Let the Wild Out

by Madelyn Porter

  William backed her against the wall, pressing her into the thick, wood logs. The smell of her flesh drove him wild. Nails scratched almost painfully into his arms. He felt his gums tighten as his teeth extended down. He wanted to bite her, devour her, sink his body into hers. The need was too great, too carnal and out of control. He positioned his shaft along her sex, drawn forward by the moisture guarding her pussy.

  Mindlessly, he thrust, crying out as her tight flesh enveloped him completely. For the first time in a long time he felt free. No eyes were on him, watching the new chief. She didn’t know who he was. She was with him because she desired him, no other reason. Their bodies strained. He leaned over, taking a ripe breast into his mouth. Sucking the erect nipple, he moaned. His hips flexed, beginning the natural rhythm of pleasure—out, in, out, in, release, contract, push, pull.

  He could easily hear the sounds of the forest, but all of his attention focused on his erection and the sweet, wet glide of entering her tight pussy. She made a weak noise and hit his arm. William realized his mouth had slipped to her shoulder and he’d bitten down a little too hard in his excitement. Three tiny dots and a single trail of blood marred her tanned flesh. Without even thinking about it, he licked the wound.

  The wolf howled inside of him. Had this woman been human, he would have never been able to let the animal out to play. He didn’t need a mirror to know his eyes were filled with silver, his teeth were elongated fangs, and his fingernails had sharpened into deadly weapons.

  Silver filled her eyes, showing the only hint of her true nature. Brunette hair fell around her face in disarray. Her full lips parted and he stared at them. She came hard. Her upper back pressed into the wall as she arched into him. Her body trembled, calling to his. He thrust hard, finding release in her sweet depths.

  *

  Douglas breathed deeply, torn between hard, blood-pumping arousal and deep jealousy. His woman, the one he’d found, his little fish, his soon-to-be last lover before he married, was being taken against the wall of the isolated sanctuary home. He had followed William’s scent to the cabin, not that it had been hard with all the shifter signs leading the way. Some of the markings were old, but he could still smell them.

  Douglas never expected this—William taking the woman he wanted. Even jealousy could not stop the arousal he felt as he watched the two of them, kind of the same arousal he felt when watching porn or live sex shows. Like most high-level males, William was in great shape. His ass flexed, showing the force with which he pumped into her. Douglas wished he’d move to the side so he could see more than the woman’s legs bouncing up and down behind the man’s back.

  Douglas knew he wasn’t supposed to be jealous of the other chief. They would be sharing a bride, after all, but he couldn’t help it. He’d been fantasizing about his brunette beauty since the coffee shop the week before. He had even searched for her, but she never showed herself, and the coffee shop and bookstore owners didn’t know who she was. The most they said was that she kept to herself and paid cash.

  William lowered her to the ground and she swayed. Douglas ducked from his place by the window. He’d seen more than enough. Glancing down, he realized his hand was down the front of his charcoal slacks and he gripped his erection. He hurried from the porch as stealthily as he could move, not wanting to get caught with his hand down his pants.

  Once behind the generator building, he made quick work of his jealous desires. He drew his arousal out of the fly of his slacks without taking them down and pumped his fist over the length. The image of William fucking the woman was burned into his mind. He wanted to be the one pressing her into the wall. He wanted to be the one stretching her pussy to fit his shaft. He wanted to be the one inside the cabin. Cursed wolf! He was the one who’d found her. If not for him, William wouldn’t have known of her existence.

  He came, but it was a bittersweet release. Leaning against the shed, he scanned the surrounding forest. First, he would catch his breath while waiting for the two lovebirds in the cabin to finish up. Then he would act as if he hadn’t seen a damn thing.

  Chapter Three

  “What are you thinking? You just arrived here in America. This is the woman I told you about. I’ve been looking for her. I told you I wanted her as a lover, and yet I come here to find you rutting like a dog in heat.” Douglas glared in irritation, the fire of the shift in his eyes. He wanted to punch the other chief, even as every logical reason why he shouldn’t filtered through his brain. He balled his hand into a fist, making a physical effort to hold himself back.

  “To lay claim, the woman must be willing. She was willing with me,” William answered calmly. Then, as if unable to help himself, he said, “And I wasn’t the only rutting dog.”

  Douglas’s frown deepened. He glanced to where the woman had disappeared into the kitchen. Apparently Elvie had never bothered to explain the list of sanctuary duties to her niece. Rachel didn’t even question their claim to stay, though it became clear in all of two seconds that she didn’t want either of them inside her home.

  “She’s hardly a dog,” Douglas whispered.

  “What then? You never did tell me.”

  “She said fish,” Douglas answered. “Trout.”

  William’s smile faded somewhat. Douglas nodded in confirmation. He could understand the man’s disappointment. The council of elders would never accept a water shifter as their queen.

  “Then I claim her as my lover,” William said. “She has already shown she favors me.”

  “She might have slept with you,” Douglas said, “but she did not declare her intent to be your lover only. She might decide otherwise. Besides, I said I claimed her first. I have as much right as you do. I said the words first. You claimed her body first. I think we’re both within our rights.”

  “What are you saying?” William’s entire being stiffened, and the threat of the shift entered his eyes. The man didn’t look like he wanted to share. Well, that was too damned bad. Douglas had wanted the woman first, had found her. It wasn’t like he wanted to share her with William.

  Douglas frowned. Canine shifters were always so hot-blooded and quick to argue. Felines were much more relaxed and calculating. He ignored the fact that he’d been ready to pounce on the werewolf a few seconds before. The fact was William had already been with the woman. There was no denying it or taking it back. “We have to learn to share eventually.”

  William took a deep breath. Douglas could see the idea did not sit well with the wolf man. After some thought, William said, “That is different. That will be our wife. We both know the reasons for such an arrangement and it is our duty to agree. But this—”

  “And you think those arguments will make it easier?” Douglas countered. “You speak of the woman who will bear our children and unite our clans. Can you not tell me that if the first child looks like you, and is living with me as my son, you won’t feel the urge to fight? Or when our wife comes to my bed, you will not want to storm my castle and retrieve her? If we pick someone we can care about, we will have to deal with our urges to mark her as our sole territory. If we pick someone we don’t care for, we’ll have to live with the unsatisfying arrangement for the sake of duty. I don’t know about you, but I would rather share a woman I cared for than live with an empty heart and cold bed, begetting heirs in a loveless marriage.”

  William considered that for a long moment and then slowly nodded. “You are right, of course. We must learn to share that which we desire most.”

  “I do not like it either,” Douglas said. “But it is a sacrifice we must make for the sake of the clans. Our wife will be the linchpin that unites us all. If the shifter clans fight, we will be weakened to outside forces. We will be exposed to humans. Vampires will make a power play.”

  “The vampires visited my home before I left,” William said. “They were testing me to see my resolve.”

  “Those creatures always test their boundaries. They do not think Southern and Western Europe is enough territory
.” Douglas frowned. He really disliked dealing with vampires. Something about their pale flesh and red eyes left him unsettled. “We do not have to like the arrangement of our marriage.”

  “But we are agreed,” William stated. “We must learn to share. So long as the woman is willing to be with you, we will not fight over her.”

  “We are agreed.” Douglas nodded. He heard Rachel coming towards them.

  William lowered his voice. “Then I will not stand in your way. According to custom, it is your turn to take her to bed. I would wish you luck, but…” The wolf man shrugged.

  “I do not need luck,” Douglas answered, feeling the anticipation of seduction welling within him.

  *

  Rachel paused, trying to keep her hands from shaking as she held the tray before her. As much as she tried to tell herself that the Duncanis chief didn’t know what she and William had done, she knew it was a lie. Even she could smell the sex lingering in the room the two men now sat in. That’s what sucked about being around shifters. It was hard to keep such things a secret.

  More mortifying than that, Rachel couldn’t believe what she’d done. She’d had sex with a stranger like some sort of out-of-control animal. Name introductions hadn’t even come until after, when Chief Douglas stood in her doorway claiming sanctuary. Who was she to turn away a chief? She wanted to keep a low profile in the shifter community. Incurring the wrath of a chief wasn’t the way to do that. Maybe they’d only stay one night and then leave. A girl could hope.

  Sanctuary. Technically, she had inherited the land and the home, but Rachel was now coming to realize that her aunt left out some key elements in her will. She should have paid more attention to what Elvie was doing instead of just assuming the revolving door was part of her aunt’s hippie ways. Clearly Elvie’s life wasn’t all pot plants and orgies.

  Her hands shook. The tray of drinks felt heavy, and she gripped it tighter to keep from dropping it on the floor. Ice tinkled as she stepped into the living room. The two men automatically stood from the couch as she entered. She hesitated at the attention. “I’m afraid the house isn’t very well stocked. I mean, there is food, but we’re—I’m out of meat. Alfred Jones used to do all the hunting when my aunt was alive. He offered to continue, but his terms of barter were—” Rachel clamped her mouth shut. When they both looked expectantly at her, she finished weakly, “They were not acceptable.”

  She set the tray down on a low table and lifted Douglas’s scotch and water. Ice tinkled in his glass, sounding abnormally loud. “Here, my chief.”

  Douglas flashed a wicked smile, and she wondered if he knew how dangerously attractive he looked when he did that. She swallowed nervously. He took his time reaching for the drink, letting his finger slide along hers.

  Rachel picked up a cold beer still in the bottle. Quietly, she said, “William,” as she handed the bottle to William. He smiled and she couldn’t meet his gaze for long. His fingers also bumped hers.

  Rachel’s nerves tingled and she absently rubbed her fingers where the men had touched her. She became painfully aware of the silence filling the room and the isolation beyond the cabin. Slowly, she sat, grabbing her own drink—beer in a mug with a slice of lime.

  “Mr. Jones wanted to trade services, did he?” Douglas asked in his softly accented voice. The predatory smile still curved his lips, and his dark eyes bore into hers. “I don’t blame him for trying.”

  “Oh, ah.” Rachel quickly drank her beer. When she’d downed half the glass, she said, “I’m sorry there isn’t much to do, but you’re welcome to run the forest. This is protected land. We do get the rare trespasser now and again, but usually it’s a lost hiker or college kids out looking for adventure.” She was sorry she mentioned it. The idea of them shifting, all powerful, and by all rights naked, caused her insides to quiver. Damn it! She’d just had sex and suddenly she was feeling like she needed to do it again.

  She looked at William. He was the natural choice. They’d slept together once already and he wasn’t her chief. Plus, William was the first shifter she had ever been with. His expression was guarded. What was he thinking about?

  Still… She glanced at Douglas. His shaded expression and parted lips held massive appeal.

  “Trying to get rid of us, lass?” Douglas asked, grinning.

  “N-no,” she denied. “If you don’t want to roam the forest, there’s a library through there,” she pointed towards the side of the fireplace, “or if you’re tired, rooms are upstairs. They might be a bit dusty from little use, but the linen is clean. I wasn’t expecting visitors.”

  Side by side, the men’s differences became apparent. William’s chest rose and fell as if the beast pressed against the inside of his flesh, ready to rip out. His eyes were narrowed, and he stared at her as if he could smell the longing unfurling in her sex. There was a great restraint in him, a forced calmness that had to come from years of practice. It was something she recognized because she had to do the same thing. The wolf was hard to control even in human form.

  Douglas, with his soft, Gaelic brogue and perfectly tailored appearance, moved like a king used to sitting before his noble court. Every gesture was deliberate and refined. He sipped his drink, as if savoring the taste of the liquor on his gorgeous lips. Despite this, Rachel detected more than a hint of the wild in him. The fact he had a bad boy reputation didn’t help matters. He may look calm, but her chief knew all about letting the wild out.

  “What about a phone?” William asked.

  “There is a land line, but your cellular phones should work here. Aunt Elvie, um, made a deal to have a private tower set up on the mountain,” she said.

  Both men smiled. William said, “I think I would have liked this Elvie. Was that her field I smelled in the forest?”

  “The pot? Oh yeah. That was Elvie. I don’t smoke myself.”

  “Dulls the senses,” Douglas said.

  “How did you come to live with your aunt?” William sat forward intently.

  She felt like she was under interrogation. “Don’t the clans keep records of that information? Are you a census taker?”

  “Hardly,” William muttered.

  “We’re just talking,” Douglas said. “And the clan records are not complete, especially for the Americas. Shifters by nature are wild and not prone to reporting births and deaths as they’re encouraged to do. The last accounting was nearly two hundred years ago.”

  “Two hundred and fifty for the Cononious,” William said. “Perhaps it is time to rectify that.”

  “Agreed.” Douglas nodded. They both turned to Rachel expectantly. Apparently, they thought to start the new accounting of the clans with her family history.

  “My parents were killed in a car accident. Elvie was the only family who could take me in.” Before they could pry further and continue their inquisition, she asked, “And what brings you two to America?”

  “We are here on official business,” William said.

  “We?” She glanced at the chief and then back to the man who spoke. “You work for the chief?”

  Douglas laughed. The expression of merriment flooded his face and filled his dark eyes. When he tried to answer, he only laughed harder.

  William had the opposite reaction. He frowned, looking at his palms. Douglas reached for the other man’s hand, lifting it up so she could see William’s scarred palm. Rachel stiffened, whispering, “The Cononious chief.” Then she looked at Douglas. “And the Duncanis chief.” Swallowing nervously, she realized just how powerful these two men were. Combined, they ruled every shifter on the planet. “Am I in trouble? Is this because I didn’t keep the sanctuary open full time? I swear I didn’t realize I was breaking any laws.” Then pointing at them both, she said, “And that snake shifter was way out of line. He came here right after my aunt’s funeral trying to lay lover rights to me, and when I refused, he threatened to take this land from me. I was only defending myself when I cut him. I swear, I could have done much worse, and he deserved much wor
se, but I refrained.”

  Both men grinned.

  “You are not in trouble,” Douglas said. “We’re only here for a place to stay that is away from the cities. Even chiefs need time away from the clans.”

  William shared a secret look with Douglas. “No one will think to look for us here.”

  “Not unless we tell them to,” Douglas answered the man.

  “Oh. Well, how long do you think you’ll be here? You can have the lodge for as long as you need. I can stay in the city.” She stood. “In fact, I’ll go now. If I jog, I’ll make it back tonight and will have supplies delivered to you in the morning.”

  “I’ll go for supplies,” William said.

  “Yes.” Douglas nodded in agreement. “We wish for you to stay here with us. We are not accustomed to taking over people’s homes without them in it.”

  “And we can fill in your education where your Aunt Elvie left off. The mountain sanctuaries in America are few and we need to ensure this one is maintained properly.” William finished his beer before setting the bottle down. He held his hand out to Douglas. “Your keys. I didn’t bring a car.”

  Douglas reached into his pocket and handed them over. William nodded at them, looking for a long time at Rachel before moving to leave. When he was gone, she asked, “Is he all right? I mean, I know I don’t know him, but he seemed upset.”

  “He’ll be fine, lass,” Douglas dismissed. “Nothing for you to worry over.”

  “Well, I suppose I should see to your rooms. I’m sure they’re not anything like you’re used to. I’ll try to tidy up, though.” She made a move to go to the stairs, thinking to run away from him. In the distance, she heard a motor start. It was a low hum, almost impossible to hear over the soft background noise of the generator.

  Douglas moved right behind her, following her up. She glanced around the hall, trying to figure out where to put them. It didn’t seem right to stick them in her aunt’s old room. Then, going to the biggest guest room, she opened the door. A large, king-size bed dominated the space. It matched the dark wood of an antique dresser and oversized chest. A light layer of dust coated the wood.