Into the Heart 3: Into the Wild

by Caitlyn Willows

  She nestled her face against his neck. “Isn't that a good thing?” Oh how she wished she could purr those words.

  “Love, it's a marvelous thing.” He arched his neck to her lips. “But you have me so damn close to coming, I can't think straight.”

  “You mean I could finish you just by doing this?” She clenched her vaginal muscles.

  Cristían grunted and tightened his hold. “Damn, woman.”

  Woman, not little one, and she felt it down to her bones. Lifting her head, she cupped his face. Movement in the house caught her eye. Someone enjoyed the scene.

  “Would it help your stamina to know we were being watched?” she asked with a grin.

  “Jeremy?” His cock pulsed more heat.

  “Steven.” She brought her lips to a whisper away from his. “Stroking himself as he watches. I can see the moisture gleaming at the tip.”

  One corner of his mouth lifted in a wicked grin. “Hell with him. A real cat wouldn't watch in the shadows. A real cat would try to join, if only to watch up close. Ride me, sweetheart.” He slid his thumb to her slippery clit.

  Lupe closed her eyes, shutting out Steven's image. This moment was theirs, no one else's—except Jeremy, should he decide to join them. A real man, a born jaguar. A moan rumbled up from her belly at the thought. Cristían grew harder, hotter…bigger. Lupe locked on, letting the pressure build until she knew they'd both explode if one of them didn't move.

  Sucking in a breath, she lifted her pelvis until only the head remained lodged inside her, and mourned the loss of him throbbing inside. A hard plunge seated him deep once more, bowing them together. How long could they stay just like this? Forever was too short a time. She moved again, shallower this time, faster. His thumb rolled with the thrust. Sweet ripples spread outward from the spot, tightening her around him.

  He traced the folds around her clit, drawing more juices to the peak. Something clicked inside her. Lupe stopped worrying about technique and let instinct take over. Lost in the wonder of his touch, she writhed on his cock, loving the feel of it nudging deep inside, the sensation of being filled to bursting.

  Cristían yanked the sweatshirt up. Her nipples hardened all the more in the cool air. Shivers rattled through her. She stabbed her fingers through his hair and shoved his face against her breast. He sucked the nipple deep, kneading with his lips so hard, she felt it in her clit. Lupe rocked into him. Fingers spanned her hip, urging her to go faster…faster.

  “Don't hold back,” she cried out. “Give it to me.”

  Cristían growled and pounded into her body. The lounger's legs slammed into the flagstone patio, moving them closer and closer to the house with every thrust. She clamped her thighs around him and held on. Orgasm burst upward, carrying him with her. He snapped his head up on a growl. Lupe opened her eyes, marveling how glorious he looked, half-wide with his jaw clenched and teeth bared. She felt it too. Breathed it. Lived it.

  “I love you, Cristían. I love you so much.”

  She feathered her fingers over his face, down his neck and shoulders. Cristían grabbed her face and kissed her through the after-tremors. A sigh settled them into a hug. The coppery scent of blood on Lupe's fingers chased the warmth away.

  Lupe pulled her head up and saw blood trickling down Cristían's neck. “You're bleeding.”

  Cristían scrunched his chin in to try to see. The motion increased the flow, and it wiggled over his collarbone. He swiped the edge that crawled toward his chest. “What the—”

  “Are you hurt? Why isn't it healing?” She followed the line upward with her fingers and found the source—a sharp object poking from his head. “Cristían!”

  He cringed from the touch. Though he muffled his groan, Lupe still felt his pain. Cristían patted the back of his head himself, then yanked his hand away.

  “Maybe it's more glass.” She jumped from his lap. “Let's go in. Jeremy can get it out.” Lupe was too afraid to try. She didn't want to cause more damage. Her tactile skills weren't the best at the moment. With time, she hoped those would improve.

  Cristían swung his legs over the side of the chair, then pushed to his feet. He swayed and fumbled for a handhold. The chair clattered to the patio. He stumbled, then clutched his head and doubled over. Lupe jumped up to catch him, but it was Steven who made it to him first. An arm around Cristían's shoulder, he helped him inside.

  Lupe shouted for Jeremy. He burst into the room as she knelt on the chair arm beside Cristían. The splotch darkened his brown hair to black. “I think it's more glass from the accident.”

  “I'll get a pair of needle-nose pliers.” Jeremy darted for the garage.

  Steven parted Cristían's hair away from the wound. “It's not glass.”

  No, it wasn't. Lupe had never seen anything like this in a human. Something…electronic.

  Frowning, Steven probed it.

  Cristían groaned and clutched his head. “Stop…the pain.”

  “What the fuck are you people?” Steven edged away.

  Images of creatures popping out of Cristían's head raced through Lupe's head. She'd seen it happen on TV, things that devoured everything and everybody, complete destruction. “Don't worry, Cristían. I'll kill anything that crawls out of you.”

  Jeremy patted her shoulder, alerting her that he'd returned. “Everyone needs to calm down. It's his tracking implant.”

  Not a monster. Relief made her knees quake. She remembered hearing about those.

  Steven gave Jeremy more room to work. “What the hell is that thing for?”

  “A GPS tracker, so the clan always knows where their people are. Like the microchips people put in their pets.”

  “Get it out,” Cristían grunted out. “Hurry. The pain…the voices—” Dark fur sprouted over his arms. Claws tipped his fingers.

  “Hang in there, buddy. It's clearly malfunctioning. I don't have the right tools to do a careful extraction. We need to get you to Joaquin and Carmen.”

  “Not like this. Not safe. The voices.” He growled, half-cat, half-man. “Call them.”

  “I got it. Just hang in there.” Jeremy grabbed the cordless and punched in the number with one hand. The other grounded Cristían…she hoped.

  * * * *

  Tension and fear coiled in Lupe's stomach. She didn't like feeling helpless, and there wasn't a thing she could do to help Cristían. Her presence didn't soothe him, didn't calm the jaguar fighting for release.

  He lay curled in a ball on the floor, clutching his head. He refused Jeremy's and Steven's efforts to ease the pain, wanted them out of swiping distance should he lose control. Both paced nearby, nude and ready to defend against and protect Cristían from himself. Steven hadn't even bothered with the illusion of clothing, and here Lupe couldn't even manage to sprout a whisker to lend in aid. She sat in a chair, legs tucked beneath her, watching Cristían writhe with pain and frustration, and tried to send waves of comfort his way. All she managed to do was stir up more of those damn pheromones and agonize all the men.

  She leaped to her feet at the first sound of Joaquin's truck pulling into the driveway and had the front door open before the man exited the vehicle. Fluid strides carried him up the walkway. He clutched a heavy aluminum medical case in his white-knuckled grip. Lupe could hear his heart racing, feel the anxiety bunch his muscles.

  Joaquin darted through the open door, eyes widening when he saw Steven there. He shot a quick gaze to the others, and she knew it was to assess possible threat.

  “He's neither friend nor foe,” Lupe told him.

  Joaquin spared her a single nod and hurried on to Cristían's side.

  Jeremy skidded to his knees beside them to help Joaquin. Lupe returned to her nest in the chair. Steven hovered near the patio door, muscles locked in preparation for escape. Why he remained…

  Lupe answered that question for herself. He wanted to know exactly what this was. So far, he'd been sensitive enough to the situation not to ask for more information.

  “I hav
e no idea why the chip's causing pain.” Joaquin snapped the med-kit open.

  “He took a hard blow to the head during the accident. Could be it broke or went deeper than just below the skin,” Jeremy replied. “Or both.”

  “Strong possibilities. This shot will ease the shifter in him and reduce the pain.” Joaquin slapped a syringe in Jeremy's hand. Jeremy ripped open an alcohol swab, swiped it over Cristían's ass, and stabbed the syringe into the muscle. Cristían grunted. Seconds later, the jaguar traits subsided. Relief rippled through the room.

  “Thank you.” Cristían sighed and sagged into the carpet. “The pain…the voices…”

  Joaquin parted Cristían's hair. “Hold your breath. This might hurt. I can give you a shot of lidocaine…”

  “No, it can't hurt any worse than it does. Just get it out,” he said in a rush of breath and buried his face in his folded arms.

  Joaquin grabbed the tiny electronic chip with forceps and eased it free. The wound sealed instantly.

  “Well…that's an interesting development.” He dropped the chip into a vial of clear liquid. The fluid turned pink with Cristían's blood. “Care to enlighten me?”

  No one spoke.

  “I see. I suppose no one wants to explain what he's doing here either.” He jerked his chin Steven's way.

  “Long story.” Cristían tested his head and sat up against the chair.

  When Lupe feathered her fingers through his hair, he rested against her knee. Now that the pain was gone, the lines in his face had smoothed.

  “I see.” Joaquin swished the device clean, then retrieved it and clicked it into a small black box. Red numbers scrolled over the screen. “It's your tracking chip, all right.” A frown made his lips droop as his gaze swept over the data. “Hmph…interesting.” He turned the box Cristían's way. “Someone's figured out a way to transmit data to it.”

  Jeremy slipped it from his hand. His fingers flew over the small keys.

  “It wasn't us,” Steven quickly replied. “We didn't know about the things.”

  Cristían glanced up. “How can you be positive? You didn't know about Frieda's little takeover attempt. You sure as hell didn't know about the C-4. What else are they hiding? Did you even know I was sleeping with Frieda?”

  Lupe wanted to yank a fistful of his hair for mentioning the bitch. She'd resented Frieda's intrusion from the start, even though she knew the motive behind Cristían's attraction. She also wasn't thrilled when he began a friendship with Jeremy. She had recalled Jeremy from his association with Trina and had little use for the spoiled jerk. All that changed when she met him again. He'd changed. Light glowed around him where it hadn't before, and his smell! Now…here they were. Together. Frieda was history. She no longer mattered. Lupe shoved the annoyance to the back of her mind.

  “Yeah, I knew,” Steven muttered.

  Joaquin repacked the medical kit. “You mentioned voices. What kinds of voices? What were they saying?”

  Cristían pulled in a breath and looked up. “Calling me a skinwalker. Telling me I'd created a monster. Urging me to kill, kill them all.”

  Joaquin paled. His breathing increased. When he reached out to take the electronic device from Jeremy, Lupe noticed the slight tremor in his hand. He nestled the device into its foam bed and snapped the kit closed.

  “Didn't you destroy the last skinwalker a year ago?” The mind question came from Steven. He was so new to the ability, he probably didn't realize he hadn't spoken aloud. Though Lupe understood the communication, she still didn't possess that skill. Considering the slow lift of Joaquin's chin and the wide-eyed glare he sent toward all the men, she was very grateful for that lack.

  “There's an explanation,” Cristían told him.

  Joaquin lifted his hand. “I'm sure under the circumstances, you can see the need to place all of you in medical lockdown for evaluation. Immediately. You know the protocol as well as I do. This isn't an option. You can go willingly or…”

  Or he'd have them taken by force. Fear lifted the hairs on Lupe's arms. Images of cages and helpless animals crying day after day choked her. How could Joaquin be threatening to do something so horrid to his own people?

  Cristían draped his arm over her leg. The show of protection calmed her but did little to ease her fears. “We'll go willingly. The sooner we get this resolved—”

  “All of you.” Joaquin's gaze darted to Steven. Steven merely nodded…once.

  “We'll follow you in my car,” Cristían said. “I'm presuming you're not comfortable with us in the same vehicle as you.”

  Joaquin wrapped his fingers around the med-kit's handle. “Not until I'm certain you are you.”

  “I understand completely.” Cristían brushed his fingers over Lupe's leg, petting her, calming himself. Finally she had a purpose in this whole crazy incident.

  “I'll be waiting in my truck. I won't leave until you do.” Joaquin walked out with none of the purpose and vigor that had brought him inside.

  “What does this mean? What's going to happen?” Her voice quivered. Please don't separate us. She'd die if she couldn't touch Cristían and Jeremy.

  “It means I should have been honest with the clan from the start about this new ability of mine,” Cristían said. “Everything now casts too many suspicions.”

  Jeremy pulled in a breath and looked at Steven. “You can still run. Take your bags and dash out the back.”

  Steven sank to the edge of the sofa and stared at the carpet. “Over the last couple of hours, it seems I've lost the ability to give myself clothing,” he said without looking up. “I've got nowhere to go. There's only so much I can hide from my people. Once they find out I'm different…” He shook his head.

  “Can you still shift into your cat form?” Cristían asked.

  Steven closed his eyes. His mountain lion form replaced his human form in less time than it took to think about it. Then he moved back into human form. “That's still good.”

  For now went unsaid, but they were all thinking it.

  “You know my people will analyze the blood on the towels,” Cristían told him.

  “Maybe it's for the best.” Steven slumped and rubbed his eyes.

  “I'm sure Cristían has something here you can wear. You look pretty close to the same size.” Jeremy hurried toward the bedrooms.

  “I'm sorry, Steven. I was only trying to save your life. I truly had no idea…” It broke Lupe's heart to hear Cristían so sad.

  “Maybe they'll understand and be grateful you're still with them,” Lupe suggested.

  “Maybe they will.” Steven's shoulders shook with his sigh.

  “If not, you'll have a home with my clan,” Cristían said.

  Steven glanced up. “But will you?”

  Chapter Fourteen

  Cristían wrapped his hand around Lupe's calf. She was his link to sanity, and he held on for dear life. Someone had been fucking with his head all this time. None of his visions had been true. He knew he should be grateful for that, but it still didn't explain why he'd physically changed or how he could have changed Steven.

  Unless that's illusion too.

  Cristían formed a claw and raked it down his arm. It healed instantly.

  “Do you all have that ability?” Steven asked.

  The question was inevitable. Cristían was surprised it'd taken him this long to ask. “We all heal quickly, but not this quickly. You couldn't speak thoughts to each other before?”

  “No, we couldn't. We relied on instinct and body language to guide us while in cat form. But…it wasn't always like that.”

  “Here you go.” Jeremy returned with a pair of Cristían's jeans, old sneakers, and a Lakers sweatshirt that had seen better days. “This should do for now.”

  Steven muttered his thanks and started to dress.

  “You were saying?” Cristían prompted.

  “The hantavirus swept through the community where we lived. Humans began to die,” Steven said, zipping up the jeans. “We were fine and
thought we'd show good faith and do the people a service by hunting and eating the rats that carried the disease. We didn't realize eating them would affect us. Doing so never affected any other wildlife, so we thought we were safe.” He pulled the sweatshirt over his head and finger-combed his hair into place. “We weren't. The virus mutated and altered us, taking away one skill and giving us others. Our numbers had been diminished by encroaching civilization. Attempts to live with humans and help them…” He shielded his eyes too late to hide the sheen of tears. “After that, we isolated ourselves and tried to stay away from everyone.”

  “That's why you don't want anyone touching your blood.” Jeremy sank onto the sofa beside him.

  “Exactly.” Emotions in control, Steven dropped his hand and bent to put the sneakers on. “We don't want to contaminate others.”

  Dread weighted Cristían's stomach. He'd had unprotected sex with Frieda, unprotected sex with Lupe.

  “I see the horror in your eyes,” Steven told him.

  Cristían met his gaze. “It's not your fault. I'm the one to blame. I'm the one who—”

  “It seems the risk is not to you,” Steven interrupted. “When my people infiltrated your clan, we discovered by accident that our species are not compatible. Sex with your kind alters us yet again, and not in a good way. It causes madness, enhances our feral nature, and we become wilder. At first we couldn't be sure. Anger and suspicion run high in our clan, as you know.” Steven inhaled, then blew it out. “Frieda decided to test the theory for herself. Mate with one of you and see the results. Many of us were dead set against it. As before, certain people acted on their own against clan advice. She's started to exhibit those signs.” He looked around at the others. “So have some others she's mated with. Whatever you're giving our people, it's transmitted sexually. Some have abstained from sex out of fear. Others… Well, you've noted the division for yourselves.”

  Cristían had created a monster, one growing and spreading and out of control. “And yet you took my blood.”