by Viola Rivard
Cain stroked her hair, his own hand shaking. “We will get you new ones.”
He felt her nod, accepting his answer. She murmured something into his chest. Cain caught the word “cold” but nothing else. He did not ask her to repeat herself, but instead just pulled her tighter into his embrace. It had been a long time since he had felt so many emotions all at once. He did not know what the next day or even the next hour would bring, but in that moment, she was his, and he was not letting her go.
CHAPTER NINE
“Is this your den?” Sarah asked as Cain set her down on the floor. The ground beneath her was unusually soft, and after running her hands over it, she realized it was some sort of pelt.
Cain had been carrying her for a long time, long enough for the sun to begin to sink, leaving streaks of pink, gold, and red across the sky. Without her glasses, the Appalachian sunset looked like an expansive watercolor, majestic, but undefined.
As the sun had slipped behind the mountains, they too had slipped, into a small cave, the entrance to which was obscured by a blanket of dormant overgrowth. It was cold inside, but not nearly as cold as it had been outside. Cain had carried her down a narrow passageway, his booted footsteps echoing off the stone walls.
“No,” he replied, and she was relieved to hear the familiar hint of humor in his tone. His face had been grave since they left the river, and nothing she’d thought of to say had made a crack in his façade.
She sat up on her elbow. “Where are we, then?”
The room was too dark for her to even see her own hand, let alone make out any of her surroundings. She heard the sound of Cain rifling through his bag, and then the striking of a match. Orange light emanated from the small flame, and Sarah watched as he lowered the match to a thatch of dried brush, positioned under a small gathering of branches. He leaned down to blow gently on the young flame, until it gained traction, overtaking the branches and growing into a crackling fire.
“This place is…” He trailed off, and Sarah could see him looking around the room, a strange expression on his face. “It is where members of a pack can go for privacy.”
She joined him in his perusal of the room. It was smaller than the cave they’d stayed in their first night together, no bigger than her bedroom back home. The only thing in the room besides the fire pit was a stack of neatly folded furs in one corner. The walls seemed to glitter, and at first she thought that there was water trickling down them. Crawling to the nearest, she ran her hand over the gray stone. Flecks of a shimmering stone were imbedded in the walls, making them sparkle in the firelight.
“It’s beautiful,” she whispered. She heard Cain come up behind her, and she tilted her head up to look at him.
“If I shift, we can reach my den in an hour,” he told her. “But first I want to get you dry.”
Sarah looked down at her damp clothes. She’d been vaguely aware of the fact that her jacket and shirt had been torn, but now her face heated at the realization that her bra, and more embarrassingly, her flabby stomach, were on full display.
“Get undressed,” Cain ordered, going over to the pile of furs. He handed one to her, a large russet hide. “You can cover yourself with this.”
Sarah accepted the fur, but made no move to undress. After a moment of staring at her, Cain took the hint. He pressed his lips together in disapproval, but turned away.
As she started peeling off her clothes, Cain began undressing as well. She fumbled with her bra as he removed his shirt. She was close enough to see the sharp panels in his powerful back, and the large muscles of his shoulders. There were scars on his back, lots of them, but they only served to make him look more masculine, something she hadn’t known was possible.
When he began working at the button of his jeans, Sarah knew she should look away. It was the respectful, decent thing to do. But she couldn’t.
She had never been much of a “butt girl”. She liked nice faces, thick hair, and she had a soft spot for muscular abs. Cain had all of those things, and he also had a gorgeous ass. There were so many words she could use to describe it: firm, shapely, taut and toned. She was nearly overcome with the desire to touch and squeeze him, and had to clench her hands into tight fists.
He kicked his pants aside and leaned over to grab one of the furs. Sarah turned sharply on her heel, her face burning with shame and her nether regions pulsing with desire. She finished undressing and laid her clothes out on the floor before throwing the fur over her shoulders.
Sitting down beside the fire, she mumbled, “All set.”
Cain came to sit beside her, and she couldn’t help but wonder if he was baiting her. He’d wrapped the black fur around his hips, leaving his chiseled chest uncovered and looking nothing short of awe-inspiring in the firelight.
Sarah glowered at him. Crankily, she asked, “Aren’t you cold?”
Cain gave her what she thought was a knowing look. “My body retains heat better than a human’s.”
She averted her eyes to stare into the fire. Looking at him in all his muscular glory made her feel physically ill. She didn’t know it was possible to want something so badly that it made you sick with lust, and she was seriously starting to doubt all of her reasons for rebuffing him. Falling and nearly drowning had put things into perspective.
She heard a clicking noise, and then caught movement from the corner of her eye. Cain handed her a canister of water. She held up her hand.
“No thanks. I’ve had enough water for the day.”
He dropped it in her lap and unfolded his other hand to reveal two white capsules. “I do not want you to get sick.”
“I feel fine,” she said, but accepted them anyway. She was already enough of a burden on him without being sick. “What are they?”
Cain shrugged, tossing her the bottle. Tylenol. “Just making sure you’re not trying to drug me,” she said, smiling at him.
“Why would I drug you?”
“Sometimes men drug women so that they can sleep with them,” she explained, feeling a little embarrassed. She popped the pills into her mouth and took a swig of the water.
Cain scoffed. “I would not need to drug you to sleep with you.”
Sarah nearly choked on the water. She gagged, but forced it down. “I didn’t mean literally sleep with,” she said, swiping the water from her lips. “I meant sex.”
“I know what you meant,” he said. He was leaning back on one arm now, his chest glowing. She swallowed hard, trying to focus on his face.
“Are you saying you would force me?” Sarah knew that she was playing with fire.
Cain gave her a slow grin. “You know that is not what I meant.”
She schooled her expression into impassivity before meeting his eyes. They were smoldering, liquid gold. She asked, “If it’s so easy to seduce me, then why did you give up?”
His grin widened, until she could see one of his sharp, white canines. “Why do you assume that I gave up?”
Sarah hadn’t realized that her body had been poised on a tipping point. At Cain’s words and the implication within them, her nerve endings fired to life. Her pulse quickened and her body tingled and then throbbed. She saw his nostrils flare, and knew that he could smell it. Part of her was embarrassed, but another part of her, a part of her that was growing by the second, was excited.
She tried to think of something clever to say, but her thoughts splintered under the weight of his hungry gaze. Not even sure what she wanted from him, she slipped her hand out from beneath her fur and tentatively placed it on his thigh. She looked down at her hand resting on the black fur, because it was easier than looking at his face.
“Nothing interesting ever happens to me,” she said softly. “I always play by the rules and take the path of least resistance.” Sarah laughed in spite of herself. “The bravest thing I’ve ever done was try to drive through these stupid mountains, and that’s only because I was too broke to pay the highway tolls.”
Cain placed his hand over hers, coveri
ng it. She closed her eyes and breathed deeply, marshalling her courage before looking up at him. His eyes still blazed with the same intensity as before, but there was a softness in them now.
His hand trailed up the length of her arm, over her shoulders, and up the curve of her neck to cup her face. Her stomach knotted as he gently pushed her down onto the ground. He moved to cover her body with his, caging her in with his powerful arms.
“I do not want to hurt you,” he said.
In a small voice, she said, “I told you before, I’m not a virgin.”
Cain shook his head. “Tomorrow I am returning to my pack, and I am going to have you taken to the nearest town.” He lowered his head so that their noses brushed. “I want you.” His hot breath clung to her face. “I want you more than I have wanted a female in a very long time. But I do not want to hurt you.”
Her eyes flooded with understanding, and she blinked back tears. They were from two different worlds. Letting him go would be one of the hardest things she’d ever done, but denying him again would be harder. Too hard. It had little to do with the blatant desire in his gaze, or the way her body ached beneath him. Sarah knew, unequivocally, that if she didn’t have him tonight, she would regret it for the rest of her life. No matter how much it hurt later, she needed him now.
Sarah reached up, letting the fur around her fall back, and hooked her arms around Cain’s neck. Against his lips, she said, “You have no idea what hurts me.”
CHAPTER TEN
Cain was kissing her lips, and they were every bit as soft and succulent as they had been in his dreams—and there had been many dreams. It seemed that every time he closed his eyes she was there. With a brush of her lips and her gentle touch, she would promise to fulfill his every need, yet he would always wake feeling hard and hollow.
Not tonight.
Tonight she lay beneath him in the flesh, willing and wanting him just as badly as he wanted her. Tonight would be their only night together. It was that knowledge alone that kept him from flipping her onto her knees and slamming his throbbing cock into her.
Slow. He needed to go slow and savor his time with her, before it was over.
Cain kept one hand on the floor as he lost himself in her mouth, while the other explored her body. He had only been able to imagine what she looked like under her clothes, and it was not what he had expected. Next to him, she had seemed so small, but her flesh was unexpectedly generous. Her wide hips pleased him and he liked the way it felt when his fingers sunk into her thick thighs.
Her own hands stayed laced in his hair, and he knew that she was being shy because there was no reluctance in the way she responded to his kiss. She had unraveled beneath him, parting her lips and accepting his possession of her mouth. Impatient to feel more of her, Cain reached up, pulling one of her hands from his hair and placing it on the flat plane of his pectoral muscle. Without hesitation, she sought out his nipple, circling it to a stiffened peak with her thumb.
Growing bolder, her other hand left his head, and soon they were both exploring his upper body, greedily squeezing and tugging his muscles in ways that made him groan. His body trembled with the effort to control himself, and Cain had to pull back from her lips. His breathing was ragged as he gazed down at her flushed skin and guileless eyes. How could a female look so innocent when she was making him feel so carnal?
Unable to look at her any longer, he closed his eyes and buried his head in her neck. She still smelled of lavender, but the freshness was gone, replaced with the heady musk of her rampant arousal. The blood in his veins heated as he ran his tongue down her neck. Her flesh was sweet and tinged with the salty taste of sweat. He wanted to lick every part of her, but doubted he would have the patience.
Cain dragged his mouth down her neck and past her collarbone. Her nipples were hard, rosy buds and he eagerly latched his mouth onto one, drawing it in with a hard suck. Her back arched, and she let out a whimpering moan.
Once he had sufficiently reddened one nipple, Cain moved to the other, taking it in and scraping his blunt teeth over the sensitive flesh. Her sounds of pleasure were almost too much for him, and he moved his hands between her legs, needing to feel her warmth. His fingers dipped past her curls to rub against the seam of her sex. He let out a groan, this one decidedly more agonized than the last, when he found her slick with arousal.
Cain’s gut clenched with need as all of his instincts told him that his female was ready for him. He ignored them, rubbing his calloused thumb over her stiff nub. She writhed beneath him, bucking her hips against his touch. Trying to distract himself, he slipped one long finger inside of her. She was tight and drenched for him, and all he could think of was replacing his finger with his cock. He could not wait any longer.
Pulling himself up, he reclaimed her mouth while his hand fisted his cock. He arched his back to position himself at her entrance, fighting back a growl as his swollen crown nudged against her wet folds. Just as he was preparing to thrust, he felt her pushing against his chest. He pulled back, his self-control hanging by a thread.
“Wait,” she said hoarsely. He stared down at her panting form, channeling his desperation into his gaze. “Can I just…feel you first?”
In his lust-clouded mind, Cain did not immediately understand what she was referring to. Her eyes flicked downward, and realization settled in. She wanted to touch him…
The need to satisfy her desire, coupled with a strange curiosity, had Cain moving to rest on his side. She kept her gaze straight ahead as he took her hand, guiding it to his erection. Her blue eyes rounded as she took him into her grip. He saw the muscle in her throat move as her supple hand ran the hard length of him.
“Look at me,” he ordered. He was not sure why he was asking, he just needed her to see him.
He did not have to clarify himself. She acquiesced, her eyes going straight to his cock. He could tell from the unguarded look on her face that she had never been with a male as large as him, and an unparalleled satisfaction washed over him. He glanced down at his engorged member, loving the way it looked in her small hand. She began running her hand along his shaft, gently squeezing him until a small bead of arousal pooled at his tip. He grunted at the sight of it, and laced a hand over hers.
In a desire-roughened voice he said, “I need you.”
They were the only words he could manage, and he searched her face for understanding. An emotion floated in her eyes, a longing that was too deep for him to fill. If he were a stronger man he would have stopped then, but he had already gone too far.
He mounted her again, and this time she opened up for him, bracketing his hips with her legs. Positioning himself at her entrance, he slowly pushed himself into her, relishing in each inch. He could tell from her tightness and the tenseness in her features that she had not known a man in a long time. His fingers gripped the furs as he struggled to claim her gently.
When he was fully inside of her, Cain stilled, lowering himself to nuzzle the top of her head. He knew that she had adjusted to his size when she flexed her inner muscles, encouraging him to move within her. Groaning, he moved to curl his fists into her hair, and then began a rhythm inside of her.
It felt as though she had been made for him. She held him perfectly, and he felt as though as long as he was inside of her, he would need nothing else.
When he felt her body begin to tense with her peak, he increased the pace of his thrusts, pistoning into her until all she could do was cling to him as she flew apart.
Cain held back for as long as he could, riding out her climax with powerful thrusts. When he could control himself no longer, he had the presence of mind to pull out of her. His eyes rolled back in his head as he gripped his cock, letting out a harsh, guttural sound as he spilled his seed onto the furs.
They were both panting as he collapsed beside her, dragging her into his arms. He pressed her body close, needing to feel her skin against his.
~*~
The werewolf was playing with her hair. Sarah
was trying to go back to calling him ‘werewolf’—even just ‘wolf’ would be fine. Anything to put some emotional distance between the two of them. Distance she desperately needed, as he’d not only just given her the best orgasm of her life, but was also presently cuddling her.
There was really no manlier way to describe it. He was cradling her in his big arms, twirling her hair around one finger. Up close, she could clearly make out all the features of his perfect face, and they made her feel humble beneath him. Instead of feeling over the moon for just having had sex with the hottest man on the planet, all she could think was that it would never happen again.
“Are you hungry?” he asked, still looking at her hair. His eyes were distant, but he seemed pensive rather than dissatisfied. Never had she so wished to know what a man was thinking.
“A little,” she said. “But I’m more sleepy than anything.”
