Authors: Tressie Lockwood
He waded
out into the water, and his ear canals and nostrils closed just as he dove
beneath the surface. With powerful strokes, he swam in the murky, freezing
depths. His keen sense of smell told him prey swam nearby. He could pick up the
scent up to forty miles, but he chose not to hunt today.
When he
came up out of the water, he shook the excess liquid and ice from his fur. He
transformed to his human form and stretched his muscles again.
“Feel
better now?”
Kotori bent
to pick up his jeans before answering Birk. “Not in the least.”
His friend
grunted. “I’ve gone over everything a million times. What I thought would
happen when we confronted Shiya didn’t.”
“I still
don’t know what you hoped to gain. You kept asking her why she slept with us,
but isn’t it more or less the same as why we did with her? She’s hot as hell,
and since I lay between her legs, all I can think about is how much more I
want. Her flavor, her scent, the way she walks and talks . . .” He shut his
eyes and chuffed with the voice of the bear. “Damn it!”
“None of
that matters now,” Birk grumbled. “She’ll leave our little city the second she
can arrange a flight out of here, now that she knows her cover’s been blown.
And that human with her.” Birk’s nostrils flared, and Kotori figured his
friend’s rage boiled to the surface as much as his own.
“We could kill
him,” he suggested.
Birk eyed
him in annoyance. “We’re not killers, despite what they think of us, Kotori.”
“You can’t
tell me you don’t want to claw his throat apart!”
“I didn’t
say that.”
Kotori sat
down on the hard-packed ground and drew his feet close. He didn’t like putting
his feet in his socks and boots wet, but he’d neglected to bring a towel with
all the distracting thoughts. Still, he wouldn’t have to go far since he had
another pair of boots and more socks at the cabin. After the blowup at Shiya’s,
he and Birk decided to come out to the lands farther north, where the
temperatures dropped well below freezing at night, and patches of snow could be
found even in summer. They preferred it that way and often shut out
civilization to get a few weeks of peace. When Birk couldn’t come because of
work, Kotori traveled to the spot alone. When he couldn’t, his friend enjoyed
the solitude.
“If she
leaves Juneau?” Kotori asked, staring out at the water.
Birk swore
and ran his fingers through his hair. “We’ve never been this careless. I was a
fool not to see how important she became when I talked to her online.”
“We always
knew when
the one
came along, she
would likely belong to us both. Maybe it’s just lust. After all, we’ve been
consumed with it before and did some dumbass things.”
“When we
were boys,” Birk said. “I thought we’d matured enough by now.”
“Guess
not.” Kotori stood up and prepared to return to the cabin. His stomach stirred
with hunger, and if he wouldn’t hunt, then he needed to cook the human way.
“If we get
her,” Birk said, “her family will come.”
“That’s
what we want, isn’t it?”
Birk
nodded. “We have to make sure they don’t find us just yet.” He grinned. “More
time to have a little fun, don’t you think?”
Kotori
grinned, his mood lightening for the first time in two days—the last time he’d
seen Shiya. “Now you’re talking.”
After
they’d had lunch and spent the night at their cabin, Kotori rose in
anticipation early in the morning. He gathered up his pack and stuffed it full
with supplies he’d brought with him, and a few herbs for his grandmother, chief
of which was the devil’s club. Ever since he told her he would not turn Shiya
away, they hadn’t spoken much. He knew she would respect him and speak if he
insisted, but he wouldn’t push. Let her have her space for now. Eventually, he
knew she’d come around, and bringing her back the herbs would go a long way to
making that happen.
The moment
Kotori entered Juneau, he knew Shiya was still around. He took care of a bit of
personal business first, and then met with Birk after he’d done his.
“Are we
doing this now?” Kotori asked.
“Not yet.
Let’s get a lay of the land first.”
Kotori
understood what Birk meant. They wouldn’t knowingly butt in on another man’s
woman, but the animal in both of them felt Shiya belonged to them, and going
against instinct proved difficult. Kotori had learned that the hard way a long
time ago.
They
traveled to the downtown area in Birk’s SUV, Kotori in the passenger seat with
the window partway down. He breathed in the crisp air and knew when they grew
closer to her. Birk spotted her first, wandering from shop to shop as if she
had no specific direction. No bags hung from her arms, and no purse. He studied
her face as they drove by, Birk looking for a parking spot. Confusion, worry,
and other emotions flitted for dominance over her beautiful features. Did she
wonder if they would return for her, or was her concern about failing her
family because she hadn’t gotten them beneath the hunter’s boot, so to speak?
Either way, what Kotori desired was to put her over his lap and spank her sexy
ass, and then he wanted to fuck her there.
His cock
hardened with those types of thoughts, and he ran a hand over his face. Calm,
he needed to be calm to confront her. Birk, the more levelheaded of the two of
them, would take the lead, and he could feast his eyes on her and listen.
“We need to
get her soon,” he warned Birk.
“I know,
but not here. Too public. If she’s afraid . . .” Birk frowned. “I hadn’t
considered if she doesn’t want to be with us.”
“We’ve
never had to force a woman.”
“No, but
then we’ve never been with a human one either.”
“Hm.”
Kotori had no more patience. He slipped from the vehicle and started walking
even while Birk sat double-parked waiting for someone else to pull out of his or
her spot. His friend would catch up when he could.
Kotori met
Shiya on Shattuck Way. He figured she was just walking at that point with no
particular destination in mind. When she stopped at Gold Town and stared into
the window at the display, he moved up beside her and leaned on the wall.
“You’re still here.”
She started
and looked up at him. He saw the pain in her gaze, but it disappeared quickly,
and she forced a smile. “Yes. How are you?”
He ignored
the question. “So you have a fiancé, yet you slept with us.” Making it sound
like a casual question seemed like a crash and burn to him, but she didn’t
appear to notice. Her frown, complete with pursed lips, was too cute for him to
look away. At that moment, he felt more like the Big Bad Wolf than a bear. Would
she run if he told her how much he wanted to taste her? A bit of his desire
must have shown in his eyes, because he got a sudden whiff of her pungent cream
and almost lost it. He imagined her soaking her panties and himself delving for
more with his finger or his mouth while she cried out his name.
“I’m not
engaged.”
Relief
flooded Kotori’s system. “You say that, but he was pretty intense about
it—about
you
.”
“Believe
what you want to believe. At this point, I don’t care.” She waved a hand and
turned away, but he snaked a hand out to grab her arm. She winced in pain, and
he jerked back.
“What
happened? I didn’t grab you that hard.”
Her gaze
skittered away from his, and he sensed she was about to lie. After a beat, she
appeared to change her mind.
“My brother
visited me, acting like a butthead. He’s gone now, so it’s not a big deal.”
Kotori
pushed his hands into his pockets to keep from putting his fist through the
wall. As a human, she could not understand the seriousness of what she had just
told him. “Listen to me closely, Shiya. If he comes near you again, I will deal
with him.”
“What do
you mean ‘deal with him’?”
“He has no
right to touch you—ever again.”
She studied
his face. “You’re different from the way you were when we went on the tram.”
“I’m the
same.”
“But you’re
more intense. I don’t know how to put my finger on it.”
She sighed
and turned to walk. He fell into step beside her. How could he tell her he’d
always been this way, just short of losing control and reaching out for what he
wanted? He smiled at her, had conversation with her, but all the time, he
wanted to possess her, to fill her with himself. The night they had sex, it
took everything inside him not to do all that he’d fantasized about to her.
She’s human
, he reminded himself. He had
grown up with his family, a few shifters but not all. Even the ones who
couldn’t change were strong, so he came to the belief that humans were very
fragile. Still, Shiya took him and even liked the way he stretched her to fit
his cock. Seeing her face that night had sent him close to the edge. Now she
thought he was different, because his desire lurked close to the surface,
threatening to spill over.
They ended
up at the pub they visited the first night Shiya arrived. Kotori sat on the
opposite side of the table from her to keep his hands to himself. He ordered a
beer for himself and a hot cocoa for Shiya. They sipped in silence until Birk
came. His friend took the seat next to Shiya and ran the back of his hand along
her cheek. The move demonstrated possessiveness, and Kotori wished he could be
so free to touch without risking so much.
“So why are
you two talking to me after what happened?” she asked. “You know who I am, and
Joe tried to kill you—” She gasped. “I can’t believe I didn’t ask about your
arm, Kotori. Are you okay?”
“Is a cut
worse than being dead?” He didn’t know where the bitterness came from and put
it down to her mentioning the man they had left in her room with her. Kotori
didn’t smell the guy’s scent on her, so he was sure nothing had happened
between them.
At his
words, Shiya flinched, and Birk glared at him. “Cool it, Kotori. That’s not
what we’re here for.”
Kotori
drained his beer and ordered another.
Shiya took
a sip from her mug and set it down with care. Her big brown eyes focused first
on Birk and then him. “I guess we’re all here because there’s something between
us we haven’t finished exploring. Am I right?”
Kotori
hadn’t begun to get to know her body yet.
“I guess
you can put it that way,” Birk agreed.
Birk leaned
in close to her until his lips came just short of brushing hers. The full, soft
lips invited Kotori from across the table. He shifted in his seat, trying to
find space in his jeans for his cock.
From what
Kotori could figure out since she’d said her brother visited, he wanted
results, and he would not accept that Shiya brought him none. That probably
also meant they were close—
too
close.
His and Birk’s idea to get Shiya out of Juneau was a good plan. They would make
sure no one followed. The cabin they’d visited the last couple of days wouldn’t
work for their purposes. The one no one knew about, far north, into the area
few humans ventured, would work better.
Relief
flooded Shiya’s expression, and she smiled. Kotori felt like the sun shined in
the restaurant, and he coughed to clear his throat. Birk appeared also to have
trouble containing himself. Was she really their . . . No, he couldn’t bring
himself to admit it, even in his mind.
Shiya laid
a hand on Birk’s and one on Kotori’s. He turned his palm faceup and laced his
fingers with hers. He felt the shiver pass along her arm and stroked a thumb
over her skin. The warmth there intrigued him, and he breathed in her scent.
Next to her, his friend caught it too. Shiya wanted them. She could not fake it
if she tried, but she wasn’t trying to. Her mission included seducing them.
Theirs involved enjoying every inch of her incredible body and then waiting for
the others to come so they could destroy the hunters. Shiya would not admit to
the truth, and they chose not to enlighten her to the fact that her brother and
whoever the rest of the hunters were had underestimated the Alaskan shifters.
They would not live to regret it.
“So do we
want to use my place?” she offered. “Or one of yours? I think you said you live
in the borough, Kotori? No, you said you don’t.” She frowned.
Birk
chuckled. “We’ll handle everything. You be ready for us when we come. We won’t
stay at your suite this time. We don’t want to be interrupted.”
She ducked
her head. “I’m so sorry about that.” She glanced at Kotori.
“I’m fine,”
he told her. “Good as new.”
Her eyes
widened. “You don’t heal that fast, do you?”
Birk stood
up, cutting off the conversation. “Why don’t we see you back to your room, and
you can get ready or rest. We’ll pick you up later this evening. Sound good?”
She
hesitated, and Kotori almost hoped she would deny her name and pledge to stay
with them forever. If she did that, of course, their plans would crumble. He
wasn’t willing to give them up just yet. Apparently, neither was she.