by Vremont, Ann
Cruz shook his head. "He just feels dark and heavy."
She quirked one brow up. "You mean like he’s pissed?"
"No. Very sad, maybe. We should go back soon."
She started to get up but he pressed gently down on her shoulder. He reached between their bodies, found the split of her thighs and slowly caressed between them.
"I said soon."
Sighing, Tamsyn closed her eyes and shifted one leg so that she was open to him. He kissed her, letting his hand and tongue move in probing unison as he slowly began to finger fuck her. He kept his thumb on the outside, pressed against her clit, rubbing roughly at it as his fingers moved inside her. It took only a few seconds before she was squirming against him, her breath hot on his neck.
He was three fingers thick inside her when she groaned, "That’s so good, but your cock is bigger."
"Dirty, sweet Tamsyn." He rolled her onto her stomach, his forearm between her and the ground so that her luscious round ass was thrust towards him. Brushing her hair to one side, he kissed her neck, bit gently at the flesh as his hips started with a slow, circular grind. He brought his other hand under her, palming one breast.
She whimpered, nearly driving him crazy with the sound. Cruz pushed his weight onto his knees, pulling her until she jacked higher, her ass up, head on the ground and turned to one side where he could see the flashes of pleasure across her face like lightning in a summer sky.
"Can you get a hand down there, Tam baby."
Biting her lip, she nodded. She reached down between her legs and slowly began stroking her clit. Each whisper of her finger over its length caused a deep contraction inside her that squeezed at his control.
"Mmm...can’t..." He wrapped his hand in her hair, pulled her back until he was on his haunches and she was on his lap, his cock still buried deep inside her. He moved her hand aside. "Let me."
She leaned back, arching at his touch, moaning and shaking when his fingers found the spine of her sex and began moving up and down. He pulled harder on her hair until she was bowed, breasts thrusting toward the sky, her neck stretched and exposed to his mouth, her lashes fluttering as she panted. He'd jacked off more nights than not to such a vision, imagining his hand was her tight pussy.
Cruz put his cheek against hers, kissed the side of her mouth. "Are you almost there, baby?"
She nodded, a desperate short motion and he felt the walls of her cunt squeeze at him. He rubbed faster, still keeping her head reined back as she began to ride up and down his cock, the muscles of her magnificent ass squeezed tight as her cunt worked his shaft.
"So close, baby," he whispered, watching her bite her lower lip and squeeze her eyes shut. He was there with her, on the edge, swollen so thick inside her he didn’t know where his flesh ended and hers began. He couldn’t breathe, tried to sustain himself with her soft, moaning pants. "There, yes?"
"Yes," she cried, still riding, straining, her juices wetting her thighs and his as she contracted tightly around him.
Her climax drove him over the edge. Releasing her hair, he grabbed her breast, squeezing and tugging. His thumb and index finger grinding at her clit, he delivered hard kisses that flushed her skin as he filled her.
Finished, they rolled back onto the grass. He massaged her sore muscles -- her shoulders, the little knot at the back of her neck. Touching her, he didn’t want to go back to the camp site, didn’t want to leave the mountain. Ever.
Tamsyn reached out and snapped an iris blossom from its stem. Bringing it to her face, she sniffed it. She glanced at him from the corner of her eye. "Do you think once I change, if I do, that you’ll be able to feel me like you feel Dominic?"
"Yes." He took the flower from her, guiding her with his hand along the side of her face until she was looking at him. "I felt you before. When you were a dorky little freshman in high school. When your mom was ‘entertaining’ one of those fucking sleaze bags and you’d run off to the park -- didn’t you always find me sitting on the swings, waiting for you?"
Tamsyn nodded, a sad smile widening her mouth.
"And I let Dom convince me to stop feeling you..."
She reached up, stroked his face. "Don't blame him, he was trying to protect you."
He captured her hand, brushed his lips against her knuckles. "No, I don’t blame him. I blame me. I should have known."
Gingerly, he placed her hand on her thigh. He glanced over his shoulder at the lake. "Man, that’s gonna be cold."
Tamsyn laughed. "I think we both need it, though."
Standing, he reached down and helped her up and then led her toward the water. He put one foot in and shivered. Looking back to her, he smiled, "You understand the concept of shrinkage, right?"
She giggled. "Is it shrinkage or are you just making excuses, Medina?"
"Oh, you didn’t!" Bending quickly, he tucked a shoulder against her waist, lifted her off her feet and waded out into the lake.
Tamsyn tried to keep hold of him, but he let go of her with a splash. She found her footing and stood, the water a little higher than waist deep. She wrapped her arms around herself, shivering.
"Cold, baby?" Cruz was behind her, his stomach and chest pressed against her back.
She nodded and he turned her in his arms. He bent until he could cover her hard nipple with his mouth. He sucked. His warm tongue and lips sent little arcs of heat across her breasts. He moved to the other breast, teasing it with flashes of heat from his mouth alternating with cold air as he blew on it.
Under the water’s surface, his hands teased her, too. Spreading, probing.
"You’re still shivering, baby." He wanted to fuck her again, to feel her flutter and tremble all over because it was his hands, his lips, his cock doing these things to her. But the Ranchero started up, the sound eliciting a sigh from both of them.
Tamsyn wrapped her arms around him in a quick hug before she started back toward the pier where her clothes were still waiting. "Time for the real world, I guess."
He watched her, early daylight sparkling on the water droplets that clung to her body, flung like diamonds as she moved to dress.
Nothing, he thought, could ever be more real than that moment.
*****
Dominic was heating water on the small propane grill when they got back to the Ranchero. Big brother was silent, staring at the water until it started to boil. He poured the water into cups, a morning spike of caffeine for the three of them, and then he poured more water into the pan.
He was working his jaw in between sips of coffee.
Tamsyn rinsed her cup and put it back alongside the grill. "You have something to say, Dom, say it."
He shook his head and started tearing open packets of instant oatmeal. Tamsyn looked to Cruz, who shrugged and mouthed, "Blank."
When Dominic handed her the cup of oatmeal, she wrapped her hand around his wrist. "I get it. You’re mad about the choices we’re making. But you’re making your own -- you’re choosing to stay."
"I’m not mad." He glanced at the back of the Ranchero. "Just--"
Dominic buried his face in his palms. Cruz reached out, his hand closing around the back of Dominic’s neck to gently squeeze.
"You’re hurting. Why?"
When he lifted his head, Dominic stared at Tamsyn. "What you said, yesterday, about Lyrra."
His throat closed around her name, almost squeezed it back down. Cruz leaned close to his brother, hand still on Dominic’s neck, their heads touching.
"You haven’t said her name in seven years, bro."
"Wrong, Manito. I say it everyday." He stood and walked to the Ranchero, returning with the laptop open and running. "The two of you." He growled lightly, his mood lifting a little as he began to open up. "It made me think about Lyrra, the connection we had."
Dominic pulled up the chat log from last night. "You’re right, Beemer doesn’t like answering questions. Only feeds information when he feels like he’s about to lose me."
"And he’s trying to s
care the shit out of us," Tamsyn said, scrolling through the transcript. "He’s joking about this black ops shit, right?"
Dominic shook his head. "I tried to keep Cruz from you because of what happened with Lyrra. I blamed myself, still do. We were dating--" His gaze shifted to Cruz and Tamsyn sitting shoulder-to-shoulder. He snorted. "Intensely dating, you might say. Started talking marriage, family. I figured I had to be honest with her. Had to tell...show her, you know?"
Tamsyn gave him a solemn nod.
"It took her about an hour to calm down, another hour before she would touch me or let me touch her." His fingertips grazed his arm, as if he was remembering the moment all over again. "Before I left, we, uh..." He blinked, cheeks reddening.
He swirled water in his cup, ran a paper towel through it and then added instant coffee crystals and more water. He didn’t say anything until he’d taken a couple of sips. "That ‘black ops shit’ was exactly what I returned to. Only I didn’t realize it then. She and her roommate rented a duplex near the university we went to."
Tam glanced at Cruz. She had no idea Dominic had been at college.
"Biology," Dominic said, catching the direction of her gaze. He gestured at himself then at Cruz. "For obvious reasons."
"What did you find when you returned?"
When Dominic just stared down at his coffee, Cruz answered. "Police, fire engine..." He paused. He hadn’t seen it in the flesh, but the images coursing through Dominic’s mind since that time had sometimes been so intense they felt like Cruz’s own. "And a coroner’s wagon."
"The fire was out. Mrs. Pereira, who lived in the other half of the duplex, was out on the sidewalk, hysterical and screaming that el lobo had gotten Lyrra. When the fire marshal said Lyrra had set the fire herself, I thought... "
"That you were the lobo," Tamsyn finished.
"Yeah." Dominic downed the rest of his coffee. "When the cops started asking questions, I got the hell out of there. I thought she was dead, I saw them wheel her out, covered, on a gurney. They said she was dead."
"What do you mean, thought?" Cruz had a grip on Dom’s shoulder and he gave him a shake.
"Here." Tamsyn turned the laptop so that Cruz could read the screen.
Bad Moon Rising: They disappear, man, into government labs. Deaths are faked. Anyone who goes looking for them is as good as dead. That’s why you have to get her to Sanctuary.
"They fucking have males -- just like us -- out in the big cities. Groups of three -- to police one another, I guess. They pick up the scent, they zero in. Take out the male she’s bonded with, if he’s there, then the clean-up crew comes in." Dominic pounded his fist against his thigh.
Cruz caught his brother’s hand before he could hit himself again. "You thought she was dead, you were worried about our cover being blown."
Dominic tried to jerk his hand away but Cruz held him, grabbed his other arm. "Bro, you have to leave the guilt in the past and think about the now. These people, we know they’re hunting Tam, and Lyrra could still be alive, she could still be their prisoner."
Slowly the tension eased from Dominic. Tamsyn put the laptop aside and reached out to him. "This Sanctuary -- it could be a black ops front or the real thing. Either way, it’s the best chance at getting the information we need to survive and find out what happened to Lyrra."
"Right, then." Cruz gave Dominic a soft head butt before standing up. He pointed at the laptop. "You’re better, Tam, than either of us at telling when a guy is lying. Re-read those and see if you can figure anything else out."
Dominic started to rise but Cruz put a hand on his shoulder and gently pushed him back down. "Try to rest. The road was rough on the Ranchero, there was a lot more shit rattling around by the time we stopped. I’m going to tighten down what I can, then we’ll pack up."
"I’ll help--"
"By resting," Cruz insisted. "You know how the Beast Brothers auto shop works. You take care of the books, I take care of the bolts. Reverse it..."
"And everything gets fucked up, Manito." Dominic allowed a small smile to swim across his face for a second before offering a mock scowl. "Especially the books."
Cruz smiled. It was true. Cruz didn't like working the phones or writing out invoices. And Dom was too much of a perfectionist working on the cars. The garage would never show a profit if he worked the floor. Cruz got them out the door safe, fast and at a profit.
Tamsyn followed Cruz back to the Ranchero, where she rooted through the Wal-Mart bag. She pulled out a fist-sized bottle, opened it and swallowed down six pills.
Cruz took the bottle, his gaze zeroing in on the dosing instructions. "It says take no more than two a day." He looked down to the ingredients, his tongue tripping for a second as he read the active ingredients. "Beta-ecdysterone, tribulus terrest..." Shaking his head, he rolled the bottle in his hand until he was looking at the front label. "Okay, you want to tell me why you’re taking Testarol? How is this stuff even legal?"
She snatched the bottle away and shoved it back in the grocery bag. "Biology experiment. I’m not ready to explain my premise."
"You mean your hunch." When she shrugged at him, Cruz put a hand on each of her hips and leaned in to kiss her. "But I really like all your estrogen bits, baby."
She returned the kiss and then pushed him away. "Get to work on the car. The sooner we get Dominic on the road, the better he’s going to feel."
*****
Cruz spent two hours under the hood and the Ranchero’s undercarriage. A rock had punctured the fuel line, but was still lodged in the hole so they hadn't lost much gas. He removed the rock and duct-taped the hose, fixed a few more things. The manifold worried him. He taped what he could, but it was more rust than whole metal. As strong as the tape was, it wouldn’t last much longer.
He told Dominic and Tamsyn while the three of them re-packed the back of the Ranchero.
"I think I have an answer for that, Manito." Dominic slid into the driver’s seat. "You know Steiger’s?"
Cruz frowned as they pulled away from the impromptu camp site. "You sure you want to deal with someone that knows us? This group, they might send crews out to ask if anyone’s seen us, what we were driving."
"Right...that’s the beauty of it. I couldn’t get an answer from Steiger on the manifold because the old man is on vacation. Out the whole week, junkyard should be locked up."
"No one’s watching it?" Tamsyn asked.
Cruz leaned in and whispered against Tamsyn’s ear. "Junkyard, love."
"Yeah, okay." She laughed at herself. "But don’t those places have, like twenty foot metal fences and stuff?"
"Pair of Rottweilers, too," Cruz added. "But they can’t climb where I can."
Tamsyn let out a heavy breath and Dominic nudged her in the ribs. "Relax, T. Manito’s something of an expert now at scaling things."
Cruz cleared his throat. "You know, if you concentrate on the road, you might miss more of the ruts and the manifold might actually hold out until Steiger’s."
"Am I missing some subtext here?" Tamsyn looked between the two men. Dominic had decided to play nice and was staring at the dirt road ahead of them. Cruz chose to distract Tamsyn by brushing a strand of hair away from her face, leaning in and kissing her.
She found his free hand, curled her own around it. Eyes closed, she let him kiss her again. "Effective tactic."
"Yeah." He purred against her ear. "I thought it might work."
*****
Steiger’s junkyard was near the state line. The mountains had given way to low desert after a day of driving with just one stop for gas, food and Wi-Fi. A new message from Beemer was waiting for them. Offering to send help, he wanted to know where they were.
Dominic responded with a short, "No, where is Sanctuary?"
The conversation ended at an impasse, followed by four more hours of driving.
There were no cars near them when they reached Steiger’s, so they drove slowly past it. A mile on, they found a dirt road. They followed it hal
f a mile in and then Dominic pulled about a hundred yards off the road.
The moon was up and fat, lighting the desert floor.
He shut the engine off and looked across Tamsyn to Cruz. "I’m thinking we shouldn’t risk pulling up behind the junkyard and waiting the whole time you look for what we need."
"Right." Cruz got out of the Ranchero.
Tamsyn slid across the seat to look at him. "You’re going to walk there and back?"
"Just there," Dominic said from the driver’s seat. "I’ll know when he’s got it and is ready to rescale the wall."
Tamsyn had already forgotten her question. She was watching Cruz toe off his boots and remove his socks. "You’re going across as a..."
Cruz nodded. She got out of the car, still staring at him. She drew her lower lip in, lightly chewed its edge.
"Can I watch you?"
Another nod and he peeled his shirt off, dropped it on top of the boots. His skin looked silver blue in the moonlight, shadows outlining the hard muscles of his arms and chest. Smiling at her, his eyes black from the shadows and unreadable, he slowly undid the zipper to his jeans. Reaching inside his pants, he hooked a thumb under each side of his underwear and pushed both articles of clothing down over his lean hips and muscled thighs.
He kicked the clothes to the side, standing for a second completely naked in front of her. Her gaze dropped to the dark tangle of pubic hair, and the soft long cock that grew out of it. She thought at first it was a trick of shadows, but the hair on his body started to coarsen and lengthen. Muscles rippled, expanded. He let out a low howl as another six inches were added to his height in as many seconds.
Hands turned to deadly claws. Bone cracked and reformed. Cruz dropped to the ground, Tamsyn’s gut falling with him. His hips twisted and strained. She heard a fleshy series of pops, bone-by-bone, joint-by-joint, as his tail formed. His body began to contract. From man, to wolfman, to wolf, it was over in a minute.
Cruz approached her cautiously, stopping half a foot from her. She held her hand out, felt the rough slide of his tongue over her skin. She closed the distance between them, kneeling to press her head against his. She scratched behind his ear, felt the fan of air from his tail.
