deeper.
“Shoot it, Broderick…”
Her eyes had knowledge. Wisdom. Her eyes knew.
“Fill me up with it…”
I felt my orgasm surging, welling up inside of me. Threatening to wash over me completely, to take away control.
“Honey please…” Serena whispered, though her eyes gave all the permission I’d ever need. “Come inside me…”
I closed my eyes… and the darkness was shattered by an explosion of silver and white.
She stroked me from ass to shoulders as I emptied myself inside her, her fingernails trailing sexily up and down my back. And I kept coming. Kept on gushing a thick, steady stream of my hot seed, delivering it somewhere dark and warm, deep up in her belly.
“Ohhhhhh…”
It felt incredible, firing away while looking straight into her soul. Watching her eyes go wide as she connected with me on the most intimate of all levels, while draining me of every last drop.
“Ohhh YES…”
Her legs locked around me, holding me until the very last throes of my climax. And all throughout she kissed me deeply. Soulfully. Sealing that last, final link between us. Between the three of us, really. Making us a trio, a tribe.
Making us whole.
I love you…
I wanted so very badly to say it. The words were right there! And I felt that she wanted to say it too, or at least hear it from my end. In theory it was foolish. An impossibility. But considering the uniqueness of our bond, considering all that had happened, it also felt like the most natural thing in the world.
I rolled off of her, enjoying the way her dark hair fell over one side of her beautiful face. Serena lay there breathless, legs open, come trickling down the inside of one porcelain thigh.
“That… That was…”
“That was necessary,” I breathed, collapsing beside her. I moved one hand gently to the side of her face and turned her to face me. “But still amazing.”
For a while we just laid there, silently pressed up against one another, sharing the same pillow. The pull was gone. The Call had finally been sated. We basked not only in the glory of sexual release, but in our mutual relief from the relentless longing and desire.
She snuggled closer, into me. Our faces were just inches apart.
“Is Damien goi
ng to be mad?”
I smiled, and for the first time in as long as I could remember, there was nothing else behind it. “No. In fact, he’ll actually be relieved.”
She didn’t look puzzled. I thought she would.
“So this is how it is with you two? How it was with… Karessa?”
The word no longer phased me. So much of the pain was already gone. “Yes. We shared her together, as our mate.”
Serena’s skin was slick, and a tiny pool of perspiration had formed in the hollow of her throat. I watched it go up and down as she swallowed.
“Together together?”
I sighed contentedly. “Sometimes.”
Her eyes flared. I could see that the idea excited her.
“Okay, often.”
She placed a hand on my chest. Lazily she began tracing the lines there with one fingernail. Minutes went by and I let her go on, saying absolutely nothing.
Maybe this wasn’t a mistake…
It was possible. But still unlikely.
I spooned her for a long time as we marinated in the silence. We were safe here. Safe to rest and recover, to enjoy the welcome warmth of the kerosene heater as it soaked into our naked bodies.
Eventually she turned around, and her eyes met mine. I saw the same look there again — the same connection — as when I’d spent myself inside her.
“When I was eleven,” Serena said, “I fell and hit my head. Hard.”
I let her go on. She could tell me anything.
“And when I woke up two days later, I found I could move things with my mind…”
21
SERENA
It all happened in the fifth grade.
We’d been watching the Red Badge of Courage. English class, Mr. Reilly. As usual, I was in the front of the class — put there because I’d probably been caught goofing off with my friends. I was sitting a little too close to the screen, and leaning back in my chair to see better… and that’s when everything changed for me.
Forever.
From what I was told, I lost my balance and fell backward. I sure as shit don’t remember. The fall must’ve made some impression, because even years later they still talked about it, every one of my classmates — the hollow sound of my skull cracking against the floor.