Beauty and the Brute [Werescape III]

by Skhye Moncrief

  The door swung wide.

  Brutus. Back in his camouflage. Assuming the position of Guardian. I couldn't look at his magnificent form and not feel loss. So, he admitted to hurting me. To insulting me with his brand of value. Fine. His sincerity had been enough to help me stitch my bleeding heart and dress my ass even though my butt would have a fine time trying not to fall out of the other tears from his bite. I'd just climb back upon Trance and head west. Pretend nothing bothered me.

  And that's just what I did. Without any pomp or production, Octavius handed me a stuffed saddlebag, bid us farewell, and opened the massive log gate. What about the marking?

  The vast wilderness loomed, blocked by Brutus’ shoulders. He was the only thing standing between me and The Wild. Octavius had fed me to the python.

  The morning heated with the climbing sun.

  Or maybe the heat from Brutus’ body wicked up my arms. Amplified my overly self-conscious state. But women were renowned for their obsessing over foolish things. I guess I should just let the snubbing go. Forget the past and face the future. But a woman had a lot of free time sitting behind a saddle with little more than a camouflage shirt to stare at. There wasn't much to say about the view. Unless a person contemplated what the mottled fabric covered.

  Muscles.

  All that insanely incredible supple steel.

  If I slid my hands up his chest, just to pretend I needed a better grip, I could feel the dips, the bulging lines, the strength. I can't even imagine how his perky ass felt. He hadn't been in the mood for allowing me to test the terrain. Me. Me. Me. That's what he seemed caught up in. What he wanted.

  His needs.

  Not whether or not I needed to move my bloody thighs.

  And his Wolf! Wanting to sniff and snort. To dig and rub. In places best washed daily. Like I

  was some rotten carcass. Talk about odd. Yale's men hadn't bothered with that sort of investigation. Maybe it was a Shifter thing. I deserve what I get in mixing with a Shifter. I

  couldn't begin to count the times I'd heard someone utter that before.

  “We'll stop here,” he announced.

  Trance's pace picked up slightly, jogging my bones a tad more than he had.

  Must be water. I leaned to peek around Brutus's elbow.

  Yep. Glinting smooth surface between a few bushy copses of trees.

  He glanced sideways at me.

  One could only guess what thoughts danced behind those impenetrable brown eyes. Maybe he didn't want me falling off the horse? Forcing another unscheduled stop. Not good if a woman tried to appear helpful. I eased back to stare at his hidden shoulder blades.

  Trance stopped and sighed twenty-one steps later.

  What was that Yale's old Ferrier used to say? Yeehaw?

  His boots thumped on the ground, and he reached for my waist.

  Nice big hands. Helping. The brute wasn't all that bad when being helpful. Well, until he wanted to mate.

  He carefully lifted me from the saddle and lowered me to the ground like those fragile porcelain dolls only the wealthiest daughters possessed. But his hands didn't release me.

  Okay. Why? I slid my gaze up across the faded fabric of his shirt, over his red circle beard and perfectly-etched lips, up to his brown eyes.

  Something had changed. Still they projected a force. But now the look exuded passion.

  “Stay with me until I've checked the bank,” he commanded.

  Any dolt knew a Shifter could hear, see, smell, and taste things a mile away if he conjured up his Wolf. Brutus probably just wanted me with him. Maybe feared I'd bolt. Why else would he pull me down from the saddle when I needed to be ready to escape on Trance in case of an attack? I followed him as he skirted the shrubs.

  Nothing leapt out and attacked.

  My Guardian tended to the snorting Trance.

  Something felt wrong with the my Guardian label. He should have meant more to me. Or I to him. After sex. My mother always said a man and woman shouldn't sleep together unless they meant something to each other. Things changed so much since most humans were harvested by the extraterrestrials. Women were a luxury in that a man had to feed, house, clothe, and protect a mate. Apparently, Brutus preferred the detachment with a whore.

  The easy solution to having all the extra work.

  But most men opted to visit a communal brothel, even if there was only one woman to share.

  Others were territorial. The better of both situations in I never fancied being shared or sharing a mate. But men always ended up with whatever they wanted before a woman. The very reason I hadn't found any man, even among Yale's favorites, who made me want to lean back into a wall and spread my legs for him to grind my skull into a hard surface. Never had I

  seen one of Yale's men take the time with a woman the way Brutus took with me. And I'd let him do it again.

  Would that be a mistake?

  Would I still want to crawl into a hole and die afterward when I looked at Brutus?

  The whisper of footsteps cut through the high grass.

  A little ghost of a gray fish wiggled beneath the unbroken surface of the pool's clear dark water. A strange pool lined with dark sediment. It seemed rectangular except for some jutting boulders on one side toward one end. My science teacher always said manmade things were linear. Rectangular. Square...

  Black combat boots stopped in the grass beside mine. “Here.”

  He extended a beige round cake.

  Soap. Tucked into his grasp.

  “There's time for you to bathe.”

  Really? Here? With him? I scanned the length of the pool. Nowhere could I hide to undress then jump into the water.

  “Beauty?” His voice strained with the word.

  Like he was a little miffed at having to repeat himself. I threw my shoulders back and looked him in the eye.

  The same passion I saw when he helped me off the horse softened his standard unconquerable glare.

  “This stop is for you.” He reached for my hand, turned it over and placed the smooth lump in my palm.

  If he hadn't been so soft-spoken, I would have figured I really did smell. Not just my armpits.

  But all my pits. And he would know. He'd explored them all.

  He nodded at the pool. “I'll be on watch. Nothing will bother you.” He turned his back to me.

  Fine. I could take care of my business. He'd seen it all already. Especially with his extraordinary Wolf vision. A woman couldn't hide anything from him even in complete darkness. Within minutes, I'd combed my hair, tossed my clothing in a pile, and climbed into the weird pool.

  Even stranger by the way I had to step almost waist deep from the bank into the cool water.

  Bizarre. Ponds gradually grew deeper. They didn't start deep. Better to take caution and toe my way across the pool's silky sediment cushioning my feet.

  “Are you alright?” he called.

  Why wouldn't I be? “Yes.” I didn't turn and present him with a perfect view of my female anatomy.

  “Then why are you worried?”

  Shifters. Nosy bastards. Sexy as hell. But they eavesdrop on things that Normals wouldn't care about. “It's just strange in here.”

  “Let me know if something is wrong.”

  Fine. Leave me to lather and rinse. I took another step.

  My foot slipped out from under me.

  Both feet.

  Arms flailing to right the world, I sank into the cool echoing world beneath the dancing surface.

  Darkness moved in.

  My butt bumped a slope coated in slippery muck.

  Air. I needed air. I dug my feet and fingers into the sludge.

  But couldn't find a hard place to catch. To kick my body upward.

  Something jerked my armpits.

  Upward. I was pulled back toward the light teasing through the jigging surface.

  Air.

  The force shoved me out of the dripping water.

  Sweet blessed air. I gasped for breath.


  Falling, my legs slid back into the water, two big hands clamp around my ribs.

  “I've got you, Beauty.”

  No denying that.

  He snaked a big muscled arm beneath my breast and began pulling me toward the bank.

  So much for my bath. I'd lost the bloody soap.

  The dragging sensation halted.

  He turned me, pulling me against that mesmerizing chest.

  Against his nude body. Where are his clothes?

  “You have to be careful in swimming pools,” he warned or stated.

  What? “This pool is for swimming?” Who'd want to slip to their death?

  “Was. Before AEI. Places like the suburb have hundreds of these. People swam outside their homes.” He handed me the brown soap.

  Where had it come from? “Thank you.” I took the slick bar. “Where are your clothes?”

  “On the bank.” He nodded toward my clothes. “Thought I better be ready. Just in case.”

  Because I'm an imbecile? I rubbed the lump between my hands and tried to whip up a big lather. Anything to forget he stared at me. My breasts. Probably could see my smelly pits. But my serious focus didn't make him go away.

  He kept holding me.

  Helping me. I could stand on my own and bathe. I tried to step away.

  His arm tightened around my waist and leaned his head toward mine. “I'll take care of you,

  Beauty.”

  If only he meant like a mate cared for his marked woman. But I knew better. I tried to twist, to break free of his grasp.

  But his mouth landed on my cheek. Kissing me.

  A chill feathered down my neck from his tickling scrape of a beard.

  Down my arms. Through me.

  Those seductive lips caressed their way to mine.

  Sucking. Plucking one of my tender lips with his grating teeth.

  My soul melted, billowing, coiling low in my belly.

  God. To have him there. Back where he had been between my legs last night.

  He marched his massaging mouth to the throb in my neck.

  A sensitive beat that thumped against his hot mouth. He who lingered. Sucking. Loitering with a growl.

  My heart raced.

  Expecting more. Demanding more. Like last night. His full attention. And I wanted it.

  I was crazy.

  Insane.

  He could not make me his whore.

  No. I deserved more in life.

  I deserved a Shifter who would sacrifice everything to protect his mate. I planted my palms on his shoulders and shoved.

  Hard. His hands had moved enough that my slick body popped free of his embrace.

  That brown gaze of his blinked back into a sharp penetrating stare. “What's wrong?”

  Not a happy tone. If he didn't realize he'd insulted me, he would soon. “I won't be your whore.”

  His nostrils flared.

  His shoulders snapped to attention.

  This brute of a Shifter looked far too angry. I made a dash to his left.

  He swooped, caught me around the middle, and threw my naked body over his shoulder. “I've had enough of this,” he growled. He plowed through thigh-deep water toward the pool's edge.

  Head first, I dangled, eyes above the curve of his bare ass and quaking water.

  What could I do? Beat him? Like that would make a difference. Octavius obviously gave me the best course of action. Submit. Sex meant feeling really good afterward anyway. Not bad to hang limp now and feel good after sex.

  He swung a huge bare foot to the bank and stepped from the lapping water with the ease of a giant. The way his sculpted ass moved, not to mention those muscled thighs, there was no escaping him.

  Forget running. He'd catch me. Or his Wolf would. Not good when Wolf seemed a little less predictable.

  Brutus stormed into shade beneath a large oak tree and descended, planting his ass in the vegetation, pulling me down to straddle his lap, facing his unreadable glowing Shifter glare.

  Right on top of his club. He could beat me with that weapon. Yes. Like last night. Abuse me until I couldn't move or breathe. But by the look of his livid mask, he might not be as lenient today, disgusted with his Normal whore.

  “What's wrong with you?” he snarled.

  Why did he keep demanding an answer to that question? “I'll be damned if you think I'm going to be your whore.” I slugged a fist into his cheek.

  Iron cheek.

  Pain stabbed through my knuckles.

  How could I be so dumb? Of course striking something so solid would hurt. I stared at the bundle of fingers, waiting, hoping the invisible pain would magically vanish.

  His fingers curled around the aching hand and petted the back of my fingers with his thumb.

  “I don't want a whore.”

  Normal arrogant tone or not, he's a liar. “Well, what in the hell do you call me?”

  He shoved me backward, following me with his damp weight.

  Back onto something soft. Laced with smoke and his male scent. The blanket.

  He was everywhere. His hands stroking gooseflesh down my side then squeezing my breasts like a kitten after its mother's milk. Pressing my legs open with a knee. Nibbling my neck.

  Raking my beaded nipples into peaks with those wickedly sharp teeth.

  Damn. I'm so weak. Or my body is a traitor.

  Every cell in my body responded to his touch. To his muscles. I just wanted to touch all those glorious succulent undulations. Feel the safety in the dips and swells. Feel alive. The way he made me feel last night.

  A deadly growl gurgled from him.

  Threatening from deep within. His Wolf. The Wolf that wanted to possess me.

  Yes.

  Possess me.

  Bite me. Even accidentally was better than not. I ached so much for him inside me that I'd writhe in a slow agonizing death if he didn't claim ownership of my body. “Brutus!” I clawed into the blanket and arched my hips against his pounding heart.

  He'd wormed his way down to my navel where his wet tongue circled my trembling hole.

  The more my belly quaked the more he growled in satisfaction.

  Lower. His weight shifted lower, so far my hips rocked for him.

  His glowing gaze rolled up to find me watching.

  He roared.

  Not a man trying to roar. But a man bearing his pointed fangs and roaring. A Shifter.

  His rough palms slid down my thighs to the juncture of my legs where his thumbs teased the most sensitive aching part of my body.

  The part dying for him to toy with me. To lick me. To nibble the tiniest of buttons tucked away from all but him to see. To make me explode. Again and again.

  That wily tongue touched me first.

  Made me dance. Cry. Beg for more. All I wanted was everything. The world spinning faster.

  His teeth sending jolts of desire through my core. Him inside me. Stroking hard. Handfuls of his magnificent ass. I wanted to feel that ass flex. Driving the breath out of me. So quickly.

  Now. I screamed and threw my head back.

  The forest came crashing in on me.

  No. The weight was Brutus.

  He rammed his thick rod inside my clenching channel.

  Pressing. Forcing his entry.

  Growling. Fangs bared, grated. His smoldering gaze locked on mine.

  “Mine,” he snarled.

  He could have said anything with the way my hips strained to bury his amazing hardness to the blessed root. More. I wanted all of him. Inside. At the little spot he stroked that made me shiver and tremble in quaking bliss beneath him. I slid my hands around his ribs to his back and clawed to hang on.

  Wiry hairs sprouted from his hot skin.

  Scratching the pads of my fingers. My breasts.

  The hairs chafed up incredible friction.

  Working to steal my breath and thoughts. For that moment. The point when nothing mattered but lying perfectly still. When the world's troubles disappeared ... Just for a moment un
til I

  realized he wasn't going to mark me. I locked my legs around his flexing lower back.

  He wasn't getting out of the bite this time.

  His face began shifting the faster he pumped his engorged shaft into my soul.

  I'll be damned if the firm presence hadn't grown. And changed.

  The friction changed. Did more than tickled that little spot only he could reach with his cock.

  Pure pleasure seemed to erupt everywhere along my inner channel.

  My body squirmed.

  Shook. Fell to pieces around his hard cock. Even when his face elongated into a muzzle.

  Nothing mattered but Brutus. And his rigid Wolf cock lunging into my sex. Filling what had to be the emptiest void.

  My legs gave up, fell loose from his lithe form.

  His unyielding presence flinched inside me.

  Jerked.

  His Wolf threw his massive head toward the sky and roared.

  Or howled.

  Molten heat filled my soul.

  So hot.

  His flexible body kept pushing the magma inside me.

  Plunging deeper as if what it experienced was all a dream. Not by the way my body hummed.

  Brutus and his Wolf could lay me back and rub me into a mindless immobile heap of gasps anytime.

  Wolf snapped his gaze to mine.

  A glowing yellow unreadable gaze.

  He bared his long white fangs. Snarled.

  Bite me. Claim me. Make me yours.

  Wolf sprang off my body, over my head.

  A breeze hushed over my abandoned form lying on the crumpled quilt.

  What? Alone. Again. Unmarked. Not even a useless scrap of rag worth saving to piece together bit by bit like the blanket. To make into something bigger. Something like a family. Friends. A

  community that would accept me for value I must have. I stared at the pieces of blue sky and white cloud through the leaf-laden limbs overhead.

  Even leaves fit in somewhere, hanging on limbs connected to larger branches and the trunk, a trunk that split into deeper roots. And I have none of this. Not even a Shifter who thinks I'm good enough to mark.

  * * * *

  Running through the woods encircling the pool might not have been the wisest thing to do.

  Beauty could hear my weight breaking twigs. The sound would frighten her. But my big gaping

  Wolf maw had to be far more terrifying than a sound or two. Anything to distance her from