Authors: Kate Douglas
Running with the pack had taught him what to expect, how the air would be filled with new and powerful scents, how the ground would feel beneath his paws and the way everything that should have been lost in the night would suddenly burst into focus with his wolven sight.
But following Eve along this sandy trail, soaking up her amazing scent and knowing she wanted him and only him…Adam’s step faltered with the rush of feelings, the almost painful depth of emotion he felt for this amazing woman.
She’d found a quiet glade and paused while she waited for him to catch up. Adam caught her there and they touched noses. There would be no hunting here tonight. There were rabbits and possums and other small game, but it was too risky to leave any trace of their passing. Florida’s only native wolf, the red wolf, was mostly extinct in the wild. The danger of discovery was high, but the need to shift, to touch base with his lupine heritage was strong.
As much as he wanted Eve, as much as he needed to bond with her, there was too much danger so close to homes and the risk of discovery. Anton had warned him, of the fact that the mating bond was so powerful they’d be unaware of danger approaching. He’d explained the physical act of sex between two wolves when their bodies locked, how they were literally tied together by the huge knot that formed in the male’s penis. The time needed to disengage without harming his mate could prevent escape, should they be discovered.
So tonight they ran. Experienced the rush of sensation, the fullness of life that only the wolf understood. Ran and connected on another level of intimacy, beyond human, beyond man and woman.
Within a few hours his pace was slowing. Eve was panting by the time they got back to the place where they’d stashed their clothing, and the hot and humid night seemed to close in around them. Dressing quietly, Adam couldn’t begin to still the racing of his heart, the song in his soul.
They’d not bonded tonight as wolves, but they’d certainly found a new, stronger level of friendship and love than they’d known before. He wondered about Oliver and Mei. If they were back at the motel or not, and where everyone was going to sleep.
He wanted Eve. Wanted her beside him, beneath him, their bodies so close it was impossible to tell where one ended and the other began. An image filled his mind, of himself and Eve and Oliver. And Mei. Together. All of them together in one big bed.
He glanced at Eve and saw the shock in her eyes. Shock that slowly gave way to arousal. “I wonder what Mei and Oliver have been up to since you ran them out?”
Adam took her hand and they headed back to the truck. “I didn’t run them out. Whatever gave you that idea?”
“I’ll admit, there was no hesitation on Oliver’s part when you tossed the keys to him.” She wrapped her fingers around his arm and held it close against her as they walked. “He seems different since the last time I saw him. More self-confident, maybe. I don’t recall him having such beautiful muscles before, either.”
They reached the truck and Adam unlocked Eve’s door and held it for her. She rolled down the window when he shut the door, and Adam leaned forward with his arms resting on the frame. “So, you’re checking out Oliver now, eh?”
“Like you haven’t?” Her smile lit up her entire face.
“I’m not sayin’ anything.” He leaned close and kissed her nose.
“You don’t have to. I saw it in your head a little bit ago, remember? You’re obviously quite familiar with Oliver’s body. I imagine you’ve been getting more familiar with it.” She winked. “I’m also wondering what he and Mei have been up to.”
Adam shook his head. That could be a problem. Mei was gorgeous and Oliver was obviously interested. There’d been no ignoring the gleam in his eye or the bulge in his pants. If Mei wasn’t Chanku, where would that leave Oliver? Hopefully, her ability to read thoughts went beyond mere telepathy. With any luck, she was just showing the first signs of her Chanku heritage.
“Has she had any of the nutrients yet?” Adam walked around the truck and climbed in behind the wheel.
“Just this morning. Once. She was already able to sense my thoughts. It appeared to grow stronger the more time we spent together.”
“According to Anton, that’s usually a good sign. Do you sense the wolf in her? Is she Chanku?”
Eve shook her head. “I don’t know. I’m so new at this myself. I’m hoping you and Oliver will be able to help.” She turned and placed her cool fingers over his wrist. “Which reminds me—is Oliver Chanku? Keisha told me he wasn’t, but you mentioned shifting with him and sleeping in the woods on your trip out here. What’s going on, Adam? What’s so different about Oliver?”
“That’s one Oliver will have to tell you himself.” Adam leaned over and kissed Eve’s temple, then guided the truck out on to the dark and empty road. It was well after three in the morning. He wondered about Oliver, and Mei, as well. She was an unexpected addition to this trip.
An unknown. Not unwelcome. Not by any stretch of the imagination. But certainly unexpected.
Chapter 5
Mei snuggled next to Oliver’s warmth and wondered what had awakened her. They’d come back to Eve’s empty motel room a couple hours ago. It was absolutely amazing to be sleeping in a comfortable bed after being homeless so long. Even more amazing to have the protective arms of a gorgeous man wrapped around her waist.
She heard it again. Voices, just outside the door. She recognized Eve’s and relaxed. The bed was big. Oliver said they were all used to sharing. She should have been shocked, but for some reason, coming from Oliver after she’d already made love with Eve, it seemed perfectly normal to just slide over and make more room for Eve and her man.
Which in and of itself was totally weird. She’d been alone for so long. Maybe it was just human nature to occasionally need the contact of other warm bodies, but she’d never spent the night in bed with a man in her life. She’d had sex, but always managed to leave before dawn. Her need for solitude had outweighed her need for personal contact. Now she was going to be sleeping with two men and a woman? Go figure.
The door clicked open and a swath of light from the bright lamps in the parking lot cut a golden streak toward the bed. Two people slipped into the room. “Oh. Adam.” Eve’s whisper made Mei smile. “I didn’t even think of Oliver and Mei being here. I guess I just assumed Oliver would have gotten another room.”
“It’s okay,” Mei whispered, just as softly. “Oliver said you wouldn’t mind sharing.”
“Adam’s with me.”
“I don’t mind. It’s a big bed. Oliver’s out like a light.”
“No, I’m not.”
She felt him raise up on one elbow. “What time is it? I wasn’t sure when you were coming back.”
Adam stepped into the room. “It’s after three. Sorry we woke you. I’m going to take a quick shower. You sure there’s room? Eve said there’s a rollaway in the closet.”
Mei laughed softly. “Tell you what. You guys figure it out and wake me in the morning, okay?” She flopped back down on the bed and snuggled close to Oliver. Before long, she drifted off to sleep to the sounds of Adam and Eve making love in the shower, and Oliver’s soft, steady breathing.
Running hard and fast, big paws padding softly, barely rustling the dry grass. The wind tickles across the tips of sensitive ears and brushes past even more sensitive whiskers. The air is fresh and the scent of rain fills questing nostrils. Pause. Listen. Leap forward, following the night sounds. Sounds that bring speed. The taste of blood is fresh. The tongue remembers the way the rabbit twisted and leapt to avoid the lethal snap of powerful jaws. It is good here, in the woods. It’s always good to run with the freedom of four strong legs and long, sharp teeth.
Tonight, though, something feels different. Head lifts. Air is scoured for scent. New scents, not crossed before, sounds of others nearby. Unusual. The way is alone. Solitude is life. Pausing, head raised. No! What’s happening? The world changes, shifts. No! There is no air. Suffocating! Trapped. No way to move, no idea where or who, no…
Mei blinked, held herself perfectly still and forced her racing heart to calm. It wasn’t all just a figment of her dreaming mind. She was trapped, sort of. Oliver’s arm wrapped around her waist from behind. Adam’s nose pressed between her breasts and one long leg stretched over her uppermost thigh. Eve was snuggled against Adam’s back, but the hand she’d thrown over his slim waist rested on Mei’s hip.
Mei felt like the runt in a basket of puppies, buried under so many warm bodies. Her heart still raced but she managed to extricate herself without waking anyone. Adam groaned, Oliver squirmed closer, and the three of them settled back into sleep.
Mei used the bathroom and washed her hands and face, moving like she was on autopilot. So much of the last hours of her life felt as if someone else had lived them, some other woman experienced them. She scrubbed her face dry with a clean towel and glanced at Oliver’s wristwatch on the counter. It was barely six in the morning. The others had come in so late, Mei was sure they’d sleep for hours more, but she was wide awake. After a moment’s hesitation, she stepped into the shower.
The sharp sting of warm water woke her even more. She washed her hair and decided to shave her legs again. Would Oliver touch her today as intimately as he had last night? He’d seemed fascinated by her smooth skin, especially at the juncture of her thighs. She frowned as she ran the razor carefully across her slippery mound. She wanted to be certain everything, everywhere, was sleek as silk, but she still wasn’t all that sure what had happened yesterday.
Sex with Eve. Then with Oliver, both of them essentially strangers, yet more intimate than she’d ever been with anyone else. She felt as if her life was changed forever. As if both of them had become terribly important to her. As if her heart would break should either of them leave.
She never let other people into her life. Not ever. She had no friends, no family. Now, suddenly, she had Eve and Oliver. And, from the looks of things, Adam Wolf as well—a man she hadn’t even been properly introduced to, yet he’d spent the night with his body next to hers, his warm breath tickling the curve of her breast. Feeling terribly insecure and confused, she twisted her wet hair in a towel and wrapped another one around her body. Then she went back into the room and cuddled up in the big chair near the window.
She needed time to think. Time separate from the others.
Separate from the three beautiful people who slept on in the big bed. Without her. Mei felt a quick stinging in her eyes and swiped the back of her hand across her face. She would not cry. There was no need for tears, but her emotions were all tangled up, just like those bodies on the bed.
She’d been alone for as long as she could remember. She’d never spent as much time with other people as she had in the past twenty-four hours. It hadn’t even been that long, actually, since Eve had saved her butt from a fine or worse. She could have gone to jail, and that would have killed her.
Mei sighed and watched the three of them, still sleeping so soundly, so comfortably together. They were all curled so close together there was plenty of room for her if she wanted to crawl back in bed with them. Adam and Eve, both so blond and beautiful, Oliver dark and mysterious, but with such a wonderful way about him. She loved his voice, his gentleness, the way he’d made love to her as if she were the only one for him. He made her happy. Made her want to forget what a shitty life she really led.
But Montana…that was a huge step. Leaving the one place she’d known her entire life and just going away to a new part of the country? Wow…that was a major move. Of course, it wasn’t like she had anyone here who would miss her. The few friends she’d had over the years had all moved on and forgotten her, or they’d ended up dead from drugs or worse. She’d quickly forgotten all of them. Even Eve, until they’d found each other, and that had been just a bizarre accident of chance. There never had been any family.
She would never forget the way one of her foster mothers told Mei how she’d been abandoned in a park. She didn’t even know which one, but a little kid had found a newborn wrapped in bloody newspapers, her umbilical cord still attached.
Attached to a placenta, but not to a mother. Whoever had birthed her there in the bushes had just left her wrapped in papers like so much garbage and walked away. She couldn’t imagine that. Carrying a baby under your heart long enough for it to live, and then just shitting it out on the ground like so much waste.
That story had taught her something powerful, though. She was a survivor. She had no one to count on but herself, but she’d survive. Since she was a little girl, she’d depended on herself for everything, though she’d obviously not done a stellar job at it. If she had, Eve wouldn’t have caught her shoplifting in a cheesy little mini-mart.
It really was embarrassing when she thought about it. She was better than that. She shouldn’t have been caught. Unless, of course, it was meant to happen.
Mei shivered in the muggy warmth of another Florida morning. She tucked the towel under her butt, wrapped her arms around her legs and thought of the odds of Eve being the one to find her. Thought of the odds they’d share this weird telepathy thing.
She rubbed at her arms, scratching at the unusually itchy skin, and stared at the three in the bed. She wondered what they were thinking as they slept. Did they dream of rocky cliffs and dark forests, of long legs stretching out in front of thick paws and a sensitive nose? Were their nights filled with exciting hunts and the taste of fresh blood?
Mei’s dreams were just plain weird, and she couldn’t help but wonder if Eve or Oliver or even Adam ever had dreams like hers. Then an errant thought drifted lazily through her mind and Mei smiled. She could open herself to the unexplainable. Maybe while they slept their thoughts would come to her, just as Eve’s had yesterday. Settling herself more comfortably in the chair, Mei yawned, stretched, and turned her thoughts free.
Oliver’s dreams felt as if they’d been filtered through a soft layer of contentment. Though he’d always dreamed of life as a wolf, it had only been the past few weeks where those same dreams were actually based on reality.
He’d not run last night, not even thought of shifting for the first time since becoming Chanku. No, his time with Mei had been absolutely amazing and his body still hummed with the sense of completion she’d given him. He thought of her now, caught up as he was in his dreams. He was the wolf. He was Chanku and she was near. He felt her as if she were already a part of him, as if the mating bond held them close, but now she strayed, just beyond his sight. He sensed her nearby and knew she paced restlessly, but she remained elusive, separate from him.
Oliver moved deeper into the dream state, aware on some level that it was indeed a dream, yet a part of his reality at the same time. He concentrated on his surroundings, on the thick carpet of grass beneath his feet, the myriad scents of wild things just out of sight. The woods were close and dark around him, the sounds of the night a gentle yet persistent symphony.
Confused, he sat back on his wolven haunches and searched for Mei. The cool air ruffled the thick fur on his back. It felt delicious after the stifling heat of the day and he wanted Mei close. Wanted the heady scent of her arousal, the proof she loved him as much as he loved her. He raised his nose and searched once more for her unique scent.
It was there, tantalizingly close, amazingly addictive. He sniffed again. Her familiar scent seemed different tonight. He drew her into his lungs, tasted her on his tongue and searched for her in the darkness. He heard the soft pad of paws on thick grass, turned his head in the direction of the subtle sound of movement through the forest. Her scent came to him, stronger now. It raised the hackles along his spine. He stood up, turned in her direction, and growled.
Mei jerked, surprised to realize she’d fallen asleep in the big, overstuffed chair. She blinked, and looked into Oliver’s eyes. He’d raised up on one elbow in bed and was watching her. Before she could speak, he put a finger to his lips for quiet and carefully crawled out from under Adam’s arm where it rested across his waist.
Adam turned over and rolled closer to Eve, and the two slept on. Naked and gloriously aroused, Oliver walked past Mei, leaned down and kissed her lightly on the mouth, and went on into the bathroom. She heard the shower run, the toilet flush, the sound of him brushing his teeth. She thought about his kiss, the fact a simple peck on the lips could leave her body tingling and her heart racing. She thought of his cock and the perfectly beautiful morning erection he’d carried, and almost followed him into the bathroom.
Before she could act on impulse, he came out. He’d dressed already and was wearing a clean T-shirt and shorts. He leaned over her body and she smelled the sharp, lemony scent of his shaving lotion and the subtle fragrance of the soap and shampoo he’d used, but beneath it all was Oliver, and that was the scent that heated her blood.
“Get some clothes. We’ll go find something for breakfast. Those two could sleep for hours and I’m hungry.”
She nodded and grabbed for one of the bags she’d not even unpacked after shopping. As quietly as possible, she searched through it until she found new panties, a short cotton skirt and a halter top. Mei went into the bathroom and dressed quickly, combed out her still-damp hair, brushed her teeth and met Oliver outside the room.
She stepped out of the motel room and quietly closed the door behind her. Oliver watched as Mei raised her head and scanned the parking lot, looking for him. He waved his arm and she smiled. He stayed where he was, leaning against the hood of the Jeep, and watched her walk toward him. It wasn’t quite ten in the morning, but heat already shimmered off the black pavement and it gave Mei an even more mysterious quality. Damn, she was gorgeous. Long caramel-colored legs stretched forever beneath a short white skirt. Her long black hair swung loose against her hips with each step she took. She moved with a feline grace and it touched him deeply, that she allowed him to love her.
She stopped in front of him and Oliver took her hands in his. “Good morning.”
“Good morning to you, too.” He leaned close and kissed the tip of her nose. He was afraid to kiss her mouth. Afraid he wouldn’t be able to stop with just her lips. She grinned at him and backed away, still holding his hands.
“Coward.” She grinned broadly when she said it, obviously flirting with him.
“No argument there. What sounds good to you?”
She blinked owlishly. Then she blushed and laughed out loud. “Oh. You mean food? Whatever.”
“For now, anyway.” Oliver opened the door and helped her into her seat. When he leaned over to fasten her seat belt, his left arm brushed across her breasts. No bra. His cock twitched to attention. He wondered if he’d ever get used to that. He clicked the latch into place and closed her door and his heart thudded loudly in his chest.
She was so perfect. So beautiful. But was she Chanku? The strange dream that had awakened him left more questions than answers. Something about Mei was unique. His human side didn’t notice, but the wolf in him was aware that all was not as it appeared.