by Kele Moon
“So?” she pressed when he hesitated, realizing it was dark again outside.
She’d been passed out for almost twenty-four hours.
“That’s how shifters heal,” he explained simply. “Sleep.”
“That makes sense.” She thought of six-year-old Desmon, relying on her to hide him while he slept so he could heal from being hit by a car. She glanced around their new hideout, finding that it was a cave of some sort, vast and echoing with a cold wind that came in from the back. “What is this place?”
“We’re on the edge of Nightwind land, up in the mountains on the south end. It’s isolated out here. We use it to train teenage pups in survival a couple times a year.”
“Where’s your cousin?” she asked curiously.
“Out playing survival. He’s watching the area for me.”
“That’s nice of him,” Amber whispered. “I feel bad.”
“Don’t. It’s his favorite game. He’d stay up here playing it all the time if I didn’t make him live down with the pack. Miles is a lone wolf. He doesn’t crave companionship like the rest of us do. It happens sometimes. Even before his accident, he never wanted the responsibility of pack life. He worked for the Alliance and traveled.”
Amber caressed his leg. “I like Miles.”
“I’m glad.” Desmon smiled when he said it. “He’s the only blood family I have left out here.”
“Have you talked to my sisters?”
“They know you’re with me,” Desmon assured her. “They’re staying with Jason and Brandi while we’re gone. I want them on pack land right now. Jason agreed to follow Bea to school and back, since things are obviously tense with the Goodwins. Jazz gave Katie a job in the office. He’s paying her double, so she’d quit the other one. They’ll be fine.”
“And your pack?”
“Jazz is taking care of them.” Desmon picked up a stick from a pile next to him and threw it on the fire. “You don’t want to talk about you? We’re going to discuss everyone else instead?”
“Sure.” She smiled up at him, because his hair hung long and loose over his tanned shoulders. She tilted her head, seeing that he was completely bare under the firelight, the flames reflecting off his smooth, tan skin. Amber felt the same warmth spread deeper insider her, flooding into her fingers and toes in an intoxicating rush. “You’re naked.”
“That happens to shifters sometimes,” he agreed with a shrug. “Out in the mountains, shifting back and forth, clothes are just—”
“A massive pain in the ass,” she finished for him. “I get it now.”
She smelled the shirt she was wearing, so different from her concert one. The simple red cotton was pure Desmon, and she inhaled deeply, savoring it. “Mmm, this must be yours.”
“It is.” Desmon seemed embarrassed as he admitted, “I did it on purpose. I wanted my scent on you.”
“That’s okay. I’ll never complain about that. You smell delicious.”
“You too.” He closed his eyes as he said it. “Big time.”
“How strong is it?” she asked, a sliver of fear making its way past the warm, safe feeling of waking up next to Desmon.
“Enough to have to hide you way up in the mountains until the scent of you being in heat fades?” Desmon flinched as he said it. “Depending on what happens, we could be up here for a few more days.”
“And do you like it?” Amber’s voice was husky, compelling even to her own ears. “As much as I like smelling you?”
“I’m sure I like your scent a lot more than you like mine.” Desmon seemed confident about it. “Especially after being in this cave with you all day.”
“I don’t know about that.” She pulled the edge of the shirt she was wearing over her face, breathing him in. “You smell pretty damn good.”
Desmon chuckled, sounding a little pained, but still genuinely amused. “I like your wolf, Angel. Seeing her is nice, even if the circumstances are awful.”
“Is it a separate thing? This wolf you talk about?” Amber fingered the braid in her hair, feeling anxious with all the energy pulsing through her body. Half of her wanted to get up and run a marathon, the other part was perfectly happy lying with her head in Desmon’s lap. “Do I get a multiple-personality issue to go along with my superhero powers?”
“It’s just a different mindset, and somewhere along the way our people labeled it as separate. It’s not really. Most of the time we do it to excuse bad behavior, but sometimes it’s just adorable as hell. Female wolves, anyway. Male wolves, not so much.”
“Tell me about male wolves then,” Amber asked with a teasing smile, smelling his shirt once more. “Are they so bad?”
“Annoying on good days, territorial and dangerous on most, deadly for a few,” Desmon explained simply. “If they didn’t have adorable, smart, cunning females to hold them up, they’d be fucking useless to the planet.”
There was a growl of fury in his voice, and she had to ask, “Did you kill him?”
“Yeah.” Desmon threw more sticks on the fire. “He’s dead.”
“Are you in trouble for it?” Amber asked fearfully, because she wasn’t sure about shifter laws. “I mean, is it murder in your world?”
“It’s your world now too, and yes, it could be if the powers that be decide to look at it that way. I killed him on Goodwin pack land, and I’m not allowed to be there. We are not allies with the Goodwins. We’re not even in negotiations, and the Alliance is very serious about territories. Leroy already reported me. Jazz just called and said an Alliance Enforcer is coming out in the next day or so.” Desmon held up the phone next to him, looking disgusted by it as he sat there naked in the cave. “That’s probably what woke you up.”
“So, you’re in trouble?”
Desmon nodded once more. “A little bit.”
“And it’s my fault.”
“It’s not your fault. It’s not mine, either. The Goodwins did this.” Desmon snarled the words, sounding like he believed them down to his core. “You’re my mate, and he was attacking you. I’m allowed to protect you. If they want to put me on trial for that, I’ll proudly do it. I feel no shame for what I did. It’s my honor to protect you. Nature gave me that right. Fuck the Alliance if they don’t like it.”
Desmon leaned over her, resting his forehead in the soft place between her breasts. Amber threaded her fingers through his long, silky black hair, holding him against her.
It was so much quieter in the mountains, with just the crackle of the fire in the night and the sounds of the breeze from outside the cave.
“I see why Miles likes it up here. It’s peaceful,” she whispered softly. “And it smells so good.”
Desmon let out a pained laughed, still bent over her. “I don’t think it’s the cave you’re smelling, unless you love the scent of bat shit.”
“No, it’s like Christmas cookies.” She went from caressing his hair to trailing her fingers down his bare back. “Spiced molasses with extra cinnamon.”
“Please do not tell anyone you think I smell like cookies.” Desmon kissed her neck as he said it, “I would let you take a bite if you wanted to, though.”
Amber used her hold on his hair and lifted his head at the sound in his voice, forcing him to meet her gaze. She saw that Desmon’s pupils had dilated, his light eyes vibrant in the darkness, making him look powerful and primal under the flames.
“You want me to bite you?” she asked, feeling all that untapped energy start to morph into something decadent and hungry.
“I do, very much.” Desmon’s voice vibrated with the growl of his animal. “You’ve tasted him. Not me. It’s a stupid territorial thing with males. I love you. It doesn’t matter. But it’s been a really long couple of days and—”
He stopped with a choked snarl of shock when Amber suddenly bit into his wrist.
“Oh fuck.”
Desmon growled then, and Amber’s entire body seemed to vibrate with the sound as his heady taste filled her senses. It was a thousand
times better than cookies, and Amber whimpered when Desmon pulled his wrist away, but then moaned when he captured her mouth with his in a hard kiss. His tongue pushed in deep, their lips sticky with his blood, but it didn’t matter.
His taste made everything better according to Amber.
The wave of desire was blinding, wiping out all rational thought as she crawled over him, and straddled Desmon on the cave floor. They kissed open-mouthed, hungry, with his hard cock rubbing against the thin cotton panties she wore under Desmon’s shirt.
Why had Desmon even bothered?
“Get ’em off,” she panted against his lips, even as she sat on him, wrapping her thighs around his hips. “Please.”
Desmon held Amber as he got to his knees on the blanket and lay her out on it. Then he was over her, his weight deliciously heavy as he kissed and licked the sensitive skin of her neck. Amber pushed him away only to pull off the shirt she was wearing. Desmon tugged the panties down her thighs at the same time, and Amber dimly noticed the sound of ripping material until they were both blissfully bare.
His teeth were long, sharp against her nipple, but he didn’t bite. He sucked instead, making her writhe beneath him as he moved over to the other one. The tease only caused the bliss burn brighter. Sweat ran down from her temples, her skin grew dewy with the heat of the fire and it only added to the dazed need.
Amber’s fingers were tight in his hair by the time he abandoned her breasts and moved lower. He nipped at her hip but didn’t break the skin and she knew Desmon was holding back.
“You can bite me,” she gasped, frantic with passion. “You don’t have to be gentle, you can-”
She sucked in a sharp breath when he pushed her legs apart and slid his thumb between the folds of her pussy. She was dripping wet, and Desmon growled as he pushed one thick finger inside like he couldn’t resist, and then another, until he was fucking her with his hand. Amber tightened her hold on his hair, her hips arching into the stroke of his fingers over and over again.
He nipped at the inside of her thigh in warning, forcing her legs open wider for him with a rough slide of his hand. She still jerked from the shock of indulgence when Desmon licked the full length of her pussy and sucked on her clit.
It was the way he did it, so ravenous.
Amber went wild.
She kept trying to get closer somehow, to find relief, and Desmon was forced to hold her hip with his free hand, pinning her down while she fought for a release. The warmth of his mouth, the feel of his tongue against her, the stroke of his fingers still inside her. It was almost too much, the stimulation, a white-wash of extasy no human could survive when Desmon left her nowhere to hide. The pleasure was suddenly everywhere, leaving her gasping and crying out under the storm.
Once her climax broke free, it took a long time for the extasy to wane, reducing Amber to breathless growls that were more wolf than human.
Desmon was shaking as he crawled back over her. His scent was everywhere, throbbing off his taut body, drowning out all but him. She could feel hair then skin on his shoulders and arms, meaning he was shifting back and forth somehow, but it didn’t bother Amber at all. She loved him completely, in a way she never truly understood until she thought she’d lost him in the forest.
“In me.” She didn’t recognize the low, husky rasp of her voice, but it didn’t matter. “Please.”
“Amber, listen, no,” Desmon was panting, but he still managed to pull back despite Amber wrapping her arms around him. His voice was more wolf than human as he explained, “I had to wash Leroy Goodwin’s blood off your naked body and I’ve been smelling you all day in bloodlust. I’ll mate you if I take you, and everything else has been without your permission. We can’t unless you want it, because it’s forever for both of us. You’re a shifter, too. We don’t get to walk away like humans do. I can take care of you without it, and—”
“It’s okay.” She pulled him back down, forcing his head into the curve of her neck, and Desmon went willingly, still shaking in her arms. “I want it—all of it.”
“You can’t be sure of that. You’re suffering from bloodlust and you were changed against your will,” Desmon argued, but it lost some of its fierceness when Amber wrapped her legs around his waist. “I’m strong, but I’m not this strong, Angel.”
“That’s okay. You don’t have to be strong all the time,” she promised him, her sharp nails in his shoulders. “I want to be your mate.”
It must’ve been good enough, because Desmon reached down, grabbing her thigh, holding her open as he looked between them, watching himself take her when he shifted his hips to slide in.
“Des,” Amber moaned, throwing her head back at the feel of his thick cock stretching her. The ripple of pleasure was sheer sin, so rich and multilayered she could only open wider to the thrust, arching her hips to take more of him. “Oh Jesus!”
Desmon responded by pulling out and pushing in harder, making Amber cry out. Then he did it again, still holding himself up on one arm to watch the slide of his cock deep into her pussy. Amber pulled him down on top of her, desperate to be skin to skin.
She needed to feel his weight.
His strength and power.
Desmon gave her what she wanted, letting her overwhelm herself with him, holding Amber to him tightly when he thrust deeper. He started fucking her fast.
Savage.
Amber met him stroke for stroke. Her nails became sharp and cruel, drawing blood. Her teeth grew long, and she bit hard, letting the taste, smell and feel of him wash away the nightmare.
Her climax hit even more violently the second time, and she clung to him when her entire body shook from the force of it. She pulled Desmon down with her, a part of Amber knowing he was partially shifted when he bit into the soft spot at the curve of her neck, making another violent surge of pleasure crash through her.
She bit him harder, sharp teeth sinking into the soft skin, letting all that warm male strength sink into her veins, tying them together forever. Amber didn’t understand the exact details of how he bound them together, but she still knew instinctively that they were, and she was fine with it.
A part of her was ecstatic even, like she’d been running a lifelong race to get to this exact moment. She understood why they called the wolf separate, simply because her primal side was so completely unburdened by the other mundane worries of humanity. Things were much easier when it was just survival, but Desmon was still shaky long after he’d pulled out of her.
The freedom wasn’t a novelty to him, and she suspected he was more man than wolf by the time the two of them settled into peaceful quiet in front of the fire. For a long time, she held him rather than ask why, letting his head rest in the soft place between her bare breasts.
“Des.” She caressed his silky hair and asked, “Did you braid my hair?”
“Was that wrong?” he asked quickly. “I wasn’t sure if you’d have a problem with it or not, but you had their scent all over you, and your hair was tangled and dirty, so I—”
“It’s fine,” she assured him. “We’re mates, right?”
Desmon nodded. “We’re mates.”
“Officially?”
“Yes.” His voice was a rasp of uncertainty. “You know I would’ve done it differently if I had a choice. This wasn’t how it was supposed to happen for you—in a cave.”
“Did Miles tell you how I reacted when I’d thought you’d died?” Her voice cracked when she said it. The pain burst open, the memory nearly stealing her breath. “I went crazy. I wanted to die with you. I tried everything to jump in that fight. It wasn’t brave, it was cowardly. I don’t want to do this alone anymore. I need you with me.”
“I need you, too, so much,” he whispered like he truly understood. “And you’re stuck with me now. But I’m worried about this Gary problem. There’s a small chance, if it goes to trial, they could—”
Amber covered his lips with her fingers. “Not now.”
Desmon looked up at her, his
gaze still wolf-like and dilated, but he nodded in agreement. “I’m also not sure how well your human birth control will work now that you’re a shifter, but there are ways for our females to prevent pregnancy.”
“Why?” she asked. “Do want to avoid children?”
“No!” The word burst out of Desmon quickly with the snarl of his primal side, like it was something bone deep. “I want pups. I want them to inherit this pack and have a safe place to raise their families. It’s important to me, but I would give it up if you didn’t want it, too.”
“I want them,” she assured him. “I’ve always wanted children. You remember I told you it was my ex who was against them, not me. I’ve been feeling my clock ticking for a while. I guess that’s not a problem anymore.”
Desmon smiled at that. “Nope.”
Amber reached up, pulling at the delicate skin at the corners of her eyes. “Was it like an instant facelift? I haven’t looked in a mirror yet. Do I look twenty-one again?”
“I don’t know.” He laughed, but the sound seemed foreign, like he’d walked through fire to get there as he studied her face. “You look the same to me. Perfect.”
“I smell better though.”
“Oh, fuck yes, you do,” he assured her with another smile.
Then he rolled over and sucked on one of her nipples, making her gasp when the pleasure washed over like it had never waned to begin with
Forgetting everything else ended up being easy for both of them—at least for a little while.
17
Two Days Later
Desmon heard Miles let himself into the house, and Jazz shortly thereafter. He knew they came with news and were politely waiting for him to come down, rather than bother Amber while she was still recovering.
He wanted to stay in the cave longer, but they had been forced to return because of the investigation. The Alliance Enforcer had showed up at Desmon’s house last night and interviewed all of them for a long time before he headed over to talk to the Goodwins.
Miles knew this particular Alliance Enforcer. The two of them used to serve together, but Desmon was still incredibly nervous.
