Wild and Fevered

by Long, Heather

  Scarlett nodded. “Insensitive, selfish, spoiled and demanding. I’m all of those things. I’m greedy about my brothers. They were all I had for so long. I have a life now, a life I wouldn’t have without them. I want them to be happy. I want them to have all the things I found for myself.”

  “And you don’t think I can give that to him?” It scalded her soul to even ask the question.

  “Yes, I think you can.” Scarlett gritted her teeth as if she wanted to say more, but held back.

  “Please, say what you mean. You’ve not been shy thus far.” Mariska couldn’t claim Scarlett’s opinion didn’t hurt, but she hadn’t disagreed with it fully. Not yet.

  “Cody struggled with his wolf for years. He and his wolf were two and they aren’t now.”

  No. They’d become one. For her—maybe because of her, or with her help—they’d become one. Saying nothing, Mariska nodded.

  “So why aren’t you fighting with your wolf more?” Scarlett grimaced. “What I mean is…”

  “No. You asked it correctly the first time.” Why wasn’t she fighting with her wolf more? The answer was simple. Brutally simple.

  Her wolf listened to Cody. Maybe that was the answer to her other problem…she was two. Not one.

  “Mariska…”

  “No,” she held up her hand, staving off the other woman’s sympathy. “I needed to know this, whether I agree with you or not.” If her love for Cody was based on her wolf’s needs, was she like him, too? Had her wolf chosen her mate the way his had chosen Scarlett? Worry strangled her and her wolf bucked inside, fighting to the surface—she growled and clenched her fists. Her bones wanted to pop and fire scorched the air around her, so bright, fierce and hot that it jerked her attention out and she stared at Scarlett. “What are you doing?”

  “Getting your attention.” It took a moment, but Mariska finally realized Scarlett had retreated across the pond. Fire blazed along the surface of the water then vanished. “You were going wolf. I don’t think you meant to…”

  The rest of her words faded away as Mariska saw the claws on her hands. Her vision was still that of her wolf and the agitated need to shift hit her again. Shift. Her wolf wanted Cody.

  No. She fought the urge even as it crept through her bones, cramped her stomach and threatened to pull her inside out.

  “Focus on my voice,” Scarlett said. “Or maybe on the fact that I’m pregnant, since I annoy you so much.”

  The shock of the last did more to stymy the violence in her blood than the first. Mariska blinked once, then twice, and burst out laughing. Scarlett did annoy the hell out of her, but her comment was funny.

  “I think maybe I need some time to think,” she said after she could catch her breath.

  “All right,” Scarlet replied, though her smile lacked confidence. “I did mean what I said—I think of you as a sister. If I can help you, I will.”

  Mariska wouldn’t go that far, but maybe they weren’t the enemies. Maybe Scarlett was spoiled, pushy, and all the things she’d listed, but she’d broached a very difficult topic and hadn’t flinched away from Mariska’s temper. She didn’t have to do that. She’d not had to do any of it. “Thank you.”

  At the edge of the pond, Scarlett climbed out and reached for a loose dressing gown. She slid it over her, covering her rounding tummy, before she looked back at her. “One last piece of advice?”

  Mariska raised her eyebrows in disbelief. “Truly? Only one?”

  Undeterred by the mild animosity and sarcasm in her tone, Scarlett pointed at her. “You hold your tongue when you want to tell me to be quiet and go away. You hold your tongue when you want to snap at me for interfering. Family gets to be pushy. You get to tell family to lump it and get out of your business.”

  She had a point. Once upon a time, Mariska faced off against her father and her grandmother over the subject of marriage. Her heart ached at the memory. Leading her clan, caring for the young, tending to the wounded, and teaching others—all a part of her everyday life. She’d done as she pleased once she had her own wagon, even when her father disagreed with her. Head of her Clan or not, she’d fought him to pursue her own goals.

  She fought no one now.

  “Mariska…”

  “Scarlett, be quiet and let me think. I’ve heard your thoughts. Now I want to hear my own.” The last came out on a growl.

  Instead of being upset, however, Scarlett smiled wider. “Oh. Much better.” After gathering her things, she left the bathing pond and vanished through the trees. Mariska pushed away from the side and swam across the pond. Her muscles didn’t care for the action and her wolf liked it less because she wanted to shift, but she fought the urge.

  Mariska didn’t want to run. She wanted to think.

  A snap of wood brought her to a halt and she jerked her gaze towards the surrounding foliage. Something moved…Cody. His scent reached her even as she picked his sandy colored wolf form out between the trees. He’d eased himself into a shadowy spot that was empty before Scarlett had left.

  Her wolf settled the moment she scented him, but Mariska’s scowl grew. She wanted a few minutes alone, was that too much to ask? Cody met her glare unblinking, ears flicked forward. Choosing to ignore him, she returned to swimming.

  Scarlett had been right about one thing, Mariska needed to push back. Somehow, some way, she had to make Cody let her be her.

  Chapter 2

  Cody

  The moment Cody spotted Scarlett leaving the bathing pond, he’d moved closer. Scarlett hadn’t looked or smelled happy. If anything, the scorch in the air around her burned Cody’s nostrils. If they’d had another fight—dammit. Why can’t Scar just get along with her? His sister’s legendary temper could test even Quanto’s patience. Mariska had less tolerance for her, with good reason. Prowling into the woods closer to the pond, he crouched low to the ground.

  She noticed him almost immediately. Anger tightened her expression and she whirled away, cutting away across the water in a flash of flesh and dark hair. Scarlett had annoyed her. Setting his chin down on his legs, he sighed. Nothing he did seemed to bridge the hole gaping wide open between his wife and his sister.

  Perhaps it was time to talk to Scarlett’s husband. Maybe he’d be able to get through to Scar better than Cody could. His sister had a husband, children and another on the way. One would think she would be too busy to interfere with Mariska, but no. Scarlett always managed to irk his mate—exactly the last thing she needed. When Mariska continued to ignore him, Cody rose and let the change roll over him. What used to take several minutes came quickly, the snap and shudder of bones breaking and reshaping along with the drag and pull of muscle and flesh flowed with him naturally.

  Only moments after he’d begun, he finished and rose to stand. His flesh burned and sweat poured off him. That, too, would pass in another couple of minutes. The line between wolf and man had blurred so much as to be indistinct. He still felt his wolf, but not as he had in the past.

  After weaving through the wooded thicket, he walked to the water’s edge. Mariska surfaced in the center, then sighed when she saw him. Frowning, Cody crouched to bring them closer to eye-level. “What did she do?” Maybe if Mariska could yell, they could alleviate whatever damage his sister had inflicted this time.

  “Why do you assume she did something?” Her response was not what he expected.

  Settling on the edge, he positioned himself between Mariska and the path through the thicket. Though no one was nearby, he wanted to be between her and any potential threat. Scratching his cheek, he considered his mate. Hostility eddied in the air around her, but her eyes remained human, not wolf. If he could keep her calm through the agitation, it lessened the chance her wolf would lash out. “You two don’t normally get along.”

  Moving away from him to the other edge, Mariska withdrew soap from under a faux rock. The hollowed out stone kept soap root available while not exposed to the elements or the critters. Studiously ignoring him, she used the root to scrub
through her hair. Her mercurial moods had grown murkier over the last several months.

  At first he’d attributed the shift to Kid’s absence, but now he wasn’t so sure. Kid had returned—thankfully whole and sound—but her edginess hadn’t diminished. If anything, she seemed to grow more fractious. Her friendship with Olivia had blunted it for a time, but their sweet young friend was deliriously happy and experiencing the ‘attachment’ phase of her marriage to Jason and clearly exploring her newfound sight.

  When Mariska continued to ignore him in favor of her soak, he settled in the sun and waited. The heat felt good on his bare skin. The late summer warmth would be fleeting. Sooner or later, autumn would put on an appearance and the rains would come. Even now, Jimmy rode north with only Shane for assistance. It should be me… No sooner did the thought crystalize than he rejected it. If Mariska were ready, then they could have gone together. But he would not risk her, not even for his brother. He couldn’t leave her, either. Not when…

  “What are you thinking about?” She’d closed the distance between them without him even realizing she’d moved. Her deep, dark eyes set amidst an unreadable expression stared up at him.

  He didn’t want to tell her, but he didn’t need to hide his thoughts either. “Jimmy.” Of all his siblings, he and Jimmy were the closest in age and temperament, though only their family truly recognized it. When they were younger, it had always been the two of them getting into—and out of—scrapes. Letting Jimmy go alone didn’t sit right with him.

  Leaving Mariska, however, was not even a possibility.

  She placed her hand on his thigh and he covered her slender fingers with his own. “I’m sorry you miss him.”

  “I am not pining for him,” he said with a faint curve of his mouth. “I hate that he is out there alone.”

  “He’s not alone. Shane went with him.”

  “Shane’s a pup.” Cody scowled. “Young. Brash. Not totally sure of his ability.”

  “A lot like Kid.” She pointed out and he blinked at her. “And you two traveled far from your families together.”

  “Do you have any idea how much trouble that boy was?” More than once, someone had tried to kill Kid—irate husbands, furious fathers, and then the drunks in the saloon of Fort Courage.

  Mariska’s smile came and went like a flash of summer lightning. “Yes, but he was also there for you when you needed him most. No one else could have done what he did. So perhaps it will be so for Jimmy and Shane. Jimmy wouldn’t have allowed him to go if he didn’t think he could handle it.”

  She had a point. Still… “It should be me.” He couldn’t escape the fact.

  “So, why isn’t it?” Her question jolted him back to the present and he frowned at her.

  “You are not ready for an undertaking such as that, nor would I leave you.” Not when Jimmy’s plan included hunting the boogeyman of their existence—the mysterious, and dangerous MacPherson. Cody would sooner cut off his arm than take Mariska into battle against such an unknown foe.

  She wasn’t ready.

  “Why?”

  “It doesn’t matter.” He ran his fingers up her arm. Her softness relaxed him. Her nearness made him content, settling him in a way little else did. Worry for her laced his every breath. Nearly losing her on the mountain, and then later when Miller perverted her mind…no, it didn’t matter.

  “But it does.” Drawing away from his touch, she slid over to the side of the pond and then climbed out. Muscle rippled along her calves and back. Strength. Like him, her strength had increased because of her wolf. The suppleness of her form never failed to captivate him.

  “Mariska…”

  “No,” she said, glancing at him and cutting a hand through the air. Water droplets sprayed out from her skin and the sun glistened on her. “Don’t. You don’t trust me.”

  “I do.”

  “No, you don’t. And you just lied to me.” Her nostrils flared and Cody cursed, surging to his feet.

  “This has been a difficult year. I do trust you.”

  “No,” she said, shaking her head and more water flung from the heavy black length. She reached for her undergarments and dragged them on, deftly avoiding his touch. Cody curled his fingers into a fist and swallowed a growl. Neither he nor his wolf wanted this fight, but the blaze in her eyes said she did. “You don’t trust me. Why should you? I don’t know if I trust me. You won’t let up, not even an inch.”

  “You still struggle with your wolf.” On this, she could hardly argue.

  Yet, she did. “No, I don’t. How can I possibly struggle with my wolf? She responds to you. Right now? I’m quiet. Calm. I can think. It’s amazing how she obeys you, but not me.”

  What the hell was she talking about? Cody scowled. “I did not come here to fight with you.”

  “I know. You never want to fight with me. So, we don’t fight. You don’t trust my cooking. So, I don’t cook. You don’t trust me to control my wolf. So, I don’t. You don’t trust me to be alone, so I’m not.” Color blazed in her face and she dragged on her blouse. “You. Don’t. Trust. Me.”

  He would throttle Scarlett. “What did she say to you?”

  “Don’t blame her.” Mariska shook her head and pulled her wet hair free from the shirt. It turned the white fabric damp and nearly translucent over her shoulders. “I’ve been mad at her since we arrived. Since she was so incredibly rude and unwelcoming. But you know what? She treated me as an invader, one she didn’t trust and had to learn to like. Today, she stood in this pond and said things to me I didn’t want to hear, but she was right. I did need to hear them.”

  Mariska whirled, reaching for her skirt and Cody had enough. He looped an arm around her waist and dragged her back against him. Caging her, he pressed his lips to her throat and the mad beat of her pulse. She growled, the sound so low, he felt more than heard the sound. “Stop,” he ordered and she settled, no longer struggling against his hold. Cradling her, he turned her around. “I love you.”

  A frown gathered her brows together. “I know and I love you—”

  The words were all he needed to hear. Angling his head, he slammed his mouth down on hers. Fisting her hands into his hair, she met his kiss with equal ferocity. Annoyed with the cloth in his way, he shredded the shirt. The fabric tore with an audible rip and her undershirt went next.

  Once she was as naked as he again, he lowered them both to the soft grass that verged on the pond. The bite of her claws on his back only encouraged him. Palming her sex, he found her damp and ready for him. The swift coupling left them both gasping. Lifting his head, he found desire replacing the fight in her eyes.

  Never would he tire of her, of the feel of her encasing him or how her body moved with his. He knew every place to kiss, to touch, to bite, and to feel. When she lunged to bite his neck where it joined with his shoulder, he growled with a satisfaction of having found his mate—the one woman who matched him in everything.

  He allowed her his throat, because he did trust her. Why could she not understand that? When her bite loosened and she began to kiss and nuzzle him, he moved, thrusting with slow, deliberate purpose. Gathering a handful of her wet hair, he tugged and she arched her throat, a provocation and invitation combined. He settled for a nipping kiss and her groan encouraged him. Every thrust took him deeper and, when her legs wrapped around his hips increasing his access, he let go.

  They slammed together, a wild joining. Only when he felt her clamp down around him, heard the first cry of her pleasure, did he take her mouth in a kiss as his spine went iron hot and his balls tightened. His release followed hers and he buried himself to the hilt, the need to imprint his scent on hers a violent pulse in his blood. She carried his scent, as he carried hers. Twined together, mated, married. The fact never ceased to amaze him, yet he wanted more. Always, he wanted to know she was his.

  Settling against her, he buried his face in her throat and held her. He craved these quiet moments nearly as much as he did the fierce sex which led to the
m. The wolf in him settled, content that they’d proven to their mate how much they needed her—how much he needed and wanted her.

  The sun continued to warm his back and gradually the lazy call of birds intruded on their peace. As aware of her heartbeat as he was his own, he heard and felt the change. She stroked his back, but her fingers went taut. After forcing himself to lift his head, he gazed down at her, but she didn’t look at him. Her attention was on the pond. Slanting a look over the water, he found nothing amiss. He heard no one close, nor scented anyone, save them and the sweet reek of their coupling.

  “Mariska?” He didn’t like her looking away from him or the distance in her expression.

  “I love you, Cody,” she said, still not gazing at him. “But I think I need some time away.”

  She couldn’t have hurt him more if she’d ripped open his chest and pulled his heart out. Locking his jaw around his immediate and violent refusal, he embraced caution and said nothing. Maybe she hadn’t meant what he’d heard. Her throat convulsed, but she still refused to look at him.

  “Mariska, look at me,” he said when he couldn’t take it anymore. She obeyed, but reproach joined the sadness in her eyes. “What is it?”

  After blowing out a breath, she shook her head. “We need to get up. I need to find a shirt since you ripped mine.” Further retreating wasn’t what he had in mind.

  Frowning, he remained in place and cupped her cheek. “Talk to me.”

  “Why? You don’t want to hear what I have to say. You want me to submit and the damnable thing is I will because I want to, but that’s not what I need.” With a flex of her hands against his shoulders, she gave him a push. “Let me rise.”

  “We’re not done discussing this.” Rejection and retreat aroused the hunter in him and his hackles went up.

  “We are done discussing it this way, however.” Her mouth compressed into a thin line and the spark of rebellion shone in her eyes once more. “Let. Me. Up.”

  Rolling free of her, he was on his feet and pulling her to hers before she finished the statement. Dragging her to him, he caught her chin. “I will do anything for you. Anything. But you can’t shut me out.”