by Jayla Kane
“Okay, fine,” I said. I liked him a long time before he became The Wolf.
“I’m worried it’s me.”
“Hunter—”
“I’m trying,” he said, his voice coming out in an uncharacteristic burst. “I just…” He closed his eyes, then opened them and stared at the ceiling. When he swallowed hard and finally looked at me again, I rolled my eyes, completely done with waiting. “Baby I love you,” he said softly, and it was hard to deal with how undone I came from finally hearing him say it so plainly. He must have recognized how badly I wanted to hear it, because he took a tentative step towards me. “I love you… More than anything. And I know you heard the words I just said, and think that means what it usually does, the way people mean it when they usually say it, but you need to know—” He swallowed again, his throat bobbing— “I mean it exactly like that. I love you more than anything. I love you in a way… I love you in a way that goes beyond—beyond anything that could make sense,” he rasped. “I don’t want to leave you here tonight, Baby. I don’t think I can. I don’t think—”
“Sugar, that’s alright,” I said, coming closer, but he put his hands out.
“No,” Hunter said softly. “No. I mean physically. Again, I know what you’re hearing, but we’re not like other people any more Baby. When I say I can’t leave you here, I mean I can’t do it, I can’t make myself do it.” He stared at me, and his eyes darkened as he spoke, the black spreading across them until they were just murky pools. The sensual jolt that usually gave me was crushed by his next words, and the worry pouring out of his face. “I mean I will physically bring you back with me, if I have to,” he said, his voice catching. “Or I’ll sleep here on the floor. If you lock me out then I’ll sleep in the damn hallway. I mean I love you in a way that’s… It’s more than possessive. It’s—”
“Obsessive,” I said, taking a deep breath, thinking about it… And then I shrugged. “Okay.”
“Baby—”
“Sugar, listen to me,” I said, putting a hand up to stop him yet again. “Do you remember yesterday when you said I had more relationship experience than you?” He nodded after a second, his brow puckering, and I fought off the urge to walk over and run my fingers over his skin, to smooth it out again. Just remembering the velvet feel of him under my palm was intoxicating, but I shook it off. “Infatuation is just… I mean, young people in love feel like that. It’s okay. It’ll pass.”
“This won’t pass,” he said, and the certainty in his voice did give me pause.
“So what, you’re worried you’re going to scare me off by loving me too much?” I tried to make light of it, but when his throat bobbed again I almost reached out to him. “Hunter. Seriously?”
“It’s not just love,” he said, shaking his head with frustration. “It’s… I don’t know how to do this,” Hunter said, stopping himself from walking towards me the same way I just had. “I need you in a way that scares the fuck out of me, Baby.”
“That’s just love, Hunter,” I said again, and again, he shook his head.
“The Sheriff called you my mate,” he said, and for the first time, I did feel a chill. “He said wolves mate for life. Once. That’s it. All of that energy, all of that passion and expectation and, and everything—everything, Baby, everything, it gets poured into one person. That’s you. You’re it for me,” he said finally, his chest heaving. “You’re the one. You’re the last person I’ll ever love. And I didn’t want to tell you, because… Because. But if you want to know why I—”
“Why you’re scared,” I said quietly, and he nodded, the rigid line of his shoulders collapsing as he sighed.
“I don’t just love you,” he murmured, his eyes running all over my face, searching for something. “I’m not only in love with you. I’m not human enough for those notions to… To give my feelings their due.” He bit his lip, his black eyes sharp as they searched my face. “I’m not human, Baby.”
It was the first time we talked about it like that.
I guess I wasn’t technically human any more, either. I was a witch; I was a genetic freak, a monster, a villain from fairy tales. But witches didn’t mate; if my mom was any indication, they were even more fickle than humans. Fuck, I thought, rubbing my forehead. I just thought that: I thought the word human, and naturally excluded myself from the category, as if I’d known all along I was different from everyone else.
There’s different because you’ve been raped.
There’s different because you were raped by witches, kidnapped and manipulated by witches, because you hate witches.
Then there’s different because you are a witch.
I plopped down on the bed and rubbed my temples with my index fingers, digging in as hard as I could. “Fuck,” I muttered, then snapped my arm up, palm out, and pointed at Hunter. “Don’t read into that.”
“How the fuck not?”
“Because I wasn’t actually thinking about you, babe,” I said, suddenly exhausted. “I was thinking about me. You’re right,” I told him, glancing up at his stricken face. “We’re not human any more, are we?”
“I’m not,” he told me, but I brushed aside his implied reassurance and rubbed my temples again.
“I’m not either, Hunter,” I said softly. We stared at each other for a long second as I twisted on the bed, peering out at him from under my hair. “Would you believe that I find that epiphany far more troubling than the fact that you love me more than you’re comfortable with?”
He watched me for a second, then tilted his head. “I don’t think I—”
“Hunter, you’ve worked hard enough,” I said, giving him the best smile I could muster. “Believe it or not, I think I get it.”
“I don’t think you can,” he said softly, and I considered, looking at him for a long moment.
“Tell me the truth, Hunter Black. Are you really worried about my reaction?” He swallowed. “Or are you just afraid of falling in love?”
“Baby—”
“Look, yes, okay, being all wolfy and falling in love, whatever. Mate, blah blah blah,” I said, waving my hand in the air, and was relieved to see the surprise on his face, a temporary reprieve from the deadly fear there before. “You don’t like to talk, Hunter. You’ve never had a girlfriend—Molly told me, don’t look so offended.” I managed to give him a cocky grin, and was rewarded with a genuine scowl. “I can’t imagine you being stoked about us hooking up even before—”
“I thought I didn’t have a chance with you,” he said, and I felt the grin melt off my face at the humility, the pain in his voice. Then he raked his hand over his head and began pacing, so at least we were still working with typical boy reactions instead of wolf ones. “I still don’t understand… I mean, if I think about it too hard, I just feel like—”
“Like I’ll wake up and kick you out on your ass?” He stopped moving and stared at me, his huge black eyes never blinking. I’ll admit, it was unnerving in the moment. “I love that you think I’m such a catch, Hunter. I have no idea how I tricked you into believing that.”
“Baby,” he said, disapproval overshadowing the other emotions battling on his face, “you can’t be fucking serious—”
“Of course I am,” I snapped, flinging my awful orange hair back from my face. “I’m a brat, Hunter. I know you know that. I might be hot, sure, but what did I do with all the things my family worked so hard to give me? Did I become a scholar like Molly or Raven? Did I get into an Ivy League school, or even try to? No,” I said, shaking my head. “No. I’m a frickin’ cheerleader, Hunter. That’s my big achievement. And even though I’m really fucking good at that—now that we know more about me, we can probably guess why—I didn’t become some champion dancer or have plans to audition as a Laker Girl.” I stared at the ceiling, ignoring the shadow of him in my peripheral vision as he held still and listened. “The fucking fate of humanity could be resting on my shoulders, what with the fact that I’m a god and all, apparently, and I got a 1350 on my SATs.
” I rolled my eyes and stood up from the bed. “I’m nothing special. And maybe I don’t deserve to have the hottest werewolf boyfriend in the history of the world say he’s so in love with me that he can barely stand the thought of being apart for longer than it takes me to shower--but I do. And as far as I’m concerned, that shit goes in the win column.”
He was staring at me, incredulity written on every feature of that uncommonly lovely face. “Baby… I don’t agree with a single goddamn word you just said.”
“Well, that’s kind of my point, good-looking,” I said, finally allowing myself to move a little closer to him, taking a tentative step back onto the carpet after standing up from where I’d flopped on my mattress. “Thank god you don’t see me the way I see myself, okay?” I took another step towards him, and we blinked at one another, the black in his eyes slowly receding. He bit his lip, and I reached out and laid my hand over his thundering heart. “You’re not the only one who gets to feel insecure.”
“But—”
“Thank god I don’t see you the way you see yourself, either, huh?” That silenced him, and after one long, painful second he snatched me off of the floor and dragged me into a hug so tight I felt like I was being compressed; it was wonderful. It took him a long time to put me down. Once I tapped out he set my feet on the floor and held my face between his broad, rough hands, and I sighed with relief at the sight of him; those dark liquid pools were totally gone, and in their place I looked into the complicated twists of gray that had captured my heart so completely. “I love you, you know,” I whispered, and he nodded, just once, and swallowed again. “But you have to start saying it back.”
“I love you.”
“Nice work.”
“I love you so much, sugar,” he whispered, and it sent a wave of warmth that moved through me from top to bottom. His hands wrapped around my waist, drawing me in, and I tilted my head up so I could see him clearly; Hunter was gazing down at me in that way he had that almost convinced me I was as amazing as he seemed to think. When he leaned in to kiss me, I stood up on my tippy toes and kissed him first, feeling his hands pulling me closer, as close as we could get. He tightened his grip, pulling our torsos together, and I ran my fingers over his chest. In seconds, we were pressed against one another, hearts beating hard.
“Do you want… Can you stay for a little bit?” Part of me wanted to go straight back to the cabin—I was beginning to get a little too comfortable with the idea that it was Hunter’s home, and therefore mine, and Tristan was somewhere way outside of this equation—and part of me was really excited about the idea of making love in my own bed. Such as it was.
“I can stay,” he said softly, his eyes running over my face, tracking my expression carefully.
“I think… I’d like to see if we can be apart for just one night, okay?” The sudden increase in his heartrate made me smile. “Let’s just see, alright? Like an experiment.” The truth was that he’d worn me out. Maybe I was some super special god with healing powers and all, but clearly the Coven hadn’t designed my destiny with a werewolf lover in mind. And a lot of it was just emotional exhaustion, honestly. I’d never had a real boyfriend either. “You can come back any time, any time at at all, I promise. I just want to…”
“To be a normal eighteen year old girl?” He swallowed hard, eyelashes lowering as he stared at the place where our chests met, as if he could see the ground underneath. “I get that.”
“Kind of, yeah,” I said. “It’s a big change, babe. I mean… All of it.”
“It is,” he finally agreed, then gave me a slow, dimpled smile when I laughed.
“What?”
“It’s finally different? I’ve been asking you that for weeks—”
“Mmm,” he murmured, cutting me off with a whiskery kiss. “Then yes. I’d say yes, now.” Hunter’s voice was somber when we came up for air, his eyes soft. “But I’ve always loved you, Baby. I’m pretty sure I fell in love with you the first time I saw your face.”
“Nah,” I said, blushing. “Stop it. You don’t get to be mushy, it’ll be—”
“But yeah, sex changes things,” he continued, and I burst out laughing as he grinned down at me.
“So romantic,” I whispered, his smile growing gentler, his eyes lowering to my lips… And then we were kissing again.
Hunter’s body felt so good. I was ready for him one more time, but I had an idea. “Hey… Can we try something?”
He raised an eyebrow at me, and I did the same right back. His breathing picked up speed as I ran my fingertips under the hem of his shirt, scaling his muscled abdomen, and when I started to unbutton it he reached for me. I jumped back and shook my head, which made him narrow his eyes; the man loved a good tease, though, and allowed me to slowly take his shirt off, kissing my way along the velvet skin of his torso and licking his nipple as I unbuttoned his pants. He hissed out a breath and reached for me again; I grabbed his wrists playfully and shook my head no one more time.
“Sugar—” There will never be anything as sexy as hearing how badly he wanted me in that moment. The raw need in his voice almost overpowered my own desires, but I just pulled him by his belt buckle over to the bed and pushed him down. It took a little bit of work to get his jeans below his knees, but there Hunter was, mostly naked in front of me—and utterly delicious.
“I think I like you even more this way,” I said, gazing down at him, and his eyes flashed. He wasn’t used to being in this position, but was putting up with it pretty well; I had another idea, and stripped my clothing off before climbing on top of him, resting my weight on my knees as I balanced precariously over his waiting shaft. “But I might like this—” I reached over him and held onto the headboard, concentrating with all my might… And shocked us both when it suddenly sprouted a few tiny branches with sparks of green leaves. I grinned down at Hunter, who was still staring at the headboard, and dug in. I could feel the wax in the way, the layers of dead cells… But there was just enough… “Yes!”
Two solid branches the width of my wrist spurted out of the headboard and swiftly wrapped around Hunter’s forearms, pinning him to the bed like perfectly molded shackles made of wood. “What the fuck—”
“Ha! Gotcha,” I said, bouncing up and down on his torso… Which suddenly reminded me where I was, the slick, hard bones of his hips jutting into my thighs as I settled on top of a very long, very thick, velvet rod.
I was naked on top of my werewolf boyfriend, who was currently frowning at the elegant mahogany cuffs I’d fashioned for his very sexy arms. And if I arched my back just so… Both of us sighed as the head of his cock slid along my damp entrance, teasing my tingling body until I couldn’t take it. Hunter watched, eyes lidded and white teeth embedded in his lip, as I finally slid him inside.
I ran my fingertips over my breasts, working him slowly deeper, and was rewarded with another sharp gasp; so far he’d taken his entrapment pretty stoically, but his fingers flexed as he watched my nipples bob in front of him, needing to touch me. I gently waved my finger in front of his face, making him groan, then worked harder, thighs clenching as I took more of him inside, rode faster, and felt him straining beneath me. Hunter’s legs tensed, his stomach muscles etched in perfect relief as he ground into my pussy while I rode him, both of us panting; I could never have imagined, in my wildest dreams, a sexier sight than Hunter Black tied down on my bed, overcome with want for me as he struggled against my restraints. I arched my spine, shoulders back, and closed my eyes. He felt incredible.
And then a loud snapping sound alerted me to the fact that I wasn’t the only one bringing a little magic to the bedroom.
Hunter broke free and immediately sat up, but instead of flipping me over like last time he simply pulled me closer, so that we were gazing in one another’s eyes, his long fingers digging in to my ass as he maneuvered me onto him, deeper, harder, faster, breathing each other’s breath. He was still Hunter; long black lashes dragged on his cheek as a bead of sweat ran down his te
mple and he lodged himself further inside, his thick thighs working just as hard as mine, full lips opening to invite me in. I sucked his tongue and felt the orgasm inside of me begin to break free, my breathing ragged as I moaned his name. It felt like… Like my magic. Like creation, and beginnings, like a spark that whispered to the universe inside of me. I rode him with my eyes closed, the only sensation I could follow Hunter himself, in me, around me, loving me. When it was over, I collapsed against his chest and gasped for air.
For once, he spoke first. “I love you more than anything,” he whispered, stroking my hair back from my sweaty face and kissing me everywhere, along my jaw, my cheekbone, my panting mouth. His arms were tight around me; I was tucked into him, slumped against his long torso as he leaned back on my poor beaten up headboard and held me tight. “I will love you forever, Artemis Keller.”
“Damn straight,” I whispered.
Chapter Twenty One
Hunter
I jumped back to my place, landing on the front step as usual, and froze.
I had good intentions. I wanted to give her a little space; I didn’t want to be an actual fucking lapdog. I was human enough to recognize how important it was for her to have her own life, her own space. But all the same, it took everything I had to make myself pull my clothes on, tuck the blankets around her as she smiled up at me like an angel, and come back here.
And now this.
My whole body reeked of sex, of her; I could smell more things now than I could see, and for a second the world was a confusing muddle as I tried to sort through all the shit in my head: Baby, first and always, her body, the scent of her shampoo, the taste of her on my own mouth and below, the way we mingled into something altogether different, new. And there was me; me from weeks ago, human most of the time, and me from a few days ago, closer to the moon, with the scent of the wolf clinging to my bootprints. I turned and started walking around the house, towards the trees, the urge that visited me last night to wander beneath the full moon heavy on my shoulders. I didn’t feel as uneasy being who I was right now. It would ebb and flow, I thought, the way every other trouble did. Sometimes you can dwell, and sometimes you have cars to fix, little sisters to pick up from school, best friends to drag out of fistfights. Beautiful women that say they love you for reasons you can’t begin to fathom. The world is big, even the world inside your mind. I reached the treeline, and turned back to the house.
