The hovercraft vanished into the grassy horizon.
* * * *
Forget hurrying to the Black Hills. My Guardian clearly wasn't going anywhere until he'd marked me. Or him. We'd both stink of mating soon. But with Wolf always on watch, we could manage a little release of tension. Especially after last night's torture on that farce of a boat. My ears still hummed. Would probably never stop humming. I shoved my waistband down over the swell of my hips.
Or maybe the humming was something else? Something coursing through my bones.
The world swung.
Brutus! If he thought he was throwing me over his shoulder again...
The world stilled with my mate's ravenous mask barely smiling at me backed by blue sky where he carefully held me in his arms, my pants hanging from my knees.
Hungry but doting. Adorable. “Hi, Brutus.” I shot him a wink.
He shoved my pants free of my feet. “Didn't I warn you not to bend over until you'd undressed?” he teased.
That was the last thing on my mind. “That boat had my thoughts elsewhere.”
His smile curled into his left cheek. “Elsewhere?” He dropped me to my bare feet on the soft quilt. “Go then. Elsewhere.”
My heart sank in one achy swan dive of longing.
For him. God, the way he stood there with his red eyebrows arched wearing nothing but camouflage pants fitting that tight narrow waist of his ... I just needed to wrap my legs around that waist.
Or maybe Wolf wanted to play. I could stand here and melt at his feet. Or run.
His brown gaze never flinched.
Trapped me. Pinned me here in the endless sea of grass with the river at my back.
A muscle in his bulging upper arm twitched.
Maybe he wanted me to run? And the thought of being caught was so tempting.
One of his eyebrows lowered questioningly. “I'm waiting,” he said.
As if I was to answer. Well, he could just work to mate today. I thrust a foot into the base of a tuft of grass.
“Gods-damn it, Beauty. No!”
Like I'd stop on command. Not after his little challenge. He'd have to punish me. And Brutus could dole out incredible punishment. I kept stretching my stride toward the smooth rounded stones of the river's edge.
“Stop!”
Shouting wouldn't deter me. He needed a little teasing of his own.
Something grabbed me around the waist and tossed me into the air like the limber body of a housecat.
Up. Up.
The blue sky must have shoved back because I landed in his arms, staring at his scowl.
“You can't run out here without shoes on, Lorelei.”
Not such a good tone. “Why?” Oh, snakes. Or worse. Large insects. Dear. God. I grabbed his neck and hung on. “What's out here?” I scanned the clumps of tall grass.
He turned, panning my view, took three steps to the right, and knelt. “Cacti.”
Out here? At least he hadn't said bug-shaped cacti. I squinted and studied the dirt clinging to the mounded earth encircling each clump of grass. “But this isn't a desert.”
“It's a part of the US Territories that can't count on rain. Cacti have always grown here.” His fingers curled around a dozen thick grass stalks and shoved them aside, revealing the small knobby plant's spray of spiny thorns. “You don't want to step on that, Little Sassy.”
No. No. I'd rather cuddle up with muscles and howl at the full moon. I eyed his straight-lipped frown. “You should have warned me about the cacti.”
He slid a stare of disbelief to mine. “I never told you to run.”
Well. “I thought you wanted to play by that look on your face. Or Wolf had the bright idea.”
He sighed, rose, and carried me back to the blanket with measured steps. “Let's dress. We'll have time to play later. It isn't safe to turn my back for an instant out here.”
Not mate?
He looked at me with cold fatherly calculation.
Obviously reading my body's tension. Disinterest claimed that handsome mask of his. But I
want to have sex. “But. I—”
His mouth snuffed my words.
Hot. Hungry. His lips fed off mine. His tongue plunged into my mouth like he hadn't eaten for days. Couldn't stand starving. Even with the potential of a cactus beneath our blanket.
He lowered my ass to the soft fabric.
Nothing. Not a poke or stab. Just muscles. Everywhere. Glorious amazing musculature. All mine. I slid my palms down the supple iron covering his shoulder blades.
He groaned into my mouth and pressed his pounding chest into my heart until I stretched beneath what had to be his lurking Wolf the way he practically paced with his hands on the blanket around my upper body.
Shift. Yes. Go ahead. There's nothing like playing with a sex-crazed half-man who wanted nothing more than to make his woman scream in absolute bliss.
His mouth was everywhere.
Kissing. Never relinquishing his hold on my attention. Captivating me. Yes. Captive by the
Wolf. The way a woman should be.
* * * *
Her hands were all over me. Rubbing. Clawing. Jerking at my waistband. Roaming along my cock's explosive length, what had to be Wolf's heart throbbing. Kicking. Ripping for freedom.
Hard couldn't describe my erection. More like irreversible.
Those hot lips of hers worked my neck. Sucking. Kneading.
Some scent, the mysterious aroma, rooted in my nostrils.
Wolf's nostrils.
From the Well. Yes. From the Well of Immortality. Sweet. Divine. Luring Wolf from the place I
kept him deep inside myself.
To feast.
To bite.
To sip the salty metallic tang of blood.
Ambrosia. The food of the Gods.
Wolf rising to dwell forever immortalized through mating.
Coming. The Gods-be-damned beast was coming. To eat her up. To wallow in her Well. His energy so all-consuming. Intent. Hell, he'd rip her to shreds. Must stop him. Protect her. I
ground my teeth and tried to shove skyward.
Away. Back from her. Put a cushion of safe distance between us.
She looked up at me where she laid with her black bra popped open, shoved aside so Wolf could nuzzle his mate's soft mounds. So damned soft. To rub all over that velvet body. I
slammed my eyelids shut and refused to look, choking down the urge to roar.
“Brutus?” she whined.
No. Wolf. Wolf was coming.
Mine. Wolf clawed beneath my skin.
A tingle scratched into flames under every cell of my skin.
Yes. Fire. Hot. Searing. Wolfen hairs.
The Gods-be-damned hairs lanced my flesh like a thousand hornet stings.
Stop, Wolf. Run. Or begin the mating? Yes. Hurry. Finish this before Wolf completely takes over. I slammed onto my knees between her thighs.
Two long iron limbs of supple flesh.
Mate, Wolf growled.
Something stirred up a breeze.
Right to my nose. Carrying the scent of ambrosia closer. More than ambrosia. Something far sweeter. Richer.
My mouth watered.
Or is that Wolf's?
Long coarse reddish-brown Wolfen hairs covered most of the skin on my arms and the backs of my hands pressed against the crumpled colorful patchwork of the quilt around her lily-white hips.
That dimple of a navel lifted then plummeted.
She wanted this as much as Wolf and I. Good thing.
Mine, Wolf roared and stretched my skin to the absolute limit.
Wolf wouldn't wait. Not to mate. Gods-be-damned beast.
Beauty slid her legs around my hips and pulled my ass closer with her heels, hooking her calves around my ass, drew me down until I was too dangerously close that my aching cock locked right into her moist heat.
Shit. I'd lose control. Of Wolf. Hurt her. Couldn't allow that. Had to run away. I tried to roll onto one knee, to cli
mb away from her. From that intoxicating aroma.
She groaned, rocked her head from side to side, and wrapped her legs so tightly around my ass that there would be no escape. “Nobody said you could go anywhere, Brutus. I haven't finished with you yet.”
Wolf howled and collapsed down on top of her squirming slender body.
Too sleek. Too agreeably arching again and again into Wolf's eager body. Have to run. Far.
Fast. But I managed to keep my ass where it had been waiting precariously close to the Well.
Her constricting legs squeezed me forward.
Toward the hive drenched with honey.
The sensitive head of my cock slid inside her molten vise.
Deeply. So damned deep into the constricting hole. I couldn't help but groan. But I tried to fight losing control.
Wolf struggled to shake free of my skin.
To claim his mate. To devour her. I had to gnash him back. Gulp. Send him into the chasm before his muzzle stretched out of my face. Endangered her.
Her taut nipples scraped my chest like razor blades as her lower back arched beneath my waist. She grabbed my shoulders and clawed. “Please, Brutus. The hairs drive me insane the way they rake gooseflesh from my skin. I—I can't just lay here without losing my mind.
Please.”
Wolf wouldn't stop thrusting toward freedom. Toward his mate's pulsing blood. Right beneath her pale skin. Where I was pounding into her rocking hips. Into silken dampness that tightened with our combined thrusts. A dance. A mating dance of immortality. That's what this was.
Her body's intoxicating scent drew Wolf for one reason. To conceive. And Wolf would not be refused the moment.
She made those little squeaking high-pitched sounds like the nearby chipmunks.
Probably witnessing this pivotal moment when Beauty's egg called to Wolf. Or the summons was her fingernails tearing through my shoulder blades. Her pleas for completion. The singular moment when we would unite as one and never be torn apart in the child we created. Immortalized mates, swimming in the Well of Immortality.
Dancing. Embracing. Gasping for one final breath. A life-giving breath when nothing else but our locked groins mattered. Legs and arms twisted in a wicked tangle of desperation around each other as Wolf's hot seed masked his mate's fecund scent. Shrouded her fertility with his own odor. And nobody would dare step between us once his seed nurtured inside her womb.
Mine, Wolf snarled, ramming into the grind of her begging hips.
My cock erupted.
Wolf stared at the white flesh of her collarbone.
Her head thrown back, eyes shut, mouth gaping, she didn't notice.
Sweet skin. For one bite. Just a salty taste of blood.
Wolf licked his lips.
No. He'd endanger the child. I clamped my teeth tightly and focused on the need to sink my cock more deeply inside her tight channel.
Wolf whined and rose to the sensation, withdrawing, lunging, fighting to mark his mate.
But the struggle died with every ounce of fight we three had left in us. Drop by blessed drop.
Until nothing but dry heaves of a deflating arousal and pumping hips withered into one final short-lived thrust. Just in case there was something left to prove or the possibility we might be gifted with another bath in the Well. Time. All we needed was more damned time.
The world stopped around us where we laid hips locking our rigid bodies. Ribcage frantically pumping to fill our bodies with air the way we gasped.
So we could live on. Carry on. Right the order on Earth. Give the planet Shifter sons and fertile daughters to ensure there was no end to humanity. No end with each new beginning brought to life. Could she really be pregnant?
She tilted her chin until her green eyes found my gaze. “God, Brutus.” Her fingers uncurled, releasing the long strong Wolfen hairs she pulled in my shoulders. “I can't believe that was so fast but,” she chuckled, “it was the best yet.”
Spoken like a woman speared with a ridged Wolf cock. I shot her a wink.
Her palms slid across my shoulders and pressed down the thinning Wolfen hairs lining my arms. “What other dangerous things are out here I need to know about?”
Maybe I should warn her about Wolf's need to devour her? But something about the way she enunciated her words bothered me. Or Wolf. I lowered onto my elbows. “What do you mean?”
She studied the blue sky a moment while fingering some Wolfen hair on the back of my forearm. “There's something out here. I can feel it.”
A chill crept through me.
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* * *
Chapter Thirteen
Something totally unrelated to the quick and gradual loss of my Wolfen hairs caused my chill.
Feel it, she'd said. My mate had some sort of power. Something I needed to pay attention to.
“You sense things more than most Normals, Lorelei.”
Her gaze flicked to the horizon. “Maybe. But I learned to listen to the sensation a long time ago. Or I'd have died young.”
What did she mean by that confession? “Now, you have a Wolf. There will be no dying.”
She turned a budding smile back to me.
Beautiful. Yes. My Beauty. All mine. With her not-so-Normal intuitive power. Maybe it was a heightened fear of losing what we share? Our bond. The seed we'd planted. Did she know we'd made a child? And if she didn't, would telling her make a difference? Most likely not.
Just cause her more worry. I'd tell her after we found a safe place to wait out winter. But by then, she'd probably figure out a she carried our child. All the better for her to discover the child on her own. I'd have to pretend to be surprised.
“We need to go,” she whispered.
Not a bit of worry in her voice. But she was right.
* * * *
The Black Hills had looked dark in the distance over Brutus’ shoulder. But the closer Trance's casual rocking carried us, the greener the darkness grew until we were riding through an airy forest shrouding the hills. Not the kind of dense foliage where sunlight labored to bore through the underlying darkness. No, the sun had enough presence to warm my skin. The forest's size was a completely different issue. I'd seen it spread quite a bit across the horizon from a distance. But now, we just passed through large pine trees.
Unnoticed? Maybe. Nothing gave me a shiver. Still, anything could happen. I tightened my arms encircling Brutus’ iron waist.
He shot me a glance over his shoulder. “Something wrong?”
“No. Just making certain I'm ready in case you send Trance running.”
He winked and turned back to the sunny trail. “Don't worry. Titus would be a fool to bring
Yale here. This is sacred Shifter ground. Titus would betray the one vow a Shifter makes. The oath to protect his own species. To do so would be the most unforgiveable disloyalty.”
Not Titus again. I wouldn't argue the point though. Not when nothing in this beautiful place hinted of danger.
Movement blurred to our right.
Brutus casually turned his gaze that direction.
“Was that an animal?” I whispered, hugging tightly to my mate's solid reassuring back.
Oddly enough, there were no sounds. Yes. The forest was quiet.
“Not a dangerous one,” Brutus muttered back. “Just hold tight. I'll take care of things.”
Trance plodded onward between tree trunks and boulders.
Step by crunching step through forest litter blanketing the ground. Hopefully, Wolf listened.
He'd hear anything sneaking up on us. Because I damned sure couldn't.
Something snapped and popped to our left.
A man on a horse. But he had a full head of hair. Long deep shiny black hair. Hanging in two thin braids from jaw down to his navel. The hair behind his head hung loosely down his back.
The man's dark eyes studied me from the hundred yards between his red-and-white horse and
Trance.
What did
he want? And why hadn't Brutus made any sign of noting the newcomer's presence?
Something very strange occurred. I looped my index and middle fingers through my mate's belt loops for a better grip.
“Calm down, Beauty,” Brutus said softly. “They're Shifters. We're safe here.”
Shifters in clothes fashioned from light brown hides. The man had painted his face, arms, and bare chest with various earth-toned colors. Like he meant to blend in with the forest.
Camouflage. “But he didn't shave his head,” I whispered.
“They don't. Call them rebellious. But they've survived a long time out here without being the focus of Normals out to catch Shifters and their mates.”
So, they choose to keep their hair. How confusing. Brutus needs to stay close to explain everything.
Another round of popping set off like muted gunfire from the opposite direction.
A young warrior with long light brown braids steered his buckskin stallion's black socks through the noisy pine needles and fallen limbs. His blue eyes were almost white in that they were so pale.
Haunting. Omniscient. Like Father Leigh's God. The God I swore to often but felt no great connection with. How could anyone find a reason to speak with a deity who killed her parents and left her covered in cockroaches? Only to cast a final stone with the placation plan! But my time with Brutus is far more precious than anything else of my existence. Perhaps some supernatural force is at work here? Could I be part of a higher plan? Or is that just my tiny inner voice revealing its human insecurity? And how could anyone be insecure under a Shifter mate's protection as well as two accompanying Guardians to see me safely to this Shifter village? A secret Shifter village.
Nothing else was spoken as we trailed single-file knee-deep upstream in a shallow rivulet until rounding a bend and hitting into a wall of stench. A horrid smell. Rotting flesh.
My gut squeezed in rebellion.
Bile seared upward until burning the back of my throat.
I gulped it down and thrust my nose into the crook created by Brutus’ shoulder blade and back. A notch completely devoted to distracting me long enough for Trance to clear the horrendous odiferous cloud. What caused the stink? I thrust my head up, fingers pinching my nose tightly, and surveyed the surrounding wall of tree trunks beyond the stones.
Beauty and the Brute [Werescape III] Page 18
