by T. J. Finn
He shook his head, frowning. “How Claire? I don’t understand.”
She took a deep breath, holding his gaze. “I told you. I’m telepathic. I would be able to listen to people’s thoughts and that could help us find the poachers and, being a witch, I’m certain I could magically get them to tell us where this man named Corbin is.”
Chapter 5 - Claire
There it was, all out in the open, and Claire held her breath waiting for Finn to say something, anything, that she could grab onto that would give her hope that she could save the people she loved.
She watched him as he watched her, an epic staring contest in which she watched a range of emotions cross over his face before he stood and walked to stand in front of the fireplace. Her heart felt like it was shrinking, her chest tight, her shoulders slumped at what she could only think was his denial of her help. Looking away from him, she knew she had a decision to make. He had given her some useful information that she could take to her dad and the two of them could find this Corbin on their own.
Looking back to, Finn she took a deep breath before she spoke. “It’s ok Finn. I understand if you don’t want my help. As soon as this snow stops and we can dig ourselves out, I’ll drive you to town and help you find a way out of here so you can continue your search.”
Finn turned around and studied her but she didn’t know what he was thinking. It was unfamiliar territory, being the first time in her life that she wished she could hear someone. His shoulders slumped a little and he let out a breath she’d known he’d been holding. She watched as he held his palms up and out then shook his head, dropping his arms again.
“It’s not that I don’t want your help Claire. In fact, at this point, I need someone’s help. But I don’t think you understand the risks.” She opened her mouth to protest, wanting to remind him of her cousin but he held up a hand to stop her. “I know you were there when your cousin died. I understand what you’re feeling. I do, but this is beyond dangerous to both of us. I don’t want you to risk your life for me.
“I wouldn’t be risking my life for you. I’d be risking my life for my friends, my family and everyone I love. I can’t always be a productive member of my family or my town because of my telepathy issues. The voices just get to be too much for me, even when my family helps me block everything out. This is how I can finally help them all.” Her voice broke and it was her turn to stand and look away from him.
Her declaration to him was even a surprise to herself. Yes, she’d always felt left out of everything because she couldn’t be around too many people for any length of time without getting headaches, being nauseous and unable to take in all the voices barraging her at once. As a little girl she had withdrawn from everyone except her family and a few friends. She had missed out on so much and, after the death of Michael, had felt like she’d let everyone down because when she’d heard the thoughts of the men who had killed him, she’d been nearly crippled with fear. If she could have warned him sooner, if she could have protected him, if... she shook her head. There were just many if’s in her life and she wasn’t going to let it happen again.
Claire heard Finn sigh and she turned to look at him. “Claire, I…” He shook his head again as if he could shake whatever he was thinking out of his head, then nodded “Ok Claire. You can help me.”
Her squeal of excitement echoed around the cabin as she hurried to him and wrapped her arms around his neck, nearly knocking him down. His warm laughter echoed in his chest and vibrated against hers. She pulled back, her arms still around his neck, and gave him a smile before she leaned in and gave him a quick, grateful kiss.
Claire pulled her head back, breathless, Her eyes dropped to his lips, her tongue darting out to lick her suddenly dry ones. Her eyes slowly moved up to find his heated, intense gaze watching her. Suddenly she became aware of how her heart started beating faster and a soft warm flush spread across her skin.
Finn’s eyes dropped and her full lips parted, her breaths coming quicker. Her heart skittered in her chest, feeling like a rock skipping over water as she watched, as if in slow motion, as Finn’s head dropped, his lips finding hers. The kiss was soft, his lips lingering against hers for a moment before he kissed her again. His hands moved up her back, pressing her closer still, molding her curves against his hard body. This kiss was slow and teasing, his tongue sweeping across her lips, asking for entrance. He lifted his head slightly, whispering. “Let me in Claire.”
His plea was a hoarse whisper but he didn’t need to ask again as she parted her lips and his tongue swept inside brushing against hers. Claire moaned softly as she deepened the kiss, tasting her, stroking his tongue across hers. One hand moved up to cup her neck as the other pulled her impossibly closer. She could feel every hard muscle of his body as her hands moved across his back in appreciation. There was no fat anywhere, just hard lines and muscles that were twitching under her touch.
Claire’s whole body was throbbing, heat rushing through her, pooling between her legs. She’d been kissed before, hell she wasn’t a virgin, but he’d managed to rock her world with just a kiss. She wanted to crawl up his body, then kiss her way down it, running her tongue along every crevice and muscle.
Finn broke the kiss, trailing soft kisses across her cheek, pressing his lips lightly across her forehead, then stepped away. Claire slowly opened her eyes. The both of them were panting, trying to calm their breathing. “Wow.” Claire’s voice sounded foreign to her, low and breathy. She ran her tongue over her lips again, tasting his kiss and heard him groan.
“Don’t do that Claire. I’m a strong man, but have my weaknesses and you have become my weakness.” Her eyes widened slightly and she pressed her lips together.
Putting a little more distance between them, she swallowed, taking long slow breaths to calm her heart. He watched her, almost unblinking, and she was suddenly nervous at his scrutiny. She rubbed her hands on her jeans then tucked her hair behind her ear, clearing her throat before she spoke. “I’m...uh…. going to take a shower. The coffee is in the cabinet above the coffee pot if you want a new pot. I know mine wasn’t very good. There’s also some soda and juice in the fridge. Help yourself.”
She knew she was rambling and forced herself to stop. A slight movement caught her eye and she saw his lips twitching just before they broke into a smile. Her heart did that little stammering it seemed to be doing every time she looked at him and the fluttering in her stomach was back, but she couldn’t help but return his smile.
“Really. I’m going to go take a shower then we can talk about a plan, how we’re going to do all this.” Feeling keyed up, and, at the same time, a little more relaxed, she left him watching her as she slipped into her bedroom, shutting the door behind her.
Leaning against the door she put her hand to her chest. WOWZER could the man kiss. But still it bothered her that she couldn’t hear his thoughts. Frowning she pushed away from the door and went to the bathroom.
She shed the sweats she was wearing and turned on the shower. Once the steam was billowing out from behind the curtain, she stepped into the tub and closed her eyes as she leaned her head back to let the water fall down her back. Her body was still humming from their shared kiss. It had been so long since she’d been kissed or touched or, well anything like that. Hell, just being held the way he’d held her had felt so good.
Claire loved living in the mountains in her cabin being surrounded by all the beauty of the Rockies but she was lonely. Not lonely enough to just hop into bed with someone she just met, but she missed the touch of another person. Her family was very loving with lots of hugs. Something she craved at times. Maybe that’s why her body still tingled where he’d touched her back through her clothes, or where his hand had touched her neck. Yes, that had to be it.
She washed her hair then grabbed her lavender soap and began to move it over her skin. Her sister worked with herbs and had made both for her, giving her a case of each before she’d move. She’d have to let Eva know soon that she needed more.
Closing her eyes, she got her hands soaped up, then moved them slowly over her body, down her shoulders and over to her breasts. She imagined that it was Finn’s fingers circling her hardening nipples, pulling and pinching them. Running her hands down and over her stomach, she wanted it to be his fingers brushing through her red curly mound, slipping past her wet, swollen folds, and dipping into her heat as he kissed her. Her fingers found the swollen bud and she pressed and rubbed, her lips parting in a soft moan. It was his fingers bringing her close, sending tiny little jolts of pleasure through her.
Leaning back against the tiled wall, Claire gasped softly as she pressed against her clit harder, rubbing faster. Her other fingers found her hard nipples again, circling and pinching them as she slowly teetered on the brink of an orgasm. Finally, she moaned softly as she went over the edge, her body shuddering with her release.
Claire opened her eyes and straightened. She should have gotten one of her toys from her night stand damn it. No wait! What was she doing? She was fantasizing about a man she didn’t know, touching her, bringing her to orgasm. Shaking her head, taking several deep breaths to calm herself, she finished her shower and stepped out.
Swiping a hand through the fogged up mirror she stared at her reflection, biting her a lip for a moment until they spread into a wide smile. Why shouldn’t she fantasize about Finn touching her? Hell, why not see if she could actually get the man to do more than just touch her? She wouldn’t have to worry about hearing his thoughts because for some reason she couldn’t. She wouldn't have to that she’d someday hear some derogatory remark or hear his mind wander in the middle of it all.
Of course, they had a plan to make. The snow should stop by tomorrow night, so they would be digging themselves out and leaving. But that gave her almost two full days to see what she could do.
Chapter 6 - Finn
What the hell was Finn thinking? Finn sat in the chair in front of the fire staring into the flames berating himself for kissing Claire, wanting more from her, his wolf pacing and agitated as if he’d just scented his mate. He straightened. Mate? No, he didn’t know her and had just met her. He didn’t believe in love at first sight or even mate at first sight. He knew it had been that way with his parents but they were both wolves. Their love had been strong and rare, a shining example to him and four brothers.
A heaviness crept into Finn’s body as he thought of his parents. His dad was a mere shell of the alpha he had once been the loss of his mother, dying while protecting Finn, had sapped the life right out of his dad. Finn had only been four, just a young pup, who had run away from the pack for a little romping and running in the woods surrounding their pack land. His mother had come looking for him when they had encountered the very man Finn was now hunting. His mother had been shot right in front of him and she had told him to run. He had refused at first but she had pleaded with him. Finally, he’d ran, not stopping until he had found his father and older brothers. They wouldn’t let him go with them to find her, but he had remembered them carrying her body back, covered in their coats and shirts. The trauma of it all had left him broken and guilty for the rest of his life.
He heard the shower turn off and a hairdryer turn on and he watched the bedroom door expectantly. Shaking his head, he looked away. He was acting like a teenage pup just entering puberty. He’d scented her before she even opened the door, her unique combination of lavender and lemon with a mix of...desire? A smile spread across his lips as he looked back at the door. It was desire he scented and knew what she had done in the shower. His suspicions were confirmed when she opened the door and looked at him, a beautiful pink flush spreading over her cheeks.
Claire visibly swallowed when their eyes met as she pushed away from the door and walked into the kitchen. Grabbing a soda from the refrigerator, she came back to the sofa across from him and sat down. She avoided looking at him for a moment, the silence stretching out between them like a rubber band being pulled further and further apart. Finn glanced at the clock on the mantel, breaking the tension between them and saw that it was barely noon. Hopefully she hasn’t decided to not talk to him the whole day.
Claire took one more swallow of soda then looked at him. “From the weather reports, I figure this storm is going to go through tomorrow but by the end of tomorrow it should stop or at least lessen and then we can dig out the next morning. The main roads Will probably be cleared by midafternoon tomorrow so once we can get out of here, we shouldn’t have any trouble getting to where we need to be.”
Finn nodded, relaxing back in his chair, relieved that she was going to speak to him after all. “Do you have a map or anything so I can get my bearings? The last thing I knew, I was in Durango.”
Claire nodded and jumped up from the sofa, walking over to an armoire sitting against the wall next to the fireplace. She rummaged through a drawer until she pulled out a folded map and went back to the sofa, dropping down on the floor in front of it. As she opened the map, Finn stood and dropped down next to her, leaning close. Lavender and lemon surrounded him and he barely stopped himself from leaning over and burying his nose in her hair.
“Durango is here.” Claire pointed to the map while he leaned over her arm. “I live about 45 minutes just south of Lake City which is here. So, you’re about 2 and half hours or so from Durango. From there it's about a five or six-hour drive to Magic.”
Finn studied the map, seeing all the routes the men could have taken to where he’d escaped them. “You know Claire, your cabin isn’t that far away from my pack lands.” He pointed to an area she knew to be around Powderhorn and Mineral Mountain. “I have been tracking shifter kills from Powderhorn to Pagosa Springs and over to Durango. Maybe Corbin is somewhere in this triangle.”
He ran his finger from Powderhorn to Pagosa Springs, over to Durango then to Lake City then looked at Claire shaking her head. “I don’t think so.” Claire leaned over the map using her finger to trace a line from Durango to Magic, New Mexico. “I don’t know why but I think he’s closer to Magic. He’s already been there once and must know that we have a large shifter population.”
Finn looked at her, a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. “Can you tell the future too?”
Claire laughed softly and shook her head. “Not tell the future no, but I do get feelings and my intuition tells me that is where the men who chased you were going until you changed their plan for them.”
Finn leaned back, resting on his hands, and looked at her for a moment. Looking into eyes the color of emeralds, he could see her mind working, as if she were figuring out an intricate jigsaw puzzle. The map lay before her but, she looked at him like she was trying to look into his soul for the answer to solving all the world’s problems.
Something seemed to shift in her eyes and a pink blush spread across her cheeks. She cleared her throat looking back down at the map. “It's just a guess. Once we dig ourselves out of here, we can call my friend Lacey who lives there. She can let us know if there are any weird characters around or anything.”
“No, I’ll trust your intuition. You might be right. I had tracked them going south to Durango. It’s not that big of a leap to think they were heading to New Mexico.”
Claire looked up, chewing her lip nervously, then a wide smile spread across her lips. The frown lines on her forehead smoothed out and she sat back a little. If Finn wasn’t mistaken, it seemed like no one had shown her any faith in a long time. Or perhaps, she didn’t have any faith in herself.
He let his eyes roam over her a moment, taking in the way the sweatshirt she wore did nothing to hide her curves, molding over her ample breasts and falling just above her waist. With full, kissable lips, her smile was radiant and sent his heart beating at a fast, steady rhythm. His wolf seemed to wake and was reaching out to her again, as if reaching out to its mate. He’d never had his wolf act this way toward any female.
The way she had thrown herself into his arms when he finally agreed to let her join him was etched in his mind.
Every curve of her body had fit against him, and the kiss, well the first kiss had been quick but the second one had made his world spin, taking his breath away. But it was the way she had reacted after. She’d been nervous and unsure and whether it should have or not, had him wanting her like he’d never wanted anything else.
Finn swallowed then leaned over, his eyes never leaving hers. A smile tugged at his lips when she leaned closer to him, meeting him halfway. He tilted his head slightly and his lips met hers in a soft lingering kiss. A log in the fireplace pop and the fire crackled but it might as well have been the electricity in the air around them snapping and crackling.
The kiss was innocent enough but her soft whimper was his undoing. The heat started in his chest, moving through his arms then through the rest of his body. He moved and she moved with him, leaning back as, he moved over her. His hand cupped the back of her neck, sliding into her hair. He fisted it gently as his tongue swept inside her mouth. He cradled her head, careful that she didn’t bump it on the floor, and let his body mold against her luscious curves.
His other hand moved to her hip, moving up and slipping under the sweatshirt she wore. Her skin was warm and soft, while her unique scent mixing with her arousal surrounded him. Moving his hand across her skin he stopped just below her bra line, his thumb making tiny circles on her skin. She raised one knee, letting him settle into the apex of her thighs, then wrapped her arms around him, her hands moving along the muscles of his back.
Finally, the need to breathe had him lifting his head and he knew, when he looked down at her, it wasn’t with his hazel eyes but the gold of his wolf. She looked up at him, panting softly, licking her swollen lips. “Claire, I want you.” His voice was thick with desire and he held his breath as he waited for her response.
Chapter 7 - Claire
Claire could hear the thunderous beat of her heart in her ears and her skin tingled from head to toe. His thumb was doing delicious things to her and she ached with a longing she couldn’t ever remember feeling. No one had ever made her feel like this from just a kiss. She’d had sex before, not a lot, but enough to know that there was something different in the feelings and sensations Finn brought forth that were washing over her. She swallowed, then took a breath before she nodded.
