by Ranae Rose
****
Morning had chased away the night, replacing the moonbeam that had shone through the bedroom window with a bar of sunshine. That was all right, because Mandy didn’t hurt anymore.
“How do you feel?” Jack was curled around her, his body enveloping hers. They hadn’t moved all night.
“Good,” Mandy said, taking a deep breath of the woodsy, masculine scent that permeated the linens. Last time she’d fallen asleep here, it had driven her wild. The effect it had on her this morning wasn’t all that different. Was Jack smelling rain and spring wildflowers? Maybe. He was unmistakably hard, and one of his hands cupped her breast. “Help me take this thing off.” Her fingertips skimmed over the bandage wrapped around her ribs, searching for the end.
“I’ve got it,” Jack said. “Just sit up and I’ll help you out of it.”
He unraveled it slowly, and when it was gone, she touched her finger to her ribs, just below her breast. The scar tissue was almost smooth, as if the wound had been sustained years ago instead of the night before. “How does the scar on my back look?”
“Bigger than the entry wound,” Jack said, his fingers fluttering over her spine. “But it’s healed up nicely.”
God, she was lucky to be alive. The truth of it struck her like a revelation, sending life tingling through her veins. Everything could have ended so easily last night – her crazy vacation, her relationship with Jack and ultimately, her existence. But it hadn’t, and as Jack smoothed his hands over her back, she felt like she’d won some sort of cosmic lottery. “It’s a beautiful morning.” The sunlight filtering through the window was golden, promising a picturesque spring day.
“Yeah, it is,” Jack said, his breath rushing against Mandy’s neck as he embraced her, cradling a breast in each hand.
She arched her back, leaning against him. His touch inspired an ache that made her want to melt right into him. “That feels good.”
He kneaded her breasts, teasing her nipples to stiff little peaks with his fingertips. She sighed. “Don’t ever stop touching me, Jack.”
He released one breast and lowered a hand between her thighs. “Happy to oblige.” She opened herself to him and he brushed his fingertips across her sex. “You’re awfully wet for having just woken up.” His voice was rough, but he sounded pleased, and his cock was hard against her back as he felt her.
“I had another one of those dreams.”
“Mmm. Me too.” He slipped a finger inside her, causing her core to tighten in response. “I wonder if all shifters dream about their mates like that every night.”
She sucked in a breath as he added another finger, causing her body to stretch exquisitely to accommodate his touch. He reached deep inside her, touching a place that made her want to squirm. She arched her hips instead, reveling in the sensation. He massaged her clit with his other hand, causing her pleasure to double as she tensed against him. When he began to kiss the side of her neck, she was done.
Her hips bucked rebelliously, shaken by sensation, but he held her tight, biting her neck lightly as he pushed his fingers deep inside her, dragging them down her wall and making her cry out. Every inch of her body sparked with bone-deep ecstasy as he drove all coherent thought from her mind with his hands, his teeth scraping the soft skin just inches from her throat. When she’d finally ridden her climax out, she melted against him.
He withdrew his fingers from between her thighs, wrapping his arms around her body and continuing to kiss her.
She relaxed in his embrace for a few moments before turning, straddling him and seeking out his mouth with hers. She kissed him deeply, and he did the same to her, their tongues entwining. With one hand, she reached below and found his cock, wrapping her fingers around it and beginning to stroke him.
He arched his hips, causing her hand to slide to the root of his shaft. The crown of his erection pressed against her slick folds and brushed her clit, sending a womb-clenching burst of sensation through her core. She moaned and he did the same. “Put me inside you.”
She obliged, guiding his cock so that he was poised on the brink of entry before letting go.
He slid inside her in one smooth motion, filling her to her limit. She barely had time to gasp before he wrapped his arms around her and lowered her onto the mattress, reversing their positions. She let her head sink back into the pillows and arched beneath him, letting his cock sink even deeper into her core.
“God, Mandy,” he breathed. “It feels so good to be inside you that I don’t wanna wait. But at the same time…” He slowed, taking her in deep, thorough strokes. “I don’t ever wanna stop.”
She could feel the tenseness in his hard muscles as they shifted beneath her hands and hear the longing in his voice. “We can always do it again,” she said. And again, and again… It was all right if he finished now. There was no air of possible finality to this lovemaking, as there had been the night before, when their lives had been on the line.
He groaned and thrust into her, hard. She bore down with her hips in response, burying him just a little deeper. “Go ahead, Jack. I want to feel you come inside me.” Her body tightened from head to toe at the thought, her nipples shrinking as she let her nails dig into his back.
He rocked his hips, the pace of their lovemaking quickening to a rhythm controlled by pure, physical desire. He moaned, his breath rushing hot against her face. He was as hard inside her as his muscles were beneath her palms. The wet heat of his release filled her core as he seized fistfuls of the bed sheets, pulling them from the corners of the mattress, which shook beneath them with each thrust. Several more hard strokes and he slowed, drawing breath in deep, steady drafts. She raised her head from the pillows and kissed him, slipping her tongue into his mouth and prolonging their coupling just a little longer. It felt good to be joined with him, and even better to know it would surely happen again.
When they finally tumbled apart they headed to the shower together, where they washed the evidence of their recent trials from each other’s bodies. Afterward, Mandy felt like a new woman and didn’t care that her hair was sopping over her shoulders, beginning to dry into wind ringlets. She patted the excess moisture out of it with a towel as she watched Jack shave away his burgeoning beard, his sculpted, naked body leaning over the sink.
“You clean up pretty well,” she teased, “though I liked your stubble.”
“Don’t worry,” he said as he ran his razor under hot water, “it’ll be back before the day’s over.” He laid down his razor on the edge of the sink and pulled her against him. His smooth jaw brushed her cheek, and that felt nice too. Beneath the clean scent of soap, his rich, piney smell was still abundant. He began to grow hard again as he held her, their naked bodies pressed together, but apparently he was willing to suppress his desire. “You want me to take you down the mountain to your car today?”
“Yes, please,” she said, thinking longingly of the personal items stashed inside, especially her toothbrush. She’d gargled extensively with the mouthwash Jack kept under the sink, but it just wasn’t the same.
A few minutes later they were dressed – Mandy in a pair of Jack’s jeans, rolled up at the cuffs, and an oversized plaid shirt. Although she enjoyed breathing in Jack’s scent, which had permeated the clothing, she was eager to get her own back and change into something meant to fit her feminine body. They devoured a hearty breakfast of eggs, toast and bacon before starting down the mountain in Jack’s old pick-up truck, which did run after all.
When they reached her abandoned Honda, it was untouched. Mandy pulled her keys out of her pocket and unlocked it, thinking back to two nights ago when she’d sat inside clutching her gun, eyeing Jack from the other side of the glass. This moment was utterly different. “Guess I’ll drive it up to your cabin.”
Jack nodded and brushed a kiss across her cheek before climbing back into his truck.
Mandy settled into her car and followed him back up the mountain.
“So, you want me to show you where you
r vacation cabin is?” Jack asked when they were back in his driveway and out of their vehicles.
Mandy knew her surprise showed on her face. “I figured I’d spend my time here with you.”
He grinned. “I know, but I’ve gotta go up there sometime within the next few days anyway.”
“You do?”
He nodded. “Didn’t you ever wonder what I do for a living?”
“I guess I never really thought to ask, with all the sexual tension and flying bullets.”
“I’m a caretaker and general handyman for the vacation cabins on this mountain. The company that owns them hired me to make inspections and necessary repairs.”
“Oh.” She imagined Jack driving over the mountain in his pick-up – or maybe taking a short cut through the woods in his wolf form – to do some light construction. It made for an appealing mental image, especially when she imagined him working shirtless, his muscles gleaming under a light sheen of sweat.
“What about you?” he asked. “What’s this job you’ve got back in Nashville that you’re so fond of?”
“I’m Head of Accounts Receivable for a regional medical supply company.” It probably didn’t sound very exciting to someone like Jack, who preferred to work outdoors and with his hands, but she’d worked her butt of to become head of anything while still riding the cusp of her late twenties. She’d achieved it only eight months ago, and she was still proud. But she couldn’t deny…the thought of her office back in Nashville seemed stifling compared to the sprawling mountains here.
“Do you like what you do?” Jack asked as if making polite conversation, but there was a heaviness – a wariness – in his gaze that betrayed his concern.
She nodded. “The job is nice, but not completely satisfying.”
“Oh, yeah?” He was leaning casually against his truck, but his hands were in his pockets, his gaze a touch defiant. As if he were expecting a rehashing of the argument they’d had in the den.
“Yeah.” She took a step toward him, reaching out to touch his shoulder. The flannel of his shirt felt pleasant beneath her fingertips, softened by wear. The firmness of his muscles beneath felt even better. “I’m thinking about resigning and doing something that makes me truly happy instead.”
He planted a hand against the small of her back and drew her close. “Like what?”
She pressed her cheek against the V of skin and dark hair that was bared above his shirt buttons. “Like starting a new life with my mate.”
He wrapped his arms around her, embracing her fiercely. “I’m glad you finally came around.”
How could she not have? Over the past couple days, she’d shared things with Jack that made her dates with other men back in Nashville look like jokes. It wasn’t every day that you found a man who would be willing to die for you, or someone you felt so connected to that the thought of leaving them made you feel like your heart was unraveling. And then there was the fact that they were mates; united in an invisible but undeniable way that she never would have been able to understand mere days ago. Yes, Jack was the only one for her. “Why, were you going to let me go if I hadn’t?” she teased.
“Hell no. I reckon I would’ve followed you to Nashville if I’d had to.” When she looked up, he was grimacing in distaste, though the look in his eyes was warm.
“That’s nice to know, but I won’t put you through that.” Nashville didn’t hold a candle to the wild, sprawling Smoky Mountains anymore. She’d have to give up her job, but maybe she could find work in the tiny town at the foot of the mountain, or – more likely – commute to a larger place. And then when she was home…well, she could be as wild as she wanted, free to be herself with Jack.
“I guess we’re officially a pack again.” Jack grinned, gripping her by her shoulders and leaning back to look into her eyes. “Just two of us for now, but I reckon we’ll start growing in number sometime soon.”
She felt herself go pale as his words hit her. “Jack, shifter women don’t have, like, half a dozen babies at a time like wolves, do they?” She was uncomfortably aware that she and Jack hadn’t used any sort of protection during the several times they’d had sex already. Against her usual nature, she’d allowed herself to live in the moment, driven by passion and her sheer, animal attraction to Jack. A part of her had known that they were meant for each other, even if she hadn’t admitted it then.
He laughed. “No. We’ll have to expand one by one.” He pulled her close against his chest again, putting his smooth jaw against her cheek, his lips brushing her ear. “It’ll be more fun that way, anyway.”
Her knees went a little weak with relief, and she laughed breathily. One baby to start out with, a family… Well, that didn’t sound so bad. She’d always envisioned a family in her future, though it had seemed faraway, given her lackluster dating experiences. But now she had Jack, and whatever else came her way, he would always be a part of her life. “That’s a relief.” He’d settled his hands on her bottom as he’d spoken, and now he squeezed. “As eager as I’m sure you are to get started on that, I think we’d better do a little cleaning,” she said, glancing at the cabin, where the door hung crookedly on one hinge, and the inside was littered with debris.
“Guess I’ll have to keep things neater around here now that I’ve got you,” he said, and they set to work on getting rid of the evidence of the previous night’s violence. Later that afternoon, Ronnie stopped by, pulling up to the cabin in his truck.
“Thought you two might need some help fixin’ up around here,” he said. “I tried to call after I got off work, but it wouldn’t go through.”
“Hunter cut the phone line yesterday,” Jack explained.
They swept up debris and tidied the property as Ronnie filled them in on his day at work. The bodies of the two hunters had been discovered on national park land, and no one had suspected that werewolves or shape-shifting park rangers had had anything to do with them – of course. Mandy shivered as the night before came back to her in a rush, sparking a chill down her spine and an ache in her chest. Jack warmed and steadied her with his touch, pressing his hand against the small of her back. When the memories faded a little, she thanked Ronnie. After all, if it hadn’t been for him, the night might have proved fatal for her and Jack.
He accepted her thanks stoically, his dark eyes unreadable as he picked up the front door with one hand, as if it weighed nothing at all. Jack repaired the hinges while Mandy watched, a feeling of satisfaction welling up in her heart. The danger that had brought her and Jack together had passed. A sense of peace she’d never felt in the city settled over her.
By the time night fell, the cabin was looking better than when Mandy had first arrived, save for the holes in one wall and a busted window. They decided to tackle those the next day, and dumped the gathered wooden debris into the little stone-ringed fire pit in Jack’s backyard. Jack struck a match and he, Mandy and Ronnie watched the stuff burn until it was reduced to a bed of hot ash.
After Ronnie left, Jack and Mandy tumbled eagerly into bed together. “You know,” Jack said, rolling on top of Mandy and causing her to sink into the mattress as he met her eyes, “I don’t think I’ve told you yet, but I love you.”
She smiled. “Of course you do – we’re mates. And I love you too.” It was true; she loved him with a love deeper than any she’d ever known before coming to the mountains.
About the Author
Ranae Rose lives on the US East Coast and is an avid reader and writer who can’t resist a good love story, and the hotter the better. You can learn more about Ranae and her books at: www.ranaerose.com
Ranae loves to hear from readers! She can be reached at: [email protected]
Connect with Ranae on Twitter: Ranae_Rose
style = " -webkit-filter: grayscale(100%); -moz-filter: grayscale(100%); -o-filter: grayscale(100%); -ms-filter: grayscale(100%); filter: grayscale(100%); " class="sharethis-inline-share-buttons">share
