Big Bad Bite (39 page)

Uncle Rick rocked back on his heels a little
in surprise. Studying her face for a few minutes with his sharp,
critical assessment, he must have seen whatever it was he needed to
see to believe her because he used his strong hand to grab the back
of her head and bring her closer so that he could drop a light kiss
on her forehead. “Okay honey, but you be careful, you
understand?”

She nodded and then moved past her Mama to
her brother. Standing in front of him, she looked him square in the
eye and said the one thing she hoped would make him understand how
she felt. Referring back to their conversation in the hotel their
first night in Germany she said, “He’s the right one, Logan.”

Logan was nodding his head by the time she’d
said the fourth word in her sentence. Her brother had already known
that Adam was her mate. Knew that she had to do whatever she could
to save him. So instead of words, he gave her a bear hug that damn
near cracked her ribs, and then set her away from him in front of
their Uncle Owen. The imposing Pack Master watched her with a blank
expression.

“You understand the risks of going after
him?”

“I do.”

“And you understand that if you do this you
have to go alone? If anyone tried to follow to help you, it could
make the situation worse. He could perceive any others as a threat
against you and go on a killing rampage.”

Without hesitation, or a bat of an eyelash,
she answered, “I understand.”

Uncrossing his arms, Owen placed one of his
giant paws of a hand on the side of her face. “Your father would be
so proud of you if he could be here today to see the incredible
woman you’ve become, Jenna. Since he isn’t, know that I’m just as
proud to call you my niece.”

She held back the tears that watered her
eyes, threatening to escape. Ignored the burn it caused in her tear
ducts, and along her nose, and took one of the best compliments
she’d received in her life as the strong warrior her Uncle needed
her to be right now. After giving him a quick peck on his cheek,
she moved to stand in front of her Mama who was unabashedly crying.
Her mother could care less if there was a crowd to see her wail
over her daughter like a bad actress in a Lifetime movie. Of
course, before Jenna could get a word out the woman had grabbed her
into a hug and held on as if her very life depended on it. I guess
since she was worried about her only daughter doing something that
could get her killed, perhaps Jenna’s life did depend on if her
mother relinquished her hold or not. She couldn’t let that stop her
though. Because it would be an empty life without Adam, even if she
was safe and alive.

Mama’s soft sobs filled her ears, so Jenna
placed her lips close to her mother’s own ear and whispered, “I
love him.” Her mother’s arms tightened around her. Grasped her as
if she would never let go, and Jenna started to worry she was about
to have to fight her own mother to go save the man she needed like
air, but just as she started to strategize possible escapes, her
mother’s arms loosened, then pushed her an arm’s length away.

She had that scolding parental face on. The
one she’d used over the years telling her to clean her room, or no
she couldn’t have a flamethrower for Christmas. Except this time
she said, “You better come back in one piece, Jenna June O’Conner,
and when you do you better bring your mate home with you! I’ll be
expecting tae see you and my new son for breakfast. Do I make
myself clear, young lady?”

Jenna couldn’t help but smile, “Yes
ma’am.”

Her Mama nodded, gave her one last stern
look, and then another bone crushing hug preceding the giant shove
towards the forests’ tree line. Jenna took one last quick look at
the group assembled behind her. Her family, the small group of
Adam’s most trusted Pack members, and his sister who looked at her
with teary eyes and all the hope in the world. Giving them a half
smile, she turned and started trekking into the woods so that she
could find a private place to strip down and shift. Traveling in
her wolf’s form would be faster and easier on her body. Time was of
the essence, and she was in a hurry to find her potentially insane
mate.

They’d been on the hunt for hours. She wasn’t
even sure if they were still on the Pack’s actual lands, but that
didn’t matter when her instincts told her to keep going. It was
dark now. The sun had set an hour ago, and right about now Jenna
was thankful as shit that her Shifter senses gave her such
excellent night vision. Because stumbling around in the dark sucked
whether it was on two legs or four paws. Her wolf was acting like
her own personal trainer in the back of her head. Encouraging her
to go just a little farther. Telling her that they were getting
closer and closer to finding their mate. She’d started to doubt the
wolf’s instincts, but that was before the scent trail she’d picked
up close to half an hour ago or so.

So with her nose occasionally to the ground
like some God forsaken hound dog, she kept tracking that scent
because it was the lifeline she’d been searching for. The longer
she followed it the more excited she started to become until she
found herself running through the forest, jumping over downed logs
and swerving in and out of trees, chasing that trail just as fast
as she could. Jenna was so wrapped up in excitement that she was
caught entirely unawares by the humongous body that tackled her
from the side, causing her to yelp loudly.

She was pinned on her back with her front two
paws pressed against Adam’s half shifted chest above her. He was in
that rare state pure bred wolf shifters could hold between human
and beast where things like facial features and claws were out,
along with hair covering their bodies, but the human’s physique was
left behind. It produced something that left spectators feeling one
half awed, and one half scared shitless. At this exact second, she
wasn’t sure which half she was feeling.

He was growling at her, canines exposed in
all their glory as he lowered his muzzle closer to her own. His
glowing amber eyes were bloodshot and crazed looking. Combine that
with the saliva that was dripping from his fangs onto her, and
well, she was leaning towards the scared shitless half. She whined
in the hopes that it would convince him that she meant no harm, but
instead that spurred his beast to snap his jaws viscously an inch
from her nose since she was a weaker wolf.

Worry started to set in. She’d thought he’d
recognize her sent by now. Instead, he was acting as if she was a
stranger who’d invaded his territory. This was not exactly how
she’d envisioned their reunion to happen. He was supposed to shift
back to human, embrace her with open arms while waxing poetic on
his love for her. Torture, maiming, and possible death had not been
involved in her happily ever after fantasy.

One of his lethally claw tipped hands grabbed
the scruff of her neck harshly before he shook her a few times. A
pained whine slipped out. Her distressed wolf was lamenting on the
fact that they seriously should have made more time for those
Shifter lessons they sorely needed. Both woman and wolf were
confused as to what he was trying to convey to her now. She
couldn’t exactly speak in this form either. That meant one thing.
She was going to have to shift to her human form and hope he didn’t
slice her apart the second he was able to.

Letting her muscles relax as much as possible
given her current circumstances, she let the change start to
lengthen and morph her body. Her black fur receded into her body
while her long dog like muzzle shortened back into her human’s
facial features. When she opened her eyes it was to see what she
would guess was the closest thing to a stunned look on the half
shifted wolf’s face. His hand was now holding the back of her neck,
but he didn’t seem inclined to move it. Instead, he straddled her
waist with his massive thighs and moved his other hand so that he
could run the backs of his misshapen fingers over the cheekbone of
her face. His molten eyes were leisurely going over her features.
As if he were trying to memorize them one by one, afraid they’d
disappear right in front of his eyes.

Now was the time. She had to do something,
say something, to make him realize that she was real, that she was
alive. Licking her dry lips in nervousness, she watched his eyes
follow the slow path her tongue had made as if it were the most
fascinating thing he’d ever seen. Parting her lips slightly, she
whispered his name. His eyes shot up to hers, and then her
exceptionally beautiful beast went berserk.

The hand that was holding the back of her
neck squeezed so tight that she worried he’d accidentally snap her
bones, breaking them. His other hand that had been caressing her
face gently a moment before grabbed her shoulder, sinking his claws
deep into her flesh, as he threw his head back to the sky and
roared. Anger, madness, or desperation. She wasn’t quite sure which
emotion he was feeling, but whatever it was, it seemed to predict
her doom. One second he was emitting that awful sound and the next
he slid the hand on the back of her neck to fist tightly in her
hair, wrenching her head to the side at an excruciating angle. Then
his teeth were biting into the base of her neck, and she knew the
love of her life was going to kill her. The breath stopped in her
throat. Pain radiated along the nerve endings in her body, but she
refused to despair about it. To lament on the ‘what if’s’ or ‘might
have been’s’. There was only one thing she wanted to do prior to
her death.

His teeth slid out of the muscles in her neck
so that he could bite her again lower, harder, on that vulnerable
spot where the neck and shoulder met. He shook his head from side
to side in his fervor. Using all of the strength she could muster,
she raised her left hand, crossed it over her body so that she
could lay it on his cheek to get his attention, and looked sideways
so that she could meet the dangerously beautiful amber eyes that
now watched her intently. Without a hint of fear, with all of the
emotions of her heart laid bare to see, she said the words that she
should have given to him in Germany.

“I love you, Adam McPhee.”

The wolf’s eyes glowed brighter at her
declaration, and she watched in fascination as something unreadable
crossed over his face. He pulled his teeth free of her ravaged skin
and shifted his legs down her body until he was lying cradled
between her thighs, his eyes never leaving hers, seemingly trying
to convey something in the stare. Was she breaking through to him?
Please God, let this work.

Using the thumb of the hand she still had
caressing his face, she swept it over his cheekbone in slow
strokes. Small soothing movements to hopefully tame her riled mate.
He still watched her as if he was afraid she’d disappear. Was he
torturing himself with the thought that she wasn’t real? Had he
convinced himself that she was an apparition of some sort? She’d
just have to convince him that she was indeed real, and here in
this moment with him.

“Do you understand me, mate? I love you, and
I’m very much alive. Come back to me, my sweet Adam. I need you to
come back to me.”

Tears spilled over his lashes onto his
cheeks. With a groan, he dropped his head down to his bite marks on
her neck and shoulder, lapping at the skin in tender strokes. A
different energy started to fill the air around them. The anger had
slipped away, and in its place need was there instead. His need to
reassure himself that she was alive; and her need to give the man
she wanted above all others the proof of her feelings with a
completed mating, whatever that entailed.

Jenna could feel his cock lengthening where
it was trapped between their two bodies. The feel of the hard,
heated velvet against her, combined with the slick slide of his
tongue sweeping her skin with his ministrations for her sent her
arousal soaring. She rocked against his hips.

“Please Adam, please come back to me. I need
you so much. Shift back so that I can show you how much I need you
inside of me.”

She felt his groan against her skin as much
as she heard it. It sounded as if he was struggling, and she ached
with wanting to help him, but she didn’t know what to do. Keeping
his nose in contact with her skin, he moved slowly down her body
rubbing his face in the valley of her breasts, and then pausing to
lick her nipples. Moving slowly south again, he traced her ribs
with the tips of his claws, lightly causing shivers to rack her and
goose bumps to spread all over. He moved to lie on the ground
between her spread thighs, hovering with his head over her mound
while blowing puffs of warm over her folds; he opened his mouth,
looking like he was struggling with his words. All that came out
was a sound that was somewhere between a groan and a growl.

Jenna didn’t get a chance to ask what it
meant because suddenly his tongue was stroking between her weeping
folds. The roughness of his beast’s tongue was entirely different
from the one Adam had used on her in their hotel room several days
ago. She cried out at the startling feeling as his tongue slid up,
down, and swirled inside of her until her back was arching off the
ground, and her pleas filled the air. Begging him to shift and take
her. Fill her so that she felt nothing but him.

Her fingers dug into the earth beneath her
when his licks stopped. She hadn’t realized she’d closed her eyes
until she had to pry them open, and when she did she almost sobbed
with joy. Adam was holding himself above her, on his hands and
knees caging her in, his head thrown back as he completed the
change back into his human form. His muscles were still convulsing,
settling, when he grabbed her by the hips and flipped her over to
her stomach beneath him. Pulling her up so that she was now resting
on her hands and knees while his entire body covered her own. The
ache of wanting him was so strong that she wiggled her butt back
against the hot wedge of his cock that rested against her.