Zanthe (Primal Impulse Shifters Book 2)

by Romi Hart

  “It’s your place. Of course, you can ask me to leave if you feel like you want to.” I kissed her on top of her cute little head. “That’ll just serve to entice me into making sure that you want my company and won’t want to ask me to leave.”

  “Good. That’s what I wanted it to do.” With a pat to my ass, she went on, “Plus, I have found that you weren’t lying when you told me that once I got a taste of sex that I would continue to want it.”

  “And you haven’t gotten all of it yet,” I reminded her. “Maybe tonight we can remedy that. What do you think about that?” I had high hopes that she would want to get to the really good stuff as much as I did.

  “It depends on if you pick up some condoms before you come over or not. I won’t be taking any chances on you breeding me.” She laughed as her head shook. “The way you said that still gets to me. You’re so funny at times, Zanthe.”

  Nuzzling her hair, I inhaled her sweet scent that drove me wild. All it did was make me want to fill her belly with my seed. “I’ll get what you demand. But I would like to reiterate my approval of having offspring with you, my sweet.”

  “Offspring?” She laughed again. “I suppose it’s the scientist that you are that has you calling pregnancies and babies such odd things. You do take some getting used to.”

  “As do you.” She was by far the hardest female I’d ever had to deal with in my entire life. So many demands that came along with getting to have sex with her was foreign to me. Taking her by the chin, I pulled her lips up so I could leave a kiss on them. “But I’m enjoying every minute of getting used to you, Crina Loveanu. You are a remarkable woman and I’ve never met anyone quite like you.” It was the truth and it came out with ease.

  “Here we are,” she let me know as a small café came into view as we rounded a corner. “Pizza and pasta are on the buffet. You can get all you want to eat too. I think that would be best for a big man like you, Zanthe. You’ve yet to eat the amount I am sure you eat on a regular basis. I want you to chow down and fill up.”

  She was right. I hadn’t eaten anywhere near my usual amount since meeting her. But then again, when I was chasing a female, I rarely ate anyway. “I just haven’t been that hungry. I guess I’m more hungry for you than food of any sort.”

  “Well, you need to eat. That’s crazy to think that you can get any nutrition from me.”

  A strong scent hit me in the nose, and I stopped walking, holding onto her to make sure she stopped too. It was the same scent from the forest – the evil stench that came along with everything bad that had happened. “Tell me that you smell that.”

  “Pizza? Yeah, I smell it.” Taking a step to get us going again, she found me holding her in place. “Zanthe, what’s the deal?”

  From around the side of the café, a tall man came walking toward us. He wore a grin as he looked directly at Crina. “Afternoon, my lady. It’s a lovely day, is it not?”

  “I agree, it is a lovely day, sir.” Her broad smile welcomed the stranger to come closer.

  But the closer he got, the worse the evil smell got. I had to fight not to hold my nose. “We should get inside, baby.”

  “Oh, are you having the Italian buffet they have here?” the man asked with a flourish of his hand as he directed us to the entrance. “I highly recommend it. I must warn you that you will leave with a fair amount of garlic on your breaths. Not a thing young lovers care for.”

  How does he know that we’re young lovers?

  Crina laughed as she shook her head. “We’ll be fine. We might have to brush our teeth before our next smooch, but we’ll be fine.”

  I couldn’t say much as the smell had made my gag reflex come on strong. Looking behind me, I tried to pinpoint the direction the scent came from and couldn’t manage to do that. If I’d been in my bear form, I was sure that I could track it down. But that wasn’t an option at the moment.

  “It’s nice to see two people in love,” the very tall man said. He ran one hand through his jet-black hair, and I noticed that his fingers were exceptionally long and so were his nails which were painted black.

  Crina giggled as she smacked me in the chest. “Did you hear that, Zanthe, he thinks we look like we’re in love?” She turned her attention back to the man. “We’ve just met very recently. But it’s nice to hear that we look happy.”

  “Recently?” he asked as if it was his business at all. “Amazing how quickly chemistry between two beings can work, isn’t it?”

  “It is,” Crina agreed. “I wouldn’t have ever believed it if I wasn’t experiencing it.” Extending her hand, she went on, “I’m Crina Loveanu, a tour guide at Apuseni Nature Park. I haven’t seen you around here before. You should make a visit to the park. It’s one of those must-see places.”

  He shook her hand as he introduced himself, “I am Codut. And I’ve been to the park recently. I didn’t take a tour with a guide but gave myself one. I’m a bit of a loner.”

  Finally, I found I could speak as he’d said something I had to know, “How long have you been around here, Codut?”

  Crina jabbed me in the ribs. “Introduce yourself properly.”

  “Oh, sorry.” I wasn’t sorry at all, but I didn’t want a lecture on manners from Crina. “I’m Zanthe. A scientist who’s working at the park on researching the brown bear population. My brother and I stay in a cave in the park to get the best information on the creatures. I’m just curious to know if you’ve noticed any odd things while you were going on your own tour.”

  “I can’t say that I have,” he said as he tapped rather elongated chin. “But then again, I’m not from around here to know what’s normal and what’s not.”

  “Where do you call home. Codut?” Crina asked.

  “A place that is far, far away,” came his evasive answer. “But I am hoping that soon enough I will be around here much more often. I’m currently looking to acquire some property around here.”

  “I don’t believe you will find any property that’s for sale in this particular area. It’s all government-owned,” she let him know.

  “Yes, that’s not an issue for me.”

  I had no idea what he meant by that and truly didn’t care. All I cared about was getting to the bottom of the bad smell that continued to penetrate my senses. “We should get inside and eat. My girl has to get back to work soon.”

  “Of course,” he said as he bowed a bit. “Such a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Crina Loveanu.” He looked at me with a grin that bothered me as it was rather toothy. “And it’s nice to meet you too, Zanthe. I can see that you two will be busy with your budding new romance. Have fun with that.” He cocked his head to one side. “And don’t let anyone rush you. New love doesn’t come along often. Take your time and immerse yourselves in it. Make these times you have building your love turn into lasting memories that the two of you can treasure for eternity.”

  “How sweet,” Crina gushed.

  I, however, didn’t gush at all as I thought his use of the word, eternity, didn’t make much sense for a human to say. Mainly because humans didn’t have eternity to spend together, while shifter did.

  Urging her to get inside, I pulled the door open. “Let’s get to our lunch, baby.”

  She waved at the man. “Bye. Hope to see you around.”

  He waved too. “I’m sure you and your beau will be too busy with each other to see much of anyone.”

  I really didn’t like how focused he was on our relationship. “Yeah. Bye.” Pushing Crina inside, I was glad to get the door closed behind us.

  Even though the smell still hung around in my nostrils, I didn’t continue to get fresh wisps of the stench while inside the café. The garlic soon overwhelmed everything else and I found my appetite had come back.

  After making our first plates, Crina and I sat at a small table for two. As I took an enormous bite of pizza, she nibbled on some pasta. “It’s strange how that man didn’t tell us his last name.”

  I hadn’t even noticed that about h
im. There were so many other things to notice about the man. His way above average height for one. His really long fingers and black nails for another. His long face and the way his skin was on the grey side was another thing that I’d paid particular attention to.

  But then again, I also never gave anyone a last name as I didn’t have one. “I don’t see anything strange about that.” I finished off the slice of pizza with the second bite.

  “You wouldn’t,” she mused. “You let a night of passion go into the trash just not to tell me your last name. But you’re an exceptionally tenacious man, Zanthe. That man didn’t seem anywhere near as stubborn as you can be.”

  “Like you know.” Stabbing a huge portion of pasta, I ate it, finding my belly felt almost entirely empty. “Damn, I’m hungry.”

  “Glad we came to a buffet,” she said with a grin. “You’ve been staving yourself with your stubborn attraction to me. See what I mean about you and your tenacity?”

  “All I know for sure is that I am going to load up on carbs so we can go straight home after you get done with work. Once I get you back to your place, I’m going to strip you naked then…”

  She held up her hand as she turned her head from side to side, making me notice the people who not only sat nearby but also looked at me with slack jaws. “Careful, honey.”

  Gulping down the bite I’d taken, I felt a bit embarrassed. “Sorry, folks.”

  Being part animal can be so hard sometimes.

  The human in me could barely control the bear in me at times. As an animal, the mating instinct would take over. The human in me had to struggle to maintain some semblance of humanity.

  If it weren’t for my human side, I would’ve just grabbed Crina up, took her to my cave, and kept her there – screwing her incessantly – until I could smell that a productive breeding had occurred.

  Thank goodness for my human side.

  The knowledge that my bear would get some of what he wanted that night did a lot to control the sexual appetite he had. He was happy enough to lie back and relax until the time came for him to get what he was after. And I would eat and eat until I’d filled up, making much-needed energy for what would occur later.

  Leaning forward, Crina whispered, “I’m just really glad that I’m off for the next two days.” She took a huge bite of pizza. “I’ll fill up too so that we don’t have to get out of bed too often.”

  Two days?

  The bear inside of me took notice of that. “I didn’t know we had that much time. I’ll really have to load up on my carbs now.”

  She took a huge bite as she nodded.

  At least we’re both on the same page!

  14

  Crina

  With the next couple of days off, I’d sent Zanthe to get himself some condoms for what I expected to be a phenomenal time. I wanted a couple of hours to myself to preen and primp my body. I wanted to be in top shape and hairless for the special occasion of losing my virginity.

  Soaking in a steaming hot tub while drinking a glass of red wine, I wanted to embrace every last moment of my near-innocence. Zanthe had rid me of most of it. Now there was just the one thing left to get rid of. My intact hymen.

  That one body part was all that was left that made me a virgin. And soon he would rip it asunder as he plunged his thick, long, rather enormous cock into my body.

  A shiver of fear ran through me with the thought.

  Maybe it might not have been so scary if I’d never seen the massive male appendage Zanthe sported. But then again, if he would’ve sprung that on me at the last minute, I might not have gone through with it.

  Reaching down between my legs, I placed my finger on my virgin hole and found it to be about the same circumference as my middle finger. Pulling it back up to look at it, I found the size intimidating.

  “I am this size.” I made a fist and thought it to be about the same circumference as Zanthe’s cock. “And this is what he is going to shove into me.” Looking at the glass of wine that sat on the edge of the tub and the bottle of wine that sat on the floor, I made an executive decision to fill my glass up and consume the entire bottle before he got to my home.

  Chugging the remainder of the wine in my glass, I hiccupped as I put it back down. Tipsy would be better than sober for what I was about to take on.

  Just as I was about to settle in for an even longer bath, accompanied by massive amounts of wine, I heard banging on the door to my apartment, followed by shouting, “Crina, let me in. I’m here. It’s Zanthe.”

  Like I didn’t know it was his loud voice shouting at me through two closed doors. “Coming!” Getting out of the tub, I wrapped myself in a towel, picked up my glass, refilling it, then went to let him in, fully intending on getting back into the bath to finish what I’d started.

  As I opened the door, he barreled inside, grabbing me up in his arms and spilling the majority of wine out of my glass. “I’m on fire for you, baby. I couldn’t wait any longer.” His mouth crashed onto mine as he kicked the door shut before yanking the towel off my body.

  Even with all the attention he gave me, I noticed one very important thing. He’d come in emptyhanded.

  Wrenching my mouth away from his, I put both hands against his chest that I could feel his heart pounding through. “Nice to see you too, handsome. But I’m not seeing a bag in your big hands.”

  “A bag?” He tried to kiss me again.

  But I turned my head as I smacked him in the chest. “Stop it, silly. You know that you were supposed to stop by a store and buy some protection for us.”

  “Oh, that. No big deal.” He kissed a line up my neck, then nibbled a spot behind my ear that threatened to drive me crazy with lust.

  “Um, very big deal.” I wanted to get to the greater part of what we’d been doing. But that wasn’t going to happen without the necessary birth control. “Zanthe, if we’re going to actually have sex – which I really would like to do – then we need condoms.”

  “I’ve heard that women never get pregnant the first time they have sex,” he stated as if it were a fact. “So, we’re good. Anyway, I want to feel you when we have sex. The condom will get in the way of that. You do want me to have as great an experience as you do, right?”

  Can you say selfish?

  “First of all, women can get pregnant from the first time of having sex. I have no idea where or who you heard that from, but that is a false statement.” I found it a bit hard to keep my mind straight as he kissed my neck with such desire that it made me wet. But wet or not, I wasn’t a fool. And I wasn’t about to play Russian Roulette with my body. “So, go back out and get a box of condoms. I’ve got to get back into the tub and shave anyway.”

  Not letting me go, he picked my feet up off the floor and began moving toward my bed. “Your body feels fine to me. No need to shave. And we don’t need the condoms. Trust me, baby.”

  Pressing my hands against his chest, I kicked my feet to let him know that I wasn’t going to just shut up and let him have things his way. This was my body we were talking about after all. “Zanthe put me down!”

  “Baby, it’s okay.” He kept moving toward the bed, then lay me down on it. Gazing at my naked body, he whispered, “I want you to have my baby.”

  Like a shot of pure electricity had been forced into my veins, I jumped up, standing on the bed. “You are crazy!”

  “No, I’m not,” he said as if it were true. “You and I are going to be together forever. We might as well start trying to make a baby right now. How romantic will it be to look back and know that from the moment I took your virginity that you and I were trying to make a baby come out of the sex we had?”

  “Romantic?” He was absolutely insane. “How romantic is getting up every two hours to feed and change a crying infant? How romantic is it to have morning sickness for months? How romantic is it to have to get up and go to work after a night like that? Let me tell you how romantic that is – not at all!”

  “I’ll take care of you, baby. You kno
w I will.” He moved toward me as if he was going to pick me up again.

  I grabbed a pillow and held it up, ready to pound him with it. “Stop right there! I don’t want you to take care of me. I want to take care of myself. And I don’t want to have a baby any time soon. Even if we are together forever, which you have no idea that we will be as we’ve only just met. And to be honest, I can already see that you have some control issues that would need to be resolved before I would commit to you anyway. So, there is no reason to think that I would want to have your baby anytime soon.”

  “You are adorable when you think that you’re in control of this. It’s out of our hands now. It’s meant to be. You should realize that already. I’m in it for the long haul, Crina. I mean that. It’s you and me – forever,” he sang.

  “No.” I had no idea what else to say to the deranged man. “No way in hell, Zanthe. You won’t even wear a condom when I am telling you that I will have sex with you no other way. So, if you think that just because you say that you’re in it for the long haul that I am in it for that amount of time to, then you are wrong. Very, very wrong.”

  Even with all I’d said, he still had the nerve to wear a grin. Unbuttoning his shirt, he nodded. “Daddy knows what his little momma needs. Let me kiss you all over, lick you into submission, then you and I can get to what we both want. Real sex. Penetration, baby. All of it. You have no idea how good you’re about to feel.”

  “I’m not feeling anything. This was the stupidest idea I have ever had. I don’t know what got into me to think that I was going to give you my virginity. You obviously only want me for sex.”

  “No, that’s not true. I want you for you. And I want to have babies with you.” He just wouldn’t let the baby thing go even though he saw how I was reacting to that.

  And that told me that something was very wrong with him. “Out.”