“Who’s her aunt?”
“A member of the Shifter Council.”
“Oh. Good lord.” The seven member council oversaw all matters concerning the various werewolf packs in Florida. Each area of the state had a representative. Every state had a council, and their word superseded that of the Alpha, if they felt that an Alpha was acting against the interests of his pack.
“Don’t worry about it. The real issue is…what happened between us last night.” He was breathing hard, and Ginger stared at him. He looked disheveled, his hair rumpled and a twig caught in his hair. She reached out and plucked it from his hair without thinking, and he let out a low groan at the feel of her fingers.
“Did you shift and run in the woods before you came here?” she asked him.
He rubbed at his face with one hand, the other hand clenching the wheel so tightly that his knuckles were white.
“I had to,” he groaned. “I ran for hours. I felt like I was burning up. Like I was going to explode.”
She stared at him. “What, exactly, is going on with you?”
“Last night, at the club…I scared myself.”
“You scared me too. And that wolf who made a pass at me outside the club.”
His eyes blazed angrily at the mention of it, and he took a deep breath, and then pulled over to the side of the road. “I’ve never reacted like that before with anyone. I’ve taken plenty of women to that club before, and I didn’t care who else played with them. Who they fooled around with. But you…the thought of any other wolf laying his paws on you, any man touching you…it literally made me crazy.”
Ginger’s heart leaped to her throat, choking her. Loch wanted her. And he didn’t want any other man to even come near her.
“I wasn’t going to fool around with anyone else,” Ginger said. “I only want you.” As soon as she said it, she bit her lip. She hadn’t even realized she was going to say it, hadn’t even realized that she meant it, until she heard herself saying those words.
“I mean…”
He took another deep breath, clearly struggling for control. “We need to go out to the dig site right now and deal with the missing professor. Can we talk about it after that? Please?” The normally dominant Alpha was begging her, in a low, sexy growl.
Ginger’s panties suddenly were soaked with the juices of her desire. She squirmed in her seat and bit her lip. She could feel desire pulsing between her legs and jolting through her body.
“Yes,” she said huskily. “We can talk about it whenever you want.”
“Good God, woman. You have no idea the effect you have on me. Can you try not to talk in that sexy voice?”
“Umm…” she lowered her voice to a comical bass pitch. “Is that better?”
He threw back his head and laughed. “Much better.”
They drove to the dig site, where several patrol cars were parked. Jax was standing with a group of deputies, glaring at Montgomery. Montgomery was pacing back and forth like an angry cat. A dozen other panther shifters were milling about, and they were clearly angry.
“Sheriff,” Jax said. “There are ATV tracks leading from the site into the woods. We were waiting for you before we follow the tracks.”
The sheriff nodded. He glanced at Montgomery. “We’d appreciate if you’d accompany us, Montgomery. To ensure that we don’t accidentally encroach on your territory.”
Jax glowered, looking as if he were about to argue, but then his shoulders sank in defeat and he shrugged angrily. “Fine,” he muttered.
“I’ll be back,” the sheriff said to Ginger. “Wait here for me.” She nodded her assent.
The men all strode to the edge of the wood, and then shed their clothes, leaving them in piles. She watched as they shifted, sinking down on all fours, snouts lengthening, fur sprouting, tails lashing, and then dashed into the woods.
The students were milling around uncertainly, not sure what to do. Some of them sat inside a tent they’d set up, drinking bottles of water and muttering among themselves.
About half an hour later, the shifters returned, shifting quickly and changing back into their clothes. The panther shifters left immediately, headed into the woods, and the sheriff and his deputies trotted over to where Ginger sat inside the tent with the students.
“The ATV tracks lead into panther nation territory,” Loch said. “Unfortunately we have no authority there.”
The students let out a chorus of protest. “We need to find the professor!” “They murdered him!” “That’s not fair!”
“I’m going to go back to speak to Montgomery tomorrow to see if I can convince him to let us come onto their territory, after he’s had a chance to calm down,” Loch said, shooting Jax a dark look. Jax scowled at the ground. Clearly, Jax had exchanged words with the leader of the Panther Nation, and clearly, it had not been well received.
“Does he admit they murdered him?” Brenda’s eyes were glittering with tears.
“No. He denies any knowledge of the professor’s whereabouts. He says he was unaware that the professor came onto their territory until just now, when we saw that the ATV tracks led there.”
“So you’re going to just give up?” Tallulah wailed.
“No, we’re not going to just give up. My men are going to need to take statements from all of you. I’m also going to have to go through the professor’s room to see if there’s any indication as to why he’d go into Panther territory when he knew the consequences,” Loch continued. “And if I need to, I can contact the Panther’s shifter council to see if they’ll intervene. But we’re not there yet. Montgomery can be reasoned with as long as he’s approached respectfully.” He fixed Jax with a hard look before turning away to head back to his patrol car.
It was hours before Loch had finished taking statements and searching the professor’s room.
Ginger went back to the sheriff’s office and finished up the filing, while the sheriff sat in his office and fielded phone calls from North Florida University where the professor taught, family members, the mayor, the town’s newspaper reporter, and others.
Loch confided in Ginger that the last time the professor had used his phone had been about half an hour after he left the boarding house…and it had been right outside the Panther Nation’s territory. According to cell phone tower signals, the person who answered the phone had been inside the Panther Nation.
Unfortunately, the person he’d called had used a disposable cell phone that was untraceable. Neither the professor’s cell phone, nor the person he’d called, were returning any signals now.
In the professor’s room, in a hidden compartment in his suitcase, they’d found a research paper about a feared shaman who’d ruled the panther nation several centuries ago, and who had practiced magic so dark that his own people had risen up against him and assassinated him.
“The Shaman, who was called River Runs Red, had turned to virgin sacrifice and black magic. He used that magic to create what were believed to be icons of great power and great evil,” Loch told Ginger. “There were some sketches included in the research paper, showing what the icons are believed to look like.”
“Those kind of icons would be very valuable, wouldn’t they? And terribly dangerous if they got in the wrong hands?” Ginger said.
The sheriff’s expression turned somber.
“What?” she asked.
“There have always been rumors that those icons can’t be destroyed, that they still exist deep within panther territory, and that’s why they’re so territorial, why they never let outsiders on their lands. They believe that if anyone were to get their hands on those icons, it would unleash unspeakable evil.”
Something about the way he said it sent a cold shiver rolling down her spine.
“But there’s no way the professor could get to them. He’d have to know that. It would be absolute suicide for him to even attempt it.” He shook his head.
“The professor is far from suicidal,” Ginger agreed. “And he knew how the
panthers felt about him, and about any attempts to remove their ancestral icons from the territory. But…it sounds as if you thought he had an inside man.”
“We do. But how would an inside man get him past all of the other panthers? It still doesn’t make sense.”
He ran his hands wearily over his face. “Okay. The day’s over. Let’s go for a run. I need to clear my head and then we can talk.”
They drove outside of town, and the sheriff pulled into a small wooded cove by the side of the road. Loch got out of the car and Ginger followed suit, shutting the patrol car door.
He walked over to stand next to her, and she felt that familiar tingling sensation rolling over her, the pulse of desire that throbbed inside her with each heartbeat. “Talk to me,” Ginger said.
“Ever since the first time I laid eyes on you, I wanted to claim you as mine,” Loch told her. “That’s why I went all caveman on you at the Hoot Owl. I’ve been trying to fight the urge to grab you and rip your clothes off every second that I’m alone with you.”
Ginger stared at him in amazement. Several long seconds ticked by as she tried to process what he was saying.
“Why me?” she asked finally.
“Why? Because you’re beautiful, and smart, and kind, and sexy, and because you give me a hard time when nobody else dares too, and because you’re my fated mate.”
“I…what? You believe in that? In the city, we think that’s kind of a myth.”
“Of course we believe in that,” Loch said. “It’s true. My grandmother was with her fated mate for seventy years until he passed away, God rest his soul. My mother and my father, too. They live north of here; you’ll meet them.”
“But…I just met you.”
“Don’t you feel it too?” He took her hand in his, his eyes pleading. The feeling of his skin brushing against hers set her senses on fire, and she bit her lip, stifling a whimper.
“I don’t know what I feel. Every time I’m near you, I tingle all over and I can barely concentrate and everything I say sounds stupid and…” she was blushing and staring at the ground.
“Have you ever felt that way about anyone else?”
“Never.”
“Listen, this isn’t the olden days where the Alpha drags his fated mate off to his homestead the second he scents her, and there’s a shotgun marriage on the spot,” Loch assured her. “Although, let me tell you, those marriages always lasted. That’s how my grandfather claimed my grandmother, in fact.”
“What?” Ginger’s eyes widened in surprise.
“This is the 21st century. I get that. We can take all the time you need. And there’ll be courting. Plenty of courting.” His voice dropped to a low growl. “But no other men.”
“And no other women!” she protested, and then wanted to smack herself. Was she agreeing to this? Had she gone completely crazy?
“Of course, no other women.” At her skeptical look he added, “I know my reputation. But I’ve literally never been serious with any other woman before I met you. And I’ve never lied to a woman. All those women that I was with…it was like I was trying to fill a void while I was looking for the one.”
“Oh.” Her eyes were round with wonder.
“Let’s run,” he said.
Chapter Ten
Quickly, they both shed their clothing and shifted.
Ginger’s senses blazed to life, the glorious scents and sounds of the forest swirling around her as they dashed through the woods. She could smell rich loamy earth and the scents of every kind of tree and the berries on bushes, and the sun warmed her fur as she followed Loch.
He weaved through the trees, leaping over bushes and logs, and they ran and ran until they finally came to stop by a stream bed. Loch bent over the bank and dipped his head to drink, and Ginger did too, their long pink tongues curling the ice cold water into their mouths. There they both shifted again, and stood naked on a bed of moss by the running water.
With a growl, Loch swept Ginger into his arms as if she were light as a feather, and then set her down gently on the moss bed. He grabbed her wrists and pinned her arms above her head, sliding on top of her. His muscular body was covered with a sheen of sweat, and he was breathing hard.
“Just so we’re clear…in bed, I’m always the dominant.” His voice rumbled out, deep and sexy.
“I gathered that,” she said, between panting breaths. “I like it.”
He moved down, his lips pressing against hers, nibbling at her lower lip, and she let out a whimper of pleasure. Then his mouth moved on hers, and her lips parted, accepting him. His kiss was hungry and demanding, his tongue probing, exploring.
The weight of his body felt delicious. Everywhere his skin touched hers, she could feel her nerves sizzling. The thickness of his erection pressed between her legs and she moaned and parted her thighs.
He began kissing her neck, nipping at it hard enough to make her gasp with delight, then running his tongue over the tingling skin in long, slow laps.
He moved down to her breasts, kissing them and cupping them in his hands, and then sucked her swollen, sensitive nipple into his mouth and teased it with his teeth.
“Ohhhhh,” she wailed. “Yesss….like that…” He scraped his teeth across it and she gasped her pleasure. He moved to her other breast, tongue swirling in circles around the pink circle of her aureole, and then closed his mouth around her nipple and sucked hard.
Hot waves of pleasure snaked through her, and she tangled her fingers in his silky curls, caressing him. She could feel the warm rays of the sun beating down on them, and the trilling of birds was like a symphony.
When he moved down lower to kiss her rounded belly, she flinched and tried to move away. He grabbed her hands and pinned them by her side.
“Stop,” he growled. “I love your curves. They’re what make you a woman. Let me show you.” His tongue swirled in circles on her stomach and dipped into her navel, and her breathing quickened, coming in short, sharp pants.
He slid down further, spreading her fleshy thighs apart with his hands, and kissing and nipping at the curves of her flesh.
Then he was between her legs, caressing the dewy wet petals of her pussy, spreading them open. “Ohhhh,” she wailed. “My God. Like that. Just like that.”
She would have done anything for him. The hot waves of pleasure felt like rivers of lava now, burning her with unbearable ecstasy. When he sucked the swollen rosebud of her clitoris into his mouth and scraped his teeth over it, she screamed aloud, in pleasure so intense she thought she’d die.
Loch was merciless, his hands spreading her lips wide apart and his mouth sucking hard, teasing, nipping, until she could bear it no longer.
She felt as if the earth fell away from her and she writhed beneath him, shuddering violently with the force of her orgasm. She lost all sense of time and place, vaguely feeling him sliding up on top of her and kissing her neck as he positioned himself on top of her.
“Inside me,” she moaned. “I want you inside me.”
“Like this, baby?”
Loch moved his hips, and the head of his cock nudged between the wet pink petals of her pussy.
She wailed, moving to accept him, and he forced his way into her tight tunnel, sliding in several inches.
“Harder,” she gasped.
“Shameless hussy.” He thrust again, deep inside her, and she grabbed his butt cheeks with both hands, fingers sinking into those perfect, muscular globes.
“Oh my God, you’re so tight. Yes,” he groaned, and began moving his hips, pistoning into her rhythmically. He’d pull back, almost sliding out of her, and she’d moan with anticipated loss, and pull him back in.
His hips moved faster and faster, and his breath was harsh and quick, searing her ear as he groaned in pleasure.
She felt that heat inside her again, curling inside her pelvis, bunching up so tightly that it was as painful as it was pleasurable, and then she could hold back no longer, and she wrapped her legs around him and pinne
d him in place, plunged deep inside her.
The ball of heat shattered and sent shards of ecstasy shooting through her body. She let out a long, low moan and felt the sheath of her muscles clenching convulsively, clamping hard on his cock, and with a groan of pleasure he exploded deep inside her, his body shuddering as he joined her in climax.
Afterwards, when his breathing had slowed and his body had stilled, he cupped her face in his hand and turned her head so she was staring up into his eyes. His beautiful brown eyes, which were glowing amber with passion.
“Say you’re mine,” he commanded.
“I’m yours,” she whispered, heart beating a thousand miles a minute.
He nipped at her lower lip.
“Say I’m the only one for you.” He growled it into her mouth, and she let out a little moan of pleasure.
“You’re the only one for me.”
“And you for me.” He gathered her into his arms, crushing her up against him.
“I feel…That burning inside me, that madness that took over me, it’s…better. It’s lessening. As long as I have you with me, I’m all right,” he rasped.
“I’m with you,” she promised.
She felt him relaxing, and gradually his breathing slowed until it matched hers, and they were breathing in rhythm.
“We should get back,” she sighed, glancing at the sun sinking below the horizon. “The professor…everyone will be waiting and wondering. I wish we could stay out here forever.”
“We have forever,” he whispered in her ear, his breath tickling her. “We’ll have all the time in the world.”
He reluctantly let go, sliding off her.
The two of them shifted again and dashed back through the woods, the cooling night air delicious in their fur. When they reached Loch’s parked patrol car, they quickly shifted back and changed into their clothing.
As they pulled to a stop in front of the boarding house, Loch suddenly turned to Ginger. “Come spend the night with me,” he pleaded.
Fated Mates: The Alpha Shifter Boxed Set (12 Book Bundle) (Insatiable Reads) Page 147
