Authors: Sierra Wolf
Tags: #Adult, #Paranormal, #erotica, #shifter, #Romance
Chapter One - Sizzling Shifter Tales
INNOCENCE: UNDER THE WOLF'S PROTECTION
Sierra Wolf
Copyright © 2014 Sierra Wolf
All rights reserved.
ISBN:
ISBN-13:
To my best friend Francine, who's Team Jacob all the way. Love you lots!
CHAPTER ONE
Sizzling Shifter Tales
"So! Tell me what it's like. You're enjoying the slower pace of small town Americana?" Sandy tells me. She's grinning at me, almost mockingly, but I know she's just one of those girls with bitchy faces no matter how they actually feel. Then again, she's gorgeous, so she can pull off any bitchy look with ease.
"It's not so bad," I say, not daring to point out how mean she's been to me all through our dinner. She's a waitress, so I picked her up in my car and drove to the next closest diner -- as if it made a difference, because it really seems like every Kansas diner looks just the same as the next. "I'm starting to get the hang of it."
"Met anybody yet?"
"Hmm?" I ask, lifting my head to look at her properly.
"You know... anybody new in your life? Anyone cute? Sexy? Any luck on the Tinder front?" Sandy says, eyes glittering. I know all about her romantic misadventures: they're pretty much the reason we hang out so much. But still, I confess I've been pretty reserved about my own.
"No, not really..." I murmur, lowering my gaze back to my coffee cup. I don't know why, but I've just not been lucky in that field. As much as I want to blame it on guys desiring Kim Kardashian types with giant oiled up breasts instead of petite, average-chested, white girl butt me (although I do look amazing in yoga pants, might I add), I know my singlehood can be blamed more on my lack of romantic initiative.
That, and my secret niggling fear that all men are pigs, anyway! But Sandy? No, she just wouldn't stand for that. Besides, I don't want to get into it, but...
I'm a virgin. At 24, my virginity has become something of a noose around my neck. It's like there's some invisible marker on me thanks to my untouched status that makes guys just not want to go after me. ("It's because being 24 and a virgin is weird," my mother hissed at me in one of our last unpleasant encounters before I left New York.)
"No, yeah, there's nothing," I repeat. Sandy nods idly.
"That's such a shame. You should go with me to Club S7 this weekend. I've been spending some quality time with this guy, Adam, who's totally hot and is absolutely banging in bed. If you know what I mean."
I don't know what you mean, actually, Sandy, and besides -- "absolutely banging in bed" is perfectly obvious. There's no way I couldn't know what you meant.
So... this week she's on a break with her boyfriend, I figure. "Does Chad know?"
"Fuck, no," Sandy grins. "We're... on the rocks, you know how it goes."
"But Chad's coming to pick you up later."
"Yeah. That's what boyfriends do," Sandy says. "C'mon, girl, you know how the game is played."
"Does it count as cheating if you're playing around with Adam then?"
"I didn't say I
fucked
him or anything," Sandy gasps, mock-shock barely disguised given the shining eyes. She loves the attention, the drama, the scandal.
"I mean, actually, you did," I retort sarcastically. "'Absolutely banging in bed'?"
"Doesn't mean we slept together!" Sandy answers.
Sigh. I know where this is going. Bad enough I'm horny as hell, but now Sandy is going to relate every lurid detail about her hot and absolutely banging sex life. Me? I'll have to sidle up in bed with my three vibrators and thank the universe for 1080p porn for ladies.
"I've never like, seen his dick yet, but I've felt him grind it against me at the club... and okay, I've given him a drunken handjob, it's really hot how his cock's like... the size of my forearm. That's seriously, seriously massive, you know. You probably don't, but let me tell you now, girl: if you ever meet a guy with a cock the size of your forearm, you fuck him and you fuck him good, because he's going to be too goddamn lazy to fuck you good instead."
"Mmhmmm," I say, nodding.
"But yeah, I really haven't fucked him. I'm not sure if I should, you know. I mean, I've got a boyfriend and all. He's got incredible self-control, though. Like... he doesn't mind at all that I haven't given it up to him yet. He's patient, he tells me he's willing to wait for a pussy as sweet as mine. Don't look at me like that! Those are his words, not mine!"
"Sweet as yours?" I say, rolling my eyes.
"Uh... yeah. You know. He's really into giving me head. Like, one of the few guys actually good at it. Did you know, Chad's never given me an orgasm from licking me? I didn't even think I could cum from that. But... he's just so good. And you know that any guy that's attentive enough to eat you out good is going to fuck your brains out."
Again, I bite my tongue and resist the urge to tell her I didn't know.
"You're just so lucky," I finally say. I wish I was fucking some really hot guy who also took the time to lick me out. It doesn't seem particularly fair that Sandy, with her frizzy red hair and face full of freckles, is getting way more action than I am. Then again, I've known her since high school: she's got a ten year headstart on me.
"It's actually nice to be lucky in one aspect of your life, you know," she adds. Finally! Non-sex talk. "Good of you to be keeping me company. I'm really traumatized lately."
"From getting your vajayjay totally tongued out?"
She playfully punches my arm. "No! It's just that it's really not fucking safe lately. Crack junkies everywhere in this fucking town, I swear."
It's true. In the month I've been here I've been astounded to discover that the charms of smalltown Kansas also extends to big-time addiction problems. Literal hordes of cracked-out zombies roaming the town at night. I don't live in the nicest part of town, in an apartment I share with a large Indian immigrant family, but at least I get to enjoy safety in numbers with them. If I had done as Sandy had suggested, and rented out a one-bedroom house in the nicer bits of town... let's just say crime has crept out everywhere, and being in a nice part of town doesn't help.
"I've been keeping safe," I slowly say. The incidents in which I nearly got in possible trouble start flashing through my eyes.
And, as always, I recall that mysterious howl which accompanies every near-incident: a wolf's, but not quite your average wolf. Thinking about it makes me shudder in fear, but also... I feel strangely comforted by it.
"Did you know Chad's brother Matt got mugged the other night? He was just listening to his music one night after work, he works at Pizza Hut, see, and then out of nowhere two guys surround him and start pulling out switchblades. Really scary! They just wanted a fix. He didn't have any money on him so they stole his iPhone, his wallet, and even cut holes in his backpack to check that there was no laptop or anything."
"That's crazy, Sandy. Shit," I say, mouth drying up. I never know what to say in times like these.
"And then my dad had his car broken into in October too."
"Shit, does he park outside?"
"Yeah, my mom keeps her car in the garage so dad has to park outside. But like, right in front of the house. You can even see it through the living room. Everybody on the street does it, but my dad's was the only car broken into."
"Aw, honey, I'm so sorry," I say.
"Don't worry about it. I just try to be as cautious as I can. I don't want to, you know, become a statistic or anything either."
"Me neither."
"You've been keeping safe, I hope?"
"Well..." I start, wondering if I should reveal to her the strange things that have happened with me... "Yeah, but I've also had a lot of, like, near-incidents."
"What do you mean?"
"Like, two weekends ago I was just heading home after shopping at Finney's, and then this guy in a hoodie starts walking up to me, asks for some change. I ignore him, and then he pulls his sleeve up and I see he's got a knife in his hand. I'm just frozen and I'm about to give him whatever he wants, but then..."
Sandy is transfixed. "But then?!"
"There was this weird like, howl. A wolf's, or like a big dog or something. The guy drops his knife and backs away, then crosses the street and runs. I'm barely able to catch my breath, I'm just so fucking shocked and also so fucking grateful that I wasn't harmed and I didn't lose anything."
"That's amazing," Sandy says.
"But that's not all," I add. "Like, earlier this week I was having dinner at Dana's place -- you remember Dana? She was a freshman when we were sophomores -- and since she was just two blocks away I decided to walk, but then I immediately get followed by this really shady guy. I decide to just head away from my apartment so he doesn't know where I live, I'm about to call 911, but then all of a sudden I hear that same exact howl, and the next time I dare to turn around... he's gone. I walk right home and I've never felt safer before."
"Someone's clearly looking out for you, babe," Sandy says, nodding.
"Or something," I mutter back. I don't know... the idea of having some strange, paranormal protector is one that intrigues me. It's even attractive to me. It's really, really nice to feel safe.
There's a car horn beeping outside the diner. We both swing our heads to the entrance and see that it's Chad's car. "You're gonna be okay, babe?" Sandy asks.
I pause and wait for her to offer to drop me off at home, because I don't want to have to find my own way back... but I can't bring myself to actually ask, especially since I don't really care for Chad.
She never offers, anyway.
"Well, Gina, time to do it the way you always have, you lone wolf, you," I grimly say to myself, paying up at the counter. It's dark outside, like really dark, but I try and focus my mind on less... worrying things.
Plus, I've got someone looking out for me, right?
As soon as I exit the diner I want to backtrack right back in and stay there until closing time. There's just something out there that makes my skin crawl. A sort of empathetic understanding that there are some fucked up people out in this world, and I have no idea just how to handle it properly. Then again, I know that as unsafe as this town is getting -- at least in Sandy's view -- as long as I keep myself as vigilant as possible about any possible threats, I'll be golden.
I start making my way down the road. It's a lonely path with no other buildings, just the woods, but I remember that it's only a ten minute walk to the closest bus stop, which is next to the local hospital. It's bound to be busy then.
"Hey," I hear someone's voice call behind me. A man. About my age. Husky, not exactly menacing... but I wasn't gonna take my chances.
I just keep walking.
"Gina!" he calls.
I turn around.
He's got slick long hair down to his shoulders, cheekbones that define his whole gorgeous face, strong and almost burly shoulders making the cut of his denim jacket look absolutely perfect. I don't know who the hell this guy is, but nobody who looks this good could possibly be bad.
"Who the hell are you?" I ask.
"Call me Francis."
"And why should I do that?"
"Because you just spent the last ten minutes talking about me," he says, laughing.
I go red. "What do you mean?"
"Guardian angel? Protector?"
"That's you? I don't get it," I say, shrugging and ready to turn away. He must have eavesdropped into the conversation and knowing how on-edge I am, thought it was some easy way to pick me up. Fucking disgusting.
"No, wait!" he calls. "I'm a good guy. It's me. I promise. Look, just listen to this." I turn back to see him and he tosses his head back, hair flying with it, and then howls to the moon.
It's exactly the howl I've become so incredibly familiar with.
"Wow," I say, pausing and daring to step closer.
"Pretty neat, huh?" Francis says, keeping a smug grin on his face. Something like a 1980s rom-com lead actor's smile. It melts me immediately.
"What's... the deal here then?" I say, unsure of anything.
"I'm a werewolf. I just wanted to say hi. I've been waiting for a chance to do so, but it's not like I can just pounce on you in public."
I laugh. "What do you think you're doing right here, then, Francis?"
"Okay, you got me," he shrugs sheepishly. "But, in my defence, you're looking really cute tonight..."
I go even redder. Holy shit! I want him. But not just in an abstract crush sort of way -- my body is pulsing in every way that's telling me: this virgin is getting horny!
"O... Okay," I murmur.
He steps closer. "It's really nice to see you, to talk to you... You can't believe the crazy shit that you seem to get yourself attracted to, all those crazy near-incidents."
Attracted to,
he says. It's all I can think about! I swallow my saliva and try to find some words to retort but I don't have any.
"What do you want?" I breathe, looking up at him. His eyes are dark grey, and in this light it looks almost as if the reflection in his eyes shows something striped grey and black... like a rich coat of fur.