Authors: Kate Douglas
He wasn’t sure. He thrust harder and finally connected with the mouth of her womb. She lay completely still. Tears ran down his face and blinded him, but that was a good thing. Making love all alone was the loneliest thing he’d ever done.
Adam slowly withdrew, then thrust forward again, and with this deepest penetration, he tried to connect with Eve. He felt her, a pale copy of the vibrant woman who loved him so powerfully, who gave so much more than she took. If you’re there, Eve, you have to help me. I can’t do this alone. Link with me. Let me know what you’re feeling. Tell me how I can help.
More, Adam. Harder. Make me part of you.
He grabbed Eve’s comatose body and lifted her as he sat back on his heels. She loved to make love this way, her legs wrapped around his waist, the weight of her body forcing him deep inside. He rested her head against his shoulder, held her arms around his waist and pressed hard and deep. He felt her thoughts and knew she tried to link, and he used his own mind to bridge the gap.
Close, so very close, but her body had yet to respond. Adam slipped a hand between them and found the small prepuce protecting her clit. Slippery with her cream, it was beginning to swell, rising out of its little hood. He touched her, stroked her gently, felt the juices flow between them.
Her nipples grazed his chest, twin peaks of taut flesh. Her hips seemed to sway just a bit closer, the muscles in her vagina clamped down on his cock. Her eyes were still closed, but there was a soft, sensual curve to her lips. Once again he searched for her thoughts, tried to make the connection. A shudder ran through Eve. He felt her hands moving over his back, felt renewed strength in her legs.
Then it happened. The link he’d prayed for, wished for. His cock pressed against her cervix and he felt it, felt the pressure deep inside, only as Eve would know. Her arousal grew and it swirled through Adam. His nipples ached, his clit throbbed, his inner muscles clenched against the thick, hot penis invading her flesh.
The link grew stronger, the sensations increased. Eve’s climax neared. Adam struggled to control his own release. He leaned over and drew Eve’s left nipple into his mouth. Her heart beat a rapid tattoo against his lips, her skin was flushed with sweat and a rosy blush.
He tilted his hips, drove inside her—harder, deeper, penetrating as far as their bodies allowed. Eve arched against him, her lips parted, her mind opened to his every thought, every need.
Adam slipped inside her mind even as his cock claimed her body. The injury was visible, there with her jumbled thoughts and powerful emotions. He gathered up the blood cells that had leaked from the injury to her skull, absorbed them into himself in a link that was as physical as it was emotional. He took Eve’s pain, her injuries, the tiny clots and damaged tissues and left only healthy cells behind.
He wasn’t even sure how it happened, or what he had done to make her right. He only knew that he had done all he possibly could. Panting and blowing as if he’d just run a mile, Adam slowly withdrew from Eve’s thoughts, from her brain. He kept their bodies linked. Carefully, he lay Eve back down in the rumpled sheets and balanced his weight on his elbows. His cock still rested inside her warmth and he felt the steady throb and pulse of her waning climax.
“Open your eyes, my lovely Eve. Open them for me.”
He watched and waited, praying for her response. His heart felt as if it would beat right out of his chest. His throat burned and tightened, his voice was a harsh whisper. “I love you, Eve. It’s not fair to make me wait like this. Open your eyes. Please sweetheart. For me?”
Her lashes fluttered, stopped. Fluttered again. Slowly, as if coming out of a long sleep, Eve opened her eyes. She blinked. Closed them. Opened again. Reached up with her left hand and touched the tears rolling down his face. “Adam? Are you okay?”
There were no words—he couldn’t speak. Couldn’t have said a word if his life depended on it. Nodding in disbelief, in thanks, Adam clenched his jaw against the cry trapped in his throat. He cupped her face in his hands, kissed her lips and emotion overtook him. Finally, he lowered his face to her warm breasts, and wept.
Oliver awakened alone in his bed. The shades were still drawn and the cottage quiet. He sent out a searching thought, but couldn’t find Mei. She’d come back here with him, made love with him, but they’d still not talked about her shift.
He needed to talk. Had to find out if she was willing to find a way to make this work. Bending over, he picked a pair of cotton boxers up off the floor and slipped them on. Then he padded out into the main room to look for Mei.
There was no sign of her. He headed toward the bathroom and opened the door. A snow leopard sat on the counter, staring at herself in the mirror.
“Holy shit, Mei. You scared the crap out of me!” Laughing, Oliver went to stand beside her. She snarled, but there was no threat in the sound. She leaned close and sniffed him, and the loud chuffing noise she made seemed to cover all sorts of emotions. She watched him with her big, green eyes, but it was strange, not being able to understand her thoughts.
She turned away and looked back at herself in the mirror. Oliver studied her reflection, as well as his own. She was beautiful, her pale coat decorated in a blend of gray and dark brown rosettes and her eyes, while mostly green, looked almost blue beneath the bright light here in the bathroom.
Damn how he loved her, but making this work seemed completely impossible. He was Chanku, a wolven shapeshifter, finally, after a lifetime of hoping one day to find his true nature.
He’d always wanted to find love, as well, and he’d found it with Mei. Unfortunately, her nature and his were about as incompatible as anything he could imagine. Even Anton had never heard of anyone turning into a cat. They were always wolves. Only wolves.
Except Mei.
He reached out and touched her fur, rubbing his fingers through the thick coat. It felt like silk to him. Her long, thick tail hung down from the counter where she sat. In the thick of battle, when she’d attacked that bear without any fear for her own safety, he’d watched how she used her tail, how it helped to balance her leaps and control her twists and turns.
She was a perfect snow leopard. Beautiful, strong, and very brave. And he was totally wrong for her mate. “Mei, what the fuck are we going to do? I love you.”
She shifted, right there on the counter. Her image shimmered and suddenly she sat there like a child, knees drawn up against her chest and her long, black hair falling all around her and pooling in silken swirls on the cold tile counter. She tilted her head and her hair shimmered under the bright light. “I can’t understand you very well when I’m the leopard. The language is…I dunno.” She sighed. “Yet you can understand human speech when you’re a wolf. I mean, so can I, but not as well as you do. Why is that?”
He shook his head. “I don’t know. It’s all new, all a big question.” He took her hands in his and turned her around so that her legs hung over the edge of the tile counter. They dangled, long and inviting. “All I said is that I love you.”
Mei blinked and two big tears spilled out beneath her lashes. “I love you, too, but what are we going to do? You guys all talk about that important mating bond, but you do it when you’re wolves.” She tried to laugh and it came out as a sob. “That ain’t gonna happen. We can’t even communicate.”
“We do just fine when we’re human.” He leaned close and licked one salty tear off her cheek.
Mei bit her lips and sniffed back more tears. Then she spread her knees wider and he stepped between them. They’d both been too keyed up to sleep after leaving Eve’s bedside. Their powerful Chanku libidos led them into bed, but for the first time since they’d met, the sex between them was unsatisfactory. Mei had climaxed and burst into tears. Oliver hadn’t found his release. He’d pulled out as soon as Mei’s body shuddered and her emotions gave way.
The counter was the perfect height. Mei’s smooth skin felt like satin. Her soft nether lips glistened with moisture. Oliver leaned close and blew gently against the tiny hood protecting her clit. He saw her muscles clench and release, and her clitoris seemed to swell beyond its collar. He touched the very tip of her clit, then softly laved it with his tongue.
Mei leaned back and thrust her hips forward. Slowly, Oliver knelt on the soft rug in front of the sink and carefully spread Mei’s legs apart. Her scent was spicy, different from what he remembered, and he knew the first shift had forever altered her flavors.
She might be a cat and he a wolf, but her taste made his groin tighten and his heart raise its tempo. He licked between her folds, driving his tongue deep inside her slippery channel. The taste drew him and he moaned against her sex and lapped her cream as if she offered him ambrosia.
Mei whimpered, a small, tight sound deep in her throat. “You’re making me crazy.” She grabbed at his arms and tried to drag him up, but he held on to her thighs and worked her wet folds with teeth and tongue and lips. She was strong and her legs locked behind his shoulders, but he held her squirming body in place and ravaged her sensitive tissues.
He sensed her climax, felt her arousal spike and witnessed the kaleidoscope of colors flashing behind her eyes. They were both Chanku and both spoke the same language, a dialect of sensation and arousal, of overwhelming desire and a lush craving for more. Oliver suckled her clit between his lips and thrust three fingers deep in her sex.
Mei screamed. She arched her back, her legs clamped down, her hands pulled at his arms, his shoulders, clawed his back. He fucked her with his hand, laved her with his tongue, and loved her with all his heart. Her body shuddered with each stroke of his tongue, and her inner muscles clamped tightly around his fingers.
When he finally pulled away, Oliver held his hand up to his lips and licked them clean of her juices, sucking each of his fingers into his mouth while she watched with wide and wary eyes. His balls ached, those orbs he’d wished for all his life. They reminded him how much he’d gained…and how much he had to lose. His cock tented the front of his boxers. Holding Mei’s gaze with his own, he slipped the baggy shorts down over his legs.
He’d never been so big or felt so hard. His cock was heavy with blood. Usually it rose to touch his belly when he was aroused, but tonight it jutted out, perpendicular to his body, aimed for Mei’s soft center. The veins crossed his shaft, pulsing with life. A tiny drop of white bubbled at the dark tip.
Mei reached out, slowly, and ran her finger across the crown, then just as slowly raised her fingertip to her mouth. She sucked and her eyes closed. Oliver felt her pleasure, tasted the salty flavor of his own fluids. He waited. Mei scooted forward, grasped the thickened shaft and rubbed him across her damp folds.
A shock ricocheted from penis to balls and back down his cock. Oliver groaned, clenched his buttocks and thrust forward. Her fingers circled him, but it took both her hands to hold him. She dragged one of her palms through the fluids between her legs and used her own juices to lubricate his shaft. She did the same with her other hand. Then she slowly stroked him, sliding the soft skin over what had to be the hardest boner he’d ever had.
Oliver groaned again and fell into Mei’s rhythm, freefalling into her warmth, her desire, her magic touch. Pumping his hips slowly, he fucked her hands, fighting for control while she squeezed and teased his greedy flesh. Her shields were up and he couldn’t read her thoughts, but from the lazy smile on her face he knew she loved what she did to him.
He thrust forward once more and found himself entering her creamy center. Her hands caught his hips and she pulled him forward, deeper. He slid into her tight sheath, past the rippling muscles, past the smooth lips of her pussy, deep inside her channel until he felt the hard mouth of her womb. His balls rested against her hot perineum and the cold tile counter. The mixed sensations, heat and warmth and tight, clasping muscles, and cold, hard ceramic tile almost took him over the top.
“You’re trying to kill me, aren’t you?” He placed his hands flat down on the tile and thrust forward a little bit more. Mei moaned.
“Never. God, Oliver. Do that again.”
He did. And again, until he was plunging into her like a pile driver. He wrapped his fingers around her butt and held on tight to keep her from sliding across the cool tile. Her legs wrapped tighter around his waist and she opened her thoughts once again, opened to desire, to all the love he poured into her.
And she gave it back, tenfold. Mei’s need, her fears, her excitement over her shift, and her anger that she’d become something different, something that might keep her away from the only man she’d ever loved.
Oliver knew he was that man. Knew he loved Mei every bit as much. He felt her sex clamp down on his cock, felt her squeezing him and holding him deep inside. He threw back his head and howled and the thick streams of his ejaculate filled her as he pumped his life force deep inside.
And when they were done, when he leaned over Mei with his breath coming in short, sharp gasps, he saw his seed flowing from her sex. Pooling on the tile between her legs, nothing more than a thick, creamy fluid she had no use for.
They couldn’t bond. Couldn’t mate in their feral forms. They were both Chanku, but the mating bond was impossible.
He loved her, admired her. Needed her. But would love alone be enough to overcome an obstacle none of them had ever faced? He’d been willing to leave his pack and stay with Mei if it turned out she couldn’t shift.
The question now was, would Mei be willing to stay with Oliver? Would love be enough to overcome their totally different natures?
He leaned forward and kissed Mei and her taste and scent held him like a vise. There had to be a way. There was always a way.
He raised his head, to ask her, to tell her how much he loved her. Suddenly Anton’s voice echoed in his head. Mei’s eye’s went wide. They both heard the message at the same time.
Eve’s awake. She’s okay. Adam brought her back.
Chapter 12
“I remember charging the grizzly and thinking, you know, girl…this might not be your smartest move.” Eve laughed, then shook her head. “After that, nothing. I don’t even remember getting hit.” She rubbed her hand over the bandage on her shoulder and smiled at Adam.
Stefan, for once, actually seemed to be in a serious mood. “You were damned lucky you weren’t killed.”
Eve nodded. “I know. Even luckier I had Adam.” She laughed again and winked at Stefan. “I always knew he was a good mechanic. I had no idea his talents included brain surgery.”
“Neither did I.” Adam squeezed her hand. “I never would have attempted it if Anton hadn’t threatened me.”
Anton walked out from the kitchen with a fresh bottle of wine. “That was not a threat,” he said. “Merely a suggestion I fully expected you to follow.” He poured himself a glass and held it up to Adam as a toast. “When Adam and I met, he told me he could fix things. I’ve learned to take him at his word. Here’s to our resident repairman. A man with a most unusual and amazing talent.”
The others raised their glasses. Adam dipped his head in acknowledgement. Then he sat back, even closer to Eve and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. He listened to the ebb and flow of voices as everyone talked about Eve’s injury and Mei’s unusual shift. They’d gathered here on the shady side of the deck, sipping at wine and munching on crackers and cheese as if Eve’s life hadn’t been in the balance only hours before.
As if Mei hadn’t shocked everyone with her unusual shift. But that, of course, was the reason the entire pack was here. To celebrate the women. To talk about Mei and remind her she was one of them, no matter what. To see for themselves that Eve was all right. To let her know how much they loved her, how glad they were she’d survived.
Adam understood why Oliver stayed so close to Mei. He felt the same protective urges with Eve. He couldn’t take his hands off her, needed reassurance she was okay, proof her terrible injuries had completely healed. He shuddered, remembering his fear when he first looked inside her brain and saw the damage, and he’d wondered if he would ever hold Eve in his arms again.
Would his fear have been even stronger, had they already bonded? Or would it have been less? He couldn’t imagine anything worse, but there was no doubt in Adam’s mind that they would bond as soon as Eve felt strong enough. He couldn’t wait to take her into the woods, just the two of them. Two wolves in the forest, mating in a ritual as old and primal as anything either of them would ever experience.
He glanced once more at Oliver and Mei. That was something his friends would never know, that mystical connection of two bestial minds connecting on a level more primitive, more intense than their mere human minds could ever know. If only there was some way to help them.
He tried to imagine what that connection was like, the powerful link even stronger than what he’d felt when he healed Eve this morning.
I healed her. Shit. He still couldn’t wrap his head around that one. He was a mechanic, damn it all, not a doctor, but he’d done the equivalent of brain surgery when he’d removed the clot. Was there something going on in him even he didn’t understand?
Did he have abilities he’d never recognized? Adam glanced down at his hands. They were scarred and stained, the nails chipped and broken from years of working on mechanical things. A mechanic’s hands. Not a doctor’s.
But what he did didn’t take clean hands or manicured fingernails. It took the ability to fix what was broken.
He’d always had a talent for seeing what was wrong. He could diagnose any problem in just about any kind of machine, and if he couldn’t find the right part to repair it, he’d build his own. He wasn’t sure how he knew what to do. He just did.
Did he do that for Oliver? Build him new parts? Ollie’s balls were definitely new. Adam tried to reconstruct that fateful night when he’d helped Oliver shift for the first time. He had no idea what he’d done, but he knew what he had wanted to happen, beyond the mere act of helping Oliver change from human to wolf.
The same way he’d known what needed fixing when he got inside Eve’s mind. Eve had been broken. So had Oliver.
He glanced again at Mei. She wasn’t broken. She was just different. There was nothing there he could fix, but damn it, he wished he could. She and Oliver sat close together, hands tightly clasped, eyes downcast. He sensed their deep sorrow and knew they had to be absolutely miserable. What would it be like, knowing you could never fully bond with the one you loved?
He felt Eve’s warm body beside him and wanted that bond with her now, more than ever. As soon as she felt strong enough.
Mei was as strong and healthy as she could be. So was Oliver. Without something broken, there really was nothing to fix, but if there was a way to help, he’d do it in a heartbeat. Adam looked away. Damn, it hurt not to help them, but their problem was beyond him.
Not necessarily.
Adam jerked his chin up and stared across the deck. Anton Cheval smiled at him. Adam shook his head. Are you nuts?
Not at all. Look what you did for Eve. The way you healed Oliver…find a way to help them. You can, you know.
I don’t know how. They’re not broken. They’re two separate species.
Are they? Anton cocked one dark eyebrow.
He’s a wolf. She’s a fucking snow leopard. Frustration made him angry. Damn, he’d help if he could. There was just no way.
You’ll figure it out. Anton flashed a grin that dared Adam to argue.
He glowered at the wizard a moment and then forced himself to relax. Anton loved questions without answers. Adam preferred answers. He hugged Eve. She was his answer to everything, but they’d still not bonded. He needed her, now more than ever. He’d come so close to losing her. Too close.
Eve snuggled against his chest and looked up at him. Later.
The seductive promise in her eyes hit him right in the groin. He tried to make light of it, whimpered pathetically and looked at her with crossed eyes.
Eve laughed.
Are you serious? Are you strong enough?
Definitely. She nuzzled her face against his arm. Tonight. Preferably somewhere without bears. We can skip the hunt, too.
Adam laughed and hugged her close. The others glanced up from their conversations. He’d forgotten they were still the center of attention. Eve blushed. Adam merely checked his watch, then sighed and let his mind wander ahead. Tonight couldn’t get here soon enough.
“Mei? Do you mind?”
Anton’s voice jolted Adam out of his momentary euphoria. He glanced over at Anton and frowned. What the hell was he up to, now? The wizard had gotten up from his chair. He stood in front of Mei with his hand out. She hesitated a moment and then reached for him. He pulled her to her feet. “Will you come with me for a moment?”
Oliver began to rise. Anton shook his head. “Please. I want to talk to Mei by herself for a moment. Won’t you trust me with the woman you love?”
“I trust you with my life.” Oliver sat back down. “But that doesn’t mean I like the idea of you taking Mei off by herself.”
“I promise to return her to you unharmed.” Anton laughed and tugged Mei’s hand. She followed him into the house, but Adam noticed she glanced over her shoulder more than once, watching Oliver.
What in the hell was Anton up to now?
Anton led her inside the house, through the foyer and down the long hallway. Mei didn’t have a clue where he was taking her. She tried to tug her hand free of his grasp. Anton immediately released his grip. “I’m sorry. I don’t want to frighten you, Mei. Please relax. I’m really quite harmless.”
“Said the spider to the fly.” Mei cocked one eyebrow in Anton’s direction and he burst out laughing. She hated the fact he was so attractive when he laughed, and she wondered if that was her damned Chanku libido acting up. Oliver hadn’t been kidding when he said sexual attraction took on a whole new meaning once a person went through their first shift.
“We’re going to my study. It’s quiet, and far enough from Oliver that his powerful male curiosity won’t get in the way of what I hope to find out from you.”
“What exactly is that, Anton?” She planted her feet and stared at him. She was tired of feeling as if she’d done something wrong. Tired of the condescending looks and all the theories about why she was different. She’d always been different. Always been a loner, so it wasn’t like it was all that big a deal. Hell, it wasn’t her fault she’d turned into a leopard instead of a wolf. Why did everyone act like it was such a bad thing?
Anton shook his head. “It’s not a bad thing at all, and yes, I can see everything you’re thinking.” He held up his hands in apology. “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to snoop, but you do wear your emotions and your thoughts on your sleeve. And Mei, before you get angry because I know what’s going on in that amazing mind of yours, I want to say you have every right for your anger and your confusion—but not your mistrust of me or any of the others. We have only your best interests at heart.”
She stared at him a moment. His thoughts were totally unreadable. Now that really pissed her off. At least with Oliver she could see into his head as well as he looked into hers. “So you’re saying I can trust you, and I’m supposed to believe you?”
Anton smiled at her. He really was absolutely gorgeous when he smiled. His usually austere face lit up, his eyes sparkled and there was such a wonderful sense of mischief about him. “Well, in most matters, yes.” He leaned over and kissed her lightly on the lips. “I will even promise not to try and seduce you—for now. It wouldn’t be fair without Oliver here to defend your honor.”
He opened the door to the study and ushered Mei inside before she could come up with any kind of answer. The man threw her totally off balance. She’d never been in this room before, but the house was so massive she knew there was a lot of it she hadn’t had time to explore. It was dark and cool inside. Books lined the shelves and the rich aroma of what had to be either pipe or cigars added a light perfume.
She wondered if Oliver had ever been invited in here, or if he’d merely served Anton and Stefan and then quietly departed. All those years, alone, apart from the pack he wanted so desperately to join. She glanced over her shoulder at Anton. Was he reading her thoughts now? Did he know why she refused to hold him in such high esteem? The others seemed to think he was all-powerful, but he’d failed the truest friend he could ever have.
“I know.” Anton bowed his head, accepting her unspoken anger. “In many, many ways I failed him, even though I loved Oliver from the very beginning.” He reached into a glass cabinet and brought out a bottle of cognac, poured two small glasses and handed one to Mei. “I had no idea he’d been mutilated as a child, though I sensed there was something different about him. Later, once I discovered my own shapeshifting background, I sensed he was Chanku as well, but the nutrients had no effect.”
“So you made him a servant? One step up from the slave he’d been? How generous of you.” She took a sip of her cognac and coughed. It burned! She’d never tasted anything like it.
“It wasn’t like that, Mei. He asked if he could work for me when I left the circus. He was ready to move on as well. Oliver is a much more organized individual than I will ever be. He took on the role of my personal assistant of his own choice. That was the job he wanted, in the beginning. Before we knew anything at all about Chanku.” Anton leaned against the heavy oak table and crossed his feet at the ankles. Mei took a seat in one of the big, leather wingback chairs.
“He told me he’d met you in the circus.”
Anton smiled and nodded. “A lifetime ago. Before I took my magic act to the stage, I worked in a small circus. We wintered in Florida, and that’s where I met Oliver. He was a beautiful young man. I was not yet aware I was Chanku. We became friends.”
“Were you lovers?”
“We might have been, had he been interested. I have never been concerned with my, or anyone else’s, sexual orientation. I loved fucking, whatever my partner—or partners’—sex. I’d never met a man without any libido at all. Oliver had no interest in me sexually, but he wanted my friendship.” Anton sipped his cognac and stared out the window. “I had no friends before Oliver. None. I am not an easy man to know.”
“Duh. That’s because you’re scary.” Or he had been, before this wonderful glass of cognac. She took another sip. False courage? No matter. It appeared to be working.
Anton laughed. “Ah, to everyone but you, my brave little snow leopard. You show no fear of me at all! When I left the circus to take my magic act on the stage, Oliver went with me. I helped him gain his citizenship. He honored me by taking my name.” He smiled at Mei. “I never expected children, but then I never, in my wildest dreams, expected to find a woman like Keisha. Oliver was my friend, my son, my closest confidant. Sometimes he was my father. He cared for me, and I for him. We still do, both of us, care for one another.”
Mei stared into her glass, wondering where this conversation would lead. “It’s his way,” she said. “Oliver cares for people the way Adam fixes things. With all his heart.”
“That he does. He stayed with me through my years onstage in Las Vegas and in Hollywood. I was very successful. I made a lot of money and invested it well. Before long, I had enough to move on with my life and do what I really wanted. I quit performing to study necromancy and went from the bright lights on stage to the dark corridors of museums and universities. I spent my time reading ancient tomes in travels across Europe. Oliver traveled with me and he took over the role of my caretaker. If not for him, I’d probably have starved and ended up naked on a street corner, so caught up was I in my research.”
Anton’s laugh sounded unusually self-conscious. “I would forget to eat, forget to bathe. I was very single-minded in my pursuit of the skills of wizardry.”
Mei stared at him. “Is that what necromancy is? That’s crazy! You’re telling me you wanted to be a sorcerer?”
Anton laughed and held his glass up in a toast. “Don’t jest. Never disbelieve something you don’t understand. The more I studied, the more I understood, and the more I believed. There is magic in this world, Mei. That’s how I discovered my heritage. Our heritage. I learned about the Chanku through references in ancient scrolls and old legends, and in doing so, I discovered what had been missing in my life. Once I shifted, I also realized something that made absolutely no sense, in the overall scheme of things. The one man I was closest to appeared to share the same genetic abilities as I did. What were the odds of that?”