by J. K Harper
Closing his eyes for a moment, he opened them with a sigh. He had to let her go for all the complicated reasons there were. But that didn't mean he had to let go of her today. Or that they had to stay as frozen with each other as the winter weather. Slowly formulating a vague plan, he drove home with a faint flicker of hope that he could remind his mate why they were mates in the first place. It might not be much, but it was enough for a desperate wolf to hang onto, at least for now.
2
Wind slapped Lia's cheeks as she neatly whipped around a small cluster of trees, cutting ahead of Connor. He yelled something but it was muffled under his full face helmet. Grinning, she sped ahead, enjoying the flex and curve of her body as she sank into each turn. Sure, she'd miss tele-skiing back east. But for the moment, she could enjoy the heck out of the sensation of flying, the powder-covered mountain, the bright blue skies and cold sunshine of this early December day.
And a weekday to boot. Never in her life had she skipped out on a work day, but her last day at Joe's office had come and gone, complete with a really sweet going away party. And, of course, a guarantee from Joe that if she should ever decide to come back to the wild west, her job would be waiting for her. They'd both laughed, knowing that would never happen. But it was nice of him to say. Fine, she was going to miss Joe and the firm. She knew the new place in DC would be cutthroat and there would be no real friends there. That was par for the course on her ambitious trajectory, though. If she wanted to get ahead, she had to play the game with the same ruthless calculation as her coworkers, only better.
But taking one morning off just because she could turned out to be a sweet, sweet thing indeed. She'd set aside the new case file after staying up till midnight taking notes. Connor had been in bed by then, his tiny little snores that she always found so adorable coming and going with each deep breath he took. She'd been tempted to try to wake him when she finally slipped under the covers, but she knew she was too tired anyway.
It was like they were a middle-aged couple with three kids, for god's sake. Not young, successful professionals with no kids on the horizon, still possessing the stamina to work fifteen-hour or more days, and no specific duties to their pack other than basic adherence to pack laws and perfunctory appearances at some gatherings. They should be getting it on like the wild things they supposedly were.
Cubs, her wolf thought with longing, picturing some of the pack's cubs rolling and tumbling with cute little wolf squeals and mock growls as they played. Lia sighed. Yes, she wanted kids. One day. Maybe in a decade or two. Wolf shifters lived far, far longer than humans, and aged with corresponding slowness. She had a long time left to bear children.
Wolf cubs, her wolf thought, puzzled. Not bear cubs.
Lia laughed and bobbled a bit, which allowed Connor to zip in front of her on the next turn. It means have children, silly side, she thought back at her wolf, admiring Connor's form as they flew down the mountain, the cold air stinging yet also bracing.
Not silly side, her wolf harrumphed back at her. Deadly predator side.
Lia snorted, but she couldn't argue with that. Still watching Connor, she sighed in sheer appreciation. Lean and graceful, her mate could still make her breath catch when she looked at him. Even if the last time he had touched her with any real sort of passion was too long ago.
Problem, her wolf thought.
Yes. It was a problem, and one both Lia and Connor were perfectly aware of. Shifters enjoyed sex, and a lot of it. Going too long without sex was actually quite detrimental to their well-being. Feeling her own tension increase by the day, she got it. Totally. The situation wouldn't be helped one bit when she left.
Yesterday, when Connor casually had mentioned the idea of hitting the slopes today, she'd brushed it off at first.
“I've got too much to do,” she said, giving him a regretful but distracted smile from the little office in their house they shared, although usually neither one occupied it since they were at their job sites more often. But until she left for the east coast, she'd claimed the room as hers to spread out the files she brought back from her old office at Joe's firm.
“It might be one of the last times you get to go skiing for months,” he'd countered, leaning up against the doorframe, studying her with his arms folded across his chest.
Connor was your typical guy next door, albeit a really attractive one. Dark hair he kept short but not severely so, a sexy little scruff of a beard she'd always loved to feel scratching against her skin, eyes the color of a rich cognac that really were windows into his soul. She'd always been able to read his eyes and know what was going on his head and heart. He had an open face, across which his emotions could be easily read.
She loved him, no question about it. But simply loving someone, she'd discovered over the past few years, was a far cry from being able to successfully and happily make a relationship actually work from day to day. Even for wolf shifter mates.
Is easy, her wolf had huffed inside, pushing to the surface. Mate is mine. Love him. The end.
Lia had laughed a bit at that. Her wolf side sometimes picked up on her human expressions the same way her human side picked up on her wolf's instincts. Connor had brightened at her laugh, smiling with such hope it leapt over to her as well. His excitement swept over her like a clean, fresh breeze, making her realize something. He was right. Time to carpe diem and all that. Or at least carpe the skiing, for a few hours.
Shushing down the steep mountainside, which they had almost to themselves since they were just coming back into the resort from the backcountry tele-skiing area, she let her eyes linger on his form as he gracefully took the turns ahead of her. Each move was almost choreographed in its easy mastery of the sport. She might be a better skier than her mate, but that didn't mean she didn't highly applaud his own skills at it. They'd met on the slopes, after all. She'd come to Durango for the winter wedding of a law school friend who'd grown up here and was an avid skier. There'd been a small group of the younger members of the wedding party who gathered at the resort several days before the actual wedding to ski and celebrate the soon-to-be-newlyweds.
Connor, who'd been a classmate and friend of the bride's from the local college, had taken one look at Lia and that was it. She'd been caught up in those shimmering light brown eyes, that gentle smile, and the lightning strike that was one wolf shifter mate meeting its other half.
As the wind whistled past her now, she smiled at the memory, relaxing more and more into the day's unstructured fun. It had all started right here. She'd first met her Connor only a few slopes away. His easy laugh, his natural kindness, his patient devotion to her, had all come into her life here.
Hmm. Maybe they should have gone skiing sooner. She'd missed this, but what with preparing for her last case with Joe and poring over the file from DC, not to mention making all the little decisions one had to do when moving across the whole darned country, every weekend she'd possibly had a day free, Connor of course had an emergency at the clinic.
She softened, though, as she pictured Connor at his work. He was so dedicated to the local residents who had the least resources. No, she didn't want his passion to break their bank accounts, and she sometimes despaired of his ever learning to say a gentle no to yet another destitute patient, but she really did love the big-heartedness that was a huge part of his character. His endlessly generous heart had been one of the things she admired most about him, from when she'd first met him until now.
Very quietly, she sometimes wished her own heart was as big. Her wolf whined at that, but didn't push.
Although he'd talked to the Black Mesa Wolf Pack's healer, the alpha's mate, Otsana, about apprenticing with her, he'd been so strongly pulled to help the legions of humans who needed medical care instead that Otsana had told him to follow his heart into the work that satisfied him. She wasn't going to stop being the pack's healer anytime soon, at any rate. Besides, healing shifters was very different, since shifters mostly healed on their own. It took a major
injury, or more likely a host of injuries, to require the skills of a shifter healer. Connor would be kept far more stimulated working with human patients and their much more frequent ailments and injuries.
Ahead of her, Connor bent low into a turn, slicing it sharply in a show-off move. Lia laughed, the sound of it carrying over the wind-tossed day to the ears of her mate. He whooped in response, sassing her with a little ass wiggle. This time, Lia almost choked on her laughter. She hadn't seen this side of Connor in some time. Not since she'd found out about the DC position and started to focus her entire being on nabbing it.
Her pulse quickened just a bit. Hmm. Connor had been pretty eager about this day. She'd chalked it up to his being excited for a chance to strap on their skis, in what was only their third day on the slopes so far this long, deeply snowy season, but just maybe her mate had had something else in mind. Feeling her smile pull up her lips into a rare outright grin, she curled into the turn almost as tightly to be sure she stayed right on his tail.
Has no tail right now. Her wolf peered out her eyes, which were safely hidden behind her goggles, eager just at the thought of Connor. Must be wolf to have tail. Lia's wolf always liked it here on the mountain, even though she didn't fully understand why people would do such a thing as slide down a mountainside while strapped onto long, slick sticks. That it was fun, though, she did indeed understand.
Fun is good, her wolf thought, excitement in her voice.
Yes. Wolves enjoyed fun and play quite a bit more than most adult humans did. Herself included, Lia knew. She couldn't help that. If she wanted to be a nationally known attorney, she had to put fun and games on the back burner. Even with a longer life span, she wanted to get immersed in the human legal world now. Shifters who interacted closely with humans had to be careful since they aged much more slowly than their human friends and coworkers. One day, Lia would have to give up human law altogether, or else be called a witch and burned at the stake for all she knew. But for now, she wanted to soak in every aspect of it. She loved it, regardless of the crushing schedule that was only about to get worse in DC.
Fun is good, her wolf insisted again, urging Lia to fly faster downhill. Fully giving in to the moment, Lia complied. After all, she had to catch her mate. He definitely, she decided, had something up his sleeve. And the part of her that had been missing his touch really wanted to find out what that might be.
She caught up to Connor as they slipped back onto the groomed slopes of the resort. They slowed their pace as they neared the buildings at the bottom of the hill, which were spitting out more skiers. Sliding into an expert stop just before the little island of plastic deck chairs randomly set out on the snow in front of the small cafe in the main building, where people lounged with drinks in hand as they idly watched others skiing down the slopes, Lia took off her helmet and ruffled her hand through her hair. “Do you want—”
“Lia, watch out!” Connor shouted, looking past her with sudden alarm.
Too late. Someone smacked hard into her with a shriek, sending her tumbling into Connor, who tripped under her weight and fell over backward. They landed in a pile of limbs and tangled skis, Lia's face pressed firmly into the snow above Connor's shoulder.
Her body also was pressed firmly against Connor. Despite the fact the man was her own mate, it had been so long since she'd felt his entire body next to hers she inhaled with surprise and a tingle of arousal. Unfortunately, she also inhaled snow, which set her to coughing and choking. Connor struggled to right them both, cursing at his skis.
“Do I need to smack you on the back?” he asked her, his tone half worried, half joking. She heard his wolf in his voice. Always surging to the forefront if he thought she was at all endangered.
“No,” she wheezed, well aware they were giving the bystanders a show. Especially since she was still tangled up with him. After Lia finally managed to breathe normally again, much to Connor's relief, they stood up. She waved off the vocal worries of the distraught newbie skier who'd lost control on the landing and slid right into her.
“Did you hurt anything?” Connor asked her, his amber-gold eyes a shade darker with his concern as he ran practiced doctor hands over her body.
A light shiver rippled through her at his touch, which was purely professional and detached, if more casually personal than he would be with strangers. Well. This was interesting indeed. Her wolf sashayed through her mind, shamelessly wanting to show Connor her tail. Ahem. “No, I'm fine, I told you,” she said, keeping her voice collected by habit.
Since when had she gotten into that habit with Connor? Right. Since...probably years now. Damn. Twisting her lip with her teeth, she tried to soften her voice as she said, “Let's just go home, hmm? I think I could use a soak in the hot tub.”
He abruptly stilled his hands on her. She sensed his sudden, keen interest. Mouth suddenly drying, she licked her lips, which made him go even more still. She'd been right. This morning's little playtime on the mountain was a ploy to get them both into a space they could share together. A mixed surge of hope and the sweet tickle of arousal lifted in her, making her heartbeat kick up a notch.
“Connor?” she asked, her voice suddenly a bit lower than usual. She felt her wolf hovering just below the surface, very intrigued with her mate's reaction to her, adding the depth to her voice. “Was it something I said?” she added, deliberately making her words sound seductive just to see what that might do to him.
Connor's wolf leapt into his eyes, which were still covered by his goggles, though he'd taken his helmet off just before they been slammed to the ground. The flood of his pheromones shot out to her, and she inhaled his musky scent with a shivering need that had her wolf pawing for control.
Ah. So her mate had planned this, indeed. The control she liked to hold began melting off as her mate's intentions carried to her on his increasingly intense, head-rushing scent.
“You've been saying it to me all day, Lia.” His voice had dropped as well, the faint undertones of his wolf lending it a rough edge that skittered along all her senses, rousing her to new awareness.
The bone-deep knowledge that she and her mate were going to go home and straight to bed shortened her breath and made her lightly tremble all over. Connor was the only person in the world who could make her lose control, who could make her tough outer shell crack with a single whisper.
Mine, her wolf snarled softly in her head. But she didn't mean Connor. She meant Lia. She wanted to take over, to guide Lia's movements through the wilder side. To make Lia let go and roll around with abandon in the moment with her mate.
Now, she thought, caught in Connor's heated gaze, which she could feel down to her naked skin. Yes. They'd needed this for months now. Badly.
“Home, love,” she whispered.
“Yes,” he said, his eyes promising her things. She could sense his own control being pushed at by his wolf as well.
Heat coiled between them like a living thing as they headed to the parking lot. Lia focused on nothing but the man beside her. On all the delicious things she wanted him to do to her once they were alone, her head beginning to spin with the possibilities. The things she'd been too busy, too tired, too who knew what, to make time for recently. She wanted him to ravish the hell out of her.
“Oh, you bet I will,” her mate said, lightly touching her hip as they walked with single-minded focus.
Startled, she looked at him. The look he gave her in return shot through her with its strictly sensuous intentions. “Your wolf is broadcasting so loudly I think any shifter within a mile will know what we're up to,” he said in a low voice. “The images I'm getting from you, sweetheart, are making my toes curl. Walk faster,” he said, the deep tone an order. He grabbed her hand and practically raced them both to the car.
Her wolf leapt into her eyes with demanding force, shredding the control Lia struggled to maintain. This was the Connor she rarely saw anymore. Dominant, taking the lead, and so hungry for her nothing would stop him. Eager to find out e
xactly what that would look like when they got home, she matched him stride for stride as her thoughts sizzled down into pure awareness of the sexy man prowling beside her.
The man she was about to leave. Well, she thought with sizzling determination, not before they had one more passionate, soul-igniting romp together.
3
By the time they hit the highway, Connor was in a state of arousal so high he had his hands tightly curled around the steering wheel to keep himself from reaching for Lia and running them off the road by accident. Her scent was driving him crazy, as was their old game of silent seduction. Neither said a single word on the way, but the tension leaping between them could combust the car into flames. Achingly thrilled that his effort at seeing if they could spend some quality time together was actually working, he drove as fast as he was legally allowed.
At home, Connor had the passenger door open within what seemed like seconds of turning off the engine. He grabbed her eager hand and hustled her up the short walkway to their cute downtown house. Fumbling with the key in the lock, Lia's hands on his waist, he finally managed to get the front door open. He'd barely closed it when Lia simply launched herself at him. Fingers pushing through his hair and body plastered to his, she lifted her lips to his with a hunger he knew well but had missed for far too long now.
Fully roused, his wolf stayed well at the forefront of his mind, lending Connor the wildness he sensed he would need to satiate his mate. And himself. Reaching behind Lia's head, he found the band that held her hair and tugged it off. Golden masses fell around her face, softening the planes of her features that so often were hard-edged. For Connor, Lia let her softer side show. And her wild side, the one controlled by her wolf.
Only for him. The knowledge hardened him. He bit back a groan as she deliberately rocked her hips into him. “Connor,” she murmured, her mouth playing against his with a small vibration that shocked into him, sending sparks through his body.
