by Alisa Woods
“Do you have a first name?” Arianna asked.
The healer glanced at her then went back to examining Jak’s wounds. “Sarra. You?”
“Arianna.”
She nodded. “All right, Arianna, I’m seeing a bullet wound to the shoulder and deep lacerations in his thighs and side. No major organ wounds that I can tell, but one of the slashes in his leg nicked an artery, and he’s lost a lot of blood.” She finally looked at Arianna. “Anything else I need to know about?”
Arianna shook her head. “It was a bad fight.”
She wrinkled up her nose and turned back to Jak. “Are there any good ones?”
They didn’t speak as Sarra dug a needle and thread out of her bag and started with the gaping bullet wound in Jak’s shoulder. The pain of the stitching must have started to rouse Jak. He groaned a few times, his head moving a little. When she plunged the needle into his skin again, he tried to sit up, pushing Sarra’s hands away with his good arm, even though his eyes were still closed. Sarra shoved his chest down into the seat with one hand and smacked Jak on the face with the other.
“Hey!” he said, his hands flailing up in front of his face.
“That’s for messing up my stitch, Jak Roberts.” Her voice was frosty.
Arianna held her breath. There was more than just a messed up stitch charging the air.
Jak creaked his eyes open and peered at her over his raised arm. “Sarra?”
“I’m trying to stitch up your sorry ass.” But her tone had warmed a little. “Lie down.”
He obeyed, but a half second later, he was up again. “Arianna!” His frantic gaze swept the car.
“I’m right here,” Arianna said quickly, and his gaze found her face.
He breathed a sigh of relief and eased back down to the seat.
Sarra lifted one eyebrow, taking in the whole exchange, then went back to sewing up Jak with renewed speed.
He winced as she dug into his wound. “Lost your gentle touch along the way, Sarrabear?” He breathed through his teeth.
“Only for guys who don’t call the morning after,” Sarra said coolly. “Those get special treatment when they show up at my door covered in blood and towing a new girl along.”
Jak grimaced. “Oh come on, Sarra. It wasn’t like that.”
Sarra tugged on the stitch, keeping it tight, but also causing Jak to grunt. Arianna bit her lip, hating to see him in pain, but knowing the stitching was the only thing that would stop the bleeding. Jak’s normal shifter healing ability was useless without enough magic-filled blood to make it work. Arianna gripped the edge of the front seat, watching Sarra’s needle dip back into Jak’s shoulder.
“So that wasn’t you who rocked my world for a couple weeks and then disappeared? That was some other hot shifter?” Sarra asked coolly. “Good to know. By the way, who’s the new girl?”
Jak let out a pain-filled breath, and Arianna could see him sneaking looks at her. He didn’t need to worry about anything. She knew a handsome shifter like Jak would have had lots of girls before her. She also knew he had just given up everything to save her. There was nothing Sarra, or anyone else could say or do that would change that. Or change how Arianna felt about him.
“Arianna is…” He paused, sucked in a breath. “If I could make her my mate, I would, Sarra. Just like I would have with you if you hadn’t been so stubborn.”
“Oh, that’s how it was, huh?” But her voice was teasing, and she snuck a glance at Arianna. “Well, your new girl’s pretty tough, hauling your sorry ass into this part of town. I’ll give her that.”
“She was in a bad situation, Sarrabear.” Jak winced again at Sarra’s stitching. “I had to get her out. And she needs a place to stay. Just for the night.”
Sarra sighed. “I figured that out as soon as I saw the mess you made of her car. You have any idea how much blood you’ve lost?”
“A lot?”
“A shit ton.” Sarra shook her head. “I honestly don’t know how you keep avoiding actually dying, with all the trouble you seem to find.”
“That was a long time ago,” he said.
“And yet here you are, about to bleed on my carpet again.”
He smiled at that. And Arianna felt a gush of relief at seeing it. She was keeping quiet, letting them have their banter, hoping that would mean Sarra would fix everything that needed fixing. And let them stay, at least for a little while. Jak would heal fast once the stitching was done, but there could be complications. It would be good to have a healer nearby, just in case.
Sarra moved down to his legs and started stitching there. The gashes were deep and ugly and oozing blood even faster than the bullet wound. Jak was naked, but Sarra didn’t seem to notice. Or at least she didn’t say anything, just lapsed into a quiet focus on her work.
It wasn’t until Jak was stitched and able to stumble up to the apartment—with Arianna’s and Sarra’s help—that Arianna finally let herself believe he would be okay. Jak collapsed on the bed in Sarra’s spare bedroom. It was more of a studio really, filled with canvases and paintings of the forest. The bed was just a small cot, barely a foot off the ground, and Jak took up most of the space.
Arianna watched as Jak fell asleep almost as soon as he lay down. Sarra disappeared and returned with an armload of blankets and sheets. One was for Jak, but there was a second set for Arianna.
“The couch is pretty comfortable,” Sarra said.
She bit her lip and looked down at Jak. He was already snoring. She didn’t want to leave, but she also didn’t want to offend Sarra, given how much help she was graciously giving her ex-boyfriend and the girl he showed up with.
“Or you can sleep on the floor in here,” Sarra said softly. “Probably better to have someone watching him overnight.”
Arianna met her gaze. Tears pricked her eyes. “Thank you. For everything.”
Sarra gave a small smile. “Jak’s a special guy. I hope you know that.”
Arianna nodded vigorously. “I do. I promise.”
Sarra gave her a nod, then ducked her head and closed the door on her way out. Arianna settled on the floor next to the cot, edging as close to Jak as she could. She ran her fingers lightly through his hair, softly, so he wouldn’t awaken. Then she laid her hand on his chest so she could feel it moving. Even in his sleep, he snuggled into her touch. She closed her eyes, and drowsiness swept over her.
She was quickly drifting into dreamland, but she already felt like all her dreams had come true.
Chapter Eighteen
The sun pried open Jak’s eyes.
He blinked rapidly, but it still was blinding him. Then he moved his head, just slightly, finding a different cool spot on the mattress below him, and the flood of light dimmed. Only thin slices of sunshine made it into the room through the slatted blinds, and one had just happened to land on his eyes. His mind was still swimming up from the deep, hard sleep he had been in, but now that he could see again, he realized he must be in Sarra’s studio. Apparently, she was still painting, something that made his heart glad even before the events of last night came rushing back.
He’d failed to kill Mace.
That thought made him cringe… and it meant things were well and truly fucked up now. At least Jak had managed to get Arianna away from him. But Mace was still out there, and he would be coming for them. Then the rest of the night’s events came flooding back: the witch, Arianna’s family, his injuries, the escape, Sarra’s stitching, and finally… he felt a soft hand move against his chest. Arianna was on the floor next to him, buried in a blanket up to her nose, but with her delicate fingers touching him, keeping contact with him.
She was watching over him.
His heart swelled with that simple fact. The vision of her angelic face, sleeping by his side, made it feel like his heart might actually burst. And it fired a need to have a lot more of her body pressed against him. He shifted on the cot, stretching and testing to see if everything had healed the way it should. Sarra was the best hea
ler he’d ever known—he had no doubts about her work—but she’d said he’d lost a lot of blood. That could slow the recovery, or at least make him pay for it in aches and pains for a while. There were a few twinges, especially in his shoulder, but other than that, he was pretty well healed. Well enough to do something constructive with the morning hard-on raging underneath his blanket.
He reached down to gently tug the blanket from Arianna’s face. When she didn’t move, he took the opportunity to trail his fingers through the tossed strands of her hair. She stirred slightly. He slid his finger down her cheek. That brought her eyes open. Her lips parted, and her chest filled with sucked-in breath. He wanted all of it: her cheeks, her lips, her gorgeous breasts, all pressed against him.
“Good morning,” he said, softly.
She blinked, squinting up at him, still waking. “Jak,” she breathed. Then she shook herself awake and sat up. “How are you feeling?” Her gaze searched his chest, looking for the gaping wounds he no doubt had the night before.
“I don’t know,” he said, trying to hold in the wolfish smile that was threatening to break out. “I think you better come up here and check my wounds.”
Her serious look deepened into a frown, and she struggled to her feet. She bent over him, gently pulling the blanket back from his chest and running her fingers lightly over the spot where the bullet went through. Of course, it had mostly healed. Her touch was so soft it almost tickled.
“It looks much better from the outside.” Her frown was a growing crease on her forehead. “Does it hurt on the inside?”
He could hardly keep his smile contained. “I think you need to look closer.” He took her hands and drew her down onto the cot with him. Her eyes went wide, and she nearly tumbled down on top of him, but he caught her at the waist and hoisted her to straddle him. He winced as pain shot through his shoulder from the strain, but it was worth it to see the look of shock and a hint of a smile on her face: there were a blanket and her soft sleep pants between them, but she had to feel his rock-hard cock as she sat on it.
“Well, some parts of you are apparently in working order.” Then she smacked him lightly on the chest.
He laughed, softly, but it bounced them both on the springy cot. Which just ground her against his cock and killed all the smiles in a need to have much more of her. Now.
He slipped his fingers under her t-shirt and caressed her breasts with both hands. She had apparently never put on a bra since the night before. Her nipples stiffened quickly under his touch, making his cock twitch against the pressure of her sitting on him. Her eyelids dropped to half mast, and this time, when her lips parted, it was in pleasure.
“God, I need you, Arianna,” he said, his voice suddenly hoarse.
He lifted her t-shirt, but he couldn’t get it free by himself. She pulled it up and over her head. He cupped her breasts, then slid his hands to her back, pulling her down to him and taking one tight nipple into his mouth. She exhaled a shuddering breath, and it about undid him. He pinched the other nipple, pulling a gasp from her, and she started grinding against his cock.
He moaned with the raw pleasure of it. And the need for more.
She pulled back, glancing at the closed door. “Maybe we shouldn’t… not here…”
He brought her sweet body back to him, cupping her other breast to his mouth and nipping gently at it. “I’ll keep my moans quiet if you can.” Then he tipped his head back to look into her eyes. “Arianna.” He moved one hand up to her cheek, holding it and hoping she could see the love in his eyes. “The fact that you are here with me, that you resisted the bond, that you came with me and cared for me…” The words were locking up his throat.
Arianna beamed and dipped down to kiss him, but before he could get a proper hold on her, to plunge into her mouth and taste every part of her, she lifted away and bounced up from the cot. He gave her a quizzical look, but she just stood before him, half-naked, with a wicked grin on her face. Then she hooked her fingers in the waistband of her sleep pants and inched them slowly down her hips, swaying them as she worked the pants lower and lower in a slow tease. He propped himself up to watch, letting his wolfish smile run free. His inner wolf was panting hard, voting a hearty lust-filled growl in favor of this show. She was bare underneath the sleep pants, her panties apparently never making an appearance out of the clothes he had packed. He licked his lips in anticipation of tasting the sweetness between her legs. She stepped free of her sleep pants, now pooled on the floor, then captured his gaze with her beautiful blue eyes.
Then she shifted.
It caught him by surprise, and he held her gaze through the whole, quick transition. He had no idea where she was going with this. He’d had plenty of sex with human females, and a few dalliances with unmated female wolves looking for fun before settling with a mate, but never in wolf form. It wasn’t a common practice for shifters, if only because the positions and creativity of making love in wolf form were fairly limited compared to what could be done in human form.
But he was definitely game for whatever turned her on.
She stretched her forelegs in front of her and lifted her rear into the air. Her tail dipped down between her legs. Only when she finally ducked her head, lowering her gaze from his, did he realize what she was doing: she was submitting to him.
His mouth fell open, and a split second later, the magic hit his bloodstream like a flashfire. The power of her submission filled and lifted him. He bolted upright on the cot and swung his legs over the edge. His chest was tight, but only from trying to contain his heart, which was swelling with the gift she was giving him. Her submission… it was literally making him an alpha from the inside out, super-charging the magic in his blood with her devotion. The last of his aches and pains vanished, swept away by the clean fire of her bond to him.
He stared at her for a long moment, uncertain, then realized he had only felt half of the true power of her gift: he was still in human form. He quickly shifted, landing on soft paws on the floor next to her. His blood surged with the fervent strength of her submission, two or threefold over the intensity of a moment ago. The room was small, barely leaving room for both of them on the floor, muzzle to muzzle amongst the paintings of the forest and the bed behind him. He loomed over her: she was still crouched in the submission pose.
Rise, my sweet, sweet Arianna, he thought, words he never imagined he would have the right to: the words of an alpha.
She popped up from the submission, nuzzling him from underneath. He rubbed his face with hers, tasting her, scenting her, filling his every sense with the feel of her. He was stronger, more powerful, than he had ever been in his life, all because of her.
Jak, you are my alpha, she thought, and he felt his heart might break with the love he had for those words. You’re the alpha I’ve always dreamed of having. The one I want to give every part of my soul to. The one who deserves every bit of love I have to give.
His need for her couldn’t be contained. Shift, Arianna, he thought. Shift for me now. He made it a command, because he could, and because it charged the magic in his blood. He felt her respond to his thoughts, a magical surge between them that was filled with passion.
His wolf was desperate to claim her: water was pooling in his mouth. But of course he couldn’t have her that way—he would never have her that way—but he would do everything short of actually claiming her. He would take her and pleasure her like an alpha should.
She shifted in front of him, and he changed with her.
As soon as they were both human, he pulled her to him, threading his fingers into her hair to hold her tight as he devoured her with a kiss. He used the other hand to hold her delicious body tight against him, his rock-hard cock between them. He walked her backward until they met the wall. He seared his body to hers, pressing her into the wall and plundering her mouth with his tongue. His heart beat so madly, he was sure she could feel it, skin-to-skin where they touched. He broke the kiss. Her lips were swollen with it, her eye
s half-lidded. Her arousal perfumed the air, calling to him. He wanted to make her shriek with pleasure, but that wouldn’t do with Sarra, their host and healer, on the other side of the wall.
He slipped a hand between Arianna’s legs, dipping into the honey dripping between them, then nipped at her neck, tasting her and working his way up.
“I’m going to make you mine,” Jak whispered in her ear as he teased her entrance with his fingers. “I’m going to claim you with my love and with my cock. I’m going to make you want to scream my name. But you will be quiet. Absolutely quiet. Do you understand?”
She whimpered and squirmed against his hand. He smiled, enjoying her torment, knowing it would make her climax all the better. He grabbed one of the wooden-handled paint brushes off the easel nearby.
“I have something for you to do with that delicious mouth of yours.” He gently placed the smooth handle across her parted lips, urging her to take it. “Bite.” He smirked as she bit down on it, then ran a thumb across her cheek. “I’m going to miss hearing you pray my name.”
He took the hand rubbing her already-swollen nub and thrust two fingers inside. She groaned, but the paintbrush did its job of keeping the sound contained, a guttural, animal thing inside her throat. It was wild, her wolf speaking, and it made his cock twitch. He reached down behind her knee and lifted it over his hip, opening her up more to his hand plunging inside her. His teeth nipped at her breasts, first one, then the other, all while he pumped his hand faster and faster. He could feel her tense around his fingers. Her hands clutched at his bare shoulders, digging her fingers in deeper with the building pleasure of each thrust. Her head fell back against the wall, and she moaned and panted around the paintbrush. When she came, it sent a glorious flush across her chest that he chased after with his tongue. Then he couldn’t stand it anymore. He had to claim her in the only way he could: his body owning hers, filling her, driving her to ecstasy against the wall.
