Drawn (Moon Claimed) (6 page)

TWELVE

He was chasing her.

She ran, her bare feet hitting the soft earth, matching the beating of her heart. Fear and excitement became an alluring edge to balance. A bubble of laughter escaped her lips. The moonlight kissed her skin and the night sang in her blood. The thrill of being chased was exquisite. The lake wasn’t far now.

Where was he?

She couldn’t hear anything over the blood rushing in her ears, over her own wildly pounding heart.

Was that a wolf howling in the distance?

She wanted to howl with it. To shout out her fever, passion and desire.

Was he close?

She couldn’t see him when she chanced a glance over her shoulder. The movement cost her, making her stumble over roots. But suddenly an arm sneaked around her waist, stopping her fall, and pulled her back up – against a warm, hard chest. His woodsy scent, touched with a hint of healthy sweat, reached her and made her mouth water for a taste of him.

His hands roamed over her, cupping her breast
s, kneading them, before one sneaked down and cupped her cotton-covered sex. He groaned, his breath hot against her ear. “You’re wet for me.”

Her deep moan as he pushed the
damp panties aside and slipped two long fingers inside of her was all she managed in response. It felt so damn good and right. He was naked and she could feel his erection press against her backside. Needing him, she stepped out of his arms and faced him. She pulled her nightshirt off, doing a little striptease that seemed to have the desired effect. His eyes were dark and following her every move, eating her up. His cock twitched. She shimmied out of her panties, and stood before him, naked and ready and without any shame. Her eyes never leaving his, she walked to the closest tree and bent forward from the waist, her hands gripping the bark.

A smile tugged at his lips and appreciation filled his eyes as he followe
d her and started kneading her ass. His fingers slid down, along her dewy folds, feather light, teasing but never really touching and successfully driving her wild. She needed him inside of her. Now.

Replacing his fingers, he let his cock glide between her legs, coating him with her juices. Then his tip nudged her entrance and she could have exploded right then and there.

“Nathan.”

It was a plea, a
throaty whisper.

Tess awoke, her body on fire. Sitting up and looking around, sleep and dream still clinging to her, she tried to get her bearings. Through a group of trees she could see the lake, sparkling silver with moonlight. Her mind had trouble catching up and believing that she was indeed sitting on the soft ground of the forest in the middle of the night, dressed in the gray nightshirt she had gone to bed with. Her feet bare. Just like in her dream. God, it had seemed so real. How the hell did she get here? Had she sleepwalked?

She fell back on the ground and pushed out a groan, frustrated with that possibility and the sexual tension inside her body, still begging for release.

God, that dream. Just the memory of it had heat shooting through her and the fire of her desire was back as strong and high as before. She had been so close. He had been so close to entering her. Her thighs clenched, longing for a hard, warm body to wrap themselves around, and her lower body yearned for a fulfillment she wasn’t able to give. But she could take the edge of.

Her hand had travelled down to touch herself when a figure stepped out of the blackness of the forest. Fear grabbed her for the time of one sharply
intaken breath, but released her as soon as she recognized him.

Nathan.

It looked so natural…for him to come out of the dark woods. Only in jeans, feet bare, his strong jaw dusted with stubble. Rugged masculinity. It was as if he belonged to the night, was part of it. He was breathtaking.

She should have been embarrassed, lying there on the ground,
her nightshirt bunched around her waist and a hand between her legs. But she wasn’t.

His eyes were hot on her,
almost as if glowing, and searing her with the fierce desire in them, and his nostrils flared. He didn’t pause, he didn’t say a word but knelt between her legs instead. His palms slid up her legs, starting at her ankles, and traveled up to stroke her thighs until reaching her hipbones. His fingers hooked into her panties and she lifted her hips to help him get them off her.

The
n his mouth was on her and she cried out with the bliss of it. His tongue was wicked and clever, lapping, sucking and flicking her. Two, then three fingers slid into her, pumping in changing rhythm and soon she was writhing beneath him. Letting his thumb join the play he rubbed it against her clit, and she eagerly moved her hips against him. Her first orgasm hit hard and quick, making her tremble, but he didn’t relent, knowing she needed more.

He continued his assault
as he moved up her body, his fingers now teasingly slow but as effective as ever, swiftly stoking the fire within her. She pulled him to her, her mouth covering his in a searing kiss. Their tongues danced, unleashing all the pent-up passion within them and turning into something wild and rough and utterly hot.

Tess was stunned by her reaction to him. Never had she enjoyed anything rough but with him all bets were off. With him she was needy, wanton and bold.
She locked gazes with him as she moved to pull the nightshirt off over her head, baring herself completely to him – mind, body and soul. He was the only one who could make her feel this way, could make her want this way - she let it all show in her eyes.

He stared down at her, equally fierce, and gently cupped her face in his large hands before kissing her. Oh, so soft,
but it held nothing back. When they pulled apart, they were struggling for breath. She couldn’t take it anymore, her heart was a thundering drum inside of her chest. Her fingers traveled down his chest and abs and fumbled with his belt. He quickly took care of his pants, and she took him into her hands the moment his cock was free. He was thick hardness covered in velvet. She loved the feel of him.

H
e rocked into her fist while dropping down to take one nipple into his mouth. Teeth grazing, biting, tongue lapping, she soon found herself balancing the intoxicating edge between pleasure and pain.

S
he guided his cock to her entrance, loved his tip nudging her there, and Nathan lifted his head. Staring into each other’s eyes, he plunged into her with one strong thrust that made them both gasp. He felt incredible inside of her, stretching her almost painfully. It was exactly what she needed.

Then he began to move, pulling out before sliding back in with excruciatingly slow strokes that made her feel every inch of him and had her going wild. She needed more. Gripping his ass she silently urged him on. He obliged and
gave her more, gave her harder, and she met him thrust for thrust, needy little sounds leaving her throat.

When he suddenly pulled out entirely
, she moaned with the loss of him. But then he moved her onto her hands and knees. She moaned as the cold air kissed her clit, making her throb even more, and she eagerly awaited him, watching him over her shoulder. His eyes, smoke pierced with sunlight, roamed over her body and since he definitely liked what he saw she couldn’t resist wiggling her ass. He punished her with a slap on each cheek for it and then buried his face between them to lap the sting away. It was a strange but utterly arousing sensation. His fingers were back, spreading her freely running juices and then she could feel them pushing at her anus. One long finger slipped past the tight muscles and inside, making her moan, and her head dropped between her shoulders. Her arms trembled with sweet weakness and she bent them, offering herself even more. At the same time she felt the tip of his cock against her, and of its own volition her body rocked back against him. He slipped into her and they both groaned at the bliss of being joined again.

Once again he tortured her with slow strokes when she needed them hard and fast
, matching them with his finger playing in her ass. She shot him a look over her shoulder and growled at him. Nathan’s eyes sparkled with mischief as he pulled his finger out and gripped her hips to sink wonderfully deep.  Only to stop moving, fully sheathed inside of her and going as far as he could. Keeping her in place, his hands ran over her back, her ribcage and up to her front to cover her breasts. Pinching her nipples hard, shooting fire through her and right to her clit. She quivered with need. He surrounded her, consumed her, and she burnt and throbbed for him. Her juices were trickling along the inside of her thighs now, her body weeping for release, and she just wanted him to move, to do something.

Then he pulled out of her, oh so slowly, only to make her cry out as he thrust back into her and
, finally, fucked her hard and fast. His fingers gripping her hips, almost bruising her flesh.

The sounds of their harsh brea
thing and slapping flesh filled the silent night around them, the scents of sex and sweaty bodies mingling with those of the forest; the eroticism of it took her even higher.

Tess
closed her eyes as she grew closer and closer to a powerful orgasm. She was so close. He grabbed a handful of her hair and tugged sharply as he leaned in to bite the soft flesh of where neck met shoulder in the same time. Pleasure, like a bolt of lightning, struck her, reaching every fiber of her being before centering on her core as she was taken, marked and became his. And her body tensed for release.

Another thrust and she
came, crying out his name as the force of her climax hit and blinding light flooded her and her inner muscles spasming around him, gripping him tight. He plunged into her as deep as he could go, almost bruising, and groaned as his own release shot into her. 

THIRTEEN

Beautiful birdsong awoke her at the same time as a large, warm hand splayed over her belly and sneaked further south.
She lay on her side, his heat a comforting wall at her back, and a smile tugged at her lips before she had even opened her eyes. What a nice way to wake up.

Tess opened her legs for him and gasped as he immediately slipped into her.
She bit her lip, reveling in the feeling of having him inside of her. Then he moved, rocking against her in slow, lazy strokes that matched his hands leisurely roaming her body.

Their
climax was a sweet, steady climb; slowly in building, but intense in its force as it pummeled into her. With her heart still racing in her chest, Tess turned her face so that Nathan’s was the first thing she saw when she finally opened her eyes.

His hair was messy, rumpled from her hands and a night in the wilderness, and stubble dusted his jaw, a jaw she wanted to nibble. And his eyes, oh his eyes, they were smiling at her, pure happiness and male satisfaction sparkling in them.

“Morning.” She smiled.

He gently kissed the tip of her nose before grinning back at her. “Good morning to you, too.”

“Yeah, it was good.”

“Only good?”

Her grin couldn’t get any bigger. “More than good. And you very well know it, so stop fishing for compliments.”

“I don’t need to. Your body and eyes pay me enough of them.”

Well, it was true so what could she say.

She frowned as a thought crossed her mind. “How did you find me? Why were you in the forest yesterday, or rather in the middle of the night?”

“I couldn’t sleep, too restless. I was on the porch when I saw something in the trees. When I saw it was you, I decided to follow you, in case something happened.”

“Oh.”
Her brow furrowed again. “I must have been sleepwalking. I’ve never done that before. You remember the dreams I told you about?” When he nodded, she continued, “They’ve been getting…I don’t know, more intense and vivid you could say. And erotic.”

He chuckled. “Yeah, I kind of got that when I found you.”

“You are always in them.” She whispered and with those words the warm, safe cocoon around her burst with a pop and she sat up, grabbing her nightshirt. Her eyes went wide at the sight that greeted her and she scrambled to her feet. ”What the fuck?”

Beneath them and
spreading a few feet around them a blanket of white anemones covered the ground. She was pretty damn sure they hadn’t been there before. They were so white and beautiful, and yet they had her heart thump wildly in her chest, weighed down with apprehension. Somehow she knew that her world was about to come crashing down once again.

Nathan got up as well, his hands held in front of him as if he meant to calm a frightened animal. Well, maybe that wasn’t that far from the truth.
He pulled on his pants while she stood staring at the delicate flowers.

Her breathing came too fast, too hard, and soon she had to bend down to get it back under control. Nathan’s warm hand rubbing her back was welcome to her body, but not her mind. But soothing nonetheless.
Tears of confusion and desperation threatened, closed up her throat but didn’t come any further. “W-what the hell is h-happening to me, Nathan? Why are you in my dreams, l-long before we’ve met? Why are f-flowers…” Her voice failed her.

He took her into his arms before tugging her nightshirt from her hands to pull it over her head. Automatically she pushed her arms through the holes. Then he just held her again.

“I’m sorry, Tess. You weren’t supposed to discover it like this. Your parents should have…” He sighed. “Well, it can’t be changed, now.” Nathan gently urged her to sit down on a log.

While Tess waited for explanation that she needed and feared, he ran a hand through his hair, as if struggling for words.
She had never seen him so nervous about anything. Nathan was strong and sure in everything he did or said. Seeing him like this now was wreaking havoc on her already strained nerves.

He looked at her, his sad and compassionate eyes searching hers. “You’re a witch.”

The breath she had been holding whooshed out of her. “What?”

“I know
, it sounds crazy, but it’s true. You’re a witch. The flowers here,” he motioned towards them with a sweep of his hand, “that’s your doing. Whenever you’re happy or just filled up with good feelings flowers bloom around you. Remember that day in the kitchen? How all the flowers around were in full bloom after we nearly kissed?”

She did. But her mind struggled. “That was the sun.”

“That was you. And me. Us. Since your desire for instance is one of the other good feelings I’m talking about.”

“Aha.”

“My mother will be better as explaining the witch part of the story.”

Something in his voice made her ask,
“There is more?”

“Yes.” He glanced at her. “I’m a wolf.
Werewolf, you could say, but we don’t use that term.”

She stared at him, speechless.

Nathan frowned, as if worried. “Tess, say something, please.” He knelt in front of her, his palms rubbing the length of her arms, soothing, imploring. “React.”

She did.

She started to laugh, hysterically until she couldn’t breathe and grabbed her stomach because it hurt so much. This couldn’t be true, this couldn’t be happening. She had finally found a place, a place she loved and could see herself grow old in, and she had finally found a man she was sure she was in love with and suspected she wouldn’t want to let go for the rest of her life. And then this happened. He was crazy, had to be, right? No normal grown-up would sprout such tales. But the worst of it, she suspected it was his way of pushing her away. Maybe she had been nothing more to him than a nice roll in the sheets, or rather on the forest floor, a one-time-only, and he just didn’t have the guts to be honest about it. Or he got his kicks out of telling such stories. Either way…the anger started to get through the hysterics. She used that to get her control back. However, the embarrassment accompanying it wasn’t as welcome.

“You know, you could have just been honest.
You want a one-night-only, just fucking say so.”

Disgusted with him, but mostly with herself, she
pushed his hands away and stood up.

He grabbed
her wrist. “Wait! Tess! No, it’s not what you think. Not at all.” His gray eyes pierced her with their fierceness. “I love you. And what I’m trying to tell you here is nothing but the truth. You’re a witch and I’m a wolf. Normally you should have grown up knowing that, raised with the legends and knowledge that goes with them. Witches and wolves belong together, are mates.
We
belong together. I know it’s enough to take in as it is, but I know you need proof to believe me. So…here it is.”

He took a step back
, pulled off his pants. When Tess was about to turn away, something caught her attention. She couldn’t see him clearly anymore, like a blurred picture. It was as if he was being enveloped by silvery fog and yet there was nothing there.

Frozen
in place, she stared on as he vanished and soon a silver gray wolf stood in his place. And to top it off, he even looked suspiciously like the one she had talked to that one afternoon at the lake.

She didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

She was a mess. Her life was a mess.
Only last night - and this morning - she had experienced the most intense and mind-blowing sex she had ever had. And the man she had experienced it with, had just transformed into a wolf in front of her eyes.

It was enough as it is. However, it was the feeling of peace and rightness
and belonging, the sudden relief flooding her that pulled the rug from under her.

This time her body didn’t run, but her utterly confused mind did.

Her world went black.