by Dani Harper
That would be a shock by itself, Travis thought. A human’s strength was puny compared to a Changeling’s. And even in two-legged form, a Changeling could take a punch that would break bones in a human being.
“‘Time to join the party, Geneva.’ That’s what she said to me, and she was still laughing. All of them were. There was this smell then, this thick, ozone-like smell like you sometimes get after a thunderstorm. My hair suddenly stood on end, just floated up around my head, and so did hers, that’s how much static there was. The lights flickered out and the air was suddenly filled with tiny blue sparks, the kind you see in a dark room when you scuff your feet over the carpet. It was just a minute or two, that’s all—but when the lights came back on, all the people were gone. Meredith and I were completely surrounded by enormous wolves.”
“Jesus.”
“I quit fighting then. Froze. There were close to fifty of them, all snarling and showing their teeth. I was afraid of setting them off, afraid they’d tear me to pieces if I so much as breathed wrong. Meanwhile, Meredith’s going on and on about how great it is to be a werewolf. ‘We’re stronger, faster, smarter than humans. We can take what we want. And you have something I need, dear Geneva.’ That’s what she said just before she bit me. She wasn’t even a wolf when she did it. She lifted the arm she had hold of and bit my wrist to the bone. I—I—”
“Take a breath there, you’re safe.” His first instinct was to reach out a comforting hand, but he quelled that notion at once. Something told him she wouldn’t appreciate being touched just yet.
“I know that. I know I’m safe with you.” She looked at him for the first time since she began her story. “Which makes no sense to me. I mean, you’re a werewolf, too, but it’s not the same. You’re—well, you can be a real jerk sometimes, but you’re decent.”
He didn’t know what to say to that. It was probably the best compliment he’d ever received. He shrugged, and Neva looked out the window again as if embarrassed by her admission.
“It’s Meredith I can’t ever get out of my head,” she said at last. “If you’d seen her in that moment—dressed up like a Hollywood diva, all white silk and golden hair. And then she looks up from my arm and smiles, with my blood smeared on her teeth and dripping from her bright-red mouth. That’s the image that wakes me up in the night. Well, one of them…but hey, I’ve had enough of traveling down memory lane for one day.”
“Christ, no wonder. That’s a nightmare and a half,” said Travis. And that was only one of her memories? How did she manage to sleep at all? “So you were right, the gift of the wolf was forced on you.”
“Hell yeah. You said that was against the rules, right?”
“The highest Changeling law is never harm a human. The second is never turn anyone against their will.”
“You gotta be kidding. Meredith breaks both of those rules before breakfast. So what’s supposed to happen if you do turn somebody? Is there some sort of penalty? What if you kill somebody by accident, like hit them with a car?”
Such simple questions. Just a few little words, yet they kicked off a sudden roaring in his head. “Depends on the circumstances. If it was accidental, you could be banished from pack territory,” he said roughly. “And other packs are unlikely to take you in.”
Neva snorted. “Meredith’s pack isn’t about to kick her out. She controls them. And believe me, there’s nothing accidental about what she does.” She was quiet for a moment. “Other packs don’t accept a banished werewolf?”
“No, not usually.”
“That must be why Meredith is able to recruit some of her wolves. Most of the werewolves in her pack were turned by her, but not all of them. There’s some that joined up—werewolves traveling alone, just like you. That’s why I was so sure you worked for her.”
“Wait a minute—I’ve been around a long time, and I’ve only met one other loner like me. And FYI, I don’t work for anybody.”
“I get that, Mr. Independent. I don’t know where the hell she finds them. I’m just saying that there’s no way that Meredith’s wolves—the ones she recruits or the ones she makes—are going to get rid of her.”
He shook his head. “It wouldn’t be the pack she’s created that would be responsible for dealing with the problem. It’s the founding pack, the pack she came from, that would most likely make a judgment on her crimes.”
“Yeah, but she doesn’t have a founding pack. She wasn’t born a Changeling like you. She was turned. So who’s in charge of her, then? Isn’t there anyone who can stop her?”
“Maybe her sire, if they’re still around,” said Travis. “But for such serious offenses, any pack that knows what she’s been doing can take action against her. She’ll be killed if her actions are shown to have been deliberate and—”
“No!” Neva shouted suddenly. “You can’t!”
“For Christ’s sake, what’s the problem? You’ve told me she’s a murderer and she wants to kill you, too. What do you think a pack is going to do with her? Put her in werewolf jail?”
“You can’t kill her. I won’t let you.”
“I never said I was going to—”
“She’s my sister!”
THIRTEEN
Travis nearly drove off the road. At the last moment he managed to steer unsteadily to the shoulder, and threw the truck into park with a jerk. “Your own sister turned you without your consent? Why the hell didn’t you tell me this before?” he demanded of Neva.
She folded her arms over her backpack. She wasn’t going to be intimidated, even though he looked like he was ready to break something in half. “I’m telling you now.”
“Now?” He left the truck and stalked across the dry shallow ditch to the grassy embankment shaded by a thick stand of trees, where he paced back and forth like a caged lion. “Well, big fucking thanks for telling me now. I’ve been working my ass off to keep you safe since I met you. Don’t you think a little information like that might have been useful to know? What other little details are you keeping to yourself?”
“Give me a break, you’re a werewolf. You’re the first one I’ve ever met that didn’t work for Meredith, remember?” She slid from the truck and stomped in his direction, dragging the backpack with her and half wanting to hit him with it. “How was I supposed to know I could trust you?” He kept walking, and she was wondering just how far she’d have to chase him when he suddenly whipped around to face her. Neva teetered on her toes for a moment, off balance from the abruptness of the stop.
“I’m no werewolf, and I’m tired of hearing the word. I’m a Changeling, okay? And either you trust me or we call it quits right here.” It was his turn to fold his arms, as if he was daring her to convince him.
Right then and there she decided to take on that challenge and dropped the backpack in the grass. “I already told you,” she said as she approached him. She ran her hands over his leather jacket, feeling the muscles beneath it, the wide shoulders, the thick biceps, and broad chest. “Yes, I’m sure. I trust you, Travis Williamson.” She teased her fingertips over the ever-present furrows in his brow, then circled her arms around his neck and drew his face down to hers, brushing the corners of his lips with hers. Gradually his angry expression softened, until finally his arms wrapped around her and their mouths met hungrily. Cars whizzed by on the highway, some honking at the sight of them wrapped around each other. One slowed down, and the passenger leaned out the window.
“Hey, get a room!” the young man shouted. His laughter lingered in the air as the vehicle sped away.
“You heard him,” Travis murmured against her lips.
“There’re no rooms around here,” she managed. His answer was simply to lift her in one arm and, scooping up her backpack with the other, carry her up the slope and into the woods beyond, kissing her soundly along the way. She had no idea how he could see where he was going while his lips were so busy, but not so much as a single twig brushed against her. “Where the hell are you taking me?” She laughed when
she came up for air.
“To a room, of course.” He set her on her feet with her back against his powerful frame. An enormous fallen tree had bent several others to the ground years ago. The living ones curved and struggled their way skyward once more, but not without forming a thick, fragrant bower of evergreen branches that swept the ground. A part between them formed a narrow doorway, and Travis led her inside.
“This is pretty amazing,” she said, admiring the thickly interwoven limbs above and around them. The shelter it formed was roughly bowl shaped, with the center ceiling over seven feet tall. The floor was a mix of dry grasses, strangely flattened and stirred into odd spiral patterns. She frowned then. “Hey, does something live here? I’m not staying in a damn Sasquatch hotel, buddy.”
“Nobody lives here,” said Travis. He pulled her tight against him, the bulge in his jeans pressing into her backside. His big hands cupped her breasts as he bent to nuzzle her hair. “Deer bed down in here in bad weather because it’s dry and protected. Nothing else.”
He planted soft, open-mouthed kisses along her neck as he unbuttoned her jeans, and she shivered with pleasure as he slid a hand inside. Questing fingers stroked the soft mound of her vee, and she rocked her hips, wanting, needing more. A wave of heat flushed the delicate skin above her breasts and up her throat, and her clothes seemed cumbersome and heavy. In a single smooth movement, she pulled her T-shirt over her head, taking the tiny scrap of a bra with it.
The blood pulsed in his veins, in his ears, his head—and especially in his cock. The throbbing drowned out every thought, every sense of caution, every hesitation he might have had. And when Neva began to undress, he was utterly lost, swamped in deep water by a wave of sheer want. Travis shrugged out of his jacket and shirt in a heartbeat. Groaned as his hot skin came in contact with hers, as she rubbed herself like a cat against him. Turning her, he held her tightly, reveling in her firm breasts and erect nipples pressing into his flesh. And when he could no longer stand it, Travis seized her by the waist and lifted her straight up so he could taste those luscious caramel-colored nipples. Neva squealed and kicked as her head brushed the ceiling of tree limbs, but he held her there firmly, effortlessly, and feasted on her breasts until his cock threatened to burst from its denim prison.
As if she sensed his need, she reached for his zipper as soon as he set her on her feet. He groaned as he sprang free, but his relief was incomplete. He had to have more, and he had to have it with the woman who was in his arms. No one else would do, came a new thought. No one else would ever do. He wanted, needed, yearned, ached to have her. Nothing in his world, in his entire long life, had ever been so important, so imperative, as being skin to skin with Neva Rayne Ross…who was even now kicking free of the last of her clothes.
In a flash he was on his knees, clutching her hips as he kissed his way down her belly to the dark, delicate curls of her vee. Her hands tangled in his hair, and her breath came faster as he slid his arm between her knees and planted his hand at the small of her back, pulling her tight against his mouth as he began to lick where her clit lay hidden. With the other hand, he thumbed aside a soft fold, exposing it to his tongue. Writhing against him, she moaned as her breath hitched with pleasure, her clit beginning to swell against his lips like a smooth round pearl. He took turns bathing it with his tongue and suckling it ever so gently, like a nipple. He could feel her excitement climbing, her hips instinctively arching into the sensation, and he reveled in heaping pleasure upon pleasure. She gasped as he slipped a finger inside her, as he began to stroke the velvety heart of her core, as he continued to flick his tongue over her clit.
The orgasm screamed through her like lightning, raw and powerful.
The wildness rose in Travis, too, and he stood, lifting her until he could settle her velvet sheath just above his cock. She grinned at him and clutched his shoulders as he allowed her to hover there for a breath, then two, letting her moisture tease the head of his penis, letting the tip tease her soft folds apart. “Yes, yes, yes, yes,” she chanted, and wriggled in an effort to get what she wanted. The movement teased him unmercifully until finally he released her…
She orgasmed again as she slid down his cock to the hilt, clawing at his back as if trying to pull him in even farther, even as he fought to remain still…Ah hell, three seconds of stillness was long enough. He began to pump his hips, and she matched his rhythm, wrapping her legs tightly around him, rubbing her breasts against his sweat-slicked chest. He rolled to the ground with her, moving with her, breathing with her. They gasped and clutched at each other until he couldn’t tell where he left off and she began. Two universes merging, colliding—
Exploding into one.
They reached for each other twice more before collapsing in the grass. Every molecule seemed utterly spent, and Travis wondered if his brain had leaked out of his ears. He couldn’t seem to put together a single coherent thought. What he felt, however, was plain. More than merely sated—more like complete. He closed his eyes, enjoying the simple sweetness of the sensation, with Neva’s head nestled on his shoulder and her body draped like a rag doll across his.
He was almost asleep when a single word drifted across his mind, a word that didn’t come from his human self at all.
Mine.
Go away, he thought. He didn’t feel like dealing with his alter ego right now. He’d rather nestle down into blissful sleep, breathing in the warm fragrance of Neva’s skin and the satisfying tang of recent sex.
Mate. His wolf was insistent. Mine.
Give it up, will you? It’s been the best afternoon of my goddamn life. Don’t spoil it with your bullshit.
Mate. Mine. Ours.
We can’t do that, and you know damn well why.
It did. He had a mental image of the wolf pulling back, bowing its head a little as if ashamed. But instead of retreating to wherever it lived inside him, the wolf suddenly came roaring up to the surface, snarling and clawing as if it would tear him in two. Travis managed to fling Neva to one side just as he Changed form. The massive tawny wolf leaped from the shelter and hit the ground, running hard.
What the hell? Neva was in no mood to be awakened, especially not so abruptly. She sat up from where she’d landed, but there was no sign of Travis, only a pair of sparks that slowly floated down to the dry grass and sizzled there. She grabbed one of her shoes and beat them out, then brandished the shoe as if looking for something else to pound with it. Nothing appeared, however.
Where had he gone? Her hair crackled with static as she pushed it out of her eyes, telling her that he’d taken on his furry form, but why? And why the hurry? Were they in danger? Had someone found them? Just in case, Neva got dressed, although her body was slow to obey her commands. It was still in that delicious state of languor that followed satisfying sex—and the sex had been utterly incredible.
She certainly had no regrets. She’d been attracted to Travis for some time now, maybe even from the very beginning. And she’d finally decided to act on the attraction—oh, hell, I did way more than that. Neva had discovered a wildness in herself that both startled and excited her. She’d indulged herself thoroughly in exploring, rubbing, touching, licking, tasting this man…and enjoying all those delicious things in abundant return. Travis had given her everything she ever wanted and a few things she hadn’t even known she wanted.
As she tied her running shoes, she wondered if perhaps Travis was having second thoughts. Is that why he left? Naw, that didn’t make sense, she chided herself. If the guy wanted to leave because he was uncomfortable with the inevitable after-sex interaction, he would have just walked. After all, the door was literally open, right? Why shove her to one side and go all Wild Kingdom inside this small space?
Speaking of which, what about his wolf? During the first round of sex, she’d spotted the great tawny creature lingering like a golden shadow behind Travis’s features. She’d been too preoccupied, too aroused to give a damn, of course. So the wolf wanted to watch? So what? She’
d heard it howl in her mind, too—not the mournful howl of wild wolves, but a throaty roar of triumph that echoed through her own orgasm. It was a wonder she hadn’t joined in.
During rounds two and three, however, Travis’s wolf had been strangely absent. Maybe it had gotten its fill the first time. Maybe it had just been curious. After all, one of her friends had a black Lab that was forever sticking its nose into her physical relationships—literally—if she forgot to shut the bedroom door. The fact remained that Neva had never had sex with a werewolf before. Was it supposed to be like that? She hadn’t been a werewolf before, either. Had Travis seen her wolf as well?
There were no answers, just more questions. Like, did Travis expect her to just wait here or what? Well, she certainly didn’t need his permission to head for the truck—but she would approach it cautiously just in case any of Meredith’s minions were in the area. She’d keep her head down and recon the area from the cover of the woods before she walked out in the open.
An hour later, Neva was still in the bushes at the edge of the tree line. The truck was in plain sight. Travis, however, was not, and it was really starting to piss her off. Geez, had he bailed on her? She felt more than a little foolish for declaring that she trusted him, and yet she’d only told the truth. Get a grip, girl. Wasn’t it more likely that he just didn’t know how to handle things between them, postintimacy? She pictured his characteristic frown, imagined him struggling to think of something to say. Ha. Maybe he thought she’d be looking for some sort of commitment from him. Sure, she was warming up to the idea of building something between them, but she was going to let that happen—or not—at its own pace. Whatever his issue was, there was no sign of man or wolf anywhere, and she had no idea what she should do. She did know that she’d had enough of waiting around. What if she just started driving until he caught up to her?
