Hot Springs Werewolf Complete Series (BBW Werewolf Erotic Romance) (18 page)

I found some blank paper and made notes, trying to follow lot numbers and names and dates but it was impossible to work out. At the start there had been Guile and Finch owning a lot of land. At the end, Toulouse held most of it, Guile some and Finch none. But there were gaps. Lot numbers appeared and then were never mentioned again. New addresses were used with new numbers but in the same area. I turned over one bill of sale and saw there was a black mark on the back, like a dried drop of blood. I put my nose to it and sniffed but it was too old to tell whether it was ink or blood.

I picked up a folded hand-drawn map and a piece of white paper dropped out of it and landed on the floor. Pure white brand-new paper with blue lines across it torn out of a notepad. I opened it up and found it was someone else's attempt to work out the passage of the land between the various participants. Probably Donald Crisp I guessed. He'd written small notes about every piece of paper and numbered each one. His list had seventy-four papers. I counted the grid. Fifty-eight.

Sixteen papers were missing.

I sat there looking at them but I wasn't here or now. I was in an alternate world where the Finch family hadn't been murdered. In that world there was a werewolf called Harper Finch. She'd grown up in Hot Springs surrounded by family. She'd met a hot alpha wolf named Red Guile. She'd become his mate. He'd become hers...

I snapped out of this at the faint sound of a door closing up the hill. I jumped to my feet and rushed out the door. Red was back! His truck was parked at his house. Without pausing I jogged up the hill, arriving somewhat out of breath and wondering in the back of my mind how the hell I'd done that. I was still very curvy and running wasn't much my thing.

Red opened the door as I approached.

"Donald Crisp is missing," I blurted out and then collided with him. I wrapped my arms around his body and kissed him as hard as I could. I kissed him for young Millie and her lost love. I kissed him for alternate world werewolf Harper. I kissed him for the family I'd been denied. I kissed him and felt my heart soar.

Finally we broke apart, both breathing heavily. I saw Red's eyes were glinting gold and although the weight of all that had happened was still upon me, Red was right in front of me. Right here. Right now.

"We're searching for him," Red said, still looking at me with that look he had.

It's funny that one moment is often no different from the last but it can seem as though it is. The weight of all things come to bear and something breaks or a switch is flipped. There is a shift in perception and you realize what you need. What must happen.

A change.

I put my hand on Red's shirt and pushed him back inside.

"Take me to the bedroom. I want to change."

Red walked backwards and almost collided with a door frame. He stopped us in the lounge, only a few feet from the kitchen sink where I'd first seen his glowing eyes.

"You can't go back Harper. You need to be sure."

I saw the concern in his face, heard it in his voice and all it did was strengthen my resolve. All my life I'd felt slightly out of place, never quite fitting in. It was probably why I became a writer. I'd always been on the outer, looking in, not being who I was meant to be. The Finch family were werewolves and I would have been one too if not for a crime in the dark past.

"Practically my entire family was killed. You know this. And now I am here, alone and facing the pack that was responsible. I am strong but I need to be stronger. I need to be my true self. I want you to help me."

Red looked into my eyes and then he leaned forward and gently kissed me on the lips.

"It's going to be intense. Do you trust me?"

"I trust you."

I did trust him. Since that first moment he'd run Talia and those other werewolves off. There was a connection between us that was undeniable. I would trust him, no matter what.

Red kissed me again but then his kiss turned into a bite. I felt the sting of pain in my lip and reacted by trying to push him away but he was too strong. I slapped at him and tried to bite his lip back but he caught my arm, twisted me around and dragged me down the corridor. I was off balance and he was so fast I couldn't stop. One of my shoes came off and then we were in a bedroom with a large queen-sized bed in the center. It was dark and minimalist with just a set of drawers against the far wall. There were heavy curtains blocking out the bright day outside. I saw all of this in a flash and then I was on the bed, Red pulling off my clothes.

I fought and slapped and bit but I couldn't seem to get my hands on him properly. He kept biting me, kissing me, pressing his body against mine and it was driving me wild. Off came my pants and underwear and a second later I was just in a bra. He tore it off me, snapping the fabric.

"Hey, that was expensive!" I protested.

Red didn't answer. His eyes were turning golden and his features were starting to look distinctly wolf-like. He used the torn bra to tie my wrists together above my head. It happened so quickly that for a moment I didn't know what to do. I tried to push him off me but he was too strong. Somehow between one struggle and the next, he got his pants off. I felt his cock brush my pussy. I'd never gotten so wet so quickly and for a moment I wondered if I secretly loved rough sex but had never admitted it to myself. Red pushed my arms down and leaned over me to bite my neck. I knew what he was doing. He was trying to overwhelm me. To take me to an intense height. Intellectually knowing what was happening didn't make it any less intense. I gasped as his teeth closed on my skin and then I twisted and bit him back.

Our kisses became more violent as I struggled against him. I tasted blood on my lips and saw a gash on Red's arm. I wanted more. I wanted to fuck, to fight, to run, to bite. Red pulled me on the bed, moving me down and then he was inside me. I breathed in, a deep gasp as his cock slipped in to me. I was so wet there was no resistance apart from stretching to accommodate his size. This was no gentle moment though. Red pulled back and thrust into me again. With one hand he held my tied wrists and the other was behind my lower back. He started fucking me, fast and hard and the pleasure was incredible. A raw heat shocking through me. I kept struggling and twisting but I couldn't go anywhere. I was trapped underneath him. Red pulled his hand out from under me and grabbed my hair. It hurt but in oh such a good way. He kept fucking me and it felt like he was pulling my whole body down on to his cock. I came, gritting my teeth and moaning but Red didn't stop and I couldn't breathe. He sped up, faster than any human and my body seized completely. I had to escape. I couldn't get out. I didn't want to stop. I wanted more. I wanted out.

Red pulled out of me and I saw his face above mine, his eyes blazing gold. He was so close our faces were almost touching.

"Change," he roared.

Then there was a wolf and a pull. Like a muscle clenching by itself. A hiccup in every cell. It hurt like fire. It was pain and pleasure and agony and beauty.

I changed.

I ran.

*

H
eart pounding and body vibrating and I was naked on the ground, gasping for air. My body felt wrong. Too big, too heavy, too long, too
human
.

Red collapsed next to me, gulping down air.

"Don't. Change. Back." He coughed and I saw he was covered in sweat.

I pulled myself up and the world swayed. I was too high off the ground. This wasn't right. This was wrong! I shouldn't be up here.

"Start singing Harper. Sing me a song, stop you changing," Red said between breaths.

But I want to change. This isn't right.

"Sing Harper!"

My mind seemed suddenly blank as though I'd never heard music before. Songs, songs, songs. I had nothing. Then a fragment came to me from childhood. It would be embarrassing but it would have to do. It was all I had.

"A, B, C, D, E, F, G..."

Red caught his breath while I sang. As I did, I felt better. Parts of me starting sliding back. I was Harper Finch, writer. I knew more songs than just the Alphabet song. I'd moved to Hot Springs to write a book, just like my Great-Aunt Millie.

Millie!

"Red, we have to go back! I left Millie's diary and papers in the cabin. You have to see them!"

Red pulled himself up off the ground and walked over to me. He held out his hand and helped me up. The world swayed a little but not as much as before. It still felt a bit wrong though. Like I should be down low, sneaking, hiding, running.

"Harper, sing!"

Red grabbed my shoulders and shook me. I realized I'd been heading towards changing again. I completed another loop of the Alphabet song. When I finished I'd caught my breath and was feeling very human again.

"Tell me again about Millie's diary?" Red asked.

I gave him the very quick rundown of going to Eadie Crisp's and her giving me Millie's diary and papers. I told him about Donald Crisp being missing and the papers being a bunch of land transfers and bills of sale.

"And Eadie Crisp is a werewolf!" I finished.

"I know. We have to go back to the cabin to secure those papers. Hopefully my pack has found Donald by now."

It had been approaching lunch when I'd met Red at his door. Now it was early afternoon. Maybe two hours later.

"If we go now we can get back before anyone takes the papers. How do I change back? Just concentrate on it?"

Red stepped forward and hugged me. It took me by surprise and I stiffened before relaxing into him.

"Don't be upset," he said, his voice soft in my ear, "but it has been three days."

"Three days!"

I pulled away from Red, stepping back and promptly landed on my butt after tripping on a stick. Thankfully I fell in some soft grass.

"You run fast. And for a long time. You nearly got away after you changed. I was going to change and change back, all in the bedroom but you bolted. Straight out the window and gone. I didn't see you at all for the first day. Tracked you by scent. Saw your tail on the second day. Finally caught up with you today when you were eating. You nearly got away but I got close enough to tackle you and change back."

I sat there naked on the grass hearing the words but not really comprehending them. He tracked me? My tail? I was eating?

"What was I eating?"

"A rabbit."

"And werewolves don't happen to cook their rabbits do they?"

"Nope."

I looked at my hands and saw tiny spots of blood under the nails.

"I'm gonna be sick."

"No you're not. You're fine."

I took a few deep breaths and it turned out Red was right. Human me found eating a raw rabbit disgusting. Werewolf me thought it was delicious.

Red reached out to me again and helped me up.

"We have to go back as humans? How far have we gone?"

"Close to two hundred miles I think. We have to change to return home."

"But won't I run again? I don't remember anything since your house."

Red smiled and ran a hand through his hair. My god he was gorgeous some part of my mind said. The fact that he was stark naked wasn't doing him any harm either.

"It's like that the first time. If I hadn't caught you, you'd stay a wolf for a long time. The second time, you'll be you still. Are you ready?"

I wasn't. Not at all on any level. I was naked, two hundred miles from home and recently I'd been eating a rabbit. I was meant to be at work!

But I nodded anyway.

"I'll protect you Harper. I promise."

Red kissed me and then smiled. I felt like I was at the hospital and feeling reassured because the doctor had told me there was nothing to worry about.

"Change into a wolf and then look at me. Remember what it felt like."

I nodded again and closed my eyes. In Red's house. On his bed. Changing. I could feel it inside me. An edge. It was as easy as tensing a muscle.

I changed. The world layered itself in scent and sound and I felt the wild thrill. This time was different though. My human mind came with me. Red, my incredible naked man, stood in front of me. His scent of warmth and spice radiated off him. I had an intense longing to roll at his feet. The world around me sharpened. The colors were more distinct. I could hear every sound around me. I felt strong and capable. I felt my tail. I turned to see it wagging behind me. It felt so weird, like I'd grown an extra body part. I saw my coat. I was gray and black, looking like a classic wolf you might see in a picture book.

I turned back to Red to see him change. He was beautiful as a man but to the wolf Harper he was spectacular as a wolf.

:We'll jog back. Easy run.

I startled as the thoughts entered my mind. I heard Red's voice as clearly as if he'd spoken to me.

:WHAT THE HELL?

I felt an emotion come across from Red. It was like a gentle wave. He thought this was funny.

:There is a lot you don't know about werewolves.

:Smart ass.

It was hard to communicate like this. I felt the urge to change back to human so I could talk but I resisted. Maybe it got easier over time.

Red pushed at me with his snout and then turned into the forest. As a human my sense of direction was shocking. As a werewolf, I knew exactly where home was. I followed after Red.

*

A
fter a few hours of loping through the forest we came upon a cabin in the woods. The sun had just set and although I could see just fine in the dark, I was getting tired. Red shifted back to human and I followed, feeling the same vertigo and sense of wrongness as before.

"It'll go away. Alphabet song," he said.

I followed him to the cabin murmuring the Alphabet song to myself. Red lifted the mat and found a key. We entered and I immediately felt warmer. It was getting cold outside and I guessed that for a little while after shifting back, you didn't notice you were naked.

Inside the cabin was close to a duplicate of my cabin. Old furniture, a rough kitchen, a bedroom leading off the lounge and a bathroom. There was a bookcase stuck in the back corner. Red flicked the light switch but nothing happened. He went outside while I walked through the room, my vision slowly worsening with each moment. I could still see far better than a human but nowhere near as well as a werewolf.