by Tay LaRoi
Most wolves knew better than to trust strangers, but I was hurt, and if he had a place to hide, I was interested. “I messed up my ankle, and it hurts to walk, but I can limp on three legs.”
“Come on out and let me see.”
His voice was soft, and despite my misgivings about strangers and shifters who weren’t wolves, in general, I pulled myself out from under the tree. “I’m Aria, from the Southern Mountains pack,” I introduced myself. I didn’t offer him my hand. If I was shifted, I would have given him my neck in greeting, showing him that I understood that he was above me in the hierarchy of life, but since I was currently fleshy I couldn’t very well do that without hurting myself more than I already was.
He touched his chest. “Zoe.”
“Huh?”
He smiled at me. “My name, it’s Zoe.”
I nodded as I began to understand what she was saying. “Nice to meet you, though it would have been better if we weren’t in the middle of a storm too. How’s my ankle look?”
Her attention moved from my face to my ankle. “Like you hurt it.”
I snorted. We were both naked, and the snow was coming down harder. If she wasn’t going to help me, I needed to shift and hide back under the tree before I got too much colder. “You said you knew a place where we could wait out the storm. Is it nearby?”
“Yes, but you may still want to shift to get there. You’ll be faster, and warmer, that way.”
She was right, and I shifted back into a wolf. Moments later, she was a bear again, and as she lumbered ahead, I kept up the best I could on three legs with my pain throbbing the whole time. Shifting helped heal us, but it took a few times, and the transformation between bodies brought its own discomfort.
When Zoe showed me to the cave she’d found, nearly half an hour later, it was all I could do to pull myself in as far away from the storm as I could get and then collapse there. She shifted as well and then went to a backpack stashed well away from the mouth of the cave. When she returned to my side, she had dressed in layers of long skirts and sweaters of all different colors. She looked like a beautiful patchwork quilt, and she looked warm as she knelt beside me and pushed some kindling into a pile between us. Zoe took some flint and a striker out of the pocket of her top skirt and, after a few attempts with shaking fingers, lit a small fire for us. With only kindling to feed it, the fire wouldn’t last very long, but before I could mention that, she darted back across the cave and came back with a few thicker branches that had been broken down.
I shifted as the heat began to warm up my fur. “You’re well prepared.”
“I decided to take shelter as soon as I saw the storm coming in.”
That had been where my problem started for sure. “I tried to get back to my pack and ended up missing a root that took out my ankle.” I sighed from the warmth but also my own stupidity. “It’s lucky I found you.”
“Technically, I found you.” She sounded smug about it too.
Zoe crawled across the cave, being careful about not getting her skirts too near the fire, and touched my ankle. Her touch, and the gentleness of it, surprised me, but it was the pain that flared up at even her momentary attention that made me hiss and pull back.
“It’s fine, really,” I protested as she followed my ankle over to where I had moved it.
“It’ll be better soon. I’m not going to hurt you.” Before I could yank away from her again, she’d placed one of her hands over my ankle and held the other up to the fire. Her touch was firm, and I was about to ask her what she was doing when I felt intense heat flare over my cold skin. I stared at her and listened to her soft whispers as she began to chant. The fire dimmed, but it never went out as she stole its warmth to help my leg.
“You’re a healer,” I said once she was done and my ankle was all but fixed. Only a low thrum of sensitivity was left in the wake of her work. “What group do you belong to?”
She blushed as she turned away from me. “I don’t. I’m a wanderer.”
But that didn’t make any sense. Healers were needed everywhere, and she was better than most of the ones I’d met before. “Would you want to belong to a pack? Specifically the one I’m in?”
She looked like she wanted to accept my offer. She was practically ready to jump on it. I could see it in her eyes, in the happiness I saw reflected there, but in the end, she shook her head. “I couldn’t.”
“Why not?”
She waved a hand down her body. “You’ve seen me. You know why.”
I huffed in irritation. “Some packs are like that, but we aren’t. I promise you that.”
Still she hesitated. “And why are you so certain?”
“Because I’m a lesbian,” I told her bluntly.
She stopped looking uncertain and now just looked like she didn’t believe me. “There’s being a lesbian, and then there’s someone who likes women like me.”
I rolled my eyes. I hadn’t even been talking about that. “A lesbian is a woman who finds other women attractive right?”
Zoe nodded. That was the simplest explanation.
“You’re a woman. They accept that I’m a lesbian, and when I lived in the city, I brought home plenty of different women, and they never once turned their noses up around any of them.”
Zoe sat down near me. “Did you ever bring around any women like me?”
“Of course. I happen to like all women.” I shrugged. It was so simple to me. I could see that it wouldn’t be so easy for her to accept though. Maybe when she saw how open and loving my pack really was she’d be more accepting of what I was saying.
She knelt down and then moved to lie beside me. The firelight was a soft blaze in front of us, a small barrier against the bitter cold and wind just beyond the mouth of the cave. We were quiet together, her watching the fire, me focusing on the storm outside. I shivered as the snow became thicker, forming a heavy white curtain in front of me.
“There’s more wood against that wall, if you need it,” Zoe offered.
I nodded. I’d get some soon, but for now, the fire was doing just fine without the added fuel.
Zoe yawned beside me, and I stopped watching the snow long enough to look over at her. “Are you tired?” I asked.
She gave me a sleepy smile. “I am. Healing is exhausting. No magic comes for free, and the cost of mine is my energy.”
“If you want to rest, I’ll keep watch for a while.” I wasn’t really tired anyway, and it seemed like the least I could do since she’d fixed my ankle for me. It was almost completely back to new now, and I was amazed at her abilities.
“Promise?”
“Yes.” We’d only just met, but we were both shifters, and both women. We had to stick together and protect each other. To show her just how serious I was, I shifted and watched the mouth of the cave. In the snow, I couldn’t see or hear anyone coming up to us, not unless they were incredibly loud in the process, but I could smell them well enough. And right then, all I could smell was the crispness of the freshly falling snow.
“Thank you, Aria.”
I turned to look back at her. She had pulled her long hair off her face exposing the smooth skin of her neck and part of her collarbone where a jagged scar marred her skin. It must have been where she’d been bitten and turned. I hoped, for her sake, that it hadn’t been as painful as it looked.
She shivered as she began to fall asleep, and I moved closer to her until, eventually, I was lying right up against her. Then her shivering stopped. Moving next to her meant that I was also closer to the fire. Zoe wrapped her arms around me and I leaned into her embrace. We were only being this close to stay warm. I knew this, but I enjoyed it all the same.
An hour later, she woke up, and even though I knew she was awake, I stayed beside her. She didn’t seem to mind me so close either as she ran her fingers through my thick fur. I shifted and took her hand in mine as I turned over and faced her. The fire at my back warmed me some, but it wasn’t long before I was chilled in the wide expans
e of the cave again.
“Are you cold?” she asked.
I nodded. I wished that I wasn’t, but I’d never been that good at staying warm in winter. She opened her arms, and I went into her embrace. She was warm under all of her layers, and I instantly felt better being that close to her.
“Tell me about your pack, please. I’ve always wondered what it would be like to belong to a pack as inclusive as you say yours is.”
I knew I was lucky to find them. A lot of packs were still very judgmental and thought a woman’s place was not hers to decide at all. I had never run into anything like that with mine. “We have about ten adults, mostly in their thirties and forties, and then we’ve got some teenagers and some kids too. About half the pack is straight, and the rest of us are all over the place. We’ve got a few people like you too. And we’ve got a poly relationship as well. I like that we’re all so open and honest and accepting of each other. And, even if you weren’t a healer, you’d still be a great addition to the pack. But since you are, and since you’re so good at it, I think you’d be amazing, and I definitely want you there with us.”
Zoe blushed, and I smiled at her. “I’ve never been wanted by anyone. Are you sure?”
“I’m positive.” Her cheeks got darker and I laughed. “It feels good right? To be wanted that much?”
“Very much so.” Her voice was soft and hesitant. On a whim, I leaned forward and kissed her. I kept the kiss light and teasing. When I touched her shoulder, I realized just how soft her sweater was. I lowered my hands to her waist and began feeling her other sweaters too. Some were scratchy, others were just as soft as the first. Most had frayed hemlines and a hole or two, like she’d been moving around from place to place for a while.
I rolled onto my back, hoping she’d join me. She came with me, lying over my naked body. The floor of the cave was cold but the fire beside us helped chase away some of the chill, as did her warm mouth against mine.
Her fingers trembled over my shoulder. I thought she might not know if it was okay to touch me more, so I took her hand and brought it to my breast.
“Aria...”
I didn’t want to hear her protests, or why we shouldn’t enjoy each other. I came from a pack built on freedom, and part of that was enjoying pleasure when I could and with the person I wanted. Right now, that person was Zoe. I shook my head and massaged her fingers over my small breast. “I want you.”
She closed her eyes and kissed me. Her long black hair cascaded over us. It was even softer than her sweater. I opened my thighs, letting her in. Whatever she wanted of me in that cave was what I wanted too. I wanted her in the pack as well, but it was just us in the cave as the snow continued to fall in heavy sheets outside.
I felt her rubbing against me as she toyed with my breast. Despite her gentle kisses and her soft touches, I felt her there between my thighs and I wanted her too.
I turned my mouth to the side, pausing our kisses. “Zoe?”
She kissed my cheek and then my jaw. “Yes?”
“I want you. What are you comfortable with?” I’d been with women like her before, and I knew sex could become complicated. I didn’t want to rush her or hurt her in any way.
She hesitated above me. “I... No one has ever asked me that before really. I guess, I can use that part of myself, but I don’t want anyone else touching it. It’s hard for me to think of it being mine or being part of me at all, but that’s how it is, and as long as that part of me isn’t addressed directly, then I think I can enjoy this too.”
I got it. I knew that I could never actually know what she was going through or what it meant to be her, but I understood what she was saying. I nodded. “Thank you. I can do that.”
She looked so relieved, and then she kissed me again. She swiped the rough pad of her thumb over my nipple, teasing me. I brought my hand under her sweaters, over her chest, to her nipples as well. Where she was gentle, I was not. I pinched and I pulled, and when she jerked against me, I just smiled up at her. “You like this,” I whispered as I teased her. I liked knowing what made her blush and what drove her so wild that she ended up biting her lower lip instead of making a single sound.
I pushed her sweaters up and wrapped my hands around her back. Pulling her in against me meant that I felt even more of her at my core too, rubbing against me so insistently as if she couldn’t wait to have me too. With her chest exposed, I eagerly brought my mouth to her nipples. I licked and I sucked and I bit until she was gasping above me and her touches were no longer gentle on my breasts either. I felt her nails digging into my soft flesh and I only gripped her tighter. Having her rubbing against me, hitting all of my most sensitive places, was working for me too. I didn’t need to have her in me to enjoy her, though I wanted that too. The rough fabric of her topmost skirt sent shivers through me each time she brought us together. I was wet and needy, and by the time she noticed just how damp I’d made the front of her skirt, I was practically desperate to have her inside of me.
“I’ve never been with anyone like you,” she said as she began stripping off her layers.
I lay back. I wanted to help, but I wanted to see her show even more, even if she didn’t realize she was putting on a performance for me. When her top half was exposed, I slipped my fingers between my thighs and began to stroke my fingertips over my wet lips. “What kind of women have you been with then?” I was curious, to a degree. I didn’t need to know about her past lovers, but if she wanted to share them with me, then I was more than willing to listen to her talk. Whatever she wanted to do, I wanted to be there with her. She could have spent hours talking about the snow coming down and I would have gladly stayed right there with her.
“They were not as accepting as you. They were...” She frowned. “They wanted a woman, but the kind of woman that was acceptable to them. If that makes sense.”
I thought that I understood. “They wanted you as long as they didn’t have to be reminded of the parts of you that didn’t fit into their ideal?”
Zoe nodded, and I understood her hesitation, but I wasn’t like any of the women she’d been with before. To prove that to her, I moved forward on my hands and knees until I was kneeling in front of her. Then I tucked my fingers into the bands of her skirts and began pulling them, one by one, down to her feet until she was naked with me as well. I kissed her hip and then her thigh. I was close to every part of her that she didn’t particularly care for, but I was careful to never touch them. I wasn’t there to go down on her. I only wanted to show her that I saw her for who she was, and I accepted her body as her own because it belonged to her.
“Please don’t do anything to it,” she said. Her voice was little more than a squeak.
I sat back on my heels and looked up at her to see her standing there, stiff as a board, and with her eyes clamped as tight as she could possibly get them. “I won’t unless it’s an accident,” I promised her. I rose up a bit and kissed her stomach. “Do you want me?”
She nodded.
“You can open your eyes. I’m right here.”
Zoe quickly shook her head. “I’m afraid that if I do, then I’ll see that you really don’t want me anymore. Lesbians aren’t supposed to have what I do. They’re not supposed to want it either.”
I rolled my eyes. “A lesbian is a woman who wants other women,” I reminded her. I didn’t think that she’d believe me without real proof, so I tugged her down to her knees in front of me. She barely had her eyes open. I opened my thighs a bit, and then I took her hand. I was wet and I moved her fingers over my slick lips and my entrance. “I still want you,” I promised her. She had to feel that to know it and understand it. There was no denying my body’s reaction to her, just as she couldn’t deny how much she wanted me. “The only question, really, is how do you want me? I’ll do whatever you need so that you’re comfortable.”
When I looked up at her again, there were tears in her eyes. “Aria...” She shook her head. “You’re so sweet and so kind.”
; I was trying to be at least. “Will you be with me tonight? And then tomorrow, or whenever this damn snow lets up, I’ll take you to my pack and you’ll see that I’m telling the truth about them?”
She nodded quickly, and I lay down as I had been before. If she was more comfortable another way I would definitely move, but she seemed just fine with where I was as she lay over me. I kissed her eagerly and wrapped my arms around her. She rubbed against me, thrusting at my entrance, teasing me without really meaning to. I slid one of my hands between us, stroking myself as I waited for her to decide that we’d both had enough. I wanted to grab her and show her that I really was okay with this, but I knew that touching her would likely end things entirely. For tonight at least. And I didn’t want to do that to either of us.
Zoe reached down and moved my hand off to the side as she slipped inside of me. I smiled. She hadn’t wanted me to touch her even then. She kept my hand in hers as she moved within me. I’d been with plenty of people, and I knew what I was doing. Zoe seemed to be lost in a way. Her movements were unsure and jerky, as if she was still new to this and wondering what she was doing along the way.
I said nothing. I didn’t want to embarrass her. I kissed her throat and the scar on her collarbone. I wrapped my legs around hers, holding on to her. I liked how she felt within me. There was a low ache deep within me, and each time she moved inside me, my pleasure rumbled to life just a little bit more. She was gentle and slow. She took her time and kissed me often.
She took a while to find a pace that she liked and for her movements to become less jerky. Maybe she had struggled to get comfortable. I didn’t mind. She was warm and I loved the feeling of her on top of me, and inside of me. Her body was slim, fitting against mine perfectly each time she brought us together. Zoe was quiet except for her soft moans I could barely hear over the sound of the storm outside. It raged on, but I didn’t mind so much because she was there with me, distracting me with her body and warming me with her kisses.
