Damned and Desired (17 page)

He searched her face, crushed. “Are you okay?”

Her hand grabbed his shaft. He met his gaze with a wild look. “I want you, now.”

He groaned.

Reaching behind him, he leaned on the motorcycle seat for support. “Oh, that’s awesome.”

The lust and hunger in her eyes nearly sent him over the edge. She laughed, low and deep, almost with a sinister tone. He picked her up and propped her on the seat, setting her on the leopard fur, her legs dangling over one side.

“Why did you do that?” she asked.

“You’ll see.” Hands on her knees, he spread her legs apart and moved between her thighs. Her skirt was hiked up high where he could almost see her pussy. If she was wearing underwear, she wouldn’t be for long.

His hands slid up her thighs and worked under her skirt. A black lace thong. His fingers rubbed her clit through the silky fabric and he felt her bud plump even under the material.

“Yes,” she moaned, her fingers dug into the sides of the seat to keep her from falling over. That was all he needed to slip his fingers under her thong and touch heated, moist skin.

She gripped his shoulders, digging in her nails and wrapping her legs around his thighs.

Changing positions, he stepped back, slipped off her thong and straddled the bike so that he was facing her and she was on her back, her head up by the handlebars.

“I could’ve offered you a comfortable bed but I want to taste you,” he said as he shoved her skirt up to her waist.

“I don’t want to wait. Do it.” She tossed her tee shirt and bra on the ground, the heat between them beyond stopping or going slow. In the back of his mind, he knew they should’ve left sooner before it got this far.

He bent over, his mouth coming down on her pussy. Her hips bucked against his lips, his tongue. Her passion climbing to a point he knew she wouldn’t be able to stop.

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Damned and Desired

“Do you want me inside you?”

“Yes.” She grabbed at his arms and drew him toward her.

“Hang on.” He got off the bike stripped out of his clothes and retrieved a condom out of his jeans. Then he straddled the bike again, hooking her legs over his shoulders and raising her ass up off the bike seat.

“Brad, fuck me now.”

Her words were a powerful aphrodisiac and his cock twitched in anticipation, his balls drawn up tight. God, he would come in a second if he didn’t focus.

Pressing his cock at her entrance, he eased the head inside.

“More,” she moaned.

His insides melted to liquid fire. He had to feel her wet softness, all of it, now. He plunged into her with one thrust.

“Yes!” Sakari cried out, rocking her hips. Reaching over her head, she grabbed the handlebars, her breasts thrust up, nipples taut. The image sent him crashing over the edge, spilling his seed. As he came, Sakari bolted upright and took his face in her hands.

He felt dizzy and disoriented but the orgasm was still racking his body. Grapping her hips, he pumped into her hard and fast to make it last a little longer for her and her eyes widened.

“Brad, no!” she moaned. Her body stiffened and she pushed him away. The last thing he remembered was falling and the bike tipping over.

Brushing off sand, Sakari got up off the ground and climbed over the bike. The near orgasm still pulsed within her pussy. “Brad, are you all right?”

She knelt beside his naked form but he remained motionless. “Oh, no.” She placed her head on his chest and heard a heartbeat. Before she harmed any more humans, she had to find the Sha Warriors for Dante and be done with this planet, finish her duty as a Drone. “Brad, please wake up.” She shook him.

Standing, she picked up the fur that had sprawled out on the ground. Would it give him power? She laid it across him. “Brad, change if it will make you strong.”

Brad stirred and reached for the fur, drawing it up under his chin but exposing his cock again. He was partially erect. Blinking his eyes, Brad snuggled under the fur and took several long, deep breaths. His body quivered then the fur reformed and became one with him, at the same time he shifted in form. Sleek and muscular, now as the leopard.

The leopard bolted to his feet and growled at her.

“Brad, it’s me.”

The leopard paced in front of her then sat on the ground, his head held high. He shifted back into human form. The fur draped over his shoulder. “You saw me shift.” It was a cautious statement, one filled with regret.

95

Kathy Kulig

“Yes.”

“And you’re still here.”

She smiled. “Yes.”

“Why?” He stood, gloriously naked. “Doesn’t this scare you at all?”

“No. How is it that you’ve come to have such a power? Is the power within the animal fur?”

“No, it’s within me. A rare inherited trait called
Eigi Einhamr
.”

“A genetic defect?”

“Not a defect. A rare gene.”

She touched her pendant again and looked over her shoulder. “Are there many mortals—I mean people with this trait?”

“Only a few. My brother, Jake, also shifts.” He glanced at the bike and then at her.

“Did I fall asleep after sex without satisfying you?”

“It was very satisfying,” she argued.

“But you didn’t come,” he countered. “I’m a more attentive lover than that.”

“Another time,” she said.

He frowned and didn’t seem entirely happy with that but he didn’t argue. “I think I should shift and investigate that area where I observed the couple. I can sense more in my leopard form.”

“Do what you must so we can leave soon.” She took the flashlight that he offered from his tool kit.

“Follow me.”

Brad wasn’t going to push anymore. He’d find out her story sooner or later. They walked side by side until they got closer to the area where he remembered the couple had been. Sakari kept glancing over her shoulder. Was she expecting someone?

“I can sense more when I shift,” he said, searching her face for a fearful expression but found none.

“Go ahead. I’m okay.”

He donned the pelt and closed his eyes, willing himself to be one with the animal.

But he couldn’t hold his animal form for more than several seconds.

Brad dropped the fur on the ground and resisted kicking it. He took a deep breath, then let it out slowly. “I had an accident overseas and since then I sometimes have difficulty.”

“Were you injured? What happened?”

“Another time,” he said. “It’s a long story.” He picked up the fur, took several breaths and stared up into the night sky and finally appeared to find peace. He shifted 96

Damned and Desired

into the leopard. In animal form the leopard glanced at Sakari, the woman appeared calm, not startled by his new form. Odd. He loped off toward the site.

Around a large rock and a cluster of mesquite bushes was the area he remembered.

Here the man and woman had mated. He was certain by the remnants of human scent.

He even sensed their sexual arousal. The leopard paused and looked up at the rock where he’d leapt off.

He wandered around in a circular pattern then moved a little outside the area. The woman tugged at the fur behind his neck. She was fearless. He shifted back to human.

“Here?” she asked.

Aiming the flashlight around the area, he looked for tracks, footprints—human or animal. He saw both. “They were here.”

“Seen enough?” she asked.

He looked toward another group of rocks. “Let’s check that out.”

“No!”

“Why?”

“This place doesn’t feel right.”

He didn’t want to make her feel uncomfortable or scared but his instincts told him there was something here that needed to be investigated.

“Sakari, what aren’t you telling me?”

She didn’t answer.

“All right. I’m telling you. There’s nothing for you to worry about. I need to change one more time and then I promise we’ll go.”

“Brad, no! It’s not safe.”

Brad threw the pelt over his shoulders defiantly and immediately shifted into the leopard. Something
was
here and he was going to find out what if she wouldn’t tell him.

In animal form, he felt that magnetic pull like he had before. With his senses more keen to the environment, his hackles stood out sensing danger. Could it be an electrical storm in the area? He glanced up at the night sky and saw brilliant stars. Not tonight.

Then he heard a scream and smelled the animal before he heard the yip and snarl of another predator.

Coyote.

Spinning around, he crouched in position ready to lunge at his attacker. Coyote leapt onto him with more forced than he’d expect from a skinny animal. The leopard had to outweigh him by eighty pounds or so.

Claws dug into his shoulders and teeth dug into his foreleg. He yelped in pain then rolled and let his weight force Coyote to release him. He knocked the coyote down with his wide paws. Powerful teeth clamped onto the coyote’s back, but the sly creature wrenched free and pinned him on the ground, jaws tight around his throat. In any moment, his throat could be ripped out.

97

Kathy Kulig

Brad slipped out of his leopard form and felt the teeth of the Coyote at his throat.

Son of a bitch.

“Stop it, Dante!”

Coyote was caught off guard and released his grip, gazing down at him. Brad focused and managed to shift again. With his hind legs, the leopard maneuvered in a position and again rolled on top of Coyote. His assailant was powerful and strong but the leopard had muscle and weight on his side.

“Stop it, now! Both of you!” Sakari cried.

Then the leopard sensed another predator. While he had Coyote pinned on the ground, he heard a shriek and saw the flash of wings. He looked up.

A falcon swooped down, talons extended and knocked him off Coyote.

Scrambling to his feet, Coyote prepared to attack the leopard and as he leapt in the air to do so, the falcon swooped down again and clipped Coyote on the ear with its sharp talons. He yipped and rolled away. The leopard started to attack Coyote, then saw the futility of it as the falcon swiftly circled and aimed for him. He backed off.

Both Coyote and the leopard kept their distance to avoid further attacks by the third adversary and occasionally glanced at the falcon overhead. Finally, the falcon landed between them and Sakari appeared, naked and beautiful, her chest heaving as she attempted to catch her breath. She glared at them with a deep frown as if daring them to start fighting again.

“Are you two finished with your pissing contest?”

Coyote shifted to human form. Dante. He gave her a smart-ass grin.

The leopard shifted back to his human form. Brad shook his head. “What the fuck?”

“You shouldn’t have brought him here,” Dante said, looking warily at Brad.

“I didn’t. He was coming here because he remembered you and that woman. Your influence doesn’t work on him. He still remembers.”

“You’re both shapeshifters,” Brad said looking from Sakari to Dante, frozen in place.

“That’s not good,” Dante said to Sakari, ignoring Brad’s comment.

“What does
that
mean?” Brad cut in.

Dante didn’t answer.

“The Navajo legends are true, like my grandfather said. The Tricksters. You’re not
Eigi Einhamr.
No pelt, yet you can shift.” He held up his leopard skin, not concerned about his nakedness.

“This is not part of your legend,” Sakari said.

“Then what?” he demanded, alert for any danger. He didn’t like being unprepared and he didn’t like surprises. He glanced at Sakari still stunned at what he saw but relieved too. If she broke up the fight, then he shouldn’t have her to fear. Still he needed to keep his guard up with both of them.

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Damned and Desired

“It’s something you don’t want to interfere with,” Dante warned.

Brad found his mouth go dry. “You’re responsible for the hiker’s death. And the other mysterious illnesses we’ve had coming into our clinic. If that’s what you’re about, I should’ve killed you.”

“You think by killing me that all the witching will vanish, all the deaths will end?”

“I’m counting on it,” Brad said.

“But I am immortal. I cannot be killed. And I am not a skinwalker as you believe. I am something much more powerful, dangerous and determined to accomplish my tasks at all costs. And Sakari was responsible for that hiker’s death.”

The pained look she gave Dante said he was telling the truth. “I didn’t mean to.”

He didn’t believe Sakari would purposely murder anyone but still he needed to stop them from harming anyone else.

“He’s a threat and he can expose us,” Dante said to Sakari.

Oh, yes I am.
Brad was prepared to fight him if he was evil like Bill had said.

“He won’t expose us,” Sakari said. “He’s a shifter too. His own powers must be kept secret. We can trust him.”

Brad looked from Dante to Sakari. “If you’re not of the Navajo legend and not
Eigi
Einhamr,
what are you?”

Dante and Sakari exchanged worried glances.

Sensing he was in danger, Brad considered his position. The only weapon he had was his hand-to-hand combat and his diminished shapeshifting abilities, other than that he was naked. He already had experienced a taste of their level of power, which exceeded his. He really was screwed if it came down to a fight to the death. The odds were not in his favor.

“Don’t worry about him, Dante. He’ll be my responsibility.”

Despite the crappy odds and the situation he was in, Brad couldn’t stop looking at Sakari standing there naked and arguing with her colleague like they were having a discussion over politics. When he found Dante and that woman in the desert, Dante appeared to be drawing light from the woman. Like an incubus? “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Dante nodded. “Perhaps not a threat but there is another thing.”

Sakari winced as if Dante was going to give her some bad news. “He’s not a threat to Anartia. There’s no way he can get there.”

Who were these people?
One way or the other he’d have to be prepared for anything.