Lost Howl

by Zenina Masters

  Amira extended her hand and stroked his muzzle, working her way up to the dome of bone between his horns. No wonder his favourite attack was the head butt. He was designed for it. He was splendid.

  He reached out and tugged at her shirt with his teeth. It was a direct hint.

  She took her shirt from his teeth and sighed. “Fine, but you asked for it.”

  She peeled off her shirt, folded it and then proceeded to her jeans. Her shoes got in the way so she kicked them off.

  The cool air swirled around her, and she removed her bra and panties, pausing for a moment while she screwed up her courage. It was easier to stand there naked than it was to show him her furry form, but she had to do it, so she did.

  With a deep breath, she went from standing on two legs to walking on four with the nails of her paws clicking on the stone.

  She could see his surprise. His ears flicked forward and back rapidly while he came to grips with her size. She matched him inch for inch, pound for pound.

  She slowly approached him and extended her muzzle to his. They touched noses, and she leaned forward to rub her cheek along his, the horn was tricky, but she managed to nuzzle his neck. She sniffed him, taking in each of his scents from nose to tail.

  He mimicked her and took her in from head to toe and every bit in between.

  Together, they walked in a peculiar yin-yang pattern, nose to tail.

  When he moved to mount her, she growled and snapped, bounding away. She was pretty sure they would fit in their shapes, but she didn’t want her first true time with him to be in a shape that she couldn’t use to hold him.

  Amira shifted back to human and stepped in close. She ran her hands along his back, using her nails to scratch him.

  His skin shuddered under her touch, and she smiled when he shifted back to human.

  Lorr took her in his arms and pressed her against him. Words were unnecessary. He stroked her back and lifted her against him. He carried her to an outcropping of rock and sat her on the edge.

  She reached between them and gripped his cock, stroking him hard and fast.

  He pried her hand away and stroked two fingers between her thighs before fitting himself to her and plunging upward. Short, hard thrusts took him into her, and she leaned back on her arms as he pounded upward.

  He bent his head and sucked and licked at her breasts while he rocked into her. The stone behind her kept her cool, but the rest of her was on fire.

  She gasped and groaned as she got close to release, but as soon as she was climbing that path, he eased off.

  She growled. “Stop teasing.”

  He laughed. “No.” He grazed the tip of one breast with his teeth.

  His hips still moved in strong motions, but they were slower now. She locked her ankles behind his back and tried to pull him into her with greater speed.

  “Please. I want it hard and fast.”

  “No.”

  She shifted and freed one hand. She cupped his jaw and lifted his head for a kiss. “Please, Lorr.”

  His pupils darkened, and he locked his lips to hers, their tongues duelling and his hips increasing their pace.

  She moaned as he surrounded her. The slap of bodies together echoed on the stone until she yelped and let out a silent howl as the coiling tension inside her snapped.

  He slammed against her until his hips jerked convulsively and he let out a long, low moan.

  When he slumped over her, she let his weight carry her to the stone and she wrapped her arms around him.

  Her body pulsed around his cock in slow spasms. Amira smiled and pressed her lips to his cheek.

  Lorr chuckled, groaned and kissed her before slumping back onto her with a sigh. They remained tangled together while the sun started to tease her skin. The cool air made the sunlight deceptively stronger than it felt.

  When he finally lifted himself, he kissed her softly. “We now have had the privacy that was lacking.”

  She laughed. “We have. Now, can we get dressed before a sunburn kicks in?”

  “If you burn, I promise to tend you most carefully.”

  “I would rather avoid the necessity.” She unlocked her arms and legs, releasing him from her grip.

  He sighed and pulled out of her. Cool air rushed in where he had been, and she winced from the shock of it.

  When he stood back, she pushed herself into a sitting position and closed her thighs. Her voice was a husky whisper. “What happens now?”

  Lorr reached for her and pulled her to her feet, holding her close. “Now, we discuss the minutia of life, where would you like to live and where we must go for work.”

  She rubbed her cheek against the light furring of hair on his chest. “I can work anywhere. I can always find a tourist who wants to learn to survive in the wild. I can learn any wilderness and lead others through it in a matter of hours.”

  “Do you take hunters?”

  Amira shook her head against his skin. “Never. I hate the smell of guns and the noise works on my last nerve.”

  He gave her a squeeze. “In that case, there might be a means by which you can continue in your work near my home. We are on the side of the mountain with a lush valley spreading outside our doors. It is a preserve, so there is no hunting allowed.”

  She grinned and bit at his chest. “As long as I can chase you around a little, I don’t mind the lack of a hunt.”

  He squeezed her again. “I am not sure I would enjoy that, but we can try.”

  “Do you think our families will get along? My mother and sister are used to me but other shifters might get them overstimulated.”

  “You have really lived all your life with humans?”

  “The better part of the last two decades.”

  “Will you tell me the whole story?”

  She nodded. “But not until we are dressed and sitting in the shade of a large tree. There is something about all this light that is unsettling. I do my best work in the shadows.”

  He stepped away from her and bent down. When he stood, he offered her her clothing and she politely got dressed, ignoring the sticky residue between her thighs.

  Once she was dressed, he put his own clothing on, tucking his shirt into the top of his jeans. She laced up her shoes and they were both ready to head down the rocks and rejoin the forest.

  Lorr held her hand on the way down the track, his fingers linked with hers. They walked until they found a small glade and settled down under one of the huge trees. Lorr tugged her until she was across his lap and leaning against his chest.

  “Now, I think it is time for personal information.” His voice rumbled through his chest.

  “You go first.”

  “Fine. My family owns a quarry, and we supply stone for art supplies and statuary. My aunt does the bookkeeping and I clamber around the rocks looking for good veins of stone with desirable colouration. My parents are retired and living down south, my sister and younger brother also work for the company, and together, we have a few hundred acres of rock and forest. We are also high ranking in the ruminant community. My parents met at one of the local mixers, and they are still in love today.

  “I have completed a business degree, am a fairly good sculptor and enjoy spending time designing new projects.”

  Amira smiled. “Well, you already know my occupation. My mother was a wolf who left her husband for a lion. They went on the run, and I was born nine months after they left. We ran for seven years, and apparently, my folks had a spell cast to make them disappear. We were driving through a rocky pass and there were suddenly wolves everywhere. Our car tipped over, I shifted into my puppy form and managed to get wedged into the hollow between the front and back seats. When everything was over, I wiggled out and both of my parents were dead and the wolves were all gone.”

  He wrapped his arms tightly around her. “It must have been horrible.”

  She nodded with her cheek scraping the fabric over his chest. “It was
n’t pleasant, but for four days, I kept the scavengers away from them and the car. I piled the bodies up away from the car and howled in the hopes of drawing someone in who could help. Dorine and Lianna were hiking and they came toward the car. They heard me and I could stop calling. I was taken to the hospital and my broken leg was fixed. The hikers found out I didn’t have any family and they took me in as a foster child. A year later, I was adopted and I stayed with them ever since.

  “They adjusted to my shifting and I went with them on every hike, understanding the human nature that drives some of them into the wild. That was when I decided that I wanted to protect the frail, little humans, and Dorine helped me get in touch with a tour company that offered me a summer job. By the time I was out of high school, I had my own small company and was making pretty good money.”

  “When did you have your first heat?”

  She blushed. “I was nineteen. I restrained myself but it was difficult. The one that struck six months later was more powerful, and after the third, I had to try and quench the fire.”

  “So, you took to humans.”

  “They were all that I had available. You work with the tools that you are given.”

  He chuckled. “I can understand that. What was the result?”

  She patted his chest. “Tastes great, less filling.”

  She had to hang on while he hooted with laughter. The nearby stone echoed and magnified the sound until mirth surrounded her. It wasn’t a bad place to be.

  Chapter Seven

  They were hiking back to the Open Heart and Lorr was sighing. “A sheep, Amira. I am a sheep. Not a goat.”

  “Then why do you have the goat-like eyes?”

  “Because my grandfather was a goat and it skips a generation. The rest of me is all ram.”

  She smiled. “What do you think of my form?”

  “It is impressive and terrifying. It explains why the wolves wanted you linked to their pack. If that form would translate into the next generation, it would be a coup for any of the packs.”

  “It is a good thing I fell for a sheep then.” She bumped him with her hip.

  He put his arm around her waist and held her tight. “I think so. So, have you adjusted to the speed with which shifters choose mates?”

  Amira snorted. “You figured that one out?”

  “You tense up every time you see a couple or when you make eye contact with me. You are not upset but you are unsure.”

  She sighed. “I am guessing that you have been socialized with humans at some point?”

  “Sure. I went to school.”

  “Then, you know that the courtship usually takes a lot longer before folks decide to pair off.”

  “With shifters, the courtship continues. While we are mates, it is our responsibility to make sure that our other half is happy and content. It is a lifelong duty that we are taking on. I do it gladly and with an open heart. Ask your beast what she thinks.”

  “She is curled in a comfy ball with her tail covering her nose right now. You tuckered her out.”

  She could swear that when she said that, he got taller.

  They moved through the trees and came out in the meadow. She didn’t want to part from him, but she was sticking to herself and her clothing. It just wasn’t fair that women had to bear the brunt of the residue. She needed a shower in the worst way.

  “So, Amira, would you like to go dancing with me?”

  She blinked. “Like…a date?”

  He grinned. “I know it seems odd, but now that we are paired up, we can actually enjoy the courtship.”

  Amira laughed. “I think I would like that. I need a shower first though.”

  “That sounds like a solid idea. Shall I meet you in the lobby?”

  They stepped into the bed and breakfast. Teebie grinned and waved at them as they headed up the stairs.

  Amira sprinted into her room, sending clothing flying before her door had swung closed. She was under the hot spray of the shower and scrubbing the sticky, musky cum from her thighs. Her skin was hot and sensitive, but she finished her shower and went through her purchases to find something suitable to wear for dinner and dancing.

  They had better be going to dinner first, because if she was hungry, he was going to find himself on the menu.

  With a set of black pumps and a little black dress covered with swinging beads, she walked down the stairs without a thought to transforming in self-defence. She was wearing an impractical dress and she couldn’t care less.

  Lorr was waiting at the bottom of the stairs with admiration in his gaze. “Even more beautiful than I remembered.”

  She blushed. “You just saw me half an hour ago.”

  He took her hand and brought it to his lips. “A moment is an eternity without you at my side.”

  “Wow. Pretty phrase.”

  “Thank you. I did a minor in modern poetry.” He kissed her hand and tucked it in the crook of his arm as he turned to escort her into the sunset just outside the door.

  She walked with him, her skirt swinging and beads clashing with every step. It was strange to be walking next to a man that she thought of as hers alone after the sex was over. With a full-body shiver, she realized that this was the start of something. She was part of a couple and it was going to take some getting used to. Tonight was a new start.

  After dinner, they went dancing at the Crossed Star. They moved together in slow and measured steps, her body pressed tightly to his. Amira looked up into Lorr’s eyes, and he was smiling down at her as he spun her around on the dance floor.

  She sighed and pressed her forehead to his chest, enjoying the warmth, the musk and the physical presence that her beast called mate.

  A sheep. She had never dreamed in a dozen years that her ideal mate would be a sheep with horns thicker than her arm and a wicked gleam in his eyes. He would enthrall her sister and her mother would blush when he trotted out his manners.

  Lorr was going to be an excellent addition to her family, but she suffered a pang of unease when she tried to think what his family would make of a wolf among the sheep. A wolf that couldn’t even howl.

  She bit her lip as she contemplated coming to him damaged. It wasn’t something she had worried about before. The humans she slept with found her husky voice sexy. It obviously didn’t bother Lorr but what would his family think?

  From what she was seeing, family was everything to the shifter community. It was the reason to produce the next generation and folks would risk their lives for the ones they loved.

  “Why are you so serious?” Lorr whispered it to her over the music.

  She smiled up at him. “Just wondering how my mother could have been forced into a mating she didn’t want, and how she got away.”

  “We will look into finding her family and seeing if they want any contact with you. From what you have said, your father’s family has already embraced you.”

  Amira smiled. “They are nice, supportive and the ones that sent me here.”

  “Then, I have much to thank them for.”

  “I don’t know how sheep normally get along with lions, but I will be proud to introduce you. I am just getting to know them myself.”

  “I will be only too happy to meet them. My family will love you.”

  She felt a trickle of relief. “You think so?”

  “Certainly. A wolf that can glide around in silence is something that they have to see. Your unique attributes will endear you to them, as they have you to me.”

  She wrinkled her nose. “I thought you were just after my tail.”

  He laughed and spun her around in a wide circle, dodging around other couples with a peculiar ease.

  She had to admit it, her sheep was sure-footed.

  They danced for hours, stopping only for water and a quick trip to the ladies’ room for Amira.

  When her feet throbbed and Lorr had made his point to all the males in the vicinity, they headed back for t
heir final night at the Open Heart. Tomorrow, they would rejoin the real world with a slight alteration to their lives. They would have to bind themselves as humans did but that was the least of their adjustments.

  Teebie greeted them, “I have put all your things in Amira’s room for the night.”

  Lorr smiled. “We will be out of your hair tomorrow.”

  Teebie grinned. “I know. Congratulations on finding each other. There is a carafe of mulled wine for you. It is going to be a cool one this evening.”

  Amira smiled. “Thank you, Teebie. You have been a tremendous help.”

  “It’s my job and, apparently, my calling. I have to say that the Crossroads feels more like home than any other place I have been. Good night to you both.”

  Their hostess bowed and left, so Lorr kept his arm around her and coaxed Amira up to the top of the steps and into her room.

  She poured two goblets out of the carafe and offered one to Lorr. “Nightcap?”

  “Thank you. Would you like some help with your zipper?” He stepped toward her, took the goblet and reached behind her to ease the zipper down to her coccyx.

  A flick of his fingers and her little black dress was completely backless.

  The room temperature dropped a few degrees and she shivered, sipping at the hot wine.

  “We need to get you under the covers. You have had a long day.”

  She giggled. “Parts of it were longer than others.”

  He sighed and coaxed her into sitting on the edge of the bed, setting his wine on the nightstand before removing her shoes one by one. He knelt in front of her and worked her feet with strong motions of his hands.

  Amira sipped at her wine and smiled as he flexed and rubbed all the knots out of her feet. “You are very good at that.”

  He laughed. “I took a reflexology short course in college. I thought it would help me with the ladies. I wasn’t wrong.”

  She sighed. “As long as I am the only woman you are planning to seduce with foot rubs in the future, I can deal with that. Your past is yours, your future is mine.”