“Dominant doesn’t mean you’re not afraid,” I told him, trying to deflect his statement into a different sort of conversation. “Dominant means you fight even when you’re afraid, that you exhibit the type of leadership and skill that makes other wolves instinctively follow your lead. Over time their instinct is reinforced with your good decisions and your history of putting the good of the pack above your own welfare. That’s dominance, not being foolishly aggressive or grinding every one of your packmates beneath your heel.”
It was my philosophy. It was Brent’s philosophy. It was the philosophy of the majority of wolf Alphas in our world.
“But you’re afraid. Of me.” The gold flecks sparked like beacons of light, and again I saw something dark and dangerous behind his eyes. “Why?”
Because he was supposed to be a grizzly shifter, but he’d just turned into some kind of prehistoric monster. Because he wouldn’t give me a straight answer about his heritage. Because the power in him seemed off-leash and ready to kill with reckless, gleeful abandon.
“I’m less afraid of you like this than a giant cave bear,” I told him, trying to avoid hurting his feelings. It didn’t work.
“You’ll fuck me like I’m the very air you need to survive, but you’re afraid of me.”
I caught my breath at the rawness in his words. If I was honest with myself, part of his appeal was that fear he inspired, that wild feeling of danger, that he could just as easily kill me as bring me pleasure. Sex with everyone else was enjoyable, fun. Sex with Karl was like mating with nature itself—full of beauty and brutality, life and death all rolled into one seductive, dangerous package.
“Dominance is fighting when you’re afraid, taking the risk even though you’re afraid,” I told him, implying that it was also loving when you were afraid. I wasn’t anywhere near ready to say the “L” word with him, but love didn’t come without taking a chance, and in spite of our mountain of differences, in spite of my very real fear, I wanted to take that chance and see what a future for us might hold.
He stared at me, his scrutiny feeling like it tore through to my very soul. “I need you to trust me, Brina. Afraid or not. Sex or not. I need you to trust me.”
And suddenly I had a glimpse of his soul, of a dark monster who would never submit, but might walk side-by-side with the right person, the right wolf. In his eyes I saw a glimpse of someone who longed for another to share his days and nights with. I could be that wolf. All I needed to do was trust.
Chapter Four
Karl stuffed his jeans into my duffle bag while I dressed. And he watched me dress. I thought maybe he’d joke around or proposition me, but after our serious conversation, he’d fallen silent. Once again he was the brooding shifter of few words, naked, watching me as I struggled into a pair of jeans while favoring my still-healing wounds.
His had healed. Completely. He didn’t even have a scar. It was another thing that made me think Nephilim, even though he’d denied it.
“You’re going to hike naked?” I asked, easing into my T-shirt.
He shook his head. “I’ll hike as a bear.”
It was like he was waiting for me to say or do something. Or like he was trying to think something over and come to a decision.
“Should I wait here while you shift or will you catch up?”
He took a step back, then another. “I don’t let anyone watch me shift. No one.” He made eye contact with me, making sure I got the significance of what he was about to do, then he shifted. With Ahia, who as it turned out was a full angel and not a Nephilim, shifting was in an instant with a flash of light. With us, shifting was a painful contorting and re-forming of skin, muscle, and bone. For Karl, it was like a smooth, liquid transition. He slid into something bright and formless, like a molten metal taking shape midair, then expanded. It took seconds, and before me was a giant grizzly, his fur sparkling with gold lights before it dimmed to blond.
At least he hadn’t turned into that cave bear thing, although his grizzly form still made my flesh rise, made me want to back away very slowly. I pushed down the instinctual fear. Trust. He was one scary mo-fo, but he’d done nothing that might make me think he would harm me.
“What’s with the glitter?” I teased him. “Sparkly bear?”
He shot me an irritated glance, then shook his fur again, glancing down at his paws.
“Oh, it’s gone now, but don’t think I didn’t see it. Is that why you don’t want anyone to see you shift? Ahia would never let you live this one down. You’d wake up one morning covered in glitter glue.”
He snarled, then made a huff noise and turned to head down the trail. I grabbed the duffle, wincing as it hit my healing scabs, then followed him. “Lead the way, oh Sparkly Bear.”
It wasn’t long before I realized that this hike was a bad idea. I was exhausted from the fight, from shifting, from healing my wounds. I’d been tracking the rogue for most of the day, and after all that had happened including a dump of adrenaline into my system, I was done for. Still I pressed on, not wanting to admit to Karl that I needed to rest, and wanting to make enough headway on our trip back that we’d arrive to the Jeep tomorrow with plenty of time to get into Ketchikan before the police sheriff had gone home for the day.
The urgency wasn’t quite the same as it had been when we had a killer on the loose, but I still felt the need to hurry. If this was related to those hunters up north, then any delay might cost lives—shifter as well as human lives.
I stumbled, catching myself with a hand on a tree. Karl turned and I tried to brush it off as me being clumsy or lost in thought, but I could tell from the expression in his eyes that he knew. The next small clearing we came across, he began to circle, sniffing, shredding a few tree trunks, and checking the potential camp spot.
I plopped down the duffle, yanked out a light blanket, and curled up, using the bag as a pillow. The sun hadn’t even set yet and I was ready to sleep. As I closed my eyes I felt the warmth of fur next to me, the thump of something huge settling down on the ground. Then I felt Karl’s huge bear body press against my spine.
He was scary. I didn’t quite know what he was, but he was scary. And right now, I was glad to have him at my back.
Chapter Five
I wasn’t sure how the heck Karl had done it, but his jeans were ripped in several important areas. Actually I was pretty sure he’d tried to shift before he managed to get all the way out of them, which again had me wondering what he was that he could change forms so quickly. Alphas could often do it in five minutes. Maybe Karl was dominant as all hell, or he had a higher than usual percentage of angel in his DNA, or both. Either way, his pant legs were separated at the side seams, the crotch had an indecent-sized hole and the zipper was hanging useless from a gaping fly.
We were at the car and close to the more populated areas, and even though Alaskans were fairly used to seeing bears wandering around, given the recent events with the rogue, we didn’t want to risk the chance of Karl getting shot. Which had meant he’d needed to shift into a human form rather than jog alongside the Jeep, or ride as a grizzly. And human meant he should probably at least have some pants on.
The silly bear wanted to climb into the car and ride through the streets naked. As entertaining as the prospect was, I didn’t want him arrested for indecent exposure. Plus, I’d probably wreck from the distraction of naked Karl riding shotgun. I was distracted enough by naked Karl trying to get his pants to stay together and remain up over his hips.
I’d begun to get used to his grizzly form. The shadowed darkness behind his eyes was quickly becoming part of the near constant attraction I felt for him. As we’d hiked to the car this morning, I’d found myself reaching out to brush a hand along his rough fur, watching the movement of his powerful muscles as he walked, warming at the very human expression in his eyes as he’d turned back to look at me.
And when he’d shifted in that smooth, liquid motion into his human form, I’d felt my mouth go dry. He was gorgeous, formidab
le…and dark. And he looked at me like he wanted nothing more than to drag me off into the woods and have his way with me.
I was kinda on board with that idea. But first I needed to get into town and talk to the police. Actually, first we needed to get his darned pants to stay closed.
I had a few safety pins in my duffle and some hair ties, so I tried to at least get the fly together with a weird combo of the two, figuring the ripped legs and hole-in-the-crotch weren’t as critical.
I’d barely gotten the safety pins in place when I realized we had a problem.
“Dang it, Karl. Stop with the boner, okay? I can’t get your jeans closed with your big dick trying to poke me in the eye.”
He grinned. “Quick hand job would do the trick.”
No, it wouldn’t. “I’ve had sex with you. It doesn’t go down. Even if I jerk you off, you’ll be hard again in seconds and ready to go for another ten to twenty minutes. Just think unsexy thoughts or something, at least until I get your pants together.”
I couldn’t resist leaning forward and placing a lingering kiss on the tip trying its best to escape the jeans.
He groaned. “You’re not helping. Actually, you are helping. Keep going with that.”
Should I? How urgent was it for me to get back to Ketchikan? Ten minutes wouldn’t matter in the scheme of things, and I was sooo tempted. I ran a finger over the exposed skin of his cock and he leaned forward trying to increase the contact.
“We need to get moving,” I told him reluctantly, trying to stuff his hard cock back into the pants. It sprang free, teasing me, mocking me, tempting me.
There was a dead rogue in the forest. There was someone somewhere creating bullets that disabled, infected, and even killed shifters. There were quite possibly more hunters prowling around coastal Alaska. And I was about to give a bear a blow job.
Pushing the fly I’d just been trying to pin closed open, I pulled his cock free. Then I kissed the tip, licking underneath and tickling my fingers up his shaft. Karl’s hips jerked forward, nearly punching me in the face with his dick.
“Brina, don’t tease, girl.”
I looked up at him from under my lashes. “I don’t tease, Karl.”
Then I took him in my mouth, encircling him at the base with my hand and bracing myself against his knees. His hands came up to tangle in my hair, urging me on as I sucked and licked along the skin of his shaft, running my tongue along the slit at the tip. Then I paused for a dramatic moment and took him in deep—so deep he bumped the back of my throat. His hands fisted in my hair as I built up a rhythm. I brought one of my hands up from his knee to fondle his balls, the other giving his shaft a firm stroke each time I pulled my mouth to the edge.
His breathing was harsh and ragged, his hands starting to be a bit demanding on the back of my head. A groan tore from deep in his throat and I laughed, the vibration sending him over the edge. He thickened and jerked his hips, shoving my head forward and holding me tight as he came down my throat. I felt his legs tremble, heard him let out a held breath, felt his grip on my hair suddenly loosen, as if he’d just realized he was holding me tightly in place, my nose pressed against the lower part of his stomach.
I pulled back, still sucking hard, and released him with a pop. Then I licked along his entire length before tucking him back inside his jeans.
“Sorry.”
He was apologizing. And he had nothing to apologize for. It was actually quite flattering that I’d been skilled enough to make him come so quickly. Besides, it was a good thing he’d lost control when he had since I wasn’t accustomed to marathon oral sex performances. If that was his expectation, I’d need to practice more and work up to it.
“It’s been a year,” he added. “Tough for me to hold back, ya know?”
Eek. “Surely you’ve taken care of things yourself since last August?”
His smile was slow, mirroring the sexy spark in his eyes. “My hand doesn’t feel like your hand, or your pussy, and it especially doesn’t feel like your mouth.” His voice grew husky. “Been thinking about you all fall, winter and spring, Brina, hoping that you’d be wanting a repeat of last summer.”
Yeah, me too. And that was just a shame when we could have been getting it on all fall, winter and spring. “Why didn’t you reach out to me, Karl? I know you said you don’t have a phone, and you thought sex was just a seasonal thing for us, but you could have let me know you were interested in something beyond a quickie by the stream.”
“As I recall, that weren’t exactly a quickie.” He grinned, then ran his fingers through my hair. “Sows are seasonal about sex with male grizzly shifters, and they don’t want contact with us outside of the rut season. Thought you might be the same and didn’t want to ruin my chances with you by being pushy. I’m a patient man. I’m willing to wait eleven or twelve months for you to come into season, for you to want to take me to your bed.”
Well I wasn’t so patient. “I’m going to straighten this out right now. Werewolves are like humans. We don’t have a season. We get turned on any time during the year, and it doesn’t matter whether the object of our lust is a human or a shifter, we’re always receptive. Having sex with someone and not contacting them for almost a year means you’re either not interested or just want an occasional, no-strings-attached booty call, not that you’re worried about being pushy.”
He reached out and brushed the calloused pad of his thumb over my cheekbone, then down across my lower lip. “Then why didn’t you contact me?”
Because in spite of being a dominant wolf, when it came to guys I was a bit of a traditional girl. And I’d been scared. Being a skinny girl with barely any boobs, bright red-colored hair and freckles meant I’d faced rejection more times than I’d like to admit. I’d learned to play it casual, to keep my heart safe, to act like a hook-up and no call wasn’t any big deal. It was. And I’d been terrified to face rejection after the night we’d shared. I’d rather just not know and keep my pride intact.
“Could’a called me, Brina,” he accused.
I snorted. “No cell phone. No consistent location. You bears are a pain to track down. And…” I needed to be somewhat honest here. “I thought you guys were solitary, that maybe you didn’t want more from me than just one night. I didn’t want to be pushy and look like that crazy wolf chasing after a bear.”
His smile changed, becoming warm, affectionate. “Seems we both had the same misconceptions ’bout each other. How about I get a cell phone, and you be willing every now and then to go off the grid with me, and in the meantime we screw like monkeys.”
“How bout we screw like monkeys even when we’re off the grid or enduring the company of a whole pack of rowdy wolves.”
“In front of them?” He was now smirking. “Didn’t think you were into that sort of thing Brina.”
I tugged the last hair tie around his pants and stood, placing a quick kiss on the corner of his mouth. “With you? I could be.”
I drove back to Karl’s cabin. He leaned over and kissed me before climbing out of the Jeep. It was the kind of kiss that made me want to change my mind and head into town tomorrow, but I’d have more fun with him tonight knowing I’d already let the police know that the rogue was no longer a danger.
“You coming back tonight?” he murmured, his lips brushing mine.
“Yes.” I felt hypnotized by him, mesmerized. His was so darned distracting.
“I’ll feed you,” he announced, finally pulling away. “Don’t eat any of that human food.”
Smoked trout? He’d promised to bring some to the barbeque and my mouth watered just thinking about it. Having nothing but beef jerky and summer sausage for two days had left me craving fresh-cooked meat.
“I’ll call you when I’m on my way,” I promised. Oh, crap. No, I couldn’t. The crazy guy didn’t have a phone. “Actually hold off cooking anything until I get back. I’ll try to make it before seven, but I don’t want everything getting cold if I’m late.”
He nodded, t
hen spun around and without another word or glance headed over and began chopping wood once more. Strange, antisocial, weird-mannered bear. It didn’t matter though, because I knew he was just as excited for tonight as I was. I hesitated a few minutes, just to see if my hair-elastic and safety pin job on his pants managed to survive the axe swinging motions, then drove off. I’d see plenty of naked Karl tonight. And I couldn’t wait.
I was an hour out of Ketchikan when I got cell phone coverage and started to get the texts. It was Brent, wanting an update and telling me that there had been other reports of rogues in the Juneau area and northern Alaska. I pulled over to the side of the road to look at the YouTube videos he’d sent, staring with shock at my tiny phone screen.
They were horrifying. Three videos of campers and hunters, seemingly minding their own business when suddenly a shifter burst upon them in human form, shifted into their animal in a matter of seconds, then went on the attack. All three were werewolves, and all three seriously injured the humans before they were killed. The videos were jumpy, obviously edited, but the effect was still chilling.
But the videos didn’t tell the whole story. Outside of Karl and Nephilim, I’d never seen a shifter who could change form that fast. Brent had said the magic on the hunters’ bullets up in Kenai had forced a rapid shift—seconds instead of ten to twenty minutes. The parts that hit the cutting room floor must have included someone shooting a shifter. That and the campers and hunters who’d finally taken the rogue down clearly had magical weapons of their own. A few hunting rifles wouldn’t kill a shifter, especially one gone rogue. Unless they had a stockpile of assault weapons at their campsite, they had “special” bullets.
My phone dinged again and I clicked the latest link that Brent had sent, feeling my heart sink further.
My Paranormal Valentine: A Paranormal Romance Box Set Page 47
