“That,” he went on with a hoarse rasp, “is by far the gentlest, least dangerous thing you would experience if you stayed.”
She opened her mouth to speak, but words failed while she watched him brush his fingers over his lips. Whether he was trying to relive the kiss or get rid of it was anyone’s guess.
“Consider that my lesson in why you need to follow directions,” he went on. “Class dismissed.”
Her lip curled at the curt rejection. That he could kiss her giddy and then callously push her away sent stabs of anger through her that burned hotter than the bizarre flashes he claimed were “chemistry.”
A faint prickle started near the corner of her eyes, but she blinked it back. Hell, no, she would not cry over a man she just met—and a crazy one at that.
“What, do you think I’m some stupid little virgin girl who’s never been kissed?” She had the small satisfaction of seeing his eyes darken in warning. “That I’ve never seen pain and bleeding and suffering? I’ve seen it all, trust me.”
His head cocked in challenge. “Yeah? Just how much has the virgin girl seen? How much has she done?”
“That’s none of your damn business.” That’s right, she thought at his sour expression. Swallow that news.
In reply, he stalked over and grabbed her again. She let out a gasp as he closed distance. “Have you ever done this?” he whispered into her hair. Then he took her hand and pushed it down the front of his jeans, pressing her palm over a shockingly hard, long bulge.
Outrage at his audacity surged through her veins, but she couldn’t stop herself from running her hand along the length of him and squeezing his cock. God, the rush of power she felt when it jerked at her touch! Wet, hot need filled the gap between her thighs, and the carnival ride in her head began spinning again.
“And if I have?” she whispered back.
His growl was less than human while his hand snaked into her rain-dampened hair, tugging it back just hard enough to feel tingles of pain. “And have you been so driven by animal passion that sufferin’ and pleasure blends into one and the same thing? If you let me push into you while that fever of yours is still on, you will be.”
“I know what you’re trying to do.” She pulled away, pressing her hands against her flaming cheeks. “You’re trying to scare me away.”
“I’m tryin’ to protect you, but you’re so stubborn that seems damn nigh impossible.”
The wavering resolve in his tone seemed clear, and brazen need flared inside her. She held his wild gaze without flinching, totally getting off on the wash of hot energy that arced between their bodies. She felt his arousal keenly, from the glazed longing in his eyes to the fists held taut at his sides. Lust permeated her every sense.
So, this was what it felt like to have sexual power over a man. Why she should discover it here, now, with a total stranger, she had no idea. All she’d wanted was to get free of the house and her non-life for a while. And now, the wild, feral excitement rushing through every molecule was the most freeing thing she’d ever felt.
She stepped closer and ran a hand over his chest. Her nipples puckered right along with his. “Do you really, honestly want me out of your life?” she asked, letting her voice dip down into her best seductive simmer. Not that she had one. “Because it seems to me that every time you try to shove me away, your dick gets harder.”
Hunger rose in his unwavering stare. “I never said I wanted you out of my life. Just away from here tonight.”
Her hands rested on her hips. “And how do you figure that would have worked if I’d agreed and left? I have no way to find you, and you have no way to find me.”
“That’s not true. You found me already.”
“Because of a random impulse to go for a drive.”
“Was it random? Tell me, just what sent you on this sudden impulse?”
She frowned at that. “I don’t know. I just felt so imprisoned all of a sudden. Like I couldn’t stay in my own skin. I had to get out of there.”
“And I was gripped by the sudden and overwhelmin’ compulsion to leave town and sit by the roadside right at the precise moment you decided to drive up the mountain. And you were somehow compelled to stop for me, despite your ‘better judgment.’” He took a step toward her and shook his head. “I suppose it’s also why you won’t leave now.”
“Because I’m tired now.”
“That ain’t the only reason.”
“What other reason do I need?”
“In my world, that compulsion is how we find one another. It’s how mates are driven to meet.”
“Mates?” She took a step back. “In my world, which is a little place called Earth, you’re a hot enough cowboy and all, but I was just out for a drive. Not seeking a mate.”
The knowing smile slid up his face again. His gaze moved off beyond her, scanning the sky that had deepened to a rich, azure blue behind the still-looming clouds, and the smile faded.
“I guess it’s inevitable,” he said. “You and I are gonna have to do this.”
“Do what?”
He glanced at the still-sleeping Nash. “He don’t have much time left. I have to go now.” He pulled the door closed quietly and turned back to her. “Come on.”
Connor strode down the sidewalk, toward the end of the long, one-story row of motel rooms. Her eyes fell to the way his ass twitched with a hot swagger, and then she launched herself after him.
“Where are we going?”
“We have to hunt before he wakes up.” She sped up, and Connor shot her a sideways glance. “And when I say ‘we,’ I mean me.”
“Hunting? I don’t know how to hunt. Wouldn’t it be better if I stayed in the room? Nash might need something.”
“Oh, he’ll need somethin’, but he ain’t gettin’ it from you. You’re safer with me.”
“The man’s sleeping and hardly in any shape to try anything. Besides, you don’t even have any weapons.” Except for the extremely lethal one she’d groped beneath his belt.
“That nap Nash is takin’ won’t last much longer. He’ll wake when the night comes, and matters will be much worse than what you saw by the roadside.”
“You really have an issue with nighttime, don’t you? Are you afraid of the dark?”
They rounded the end of the building, and Connor strode with purpose toward the woods behind the motel.
“What happens at nightfall?” she persisted.
“Full moon.”
She crunched through rocks and dirt, half running to keep up with his long strides until he stopped suddenly just outside a line of pine trees. “So?”
He sighed. “If you insist on stayin’ here for this, you may as well understand right now what you’re dealin’ with.”
For the second time that day, Connor peeled his shirt over his head, and she felt the moisture in her mouth evaporate.
“Okay,” she said with more of a dry croak than she’d have liked. “What am I dealing with?” Besides a hormone invasion that could take down a high school gym.
He shot her a grim smile. “I’m not what you’d call your average cowboy. Nash is about to join the club. There’s no easy way to tell you this, Terra. I have to show you.”
Her thoughts toggled between pornographic and medical possibilities for what he was about to reveal. How bad could it be, really? True, he certainly couldn’t be accused of being “average.” Ruggedly movie-star beautiful, maybe. Bizarre and puzzling, definitely. But average? Hell, no.
She clutched herself around the middle. “So, hit me with it already. Give up your mystery.”
He eyed her. “One condition first. If you’re gonna run, do not run to the room.”
She snorted. “You may have noticed I don’t jump and run easy, either.”
“Yeah. I’m gettin’ that.” His eyes failed to reflect the humor she was trying to inject. “I’m serious, though. That’s not where you wanna be.”
An odd, faraway expression crossed his features. “You didn’t find
me by accident, Terra. You’re special, too, in your own way. You were meant to be a part of this secret and to keep it. Don’t be scared of me. I won’t hurt you.”
“I’m not scared.” Which was probably one of the crazier admissions she’d made today.
Still, something in the way he said the words prompted her to step back and hug herself tighter around the middle. She could run, if it came to that. Maybe not as fast these days, but her car was close by, and the keys were in her pocket.
Connor’s eyes began to shimmer with that odd, golden flame again. She cocked her head and stared at the mesmerizing golden gleam, unable to drag her eyes away. A low growl came from his throat, and a strange aura came alive just around the sides of his face. It gave his skin a crawling, rippling appearance. Then, gray hair began sprouting on his face and body. His growl deepened as somehow, impossibly, his whole face began to droop. It looked like his jaw had come unhinged and was sliding down toward his chest. Her breath caught when he leaned forward, and with a gruff barking sound, his body began to shrink.
He hit the ground on all fours, and she jumped back with a shriek. She shut her eyes to will the hallucination away. She’d had them before, of course. Those delusions had been courtesy of some rather powerful IV meds, though. What was her excuse this time? Maybe the bizarre fever she was suffering had her seeing things.
She opened her eyes to see a gray-brown wolf sitting on its haunches in front of Connor’s clothes. The animal stared up at her with fiery, gold eyes as it lowered its body until it was lying on the ground.
“Jesus,” she whispered. “This isn’t happening.” She took another step back, wobbling on feet that had again grown unsteady. “You’re not real. Please tell me you’re not real. Are you the wolf that hurt Nash?”
The creature gave a short bark.
“I don’t speak wolf,” she said.
The wolf pushed up on all fours, and she jerked back with a yelp. An odd ripple ruffled its fur, and the strands began retreating. In moments, bare flesh stretched rather magnificently over Connor’s naked form.
He stood, and she fought to keep her eyes from straying to the long cock hanging between his thighs. “I am real,” he said, his eyes still partially aglow beneath the long sweep of his bangs. “But I’m not the wolf that hurt Nash.”
She shook her head hard, trying to clear her muddied, screaming thoughts. “Shit, I am seeing things.”
“No, you’re not. I’m a shifter, Terra.”
“What do you mean? As in a werewolf?”
“As in most of what you’ve probably heard about them.”
An unpleasant smile slid up a corner of her mouth. “Like for instance how they don’t exist?”
“Then how do you explain what you just saw? How do you explain me?”
She thought for a moment. “It’s obvious. You don’t exist, either. I made you up.”
His gaze fell to her lips. “Didn’t I feel real enough when you were in my arms?”
That prompted a tiny shudder. “A little too real. I’m obviously losing it. It’s probably this fever I’m having. Or stress. Maybe Mom accidentally bought funny mushrooms when she made the canapés for my party, I don’t know. Either way, I’m delusional. That’s the only explanation for how you could come straight out of my fantasies and land in my front seat.”
He moved toward her. “You’ve fantasized about me.”
She bit her lip. “That’s not the point. It’s too much of a coincidence that my ideal fantasy cowboy just happened to arrive during the bizarre breakdown I was having when I left my party. I conjured you up.”
“You’ve dreamed of me because that’s what werewolf mates do. You and I were meant to find one another.”
“Back to that whole ‘mate’ thing, are we?” She shook her head. “That’s not what’s going on here. I’m just losing my mind.” She somehow found the notion of insanity more comforting than what he was proposing.
Then another thought hit. “You said I’m special, too,” she went on, her eyes searching his. “You’re not saying I’m going to shift into an animal?”
He shook his head. “No. You’ll stay the same fiery, uncontrollably sexy woman you are right now.”
The words lit up her spine. “How does that make me special?”
“Because you’re mine.”
She froze.
“That’s why you’ve had visions of me,” he went on. “I’m no fantasy. I’m your destined mate.”
“Ugh, don’t be ridiculous. Love doesn’t happen that way.”
Damn, that wasn’t the word she meant. Lust, that was what clearly was at work here. An altogether different four-letter L word, though either seemed equally dangerous at the moment.
He sighed. “It’s understandable that you need time to wrap your head around this, and that’s fine by me. But right now, I have to go hunt somethin’ for Nash before the moon rises. All I can say is that I am real, and so is what’s about to happen to him. So you will do exactly as I say when I get back. No questions, no smartass arguments. Got it?”
She nodded, trying to focus on his face to keep from ogling the rest of his hot body. Then again, why bother if he was just a delusion? Why not give in and enjoy the ride? Hell, she could tell him to screw the hunt and jump his bones right there. If he wanted to toss around the word “mate,” she could turn it into a verb she’d never offered another man.
“Stay here,” he said. “If you see or hear anythin’ strange, call for me and go lock yourself in the car. Understand?”
“Stranger than hallucinating werewolves, you mean?” His intense, no-nonsense stare prompted a sigh. “Yes, sir.” She added a snappy salute. “I’ll do as I’m told.”
“Good.”
The shift was much faster this time, taking only a few seconds before his wolf form turned and trotted into the woods. She stared until she couldn’t see him through the thick dotting of pine trees. Then she turned and walked in a daze toward her car.
She obviously needed medical attention. The best thing would be to drive home right away and tell her folks. Maybe she was suffering some sort of delayed brain trauma. In which case, she probably shouldn’t be driving. No, it was probably the fever that was still bathing her in sweat.
When she reached the sidewalk, she realized that maybe she wasn’t taking this far enough. Maybe none of this was real. Not the motel, the drive up, even the car. What if she was still sleeping in her hospital bed?
What if she hadn’t ever really awakened from the coma?
That notion jump-started her numb shock into a panic that bounced around in her head until she stopped in front of her possibly fantasy car to dig up fantasy keys. Her cell phone was inside. Her parents would know what to do. Assuming this wasn’t all delusion. Damn, she could be in a profoundly screwed situation here. Either way, it was time to get out of Never Land. If she could.
Chapter Three
Just as Terra stuck her key in the car door, a muffled voice came from somewhere behind her.
“Terra,” said a hoarse, eerie whisper. “Terra.”
She spun around, half expecting to see a ghost. She’d seen a werewolf, after all. Why not a floating apparition? However, the voice was attached to a very corporeal Nash. He stood in the parted curtains of the motel room window, staring out at her while he clutched a hand to his bad shoulder.
A pang of sympathy struck her. “Nash?”
His eyes held a dull edge of pain that was echoed by a grim slash to his mouth and the tense angle of his square jaw. Although bloodied and sporting dirt-matted hair, Terra’s stomach gave a little jump in acknowledgment that Nash was actually a damn striking man. In all the drama of finding him, she hadn’t noticed the powerful lines of his body, though he wasn’t as large and overwhelming as Connor. Or noticed that his lips were full and would be quite lush if not cracked and contorted in pain at the moment. And that his eyes, fringed with thick, dark lashes, were the pale green of seas around a tropical resort. Nash was the stuf
f of dreams, all right.
Contrary to warnings, he didn’t appear the least bit dangerous. A danger to women’s chastity belts, perhaps. Especially hers, considering the horny gene her DNA had suddenly activated. At least Nash hadn’t sprouted fur and a tail like some cowboys she could mention. He looked to be nothing more than a wounded man who’d been abandoned by jackasses who wouldn’t take him to get proper treatment.
Guilt and anger congealed in her throat.
“Terra?” he croaked. “Help me, please.”
The tone tore through her. How could she stand by—or drive off, as she’d planned—and leave him to suffer? No way could she deal with seeing his desperate face in her rearview mirror. Delusion or not, she should stick Nash in the car and get him to a hospital before Connor tried to stop her.
She headed for the room, glancing down to stuff her keys into her snug jeans. When she looked up again, Nash had disappeared from the window. She reached for the knob and hesitated, listening for any sounds from within.
“Nash?”
When no reply came, she opened the door a crack and poked her head inside. The rumpled bed was vacant. Her eyes scanned the room while she pushed the door wider.
A moan from the left whipped her head around to see Nash sitting on the floor, his back against the wall. With him slumped over and his mink-brown bangs hanging long and ragged, she couldn’t make out his face. Still, it was clear from his posture and muffled moaning that he wasn’t doing great.
“I’m here,” she said. “I’m sorry we left. Connor had to, uh, well, go get something.”
“Help me.”
“I will. I’m going to help, okay?”
“It…hurts,” came his cracked, raspy response. “Like flamin’ hell.”
Her heart panged. “I know.” She knelt down beside him. “Let me take you to the hospital. They can fix you better than I can in a dingy motel room.”
“Connor said we can’t.”
“Yeah? Who appointed him general manager of the universe?” She saw him try for a tiny smile that failed. “Anyway, I thought you were his boss.”
Allister, J. Rose - Displaced Cowboys [Lone Wolves of Shay Falls 5] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) Page 4
