by Amira Rain
I actually wasn’t relieved to hear that Holden had had to go back into the jungle. For some strange reason, it made me feel crabbier than I already was, though I tried to hide this during lunch and then after, while playing games with Emily, building a fort with her, and then reading several stories to her. After she, Cora, and Amy had left, I crawled into bed and tried to take a nap, sniffling a little as rain continued to drench the island outside.
Bizarrely, all I could think about was how comforted I’d felt with Holden’s arms around me when he’d carried me to the village, and how I wished I could feel the comfort of his arms around me right then.
But at the same time, I was still mad at him for what he’d said about me being in a fragile state, and scared. I wasn’t fragile or scared; I was simply a skeptic, and rightly so, I felt. Very rightly so. I had every reason to be angry with him, and suspicious of him, I told myself.
Eventually, I drifted off to sleep for a short nap, and mere seconds after I’d woke up, my phone dinged with a text from Holden. It read: It’s all right for a woman to admit she’s scared, Haley. Men get scared sometimes, too. Everyone does. Being scared doesn’t mean a person isn’t strong; it just means they’re human. I myself was scared today when I was unexpectedly attacked by a Gray Form out of nowhere. I was able to fight him off, but I nearly wet my pants. I felt like such a freak.
Completely unable to help myself, I actually laughed out loud. Then, still giggling a little, I typed out and sent a very brief response. Ha ha.
Soon after, I received another text, which read: PS- And I WAS genuinely scared, though I have to admit, the almost peeing my pants part wasn’t exactly true. I actually wasn’t wearing pants at the time. I was in bear form.
Bristling a bit, irritated, I didn’t respond to this text.
Holden didn’t return to the village the next day, nor did he send any more texts, and by the day after that, my crabbiness and irritation had reached a peak. Despite busy days spent with Cora, Amy, and a few other women, I was sleeping poorly, my dreams filled with images of Holden. Once or twice, I even dreamed of him making love to me, running his hands all over my bare skin.
And actually, I had this dream more than once or twice. Maybe a dozen times might have been more like it. Each time, I awoke breathing heavily, frustrated, and with a dull ache low in my belly. At the same time, I was still irritated with Holden for still insisting that he was actually a bear shifter. I was frustrated and irritated about everything, it seemed.
The evening of the third day since I’d last seen him, I begged off a game of cards and wine with Cora and Amy in order to stroll down the beach alone. I just wanted to think, or not think, I wasn’t even sure which. I just wanted to clear my mind of all thoughts of Holden.
However, after walking along for twenty minutes or so while warm ocean waves lapped at my feet, and while the sky turned from lavender to dark gray-blue to midnight blue, I was no closer to putting him out of my mind than when I’d started out. And in fact, the more I walked, the more I became focused on frustrating thoughts of his face, his deep voice, and his tall, well-sculpted body. Presently, almost against my will, my thoughts turned to what I’d dreamed about, with Holden making love to me.
I was so deep in thought that I didn’t even hear him come up behind me. It was his voice coming from somewhere very near behind me that jarred me out of my reverie.
“I thought I told Cora to tell you not to walk this far down the beach. With as active as the Forms have been lately, and with as few men as I’ve been able to spare to guard the village, it’s just not safe.”
I’d frozen dead in my tracks, and now I whirled around, just itching for a fight for some reason. “So, I’m a prisoner now? I can’t come and go wherever I please? And you can’t even just come right out and say that I’m a prisoner; you have to make up some fantastical excuse for it, like that some shadowy supernatural creatures are going to come to try to kill me or something. Yeah, I actually believe that. About as much as I believe that you actually have the ability to shift into a bear.”
Holden, who was standing maybe four or five paces away from me, now closed the distance between us, scoffing slightly. “You know, all of this is going to be so much easier once you believe. Once you’re finally able to overcome your fear.”
“What do you mean, ‘all of this?’ All of what?”
With his dark hair glinting in the light of a full moon, Holden shook his head. “I don’t know. Maybe this.”
He suddenly dipped his head and kissed me, and not a peck, either. He kissed me with intensity, soon parting my lips and exploring my mouth with his tongue. I moaned into his mouth, reveling in the sensation of being kissed so hungrily, realizing that this was exactly what I’d been wanting him to do. I actually hadn’t wanted to fight with him at all.
Before very long, I wrapped my arms around his neck, and he moved his hands to the small of my back, and then my rear, pulling me against him, making me moan again. I could feel that he was already hard. I could also feel that he was large, maybe even very large. The thought of finally being filled by him, of finally experiencing what I’d imagined in my dreams, made my insides quake with anticipation. I wanted him badly. I realized I’d wanted him just about from the first second I’d laid eyes on him. I didn’t even care if he was a liar or some sort of delusional cult leader anymore. I just wanted him to take me, right there on the beach. I just wanted him to end my simmering frustration.
Not wanting to waste any time, I broke the kiss, breathing heavily. “I want you. Right here, now. Just undress me. Just take me. Please.”
He seemed all too happy to comply with my request. With a faint growl rumbling in his broad chest, he immediately lifted my dress up and over my head, then removed my strapless bra, then helped me out of my underwear.
He tossed them aside and stood, not taking his gaze from my body for a single second. “You’re gorgeous, Haley. Absolutely gorgeous. Stunning.”
He pulled me into his arms and began kissing me again, soon moving his hands to caress my bare ass. Becoming increasingly turned on and slick, I hiked a leg up on his hip, feeling that he was now rock-hard. When he soon moved a hand to my front, probed my slick feminine slips apart and began lightly stroking my most sensitive spot, I broke our kiss yet again, crying out.
“Please, Holden. I need to feel you inside of me. Now.”
With his breathing fast and ragged, he practically ripped off his shirt, then lowered his jeans and underwear to his ankles and stepped out of them, revealing his full nakedness. And I’d been right. In the silvery moonlight, I could see that he was not only large, but very large. His long, thick manhood pointed straight up, almost flush with his extremely well-defined abs.
Not wanting to wait a moment longer, I hiked a leg up on his hip again and wrapped my arms around his neck, thinking that we might make love standing up. And we did, kind of. Holden remained standing, at least. I was more suspended in the air.
Shortly after I’d hiked my leg up on his hip, he’d put a hand behind my knee, then his other hand behind my other knee, actually picking me up, while at the same time, positioning the head of his thick shaft at my slick entrance even without the use of his hands. Now, he was gently pulling me toward him, groaning, impaling me on his granite-hard pole.
While I slid down the length of it, I threw my head back, my words coming out in a garbled rush. “Oh, God. Oh, God, yes. Yes.”
I locked my ankles around the small of his back, wanting to take every last inch of him inside of me. Once he’d completely filled me, he began slowly rocking his hips with me still suspended, holding me under my rear now. Never in my life had I been witness to a feat of such strength and athleticism during lovemaking, a feat that was especially impressive since I certainly wasn’t a tiny-framed girl.
The action of him rocking his hips had the effect of more or less bouncing me off me off his front, which had the effect of filling me deeper than I’d ever been filled before. The
sensation was almost more pleasure than I could take, and I could already feel a powerful climax building deep inside of me.
Several minutes later, shortly after I’d begun lightly stroking myself to increase my pleasure even further, my climax crashed over me so suddenly and powerfully that I threw my head back, both literally and figuratively seeing stars. Bright pinpricks of light from behind my eyelids seemed to join the pinpricks of light in the darkened sky and then merge with them, seeming to cover the deep blue expanse with thousands of twinkling diamonds.
As wave after wave of pleasure crashed over me, the sound coming out of my mouth was less of a cry and more of an outright yell, drowning out the sound of the crashing surf nearby. Holden was also making some rather loud noises, grunting and growling out his own release while he bounced me faster and faster on his hips, driving himself deeper and deeper inside of me.
Once our dizzying passion was finally spent, he just held me to his chest for a short while, breathing heavily, before lowering me to the ground, pulling himself out of me at the same time.
Nearly simultaneously, just as my toes touched the sand, a loud noise pierced the stillness of the evening yet again. But this time, the noise hadn’t come from Holden or me. This noise was like a blast of an air horn or something similar, seeming to be coming from far up the beach, toward the village. After a second or two, the blast repeated itself, then continued at regular intervals of the same amount of time. I couldn’t imagine what this noise meant. Though for some reason, it made a little chill dance along the back of my spine.
CHAPTER FIVE
Holden had already put his jeans back on and was buttoning them by the fourth blast of the distant horn. He glanced up at me, and even in the dim light, I could see that his dark brows were drawn so closely together they were almost touching.
“That’s the alarm horn that’s sounded whenever an enemy breaches the village. I’m sure it’s the Forms. We had a hell of a time keeping them at bay today, though I thought they were contained. Guess I was wrong.” Pausing, he glanced back in the direction of the village before turning back to me. “We have to go immediately.”
Heart pounding, I glanced down at my body. “But... But I’m naked! I have to get dressed! Just go and deal with whatever you have to deal with. If the village really is being attacked by something, I’m probably safer here anyway.”
“All right. Stay put. And I mean that, Haley. Stay put, and I’ll come back for you as soon as I can.”
“Okay.”
He quickly pressed a kiss to my forehead. “Everything’s going to be fine.”
With that, he turned and began sprinting down the beach. When he was just about no longer visible, his body seemed to very abruptly turn into some sort of a massive black shape. The shape actually almost resembled a bear. I blinked, and the shape was already gone.
My mouth suddenly became dry, and I swallowed with difficulty, giving my head a little shake.
“No way. That’s insane. It’s not possible.”
Despite the night being warm, even for the island, I suddenly shivered, realizing that maybe Holden was right. Maybe I was a bit scared of admitting that supernatural things could be real. The words he’d written me in text flashed through my mind. Being scared doesn’t mean a person isn’t strong; it just means they’re human.
But just as quickly as the possibility that I was simply scared crossed my mind, I dismissed the thought, shaking my head again. “No. Not a chance all that stuff is true. Holden is just into some seriously twisted delusions and mind games. And now you’ve slept with him. You’ve slept with a man who possibly kidnapped you.” Rolling my eyes, I paused for a second. “And now you’re talking to yourself, Haley. Brilliant. Maybe Holden’s right. Maybe you are ‘emotionally and mentally fragile.’”
Still muttering to myself, I gathered up my clothes, hastily dressed, and then began striding up from the beach to the jungle area bordering it, intending to find a log or a stump or something to sit on while I waited for Holden to return.
A short while later, I sat on a log, tracing designs in the sand with a stick, now finally quiet, out of things to say to myself, I supposed. The alarm siren had stopped, too, so now the only sound to be heard was the gentle crashing of the surf. I hoped Holden wasn’t going to be long doing whatever he was doing. I hoped he’d return right away. I was tired, and I was kind of mad at myself for sleeping with him, despite the fact that I’d very thoroughly enjoyed it, and I just wanted to go back to my cabin and go to bed.
Holden didn’t return right away. At least twenty minutes went by without any trace of him. After gazing up at the moon for a short while with my chin on my fists, I picked up my stick again and resumed tracing designs in the sand. And that was when I heard it. A low, faint growl, coming from somewhere very nearby behind me.
I froze, my breath seeming to catch in my throat. I didn’t want to turn. I didn’t want to do it with every fiber of my being. I was scared. Terrified, actually. But I knew I had to turn. I had to see what was behind me. Either that, or simply wait for some wild creature to attack me from behind. So, I gritted my teeth and simply forced myself to turn my head just far enough to look over my shoulder. And what I saw made me gasp.
Two pairs of glowing green eyes stared at me from inside the jungle, maybe only ten or fifteen feet away. I heard another low growl, followed by a distinct howl. Wolves. In a jungle. I couldn’t believe it. However, I knew I didn’t exactly have time to sit around stewing in denial. What was happening was happening, and I knew I had to deal with it. I had to act or I might soon be dead.
Springing up from the log, I brandished my stick, which was about the size of a baseball bat, but with a fairly sharp end. “Get away! Get back!”
I’d heard that a human voice could frighten wolves away, but these didn’t seem like any ordinary wolves. They actually crept closer after I’d spoken. Their green eyes glinted in the moonlight, and one of them snarled.
I began backing up to the beach, still brandishing my stick. “I mean it! Get the hell away from me!”
With my words seeming to have zero effect on them, the wolves continued creeping closer, their large, silvery bodies visible in the dim light now. I considered running, but I just knew I wouldn’t get very far. I had to hold my ground and scare them off somehow, or I would die. But other than shouting, I wasn’t quite sure what I could do.
Thrusting the sharp end of my stick forward in what I hoped was a menacing gesture, I yelled again, but this time the loudest I had yet. “You hear me? Get! Back! I’ll stab you with the sharp part of this stick! I’ll kill you!”
Though my legs were trembling so badly I was beginning to fear they wouldn’t hold me up much longer, I was sure going to try.
“I’ll kill you both!”
My words sounded absurd to my own ears. I knew the chance of me killing two wolves with nothing more than a sharp stick was slim to none. But I had to at least try. As scared as I was, I knew I couldn’t just lay down and die. I realized I just didn’t want my life to end like that.
As I came to a stop, then fought to maintain my position, not wanting to make myself appear vulnerable by continuing to step back even further, the wolves crept out from the jungle and came to a stop as well, no more than seven or eight feet away from me. The biggest one of the two snarled, revealing his sharp fangs, which appeared a silvery blue in the moonlight. Then, suddenly, he pounced. With a yell, I thrust my stick out, hoping to stab him with it. As he flew through the air, I reflexively closed my eyes, cringing, expecting some kind of a massive impact, either from him being stabbed with my stick, or from him knocking the stick away and landing on me.
The next split-second was the longest of my life, by far. It felt like minutes. Hours. I pictured the wolf ripping my throat out. I pictured myself bleeding to death in the sand. I pictured Holden’s face for some reason, with a pang in my heart because I thought I’d never see him again.
After the split-second had passed, no
great, jarring impact came. I did, however, hear some sort of loud thud, something maybe like the impact of a body falling, or two bodies colliding. Then came growling, snarling, and a single mighty roar. These sounds were mere feet away from me, and I dared to open my eyes, already scuttling away backward on my jelly-like legs.
I was maybe twenty feet away when I saw clearly what was happening and fully comprehended it, too. A massive black bear was fighting the two silver wolves at once, seemingly enraged. He was slashing at one with a large, sharp-clawed paw while closing his powerful jaws around the other wolf’s throat, instantly drawing blood. Because of the dim light, it appeared black against the wolf’s silvery fur.
I had a little feeling who the huge black bear was. Stunned, I fell on my butt in the sand, trembling from head to toe. I was far too shocked to even talk to myself anymore. I was truly speechless, feeling as if my brain had short-circuited.
The fight didn’t last long. Maybe a minute, if that. When both wolves lay motionless in the sand bordering the jungle, the black bear suddenly shifted into Holden within the blink of an eye. He was shirtless but wearing jeans, same as he’d been when he’d left me.
After rolling his head from side to side, as if to work out some kink in his neck, he looked in my direction. “You okay?”
My voice came out in a squeak. “Yes.”
“Good.” After a quick look at the wolf carcasses, he began heading over to me. “Two Forms down, including the one who’s been causing us the most trouble recently, several more to go. I guess I just needed to get really pissed off to finally take those two out for good. Well, pissed off as a direct result of being absolutely terrified. Which is how I felt when I saw them about to hurt you.” Holden reached me, knelt down, and took me in his arms. “Please tell me that you’re really, really okay.”
