by Unknown
She shook her head, jerking her hands more forcefully now. She wasn’t going to believe, wasn’t going to take on faith that which she couldn’t see, couldn’t witness with her own eyes. He’d been right about that. Damn it. He didn’t want to have to do it like this, but he could see she wouldn’t accept the story any other way.
“Why are you saying these things?” She fought to pull her hands from his, struggled to put space between them. “What are you trying to do here?
Werewolves, Cam? I may be a little off my game tonight, but I’m not crazy. Why are you doing this?”
“JJ…just please, please let me explain. When 308
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I’m done…just give me a chance to explain.” And then, because he’d fought the truth for too long and realized he only had one chance to do this right—one chance to truly claim his mate—he gathered her resistant form into his arms and pressed her close.
His breath skimmed her lips as his eyes bore into hers. “I love you, JJ. I need you to remember that, when you see… I need you to remember that I love you more than anything.”
His kiss was explosive, fast and hard. His lips demanded a response, would accept nothing less than honest emotion from her. Her response was immediate. She wound her arms around his neck and surrendered with a small whimper. Satisfied, filled with dread, he pulled back and set her away from him before pushing to his feet.
He kept his eyes on her as he slowly worked the buttons of his uniform loose. His gear, boots, and pants followed. Once he’d stripped down to the skin, he offered her one last resigned smile. She was so beautiful—with her big, shining blue eyes, and her damp, golden hair falling all around her shoulders, curled up there in on his sofa, wearing his shirt—
that his heart ached. “I love you, Jillian.” Then he closed his eyes, centered his focus, and gathered inside him all the power the Great Spirit had bestowed upon his ancestor so very long ago.
****
JJ leaned forward on the worn cushions, confusion tightening her brow. The taste of Cam lingered on her lips. I love you, Jillian. His words rang in her head. He loved her.
Cam loved her.
She couldn’t catch her breath. Didn’t understand why he’d told her those other things. So fantastical. None of the rest made any sense. But he loved her. She couldn’t seem to be able to get past that.
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Those long, deft fingers of his began working the row of buttons on his shirt free. Her eyes widened.
That breath she’d tried so hard to catch got tangled up somewhere in her throat. Her hungry gaze followed his movements as he stripped away the last of his clothing until he stood before her in all his naked glory. Powerful muscle bunched and rippled beneath golden skin. Skin smooth as velvet beneath her fingers, she remembered.
There, upon his chest, soared his griffin tattoo.
A symbol of vigilant strength, he’d once said. A protector of kings and treasures. Right now, it looked so very majestic, almost vibrant with life, a benediction.
A shield.
And a brand.
Desire pooled deep in her core. He was so handsome, but, more than that, he was everything she loved. Honorable, thoughtful, caring. He had become her safe haven.
He closed his eyes, a fiercely concentrated look settled on his features.
Unease clutched a cruel fist inside her chest, twisted. Something was wrong. She didn’t know what was going on here, but she didn’t like it, didn’t like this sudden sense of…of power arcing through the room, swirling around Cam. Her feet hit the cold floor, and she scooted to the edge of the sofa. She’d feel better if he just held her.
She was halfway off the sofa when he threw his head back on his shoulders. His body tensed, and he bore down, clenched his fists. The muscle in his jaw leaped. And she froze. Her mouth sagged open on a soundless whisper as her breath left her. Her head spun, her vision blurred. No…she wasn’t seeing this.
She wasn’t.
The muscles in Cam’s body seemed to be bunching and rippling faster now, 310
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stretching…reshaping. And his face…
That just wasn’t possible. Human faces weren’t supposed to do the things Cam’s face was doing… couldn’t do those things. He folded onto the floor before her eyes, his body convulsing and shivering. No, no, no, her mind screamed. Yes, her eyes argued back. She was seeing this. She just couldn’t believe her own eyes.
As fur began to…to sprout over Cam’s body, JJ
scrambled back up onto the couch, cowering there in shock.
Then he rose from the floor, braced himself on four paws, and gave one long shiver from snout to tail. Massively large. Golden fur. And the same brilliant, emerald eyes. Her wolf. He stood still, just stared at her with those eyes.
Cam’s eyes.
Oh God, oh God, oh God.
She couldn’t breath. Her chest heaved with the effort, but she just couldn’t seem to draw a sufficient supply of oxygen. Surely, that was why she was having this hallucination. She clutched a fist to her chest. Air scraped down her throat, loud and ragged, as she crawled back across the sofa.
The wolf prowled forward.
Her wolf.
Her heart ricocheted inside her chest. How could this be happening?
She’d finally snapped. That was it. She’d finally taken the old header off the deep end of insanity.
There was no other explanation.
No logical explanation.
She cringed in helpless horror as the wolf edged around the coffee table—slipping closer with every step—until he nudged her bare leg with his muzzle, a long, slow stroke from ankle to knee. Screaming, JJ vaulted over the back of the sofa like an Olympic hurdler. Her bare feet pounded across carpet, 311
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slapped against hardwood as she dashed for the front door.
He was already there, a honey-gold blur of motion, blocking her escape. She skidded to a halt a few feet shy of tumbling into the animal she’d once trusted. The animal she’d trusted as she’d trusted the man.
But they were the same, some dark corner of her mind argued.
No, no they weren’t. That was impossible.
Common sense argued against everything her eyes had witnessed.
Those haunting, expressive eyes peered hard at her, seemed to…to plead with her. He tilted his head, just so, the motion so familiar—familiar in the man, and familiar in the beast—that she pressed trembling fingers to her mouth to stifle the sob.
Spinning, she pelted down the dark hallway, searching, searching for a way out of the house. Why hadn’t she paid better attention when she’d gotten here? Why hadn’t she scouted out all the exits, noted all the possible dead ends the way she normally did?
Because she’d thought, for once, that she was safe…truly safe.
She’d been such a fool.
Stumbling blindly through a doorway on her right, JJ clattered into a straight-backed wooden chair. The scrabble of claws on hardwood followed her, close…closer. A streak of white light coursed through the skies beyond the windowpanes, flashing inside the room like a photographer’s bulb, blinding her for a moment. Thunder crashed, rattling the windows. She jerked. A shrill cry ripped from her chest.
Choking off a sob, she skirted the table, desperately searching for another way out. The scrabble of claws stuttered into the thud and slap of human feet. Cam’s breath was a hoarse, pained rasp 312
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in the darkness. “JJ, honey…please…please, don’t run.”
She whipped around, seeking the direction of his voice, sliding her feet slowly, silently backward. Her hands stretched out behind her as she edged toward the dark silhouette of a doorway. She bit her lip to keep the ragged pants of breath locked away, but her blood rushed, pounding in her ears like war drums.
It was little wonder he hadn’t found her by that relentless thumping alone.
“Honey, I wo
n’t hurt you…you know that. I would never hurt you.”
Yeah, right. The big bad wolf had probably said something very similar to Little Red and her grandma…right before he chowed down. She might be a little slow on the uptake—ok, a lot slow—but she wasn’t a complete moron. Then again, considering she’d gotten romantically involved with a…with a…
Holy crap.
Leading with fumbling hands, she navigated through the room. The night was pitch black around her as she groped her way down the cold length of a long counter. Trembling fingers fumbled over a cold metal rectangle, the long slots on top, the cold bare counter. The coffeemaker. A breadbox.
If only she could just get her hands on a weapon, something to defend herself with…a knife maybe.
She shied away from that thought as quickly as it had formed. It was too easy to be overpowered, the knife taken from her…her weapon turned against her. But, dear God, she’d give her right arm for so much as a marble rolling pin right now.
A scrape from the doorway spun her around.
She couldn’t hear anything but the ragged gasp of her own breathing. Lightning streaked across the sky once more, and she caught the crisp outline of a window…the window on the back door.
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She took three running steps.
An iron band snaked around her waist, capturing her, caging her against the solid wall of his chest. A wall of heat and muscle and smooth, bare skin. Another band of muscled flesh clamped around her, trapping her flailing arms.
The heat of his cheek pressed against her jaw.
His body was unyielding, his breathing as jagged as hers. “Baby, shh…shh. Let me explain. I can make this all make sense…just let me explain. Shh…” No way would this ever make sense. She had to get away.
Run, JJ. Run…
She struggled against him—struggled in vain—
but he held her tight. He was gentle, pressing soft, desperate kisses to her temple, murmuring soothing sounds in the back of his throat. Flashes of Jerry sailed through her mind, but his face blurred, twisted, morphed into that of the man holding her now. And then that face—a face that had become so precious to her in such a short amount of time—
shifted, morphing into the face of a wolf. No, this couldn’t be happening.
“Honey, it’s me…it’s still me. You have to believe that I would never hurt you. This doesn’t have to change anything between us…” Yet, even as she resisted, even as she fought the surrender she felt deep in her bones, her body began to betray her, her determination to falter. The hands that gentled her were familiar to her. The voice whispering in her ear was the voice of the man she’d fallen in love with. His familiar body cocooned hers, cradled her, braced her as her knees buckled beneath her. His cheek absorbed the tears that tracked down her face.
At length, her sobs faded to muffled whimpers.
Her head dropped forward, chin to chest in defeat.
Her world—the one she’d worked so hard to piece 314
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back together—had shattered. The man she’d thought she’d loved had destroyed her fragile sense of security…no, she corrected herself, no, even now she knew in her heart of hearts she loved him still.
She could feel that love burning through her, burning through the grief and the incredulity and the sense of betrayal. How could she feel this way, after seeing what she’d just seen?
It made no sense.
“That’s it…that’s it, baby. Just let me hold you.” His muscles relaxed the tiniest bit, but he kept her trapped in the loose circle of his arms. His hands moved cautiously over her, her arm, her ribs. His lips cruised across her temple, her damp cheek.
“It’s still me, JJ, the same man I’ve always been.”
Her breath seeped out on a hiss.
And the anger came.
He’d lied to her, been lying all this time. Damn him. “You…you son of a bitch…how could you…how could you keep something like this—”
“I know, I know, baby…I’m sorry. I’m so sorry…I just…” His teeth clacked together near her ear, and his breath skated over her skin as his arms tightened again. From the corner of her eye, she watched his eyelids sag closed. His chin fell to her collarbone. Guilt shadowed his face. “I should have told you, JJ…before, I should have told you. But I was so afraid you’d—”
“I’d what? I’d freak out? I’d run?” Acid laced her voice, but she just didn’t give a damned. He’d played her for a fool, probably been sitting around with his…with his wolf buddies chuckling about her gullibility.
That thought sent a fresh wave of chilly fright rippling through her blood. Oh, dear God, how many more of them were there in this town? How many 315
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others walked the streets, passing themselves off as your average human, hiding the truth of what they really were?
“I was afraid you’d leave me.” Those words, so hollow and yet so filled with anxious despair, cut through layers of anger, sliced through the panic. “I can’t help what I am…can’t help it any more than I can help the way I feel about you. I meant it when I said you rub at my soul. You do, in a way no one ever has…a way no one else ever will. You…” he shook his head, grimacing. “You’ve become my soul. I need you. If you leave me, JJ, I’m afraid I won’t survive.” His lips were hot on her neck, pressing one long, shuddering kiss against the sensitive skin beneath her ear. “Honey…I love you. I love you so damned much. Please, please give me a chance…give us a chance.”
Despite the shimmer of fear quivering deep in her belly, she went utterly still at his words. For a long, long moment, the only sound in the murky room was the furious pounding of her heart…and, deep down, she swore she could hear his as well.
“Honey…feel the arms that hold you. They’re the same arms that held you all through the night.
Feel,” he pressed his lips to her neck, to her check,
“these lips. They’re the same too.” His long fingered, calloused hand flattened against her chest, directly over her hammering heart. “Feel these hands.
They’re the same. Your heart recognizes me. It thunders inside your chest for me even now, the same as it did last night when I made love to you…made love with you. Your body knows me, JJ.
You know me. You know you’re still safe.” Damn him, but her body did know.
And her heart knew him, just as he’d said.
He loved her. No matter how much she chastised herself, told herself they were just words—
words from a man who’d lied to her—she couldn’t 316
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ignore the tingling thrill that darted through her system like an electrical charge, or the shot of warmth that followed the surge.
How was she supposed to fight this? Fight these feelings pushing through her?
As if sensing her inner battle, Cam laid his hands on her shoulders, pulled her around to face him. His palm slid up her neck until his hand cradled her cheek. His thumb smoothed across her bottom lip. His eyes glittered with a depth of emotion reaching out to singe her.
“Do you remember that day with the bear?” Memory sparked, and her eyes flared. He’d been there. The wolf— Cam—had leaped between her and that huge bear. He’d been fierce as he’d defended her from the bear, but she’d never felt the slightest bit fearful of him, she’d felt only…only protected.
“If you hadn’t come back with a gun,” his lips twitched, then his eyes grew serious, “I was prepared to fight that bear…to keep you safe. And that was before I’d…” His voice trailed away as his eyes strayed to where the backs of his fingers skimmed along the line of her neck. “You are the only one for me now, JJ.” His eyes probed hers. “You are my mate.”
Her lips parted, and she sucked in a sharp breath. “Your mate? Cam, what are you…I don’t—” He captured her wrist, drew her hand up, pressed her palm against his chest…against the griffin’s breast. “You. Are. My. Mate.
This heart beating inside my chest, it beats for you, JJ.” He released her wrist, though he continued to trace the rim of her lip with the pad of his thumb, but she couldn’t seem to pry her hand from his chest.
His flesh was so warm beneath her palm. His heartbeat was steady, strong. His skin was velvet, warm rich velvet. Her gaze followed her fingertips as they traced along his tattoo, just the way she had 317
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last night.
All those times last night…
“You are a part of me now… just as the wolf is another part of me, part of who I am.” His words drew her gaze back to his. His eyes were so clear, so green.
She reached up, her hand hesitated halfway to his cheek, and then she slipped her palm along his strong jaw. Her gaze devoured every inch of his face.
So familiar, and yet it held new definition now, for all she’d seen it do. The rough, sandpaper scrape of his whiskers along the skin on her wrist tickled. She remembered how that same tickle had raced across her breasts last night, raced across her stomach and her thighs, the small of her back as he’d kissed and nipped every inch of her, scars and all. Her fingers feathered through the golden hair at his temple.
His fur had been so soft, so warm when she’d sunk her fingers in it as they’d walked through the woods.
She cradled his face in both of her hands, remembering the way he’d rolled and tussled with her on the new spring grass after the bear had gone.
How he’d held her on his lap as he’d rocked her, kissing her face, calling her name after she’d fainted.
How he’d cradled her on his lap at Ginny’s, held her until she no longer wanted to run away…but wanted only to cling to him. He carried so many responsibilities, and yet, every second he was with her, he made her feel as if nothing were more important to him than she was. He was an amazing man.
More than a man, but still amazing.
This was Cameron Walker.
Her Cam.
Her wolf.
Sometimes what you wanted—what you needed—didn’t always make sense. Sometimes you 318
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just had to take a leap of faith. Now, it seemed, it was time for her to make her leap. There was no fear in her now, only a happy confidence…a sense of certainty that nothing had been more right. Slowly, her gaze locked on his, she lifted up to her tiptoes and gently pressed her lips to his.
