by Vremont, Ann
There was a sharp edge to Dominic’s response but she pressed on. "You wouldn’t have known -- you said Cruz can’t smell the change in his own scent. You wouldn’t have been able to, either. And Cruz hadn’t changed yet, so he couldn’t smell it on you."
Dominic turned away from her, his gaze steady on the passing Ponderosa. "It doesn’t matter what she was. She’s dead."
Tamsyn stayed quiet the rest of the drive. They continued through the mountains until about an hour before twilight. First on black top, then on dirt roads and finally on the non-public, single-lane service roads the park rangers used. The service road they were on skirted a lake and they stopped at the far side of the water near a small pier and boat launch.
Getting out of the Ranchero, Dom slid the laptop case across to Cruz. "You think that air card thing really will work out here?"
Cruz looked at the surrounding mountains and the faint outline of communication towers. He nodded.
"Then Tam and I will get the tent set up while you do your thing."
Cruz climbed up on the Ranchero’s hood, sitting there while he popped the laptop’s case. Growling, he slid back off and opened the Ranchero’s door. He rolled onto the floorboard, his pocket knife out as he got up under the dash and stripped a few wires from the radio.
Dominic popped his head through the open door. "You sure about this?"
"You won’t be able to Mambo while you’re using it, but as long as you keep it still, the card will do its job."
"Just let him be." Tam called Dom back to where she was working, her voice soft and earnest.
Cruz still couldn’t believe she wasn’t freaking out about any of this. Of course, not freaking out wasn’t the same as passionately falling into his arms knowing what he was, letting him kiss and touch--
"Computer, Manito." Dominic turned and steered Tamsyn back towards the tent she’d been setting up. "Finish this."
She blew an annoyed puff of air in Dominic’s face but then knelt dutifully and started pushing the slim rods through the tent’s nylon edges. Taking the stripped wires back to the laptop, Cruz stopped to watch Tamsyn lean forward and grab another rod. The edges of the nylon weren’t cooperating, slipping out of her hands when she tried to thread the next rod. Sucking her bottom lip into her mouth, she glared at the opening to the rod’s sleeve.
Dominic stepped into Cruz’s line of sight and stood there, hands on his hips, until Cruz went back to connecting the card to the laptop.
"Does everything have to be open like that?"
"It won’t kill it." Cruz answered and picked the laptop, its case and the air card up. He carried them to the back of the Ranchero and crawled inside where everything could be placed perfectly flat.
The Ranchero had been fitted with a sliding glass rear window and he tapped on it to get Dominic’s attention. Opening the window, he passed the cord to the laptop’s power adaptor through to Dominic, who plugged it into the lighter and started the engine.
A few minutes later, Cruz had the laptop running and the internet open on a secure channel. He stepped out, gave Dom a little bow and gestured in at the computer.
"All yours, bro. Dude’s even left you a new message."
"Just don’t bump anything, right?" Dom asked as he started toward the back of the vehicle. When Cruz didn’t answer, Dominic looked at him, saw the direction of his brother’s gaze and growled. "Follow me."
Looking guilty as all hell, Cruz slinked after him. "Can’t help it, Dom."
"Someone’s going to get killed if you don’t stop thinking with your dick, Manito."
"Not my dick, my heart." Cruz glanced back at the camp site, saw Tamsyn watching them, her brow pinched in what looked like worry. He could feel his chest swell as the need to go back and smooth the worried pinch away with a kiss or a caress almost overtook him.
"Whatever." Dom had led him out onto the pier. "Give me your wallet."
Still staring at Tam, Cruz reached into his back pocket, pulled out his billfold and stopped just short of handing it to Dominic. "Why do you--"
Dom snatched the wallet and pocketed it. "Cell phone still in the bag?"
"You know it is -- you took both our phones and stripped the batteries out."
"Just double checking you didn’t pocket it while you were working on the computer." Dom was wearing the same grin he had back in the Wal-Mart parking lot and Cruz twisted, trying to see if his big brother was hiding another can of bug spray.
"No spray, little brother." Dominic took a step closer, rested his hands on Cruz’s shoulders. "From what I can tell all these many, many months of smelling you, water helps almost as much -- at least while you’re in it."
Cruz’s gaze widened and he grabbed for Dominic’s arms a second too late to avoid the hard push that sent him flailing backwards. He twisted his body in time to keep from falling into the water flat on his back. Tucking his arms against his stomach, he covered his face with his hands and managed a quick intake of air before he plunged beneath the surface.
When he resurfaced, he was standing in about five feet of water, soaking wet from head to toe. He looked down the length of the short pier to find Tamsyn poking Dominic in the chest. Cruz tilted his head, knocked the water from his ear in time to hear Tamsyn telling Dominic he was a jack ass.
"Look, he can come out," Dom said, turning back toward the camp site, "when he figures out how to start thinking with his head only."
Dominic attempted to wave Tamsyn back to the Ranchero but she lifted her chin into the air and marched down the pier. Kicking her shoes off, she rolled the bottom of her jeans up and dipped her toes into the lake.
She offered Cruz a sympathetic smile. "Pretty cold, huh?"
Twilight was settling over their side of the lake, turning the air purple-gold. The last of the sunlight glinted off her hair. He didn’t need Dom to tell him he was spiking. He could feel it all over his body -- the tingling of skin, the gut clench.
"Not cold enough," he answered.
Hearing Dominic’s footsteps on the pier, Tamsyn looked over her shoulder. "This is a private discussion."
Dominic ignored her and kept walking until she crossed her arms over her stomach and lifted the hem of her shirt.
Dominic froze in his tracks. "Can’t just one of you exercise a little fucking sense?"
Tamsyn winked at Cruz and then lifted her shirt up and over her head. She folded the shirt and placed it on the pier, weighing it down with her shoes. Reaching behind her to undo her bra, she looked back at Dominic and frowned. "Still here? Don’t you have a message from Beemer waiting for you?"
"Beemer?"
"Yeah, BMR -- Bad Moon Rising."
He knocked her attempted redirect aside with a wave of his hand. "The two of you are going to--"
"The water working, Dom? That is why you pushed him in, right?"
Dominic folded his arms across his chest and glared at his shoes. "Yeah, it seems to be working."
"So why are you still cock blocking your brother?"
Dominic’s gaze jerked up, his mouth falling open. He stood like that, five seconds, maybe ten, and then Tamsyn released the first hook on her bra. His jaw snapped shut and he spun on his heels.
Turning back to watch Cruz, Tamsyn finished unhooking her bra. She brought the straps down off her shoulders, one arm across her breasts to hold the fabric in place. Cruz inched forward and captured one of her feet.
"I appreciate the show of solidarity, Tam..." His words trailed off as she pulled the bra away and placed it with her shirt and shoes.
"The show of what?" she asked innocently, her fingers trailing down her stomach to work the first button on her jeans.
Cruz shook his head, his tongue too thick to answer.
He’d seen her naked before, through her window, last night when he had undressed her himself. The sight still stunned him, more so with the way both shadow and light kissed her skin right now and the fact that this time she knew he was watching her, her shoulders lifting with a
new confidence as he devoured every inch of exposed flesh.
She made quick work of the remaining buttons and then raised her hips. Off came the jeans. Still wearing her panties, she glanced back over her shoulder. "Looks like big brother is playing with the computer at last."
Tamsyn lifted her hips again. The panties disappeared into the pile of clothes. Her body arched gracefully in the fading light as she slid off the pier. Cruz caught her as she entered the water, his hands landing on her thighs, gliding up her hips and around her waist. She wrapped her arms and legs around him, her fingers twining in his hair as her lips sought and found his.
They explored the edges of one another’s mouth, tongues stopping to lick and tease before their lips parted simultaneously. She tongued the top inside of his lip, her body surging hard against his as he moaned into her mouth. She tilted her head, releasing control over to him as he squeezed her tighter, slid his tongue deeper and pressed his lips harder against hers. They hadn’t kissed like this, not last night, not since prom.
He would devour her. He would kiss and lick and suck until there was nothing left.
Cruz broke the kiss. "Tamsyn, we can’t..." His whole body tried to veto his brain and mouth. "I mean, this isn’t..."
She kissed him again, tongue snaking into his mouth as she squeezed him tighter with her arms and thighs. "I thought you wanted me?"
Burying his face in the warm curve of her neck, he squeezed her in return. "What if it causes you to..."
"Turn?" She finished. He nodded and she asked, "You think that would be bad?"
"Don’t you?" He waited, holding his breath, for her to answer.
Still wrapped around him, Tamsyn leaned back far enough she could look into his eyes. "This morning, Dominic had slashes across his throat. They looked a couple days healed but I know he didn’t have those last night. And now? The skin is trying to grow over the stitches. I’d rather fight and heal as a shifter than die as a human." She stroked his face, her expression almost mournful. "But more than that, I want to be with you. Every time, but this first time most of all."
She peered into the shadows at the dirt service road they’d driven in on. "If what Dominic says is true, about the others--"
Tensing, Cruz cinched her tightly to him. He cradled her head with the back of his hand and pressed his cheek against hers. "I won’t let anyone touch you."
"I know." She tried to soothe Cruz but felt none of the tension leave his body. "Just think about what I’m saying. We both want this, need it..."
She stopped to kiss him and they both got lost in the press of lips, the small nips and licks until he stopped and shook his head. Unwrapping her legs from Cruz, Tamsyn stood in front of him in the water. She reached for his belt, undid it even though he tried to stop her hands.
"Need it," she continued. "And maybe, once we’ve started to satisfy that need, your scent will fade and we won't be so vulnerable."
She had his belt and button undone. Down went the zipper and then she was reaching past the band of his underwear to grip his cock. She closed her eyes, gave a little squeeze until Cruz answered with a helpless groan. She let go of him, leaned back and relaxed until she was floating next to him.
Already rising, the moon warred across the sky with the sinking sun for dominance. The battle reflected off the water and Tamsyn’s exposed skin. Cruz reached out and drew her near.
"You’re taking this whole situation remarkably well. Why?"
"Two reasons." She looked up, seeing beyond what she was looking at. "First, everyone believes in metamorphosis -- even the ones who can't spell it. This whole freaking country runs on it. Lottery tickets, Botox, YouTube fame, internet billionaires and kindle millionaires."
Shaking her head, she laughed. "You think I’m immune from such nonsense? And how many people actually get to have the feeling they are different validated?"
Her gaze refocused, captured his. "But the bigger reason is I’ve always known we were meant to be together, even when you didn’t. If this is what you are, then it's what I want to be, too."
He blinked against the sight of her floating in the water and the intensity of her feelings channeled through her stare. He swallowed but still couldn’t find his voice, so he cupped a handful of water and let it run through his fingers, over her breasts and along her stomach in thin streams. Placing a hand beneath her back, he supported her body while his head dipped down to meet her flesh. He brushed his lips across her nipple, sucked it into his mouth.
Cruz placed his other hand over her mound, cupping and kneading the flesh as his mouth covered more of her breast. His lips pinched the taut nipple, his fingers parting her lower lips to pinch and tug at her clit. Then he gentled, circling both buds, the one above with his tongue, the one below with the tip of his index finger.
She was moving too much to stay afloat, little waves of tension and pleasure upsetting her balance. He spun her slowly until her legs were parting to wrap around his waist. She lifted her torso from the water and pressed her breasts tight against his chest.
Tamsyn tugged at his shirt. "You need to lose this."
She got it up, over his head and swung it behind her to where it landed with a wet slap on the pier. She made a move as if she was going for his pants, but he stilled her. He walked them through the water to where the dirt along the lake’s edge turned to soft green grass and wild iris blossoms.
He placed Tamsyn on the ground on her back, sliding down to spread her legs, his own body half in the water. He nuzzled the hair covering her pussy, pulled at it with his lips and teeth. He parted her labia with his tongue and sucked at the kernel of her clit. The water had been cold but she was all hot down there, his breath and her pussy steaming the air.
She laced her fingers through his hair, her palms pressing against the back of his head as she lifted her hips to push against his mouth. The smell of iris mingled with the cinnamon-like scent of her thighs and stomach and the wet musk of her cunt. He eased a finger into her. Her grip on his hair tightened, small pleading mewls escaping with each grind of her hips.
So many nights spent on rooftops, watching her in this state, the play of a vibrator over her clit, never inside her, as if she had been saving that privilege for him. He slid another finger in, careful not to venture too far, just enough to tease the tight rim of muscle and the thick mass of tissue just inside.
Tamsyn was clenching, throbbing, her juices flowing heavy as his head and hand bobbed, the first hard and fast up and down her clit, the second slow and determined to leave her intact until his cock was inside her.
"Please." She had let go of his head to hold and squeeze her breasts. He watched with each bob of his head. Her hands worked the nipples, pinching them, pulling them taut and then letting go to wrap and squeeze hard around the center of her tits.
"Mmm..." Her stomach and hips quivered an instant and then she arched her back, body freezing high in the air as he wrapped his hands around her hips and dug his fingers into the shuddering flesh.
Slowly she relaxed to the ground. He moved up her body, stripping away the rest of his wet clothes as he did so. He wanted in her, fast -- knew he still had to move slowly, the first few strokes gentler than what his body screamed for.
He draped his torso over her, his hands sliding beneath her to cradle the back of her shoulders as he kissed the sensitive skin over her throat. Her legs were spread, hips and pelvis cresting against him with the aftershocks of her climax. Little moans and hot dirty whispers egged him on.
"Fuck me, Cruz."
He centered himself, pushed into the hot, slick opening of her cunt. He’d prepared her, made her wet and ready, but...
"I want you fucking me," she groaned and dug her nails in the tense muscles of his ass. He thrust, his cock swelling in size at the sound of her feral cry as he broke through her maiden head and buried himself deep inside her.
Tightness, squeezing him, rippling around his shaft. Heat. So hot. His brain stopped working. Just his senses rem
ained. The slap of flesh, their breathing, his pulse, her moans. Moonlight and his night vision made her skin luminescent as she moved beneath him, her eyes a black glitter. Cold air on his back, a warm body beneath him, thrusting deep inside her where everything was super-heated and slick. He pressed his lips against her throat, smelling and tasting the salt of her sweat.
She was coming again, he knew that in the way her muscles fluttered around him, the way she lifted and held her hips, the slow paralysis that overtook her larger muscles at the same time the smaller ones vibrated against him.
He slid his hand beneath her bottom, keeping her lifted as he thrust harder into her, his hips pistoning, cock harder and thicker than he’d ever felt it before. He squeezed his eyes shut, freezing with her, coming inside her.
They collapsed, bodies against the ground, still moving, small circles, little soothing caresses. A suck, a nip, a kiss followed by a deep sigh. Knotting his fingers in her hair, he pressed his mouth against hers, felt her lips yielding to admit the soft probe of his tongue.
Nothing would take this away, he promised as they both slid into a bone-tired sleep that lasted until early dawn.
*****
Lovely and naked in the early morning light, curled against Cruz for warmth, Tamsyn slept. He watched her, one hand toying gently with her hair so as not to wake her. When at last she began to stir, he kissed the bridge of her nose and then nuzzled her jaw line. She stretched, her arms coming up to wrap around his neck as she did so.
"Good morning." She kissed his chin and then burrowed closer to him, her face against his neck. "I’m surprise we didn’t freeze!"
He made a noncommittal sound. He’d instinctually picked the spot--a faint depression, almost a hollow, that kept most of the night breeze off them and thick grass to build up a pocket of warm air beneath them. And he’d half-covered her the night through, an arm and leg over her. That, too, had been instinct.
"Can you feel Dominic?" she asked.
"Yeah." Both of their voices were slightly hoarse. "Just a little, at the back of my head."
She caught him frowning.
"What’s wrong?"
