by Bonnie Vanak
His dark gaze glittered. “Me too. You are mine and I have never wanted another woman, loved another woman, as much as I have loved you.”
Then he drew her over and down in the damp grass, but she didn’t feel the coldness, only a tremendous heat.
“Hands and knees,” he said thickly.
Kieran turned her around so her bottom faced him.
She needed him inside her, needed his thick cock penetrating deep, claiming her as his own. He took his penis and stroked it through her slick, swollen folds. Ella moaned. Never had her desire been so desperate, so yearning.
He positioned himself over her, panting, and grunted, his penis slipping a little inside her. Her breath caught.
Suddenly she felt cool air brush over her as he drew back.
“No,” he said, his voice deep and edgy with frustration. “I will not take you like this the first time. You deserve better.”
Gently he turned her over so she lay back against the cool, damp grass.
“Face to face,” he whispered, brushing a lock of hair behind her ear. “So you know who is taking you, Ella-mine. So I can gaze into your eyes as our bodies become one.”
She lay on her back, gazing up at him.. Ella felt suffused with tremendous heat as he caressed her breasts and then she arched beneath his touch as Kieran brushed his thumbs over the cresting nipples. When he bent his head and took one into his mouth, the warmth and the shocking sensation caused a whimper deep in her throat. He lapped his tongue, swirling it over the taut peak, then suckled her. She was growing hotter now, a fire stoking inside her as the sweet tension braced her body.
Breath caught in her lungs. He was stunning, hard, so different from her. Muscles padded his broad shoulders, dark hair covered his deep chest. His limbs were athletic and sturdy, his abdomen ribbed and flat.
The thought of taking his hardness into her body filled her with anticipation.
“Like what you see?” he asked softly. “Come closer, Ella-mine, and touch me.”
Ella ran her hands over the strong muscle of his bicep. She traced his body, the knobs of his narrow hips, his flat stomach and then her hand shyly grasped the hard length of him rising from his groin. Kieran gave a low moan as her fingers danced along the soft skin, the rigidness beneath. Lightly, her finger teased the intriguing barb on his cock, testing the curved flesh there.
“Does it hurt?” she asked.
“In a good way.”
A strangled sob escaped her as he slid his hand between her legs and began to stroke her wet flesh. Moisture seeped out of her and she arched.
“Doesn’t it feel good?” he murmured. “I want to make you feel pleasure, Ella-mine.”
Ella clutched his shoulders, squeezing the hard muscles as he thumbed her center, flicking over it. Kieran slipped a finger inside her, and her sheath squeezed around him.
“You’re so tight. So very tight,” he murmured. “I will make it good for you, I promise.”
He stroked and caressed, then circled her center. Shudders wracked her as Ella cried out, caught in the grips of a second climax.
He withdrew, and mounted her, nudging her trembling legs open with his.
Bracing his palms on either side of her, he held her gaze with a fierce intensity. “Look at me, Ella-mine. Only me.”
Lashed with desire, she focused on him. Kieran surged forward, breaking the barrier of her innocence. Ella went still with shock. Burning pain accompanied the odd fullness. She felt invaded, caught emotions she was helpless to control.
He held her face between his palms and kissed her. “Sshhh,” he crooned. “Just stay still, trust me, it will ease.”
A bead of sweat dripped from his forehead down to her breasts.
“We are one now, Ella. Nothing, no one, can part us now.”
He began rocking back and forth, a gentle rhythm, creating a delicious friction that pushed past the pain. Ella clutched his shoulders, feeling the muscles tense beneath her grip. She arched and pumped her hips, rising up to meet him in her own demand, rubbing against him, feeling the silky slide of the hair on his legs against hers, moisture sheening his body as he moved against her. His gaze held hers as he claimed her with every push into her soft, moist channel, with the soft words he murmured to her. Then she felt the hooked barb of his cock stroke inside, fanning the flames further until she climaxed with a sharp cry.
Barely had she time to recover, when she climaxed again. And again. Spent, exhausted, she clung to him, pumping her hips upward to meet his urgent thrusts.
Then she felt the tension in him build, and his big body went still and he threw back his head. Warmth spurted inside her, as cords on his muscled neck stood out in stark relief. Kieran cried out her name, and then collapsed on her.
Gently she stroked his damp hair as his ragged breath thundered into her ear. For a moment he lay still atop her, his head pillowed on her shoulder. Then he nuzzled her neck, giving it a gentle kiss, and slid partly off her. He was still inside her, still rigid as a tree trunk. She felt the wet stickiness of his seed and her virginal blood trickle down her splayed thighs.
He rolled over, taking her with him so he was still nestled inside her, as if he didn’t want to separate them. Perspiration plastered his hair to his forehead, beaded in the curly hairs of his muscled chest.
Experimentally, she rolled her hips and felt him twitch inside her. Ella tensed as he rolled her beneath him again. Kieran raised up on his elbows, giving her a small, private smile.
“Breathe, Ella-mine. Just relax and breathe. This time will be even better,” he promised.
She had trusted him before. Ella slid her arms around his neck, anchoring herself to him. He began to move slowly, and at first there was nothing but the slight burn once more. He kissed her, long, drugging kisses that coaxed her response. He raised himself up and began angling his thrusts, rubbing against the part of her that burned in a different way.
She ached, the tension building higher and higher. Ella writhed beneath him, wanting it, clawing for it. Her hands raked down his back as she hissed and twirled her hips, begging him with her eyes.
When he thrust even deeper inside her, she screamed and bit his shoulder, tasting the salt of his skin. Kieran groaned with pleasure as he cupped her bottom and drove hard into her. The tension shattered as she came apart, her inner muscles squeezing him tightly, and he followed her soon after.
Afterwards, she lay in his arms, stroking the crisp hairs on his chest. Her hands traced his skin, reveling in the feel of muscle and sinew beneath her questing fingers. Ella rested her head on his shoulder as her fingers outlined his smiling lips. It was fitting they had made love here, in the woods that had coaxed out her wolf. It felt natural, unconfined, for her first time.
For a long time, they lay in each other’s arms, listening the howls of Lupines mating, and the sounds of the sweet night.
13
So, I’m a werewolf. No, they call it Lupine. And I have a lover. And what a lover!
Ella sat in a chair by the window, hooking her arms around her knees. Memories of Kieran’s lovemaking sang through her slightly sore body. She felt well-loved, and tired from his ardent attention.
If that was his normal style of sex, she wondered how frantic and furious a mating frenzy would make him.
Reassured that she could now shift and defend herself with fangs and claws, Kieran had left to patrol the beach. Darcy was investigating the area around the hotel where Xavier had stayed. They’d left her here with the digital files of the one scroll she sensed would provide answers.
In the house, she sat at the window overlooking the highway outside. Australian pines, their needles feathery, waved in the slight breeze. Thicker Norfolk pines flanked them. A squat concrete building with a sign out front reading MEDICAL CENTER stared at her from across the street.
This world was so familiar to her, and yet with Kieran’s entrance into her life and the knowledge of the unknown, she knew all could be deceptive.
No
w that she knew she was truly a shifter, Ella felt her eyes opened to the hidden truth lurking beneath the human world.
An innocent-looking couple on the beach could turn into demons, jaws opened wide to devour the unwary. Drivers passing back and forth on the road could be families on their way home from the beach or spies for the Dark Lord, searching for her and Kieran.
A medical building could house a doctor or nurse ready to render assistance to the injured, or demons hungering to prey on the weak and frail.
Ella’s gaze sharpened as she studied a lone gray Caravan parked in the lot across the street. The medical center was closed on weekends. Kieran had made it a point to scout out all the buildings surrounding them.
Why was a van parked there? Was it simply a place to park across from the beach? Or something else?
She looked out the window at the clear blue sky, the white puffs of clouds stretching out onto the horizon. Each moment’s delay meant her mother disappeared a little more.
She needed to find the crystal, claim her powers and return home.
A tingling filled her fingertips. Ella used to ignore it, but now, she did not. Something was not right.
She left the armchair and searched the living room for the binoculars Kieran had insisted on packing. It comforted her to know he constantly guarded her, ensuring her safety.
His protective streak moved her. No one, not even her foster mother, had been this concerned with her welfare.
Ella found the glasses, and returned to the armchair. She lifted them to her face and peered at the vehicle.
A lone occupant sat inside. He, or she, was turned away, so she could not see the face. Probably a lost driver, searching his cell for GPS instructions. Silly her.
And then, just as she chided herself for being foolish and imaginative, something made her look again. See with your true eyes, Kieran had told her. Not the eyes of a human, but your animal. Those eyes will penetrate the fog of magick and reveal an Other’s true nature.
The person inside the van turned around.
She saw his face.
It changed. Gray, with two large nostrils, and an ordinary mouth. Until it opened it, and it stretched downward, the jaw elongating like a snake about to swallow a mouse.
Oh, dear heavens, it was doing exactly that. A wriggling white object, a mouse, probably, fought as the creature lowered it to its massive jaws. It gulped it down whole and swallowed, a large lump appearing in its throat.
“Dinner is served,” she whispered, and the binoculars fell to the carpet.
Ella drew back, lest the creature see her and decide she’d make a tastier snack. But then her wolf emerged, growling. Claws emerged from her fingertips. She boldly stared at the van, and narrowed her eyes.
Let him try to get near and she’d turn him into a wolf snack.
Then, as if the driver sensed someone watched him, he started up the van and sped out of the parking lot. Minutes later, Kieran strode through the door. He saw her, and immediately went over to her.
“What is wrong, Ella?”
Kieran’s deep voice soothed her jangled nerves. She rubbed the gooseflesh dotting her bare arms. “Watching the show across the street gave me the creeps.” Ella held up her hand, showing the claws. “I think my wolf was creeped out as well.”
He sat on the chair’s armrest and stroked her hair. His touch calmed her, made her claws retract, though she sensed the tension thrumming through him. “Tell me.”
When she finished, he relaxed. “It was not a spy, I think. A true spy would have remained, or would never risked eating where Skins could see him.”
“Unless he was really hungry.”
Kieran kissed her, his mouth warm and firm. Her nerves tingled with awareness of him, his clean scent of sharp snow and spice, his protective, alert manner.
“In that case, he would have been over here, knocking on our door and asking if we could serve him some Mouse Flambé with a side of cockroaches.” His teasing smile didn’t lift her spirits. “It’s all right, Ella. You are becoming more proficient at using your true sight. It is part of the process. You will grow accustomed to it.”
“I don’t know if I like it. Seeing lizard-things eat live mice is one thing. What about the really nasty creatures you say are out there? The ones that attacked my mother? The ones that attacked you? How many of them roam around?”
Kieran nuzzled her hand with his cheek, like the way Darcy used to do when she sensed Ella was upset.
“They are everywhere. Some are harmless, escapees from the Dark Kingdom who flaunt their magick in daylight, but commit no crime. So the wizards cannot punish them. But they are the most susceptible to the Dark Lord’s influence. His followers are everywhere, Ella. This is why you must not confront one on your own, or acknowledge them. Even if they disgust you, show no reaction. If they think you are still Skin, and ignorant of the world of Others, your chances of being left alone are greater.”
He pulled away. “Let’s get back to work. Have you finished analyzing the translation I gave you?”
She nodded. It had been a bizarre passage. “The wizard whose light is crystal will find his refuge in the calm waters guarded by the shards of glass amid the trees that float.”
The Gulf of Mexico usually had calm waters. Trees that float? She gave Kieran a questioning look. He rubbed his chin.
“Mangroves have roots that go into the water. They look like they are floating.”
“They form roots in the water and then sprout into an island,” she mused. “But calm waters? The Gulf can get churned up, so it’s not calm.”
He sat back on his haunches. “There’s a possibility. The bay. There are many mangrove islands and the bay is quieter and calmer than the Gulf.”
Kieran removed his cell phone from his shorts pocket. “I’ll reserve a boat for tonight.”
“Maybe sooner.” Ella stood, squinting at the darkening sky. “We’d best hurry if we are going to beat that storm.”
An hour later, they were at the marina. Darcy had taken to the skies in the form of a bird to patrol the area.
The boat he rented was a 15-foot catamaran with a flat bottom, ideal for skimming shallow water. Kieran spent a few minutes chatting with a marina employee. After a crash course in operating the motor, Kieran took the helm and they sped off. Briny spray splashed Ella’s face as she sat near the bow, laughing with delight. She loved the feeling of speeding in the water.
“This is fun! It feels like I’m flying!” She spread out her arms.
“Oh? That’s nothing. Just wait,” he called back.
They passed several small mangrove islands. Kieran seemed interested in none. A great blue heron waded on the sandbar near one island, and a few pink birds nosed in the water as if searching for food.
It was quite pretty, but nothing odd.
Kieran kept going and slowed as they approached another mangrove island further south. “This is it,” he told her. “Has to be here. That man back at the marina said it’s rumored to be haunted. No one, not wildlife experts or people swimming in the bay, comes here.”
Menacing black birds dove and skimmed the water around the island, their eerie cries sending shivers down her spine. They seemed like ordinary birds.
Ella shrugged. “If this is the island where the crystal is hidden, it’s not very secret. Nothing to protect it.”
Kieran pointed. “Look not with your Skin vision, but your wolf’s.”
She squeezed her eyes shut, then opened them. The birds were translucent, as if made from glass. Her breath caught as she watched one dive down and claw another water fowl. Salvia dripped from the attacking bird and in a minute, there was nothing left of the other bird but bones. The predator bird flew down and began crunching on the bones.
They’d found the island, but could not access it. Not without losing their skin.
“Wait,” he said quietly. “Let’s watch them.’
For a moment they watched the birds. He pointed out that even though t
he birds roosted in the mangroves, they did not hurt the trees. Not did their saliva seem to penetrate the water.
“There’s fish in the water and those fish should be dead. Whatever magick this is, it’s meant to harm intruders to the island.”
But if she and Kieran were meant to find and take the crystal, then those birds should not attack them. When she told him this, he growled.
“They are protecting the crystal from anyone who might take it, good or evil.”
“Then I’ll just have to shift into my wolf form.” She rubbed her bare arms and shivered. “My fur will protect me.”
“I’m not letting you risk it, Ella-mine.” His gaze in the dimming light gleamed, cat-like. “I’m older and stronger in my magick. You’re too important to our world to lose.”
“And you’re not? We go together.”
“You’re not. I refuse to allow it.”
“Stop being a chauvinistic pussy.” She threw the anchor out. “Let’s roll.”
The sinking sun suddenly cast a rose-gold glow on the water. Up in the tallest branches of a mangrove tree came a lavender light. It glinted in the dying sunlight. It could have been a reflection of something caught in the tree, a shard of steel, but Ella knew it was not.
It was the crystal they sought.
Kieran gave her a knowing look. “Wolves do not climb trees. Jaguars do. I will fetch it for you.”
Nothing, no birds that dripped acid or other dark creatures, was stopping her from getting the stone. Nor would she allow Kieran to go unprotected.
After he shut off the motor, Kieran shifted. The big jaguar jumped out of the boat and began paddling toward the island. Then he ducked beneath the water.
She shifted as well. Ella made a point of splashing around, trying to draw the focus away from Kieran. A flock of the raptors dove toward her.
Ella dove, the water making her fur heavy. As he’d indicated, the acid could not penetrate the water. Whatever kind of corrosive the bird’s saliva contained, it did not harm the salty water.
She swam to the east side of the island, and surfaced, padding through the shallow water and pushing through the mangroves. The trees parted to admit her.
