Into the Heart 3: Into the Wild

by Caitlyn Willows

  Even more so than this hideous contraption that poured water on her, and it was pretty damn frightening, despite the pretty seashell curtain that billowed around the edges of the big white box. They could call this a bathtub and shower all they wanted, dress it in feathers and fur with sparkles of warm sunshine all over it. It still was a box, and Lupe knew firsthand the horror of boxes.

  She started at a sound behind her, then calmed when she caught Cristían's scent.

  “I didn't mean to startle you.” The door shut behind him. “I heard the shower running and suspected you might be having some issues. It's much bigger than a faucet.”

  He wrapped those strong arms around her and pulled her against his nude body. His erection nestled into the small of her back.

  “It feels like needles piercing my skin when I touch it.” She cuddled into the protective cove of his body.

  “I can adjust it to a softer flow.” He reached up and turned the white nozzle.

  Lupe held out a hand and felt the difference in power. It helped, but not much.

  He brushed his hand over her stomach. “We could always fill the tub and bathe in it.”

  “No!” Old instincts screamed at her to run. She forced herself to remain still. No harm would come to her in Cristían's arms. She glanced up at him. “We? You would bathe with me?”

  “I would do anything to calm your fears and ease your worries.”

  Yes, he would. “You would fight for me,” she said, more to herself than him.

  “To the last breath.” He kissed her shoulder.

  “You would…die for me.”

  “And take anyone who did you harm down with me.”

  She'd been in this new form less than a day, and there were already those who wanted her dead, wanted all three of them dead. Lupe smelled the bad on that person. It would shock Cristían to know who it was, or maybe not, given the strained relationship he had with that person. She'd keep it to herself for now and be ever diligent.

  “Where's Jeremy?”

  “Already working on trying to retrieve those hard drives from our laptops.”

  Good. They were wise to not trust this enforced collaboration.

  “Joaquin called. Carmen will bring clothes for you to wear in a little while. I know you'll appreciate that.”

  She would, but curling up in a warm patch of sun sounded so much better. Being without fur was much colder than she'd anticipated.

  “Come.” Cristían eased around her and stepped into the tub, blocking the spray from her. He extended his hand. When she grasped his fingers, he squeezed them as he gently urged her forward.

  Eyeing the threat at his back and seeing he hadn't suffered for it, she stepped into the tub. Another flash of panic hit when he drew the curtain closed.

  “Don't worry, little warrior. I'll take care of everything,” he whispered against her ear.

  She closed her eyes and let his aura chase the fear away. The spray was nothing more than a mist.

  “I'd suggest thinking about it as nothing more than rain, but I know you're not too fond of rain either, even though you tolerate it.”

  They laughed, and more of her unease faded. Long fingers glided over her shoulders, spreading soap onto muscles she didn't realize were tired until that very minute. He kneaded circles down her back. Lupe moaned at the feeling, so very much like when he'd pet her. Hours of sheer pleasure with her curled in his lap while they watched television or he read.

  Lupe rolled her hips from side to side when he reached her bottom. He slipped his fingers between her crack, smearing soap between her legs. She widened her stance and parted her thighs for more. Cristían indulged her silent request, parting her folds, twirling his finger inside her. Hands braced on the wall, she lifted her hips for more. He slid farther. Suds billowed in the hair at her crotch. His wrist rubbed over her clitoris. Need clawed for freedom inside her. She was going to have the glorious explosion again…if he'd only work a little harder and faster.

  She clamped her thighs around his hand when he started to retreat. Her whimpered protest died with the finger he thrust inside. Lupe gasped and tossed her head back, rocking with the plunge of his fingers. His other hand came around and pressed over her clit. And just when she knew it couldn't get any better, Lupe felt his thumb against another hole. Confusion muted her, and her body clenched against the invasion. Cristían pulled away.

  “No!” Lupe grappled for his hand, trying to pull it back into position.

  “I'm not going anywhere, sweetheart.”

  He pushed the showerhead straight down, then switched positions with her and sank to the bottom of the tub. His beautiful cock thrust up from its nest of black curls. Grinning, he cupped her hips and urged her astride him. She eased down, wary of the spray behind her but desperately wanting his erection buried to the hilt inside her. Cristían thumbed her clitoris. Fear dissipated with the pleasure that rolled through her.

  Lupe sank lower. One hand guided her hips, the other cupped her neck, drawing her head down to his. She opened for him, melting a little when his tongue slipped between her lips. She tumbled into the kiss, feeling more want tug to the surface with every knead of his lips, every tongue caress. Her knees straddled his hips. His cock nudged her clit. She paused and let the sensation ripple through her, then slowly buried him inside. Cristían's groan rumbled through her.

  Oh the joy of knowing she made him feel this way!

  She broke the kiss and cupped his face. “I love how hot you feel, how hard.”

  “I know.” He cleared the rasp from his throat. “You're hot, soft, and tight. Perfect.” His lips covered hers again, his tongue thrusting deeper this time, like he wanted to crawl inside her this way too.

  Lupe rubbed her hard nipples over his chest. He slid his fingers between them and captured the beads of flesh. Her muscles below tightened, yanking another growl from him.

  He butted his forehead against hers. “I could kiss you forever and never get tired of it.”

  There went those emotions again. “You're squeezing my heart so tight, it's hard to breathe,” she said in a rush of breath.

  Cristían's hands spanned her back. “You're squeezing my heart too.”

  More kisses, spinning her head around, bubbling inside. Deep in her mouth, then down her throat, over her shoulders. Then back up to claim her lips once more. A snap followed by the scent of sesame peeled her from him. Her stomach rumbled. Sesame chicken was one of her favorites. Lupe loved it when Cristían ordered the meal delivered. Curiosity edged out the twinge of disappointment when she saw he'd merely opened the bath oil.

  He squirted some in his palm, then rubbed it over her breasts and down her stomach. Lupe leaned back a little, admiring the silky sheen, and he added a drop to her clitoris. The red bead pushed from her folds, looking for more attention. She dug her fingers into his arms to keep from touching it.

  Cristían filled his palm again and set the bottle back in the corner. He rubbed his hands together, half-closed eyes watching her mouth. Lupe lifted her breasts, expecting his touch. Instead he dropped one hand to her aching clit and used the other to cup her backside.

  Lupe sighed at the pleasure and arched back. Cristían scooted farther down, urging her forward. The glide of his fingers down her crack sagged her against the plane of his chest. His heart beat strong and steady, drowning out the sound of the shower. It echoed in the pulse of the cock she clutched inside her and the responding thrum of her clit. His thumb circled over it, promising release, yet she couldn't help tensing when his fingers pressed against her rear hole. He circled it now, matching the rhythm over her clitoris. Then he breached the barrier of muscle.

  Tension faded with the first wave of pleasure that rolled through her. He moved slowly in and out, thumb still tracing a lazy path around her clit. Lupe rocked her pelvis with his, lost in sensation. His muscles tensed, and she knew he was holding out for her. The knowledge empowered her. She moved quicker, taking control, yet giving it to him at the same
time. Release grew from a hard ball in her core. Every sense she ever had locked on to it. Then it burst open, taking him with her on a ride that not only made Lupe glad to be human but glad to be alive.

  She lay sprawled on him, panting for breath, too spent to move. It made it all the more wonderful that she knew Cristían was just as overcome. As the seconds turned to minutes, the world around her returned to normal. The shower hissed behind her, and she couldn't care less.

  Cristían slid upright a little more but still kept her close. He soaped his hands again and then bathed the oil and the day away. Lupe sighed and sat up. His smile warmed her. More soap, this time from another bottle. He lathered it into her hair, fingers kneading, just the way she loved.

  “Now we have to rinse.”

  She blinked her eyes open and gave him a lazy nod. Cradling her, he dipped forward until the water barely kissed her scalp. Warm tendrils tickled through her hair, and she felt Cristían's hands helping the water rinse the soap out.

  “Oh I do like that.”

  “I knew you would.” He cupped her breast and kissed the tip before sitting upright again.

  “I could fall asleep right here.”

  “I know how you feel.” He kissed her temple. “But there's a soft bed and a mound of covers waiting for you, and I know how much you love that.”

  His bed. It was a favorite, but only when he was in it with her.

  Cristían stood with her and shut off the water. Lupe stretched and twisted from side to side. He squeezed the excess water from her hair and tousled it further, then blotted her dry and wrapped the towel around her.

  “Now…just one more thing.” He snatched his comb from the vanity tray on the sink.

  Lupe studied their reflections in the mirror while he combed the tangles from her hair. There was so much she had to learn. Like this.

  “Does my breath smell like tuna?” she asked.

  He looked up. “No…and neither does your crotch.”

  Lupe giggled at the mischief in his eyes. Yes, it was great to be alive!

  Chapter Ten

  Cristían braced himself against the doorjamb and watched Lupe sleep. She curled up on her side, much as she always did, burrowed under a nest of forest green covers to keep warm. He'd rummaged through his clothing and found a dark blue sweatshirt and white tube socks for her to wear until Carmen arrived with clothing. The edges of both came to her knees and, he hoped, helped generate the warmth Lupe loved so well.

  He'd done a passable job at braiding her hair. All those years of making rope had come in handy. It would do until Carmen arrived with all the things women required. That alone gave him a nagging headache. There was so much Lupe had to learn about fitting in to the human world, about being human. With all the other worries plaguing his mind, Cristían didn't know where to begin to help Lupe transition.

  At least they'd gone over the hurdle of bathing. That made him smile. She trusted him. He wouldn't let her down.

  Duty warred with his exhaustion. He wanted nothing more than to snuggle beside her and get some sleep, but he had to talk to Jeremy while they were alone. He rubbed his eyes and pushed away from the door. Other than hauling on a clean pair of jeans, Cristían hadn't bothered to dress, and he didn't want to disturb Lupe's sleep by rooting through the dresser for a T-shirt.

  He found Jeremy working in the spare bedroom that served as an office. One hard drive lay on the desk, the remains of its computer shell in pieces around it.

  “Hey.” Jeremy didn't turn, just kept working. “I almost have the second one out. I can't guarantee we'll be able to retrieve what's on them.”

  At this point, Cristían wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing. He really needed Jeremy's insight to help sort this all out.

  “Lupe asleep?” Jeremy asked.

  “Yes. It's hard not to join her.”

  “I know what you mean.” Jeremy looked up at him from his work, hands still moving. No one multitasked like Jeremy. “Go lie down and get some rest. I've got the watch.” He tapped his small screwdriver against his ear. “I swear, I can hear a bug crawling on the tree two blocks over.”

  Cristían snorted. “The enhanced jaguar senses do take some getting used to, as I recall.”

  Jeremy turned back to the mangled laptop. “How are you doing with the new abilities?”

  He shrugged. “Fine. I suppose. We need to talk.”

  That brought Jeremy around to face him again. “All right.”

  “Not here. I need to know I have all your attention, Jeremy. You know this could be the last time in a long time someone isn't monitoring us.”

  Jeremy glanced from Cristían to the laptop and then back, debating his priorities. He set his screwdriver down and got up. “You've got it.”

  They settled in the living room on opposite ends of the moss green sofa. They sank into the depths of the pillowed cushions with a sigh. Jeremy pulled his knee up and leaned against the sofa arm to face Cristían. Cristían pulled in a breath and did the same. Where should he start?

  “This might seem a little far-fetched.” He ran a hand through his hair. “I can barely believe it myself, and I'm having trouble making sense of it all,” he said. “It's so much more than what we discussed earlier.”

  Jeremy nodded. “After all I've seen and experienced in the last year, I don't think of anything as being far-fetched. Look at me.” He waved his hand over his body and smiled.

  Cristían tried to return his smile but couldn't manage.

  Jeremy nudged his shoulder. “Hey, it's me.”

  He pulled in another breath. “Okay… When we… After the accident, I went somewhere. At first I was scared to death I'd been somehow transported back to that damned cenote.”

  Jeremy shivered, and Cristían knew it wasn't intentional. They'd battled evil in that place and nearly lost.

  “Then my mind opened and connected with a greater something. It was beautiful. Perfect. Deep violet, then a swirling golden ball that sank into me. I felt…purged and reborn. There was this massive white light, and all this knowledge poured into me. Everything that ever was, is, and will be. Then the light lifted, and the ball returned to the void, taking all that knowledge with it and leaving me with bits and pieces that have me more confused than ever. I'm still being fed snippets of information or flashes of insight, but none of the skills to determine what it all means.”

  “You mentioned that before, and I glossed over it at the time, what with everything else going on. I'm sorry. Can you tell me now what kind of information?” Jeremy's soft voice offered solace and understanding, as well as the willingness to logically and objectively evaluate the experience.

  Another deep breath shored Cristían's resolve, helped him order his words and thoughts. “That I've created a monster that will destroy what remains of a once-great civilization—a skinwalker. That I am the one responsible for unleashing that menace on my clan all those centuries before. That only we can stop it.” It was rather stupid, hearing that out loud. All that was in the past. How could anything they'd done here affect it? Concepts twisted inside his head and knotted his gut, along with his thoughts. Was that really what he'd heard, or had he built a tale to go with the few words he clearly recalled?

  Jeremy scooted closer and put his hand on Cristían's knee. “All right. I've been thinking about everything I experienced too. Let's take a small step back and evaluate this from a logical, scientific standpoint first.”

  Logic and science were exactly what they needed. Cristían nodded for him to continue.

  “The last words out of Barry's mouth accused you of being a skinwalker. Then all hell broke loose. Clearly we've all been changed, and we're going to consider that a separate issue for now. One thing at a time.” He patted Cristían's knee and leaned back. “No one's body withstands the type of impact we all experienced without some injury. The tertiary impact alone should at least have put us in the hospital, even the morgue. I'm surprised any of us were left standing, but I attrib
ute that to the metamorphosis. Other than what looks like a birthmark on Lupe's ribs, her body is free of any marks or scars, no sign of injury either. I had cuts and bruises, and they healed instantly. Granted, not as quickly as yours… Consider for a moment you received a concussion. Barry's words are spinning around in your mind, as are the colors purple and gold from my experiment. I can explain away the extra strength you have as a possible adrenaline rush, and for the sake of argument, let's add that to our hypothesis. For whatever reason, you also have extra-enhanced healing abilities beyond those of a normal shifter. Perhaps all these things combined to cause this perception.”

  It did make sense. Cristían's blinding headache, the flash of white, the dark void from having blacked out, even the adrenaline charge. But… “After the three of us had sex, I sensed you'd been there too. Our minds were linked. When I asked you—”

  Jeremy dropped his gaze. “Yes, it felt like home to me.” He glanced up under his lashes. “At the time, I thought I was in the Akashic Field. Now that I look back, I realize it was the rush of shifting coupled with some killer sex. And I took a whack to the head too.”

  “And you believe it was nothing more?” He bent to catch Jeremy's gaze when he glanced away.

  Jeremy gave a halfhearted chuckle. “I don't know what to believe. I'm just trying to explain in logical terms for now. It was the best sex I've ever had, and I've had a lot of sex.” He pulled his chin up. Humor faded to a dead-on scowl. “One thing I'm not willing to believe is that any of us are skinwalkers.”

  “And on the off chance that we are?”

  “If it's me, then kill me.” Jeremy didn't blink. He meant it. They both knew the havoc skinwalkers could wreak. The skinwalker beast killed without conscience, taking over the body and life of its prey and destroying anyone who stood in its way.

  “I would expect the same courtesy from you,” Cristían said.

  “Absolutely.” Jeremy smirked. “Although considering how quickly you heal, that might be next to impossible.”

  Horror choked Cristían. Jeremy realized the impact of his words instantly and reached out. Cristían burst to his feet before Jeremy could touch him.