by Zoe Chant
Swallowing heavily, Joe pushed the lion’s more savage instincts down. He couldn’t condemn Colfax for what he’d done, and then turn around and act on the animal’s baser wishes. That was the point of being a shifter: animal strength, guided by human intelligence. He’d won the fight, and it was over. In different, older times, perhaps he might’ve had to kill him. But not now.
“No,” Joe said. “Take him with you. Provided I have your word that he will face justice.”
Dane nodded. “You have my word.”
Joe knew he really had no choice but to accept it. After tonight’s events, he wasn’t sure what Dane’s word counted for, but he had to believe it counted at least for something.
“Good. Then go.”
Joe knew that he’d have to rest, and soon. The fight had taken a lot out of him, and his shifter healing was already kicking in. It took a lot of energy to heal – far more than anything else a shifter could do. It was usual for them to sleep through any major healing that had to be done, but Joe knew it’d be a while before he had the chance to lie down and let his body do what it needed to do.
Silently, Dane picked up Colfax’s body, still in its wolf form. Colfax was a large man and a large wolf, and if Dane had been human it would have been near-impossible for him to shift the huge mass of fur and muscle. But with Dane’s shifter strength, he could do it relatively easily.
Joe turned as he heard a low groan, just in time to see the bear shifter who had been Colfax’s champion shifting back into his human form, looking a little the worse for wear. Two of his friends slung his arms over their shoulders and helped him to stand and walk toward the door. As they made their way past where Joe stood, the man signaled for them to stop.
“You fought well,” he said to Joe, his voice sounding thick through a swollen lip. “I’m sorry. I knew what was coming, and… and I should’ve done something. Colfax’s actions make us all look bad.” His eyes moved to Sasha, who was still standing a little behind Joe’s shoulder. “And I want to apologize to you, too. You showed more courage than any of us ever did. We could’ve defied Colfax. But we didn’t. But you, just a chit of a girl, and a human –”
Sasha sucked in a quick, indignant breath. “I’m hardly a chit of a girl. And maybe if you bothered to find out, you’d be surprised at what humans can do.”
Joe felt pride surge in his chest at Sasha’s words. She was right. He would protect her until the end of his days, but she was his partner. His mate. She was strong and beautiful, and he had never been prouder of her than he was at this moment.
He owed her his life. He owed her everything.
The bear, chastened, bowed his head, nodding. “I can see that now.”
Joe glanced across at Sasha, but she continued to stare resolutely ahead, meeting the eye of every single one of the men who had threatened her, her jaw set and firm.
She had never looked more beautiful.
It wasn’t until one of the men carried out Larssen’s wolf form that Joe felt the brush of her hand against his arm, and turned to find her looking at him, eyes wide.
“Did I… you don’t think I killed him, do you?”
Joe shook his head. “No. At least, I seriously doubt it. He’ll have a serious injury he needs to take time to heal from, but it takes a lot to put down a shifter permanently. You did well.” He paused, taking her hand and looking down into her eyes. “And you know that even if you had killed him, it would have been in self-defense, right? He kidnapped you. He was about to attack you – and in his wolf form. Even old-style shifters would never attack a human in their animal form. That by itself is enough to get you branded as a rogue.”
Sasha bit her lip, blinking. “I know. I mean… of course, I already knew. In that moment, it was him or me – not to mention that they seemed to be trying to kill you. That would’ve been enough by itself!” She paused, before flashing him a small smile. “And I can see I have a lot to learn about shifter rules and regulations.”
Hope surged in Joe’s heart.
Does that mean… will she – is she going to stay –
Sasha must have seen the expression on his face and the question in his eyes.
“Oh, Joe,” she said, wrapping her arms around him. “Don’t be so ridiculous. Of course I am.”
Joy overwhelmed him. Sasha’s small, strong hands were on his back, pulling him close as she stood up on tip-toes to reach up for a kiss. Joe bowed his head, capturing her lips with his. Her lips were cold but her mouth was warm, and he kissed her hungrily, allowing her taste, her smell, her very presence to wash over him in warm, healing waves.
Speaking of healing…
Pulling back, Joe looked down. “Sasha, you’re getting blood on your clothes.”
Sasha stared up at him for a long moment. “Joe Whittaker, as if I care about that. But… we do need to get you some medical attention.” Her eyes ranged over his body, as if looking for anything especially serious. Joe could already feel the strange, burning itch of his flesh knitting together. It was helped by the adrenaline that had been surging through his body only minutes ago. Plus, the mere presence of a mate seemed to speed the healing process. Maybe shifters had developed the trait as part of their protective natures, back when an injury could mean the difference between life and death. Joe wasn’t sure. But at this moment, he was grateful for it.
He shook his head. “I’ll be fine. I’m already healing.” He grinned at her curious expression. “I’ll explain some other time. After all, we’ll have plenty of it.”
Sasha looked inclined to argue for a moment, but then a slow smile spread across her face. “We sure will.”
Joe leaned down to kiss her once more, relishing the feel of her soft lips against his. He would have loved to stay here, kissing her and reassuring himself time after time that she really was all right, and she really was staying with him, even after everything she’d been through – everything that shifters had put her through.
But right now, there were even more pressing matters to attend to.
“We need to get out of here,” Joe said, pulling back. “We need to get you somewhere warm.”
Sasha nodded. “I think I was too frightened to feel it before, but now… it’s kind of freezing in here.”
It’d be a long hike back to anywhere were Sasha could begin to even slightly warm up. At least – it would be as a human. As a lion, Joe could cover distances much faster, even in his injured state. Looking down at Sasha, he ran the pad of his thumb over the high arch of her cheekbone.
“You trust me, don’t you?”
She looked up at him in confusion. “What? Of course.”
Her voice sounded utterly steady and sure, but Joe knew it might still be a bit of a shock for her to see him shift again, after everything she’d been through.
“If I shift, it won’t frighten you?” he asked.
Sasha looked at him for a moment as if she might be about to tell him off, but then she slowly shook her head. “No. I mean, I don’t think so. I’d like to think I’m not made of china, but… you’re right. Maybe I do need a little time to adjust.”
Joe nodded. “I don’t blame you.” He ran his fingers through her hair, before pressing a kiss to her forehead. “But it’ll be easier to cover ground as a lion. If I shift, we’ll find our way to warmth and safety a lot faster.”
For a moment, Sasha stared at him, bewildered. “But what will I do?”
Joe smiled. “You’ll ride on my back.”
He could already see the arguments forming in Sasha’s mind: But you’re injured – I can walk, thank you very much – but he curtailed them with a smile and quick shake of his head, before he shifted.
It was a little painful – the shift pulled at the half-healed wounds, but Joe could bear it. For now, he just wanted to be sure Sasha was somewhere warm as soon as possible.
Sasha seemed a little pale, but it was hard to tell – the lion’s eyes didn’t make out subtle shades of color as well as his human ones did. But
she was looking down at him with a firm, calm expression, a small smile on her lips.
To reassure her, Joe lowered his head, walking to her slowly, before nuzzling her gently with his large, soft nose. With his lion’s more sensitive sense of smell, he could make out her scent much more clearly. It was a scent both familiar and exciting; it smelled of everything that was important to him. Home. Safety. Mate.
Involuntarily, Joe began purring – a low, contented sound that felt good as it rumbled in his chest. Only a moment later, he felt Sasha’s fingers, tentative at first but growing bolder, as they stroked through the coarse hair of his mane.
It felt wonderful. Joe closed his eyes, letting the feel of her fingers soothe him.
“Is that good?” Sasha asked, her tone a little playful. “It’s just like skritching a big cat. One of my old cats used to love getting scratched behind the ears.”
It did feel good. Joe would’ve loved for her to continue, but there would be time for that later.
He nuzzled against her, before sliding the full length of his body along her leg. She giggled. “You’re getting fur on me!”
Turning, Joe nuzzled her again, encouraging her. Sasha stroked her fingers over the heavy muscle of his shoulder.
“Are you sure it won’t hurt you?”
Joe couldn’t answer in words, of course, so he simply turned his head to look at her again, before lowering himself down into a crouch to make it easier for her to climb onto his back.
She seemed to understand, her fingers knotting in his mane.
“Well, okay then.”
Joe felt her swing her leg over him, before settling her full weight down, just behind his shoulders. With his injuries, he wouldn’t be able to carry her for long – but it would be for long enough. Standing, feeling his wounds twinge, Joe prowled to the door of the shed, before leaping through it and into the snow beyond.
He felt Sasha inhale sharply at the cold air against her, tightening her grip on his mane, burying her face in his warmth.
It won’t be long, I promise, Joe thought, before he bounded away into the night, throwing up clods of pale snow behind him as he went.
Chapter Ten
Sasha
The snow began to fall again just as they reached the border of Joe’s ranch.
For the first part of the ride she’d simply buried her face in the warmth of his mane and held on, feeling his strong body beneath her as it carried her away from danger. But now, she could feel that he was tiring, for all that he continued to strive on through the snow.
“Joe,” she said softly into his nearest ear. “We don’t have to keep on going tonight – I don’t want you to exhaust yourself. We can find shelter and make our way back tomorrow.”
Joe, despite the fact he was a lion, seemed to both hear and understand her. He let out the slightest growl of agreement, before changing course subtly. It took Sasha a moment to realize it, but as he began heading up a slight rise, she knew where they were, and where they were heading.
They were going back to the cabin.
It seemed fitting, somehow, that they’d end up back here. That they’d reconnect with each other after everything that had happened in the same place they’d met. It seemed impossible to Sasha that it had been such a short time ago. She felt, somehow, like she’d known Joe for so much longer than she had.
Maybe it was everything they’d been through together.
But maybe it was more than that, too.
Sasha didn’t know much about shifters, or mated bonds, or anything else. But she knew that she wanted to learn. There were so many things she now realized she’d been wrong about. Colfax and his pack had twisted her mind, made her believe things that just weren’t true.
About shifters.
About life.
Curling her hands in Joe’s mane as he crested the rise, the cabin coming into view, Sasha thought that she was very willing to put those old, mistaken beliefs behind her.
Sasha slid off Joe’s back and onto the wooden steps of the cabin, shivering at the sudden loss of his warmth. He shifted, his golden lion’s body sliding back into the muscular form of a man.
Sasha’s breath caught in her throat as he became human once more. She didn’t think she’d ever get sick of looking at the perfect sculpt of his muscles; the way everything about him was in perfect proportion. He looked like one of the old statues she remembered seeing in textbooks when her Aunt Carol was teaching her history. But instead of being made out of cold stone, Joe was clearly flesh and blood, and achingly hot to the touch.
She couldn’t stop herself from running her hands over his flat, hard stomach as he opened the door to the cabin. They stumbled inside, their lips already locked together, his arms around her shoulders, fingers tangled in her hair.
“Oh God, Sasha,” he whispered, when they’d finally broken apart. “I thought I’d lost you…”
Sasha blinked up at him, before raising her hand and brushing the snowflakes from his hair. “Because you thought Colfax would kill me, or because you thought I’d leave you?”
Joe looked down at her, and the tenderness in his eyes made her ache.
“Maybe both,” he said, after a long pause. “When I found out he’d taken you, I couldn’t think straight. The only thing I wanted was to find him, and kill him for hurting you.”
Sasha shivered at the fierce note of protectiveness in Joe’s voice. She raised herself up on tippy-toes, finding his lips with hers. He was warmer than he had any right to be, considering he’d just been running through the snow. But he felt so good that she just couldn’t stop, her tongue sliding into his mouth, tasting him, devouring him…
Joe continued once they broke for air. “And then… I knew once you knew the truth, I’d have to let you go, if you wanted me to. And that thought – the thought that I might be without you – terrified me more than anything else.”
Sasha shook her head, lifting her hand to press her fingers to his lips. “Never. You’ll never have to worry that I’d leave you.”
Joe looked down at her, his dark brown eyes deep and intense. Sasha felt like she was falling into them, like they were a bottomless well… and then he was kissing her again, hungry and insistent, as if he was worried that each kiss would be their last.
No chance, Sasha thought to herself, smiling into his lips. This would only be the first of what she fully intended to be many, many more kisses.
Joe might have been tired after his long fight, his injuries, and the run through the snow with her on his back, but he definitely seemed to have stamina enough for this – she could feel his erection against her, hot and huge, pressing into her stomach insistently.
Sasha shivered. She pressed herself against him, wanting to feel him against her. She wanted all of him – more than she had ever wanted anything before in her entire life.
Joe might have been a man of few words, but the words he said were always the ones he meant – everything was careful and focused and thoughtful. Sasha wondered how many people had seen him like this before: when he let his passions overtake him, and lost himself to the full force of his emotions. With every kiss, he took her mouth with a kind of fiery passion she had never known with anyone else, and she kissed him back with equal fire, equal passion. She felt she might burn up from the inside out with it.
Sasha curled her arms around him, clinging to his back as her knees went weak beneath her. He was so big and muscular that she felt she could drown in him – and at this moment, she thought she wouldn’t mind doing so.
Joe lifted her up, his arms around her, carrying her to the bed. It was the same place they’d made love the first time – heat filled her as she remembered how good Joe had made her feel, and how hopeful she’d been that it was the start of something special.
I didn’t know how right I was.
The thought made her smile as she felt the softness of the mattress beneath her, Joe’s hard body above. She felt intolerably constricted in her clothes, and she began to st
ruggle out of them, throwing off the jacket and yanking the borrowed shirt up over her head.
Joe groaned as her full, heavy breasts were exposed, his head dropping to them. Sasha cried out, her back arching as he slowly circled her nipples with his tongue, first one and then the other.
Now he seemed to have collected himself a little – now he was paying every single part of her body the same careful attention as he gave to his words. But just at this moment, that was the last thing Sasha wanted. She felt hollow without him inside her – and wild with a desire that she knew only he could slake.
“Joe,” she gasped, putting her hands either side of his jaw and lifting his head to look him in the eye. “Please… just… I need you. Just… take me. Now.”
Joe seemed to study her for a moment, as if he was lost in her eyes. But then he nodded, quick and sharp.
Sasha gasped as his hands curled around her waist, turning her over on the bed so she lay on her stomach. In the next second, she felt the cold night air as Joe pulled down the track pants she was wearing, exposing her ass.
Oh God. Oh yes, was the only thing Sasha could think as she curled her fingers around the wrought iron of the bedhead, lifting her hips, showing him how wet she was – how ready for him.
Sasha glanced over her shoulder, biting her lip. Joe knelt behind her, his cock rising from between his thighs, huge and hard and glorious, the tip beaded with moisture. Every muscle seemed to cord against his skin as he positioned himself behind her, the head of his cock brushing against her entrance, making her squirm and gasp.
“Oh God, Joe…” she moaned as he slid just the barest inch inside her, letting her feel his heat, his hardness.
Sasha squealed, fingers curling around the bedhead as Joe lowered himself suddenly, lying full-length against her, and sheathing himself fully inside her as he did so.
The feeling of him inside her was indescribable… she didn’t understand how anything could feel so good. She felt as if sparks were running through her, top to toe, turning her blood into white-hot fire.
