Human and Freakn'

by Eve Langlais

  Exactly how did I end up running blind through the jungle with wolves chasing after me?

  Brilliant idea to come and save Joel and Kendrick, who it turned out didn’t need her help after all.

  And here she was so proud of their escape.

  The shutters of the prison hut busted open when Carlie took a running leap at them while in her jaguar form. Surprisingly enough, no one flung the barred door open to see what the noise meant. Probably because they were all elsewhere. At least, according to her sister. At the time, Ruth still didn’t quite believe Kendrick and Joel foolishly volunteered themselves to fight to win her freedom. But in case they did, Ruth needed to make it to them and stop that madness. As an American, and sister to one of the tribe – planned divorce or not – Ruth could rescue herself. Eventually. She hoped. The alternative, though, possible harm to a pair of men who didn’t know what they were up against, was just not acceptable. If their opponents were jaguars like Carlie, Kendrick and Joel, with their all too human and fragile state, wouldn’t stand a chance.

  Of course, to rescue them first, she needed to make it out the window, onto a narrow ledge, and in the barely lit darkness of the treetop, make her way to a vine and branch twisted bridge. She just thanked her stars that for once her height and weight wouldn’t screw her. The tribe members she’d seen so far exceeded her plump waist and thighs, which meant the ropes would hold her. She just needed to remember not to look down.

  The climb started out easy enough, even if Carlie declared their escape suspicious.

  “We broke out. What’s suspicious about that?” Ruth asked in a hushed voice in an attempt to ignore how far the ground still stretched below.

  “No way would they leave us unguarded.”

  “Maybe they didn’t and had to go pee.”

  They both looked up at the same time, Ruth squinting and almost giggling as she imagined getting suddenly wet.

  “We need to hurry.”

  “Hurry where?” Ruth inquired. “You do realize we’re days away from civilization. I don’t know about you, but I doubt I could survive on my own in the jungle and find my way back. I needed a lot of help to get here.” But, she’d gotten better. Not quite Jane of the jungle, however, she’d definitely lost her city slicker naivety.

  “No, we can’t escape. They’d find us before we got far. Maybe, though, we can talk some sense into someone. Or you can claim the guys you came with or something. I don’t know. I just know that you don’t want to leave something like an unexpected jungle marriage up to chance. I got lucky, but—”

  “So lucky,” an accented voice purred from the darkness, “that you won’t get the punishment you deserve for interfering in the bride choice.”

  Startled, Carlie dropped from the ladder while Ruth latched on tight. Her sister landed on her feet, knees slightly bent. She tossed her head back. “Aha. I knew it was too easy. I should have known you skulked somewhere. And I am not apologizing for telling. She’s my sister. What did you expect me to do?”

  A chuckle preceded Acat stepping into the light cast by the single torch thrust into the ground. “You did exactly what I thought you would. But, it’s too late. The fight has already begun.” As if to highlight his claim, a dual howl, wolves if Ruth wasn’t mistaken – strange as it seemed – filled the night air.

  “You need to stop this,” Ruth demanded as she clambered down the rest of the way.

  Acat shook his head, long, dark hair swirling. “Sorry, sister of my mate, but the will of the gods is being done. Fear not, I believe your true mates shall emerge victorious.”

  Mates, lovers, idiots with a hero complex. Ruth wasn’t about to let them get hurt because of some crazy tradition dating back God knew how long.

  Taking off in the direction of the chanting crowd, she realized after a moment, her sister didn’t follow. Carlie, one hand held in the iron grip of Acat, argued vehemently with her warrior husband. And lost apparently because with a final shake of his head, he slung her kicking sister over his shoulder and stalked off. However, Carlie didn’t seem too upset because she stopped her harangue long enough to lift her head and shout, “Don’t drink anything. I’ll see you in the morning, after I teach my husband what equality means.”

  Great. Finding herself on her own, Ruth kept to her nonexistent plan of somehow breaking up a fight with what sounded like dogs and cats going at it to the cheering of a crowd.

  The path, lined only sporadically with torches, wound through tall trees, each twist bringing her closer to the noise, each running step tightening the ball in her stomach. When she finally burst into a well-lit area, it was to confront a sea of backs, mostly naked male ones. She also got a firsthand glimpse of what hid behind the loin cloths, leather thongs tucked between tight cheeks. Mostly tight, at any rate. A few older ones really needed to discover the joy of boxers.

  Ruth craned on her tiptoes, trying to see, but for the first time in a long time, Ruth didn’t tower over the crowd. Damn, she felt almost freakn’ tiny faced with so many giant men. A shame she was only interested in the wellbeing of two.

  With hopefully nothing to lose, she forged ahead, hands pushing at and spreading bodies with a softly muttered, “Excuse me. Pardon me. Coming through.”

  To her amazement, they gave her passage, smirks of amusement aimed her way along with some pinches, enough to make her bottom throb. Not that she cared about the playful slaps when she finally stumbled out into an open area with a clear view.

  An unbelievable sight met her eyes. Across from her, on a raised wooden dais, sat a huge man wearing some kind of animal head and cape. While he pounded at the carved wooden arm of his throne, a shriveled older man sat beside him in a smaller chair, smoking a pipe, wearing – oddly enough – faded cutoff jeans. On either side of the platform, and ringing it all around, were men. Lots and lots of men, their skin tanned, their hair long and dark, their bodies nude above the waist. She’d never seen so many abs in one place outside the movie 300. Forget the chiseled chests, though, they only got a cursory glance once her gaze zeroed in on the action within the ring of hunks. Shirtless and down to their boxers, Joel and Kendrick fought.

  Heat curled inside her at the sight of their partially nude bodies, their muscles seeming more pronounced in the flickering shadows. She almost yelled at them to stop, almost stepped into the ring, as a matter of fact, but a hand held her back.

  “Shh. Don’t distract them if you value their lives.”

  Despite the warning, she opened her mouth, but nothing came out as she noted their tanned opponents seemed to have abnormally sharp fingers. Claws. Oh crap. Stunned, she could only watch and bite her lip almost bloody as they dodged and traded blows. She winced and shut her eyes at a particularly nasty shot, barely a few seconds, yet when she looked again, jaguars had taken the place of the warrior men. Great big wild cats – with fangs! – fighting her lovers. Except her lovers weren’t men, not anymore. Ruth’s eyes just about popped out of her head.

  Kendrick’s skin changed first and she strangled a scream – more because all the air got sucked out of her lungs – as his body contorted.

  “No. No.” She moaned in denial as skin she’d touched and tasted morphed into shaggy fur. Not men. Not human. Impossible.

  Just like Carlie, Joel and Kendrick shape-shifted into something else, something feral and frightening. Werewolves.

  Unlike her sister, who inspired no fear, the wolves and jaguars fighting in the cleared ring did. And with good reason. They attacked each other like wild animals, tearing and clawing at each other. Blood flowing, yet being ignored in favor of more of the biting and wounding.

  The horror that Joel and Kendrick weren’t what they seemed paled, though, to the realization they fought and were injured because of her. A sick part of Ruth, savage, and obviously demented, cheered them on, mightily turned on by the idea. Another part of her hated she’d brought them to this – caused this kind of trouble.

  However, she could breathe a sigh of relief as the
y did win, and changed back, a shiver-inducing experience as fur slid back into flesh and their animal shape took on the form she liked best. Her heart pounded as if she’d exerted herself alongside them. Blood coursed through her, heightening her senses. But all that froze when they caught sight of her. Eyes blazing in triumph, sweat slick on their blood-streaked skin, a powerful fear gripped her, the terror every mouse, or prey felt when a predator – in this case, times two – set eyes on them.

  Rational or not, her body reacted and her feet moved. Despite the stupidity, and knowledge she could never outrun them, she fled. Fled the wolves. The decisions. The pleasure. The future.

  OhmyGod, they’re wolves.! OhmyGod, they’re wolves. OhmyGod … Ruth couldn’t stop that one phrase from ringing in her head. She stumbled and panted, in better shape than ever before in her life, yet knowing it would never be enough. It didn’t stop her from trying. Her legs pumped, her arms chugged along, and she wondered how she would escape. How –

  A body hit her from behind, and she felt herself tumbling, then she was turning, twisting in midair so that she hit a body instead of the hard ground. It still oomphed the breath right out of her.

  Recovering quickly, she thrashed only to halt her movement as Joel’s, “Querida, stop, it’s me,” penetrated her panic.

  Stilling, she let herself meet his gaze, the same blue gaze as before, but now she understood what lay in the depths, the wild thing she’d spotted before. A wolf. She whispered, “You’re not human.”

  “No, he’s not,” Kendrick replied from behind her. “And neither am I. It doesn’t change much.”

  “Doesn’t change much?” The laughter barked from her, sharp and short. “I just watched you turn into the giant wolves from Twilight, and you’re saying it’s no big deal?”

  “For the record, I hate that movie. And no, it’s not a big deal. So what if Joel and I get furry? We don’t wear our wolves in the house so you don’t have to worry about us shedding hair all over the place.”

  “I never come in smelling like wet dog when it rains.”

  “I can walk myself.”

  “We don’t leave the seat up.”

  “Or chase the neighbor’s cat up the tree.”

  “Often.”

  “And you’re both killing machines,” she added. “Don’t deny it. I saw you both out there. It was pretty darned savage, so excuse me if I find this all a little nerve-wracking.” Piss her pants nerve-wracking, but they didn’t seem to care.

  “Fine, get a little hysterical, but keep in mind we did what we had to in order to keep you safe. This is not how we are usually,” Joel stated, his arms wrapped around her and not letting her budge. “Violence of this level is not a daily part of our lives.”

  “Most of the time. But don’t worry, my mom’s usually around to keep things from going too far.” Kendrick knelt beside them in the dirt.

  “Your mom … Does she know?” Ruth saw Joel exchange a glance over her shoulder. “Oh my God, she’s one too. How many wolves are there?”

  “In my family or the city? ‘Cause my family also includes a few bears and cats too.”

  “I think I’m going to close my eyes now and pretend I’m asleep. No. Wait. I know I’m asleep,” she muttered. “Have to be. Because this is too insane. Carlie’s a cat. Her husbands are cats. I slept with some wolves. This is just a crazy nightmare brought on by too many romance novels and a frog.”

  “A frog?” Joel queried.

  “They must have drugged me when I was sleeping. Made me lick one of those poisonous frogs or something.”

  Joel snickered. “This isn’t a dream, querida, or a frog-induced hallucination.”

  She squished her eyes shut against the sensual tone of his voice.

  “Honey, you can’t ignore us. We’re not going away.”

  She hummed.

  They retaliated. Lips traced her features, brushing across her forehead, eyes, the tip of her nose, across her lips to her cheeks then back to nibble at her lower lip.

  She might have fought the allure, but Kendrick, damn him, found the sweet spot at her nape. Her body betrayed her. Heat pooled in her sex, moistened it, and they knew. They smelled it, sensed it, or something, because Joel chuckled against her mouth, pressed insistently with his tongue against her sealed lips.

  He almost gained entry too.

  “You might not want to do that here,” a voice interrupted. “Come. I have a place for you that isn’t too far.”

  Ruth pried open her eyes and ignored Joel’s smug grin. “I’m not done arguing.”

  “We’ll see about that,” he quipped, helping her to her feet. Forget escape, though, Joel swung her up into his arms, his naked chest pressing against her. Spotting Kendrick over his shoulder, she realized they were both still naked. Oh God. She focused on the man leading them. The guy who’d held her back at the fight, a man she now recognized as the shock wore off. “You’re Carlie’s other husband. Where’s my sister? What have you done to her?”

  “Acat has her. He is most displeased that she helped you escape.”

  “He’s not going to hurt her, is he?”

  “Oh, she’ll probably cry out,” Chaob replied ominously. “In pleasure. Eventually. First, we shall have to extract her promise to obey.”

  Ruth’s cheeks flushed, but at the same time, the husky way Chaob said it made her peek sideways at Kendrick. What do they plan to do to me?

  Would she fight it? Embrace it? Embrace both of them? Entering a hut, Joel’s grip not loosening on her as he strode toward a hammock-type bed, she wondered if she’d even get a choice. Let them seduce me. It seemed in this tribe, ménages were the norm. She could worry about the guilt later.

  “There is food and drink on the table, should you need it. Have fun. I know I shall,” Chaob said, leaving them with a parting wink.

  But his mention of beverage reminded her of Carlie’s parting words. Is this the part where they now try to turn me into a monster too? “He’s gone, you can put me down now,” she muttered. A finger tilted her chin up.

  “And if I prefer to keep you in my arms?”

  “Then you’ll be sore in the morning. I’m not a lightweight.”

  “Light enough,” Joel replied, hefting her up and down a few times.

  “Are you thirsty?” Kendrick asked as he held up a cup and the jug.

  Carlie’s words came back to haunt her and she flailed in Joel’s grip until he set her down. “No!”

  “What’s wrong? Why are so pale and fearful all of a sudden?”

  She backed away from them, eyeing the carved urn and goblet. “I won’t let you turn me into an animal. I know it’s what you want and what they did to my sister, but I like being human.”

  “And we like you being human, too. We have no intention of changing that,” Kendrick replied softly, putting down the items before moving away from the table.

  “You do?”

  “We do,” Joel affirmed. “We already told them to keep their magic mumbo jumbo away from you. No one is doing anything to you that you don’t want.”

  The tension in her eased. Perhaps it was foolish of her, but she believed them. “So now what? Are we escaping? Walking out the front door? What’s next?”

  “Next, you get naked.”

  “What for?” she squeaked.

  “I’d hate to tear your only clothes by accident, especially since we don’t know where any of our gear is.”

  She peered down at the rags left to her. “And why would my clothes get torn?” Because surely they didn’t truly intend to have sex now? They were in the moon jaguar’s camp, prisoners or something. Now wasn’t the time for hanky panky. Or so she thought. Judging by the way they advanced on her, their bodies still naked from the fight and unmistakably aroused, it seemed they had different ideas.

  “Strip, Ruth.”

  She shook her head. “We should be escaping.”

  “Not tonight, we aren’t. So get naked.”

  “This isn’t the time or pla
ce.”

  “There’s a bed. We have time.” Kendrick stood only a step away, Joel across from him. She retreated, her knees hitting the swaying hammock.

  “You don’t really want me. You’re just high from the fight.”

  “Honey, I want you so bad I’m not going to be able to wait and taste you like I’m dying to.”

  “He’s right,” Joel agreed with a nod of his head. “But don’t worry, we’ll make sure you enjoy it.”

  “Oh, yes, we will.”

  “What happened to not doing anything I don’t want?” She hugged her arms around her upper body, lest they see her nipples wanted attention.

  “Oh, you want this, honey,” Kendrick drawled in a low, sexy voice. “Just so you know, we can smell your desire. It’s been torture traveling with you, knowing you wanted us.”

  “Then why didn’t you do something?”

  “We tried. But you kept rebuffing our advances.”

  Because she didn’t believe they wanted her. She still didn’t.

  “Stop arguing, querida, and remove your clothes.” Joel reached out and tugged at her shirt; the ripping sound of fabric giving made her gasp. Apparently, they meant what they said. They wanted her. Now. Oh God, did they suspect, or worse, smell how much that turned her on?

  “I’m dirty,” she argued.

  “Then we’ll shower.”

  Shower? Kendrick moved aside to show a primitive outdoor shower. One without a door, but with the lure of cleanliness, Ruth gave in and stripped, eyes down, cheeks flushes, nipples hard, and her cleft much too wet. Who was she to keep fighting what they all obviously wanted? Time enough for regret later when she got back to the real world. For now, she’d take what they offered and enjoy it.

  Hands helped her divest her clothing, agile masculine fingers touching and caressing as her garments disappeared from her body, leaving her pale skin to gleam in the feeble light cast by a source she’d not yet spotted. She kept her eyes downcast as they guided her into the shower and via the pull of a rope, water gushed from the wooden shower head. Tepid and with little pressure, it still made her sigh in pleasure. She quickly scrubbed, aided by too many hands, aroused as heated skin brushed hers. All too soon, the water petered out, but not before they’d all three rinsed the sweat of their travels from their bodies.