Human and Freakn'

by Eve Langlais

  If she discounted the massage disaster, Joel hadn’t smooched her since the crocodile incident, even if he kept asking for a kiss. Why didn’t he just take? It wasn’t as if he didn’t torture her daily. Touching her, innocent brushes of skin that caught her breath. Subtle rubs of his body on hers when he helped her climb or cross slippery stones. It was enough to drive her mad with longing. Smoldering looks, or so she interpreted, but he’d yet to drag her off in the bushes to plant one on her. Why?

  Add in Kendrick’s almost identical attention – along with the memory of his kiss she’d by now replayed a thousand times – and she wanted to scream in frustration.

  Is something wrong with me? Or is there something else?

  Any wonder her emotions seesawed wildly? One moment she wanted them away from her because she didn’t trust their motives, the next she wanted either or both to take away the decision, and then there was her almost constant state of arousal. Thank goodness for their daily walks. She looked forward to them as her only respite from the dilemma they presented. But once they got to camp, it started all over again.

  Would it kill one of them to make up his mind and drag her into the woods for a quickie?

  No. Wait. She didn’t want that. Yes, she did. No. Darn it all. Why couldn’t she figure out what she wanted? And who?

  In close confines, with no privacy, and her sister’s life on the line – or not, depending on if she believed the note – she had no right to think about her pleasure. She needed to concentrate on her sister and what the X on the map meant.

  Damn them for distracting her from her mission. Teases.

  On the next day of nature walk, well into the jungle, they came across a landmark that corresponded to her mysterious map. Ancient Mayan ruins. Overgrown, tumbled, and worn by time, nevertheless, their remnants excited the explorer in her, especially when she noted the unique spire with its donut hole, just like the one on her hand-drawn missive.

  Her excitement must have shown because Kendrick declared it their campsite for the night, despite the fact twilight remained a few hours away.

  Delighted she’d get a chance to explore, Ruth struggled to put up her tent herself, waving Joel away when he would have stepped in to help. It took her a little longer, but in the end, with only one snapped body part, she got the stupid shelter up. Grabbing a camera, a notebook, and a pen, she tossed the rest of her stuff inside, but then hesitated. Joel and Kendrick didn’t want her exploring alone. But busy with other things, she didn’t want to disturb them and have them tag along as unwilling babysitters. I won’t technically leave the camp, though. Or so she consoled her conscience as she went to ogle the remains, the unexcavated, untouched ruins. Oh my, did that excite the explorer – and Indian Jones lover – in her.

  Many theories abounded about the Mayans and their disappearance. Famine. Disease. A mass exodus. Extermination by another group. Even theories as farfetched as alien extraction existed. Fascinated by their evolved culture, Ruth devoured texts on archeological finds, but reserved her own opinion, the evidence contradicting itself in many respects. No people, yet no bodies. No signs of violence – the kind you’d see with a raid for slaves, yet no evidence of a gentle departure given the belongings left behind.

  A mystery. She loved the excitement of it. While the men scouted for firewood, a task they banned her from days before when her constant shrieks at scattering bugs kept bringing them running, she didn’t worry about giving them a hand. Or as Kendrick dryly called her aide, “More hindrance than help.” Her skills lay in a different direction. Botany.

  She loved plants. All kinds of plants. Here in the jungle, the researcher in her was giddy at all the flora. But the lure of her green friends, though, couldn’t compete with the Lara Croft persona hidden inside. What girl didn’t dream of exploring some ruins? Discovering treasure? Solving the Mayan mystery?

  Flashlight clipped to her belt, Ruth approached the overgrown looming presence of the stone block building. Its height and tiered levels intact, even after all this time.

  She circled the temple-like structure, noting the denseness of the vines and foliage creeping all over its pitted stone surface, reclaiming the building and land. She almost missed the darker shadow of an opening in the bramble. A trampling of little critter footprints led into the stone-crafted tomb. Crouching down, she shone her flashlight at the hole. She couldn’t see far. Grasping some of the crisscrossing vines, she tugged, clearing and widening the opening, her excitement mounting. When it proved big enough for her to enter if she ducked, she scooted in, the bobbing light in her hand dancing upon the stone walls covered in cobwebs and dust. Another step and the cooler air dissipated the humid heat of the jungle – a welcomed relief.

  How marvelous. She must have appeared like a slack-jawed idiot as she gaped around at the stone, still fitted together after all this time, so obviously manmade and old. Really freakn’ old.

  And I’m exploring it! As she walked, her feet scuffed the dirt and silt of time lining the floor. It wasn’t hard to note the passage of four-legged denizens. Branches, leaves, even the scattering of small bones lined the passage.

  Treading carefully, her flashlight beam darting ahead for signs of danger – hole in the floor, vicious animal, Indiana Jones style trap – she almost held her breath in the silent, tomblike tunnel. She forgot to count her paces as she walked, ignoring the side passages for the moment, still retaining enough wits to know how easily she could get lost in the mazelike structure. Eventually, though, she did hit an intersection that forced her to choose – left or right?

  She gnawed her lip as she peered back behind her, the small square of daylight so far away. It finally penetrated her thick skull that she’d not told the others where she went. What if she fell down a hole? Or injured herself?

  And what if I turn back and can’t return? Will I forever regret not taking a chance?

  Spine straightening, she made her decision. She would go on, but take precautions. However, leaving to tell someone where she roamed would probably result in her getting grounded. They should figure it out, though, her conscience argued, given the hole she’d created in the vines, but once inside, it could get confusing, especially once she chose a direction. They’d need a sign to know which way to follow.

  Holding the flashlight between her teeth, she penned a quick note, one word really, right with an arrow – just in case. She tore it free and tucked it in the seam of the rock wall. There. Now they could follow her trail.

  Then she went exploring.

  Kendrick noted Ruth wandering around the ruins, and while he kept her within sight for the most part, he also gave her space. More for his peace of mind as he tried to figure out how to deal with her. He couldn’t just do as his mother suggested. This was his mate. A delicate human girl who gently rebuffed his advances even as her body betrayed her interest. While his wolf seemed to think he should swoop in and claim her, knowing the bond didn’t affect her, he feared frightening her off, especially since he wasn’t the only one working to gain her affection.

  Snapping off a bough, Ruth a speck of motion at the corner of his eye, Kendrick had to turn his back on her a moment as he hefted the pieces he’d harvested and brought them back to the center of camp. Joel, his own arms laden, followed him.

  “I think she really doesn’t get it,” Joel admitted as he dumped his load with a noisy number of thumps.

  “Get what?” Kendrick asked, tossing a quick glance at Ruth to see her bending over to pluck something. Reassured, he knelt and cleared an area, surprised at the lack of signs of previous campfires given the location appeared perfect. A result of a jungle determined to keep what was hers pristine, or had they inadvertently stumbled somewhere they shouldn’t? Ancient burial ground? Fire ant nest? Unsuspecting ambush site? Sniffing the air, Kendrick still noted nothing out of place. All the odors he’d expect appeared – lush foliage, spore, pollen, the decay of fallen plant life. There was no special hush, or urge to stay quiet. The birds sang. Bug
s whirred. In the near distance, animals conversed.

  “What do you think? I’ve done every nice thing I can think of short of asking her outright—”

  “Or bending her over a log,” Kendrick muttered, his favorite fantasy slipping out before he could stop it.

  “And she acts … I don’t know what to call it. One minute she’s blushing. The next, I can smell her desire. Then she’s getting annoyed with me and when she realizes it, she’s back to the blushing. What the hell am I doing wrong?”

  “Maybe we’re being too subtle.”

  “Me, subtle? I’ve tried every pick-up line I know plus some new ones and she’s still not biting? Do you know she asked me if I had a girlfriend?”

  “She did? She didn’t ask me that.”

  “As if I’d disrespect any woman of mine that way.”

  “Should have given her a sound tongue lashing.”

  “I wish.” Joel sighed. “Maybe this whole human thing is just doomed before it starts. If I wasn’t worried about leaving the camp undermanned, I’d go for a run.”

  “You and me both. But my gut says we’re close, so no taking off. We stick together.”

  “This totally blows.”

  “Then it’s time we put an end to it,” Kendrick announced.

  “What are you suggesting?”

  “Bend her over and take her.”

  “This is my mate we’re talking about.”

  “Our mate. And I’m beginning to think she won’t cave until we show her the way. Or the light. The big O.”

  Joel bristled. “She’s not some one-night-stand whore. I can’t just seduce her. Although, I’d really, really like to. Why did she have to be a human? A normal shifter girl would have jumped us by now.”

  “You guys are pathetic,” Peter tossed their way. “Why are you sneaking around the issue? She’s your mate. Man up and claim her sweet ass.”

  “Don’t talk about her like that.” Joel’s gruff threat saw him nose to nose with the tanned wolf.

  Peter backed away, hands raised. “Whoa. No disrespect meant. We know she’s already claimed, bite or not. Just saying, why are you treating her so different? She’s your mate. Fuck her and bite her. Simple.”

  “That’s what my mother said, more or less,” Kendrick grumbled.

  “She’s human, though,” Joel argued. “Which means we can’t be like we usually would.”

  “She’s a woman who is shy, self-conscious, and worried about her sister.”

  “Shy? Have you seen her go toe-to-toe with me?” Kendrick couldn’t mask his incredulity.

  “That’s because you purposely get her mad. I don’t blame you, it’s a hot look.”

  Before he knew it, Kendrick rubbed his knuckles and Peter sat on his ass on the ground, a look of surprise on his face.

  “Bloody freakn’ hell,” he yelled. “Would you just fuck her already? This is getting ridiculous.”

  “She hasn’t chosen one of us yet. Once she does, we’ll take turns claiming her.”

  Fernando chuckled. “One at a time? Chickens.”

  “As if you’d share your woman with another guy.” Kendrick sneered at their suave group member. He’d not forgotten how the Latino hovered around his woman, constantly propositioning her.

  “A man, he comes once. A woman can come so many times she’ll literally pass out from pleasure. There is something immensely exciting about watching as someone you trust fucks a sweet and wet pussy. Maybe sucking on her tits while you finger her, her whole body tense and shivering as she takes a cock deep. But there’s nothing wilder than sandwiching her, seesawing your dick up her ass while another takes her pie. It’s like the never-ending orgasm for everyone.”

  “So you’ve done this?”

  “In my college days I did a lot of things. And I can tell you, watching another guy do a girl? It’s intense. Even before you get into the mix, you get excited as you imagine doing stuff to her while she’s getting her sweet pussy filled. Or watching her give some excellent head. Then, when you join in, her cries, her scent, her excitement is overwhelming. With the mate bond, I’d imagine it will be even more intense than usual, lucky bastards.” Fernando sounded truly wistful of their luck.

  Eyes flicking to Joel, Kendrick wondered. What would he think if he saw Joel between her thighs? Would he want to tear him off? Or would it excite him enough to join in? Tag-teaming meant one at a time, something he could handle and did while drunk a time or two, usually with more girls, though. But with one woman, they’d truly end up close, too close for his comfort? Or would it excite him? Two shafts buried inside her, moving in alternate strokes, connected on such an intimate level. Kendrick couldn’t quite imagine it.

  Neither could his buddy. “I don’t think so,” Joel muttered. “That’s taking trust and friendship a little too far. Besides, if you think I put you to shame now, you’ll want to hide in a corner for sure since I’m long enough to touch her tonsils.”

  Kendrick snorted. Then outright laughed. “Whatever. As I recall, mine’s almost as long, but thicker. And we all know what the ladies really prefer.

  “Long.”

  “Fat.”

  “Long.”

  “Fat.”

  Fernando stepped between their glaring countenances. “While I would love to hear the outcome of this debate, it occurs to me that the reason for this discussion has been out of sight for a while. Given we’re looking for women, abducted out of the blue, it might make sense for at least one of us to be with her if she’s going exploring.”

  “You’d better not be trying to volunteer yourself,” Kendrick growled. Jealousy saw a threat in every overture concerning Ruth.

  “You know what? I’m done reasoning with you idiots. Peter is right. Just fuck her already. Both of you. Then maybe you’ll get some blood back to your brains and start thinking with them again.”

  “Where is she?” Joel asked, a frown between his brows. “He is right. She’s been gone a while.”

  Kendrick took a step in the direction he’d last seen her in, not worried yet, given her penchant to wander, that and the fact the sun still shone, but he didn’t like her absence either. “I don’t smell anything.”

  “Yeah, because your sense of smell is so foolproof against a tribe of jaguars that’s managed to exist undiscovered for centuries.” Joel rolled his eyes.

  “Not so undiscovered if we know about them.”

  “We’ll argue the theories later. I’m going to look for her.”

  Like hell. “Nope. I will. As my second, I place you in charge of the camp and its setup until I get back.”

  “Dick.”

  “That’s thick dick to you.” Kendrick grabbed his crotch and leered while dodging a jab from his friend.

  “Oh, game on, dude. Don’t be so sure you’ve won yet.”

  But this wasn’t a game. This is my life. My future. My woman.

  Best friend or not, Kendrick wouldn’t necessarily play by the rules. And he was done being Mr. Patient. It was time he made a few things clear to Ruth. Forget subtle. Time he took her by storm, passionate storm.

  Now, if only he could find her. It didn’t take him long to pick up her trail, and while he didn’t sense any danger, her disappearance into the ruins didn’t reassure. Once inside, he moved faster, not liking how the stone seemed to press in all around him.

  He did pause to smile at her little note tucked in the stone. How considerate of her to think to give him a hand. As if he needed it. He could follow her scent anywhere.

  A good thing too, given the twists and turns, not all paths still having a paper trail, some rodent-sized denizens having already stolen the notes for their nests.

  When he came across her, he slowed and shook his head. She didn’t even look his way so engrossed was she with the wall. Face smudged with dirt, her hands trailing over the rock, he almost laughed at her. Enraptured, she never noticed him sneaking up behind her. Inhaling her scent. Getting hard. Hungering. Wanting.

  Slow down. He
needed to take it carefully so as to not frighten her with his more animalistic side. But he couldn’t resist making her jump.

  “You shouldn’t wander off alone. It’s dangerous.”

  Kendrick’s words startled her from her contemplation of the grooves on the wall. Whirling, Ruth clasped a hand to her chest.

  “Must you sneak?” Lost in the marvel of her discovery, she never heard him arrive. But she should have expected it, given his new goal in life involved sticking to her like glue.

  “I don’t sneak. I skulk. I am a professional skulker, best in my family.” A wild boast that made her smile and giggle. It was then he hit her with it. His first genuine smile. Not just any smile, but an intimate grin, just for her.

  Hear that? The silence. It was the sound of her heart stopping in shock. God, she’d thought him cute before, but a truly happy Kendrick, wearing a sexy, teasing grin, was enough to make her knees weak. It took all of her control not to throw herself at him.

  “Skulking is for animals.”

  “Yeah. That sounds about right.” He inched closer, his lips still curved so sexily.

  Flustered, she gave him her back and returned to examining the markings on the wall. “I found some neat carvings.”

  “Oh really?” His query came from right behind her.

  “They’re fascinating.”

  “Tell me more.” His low rumble sent a shiver down her spine. She spent less time concentrating on the faded images and more time noticing how close he stood. Closer. Touching. He pressed against her back, one arm curling possessively around her waist, his hand splaying as his groin molded itself to her backside. No mistaking the hard bulge there.

  She swallowed. “More? More what?”