Falling For The Wolf (Crystal Lake Forest Wolf Shifters Series Book 4

by Ovidia Pike

  “Gabriel,” she gasped when I did it again, letting out a whimper, not trying to pull away. I swatted her again, then again until I left a handprint on her pale skin, then twined my fingers in her hair, turning her head for another kiss as my fingers slipped between her legs to find her pussy dripping wet. I felt wild and unhinged as I slid two fingers inside of her, curling them deep in her pussy, stroking that spot just inside that I knew from experience would make her cum. She let out a moan, no longer propping herself up with her hands, instead pressed into the mattress as I fingered her and rubbed at her clit with my thumb.

  “Is this why you keep testing me?” I asked her, slapping her ass again with my free hand. “Is this what you want? Punishment?”

  “No,” she panted, but she grinded her pussy against my fingers in the rhythm that she needed. I felt her begin to shake all over and knew she was close when she gasped and pressed her hand over mine, using my fingers to pleasure herself the way she wanted. I felt her pussy clench and quiver before pulling my hand away from her, not letting her cum. I tugged on her hair again for another kiss, biting her lip, sucking on it angrily. I ripped myself away when she started to rub her ass against my cock, looking over her shoulder, her cheek pressed against the mattress.

  “You want to be fucked,” I said. “Don’t you?”

  “No,” she said, closing her eyes as she reached for her pussy, beginning to play with it herself. I pulled her hands away, holding them behind her back as she rubbed back against my cock again, wanting it as bad as I did. I started to unfasten my belt, needing to give in, to take her hard and rough, but I paused before I finished, looking down at her reddened face. I suddenly felt nothing but shame when I saw the flaming handprint on her skin, and immediately let go of her hands.

  “I’m sorry,” I said. “I don’t want it rough. I don’t want it rough with you.”

  “Gabriel, I—”

  “I’ve got to go,” I said, turning around and hurrying out of her hut. I stripped out of my clothes and shifted, flying out of the village and through the trees, not stopping until my lungs were screaming for relief. I paused and looked up at the sky, letting out a howl that went on and on, filled with regret and shame and loss. I stopped and caught my breath after a moment, and then I heard the crunching of leaves not far ahead of me. I started to walk toward it, wondering if it was an animal, wondering if it was one that I could hunt. I stopped when I saw someone standing a few yards ahead of me; squinting in the darkness I could see that it was Harley standing with someone who was wearing a black robe, tall and thin with their back to me. I crouched behind a tree, watching as she spoke to him animatedly, an annoyed look on her face. She glanced up then and saw me standing there, and I heard her excuse herself before coming toward me. I didn’t look at her as she walked, but kept my eye on the figure as it darted away. I shifted then as she approached me, arms crossed over her chest.

  “Are you spying on me?” she asked.

  “Who was that, Harley?” I asked her. “What are you doing out here so deep in the woods?”

  She stared at me for a moment with a defiant look on her face, and briefly I thought she might not answer me. Then she cleared her throat and gave me an embarrassed look.

  “I’ve been...seeing somebody,” she muttered.

  “Seeing somebody—like a mate?” I asked her.

  “Yes,” she said in a quiet voice.

  “All the way out here? Why?” I asked, studying her expression carefully.

  “Because I didn’t want anybody to know. I begged him to sneak out here with me. We come out here most nights.”

  “Harley, you know how our bloodline ends,” I said. “You know what that prophecy says. We don’t take mates. We can’t take mates.”

  “You can’t stop me,” she said coldly, standing up taller, staring angrily at my face.

  “Who is it? Does he know that he’s destined to die?”

  “This is none of your business,” she hissed.

  “It is my business, Harley,” I said. She shook her head.

  “One of these days, Gabriel...” her voice trailed off. She shook her head as if clearing her thoughts. “It’s none of your business,” she said again firmly.

  “Okay,” I replied, taken aback by her sharpness, the audacity of her tone. She walked away from me and I was left there again to look after her.

  Chapter 7: Camilla

  I walked through the forest in lion form, padding softly along the ground, making good time on my way to the caves. It was late—the middle of the night—and I knew exactly where the guards would be and where to sneak in. I stepped carefully in the dark, hurrying toward the base of the cave, where I knew there was a hidden entrance to the underground cells. I shifted once I was through the narrow crack, hurrying through the tunnel, grabbing the key on the wall and heading down into the hall where the cells were closed and barred. I glanced in the first one to see a puddle of blood on the floor, and my insides turned cold as I peered into the next cell. El was cowering in the corner, arms wrapped around his legs. Next to him sat Donny in a similar position. Both of them stood when they saw me.

  “Camilla?” came a familiar voice behind me. I froze before turning around to see Sam standing in one of the cells with his hands on the bars, a confused look on his face.

  “What are you doing here?”

  “What are you doing here?” I asked him, moving toward his cell.

  “Camilla, get us out of here. What the fuck are you doing?” El asked in a weak voice. I didn’t look at him, my eyes locked on Sam instead.

  “Why are you locked up?”

  “Killed someone,” he said. “One of those who followed princess Elina.”

  “Who did you kill?” I asked sharply.

  “I have no idea. Some animal,” he said, staring into my eyes. “Your friends here insist they’re going to kill me.”

  “What the fuck are you doing talking to that dog?” Donny spat behind me. I looked over my shoulder at him, then back at Sam. I could hear the sound of footsteps coming down the cave and knew that I was about to be caught—that I would be locked up with them if I didn’t get out of there fast. I paused for a moment, frozen, holding the key in my hand as the two men shouted behind me. I looked at them one more time and took a deep breath, unlocking Sam’s cell.

  “Let’s go,” I said to him quickly. He hesitated for a moment before nodding, following me out of the cell and down the hall. I stopped when I saw two lionesses coming toward us, members of the queen’s guard.

  “Turn into a wolf,” I said to him. “Let’s go.”

  He gave a nod and shifted, and so did I, and together we rushed toward the guards. I didn’t think about it as I tore into one of them to force my way past, making room for Sam as he ran beside me. We leapt through the caves, and I was surprised at how adept he was at moving through the system as a wolf. I heard him stop, and I swiveled around to see that a guard had jumped on his back and was about to sink her teeth into the back of his neck. I swiped at her face, catching it with my claws; blood poured down into her eyes and she howled and let go. We started to run again, despite those chasing us, and I felt him hot on my heels as we leapt from the base of the cave system into the woods. I felt something whiz past me and turned my head to see a spear soaring through the air. I ducked and continued to run as fast as I could, glancing over my shoulder, making sure that Sam was still with me before we finally slowed down at least a mile from the lion territory. We both shifted and caught our breath before he looked at me with a serious expression.

  “You’re one of them. Those that killed my brother.”

  “I’m the person who just saved you,” I amended. He peered at me closely.

  “Why? You loathe wolves. You and those like you. You could have left me there and freed your friends.”

  “It doesn’t matter,” I said, beginning to walk in the direction of the village. He took my arm and turned me around.

  “Tell me,” he said. “Why did
you save me?”

  “I don’t know,” I said to him honestly. “I don’t—your kind are beneath me. I shouldn’t have done it.”

  His face turned to anger then for the first time since I’d met him, no longer good-natured and kind.

  “Do you hear yourself right now? How terrible you sound?”

  “You don’t know anything, Sam. You’re not from around here.”

  “I know that anybody who looks down on a person like he’s an animal is nobody I want anything to do with,” he said.

  “That’s fine,” I told him. “As if I’d ever befriend a wolf.”

  “You and your people are killers. Monsters. So was your princess.”

  “Do not speak of Elina that way,” I snapped at him, pivoting and taking a threatening step toward him. He didn’t move, but stood there tall, staring me down with his vivid blue eyes, no longer kind but almost hateful. The look on his face made something swirl in my stomach thinking about the way he’d looked at me just the other day when I found him in the woods before he headed to the caves.

  “Thank you for getting me out of there,” he said in a cold voice. “I appreciate it.”

  “You’re welcome,” I said as I started to walk again. He shifted beside me and trotted next to me in wolf form all the way back to the village. He shifted again as soon as we were just outside the border, standing there watching me.

  “Goodbye, Camilla,” he said, turning to go. I watched him for a moment, not realizing what was happening before a black wolf leapt over my shoulder and landed on Sam, fixing its teeth on the back of his neck, nails digging into his bare back as he snarled. I reached forward and grabbed Gabriel by the scruff, but he snapped his head at me and caught my hand in his jaw, tearing at it with his teeth. I ripped it away and gave a round kick, hitting him in the jaw, sending him to the ground. He stood up with a furious look and started to dive at me but was stopped by a voice in the distance.

  “Gabriel!” I heard Sophie shout, and turned to see her running toward us. He was about to rip at Sam’s neck when Sophie jumped on his back and wrapped her arms around him, rolling over to pull him off. She scrambled to her feet and put herself between Gabriel and Sam, holding her arms out.

  “Don’t do this,” she said in a soft voice. “Don’t hurt me.”

  Gabriel growled and shifted back, crouching menacingly, covered in blood. I went to Sam and knelt down beside him, helping him stand after he shifted to human form. Blood poured down his back but when I looked at his neck, I saw only puncture wounds there, no flesh torn the way I had been afraid it would be.

  “I would never hurt you,” Gabriel snarled at Sophie. “Never.”

  “Good,” she said, taking a step back, pressing Sam back behind her. “You won’t hurt him, either.”

  “Did you tell him what would happen to him if he came back?” Gabriel asked.

  “He belongs here, Gabriel. He can help us.”

  “Help us how?” he asked.

  “He knows how to fight them. He’s good at it,” I said to him. He turned to me with a glare, bringing his hand up to his broken lip.

  “He’s not staying,” he said. “And neither are you.”

  I glared at him as Sophie stepped toward him, putting her hands on his chest.

  “Please,” she said softly. “Please just calm down. Let him stay. Let them both stay. We need them.”

  “We don’t—”

  “What’s going on?” came another voice, and I looked to see the doctor running over, eyes wide, taking us all in.

  “Sam’s back,” Gabriel said dryly. “And these two are, for some reason, keeping me from tearing his throat out.”

  “Gabriel, calm down,” Sophie said. “He’s a good man.”

  “He is,” Alicia agreed in a gentle voice. “And he can help us, Mr. Alarick.”

  Gabriel let out a low growl, fists tensed at his sides. He turned his eyes to Sam.

  “You are going to train my people. You will teach them to fight those things out there.”

  “I don’t need his help with training,” I interjected.

  “Obviously, you do,” Gabriel said coldly. “You’ve proven yourself incompetent time and time again. Maybe he can figure something out that you can’t.”

  Hatred welled within me as I stared at him, and for a moment I thought he was going to attack again. Then he turned around and walked away without another word.

  “Let me get that cleaned up, Sam,” Alicia said, holding her arm out to him. He cast one last glance at me before following her to the medical hut.

  Chapter 8: Sam

  I sat on a log at the edge of the training area, sharpening both ends of a branch before tossing it in a pile with the others. The mindless work was nice—it helped me stop thinking about Camilla and my confusion over her, how she had saved me twice despite the way she felt about my people. Every time I thought about that I grew tense and told myself not to fall for her—it didn’t matter that her beauty and power were nothing like I’d ever seen before, nor that the way she looked at me when she wasn’t angry made something light up in my chest. I had to stay away from her, not even look at her even while we were training together.

  I heard footsteps in the woods and looked up to see her there. She approached me without a word, looking away from me as she picked up one of the sharpened sticks and examined it closely. She touched the sharp tip with her finger and traced over the smooth wood where it had been whittled away.

  “Good enough?” I asked her. She didn’t say anything, didn’t look at me, instead carried the stick to the head of the training area and began to practice with it, spinning it effortlessly with smooth forward jabs. I couldn’t help but to watch the way she moved, eyes glancing over her, the sweat on her chest, the space where her abdomen showed, carved and supple. I allowed myself to think for a moment about what it would be like to kiss her there, but the thought left my mind as soon as I saw the guards start to file through the woods for training. They all gave her hesitant looks as they walked past her, as if afraid that she would snap at them for simply showing up. I grabbed the sticks in my hand and moved to start passing them out.

  “Hello, everyone,” I said in a bright voice. “I’m Sam. I’m going to be showing you a few things today that might help you if you run into trouble out in the woods.”

  “Are there really zombies out there?” a woman asked as she took the stick from my hand.

  “Yes, and a lot of them. But that’s not all we’re dealing with right now. You have to stay sharp no matter what.”

  “We’ve been training,” the woman said, casting an anxious glance over my shoulder at Camilla. I nodded.

  “I’ve seen you train. It’s not bad, but you could use some improvement. I’m here to help you as much as I can.”

  The woman’s face turned into a smile and I gave her a friendly nod.

  “Everyone, introduce yourselves. I want names to the faces.”

  “That’s not necessary,” Camilla said, approaching me from the back. I shot her a look over my shoulder.

  “It is,” I said to her simply, then looked back at the group as they started to tell me their names.

  “Good,” I said, beaming at them as I grabbed one of the sticks for myself, backing up to the front of the opening. “Go ahead and spread out. We’re going to practice some jabs.”

  “I don’t know about all that,” a man named Bell said. “Someone’s going to get stabbed, even seriously hurt, if we start swinging these things around.”

  I laughed. “I promise you, nobody is going to get stabbed or hurt. Space out as much as you can—there’s room.”

  “Okay,” Bell said with a grin. I watched as they took their spots, some of them holding the sticks at their sides, others awkwardly holding it in both hands. I looked over at Camilla who was watching them closely, lips pursed, an irritated look on her face.

  “Alright, so the most important part of the jab is how much strength you can put into it using your whole bod
y, not just your arms,” I said. “You want to move forward with your legs and your chest as well, like this.”

  There was a mumble as I showed them what I meant, using my core to thrust the spear forward.

  “Eventually, I can teach you guys how to throw it if you get this down. It’s not as hard as it seems.”

  “You’re joking,” Bell said. I chuckled.

  “Nope,” I told him. “I fully believe every one of you is capable of doing this. It just takes a little practice and some faith in yourself. Now go ahead and practice the jab. I’m going to look at each one of you so that I can correct your form. Try not to stab me, otherwise Camilla will kick your ass.”

  “I believe it,” a woman named Shelly chimed in. Camilla made a noise of annoyance beside me before I started to walk through the rows, adjusting arms and postures as needed. Within the next couple of hours, most of them had it down, with only a few stragglers who stuck around for extra practice. By the time we were done, they were both laughing at themselves, but I told them I was proud of them for trying and watched as they left the clearing. Camilla stood there with her arms over her chest.

  “What do you think?” I asked her.

  “They actually listen to you,” she said.

  “That’s because I’m nice to them, Camilla,” I replied. “You should try it.”

  “I don’t give a shit about them and I don’t give a shit about training them,” she said.

  “So why are you here?”

  “I was sent here,” she said.

  “By the princess?”

  She didn’t answer, but finally looked me in the eye.

  “Don’t mention her,” she said in a firm voice.

  “I’m sorry you lost her,” I said. “You must have loved her.”