by Anna Lowe
Heart thumping, she forced herself two steps away and took a measured breath. Hunting brought out her passion, and that passion wasn’t easily quenched. In hunts past, she would slip home and find herself a wolf lover to take the edge off. She could do the same now with him. Her wolf wanted it, and his, too.
But tonight… Tonight was different, somehow. She didn’t want fast and hard. She wanted slow. Graceful. Satisfying—not just for her body but her soul. And wolves, well, they weren’t much good at anything but a hard, fast fuck.
Hey! her wolf huffed.
But her mind was made up. Humans were much pickier about choosing partners. Rae was picky. She wanted Zack—the man.
But would he want her? Would he want slow, graceful, and sweet?
As she looked into the warm peat of his eyes, Zack stood impossibly still. Wishing, wanting, waiting. For her.
And just like that, she slipped from arousal to full heat. She wanted him—all of him, for all of her. She pushed forward, shifting smoothly in midstep to her human form. Her back lifted and straightened, her shoulders stretched, and her jaw clicked. Then she breathed deeply and stood naked on two feet in the desert night. It was cooler like this. Invigorating.
Zack stood still, holding his breath. His wolf stood so tall, she could run a hand along his back without dipping a shoulder. His fur was wiry and thick against her palm, and she couldn’t resist working her fingers down to the skin as she circled him once again. She ran the back of her hand along his right side then stepped in front of him, naked and exposed. She shivered, both from the night chill and the primal heat zipping through her body.
Decide, wolf, she strained to tell him as her nipples hardened into tight peaks. Take me or leave me. Take the risk.
He blinked, slow and ponderous, and she circled him again. Her hand rose as he shifted and came to two feet, his human side stealing the night back from the beast. Fur gave way to smooth, supple skin as her fingers continued her path, sliding from his hips to a rear so tight and square with muscle that she shivered. She came around his shoulder, a dancer in a slow waltz, and stepped right into an embrace.
Zack—human Zack—pulled her close, nose to her hair, and continued the movement without missing a beat. His arms stroked her the way she had stroked his wolf, making her body throb with building need.
“Rae,” he whispered.
He rubbed the pad of his thumb over her lower lip before kissing her exactly as he had the very first time. The scent of wolf hung on him still, and the flavor of coyote was on the tongue that tangled with hers, soft and sweet. Yet he was all human, all man.
She couldn’t help glancing down when he reluctantly broke the kiss off. Definitely all man.
He smiled that secret smile, and her knees wobbled just a little bit. She wanted to hand herself over to him, then and there. The hunter in her was gone with her wolf, and now she was all woman. She wanted to surrender, to give herself over to his touch. To trust.
Trust. She turned the word over in her mind. When had she ever really trusted a man?
She closed her eyes and sighed as Zack slid his hands along her ribs, ghosting along the outside curve of her breasts.
Tonight. Tonight she would trust.
His hand cupped her fully, setting her on fire. She pressed into him, trying to squeeze away every last atom between their bodies.
Zack…
It was an inner sigh more than anything else, because speaking now might break the spell of this magical night. Her body cried for more, and he readily gave it, toying with both breasts, pushing his erection into her stomach. Heat pulsed off his chest as his mouth explored hers, swift and sure.
His hands slid down to the small of her back, then climbed up, and finally dove again, scooping her close. So close that her balance was thrown, her body tipping backward.
Trust. The word echoed in her mind as she forced herself to let go. She tipped farther and farther off-balance, so far she was sure she would crash gracelessly to the ground.
“Gotcha,” Zack whispered, locking his arms firmly behind her. She felt feather-light as he lowered her to the ground and followed, settling carefully along the length of her body. The rock beneath her was flat and smooth; above, Zack was all heat.
Take me. Love me. Mate me. Her wolf was begging inside, and it was all she could do to lock the words in.
Dipping his head, Zack went to work on her breasts. She arched into his mouth, wanting more of what she’d tasted earlier that night—that screaming, soaring high. The physical high was only one part of it, though. The rest went deeper, sending her soul singing and dancing. Rae wanted to drag this out and make the last hours of the night stretch on forever.
But her body was skipping ahead, making her drop her knees wide and guiding his hand down to stroke her sex. She caught a grin—Jesus, that smile—before closing her eyes to the sweet sensation of his fingers tickling her folds. She gasped when his lips grasped her nipple at the same time, bringing her higher and higher. One finger, then two slipped inside her and stirred a moan from her throat.
“Good,” she couldn’t help whispering. “So good.”
Zack’s grin stretched, and his green eyes narrowed. Just when Rae was sure he’d nudge her legs wider and push home, Zack took firm hold of her hips and rolled them both around. She reared above him, her knees straddling his hips.
“You want the bottom?” She gaped.
“I want this view.”
She sucked in a breath, let it out slowly, then leaned back on her heels to sit tall over his prone body. She tilted her chin up toward the stars. “They are beautiful.” The sky was almost free of clouds now, and the stars sparkled in one of those nights of million-mile clarity that only come after a storm. “Like jewels in the sky.”
“Not the stars,” he murmured. “You. Riding me.” He tipped his hips up.
She caught her lower lip in her teeth and formed a triangle over him, one arm on either side of his muscled chest. Then she slid a little higher along his body and lowered herself slowly over his cock.
“Oh!” she cried, taking him deep.
“Oh,” he chuckled.
She rocked back, taking him deeper, forcing those perfect lips open in his own silent Oh. Gripping her hips tightly, he pushed up, seating himself deep as her inner muscles gripped tightly.
We make a good team, her wolf purred.
That we do, she could have sworn she heard him think, but her mind went blank with his next grinding thrust. She let her muscles ripple over his cock, tightening and loosening in a sensual wave.
His eyes closed while he groaned, long and unsteady, like a rolling log in a swirling river.
“Gotcha.” She smiled, liking what she saw.
Zack opened his eyes and found a new grip on her hips, guiding her into another plunge. Down she went, wet, wide, and aching for more. She let her muscles tug on him as she pulled up, hovered over the broad head of him, and pushed down again. She could have played there forever, but a new inspiration seized her. On the next up, she slid her whole body back and away, her breasts bouncing over his thighs as she took his cock with her lips. Not a lazy lick, or a slow glide down. She made a mental oath to deliver that next time. Instead, she rushed to inhale him, extracting another groan from her lover.
Mine. All mine.
She took him again and again until he was slick and swollen, his body motionless but for the fingers twirling madly in her hair and the garbled words pouring from his throat. A rush went through her as the balance of power tipped toward her end of the scale. Of course, power wasn’t the point—it was about trust. Zack was trusting her to take him this way—a rare act for a dominant wolf. The question was, how far did her trust go?
Far enough that when he jackknifed up a moment later, rasping her name, she let him take control and roll them until he came out on top, wearing a devilish grin that said, Watch this.
Chapter Sixteen
Zack could have thrown his head back and howled when h
e came out of that roll. Rae was beneath him, wide-eyed and ready for more. She’d given him the ride of his life and now, he would reciprocate, so she’d never want anyone else again. It would be him, only him.
Mine! the wolf inside him roared.
The way her wolf had teased him with those long drags on his fur had nearly been his undoing. But when Rae shifted back to her human form and let her fingers play along his back, his wolf had started humming inside, leaning into the touch. When she circled him the second time, the shift snuck up on him, so smooth and so fast he barely found his balance on two bare feet.
Vague inner warnings like Forbidden were forgotten the instant Rae molded herself to his body in a perfect fit. Her trust wasn’t given lightly, and that alone was enough to push aside duty and honor and pack. He had to touch her, taste her, fill her.
Her skin was soft and warm, and underneath was a taut layer of muscle: thin as sheet metal in places, corrugated over her abdomen, thicker in the thighs. Thighs that were gripping him now, drawing him in. The thunder and lightning had long since moved on, but he could still feel the electricity in what she did to him. His lips moved over her shoulder, tasting her again and again, and then everything became the squeeze on his cock as he slid home.
He thought he’d climbed as high as a man could climb, but he soared even higher when Rae tipped her chin down to watch his cock disappear inside. Her face glowed as she watched him slide in, one hot, tight inch at a time. Her lips parted, her eyes slid shut, and deep inside, he could feel her tremble.
He wanted to memorize the feel of it all. The sight of her under him. The perfect fit at the juncture of their bodies, the tight tangle of their legs.
He thrust so deep, he nearly lost himself on the first plunge. Rae’s eyes were glassy, and he penetrated again, burning with pleasure every inch of the way. A pull back, then another thrust, and another—he let momentum build until the movement was a thing of its own. His breath was ragged, barely in control.
“Zack,” she groaned, tightening her legs behind his back.
Mate, his wolf growled inside.
When she clamped down over the length of his cock, all thought fled except the desire to fulfill her.
“Now,” she cried.
“Now,” he echoed while he still could. Then his hips took over in a crescendo that seemed to rock the stone they lay upon, as hard and fast as an out-of-control wave. It built and crested inside then came in a rush as he emptied into her.
He kept his tight grip on her hips as his body went stiff, feeling Rae clutch him with every muscle and limb. She convulsed with a cry then went limp and breathless against his chest.
Somehow, he found just enough coordination to wrap his arms around her and hold her tight, listening to the wild beating of her heart.
“You’re amazing,” he murmured at last.
She was so much more than what was visible from the outside. A few minutes ago, she’d been a mighty huntress; now, she was all woman.
All his.
“Not bad yourself,” she chuckled back.
Her scent filled his nose, and her heat filled his arms. Their breaths evened out, and time stretched and decelerated, as if Fate were giving him the gift of time.
Mistress of the Hunt. Had he imagined it all? The chase, the pronghorn, the scene that had appeared in his mind? Could a woman like her ever settle for a half-breed like him?
He glanced down, finding stroking him like a harp. She sighed, sinking deeper into him as the stars arched slowly overhead.
“Is this what you came out here for?” He ventured at last. “To hunt?”
She gestured toward the valley, the mesas, the endless miles beyond. “I need space,” she said, determination creeping into her voice.
Zack peered into the starry night, wondering how much space she needed. Wondering whether she might be willing to share.
“But you…you held it,” he whispered, snuggling her closer in case the words set off her instinct to flee. “The pronghorn, I mean.”
Rae shook her head slowly, looking weary, yet satisfied. “Wolves have always been the guardians of the herds. We keep them strong.”
He ran a finger over the soft skin of her neck. “Never seen a wolf do that before.”
She shrugged and cast her eyes down. “You know that corny line. If you love something, set it free.”
But there was more to her hunt than that corny line, and he knew it. “You didn’t kill it.”
“That pronghorn didn’t need killing. She needed…” Rae trailed off, studying him as if to gauge how much to say. “She needed to listen.”
“And that’s what you do? You tell them where to go?” The image of the green valley had been so clear, he could smell the fresh grass, taste the clean breeze. “Where they’ll be safe?”
Rae took a long time measuring her words before speaking. “I don’t say anything. The Earth Spirits do. I just make sure she listens.”
He nodded. “So she’ll know where to go. Where she’ll be safe. Where she’ll find a mate…” He trailed off, glad Rae’s eyes avoided his while he fought down the squeezing sensation in his chest.
The thing was, he didn’t need a whisper in the night. He knew where to find his mate.
Right here. His coyote hummed in satisfaction.
Rae cleared her throat and mumbled, “A good hunt.”
A very good hunt, his wolf rumbled inside.
“Interesting kind of hunt,” he added, trying to keep his voice steady.
Rae pursed her lips. “There’s killing, too, when there needs to be. The old, the weak, the sick. Everything has its time. I do it right, though,” she continued, sounding fierce. “Quick, and with honor. Not like those damn trappers, the bear-baiters, the humans who get it wrong. They take the strongest bucks, the brightest females.”
It all fit perfectly with the stories his grandmother used to tell. But Rae was no coyote. “You’re not Diné,” he said.
Diné? her eyes asked.
“Navajo.”
She shook her head. “My family came from Europe. They couldn’t stop humans from decimating the herds there, so they came to the New World. They did their best to keep the herds strong, but others came, too. Too many, too fast.”
That story, Zack knew all too well. “Are you the only one?”
Her pulse slowed to a sad thump. “My grandmother was the only huntress in the Four Corners region. The gift skipped a generation with my mom. And me… I’m the only one I know who’s…different.”
Zack pulled her closer, wishing he could say what he felt: that he knew how it felt to be different, to be alone. But Rae was special, one of a kind. And he was just a mutt.
Try selling that, his coyote cried, suddenly morose.
Chapter Seventeen
To Rae, a night had never felt so good, and dawn had never come so swiftly. She lay snuggled alongside Zack, alternatively snoozing and watching the stars until orange and pink hues invaded the sky.
A new day. What revelations would this one bring?
She rolled to face Zack, matching each part of her body to his, and took his lips in a last kiss. The last, at least, for that night. Then she stood, stretched, and offered him a hand.
He didn’t move at first, and she wondered what was going through his mind. He’d gone from passionate and hopeful to downright quiet as the first rays of sunlight tiptoed over the earth.
“Hey.” She gave him an encouraging smile. “Time to get up, Sleeping Beauty.”
He cracked one eyelid open. “That would be you.”
The crazy thing was, he wasn’t joking. His fingers closed around hers like he never wanted to let go.
She squeezed and pulled him up. Lying on the ground, they’d come out eye to eye, but standing, he towered over her. There was so much of him, and so much to him. The man was more than a tracker.
This man could be our mate, her wolf said.
She took a deep breath and looked over the hills. It was a long way
back to the cabin.
“On foot or…on foot?” she joked.
He flashed the smile she was hoping for, catching her meaning right away. Should they shift into wolf form to cover the miles back or walk on bare human feet?
“Four feet would be quicker.” He said it quietly, almost testing her.
“Right, then.” She nodded. “Let’s go on two feet.”
The smile stretched. “Right, then, two feet.”
They picked their way through the scrub, cutting over the hill, then winding through the valley where she’d first found her prey. It all seemed so different in daytime and as a human, but one thing was the same: the thrill she got from Zack being there at her side.
Imagine hunting like this all the time. With him.
It was so easy to imagine, and so tempting.
But can we trust him?
Purrr-fectly, her wolf replied, thumping her tail.
Which only brought her to the next question: How much could she trust herself?
The question hung in every prickly pear thorn she tip-toed around and every edgy pebble on the ground. But with Zack’s hand tight around hers and his quiet presence at her side, finding a definitive answer didn’t feel quite so urgent any more.
They reached the cabin and paused just inside the threshold, gazing at the evidence of their lovemaking. The tangled sheets… The heady musk that still clung to the air. It would be easy, too easy, to slip right back to where they’d left off.
Zack’s hand tightened around hers, and he whispered, “We need to get back.”
She wanted to stay and pretend that last night could be every night for the rest of her days. But pretending wouldn’t get her anywhere, so she scooped up her clothes and dressed. Meanwhile, Zack pulled on his jeans then straightened the bed. She tugged on her shirt then slung her bow and quiver over her shoulders, wishing it wasn’t already time to go.
When Zack stepped out the door and pushed the motorcycle off the porch, there was a metallic ting as the keys fell out of his pocket. Rae picked them up as she stepped into the intense morning light, squinting. The night was gone. If she wanted her future, she had to go out and get it.
