by M. C. Cerny
Eyes locked, joined at the forehead, our noses grazing the other, he rubbed his hips against mine and I felt his erection long and thick inside ready his jeans, eager to be closer. Excitement filled me, but also caution. I was eager once before and it hurt me emotionally. I didn’t think Warren would hurt me, quite the opposite, in fact, but the nerves threatened to overtake me.
Licking dry lips, I forced myself to ask him the question burning me. “You can’t just turn, I mean become, you won’t…” Excitement turned to nerves and worry.
“No, Kerri. I’m not going to shift and attack you. I would never hurt you, but I’ve never done this before.” He nuzzled my neck with kisses and rubbed his hands over me reassuringly.
“Well, I guess I better give you some guidance then, eh?” Feeling braver now, my hands reached up to tangle in Warren’s shaggy hair, pulling his lips back to mine.
“Kerri-mine, I sure hope so.” Lunging for me, soft skin touched and lips opened. Sweet breath mingled hot and tongues made the briefest contact before hunger took over. I felt like I was on a carousel spinning, faster and faster, slowly losing control and about to come off the wheel. Warren let free a growl and we kissed deeper, grasping, and unable to get closer. A hand tentatively cupped my breast, squeezing with restrained tenderness. Breathless, I needed a moment, pulling back. “Warren, Jesus, where did you learn to kiss like that?”
“Dear heart, I said I was a virgin. I didn’t say I hadn’t kissed before.” Mischievously, he pulled me in, mouths fused together as he pushed me back on a soft surface. The couch, I thought, and I was glad the house was empty save but for the two of us.
Chapter Fourteen
*
WARREN
Kerri was panting. A smile dimpled her cheeks. There was so much between us and what I hadn’t told her, but she wasn’t screaming in fear and I’d take that as a good sign she wasn’t one of those ‘fragile humans’ they warned us about. I let my body cover hers on the couch, careful to not crush her.
“Are you all right?” I asked her, needing to be reassured she wasn’t damaged in some way by my secret.
“Kiss me and I will be.” My chest burst with joy that she was all right. I wasn’t kidding when I told Creighton and Stefano she was mine and I would protect her.
Our lips joined and her hips lifted, pressing against mine. Desire forced my eyes to roll back like a bowling ball down the lane, fast, directed toward its goal. She moaned low, her head back, arching her slender neck. I kissed the skin, sucking and palming her full breasts in my hands.
“Keep touching me like that.” Her words bordered on unintelligible grunts.
“Like this?” I slipped my hands under her silk shirt and pulled up on her bra cups, thumbing the taut peeks of her nipples. Instinct to touch her and listen to her throaty gasps of approval taught me what to do.
“Yes, uh, Warren.” Watching her was an aphrodisiac, mouth parted, eyes slit, and body strung tight. Leaning into the couch for support, I let my hand trace the soft curves of her chest and down her belly, circling her belly button. Grinding my hips against hers made me harder but also made her louder. She shuddered underneath me and her hands grabbed for my shoulders, clutching desperately. I kept grinding my thigh between her open legs, against the center of her jeans. Keening softly, she jerked against me, going soft and quiet.
“Kerri, honey?” My dick was painfully pressing against her, waiting patiently for whatever we did next.
“Warren, I think we need to move.” She struggled to sit up, but I kept her down on the sofa cushions.
“Move?”
Between breaths, she spoke. “You just made me come and we didn’t even get our clothes off. I’ve never…well, that’s just never happened to me before.”
“So I’m pretty good then.” She pinched me, forcing a growl from my lips.
“Don’t get all cocky on me. We need a bed in case you get wolf-crazy next.” She was laughing and I worried she thought I might hurt her. It was a sobering thought.
“I won’t hurt you, Kerri.” I raised myself up on my elbows, our bodies moving in sync, clothes still on. “I might growl, but only because I like what we’re doing and I’m trying to hold back and last longer. I want this to be good for both of us.”
“I believe you, Warren.” Her hands reached down to my hips, fingers looping in my jeans. “Take these off, please.” Her fingers searched for my belt, unbuckling it and pulling it awkwardly through the jeans.
“Only if you take yours off.” Releasing her, I got off the couch and gave her my hand to help her up.
“That can be arranged.” Once she was up, she ran for the bedroom and instinct had me chasing her inside, shutting the door behind me, leaving it unlocked.
“Get on the bed, beautiful.” Kerri leaned back and scooted up the bed until she was in the middle. We watched each other and I removed my shirt first, waiting for her to follow.
“I’m on the pill.” Startling me with her statement, she took her top off, dropping it over the side of the bed. Protection hadn’t crossed my mind and I was glad one of us was thinking.
“Obviously, I haven’t,” I told her and the little witch winked as she reached behind herself and unhooked her bra, raising the ante.
“I trust you, Warren.” I was glad somebody did and I slipped my sneakers off and reached for her boots, unzipping them slowly and letting them drop to the floor. Next we unbuttoned and unzipped our jeans, taking them off in one shot with our underwear.
She was a goddess bathed in moonlight and I told her exactly that. She opened her arms and beckoned me over her. Warm skin slid together, my arms braced around her, holding her close, and our rhythms matched as I pushed inside her. Grinding, pushing, our pace increased with our rapidly pulsing hearts.
“Oh, Warren!” Her fingers wrapped around the back of my neck, bringing me closer to her.
“That good?” I couldn’t imagine anything better than Kerri and hoped I was making it good for her.
“Better, the best.” Incoherently panting, Kerri bit my shoulder hard, leaving marks with her small human teeth. The wolf within me howled, pounding into her as she matched me stroke for stroke. I felt my release explode and a tension lift I didn’t know I was feeling.
Kerri Harper was a blessing I didn’t expect and I was savoring each second of our time together because I had no idea what the next day would bring.
* * * * * *
“So how many shifters are actually in Woodland Creek?” Kerri sat on a pile of pillows, a plate of food between us. I fed her from my fork and watched her lick the corner of her lip, teasing me.
“A bit of a loaded question these days,” I told Kerri honestly because not everyone’s secrets in Woodland Creek were mine to tell.
Chapter Fifteen
“You have to take risks. We will only understand the miracle of life fully when we allow the unexpected to happen.” Paulo Coelho
KERRI
“So what do you think of my Halloween costume, bitches?” Glancing up from my textbook and plate of French toast, I saw Reagan wearing a bunch of dark black feathers as wings with a plastic beak on her head. She pirouetted inside the diner, dumping her purse down on the table.
Jase began to rub his hands over his face like he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. I wasn’t sure why he looked like he was torn between tears of joy or exasperation.
“Reagan, seriously? Poe?” Warren sat back, staring while Jase finally let out a howl, laughing.
“What?” She shrugged and a handful of feathers dusted from her shoulders to the black and white tiled floor as she plopped down in the seat next to me in the booth.
Jase had now doubled over with tears and barely got the words out. “Quote the r-raven, n-nevermore? S-subtle much?”
On a deep and pained sigh, Warren put his arm around my shoulder as he picked up a piece of my toast, feeding it into my mouth. Between bites of fried and sugared bread, I licked his fingers when he spoke again, startling me
with whispers hot against my neck. “You know, dear heart, that your roommate is a raven, right?”
Twisting in my seat, I looked at him, then at Reagan, who was smirking behind her menu. “Excuse me?”
I looked at Jase, who was useless with his head down on the table, laughing and pounding his fist against his leg under the table. Jase and Reagan were dating of sorts, so I figured he would know, right?
Isn’t it enough that my boyfriend is a wolf? What the fuck is up with this town? I tried to play it off as a joke because it just couldn’t be possible. Wouldn’t Warren and Jase try to…eat her? I was pretty sure they were all bullshitting me anyway when I shrugged it off. “Sure as in a football fan, I know.” Jase choked on a laugh and Warren looked insulted and maybe a bit appalled at best. He smacked a ducking Jase on the back of his head, sitting next to him in the round corner booth.
Reagan said nothing except to smile wide, the plastic beak slipping low over her face as she patted my hand reassuringly. See, just a joke and a poor one after my scare last weekend. Except her eyes took on a weird glittery look and I was confused until it all slowly started to click into place.
“Oh.” I chewed my bacon thoughtfully and a little queasy to my stomach, mulling over what Warren had said.
“God, can’t I just show her and get this over with?” Reagan began to stand when everyone shouted loud enough for the few patrons inside to look at us.
“No!” Warren growled.
“Dude, it would be easier.” Jase chuckled.
“What’s a bunch more feathers?” Reagan whined.
“I’d kind of like to see it,” I said.
Warren continued grumbling, waving his fork around like a dictator. “Not here of all places in the middle of town at breakfast.”
“We can go to the edge of the forest near campus?” Excited, Reagan suggested an alternative and I had to agree with her it sounded like a good idea. I kind of wanted to see the actual transformation. Warren so far had refused to show me what he looked like in his shifted wolf form out of some deep-seated fear he’d psychologically damage me. Well, I’d already seen a spider, a snake, and a trio of bear cubs. How much worse could it be?
Reluctantly, Warren agreed, deciding we should finish our breakfast and wait until dusk to do it, just in case. In case of what…I wasn’t sure, but I went along with the decision because I was finally getting what I wanted.
Chapter Sixteen
*
WARREN
Taking Kerri to the edge of the woods at dusk was not an idea I fully supported. How would she react to seeing Reagan transition into a raven for the first time? I was pretty much outnumbered by the group and left feeling conflicted, uneasy. There were reasons we didn’t tell anyone about our kind. It was a sort of forbidden rule that had nothing to do with trusting Kerri and more to do with ingrained biases and traditions instilled in me, in all shifters from the beginning.
Kerri bounced with energy. Curiosity and wonder seemed to take over her. “So how does it work?”
“Work?” Reagan asked as her face wrinkled in thought. Personally, I hadn’t given much thought to something we automatically did from birth.
Shyly, Kerri bit her plump bottom lip before continuing. “Yeah, like do you get all naked first and then jump in the air to fly?”
“I like to get naked.” Jase couldn’t keep his big mouth shut and I hit him hard in the stomach, getting a growl in return. I preferred Kerri not seeing any of Jase for that to happen. Irrational jealously rotted my gut, though I knew there was nothing between them at all.
“We should have left you at home,” I muttered, hoping the exhibition wouldn’t get us into any trouble. I’d spoken with Eden about Kerri waking up and telling her about my ability to shift. She wasn’t happy, but short of hoping for a lapse in Kerri’s memory that wasn’t going to happen, I thought the truth was best. Luckily, that had turned out okay, followed by Eden’s usual lecture about the ley lines, magic, and the new responsibility I was taking on.
“It depends on the shifter. See, like Jase and Warren here…” Reagan pointed at us both from the back of my truck, explaining things. “These two have to carry extra clothes because half the time they rip them to shreds changing form. Me…well, I shift into something much smaller, so if I’m not flying far away, I just slip in and out of my clothes easily.” In the rearview mirror, I watched Kerri taking it all in. Her eyes were wide but so far not afraid, which I took as a good sign. After the night by the cliffs, I chose to be extra careful with shifting. I had my own problems doing it and didn’t need her having a panic attack seeing me stuck in between in a baffled state of hairy.
She asked about the night of her accident, which I explained as Jase and I getting her out of her car safely before the wrecker and the sheriff arrived. Some things like the bear and panther that helped us were probably better left unexplained for now.
I parked the truck in front of Lupin Hall and helped the girls step down from the back. “You know, this gives that beautiful mural a whole new meaning.” Kerri stood next to me and the urge to put my arms around her was impossible to ignore.
Before the moment could turn into something more, we were interrupted by Jase. “Kerri-man, you should have heard Warren when he came home that day to tell me.” Laughing at my expense, Jase picked up Reagan over his shoulder playfully.
“Oh? Do tell.” She was smiling when I picked her up the same way, swinging her over my shoulder, ignoring her peals of laughter.
“I think he was ready to shit himself with shock.” My cousin was a regular comedian, making jokes at my expense.
“Were you, really?” Over my shoulder, Kerri, who was holding on to my back in a pinching grip, was giggling with each step I took. Swatting her behind playfully earned another wiggle from her legs. There were so many other things I would’ve rather been doing with her than that right then.
“I was a little worried.” Ignoring them wasn’t easy as we lumbered down the path together, away from the school and into a clearing of the woods.
“Here we are!” Jase deposited Reagan, who brushed off her arms as if to take off in flight.
“Whoa, easy, give me a minute to take this all in,” I told them, gently lowering Kerri to her feet as she stepped back a little bit. Of all of us, I was the least prepared and needed a deep breath to clear my head of the doubts. Shifting on demand felt as if it were some circus sideshow performance. It was one of the reasons so many sought refuge in Woodland Creek, and there we were, blowing the secret wide open. “Are you sure you want to see this? It can be…a little disarming the first time.” I was hoping she said no, but instead a mischievous smile crossed her lips.
“Warren Boone, just how many girls have you been dragging into the woods to strip down and go all wolf for?” She stood with her hands on her hips, looking beautiful and full of moxie that I bet wouldn’t have been there prior to her arrival in Woodland Creek.
“Just you, baby.” I winked at her and let go of my own inhibitions. It was now or never to rip the Band-Aid-like anxiety off. “Stand back a little.” I watched her take two big steps back in the small clearing, watchful and cautious.
“Will it hurt?” she questioned, and I shook my head no. Shifting never hurt, but it sure felt weird to explain. Our bodies morphed into something else and not all shifters had the greatest control over that…gift. I pulled out my shirt and lifted it over my head. I slipped off my sneakers and jeans, leaving my boxers on as I let myself kneel down to the packed dirt and pine needle flooring of the forest.
“I’m not going anywhere, Kerri. It’s still me.” She nodded at my need to reassure her. “Remember, you’re safe with us.” Clutching her hands in front of her nervously, she nodded a second time.
“Go on, get on with it.” Whispering to me, she winked, a nervous tick to her smile urging me on. I looked over at Jase, who had stripped down pretty much the same, and Reagan, who remained fully clothed for the moment.
“Remember you as
ked for it.”
She mouthed the word chicken to me and we chuckled.
I thought about leaves falling from trees and rain turning to snow, dipping my head toward the ground to focus on the internal changes in my body. I hadn’t ever given shifting a whole lot of thought before then. The mechanics of it were fairly straightforward and instinctual. The process usually began with a twitch of my muscles. Sometimes, especially the first time I did it as a teen, my clothes ripped right off my body, shredding from the growth of my shape. Bones in my legs and arms elongated, pulling muscle leanly to match my new skeletal figure. Hair grew long and shaggy to cover every inch of my skin in a dark mahogany pelt that matched the hair on my head. My rib cage expanded, popping with each incremental change as my heart muscles pumped furiously, enlarging and compensating for the demands of oxygenated muscles, blood, and bones. Partially changed, I looked up to see Kerri on her knees, staring at us changing. Amazed and cheeks pink, I followed her gaze toward Reagan, who was slipping out from her clothing and taking flight, squawking and wings flapping.
Reagan’s glossy black feathers reflected the light of the setting sun. I watched her soar up past the copse of trees filled with leaves of burnished golds and reds. A single black feather fell from one wing and Kerri picked it up, testing the soft texture between her fingertips. Her smile was the best part of it. Her acceptance and ease that what we were did not frighten her or damage her psych with the impossible. I let my head drop again and gave in to the final changes. My face grew longer, snout and nose followed by my elongated teeth and narrow eyes. Instinctively, I gave in to a long bellowing howl, followed by Jase.
