by Lynn Red
“Yes,” Erik said. He was being patient. Way more patient than I ever could have been. He leaned forward on the desk where his lectern used to sit, his knuckles popping. “That is true. However, I’m not sure that she was really stolen, Lucien.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” The wolf, I noticed, wasn’t taking his dressing-down very well. “She was my mate, and then that jackass took her away!”
I’d be lying if I said I didn’t half expect someone to voice a complaint about the pejorative use of ‘jackass’ but I kept my head down and went right on typing.
“All right,” Erik began. “What is it you expect to happen, Lucien? Let’s be realistic.”
“My honor!” the middle-aged wolf was almost shrieking. “My honor is at stake, Alpha! When that monster... that freak took my mate, I was going to murder him, drive a silver spike straight through his heart, to avenge my honor.”
Erik sighed again. It was really hard not to laugh. “First of all, let’s not start in with the freak talk. We’re all different here, but we’re all one pack. Get it? Werebear or werewolf, there’s no difference in the eyes of the alpha. And, in case you forgot, that’s me.”
I didn’t look up, but I knew the glare he was giving the room. I’d seen it a thousand times.
“He threatened me! He stole my mate, he—”
“What is the other rule about mates, Lucien?” Erik interrupted. “The one that says if your mate wants to leave, then...”
Lucien shook his head, at least feigning that he didn’t understand. A shifter’s mate leaving was a mark of shame for which we humans don’t have a corollary. The closest thing might be, I dunno, eating your co-worker’s lunch and getting caught on tape.
Erik gestured with his hand. “Come on, Lucien. If your mate wants to leave, then she... c... c...”
“Can leave?” Lucien said. I swear his lips were trembling.
“Uh-huh. So, if she can leave if she falls in with someone else, then I don’t really see what kind of a case you’ve got.”
“So I don’t get to fight him?” Lucien balled up his fists and stood. Erik hates it when people stand up. “That freak takes my mate and I can’t even fight him over her?”
Erik half-laughed, and then shrugged. “You can fight whoever you want. That’s not my business, that’s not pack business. But if you want to issue a sanctioned challenge for dominance, you’ve got to play by the rules. If he kidnapped her? Okay. If he swept in, cast a spell on her and took your children? Perfect. But right now, all we’ve got is someone leaving someone else, and no rules have been broken. Now sit down, and stop complaining.”
Lucien grunted, and he sat down hard. “Okay, fine,” he said, then added a mumbled, “Goddamn assho—”
“What?” Erik leaned over the table. “What did you say?”
“Uh... I said yes... I mean yes, sir.”
Erik’s shoulders visibly relaxed when he checked the clock. This was his favorite part of court days. The ending part.
“Fantastic,” he said with a sigh. “I thought that’s what I heard. Now, if there’s no other complaints to hear today, I—”
From the left, someone shouted, “I’ve been waiting all day!” From the right hand side of the room came a “Me too! This is ridiculous!” and then from the back of the room, someone complained that they’d been coming for two weeks and hadn’t yet been heard.
“Are you sure?” I asked. “There’s a lot of really irritated people. Is this really the time to go hide out in your office?”
Erik flashed a dimpled half-smile. “Do you remember what Walt wanted me to hear two weeks ago? He has a complaint about his neighbor watering his lawn three times a week instead of two. Oh, and the other one, Greg? Who’s been waiting all day, you saw the report. He is complaining that Leon of all people stole a bunch of DVDs out of his car. I just... I can’t even imagine. Leon can hardly keep himself awake most times.”
The noise from the audience started to grow, and before I knew it, Erik had my hand in his, and I grabbed the typewriter off the table. “Got everything?” he said.
“Uh... yes, I think,” I said, stammering as he pulled me to my feet. “Wait!” As he pulled me to the door to his office, which was conveniently six feet from where we were standing, I stuck out a hand and barely grabbed my notes. “Okay, now I do!”
“Good,” he said. “Court is adjourned! I’ll be in my office until four, but don’t bother knocking unless you have an appointment.”
“Sir,” I said, “there’s no appointments, you told me not to make any.”
“I know,” he grinned. My sex muscles clenched. I hated when he did that. Okay, hate is a little strong of a word. More like ‘wish he’d only do it behind closed doors.’
I started going a little weak in the knees, but before that mattered he shoved me through the office door, sighed and collapsed backward, resting against it. His huge arms strained the sleeves of his dress shirt as he ripped off his jacket and reached for his tie.
Without looking, he took a second to click both deadbolts and the lock on the door’s handle.
The grin from earlier came back, this time joined by a flashing pair of pale yellow eyes. His swelling muscles were just about to tear through the slacks that I’d had tailored for him not even a week before.
“Here?” I said, almost breathless. “But won’t everyone in the room hear?”
“Oh like it’s the first time,” Erik said. “The way you were looking at me with those side-eyes of yours, I could hardly control myself. I didn’t give a shit about anything going on in there for at least half the day. I’ve been thinking about this since lunch.”
“About what?” I asked, feigning innocence.
“Get over here, Izzy.” Erik grabbed me by the wrist and yanked me across the floor. “I can’t keep myself calm much longer. You better either take that dress off, or not care if I rip it to shreds.”
His words burned my skin just about as hot as his fingers on my wrist did. “I’ve got others,” I said in a breathy whisper. “You keep buying them for me.”
“You keep making me tear them off,” he said. “What choice do I have?”
Before my eyes, Erik’s arms swelled, his shoulders and his legs grew larger until the fabric on his clothes gave just a little. He grabbed my modestly-sexy v-neck collar between both of his hands and ripped my dress straight down the middle.
I unbuttoned his shirt, running my finger from where a tattooed leaf poked out just above his collar, all the way down to where the roots disappeared under his belt.
“No panties?” he said, breathing hard and ragged.
“You tore them off at lunch, remember?” I smiled, dragging my fingernails along the curve of Erik’s neck. “And before that, you scolded me for wearing any.”
Erik took a deep breath, inhaling my scent, and hoisted me off the floor. I wrapped my legs around him and sighed as his cock pushed into me, then let out a long, moaning exhale when he settled in.
“I’ve missed you,” I whispered, kissing his neck.
He thrust hard, and I threw back my head, laughing as he went. Every inch of him stretched into me, making my whole body flare to life. He didn’t say anything, but then again, he never did. When he got like this, speaking was about the furthest thing from Erik’s mind.
Seconds later I felt his burning flesh against the deepest parts of my thighs, I started moving backwards. At the exact same time, I slammed against the couch that he kept in his office for exactly this purpose, and he was all in me.
I let out a howl of pleasure, and the back of the couch thumped against the wall.
With each increasingly desperate, wonderful push, my chest heaved harder and harder, my breath came in short bursts.
After a few hours apart, we were both quick to please. I squeezed him with my legs, reaching down to massage. As soon as my fingers wrapped around his base, Erik started letting air out of his mouth in snorting grunts.
“Bite me,” I moaned. �
��Just a little.”
Fangs brushed my skin, and he gave me a nip that sent a chill straight down me. Underneath my bra, my nipples got all prickly and sweet. With each thrust, he took more and more of my breath away until I thought maybe I’d be smothered in the pleasure.
Erik took a huge breath and held it tight. Every cord in his neck was taut when I stroked him, and his cock had somehow swelled even bigger when I wrapped my fingers around him and pulled.
“Can’t... can’t... hold off,” he groaned. “So close, so...”
I couldn’t even bother with speech. I just squealed with delight. He bit harder, but not enough to hurt, just enough to feel really, really good. Short, hard hairs had started pushing out of Erik’s pores. He was normally pretty good about not shifting, but sometimes when he really got going like this, he couldn’t help himself.
Something about me – normal, curvy little Isabel Deschaine – being able to drive this incredible hunk of man so wild he turned into a wolf never stopped thrilling me.
Then, all at once, we both took a breath at the same time, and held it in.
I opened my eyes to find him smiling at me, staring straight into mine.
“Let go,” he whispered. “Now, let go... I can’t hold on.”
I shook my head, trying to protest, but probably not very convincingly. “You first,” I said.
Erik squinted in silent defiance. Then, he thrust into me again, ending the debate. Every muscle in my body quivered and shook, and before I could think about stopping myself, the whole world went fuzzy, white, and warm.
For a few moments, we stayed together, our bodies pulsing and gripping at one another until they were satisfied. I wanted him again. I always wanted him again.
“Well,” he said, pushing off the couch. “I guess now we go from my most favorite part of the day to my least favorite.”
I knew what that meant, but I wanted him to say it. “Which is?” I asked. I wanted a cigarette. I always did, even though I quit four years ago.
“Which is,” Erik kissed me as he shrank back to normal size. “Going back to pretending you’re not my mate.”
“Why?” I asked with a shrug. He’d told me the answer before, but it didn’t make sense. “Why can’t we just be... us?”
He shook his head. “Can’t happen. Alpha and a normal human? The pack would go nuts. There’d be a damn riot.”
“Sounds like there already is,” I said, tilting my head to the door behind us and the noise bursting from the courtroom.
“If you think that’s bad, you ain’t seen anything, little girl.”
When he called me little girl, my stomach quailed. “So, what,” I said, pulling my dress together enough to keep it from falling open in the middle of everything. “We just keep pretending this isn’t real? We just keep on acting like I’m your... what, your booty-call or something?”
Erik laughed in an almost over-done, cartoonish way.
“What’s so funny?” I demanded, putting my fists into the small of my back. My dress fell open, and he immediately stared at my bared curve.
“It’s just... hump stump?” he laughed again. “I’m sorry, you know how this works. We’ve been over it a thousand times. I’m trying to figure it out. I’m trying to come up with some way that we can be together without the charade, but...”
“But what?” I asked when he trailed off.
“I...”
I clicked my teeth.
“Sorry,” he said with another laugh. “You’re just... kinda open there, you know? I have a hard time keeping myself from...”
“From what? Come on, you big stud, at least say what you mean. Or wait.” I pulled back the tatter of a dress and looked down. He’d started stirring back to life again. I cocked an eyebrow. “Looks like someone isn’t exactly sure they’re finished.”
He flashed another grin. “How do you do this to me all the time?”
Erik took a step forward and grabbed one of my shoulders, spinning me around. I reached back and ran my hand along his length. As he caressed my back with his fingers, my skin prickled and tingled, and then he ran himself between my legs, against my belly.
“Soon,” he said softly, and guided himself slowly into me after grinding for an incredible second. “Someday soon, we...” he trailed off, sighing deeply
“I know,” I whispered, and urged him all the way. “I know.”
-2-
So it goes.
I rolled out of bed in my apartment that overlooked the little valley town of Jamesburg. It’s... a funny place, to say the very least.
Green, green, green, as far as the eye can see.
This is a light, woodsy, airy kind of green, nothing like the impenetrable density of a Southern swamp. I don’t think I’ve closed my windows, except for during heat waves since I moved out here.
We’re way out in a stretch of the Appalachians so forgotten that the Tennessee Valley Authority couldn’t find the place on a map to string electric lines.
It’s just as well though, because as it happens, an entire town full of all kinds of shape-shifting creatures, and led by one Erik Danniker, the alpha of all alphas, would probably be quite a thing for modern science to get excited over.
As it stands, no one has any clue we’re here. Not even the IRS bothers to come our way.
Us. I wanted somewhere to belong so badly that after two years, I already think of myself as one of them.
When I first came down here, it took me a good long time, and a whole lot of insistent voices from my GPS yelling about recalculating until I managed. There’s this strange little outpost that straddles the Kentucky, Virginia, and West Virginia borders, and that’s where Jamesburg is.
Duggan Degger, part-time hedgehog and full-time historian, gave me the rundown when I first arrived. Unbeknownst to me, Jamesburg has sent fourteen of her sons – mostly werewolves, but also couple bears – to die in various wars and also had its fair share of moonshiners, bootleggers and country music stars. He insisted that he keeps their identities a secret for privacy’s sake, but promised I’d heard at least two were-panthers on the radio.
The only thing about this place that’s easy for me to understand is that no one who lives here would fit in anywhere else, me included.
I’m an agnostic who grew up with a Baptist uncle, if that gives some kind of clue what sort of slightly tilted worldview I’ve come to embrace.
I’ve tried pretty much everything at one point or another and finally settled on a happy medium where I don’t pretend to know anything about the universe, and I take it that the universe doesn’t have much interest in curvy, funny, and sometimes irritable Isabel Deschaine.
It’s better that way.
For the universe, at least.
In Ohio I woke up every morning and wished I was somewhere else.
Mornings in Jamesburg are a time for me to be glad I’m where I am. Where I fit in, where I belong.
With a whole bunch of shapeshifters.
Yeah.
Like I said, it’s a funny place – a funny life. But that’s what it is, and I wouldn’t trade it for the world.
My phone buzzed against the coffee table where I habitually left it, as I stood at the open window drinking my morning joe and listening to the birds. Vaguely, I wondered if any of them were people I knew moonlighting as nightingales. The rhythmic buzz and rattle of smartphone on glass took me out of my little fantasy and back to reality.
“Oh hey, look who it is,” I almost cooed into the phone. Erik does awful things to me that I’d never, ever do otherwise. Cooing into the phone, for one. I didn’t even baby-talk my corgi. “You’re up early.”
I looked over at the clock, which read half past nine. Good thing about working for a werewolf is that you’re never expected to show up very early.
“Huh?” Erik said back. He never got my jokes if it was before noon. “I was just testing this new cell tower. Don’t ask how, but we got someone to come in and lay a bunch of cable for the town.
Part of the deal – the part I’ll talk about – is that they did it in exchange for a cell coverage monopoly.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. “Isn’t that against the law? Won’t Teddy Roosevelt or someone come barging in and bust it up?”
“No,” Erik said, very seriously. “Teddy Roosevelt was a big game hunter, you know. Last time he came through here things didn’t go so well.”
He managed to keep the act up for all of four seconds before he cracked up.
“Anyway,” I finally said, trilling slightly as the dying ember of Erik’s round laugh vibrated in my belly. “What are you doing up so early? Don’t tell me there’s another day of court you have to deal with?”
“Nah,” he said. “The restless natives are, for now, quelled. Most of them are, anyway. I expect that guy I clocked with the lectern will try to fight me or some idiot thing like that, but no, no court.”
“Well what is it then? You’re not going to seriously make me play a guessing game, are you? You’re the one who called me, Erik.”
“Oh, she’s using my name,” he said. His voice was full of naughtiness that got me clenching all over again. Every time he talked it seemed like I wanted him more, if it was even possible for me to want him more. “And being feisty. I love it when you get feisty, Izzy.”
Oh my God, he was growling. The little snarl in the back of his throat had me just about burning for him. “This is so unfair,” I said. “You’re just calling me to taunt me, aren’t you? You want to get me all worked up and then tease me all day while you make me sit around taking notes at some town council meeting, don't you?”
It wouldn’t be the first time. Or the second, or the third. Come to think of it, that was one of his favorite hobbies.
“Well...”
“Oh, no,” I groaned. “No, no, no, last time you did that I almost made a total idiot of myself in front of the whole town.”
“Get serious, Izzy. They only broadcast those meetings on public access channels. No one ever watches them.”
He didn’t answer me. Whenever I guessed right, he didn’t answer me.
