by Jade Alters
In reality it was all because of him that I was here. He'd gotten me the job. The man that hired me was an old army buddy of his. The man that sent me here...but that would mean they were in collusion and that man knew about all of this as well. It all sounded so, paranoid. I didn't want to believe my own flesh and blood had set me up, but sadly I could easily believe that he knew about this tower and the horrible things that went on there. I supposed it wasn't much more of a stretch to believe he might not care enough about his own family that he would sacrifice me for something he wanted. But what was it that he might get out of it? Were they paying for me? Did he have a stake in this “army” they wanted to create?
That night when we finally got to the cave we would bed down in, my head was throbbing. The men all tried talking to me, except Manny who still looked at me like maybe I was the wolf and the one to be wary of. I more or less ignored them all and lay in my sleeping bag with my eyes closed wondering if I'd be better off if one of them just grew thirsty for blood in the middle of the night and ate me. I eventually slept, but my sleep was haunted by dreams of being held in chains, naked, against a wall. I could feel the chains burning my skin and I woke up covered in a sheen of sweat. I told myself it was just the manifestation of all the anxiety...but it had felt so real.
The next day we walked again, for hours. I was feeling weak and exhausted. Every muscle in my body ached. I could tell that the men weren't affected by the exercise the way I was. They could probably keep moving all day and night without stopping at all if not for me. I did appreciate the breaks, but I was still angry with them. Of course I knew that if everything they told me was true, that was unfair. They didn't have any more choice than I did. In their defense, and for some crazy reason by the third day, my mind was looking for a defense for them, they did try to save me once. They kidnapped me off that base and arranged for that plane to pick me up. They lost their teammate in the process, and taking me to the tower was about saving another one. So maybe I was being too hard on them, or maybe I was developing that syndrome that people get when someone kidnaps them. I had learned about it in one of my classes in college. It was called Stockholm syndrome. It's a psychological alliance that kidnap victims develop for their captors. It's part of the survival instinct. No matter how doomed you are...most people just can't accept that there's no hope. To believe you've bonded with your captors is to give your mind and your heart some semblance of hope...a shred of possibility for a future that shouldn't exist. I couldn't help it though, even with Manny as grumpy as he was, I felt something toward each of them. I was attracted to them all, they were gorgeous men. But it was more than that. I'd begun to develop a sense of kinship toward them as well.
“We'll bunk here tonight,” Manny said, stopping at the entrance of what looked like an even smaller cave than the one we had slept in the night before.
Titan dropped his things and said, “Somebody make a fire. I'm going to get something decent to eat tonight.” At the mention of food, my stomach rumbled. Even starving, I'd hardly been able to stomach the MRE's we were still working on as our primary source of nourishment. Will kept talking about rabbit the night before. I had never eaten rabbit, but at that point I almost thought I might be able to eat it raw. I was actually craving meat...a big, thick, juicy steak would be nice. But at this point, I'd take anything that was fresh and not out of an aluminum package.
“I'll go get the firewood,” Clay said. In the midst of everything swirling through my head throughout the day, I had tried hard to find a positive. The fact that we had climbed high enough that we were finally in the midst of trees...like a real forest, was the first, and really only one I came up with. If I looked harder, I supposed I could add that the air was easier to breathe and it didn't get quite as hot during the day. I didn't get as sweaty and there was a stream that ran all the way along the path we were walking, so washing up or just refreshing myself on a break was a lot easier.
“I'll go too,” I heard myself saying, before I'd even thought that through. Did I want to be alone in a forest with a wolf? Maybe that wouldn't have been my first choice, but in all honesty, I’d been alone with four of them for three days. If they wanted to eat me, they would have done it by now. Clay looked like he might argue with me, but stopped himself and simply nodded. He left his things at the campsite, taking only his small pistol with him and a knife. As I followed him off the path and toward a thick clump of trees, we were both silent. But we as they entered under the canopy that blocked out most of what was left of the sun's rays for the evening, Clay said,
“You might want to hold onto me. We won't go in too far, but it will get darker before it gets lighter.”
I had noticed over the past few days that my eyesight seemed to be getting keener in the dark. I wrote it off to just spending so much time in it. But arguing with Clay was not worth it, so I took hold of the back of his shirt and tried not to notice how I could feel the heat of his body shooting up my arm and into my body as I followed along. The attraction I felt to him was just slightly stronger than what I felt toward the other men, and had been growing even stronger by the day. I could tell by the way he looked at me that he felt it too.
Oddly enough, I could tell they all felt something when they were was close to me...even Manny. Sometimes thoughts of Clay in the nude right before he transformed would find their way back into my head and lead to thoughts that I was even ashamed to have in private. I was no virgin, but I wasn't overly experienced either. What I saw in my mind's eye when I let my guard down and thought about touching one of the men...was savage, hot, sweaty, almost primal sex. I craved it a little more every day and although I was sure there was more to it, I tried to write it off to hormones and the doctor changing my birth control pills right before I left the states. Whatever it was seemed to be stronger out there in the woods, with the sights and smells of nature all around me...and Clay, big, strong and sexy, right in front of me.
They'd only gone into the thick brush about five or six feet when he stopped and said, “These pieces look pretty dry. Will you be okay to let go of me for a few and I'll pick them up?”
“I'll be fine,” I said, not wanting to let him go, but letting my head rule my libido once again. I watched as he bent down and scooped up an armful of the wood. The muscles in his arms rippled as he loaded them and when he stood back up, we were face to face and he was so close that I could feel his breath on my face. The desire for him completely overwhelmed me and I couldn't deny it a second longer. It owned me...I had to have him, right then and there. Strangely enough, I almost thought that I was able to smell his arousal as well.
Courtney
“Clay?” My voice was breathless, like a woman in the throes of passion. I didn't know if it was the lust that consumed me at the moment, or fear of what I suddenly thought I knew.
“Yeah?” His voice was deeper than usual too...throaty, sexy. I almost forgot what I was going to tell him and went for his lips.
“I don't understand this...pull, but you feel it too, don't you?”
“Yes, and I think maybe I've also figured out what it is they want with you.”
Well that blew the mood, at least for the moment. I took a step back, out of that magnetic field that wanted to pull me in and said, “What? What do they want?”
“A mate...a mother, perpetuation of the species.”
“Excuse me?” I understood exactly what he said, I was just hoping I'd heard him wrong.
“There was only one female at the tower when we were there. She was older...maybe in her sixties, and I didn't see any children, or pups.”
I couldn't believe that anyone would think of me in terms of perpetuating any species. Even before all of this, I had never planned on getting married or having children. I was always very careful with my... “Oh my God!”
“Don't panic. We'll figure this out.”
I shook my head. “No...it's not that, I mean, it is but...Clay, before I left the states, the doctor took me off my birt
h control.”
He frowned. “Why?”
“I went in for my vaccinations, before I flew out. A few days later I got a rash on my face and I went back in. I thought it was a reaction to the vaccinations. He drew some blood...God, I'm so stupid.”
“No you're not, Courtney. Whatever he told you, you believed because he was someone you were supposed to be able to trust.”
“He told me that I had too much estrogen in my body and I needed to take a break from the pills. I thought it was a good time, actually. I figured I wouldn't be having sex while I was in Afghanistan, so I wouldn't need them anyways. I'm so stupid. I was just thinking maybe my hormonal imbalance was why I felt so...”
“Horny?” he said, with a grin.
He was trying to help lighten my load by making a joke, but I didn't want to smile. I wanted to cry as the real, hurtful realization began to take shape in my mind. My chest hurt and holding back the tears this time was going to be impossible. “My boss in Atlanta was an old army friend of my father's. My doctor...the same.”
“He served with your father too?”
I nodded as the tears began to slowly roll down my cheeks. Clay tossed the load of wood he had gathered aside and then reached out and wiped the tears off my face with his fingers. The touch of his skin against mine was like electricity, so strong it practically crackled in the air. My mood was back, in force. The desire was burning me up from the inside out.
I was still trying to keep it in check though and I told him, “When I told the General, I had to find a doctor to get my vaccinations up to date before I flew out, he recommended this Dr. Adams. He said they served together years ago. It's the same thing he'd told me about my boss. He set me up, Clay. My own father. He sent me here to...” The tears were streaming down my face then like a dam had broken loose. “He sent me here to be an incubator.”
Clay opened his arms and let me decide if I wanted to move into them or not. I could actually see the self-restraint he was showing on his face. It made me want him that much more, and I didn't need any time to decide. I needed to be held. I needed his warmth and understanding. I needed his touch. I felt broken, like nothing would ever be the same...or even okay, ever again, and it probably wouldn't be...so why shouldn't I give in to just a few minutes of pleasure before my world came crashing down. The instant I was wrapped up in his arms, the steady heat of his hands on my back and the rise and fall of his chest against mine began to calm me, like a sweet, comforting lullaby. I took a deep breath and then pulled myself back so that I could look up at his face. Despite everything, that desire in his eyes still burned hotly and it was that moment when I decided I was all in for this and there was no going back.
I let my hands slide up his sides, underneath his shirt. I had read hundreds of books about men with hard, perfect bodies, but I'd never felt one like this with my own hands before. It was like touching satin that had been lain over smooth rock. The contrast was sexy and I let my fingers play across the taut, chiseled muscles in his chest and stomach. His little moans and gasps as I touched him only egged me on and I pushed that shirt all the way up to his armpits. Clay let go of my hips and pulled off his helmet, and his shirt. I pulled him forward a few steps. He looked confused at first, but when he realized we were underneath an opening in the trees where the moonlight cascaded down on top of us, he seemed to understand. I had to see him.
While I continued my exploration of Clay's chest and back, he was doing an exploration of his own. He unbuttoned that big jacket I was wearing and pushed it back off my shoulders. I took my hands off him just long enough to let it fall off. It landed on the ground around my ankles and by the time it hit the dirt, Clay had my t-shirt pushed up as well. I pulled it off and watched his eyes widen as he got his first look at my breasts. They were still covered in my bra, but it was made mostly of lace and couldn't contain my hard nipples. They pressed through the lace and each breath I took caused the swell that showed over the top of all that lace, to move up and then down, slowly. Clay growled, literally. Suddenly his hands were on my face and he was pulling me up into a kiss. The kiss was passionate, hard, urgent. His tongue slid into my mouth and probed every dark, wet crevice. My tongue pushed back and the two danced and wrestled together in both of our mouths. Clay moved one hand to cover one of my breasts and slid the other up my back to release my bra. Once he did and my breasts fell loose against him, he groaned into my mouth. Finally he broke the kiss so that we could both take a breath and then without letting go of the breast in his hand, he stepped back to get a better look at me. Like I said, I was no virgin, but I wasn't overly experienced either. I'd only been with a few men in my lifetime and his inspection of my body made me slightly nervous.
“You're so beautiful,” he whispered. Those three words washed over me and doused my anxiety, just like that. It was my turn to reach for his face. I put my hands on either side, grasping onto his granite jaw and pull him back down to my mouth. While I kissed him, his busy hands massaged, caressed and explored my body, leaving a trail of heat in their wake. “Courtney?” he said, in a breathless whisper.
“Yes?” My voice was raspy and thick with lust.
“It's been a really long time since I've been with a woman.”
“I haven't been with anyone in a while either.”
“No...I mean, a lifetime ago, essentially. I haven't been with a woman since I was changed. I want you so bad...but I don't think I can be gentle and I'm almost positive this first time will be quick.” While he was talking, he kept touching and I felt one hand sliding down into the front of my baggy pants and the other one untying the rope I was using to hold them up. I'd thrown my underwear away after my first bath in the creek so when he made it to the spot between my legs, his hand was touching the swollen lips of my soaked pussy. We gasped almost in unison and I flexed my hips and opened my legs wider. He got the rope untied and as soon as he did, the pants fell down around my ankles.
“I don't care,” I was finally able to say. “I don't care if it's a minute or an hour Clay...I can't control this feeling any longer.” That was all he needed to hear. His lips were back on mine and his fingers got busy, exploring the soft folds between my legs, making me moan into his mouth and push my body into his even harder. Not a wisp of air would have been able to force its way between us now. Clay had one arm around me, grasping my butt and he let two of his fingers slide up inside of me. My gasp was almost a scream at that point, especially when he pushed them all the way up inside of me and then pulled them out and still with his mouth against mine, he whispered,
“I need to taste you. For three days I imagined what you would taste like.” He brought his fingers up to where our lips were still almost joined and rubbed them against his bottom lip first before opening his mouth and sliding them inside. He closed his eyes and made a face like he was in ecstasy, just from tasting me. I was so excited that I could feel the moisture rolling slowly down my thighs. He brought his fingers out of his mouth and ran them slowly along my own lips...and then dove back in for another hungry kiss. This time he sucked and bit at my lips and sucked my tongue into his mouth. His fingers moved faster and harder inside of me and I could already feel myself getting perilously close to the edge of that orgasmic cliff I'd been dangling from since the second I lay eyes on him. This time when he pulled out of the kiss, he grabbed me by both hips and spun me around. He moved me so quickly that a wave of dizziness assaulted me and if not for his tight grip on me, I might have fallen on my knees. “Put your hands out Courtney and grab that tree.” I did as he told me, pressing my palms into the rough bark of the Juniper tree. I heard the zipper of his pants and then felt him brush against my bare butt as he moved to push them down. I had already seen him naked once, when he shifted for me. I braced myself when I felt the thick head of his cock press against my opening. I wasn't kidding when I said it had been a long time, and I knew it was going to be a tight fit.
With a loud growl and then a grunt, Clay pushed his big cock into
me about halfway. I gasped and dug my fingers into the bark of the tree. “You okay?” I nodded and he reached up and began to play with my nipples while advancing more of himself into me. He went as far as he could...until he bottomed out inside of me and then his hands were back on my hips and he was plunging into me and pulling back and then thrusting in again. At first it was slow and rhythmic, but I could hear his breathing becoming more ragged and I could feel his hands tightening on me almost to the point of pain. Simultaneously he began moving faster and thrusting harder. The sheer force of his big body had me pressed into the tree. The bark was rough against the side of my face...but, I didn't care. I could be scarred for life, however long or short that might be. Clay felt amazing inside of me and if he wanted to do what he was doing until I died, that would be okay too.
Clay let his hands run up and down my sides, stopping to grip my breasts and squeeze them. He lowered his mouth to the side of my neck and licked and sucked and nibbled at the sensitive flesh there. I wondered what would happen if he really bit me. Would I change too? It was an almost erotic thought, the idea of him sinking his teeth into me while his hard, throbbing cock was inside of me. I pictured it, his sexy lips and tongue, saturated with my blood. Clay was licking it off his lips in my mind and unbelievably, the idea was making me hotter and wetter.
