by J. L. Wilder
“What are you thinking about?” he asked her.
“It’s just been a big day,” she said. “I never thought this would be my life, you know?”
“You’re not unhappy, are you?”
“No,” she assured him. “Just overwhelmed.”
“I’m glad you’re here,” he said. “For what it’s worth.”
“What has it been like for you?” she asked suddenly. “Living out here all alone, I mean? Away from the den for so long?”
“I think I always wanted to get away,” he said. “I never felt like myself with the den. I’m guessing you can relate to that.”
“That’s how I thought I felt,” Lauren said. “I’ve always been so much more in tune with my human side. I thought that getting myself established in the human world would feel like coming home.”
“It didn’t?”
“Not the way I expected it to,” she said. “There are things about the den I don’t like—particularly the way the alpha can force people to submit to his will—and I was glad not to have that in my life anymore. But there were things I missed about belonging to the pack as well. I never realized I would miss those things until they were gone.”
“What kinds of things?” he asked.
“The sense of community,” she said. “The way it feels like everybody is part of the same big family. Even the people you don’t like very much are like your cousins. Everyone is paying attention to the same things. One person’s drama is everybody’s drama.”
“And it wasn’t like that in the human world?”
“Definitely not,” she said. “Even the people I was close to—the people at my restaurant, who I worked with every day for years and years—I had no idea what some of their lives were like when they went home at the end of the day. And, of course, none of them ever knew that I was a shifter. We hardly knew each other at all.”
“Which world is better?” Wes asked.
“I don’t know,” she admitted. “They both have their drawbacks.”
“Maybe you’ll find that you like it best here,” he said with a grin. “Out in the wild with me.”
She laughed. “I don’t think I’ll ever get used to living in the wild,” she said. “But I think I could get used to being with you, Wes.”
I think I could get used to being with you too.
“Do you think Jessica will be very angry with us?” Lauren asked.
Wes sighed. “I don’t know,” he said. “I got the feeling when I spoke to her last that she wasn’t delighted with the way either one of us has handled this whole thing.”
“I can’t really blame her,” Lauren admitted. “We’ve put her in a position of having to choose between the two of us more than once. We need to talk to her. We’ve got to let her know we’re sorry and that it isn’t going to be like that anymore.”
“Which of us do you think should do it?” Wes asked. “Who’s she more likely to listen to?”
“I don’t know,” Lauren said. “Maybe we should plan on telling her together. You think?”
“I think that sounds about right,” Wes said. “But we’ll take our time. I think, given everything we’ve been through in the past few months, we deserve some time for ourselves.”
“Like a honeymoon?” Lauren asked with a little laugh.
Wes joined in her laughter. “Sure. Why not?”
And besides, I don’t want you anywhere near the city. Not while there’s still a chance of pack warfare.
He would make things right with his sister. But he was going to protect his babies. He would keep Lauren out of Chicago until he was sure that she would be safe.
Chapter Thirty-Five
WES
Eventually, Wes scooted back away from the fire. “That should keep going for a while now,” he said.
“We don’t have to keep tending it?”
“Nah. Lie down with me?”
He wrapped an arm around her and pulled her down into the grass. She came with him, though reluctantly.
“Are we sleeping outside?” she asked.
“It’s an awfully nice night to be cooped up indoors. Don’t you think?”
“I don’t know,” she said. “I haven’t slept outside since I was a teenager and we did those campouts.”
Wes laughed at the memory. “You never liked it much back then either,” he recalled, thinking back on the way she had dressed herself in long sleeves and pants—protective gear—while most of the other shifters had happily slept in tank tops and shorts in the dirt. He and Jessica had laughed teasingly at Lauren in those days, never imagining that in a few short years, she would be leaving the den for a human life.
Now he pulled her body close to his. “You should get used to being in nature like this,” he said.
“Right,” she sighed. “It’s all part of living wild, right?”
“In a sense,” he said. “You’re not really living wild, though.”
“Seems pretty wild to me.”
“It’s not as wild as it is when I go out as a bear for months at a time,” he pointed out. “I’m not asking you to do that. I’m not asking you to give up your humanity altogether.”
She shuddered delicately. “You’d better not ever,” she said.
“You’d surprise yourself.”
“This just feels so unnatural.”
“Forget about trying to be natural,” he said. “Don’t think. Let your instincts take over.”
She looked up at him. He saw nothing but absolute trust in her eyes.
“Come here,” he said quietly, sitting upright and pulling her into his lap so that she sat astride him. He threaded his fingers into her hair gently, noticing the soft silver streaks starting to emerge. “What do you want? What does your body tell you?”
She closed her eyes and exhaled slowly. “I think you know the answer to that, Wes.”
He nodded. “I do. But the point is that you know. You’re having trouble connecting to the natural impulses of your body. You’ve been human too long. You’ve been living in your mind instead of your body.”
He ran his hands slowly up her back, beneath her shirt, and pulled it over her head.
“Close your eyes,” he murmured.
She did so, breathing deeply.
“Listen to your body,” he said, bringing his hands to rest on her waist now. “What does your body want?”
“I—”
“Shh. Don’t answer. Do what feels natural.” He was glad he’d never gotten dressed again after his day of hunting. It was second nature to him to run around the forest naked. Now he didn’t have to worry about any clothes coming between them.
Lauren took a deep breath. He was mesmerized, momentarily, by the rise of her breasts. Her head bowed toward him.
Her hips began to rock slowly.
She was wet already, and he loved it. He groaned with pleasure as she pulled herself closer and closer to him. He was growing harder, and he knew that at any moment, their bodies were going to connect effortlessly. He was going to slip inside her—
Then Lauren lifted her hips slightly, somehow finding the perfect angle, and Wes gasped in surprise as he felt her slide down on him.
Her rhythm didn’t falter for even a moment. She circled her hips enticingly, grinding closer, throwing her head back in bliss. He wrapped his arms around her lower back to support her as she rode him.
“Oh, God,” she moaned. “Wes. Fuck.”
“I knew you knew what to do,” he said, his voice raspy with pleasure. “I knew your instincts were in there.”
She fucked him faster, letting out a little cry.
“You’re perfect,” he said. “You’re amazing. Keep going, baby. You’re an animal.”
She leaned forward so that her breasts were right up against his face, and for a moment, he thought he had died and gone to heaven. They were so big and full, swaying and bouncing so enticingly. He buried his face in their softness for a minute and inhaled her scent, feeling as if he was being lifted r
ight off the ground.
He had to be closer to her. It was all he could think about.
This had been about connecting her with her instincts. But at the moment, Wes felt lost in his own instincts as well. He was submersed in the purely animal desire to claim her, to bring their bodies together. It wasn’t like before, when he had thought about bringing her pleasure. He wasn’t even chasing his own pleasure. He was lost in the perfection of moving with her.
They might have gone on that way for hours. Later, Wes would never be able to say. He knew only that the fire was still burning beside them when Lauren let out a guttural cry and tensed around him, flinging her arms around his neck, rolling her hips as close to his as possible. He felt her shudder helplessly. Then she went limp in his arms.
He rolled them both over, laying her on her back on the ground without disentangling his body from hers. A few quick strokes had him coming as well, and he collapsed on top of her, suddenly aware of his own bone-deep exhaustion.
“Love you,” Lauren murmured, sounding barely conscious.
He rolled toward her instinctively, keeping them skin to skin. “Love you too.”
It was the first time he’d said those words to a woman, and it felt strange and wonderful. He was suffused with pleasure from the sex and the warmth of the fire’s glow. In this moment, everything felt absolutely perfect.
He closed his eyes and allowed himself to drift, keeping one arm firmly around Lauren to reassure himself, even in sleep, that she was there with him. He had no intention of letting her go.
Chapter Thirty-Six
WES
“Wes! Wesley!”
The sound of screams jerked Wes awake. He was on his feet before Lauren had opened her eyes, looking all around for the danger.
Something was crashing through the foliage. Something much too big to be a rabbit and much too clumsy to be a deer.
Lauren scrambled to her feet. Wes positioned his body between her and the approaching threat, defending her. He fell into a crouch, ready to shift if the situation called for it.
“Wes!”
Something clicked into place in his mind. What kind of threat would be screaming his name?
Then she appeared between the trees, running toward him as if her life depended on it.
“Jessica?” He hurried toward her. “What’s going on? Are you okay?”
She seemed not to notice or care about the fact that he and Lauren were both naked. “You need to get back to your trailer,” she said. “Right now. I’ve been looking for you.”
“Why?” Wes looked in the direction of his trailer. They were only about a half-mile away. “What’s the big deal?”
“It’s Tina. She left town this morning saying all kinds of crazy things about finding you and spilling your secrets. Does she know about you two? Is there any way she could?”
“I didn’t tell her,” Lauren said shakily, struggling into the t-shirt she’d been wearing last night. She grabbed a pair of shorts she had brought out to the campfire—a pair Wes had laughed gently at her for thinking he would need—and tossed them to him.
“Thanks,” he said. He would have to remember to apologize to her for that. She’d been right all along.
“I didn’t tell her either,” Jessica said.
Then she looked from Wes to Lauren. “Wait a minute,” she said. “What are you two doing together? You’re not—you know—together, are you?”
“Is this the time, Jess?” Wes asked in consternation.
She shook her head. “Right. I guess it isn’t. Sorry.”
“What happened with Tina?” Lauren said anxiously.
“Well, there was a party last night, and she and Cody got into a big fight,” Jessica said. “I don’t know what it was about. I didn’t even know it was going on until they were pretty deep into it, to tell you the truth. Once I saw what was up, I went over there to see if I could do anything to help, but as I was walking up, Tina shouted that if Cody wasn’t going to do anything, she would have to do it herself.”
“Do what?” Wes asked urgently.
“She didn’t say,” Jessica said. “Then Cody said that it wasn’t her place to do anything—that he was the alpha, and he would make the decisions for the den. She asked him if he was going to order her. They stared at each other for a moment, and then she turned and ran off.”
“Wild,” Wes said. “But what does that have to do with me?”
“This morning, I woke up and looked out my window to see her running down the street,” Jessica said. “I watched, and Felicity came out of her house and asked her where she was going so early. Tina said that Cody wasn’t going to deal with the problem, so she was going into the woods to do it herself. She told Felicity not to tell anybody she’d seen her, and then she ran off.”
“And you followed.”
“She could only have been talking about you, Wes,” Jessica said. “Who else is in the woods? I think she’s on her way to your trailer right now. You have to get there and intercept her. Whatever she wants, it’s not going to be anything good.”
Wes shook his head. “Why should I go back?” he asked. “I don’t want to talk to her. I don’t have any interest in whatever it is she wants.”
“Wes, she’s crazy,” Jessica said. “You don’t know what she’ll do.”
“Do you?” Lauren cut in. “You’ve been spending an awful lot of time with her lately. Do you know what this is about?”
Jessica looked abashed. “Look, Lauren—”
“You don’t have to explain anything to me,” Lauren said. “We don’t have to have some big reconciliation right now. I just need to know whether you have any idea what Tina’s problem is and what she might be out here to do.”
“She’s been obsessed with your pregnancy,” Jessica admitted. “She says the most horrible, crude things about you. I haven’t joined in, of course,” Jessica added. “But I haven’t argued with her either.” She blushed crimson. “I was angry with you.”
“It’s fine,” Lauren said. “I get it.”
“But why is she so obsessed with Lauren?” Wes asked. “What’s that all about?”
“I don’t know,” Jessica said. “At first, I thought she was just upset that a bunch of half-human babies would be joining the den, but that made less and less sense as time went on. Why wouldn’t she be getting over it, you know? And how could that really be such a big problem?”
“You don’t think that’s what it’s about anymore?” Lauren asked.
“No,” Jessica said. “I think she’s guessed that you lied about who the real father is.”
“But why does she care?” Wes demanded. “What difference does it make to her?”
“That’s the part I can’t figure out,” Jessica said. “But I’m telling you, she’s on her way here right now, and you don’t want to let her catch you like this if that’s what she’s angry about.”
Wes nodded. His sister’s words made sense, and like it or not, he was going to have to confront Tina.
“Stay with Lauren,” he told her.
“No way,” Jessica said. “I’m going with you.”
“You can’t go alone,” Lauren protested.
“I’m not leaving you on your own in the woods,” Wes told her. “Jess, stay with her. Please.”
Before his sister could argue any further, Wes turned and set off at a run back toward the trailer.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
LAUREN
“I'm not staying here,” Jessica said.
She was staring at the place where Wes had disappeared, and her whole body was trembling. Lauren would have been willing to place a bet that she was barely containing herself from shifting.
And, though her inner bear wasn’t quite as close to the surface, she felt exactly the same way. “We can’t let him go alone,” she agreed. “We need to follow him.”
“We nothing,” Jessica said, not even looking at her. “He’s right about you. You can’t be anywhere near this.”
“It’s going to confirm all of Tina’s suspicions. Is that what you want?”
“Of course not,” Lauren said. “But I’m not going to just sit here while you two deal with this alone.”
“The minute she sees you, she’ll know she was right to question who your baby’s father was.”
“Well, maybe that’s okay,” Lauren said. “Maybe I’ve been too worried about keeping that covered up.”
“But it obviously upsets her. And she’s violent, Lauren!”
Lauren strode forward. “I’m going after him,” she said firmly. “You can come with me, or you can stay here.”
“Oh, for—” Jessica hurried after her. “Wes is absolutely going to kill me.”
“Wes knows I’m responsible for myself.” Lauren broke into a jog. She longed to shift—to feel the power of the bear within her. She wanted to know that she had the strength to protect Wes if it came to that.
Is Tina really violent?
She couldn’t shift. She needed to be able to talk. She needed to have the ability to reason with Tina, to explain herself if it came to that.
Jessica was in better shape than Lauren was, and she quickly pulled even. Lauren was relieved that her friend didn’t try to stop her or hold her back. Maybe she’d decided that the matter of getting to Wes was urgent enough that they couldn’t afford that kind of delay.
“There’s the trailer,” Lauren said.
They broke through the trees.
Tina was standing in front of the trailer. Wes was facing her, holding his hands out as if to stop her from approaching. Tina turned slightly, focusing her attention on Lauren. She narrowed her eyes.
“So,” she said. “Mother of the year.”
“Tina,” Lauren said.
“You’ve been lying to everyone,” Tina said.
“Lauren, stay back,” Wes said.
But Lauren stepped forward. “What are you doing here?” she demanded. “What do you want with me?”
“You lied to everyone,” Tina said. “You told us that your babies’ father was human, but he isn’t. Wes is the father of your babies!”
