by Lynn Red
"Yours," she said, her fingers dug deep into the pine needles. "I am yours. Be mine now."
He bent over her resisting body, bent it forward until her muscles could not hold her up any more and she buckled, her elbows askew on the ground. Farther still, until his weight was pushing against her and she thought she could not hold them both up. Then he withdrew, thrusting inward again quickly. Again he withdrew, and again he thrust, and the nerves between her legs burned with the slick tension.
Faster now, faster and harder. Damien was rocking himself back and forward, using her hips as a leverage point. Julia could feel her ass being bruised by his hips slamming into her, yet she echoed his motions all too eagerly. She was hungry for him, her appetite insatiable. The agonizing lust within her body grew as his cock thrust in and out of her, and soon she was braced against the forest floor, pushing herself back onto him with equal force.
The angle he was positioned in was perfect: she could feel herself coming closer and closer to her climax with every pounding sound. Their bodies came together brutally, attracted to each other with feelings so raw that they could not be anything but sincere. The reality of their desire burned through Julia as she felt Damien's hand clench over her hip and she knew he was close to orgasm as well.
His hand slipped down, over her breast, and Julia drew a sharp breath as his fingers pinched down on her nipple, twisting it hard. Every limb of her body was on fire with lust, and his touch set off her orgasm in a fierce shudder.
She writhed in Damien's arms, arching back against him. Wave after wave of orgasm pounded her as his thrusting increased, his cock impossibly harder. His breath was fast in her ear while she shook with the intensity of the feeling that was exploding through her body. He caught the wave of her ecstasy and rode it along with her, and she could feel his explosion mimic her own, shattering any semblance of distance between them.
"Ohhh," she moaned as Damien jammed his swollen cock into her tight, tight slit, another shiver of orgasm vibrating through her nerves like the last ripple disappearing in a pond. Damien's body stiffened over hers in a final spasm and she felt his hand squeeze once, hard, then relax. She felt the spasm in her own core, her body clenching until he relaxed as well. His heart was pounding so loud that Julia could hear it through his skin, the heat radiating from his every limb.
Julia felt strangely peaceful, as though her wild body had shaken so much that it was now buzzing, hovering in a mystical place between reality and dream. She felt herself begin to swoon, and a strong arm caught her and turned her. Grateful, she let Damien lay her down against the forest floor. Above them, the rays of the morning sun shone through the pine branches.
He settled her onto the soft ground. When she caught his hand with hers she felt his fingers trembling. She brought them to her lips and kissed them.
“Such a big bad wolf,” she murmured.
“I hope I didn’t scare you too much,” Damien said.
“I was only scared when I thought I might lose you,” Julia said, her eyelashes fluttering against her cheeks.
Reaching one arm under her head, Damien cradled her into his chest. His long arms wrapped her up entirely like a cocoon.
It was the oddest thing. Despite the circumstances, despite the fact that she had seen him shift into a wolf and tear into a brutal fight with another animal, she felt safer in his arms than she had ever felt before. There was no awkwardness, no unfamiliarity. He took her body in his arms as though he had done so for years and would always do so in the years to come. She wondered if he would keep her for the years to come. She wondered if she had gone crazy.
"Oh, the library!" Julia said, her head turning up. "What time is it?"
"You don't need to worry about that," Damien said.
"Helen will kill me," Julia said, squirming in his arms. "You don't understand. She'll fire me."
"I already called in and told her that you'll be gone for the day."
"What?"
"Actually, I told her you couldn't come to work anymore this year," Damien said.
"You did what?" Julia sat up, her mouth agape.
"I thought you'd need the time to study literature," Damien said. His fingers stroked her palm, comforting her even as her thoughts raced. "After all, you're going to have to catch up. The school year's already one week in."
"I—no, Damien, go to college?! I can't stop working. The house—"
"I went to the bank yesterday and wrote a check for the property. It's not what you think," he said quickly. "I'll sign the deed over to you. I just wanted to make sure nobody bought it before I had the chance."
"How...how did you possibly..."
"The pack has been saving for a while now," he said. His fingers intertwined with hers. "You don't have to let us live on your land, of course, but if you'll let us build a couple of cabins somewhere out in the woods, you won't even know the pack is there. It's up to you."
"Of course," Julia said. Her head was spinning. "Of course you can stay. Heavens, you bought the place, didn't you?" Giddy laughter bubbled out of her as she hugged him tight.
"And you'll be my mate?"
Julia looked at Damien. His face was joyful but his tone was serious.
"Yes," she whispered. The happiness in her threatened to burst her heart. "Will you be mine?"
"I've always been yours," Damien said, kissing her hand. "I have been waiting to find you my entire life."
"I've been waiting for you too," Julia said softly. "I never knew until now what I had been waiting for, but I always hoped that you would come." She felt a swell of joy run over her, and as Damien leaned in to kiss her, she could sense his joy mingled together with hers. The shafts of light filtered in through the branches above and a bird call rang out in melody through the forest, searching for its partner. Julia's lips curved into a smile. Whatever future awaited her was his future as well. Their future. She couldn't wait.
<<<<>>>>
Perfect Mate by Aubrey Rose
CHAPTER ONE
Julia
Julia lay back naked against Damien's chest, and he held her close in arms that were not entirely human.
Werewolf. Shifter. Animal.
"What are you worried about?" Damien asked, squeezing her naked hip. The bright light of morning washed over the tops of the pine trees above, and Julia blinked hard.
"Stop reading my thoughts," Julia said, looking up at him. His scars gleamed white in the daylight, crisscrossing over his eyes and down to his cheeks, and she wondered how it had taken her so long to notice them. Of course he had been wearing glasses before. Before she knew who he was. What he was. She shivered then, and he drew her close, feeling her shudder on his own skin.
"Not your thoughts, darling," he said, pressing a kiss to her forehead. "Your emotions. You feel frightened."
"Stop reading my emotions, then," she said. "It's not fair."
"Because you can't read mine?"
"Yes," Julia said.
"You ask me to do the impossible," Damien said. "I don't know if I could stop reading you if I tried. You're my mate."
"Try," Julia whispered, her voice small and vulnerable. "I'm thinking about the wolf you fought."
Damien's eyebrows furrowed into a frown.
"I'm sorry," he said. "Maybe we shouldn't have moved so quickly." His lips moved down from her forehead to her cheek, feathering light kisses along her jaw line. "I just couldn't stop myself once I met you. I had to have you. I needed you. I needed to do this—"
"Ohh!" Julia let out a soft moan as Damien kissed her neck just below her ear, sending shivers of pleasure throughout her body that shot from the nerve endings in her neck all the way down to her feet. Her toes curled, involuntarily.
"Let me take your mind off of the fight. Off of everything that you're worried about," Damien said. His tongue darted out and licked her skin. She inhaled sharply, her lips falling apart.
"Damien," Julia gasped.
"No more frightened thoughts," Damien whispered
. His breath was hot against her naked skin, and he moved his mouth down to her collarbone, nipping the skin there gently, just gently enough to pinch and elicit another soft gasp. His hands moved over her body, cupping her breasts. She forgot all of her worries at the touch of his fingers. Instinct took her body over, and she arched against him, pressing herself into his hold.
"Much better," Damien said, sitting up in order to better caress her body. His fingertips glided over her skin, stopping every few inches to rub and squeeze. The massage was delightful, but Julia could tell that he was intent on something else. What?
"Your body," Damien said, responding without hesitation to her curiosity. She swatted him on the hip with one hand.
"I said stop reading my emotions."
"I'll read your body instead," Damien said. His fingers stroked and stroked and did not stop moving over her skin. "That's what I want to know about. I want to know every beautiful inch of you. I want to feel it, memorize it."
He bent over then and licked her breast, letting his tongue press softly into the crease underneath and make its way along the curved surface up to the nipple, where it flicked lightly against the sensitive skin there. The space between her thighs grew instantly hot, clenching hard.
"Oh!" Julia cried out.
"Your body is incredible," Damien said. "I want to have you entirely. Your mind. Your love. Your body."
His words had a lilting rhythm to them, but a flash of hesitation brought her out of the trance he'd put her in.
Her body. She'd never thought of herself as beautiful. Cute, maybe, with a nice face. She'd always been the friend who tagged along when going out to bars, the adorable one with frizzy red hair who drew attention while the other girls kept it. Guys would flirt with her, but they wouldn't buy her drinks, and they always went home with one of her friends instead. As Damien moved his hands over her body, she could not help but feel wary. He could feel the lumpy parts, the excess bulges, the thickness of her thighs. Couldn't he? Even if he was blind...
"Julia, you are more beautiful than any other woman I've ever known. Don't doubt it. I want every piece of you inside of my thoughts," Damien said. "When you touch me, I want to be able to visualize it. When I take you, I want to see it in my mind."
He bent his head down and let his lips graze over Julia's stomach. It tickled a bit, but the giggles turned to moans as Damien moved down, down to the already wet slit between her legs. She groaned loudly as he pressed his tongue against her and sealed his lips around her most sensitive spot, sucking hard.
"That's my girl," Damien said. He pursed his lips and blew cool air over her aroused folds. She moved her hands down to touch herself, to cover the naked parts of her, but he grabbed her by the wrists and moved her hands aside.
"This might just be the most lovely part of you," Damien said, bending his head to lick her wetness. Long, deep strokes of the tongue.
She forgot the pinpricks of the pine needles on her back as he teased her into arousal again. She'd never imagined...this. That a man could want her this badly, could push his tongue inside of her, could suckle her until the earth moved under her back—this was an incredible thought. None of her friends had ever talked about boys pleasing them, just wanting to fuck them. Get his dick wet, that was the phrase her best friend had used to describe the boy at the bar that she eventually left with. But Damien's every motion seemed aimed toward one goal only: pleasing her. Perhaps it was that he could sense her feelings, he could sense the reaction that his kisses and strokes produced inside of her core.
All of this disappeared in a blinding explosion of desire as he thrust two fingers into her.
"Oh! Damien!"
The sensation pulsed through her that she was his, only his. She rocked against his hand, forcing her body upon his fingers, impaling herself. If you had asked her a week ago whether she would ever kiss a man, she would have been doubtful. Now, though, she ached to have Damien inside of her again and knew, with more certainty than she'd thought possible, that he was hers as much as she was his.
The air around her warmed her as she found her rhythm against him. His lips moved against her, his tongue licking, his mouth sucking. She did not know anymore what she felt and what she imagined, for the world was like a dream to her as she moved her hips, rolling them against his mouth as her tension built higher, higher, then erupted from deep within her core.
"Yes... yes!"
The orgasm rolled through her, different than the one before, though just as powerful. Quickly she clasped her fist into her mouth, stifling the loud cry that burst forward from her lungs as she rode the waves of pleasure into release. Her body clenched around his fingers and shuddered once, then again, and again as his tongue licked her tenderly.
Breathing hard, she could not do anything but whimper as he lay back beside her and drew her close to him in a warm embrace. Birds in the treetops sang, or perhaps it was her ears ringing from the symphony of bliss reverberating through her body. He stroked her body with his hands under she curled up to his chest, satiated.
"You're incredible," she murmured, nestling herself into his body. Dark hair lined his chest, defining the rippling muscles underneath, and she ran her fingers through the wiry strands. "Can I... can I do something for you?" She blushed and tucked her head against his shoulder even as she asked the question.
"As much as I'd love it, I should get back to my pack," Damien said.
"Take me with you," Julia said, without thinking. As she said the words, though, she knew it was the right decision.
"The wolf is there," Damien said, his voice dropping into a serious tone. "The one who tried to attack you. Do you really want to see him again?"
"I want to meet your pack," Julia said firmly. She needed to see the other shifter. She needed to know that there was nothing between Damien and Katherine, to see it herself.
"You've met them all already," Damien said, a note of modesty coming into his tone. "It's a small pack."
"I mean—I want to meet them as your mate," Julia said.
"Oh, sure. Of course. You'll have to drive me, then." Damien kissed her on the lips softly, and she wondered how much of her anxiety he could read. How much of her jealousy.
"I am yours," Damien whispered, his thumb grazing the stiff peak of her nipple. "You know that."
"Yes," Julia said. She knew. Or thought she did.
As they dressed, brushing the pine needles off of their clothes, Julia watched Damien's muscled body and tried to remember it changing—shifting—the arms and legs sprouting fur and claws. It all seemed like a dream, albeit a vivid one.
She turned to go and Damien caught her by the arm. It was a simple gesture, but one that reminded her of his acute senses. Without his eyes, he was still able to track her movements.
"Julia," Damien said. "I need to tell you something about my condition."
"Something apart from the fact that you're a werewolf?" Julia teased. Her laugh was cut short by the look on Damien's face. "What is it?"
"Shifters have a different lifespan than humans," Damien said. "Anywhere from a hundred to two hundred years."
"You don't have any old shifters in your pack, do you?" Julia asked. "Or do they just look young?"
"No, That's the thing," Damien said. "There's a price to pay for the lifespan."
Julia's heart chilled at the sound of the admonition.
"What price?"
"Shifters can only shift into human form when they're relatively young. Thirty-five, maybe forty years old. After that, it becomes harder and harder to shift out of wolf form. You become more aggressive, less able to control yourself."
"I don't understand. You're saying you'll be stuck in wolf form?"
Damien bowed his head.
"It takes energy every time I shift from one form to another, and if I go for too long as a human, I lose control. I have to shift back. In all likelihood, I'll only have another fifteen years or so before I become more wolf than man."
Julia didn't kn
ow how to reply. A numbness had set into her that she didn't understand. More wolf than man.
"I'm sorry," Damien said, squeezing her hand. "I should have told you earlier. Only—"
"Is there anything else I should know?" Julia said, smiling weakly. "Are you going to spontaneously combust every other week or so? Will your skin turns purple on Tuesdays?"
Damien laughed gently.
"Not so much," he said. "I understand if you... if you decide you can't be with me because of this. I admit, I rushed into things after I felt the Calling. It's just..."
"I don't want anyone but you," Julia whispered. There was a connection between the two of them that she had only dreamed about, and she couldn't let it go. She wouldn't leave him if she found out he had a fatal disease, after all. The idea of abandoning Damien for a life without him was repulsive to her. Why should this be any different?
"Then let's go and see the pack," Damien said, kissing her on her forehead. "And I'll introduce you as my mate."
They drove to the hotel that the pack was staying in, and as Julia pulled into the parking lot she shivered in cold anticipation.
"You can wait out here," Damien said. "The wolf—"
"He's just a shifter," Julia said. "Right?"
"Right," Damien said, but he sounded unsure.
"Then let's go," Julia said. She put on a brave face, although she knew that Damien could read her emotions, and she was feeling anything but brave just then. Or maybe that's what bravery was: being scared and not letting that stop you. She locked the car door behind her and followed Damien up the stairs and down the hall. They stopped in front of a door and Damien took Julia's hand before opening it.
Julia gasped. On a table in the middle of the room lay the wolf Damien had fought, blood staining the white sheets under him.
"Damien!" The tall, thin man with dark hair and skin came over and clasped Damien to him in an embrace. He wore an apron stained with blood, and in his hand was some kind of medical instrument, a shiny chrome tool that looked kind of like a pair of scissors.
