“The air is like ice,” she shivered. “Is it them?”
River didn’t reply. It was as if he knew all the answers but he didn’t want to alarm her.
Suddenly, from outside, a large crash came from deep within the forest and they both leapt up to their feet.
“What was that?” Stacey asked with panic.
“I don’t know,” River said as he took a step toward the huge windowed wall.
The steel blinds were lowered on the other side, but River pressed his nose right up against the glass and peered through the small slats. His whole persona had changed yet again, and Stacey could tell that he was on high alert.
“Something is out there,” he whispered eventually.
“What?” she gasped.
River shrugged.
“Is it one of them?” she whispered back to him. “But I thought they couldn’t get into the forest? That the wolf magic prevented them from coming close?”
“It should, and always has until now…” he said. “But…”
He turned back and looked at Stacey and then his eyes widened.
“But what?” she asked him again.
“You’re here,” he said as if he couldn’t believe he had been so foolish. “And if you’re here, maybe it’s a pathway for them in too.”
Stacey’s blood ran cold.
She was half wolf and half witch… had she broken the magic that had been keeping them safe? Had she made them vulnerable to an attack?
“Don’t worry,” River said as his body began to become heaving.
His muscles were rippling away underneath the surface of his skin, and Stacey put her hand to her mouth as she felt the ground underneath her feet begin to shake.
River was breathing in and out deeply, his arms flexing and his muscles getting bigger and bigger. His clothing slowly began to rip, and she gasped and stepped backward as it all began to turn to rags around him.
His persona was so different, but at the same time, she still knew that it was him. It was still the River she was falling in love with, it was just that now she was seeing the beast inside of him that he had grown so good at being able to control.
He growled and howled as his skin began to rip and dark, black fur sprang up in its place. His legs and arms lengthened, and he doubled over onto his knees, as his jaw grew and big, snarling teeth and fangs sprung down from between his lips. He was an incredible beast. He was something magical and dangerous, but his eyes were his and she walked up to him slowly and ran her hands through his fur.
He was taller than her, even on all fours, and she knew that whatever was out there in the forest, stalking them, trying to reach them, it didn’t stand a chance.
River was going to scare it away once and for all.
She kissed the top of the wolf’s head and she felt a surge of something inside of her. She felt full of fire and she could sense his energy. She felt an affinity to him that she had never known before. It was as if they were the same and fated to be together. It was as if she had been waiting for him to turn into the wolf for her to truly realize how meant to be they were.
River snarled and reared up, before he clawed his way toward the back of the building and Stacey followed him.
He looked so massive inside the cabin, she knew she should have felt afraid, but she just couldn’t. Seeing him like that only made complete sense to her; now she knew what she truly was.
Seeing him in wolf form, made her feel as if she were at home.
She opened the door for him and he burst out of the cabin and into the woods. Stacey slammed the door closed behind him and bolted it, and she peered through the tiny sliver of window at the top. It was just enough for her to be able to see the wolf jump over the veranda and howl as it raced out toward the lake and the woodland that lay beyond it.
Her heart raced, and she felt the earth below her shift. Something terrible was happening out there, but she had every faith in her man, and she knew that everything was sure to be all right.
“He will make everything right,” she whispered to herself. “He is going to get rid of them and everything will be fine.”
Outside in the forest, she could hear the howling of wolves. And she knew that it couldn’t have just been River. She imagined the wolf she had seen back at The Nowhere Bar. She imagined Blu, Scar, and Zeke all joining River in battle as they went head to head with an ancient force who was trying to take over their town and destroy their families.
She pressed her fingertips into the wood and looked ferociously through the little pane of glass, trying to see something, anything, that could reassure her.
The sounds of agony hit her first, a wail that rippled throughout the forest and made her blood run cold. It sounded like death. As if someone had just been ripped in two and had been devoured by something evil.
She closed her eyes and prayed that it was the demise of a witch, and not one of her friends. Not one of the men who she had worked alongside for years, and of who now she knew to be the same as her.
A light penetrated up into the sky from deep within the trees. It was green and violent, and the sounds of wolves howling and snarling became louder and louder, and the earth below her began to shake.
She couldn’t keep her balance and she tumbled to the ground and pushed herself up against the wall as her whole world continued to shake, and the sounds of snarls and howls grew louder and louder, and behind that, somewhere on a lower frequency, was something deep and menacing. Something dark and unnatural.
It called to her, and she heard it.
It tugged at her heart and made her eyes water.
She had to resist it.
It was calling her, pulling her out into the woodland. It was begging her, pleading with her… it wanted her to join them.
“No,” she said aloud. “I won’t.”
It came for her again, this voice, this pull… it was tempting her, it was trying to make her forget her past and to go with them. They needed her, it said. They were going to show her the true way.
Suddenly, with a deafening roar, the earth stopped moving, the green light vanished, and the whole forest went silent.
There was no more voice trying to coax her out of the cabin and into the woods, the snarls and growls of the wolves had all stopped, and everything was eerily still.
She clamped her hands over her ears and pulled her knees up to her chest. She wrapped her arms around them and buried her head deep, so she was curled up in a ball. She cried silently and didn’t dare move. She wouldn’t move, not until River came back for her.
“Please god,” she whispered. “Let him be all right.”
She didn’t know how long she sat there for, curled up tightly in a ball on the floor… but when she heard the door handle turn and she looked up to see River limping through it, she rushed to her feet and ran over to him. Wrapped her arms around him and helping him down onto the couch.
He was badly hurt, but he was still smiling, and he nodded toward the door for her to go to it, close and lock it.
“Oh my god,” she gasped as she covered him with a blanket and ran her hands through his hair.
He was no longer a wolf, but back as a man.
His naked skin was red hot, and he was covered in scratches.
“Are you all right?” she asked him breathlessly.
He smiled and reached up to her face and held her there between his palms.
“I told you not to worry,” he whispered. “Those witches have got nothing on me.”
He smiled and winked, and she fell into his arms.
She breathed him in and let him hold her against his chest. She had never felt more indebted to someone, and she had never known a love like it.
In fact, she had never been in love before, but she knew right there and then that she had fallen for River. He was everything to her, and she knew he was her future. Without question. They would never part ways again.
He held her back so he could kiss her, and when their lips touche
d, she felt her power seeping into him. She had no idea how she was able to do it, but she was sending him strength, she was heeling him from the inside out and giving him back his power. He had spent so much of it fighting for her, and now she was able to revive him. She was able to replenish what he had lost. They truly were the other halves of each other. When they were together, they were unstoppable.
He looked into her eyes and breathed heavily. Stacey was so hot and turned on, and she knew she wasn’t going to be able to deny herself what she had wanted any longer.
She had to have him. He had never looked sexier, not in the entire time she had known him. Not even when they were younger, and she used to see him around town and wonder what it was about him that was so mysterious. She remembered the way she would often catch him looking at her, and she would freeze. Her heart pounding and her mind in a spin. Even when he had come and been so good to her when her father died, she had looked at him and known there was something between them, but she had denied herself it. She had been so sealed off to love and happiness that she had let it pass her by.
But, in this moment, there was something about him that was driving her so wild that she knew she wasn’t going to be able to keep her hands off him.
She smiled and saw the glint in his deep blue eyes. He looked at her with intensity and also like a predator. He was set to pounce on her at any moment, but it didn’t frighten her, it only made her want him more. She looked down at him and gasped when she realized that all the cuts and scrapes that had been covering his red-hot skin had vanished as if they had never been there. He still looked roughed up and had smears of blood across his chest, but it wasn’t his, and it was clear that he had completely healed and was back to his full strength.
“The cuts,” she whispered.
“You gave me my power back,” he smiled. “You have no idea how strong you are, Stacey, and what you are capable of.”
“The witches?” she asked him tentatively.
“Gone,” he reassured her as he cupped her face and smiled. “You have nothing to fear.”
She smiled back at him and felt her whole body give itself over to the moment. She was so turned on, and she wanted him to have his wicked way with her. She wanted to give him everything.
He could clearly see the hunger in her eyes, and he licked his lips before he lurched out and took hold of both her wrists and pinned them behind her at the base of her back. He held her there and pulled her close to him, so their faces were only millimeters apart and he looked down at her and breathed her in deeply.
His stubble grazed her shoulder and he kissed her so hard he seemed to suck all of the air out of her.
“You have no idea how long I’ve wanted this for,” he breathed, “Now what am I going to do with you?”
Stacey didn’t respond with words, she smiled at him knowingly and bit her lip. She wanted him to take her anyway he wanted.
He held her close and maneuvered her around so that he could hold her from behind. He brushed her hair over one shoulder and kissed the back of her neck while cupping her breasts and nibbling her ear, pulling at her nipples and slipping her top off over her head.
She gasped as he held her, and his hot fingers worked their way over her body. He threw her top down onto the floor in front of them, and opened her bra with a snap, tossing it into the air too. As he touched her she moaned, his hands were heavy and experienced, and she was already wet and ready for him. She moaned as he eased her forward and she nuzzled into the cushions of the couch face first. He was behind her in a split second and was pulling her jeans down and off around her ankles, hooking his rough hands into her lace panties and ripping them off in one swift motion. Stacey gasped as he separated her legs with his knees and climbed between them. He was completely naked from when he had shifted, and she could feel the poke of his impressive member against her butt. She wanted to see him and feel him, but she was so lost in the moment she wanted him to dominate her and take her the way only a wolf could. He rubbed himself against her and she felt the most exquisite rush of pleasure. Her pussy ached for him and she gasped.
“Do anything you want to me,” she panted as he lifted her up with one arm and moved her across the couch so he had better access to ravage her.
River smiled as he emerged from under the blanket and revealed his impressive thick and rock-hard length. He reached down between her legs and massaged her clit before he slipped a huge finger inside of her. Stacey threw her head back and gasped. The sensation was amazing, it had been so long since someone she really wanted had touched her. She was slick with her juices instantly and when River realised how warm and wet she was, it made him even harder. His cock jerked as she shuddered and writhed against him as she moaned with pleasure. She let her hand wander down and she groped for him, she wanted to touch him properly and have him inside her. She wrapped her hand around him and tugged hard, and, in turn, River breathed in deeply and groaned. He was so engorged and throbbing, Stacey didn’t know how she was going to take him. She ran her other hand up his torso and touched his amazing chest, he was all muscles and incredible power, and beneath his skin she could feel the beast he was subduing.
She had never been with a man who was so big and heavy before, and he was so full of lust and strength it was almost intimidating. He was so huge he could pin her down easily with one hand and dominate her in every way possible. She wanted to open up to him easily, but she knew her nerves would make her pussy even tighter. And as he slipped a finger inside her again she groaned as he made space for him inside.
She lay back and tried to relax as River groaned and moved between her legs so that his massive length was positioned at her opening. He looked at her deep in the eyes as he wrapped another hand around her throat and slowly and powerfully slid himself inside her. He penetrated her inch by inch and opened her wider than she had ever been before. Stacey gasped as the pleasure thundered through her and he thrust himself in and out, his intense heat filling her up as they truly became one. She felt weightless as he gripped onto her soft thighs and pounded her into the soft cushions of the couch.
She groaned as he pulled her up onto his lap and drove his cock into her. His arms were heavy and thick as he held onto her and his groans turned into growls, getting louder and deeper.
The more he was dominating her, the more of the dangerous wolf was being shown. He was so good at hiding the beast within him, but in the throws of pleasure, it was as if the wolf was fighting to break free. He was taking on another persona and his whole demeanour was changing with the more pleasure he experienced. He was the most powerful being she had ever known. She was so into him and she was so turned on, but more than anything, she loved that he was so bad and dangerous. She straddled him and opened herself up to him like a flower as his hot, hard dick pumped in and out of her, bringing her to the edge of the most intense release.
Stacey gripped onto River and her whole body tensed up as he fucked her slowly, he was hitting her spot so hard and good, she knew she could not hold on any longer. She fell back in an explosive rush of pleasure, just as she felt River’s body tense and jerk below her and he pumped his hot seed right up inside her. As she came, she bit onto his shoulder and River wrapped his hand around her throat and pulled her face to his so he could stare into her eyes. The power that exuded from him was so impressive, she was frightened. She had never been at the mercy of someone so completely and she absolutely loved it. She knew now there was no other way she ever wanted it to end.
This wolf had claimed her, and now she would never be anybody else’s. She had found her mate for life, they had consummated their union and now, they were never going to part.
They lay together in each other’s arms as the sun began to rise behind the steel blinds. Stacey traced her fingertips over River’s chest and breathed him in deeply. He was such a man, and such a wolf.
He was a creature unlike any other.
And now, he was hers.
She smiled and looked into his
eyes. They were so deep and blue she felt as if she could look into them forever and never get bored. Each time, she noticed something new in them and it made her heart swell with love.
“You saved me… again…,” she whispered.
“It’s my destiny,” he said as he kissed her forehead. “It’s what I was put on this earth to do.”
She smiled and nuzzled into him, their legs all wound up in each other’s and their wolf blood beating through both of their hearts. Now that she had been with River, she felt the pull that the witch had tried to enforce on her getting fainter and fainter. River had enforced her wolf blood, and now she was determined anything left in her that was remotely witch would be banished.
“Where did you go, when you left town?” she asked him suddenly.
She had been trying to let so much information absorb into her consciousness that she had pushed to the back of her mind that River had, in fact, been missing for months on end.
“I never left,” he told her as he stroked her hair. “I told you, I never left your side.”
“Really?” she asked with confusion.
River nodded.
“I was close by, here in these woods…” he said sadly. “I was with a great man, helping him transition to his next journey, wherever that may be…”
“A great man?” she asked.
River nodded.
“Magnus,” he whispered. “He was a father to us all.”
When she heard him say the name, she felt a tingle run up her spine. She knew that someone else in Lost Creek had been called Magnus, but she hadn’t been able to put her finger on it.
“What?” she asked with wide eyes as she leaned up on her elbows.
“One of our elder wolves,” River smiled sadly. “He’s been sick for some time… he died last week.”
She was sure she could see the tears welling up behind his eyes, and she clutched herself to him and held him tight.
“I’m so sorry,” she said.
“He was very, very old,” River began to stroke her hair again. “He was over two hundred years old.”
“Holy shit,” Stacey whispered.
RIVER Page 9
