UnleashingtheAnimal (3 page)

“Oh fuck,” he groaned and she smiled around her mouthful.

He pushed in deeper and told her to wrap her hand around
his. “You’re doing great, now move your mouth up and down on it. You can add
some licking in if you want.”

Removing his hand, he placed it back on the wall. Blair was
able to suck him in deeper without his hand there to hold her back and she went
as far as she could, which still wasn’t all of it.

She got into a rhythm, moving up and down on him a couple
times and then stopping to flick the tip with her tongue a little. He seemed to
like it, moaning and bucking his hips in time with her.

She got braver, her hand going up to his hip and then
snaking back to trail her nails along his firm ass. He grunted when they sank a
little deeper than she intended when he unexpectedly jerked his hips forward.

Pulling her hand away, he grabbed it quickly and cupped it
on his balls. She got the idea and he moved his hand away again, letting her do
it on her own.

Keeping her mouth going, it wasn’t long before his body was
tensing and she felt a warm spurt of salty liquid in her mouth and Shane
groaned loudly above her. Swallowing, she didn’t pull away and felt several
more spurts until he pulled back.

Taking a few steps back, he collapsed into the nearest
kitchen chair.

“Wow, are you sure you haven’t done that before?” he asked.

Blair wiped her mouth off with the back of her hand and
stood. “No, I haven’t.” She could guess his next question before he asked it.

“And no, I’m not a virgin.”

It was true but she didn’t want to tell him she had only
fumbled around in the dark on two separate occasions. Both of which had left
her feeling deflated. She had gotten more pleasure out of giving Shane a
blowjob than both of them added up to be.

He stood and righted his clothing, watching her as she stood
awkwardly by the door.

Crossing to her, he pulled her into his arms and against his
chest. “Dinner again tomorrow night? So I can return the favor?” he questioned.

She jerked her head back to look up at him. “Return the
favor?”

“Yep.” He grinned. His green eyes twinkled and she smiled
back.

“Okay,” she answered.

“Okay,” he mimicked.

Shane left after another scorching kiss, leaving her feeling
restless, and the cabin was too quiet. Blair considered her actions. She had
never just fallen into something like this before. He made it easy for her to
let go. Maybe too easy.

She refused to think about the absence of the usual rules
she had always played by when it came to men. Rules that had been drilled into
her from a young age. But Shane was just too tempting.

Everything was different now and she knew she had made the
right decision by moving out here. She felt like a new person, sexy and strong.

She watched out the window for a few minutes before grabbing
her jacket and taking off outside.

Naughty thoughts of Shane chased her like the hounds of hell
until she reached the trees and then everything quieted.

The shadows were long and Blair knew it would be dark soon.
But she couldn’t resist the pull of the trees and the hidden creatures singing
good night. As she entered the woods she could smell everything—the damp leaves
and decaying pine needles, the crispness of the air and the smell of the lake.

Blair chalked it up to inhaling all the fresh air the last
few days. Wandering slowly down the trail, she checked behind her frequently.
She wasn’t too far from the cabin.

Then she saw it—the lake through the trees. The last rays of
the sun were filtering between the dying leaves and she abruptly left the trail
to get a better look.

The shore was farther away than she expected and it got dark
fast in the woods. Stopping suddenly, she realized she had no idea where she
was and how far from the path she had gone. Everything looked the same.
Everything she could see, that is. The forest was quickly becoming an
inky-black that was disorienting.

But she could hear. Everything.

She listened, cocking her head, and heard the mice scurrying
in the leaves, an owl hooting way off in the distance, squirrels bouncing from
branch to branch. It was surreal and it didn’t feel normal.

The darkness was all around her and she became frightened.

Suddenly a searing pain started in her hand, radiating up
through her arm and into her shoulder. Clutching her arm to her chest, she
briefly wondered if she was having a heart attack.

But then it came again in her other arm and this time the
burning pain took her to her knees. Confusion clouded her thought process and
she didn’t understand what was happening.

The agony increased, spreading into her back and lower.
Slowly it took over her whole body until she could do nothing but curl into a
ball on the damp forest floor.

Shane had been out in the forest patrolling his land and
thinking about Blair when he heard the whimper of another predator in his
woods. Lifting his head and sniffing the air, he knew it was close by.

Then he felt something he had been waiting for for a long
time. There was another Shifter here. A woman. His mate? God, he hoped so, he
was tired of waiting. But something was wrong. He knew the only way to know if
she was his true mate was if they were both fully in their animal forms.

Silently Shane crept over branches and between bushes. His
paws made no sound in the blanket of leaves on the forest floor. Pausing, he
sniffed again. There was a storm approaching. The sky was heavy with the coming
rains and the air was charged with electricity.

He circled the area where he thought the creature was hiding
twice, closing the distance between them cautiously. After all, she was another
predator and he didn’t know how well she could control her other half. Some
didn’t even try.

He felt his hackles rise, his natural need to dominate her
making the jet-black hair on his neck and back stand straight up, increasing
his already large size.

His night vision was excellent and he could see the shape of
something low to the ground just ahead. Breathing deep, he paused. He could
smell…Blair.

Damn it! What was she doing out here in the middle of the
night?

He glanced around him but couldn’t see her. She could be in
danger with another predator in his woods. It would be better for him to get to
the other Shifter before his neighbor stumbled across it.

Protectiveness motivating him, he took off at a dead run.
His big body was silent as he closed the distance, hoping to catch her by
surprise. But the closer he got to the creature the stronger he could smell
Blair. He shook his head to clear it but still the smell of flowery soap
remained, confusing him.

It felt as if it took forever to reach whatever was lying
still on the forest floor but in reality it only took seconds. When he reached
it, he stood in shock.

It was her
.Blair was curled in the fetal
position on the ground. She was so still he worried she had somehow hurt
herself badly but he couldn’t smell any blood.

Gently he nudged her with his nose and she groaned weakly.
Her amber eyes opened briefly, unseeing and dilated, before closing again.

Blair was the other Shifter?

Thunder rumbled overhead. The storm was fast approaching.
They couldn’t stay here. He nudged her again and when that got no response he
licked her face several times.

She rolled from the ball she was curled in and onto her
back. Shane pulled back in surprise. He could see her bones changing shape
under her skin. This couldn’t be happening. She was too old to be going through
her first change.

Lightning split the sky above and he knew he was out of
time. Padding a few feet away, he let the change take him. It had taken him
years to learn to control his inner wolf, to switch back and forth on a whim.

Clenching his fists, he waited on his knees for it to
complete, the wolf howling in resentment as the man reemerged. Swiftly the long
howl changed to the low grumble of a man’s voice.

Going back to Blair, he scooped her limp body into his arms
and began the trek back to his cabin. It was closer.

Before he took five steps, lightning crashed again and the
skies opened up. The heavy clouds released a curtain of cold, wet rain and he
picked up the pace. His naked body shivered in the wet, chilly air. If he was
right he needed to get Blair to his cabin quickly, before the next phase
started. The phase where she could hurt herself.

Shane only took the time to throw on a pair of jeans when
they finally got inside. Blair was starting to thrash and it had taken all his
strength to keep her in his arms on the walk home.

He put her on his bed, jerking the blankets back. The sturdy
wooden posts would hold her. Stripping her out of her wet jeans and shirt, he
paused at the sight of her pale, flawless body. Her breasts were larger than he
originally thought. Her dark, dusty-pink nipples were visible through the pale
pink lace of her bra. Her hips flared gently and he jerked his head away as
thoughts of being buried between her long legs flashed in his mind.

Quickly he moved to gather up four ties to hold her. He
hoped it would work. He hadn’t worn them in years.

He remembered what it had been like when he had his first
change years ago. He had been alone and had torn his body to hell. He still
bore the scars. Which he was sure she had noticed. But they were a part of him
now.

He wasn’t going to let her mark up that beautiful body if he
could help it. She was thrashing and groaning already, her hair a wild tangle
on his pillows. As she jerked her head back and forth he saw a blonde streak of
hair that started at the base of her neck. It was strange. He had never seen
hair like hers before.

He had to move faster. Her body was starting to gain in
strength.

He wasn’t sure if she could hear him or not but he started
talking to her. “Blair? Blair? Can you hear me?” Nothing.

“Blair, I’m going to tie your arms and legs down so you
don’t hurt yourself.” He did her legs first with no problems but when he got to
her arms she fought him like a wildcat, hissing and scratching at him, her eyes
unseeing.

But he was still stronger than her and held her still so he
could secure her arms. This part of the change only lasted a few hours or so
but it felt like forever. Her body was simply preparing for the animal she
would become.

He also had no idea how long she had been in the woods. But
he hadn’t left her house more than three or four hours ago. It could be a long
night.

Blair’s thrashing and writhing on the bed didn’t take long
to reach a climax. Shane felt her pain as he watched her body contort and saw
the bones move under her skin. He was surprised she wasn’t screaming but he
couldn’t remember if he had the energy to do so either. One thing was for sure,
this woman was a lot stronger than she looked.

He sat next to the bed, waiting for her to calm so he could
release her.

His voice seemed to soothe her so he told her about his
travels across the country and the odd jobs he had worked. All the while his
mind tried to piece it together. Because there was no doubt in his mind now,
she was a Shifter.

But she had to be in her late twenties and all the Shifters
he had crossed paths with had gone into the change in their late teens. What
had happened to make her so late?

He wondered what her animal form would be. Before he could
stop the thought he hoped she was a wolf like him. There were all sorts of
Shifters and there was no way to know until the first full moon after the bone
changing.

Gradually she quieted and then she slept. He watched as
Blair’s body eased back to normal. Her bones had regrown to accommodate
whatever it was she would become. But now that made her unpredictable. She
could shift at any moment. If she didn’t understand what was happening to her
then she would be a danger to him and herself.

He left her tied for the moment, even though he didn’t like
it. It was safer. He covered her with a sheet but couldn’t resist a quick peek
down at her skin before he couldn’t see it anymore.

She was beautiful and whatever was inside her was resting
for the moment.

Brushing her hair back from her face and then fingering the
strange blonde streak, he carefully sat next to her on the bed.

Blair awoke suddenly, her eyes popping open and slowly
focusing on Shane’s face above her. Everything swam for a second and then righted
itself.

He was running his fingers across her brow and she liked the
soothing feeling. She relaxed into the mattress and let him trail his fingers
down her face and then over her bare shoulder.

Wait…her bare shoulder?

Jerking away, she tried to remember what happened. Where
were her clothes? She was covered with a thin sheet but she only had her bra
and panties on. But she couldn’t evade his fingers and as she tried to move
away again she realized she was tied spread-eagle on a bed.

“What the hell is going on?” she yelled at him while pulling
on her arm restraints.

“Calm down, Blair. I’m not going to hurt you.”

“Then why in blue blazes am I tied up?” Her voice was shrill
and panicky even to her own ears.

“I’m sorry, Blair, I’m not going to hurt you,” he said
again, slow and firm. “Just try to relax and tell me what you remember.” His
voice never changed pitch, staying calm and soothing.

“I remember going for a walk.” She pulled again at her
restraints. Had she gotten herself mixed up with a psychopath? “Please Shane,
let me go.”

She hated the tears in her voice but she couldn’t hold them
back. She was confused and she couldn’t move. The more she wiggled to get free
the lower the sheet fell.

“I can’t, Blair. Not until you understand.”

“Understand what, Shane?” She struggled again against her
bonds.

“Stop fighting. I’m not going to hurt you. Listen to what I
have to say and then I’ll release you.”

“Okay.” She was willing to do anything to get him to release
her.

He sat next to her on the bed and she suddenly had the
overwhelming urge to slap him, but he had the upper hand at the moment and she
couldn’t even if she wanted to. But the anger dried her tears.

She was so warm that she suddenly didn’t care if the sheet
fell off her. Even that thin layer was too much.

“Why am I tied up, Shane? I don’t understand.”

Standing suddenly, he pulled his tight t-shirt over his head
and dropped it on the floor. Blair stared at him in shock as the light from the
bedside lamp shined across his back. It was covered in thin white scars. They
were four wide and, in some places, with a smaller fifth line. The first thing
that popped into her head was that they looked like nail marks.

Blair momentarily forgot about the ties holding her to the
bed as he turned to let her get a better view. His sexy body was crisscrossed
with scars. All along his back, sides and hips. The lines disappeared down
under his jeans.

“Where did you get those?” she asked quietly.

“I got them when I started my change. I was a lot younger
than you and didn’t have anyone with me.”

“What change?” She was more confused by the second.

“I’m not sure where to begin, Blair. Have you ever heard of
a Shifter?”

“A Shifter? No, I don’t think so.” It was strange to be
having such an obviously serious conversation while she was tied to his bed.

“There are people in this world who have the ability to
change their physical forms, most of us changing into animals. A few of us a
little more sinister than that.” He paused and then went on when she remained
shocked and silent. “We live in secret, some of us never knowing others exist.”

Suddenly what he was saying sunk into her muddled brain. He
was talking as if these creatures were real and she struggled to get free
again.

“Let me go Shane, this is unreal. You can’t expect me to
believe that you are one of these Shifters. It’s ridiculous and what does that
have to do with me anyway?”

He ran a hand down over his face. “It’s not ridiculous,
Blair. It’s the truth.”

He seemed to really believe what he was saying and she
wondered again if he was mentally unstable. And she thought she had issues.

“Fine, Shane, if what you say is true then prove it.”

“What?” he asked in surprise.

“Prove it,” she said again.

Shane didn’t see how it could make things worse at this
point and, after all, she liked the wolf. Maybe it would reassure her and she
was guaranteed to believe him then.

His decision made, he stood and popped the button open on
his jeans. She blinked up at him and then scooted away as far as she could on
the bed.

“What are you doing?” she asked.

“I’m going to show you proof of what I’m talking about so
you don’t think I’m crazy,” he said, kicking his boots off.

“Apparently I’m not the only crazy one around here,” she
mumbled.

“What do you mean by that?” he asked, stopping in the middle
of pulling his jeans off to look up at her.

“Nothing,” she said as she turned her face away.

He had a feeling she had meant her comment literally but he
figured it wasn’t the time to discuss it.

Dropping his boxers, he glanced up to see if she was
watching him. She was. Her eyes were big in her face, the bright-amber color
shining back at him.

Going to his knees next to the bed, but not too close, he
called his inner wolf. He came snarling from within, desperate to be loose.
Shane controlled the animal side of him, but barely. The smell of Blair so near
called to his wolf and made him harder to control.

He felt the burning in his veins and the stretching in his
bones, moving to accommodate his different form.

Within seconds he stood before her as a black wolf, peering
at her out of dark-green eyes. The only part of him that didn’t change.

He watched her closely as she stared back at him. The
emotions ran across her face as fast as butterfly wings. He had trouble trying
to keep up with her. Denial, then terror that cut him deep and then acceptance.

Quietly she said, “Okay, I believe you now.”

He couldn’t answer her as the wolf so he quickly changed
back to his human form. But the wolf wasn’t happy at being denied his freedom
after so short of a time and it took all he had to reign him in.

Blair watched as Shane pulled his boxers and jeans back on.
He acted like it was no big deal while her mind was running rampant. If she
hadn’t seen it with her own eyes she would never believe that he could shift
into a wolf. He had certainly taken her challenge to prove it to heart. Now the
joke was on her. But she couldn’t think straight while she was tied up.

“Untie me, Shane.”

This time he didn’t deny her and came to the bed to release
her. “We aren’t done talking, Blair,” he warned her.

It was as if she had been dropped in the middle of a horror
flick. Suddenly the enormity of the situation hit her and she felt a healthy
dose of fear. But she wasn’t afraid of Shane. It was something else altogether,
like a tickle in her mind that wouldn’t come to the surface.

It seemed Shane was the only one with the answers.

He untied her legs first and then moved to her arms. As soon
as her limbs were free she felt a surge of energy rolling inside her. Her body
responded instantly and she was on her feet beside the bed in a split second.

Rage quickly took over. How dare he? He may be a wolf but
she was no longer afraid of him. If he was going to hurt her he would have
already done it. A growl escaped her throat but she was too mad to take notice.
Shane caught her eye and took an involuntary step back when he saw the fury on
her face and the fire in her eyes. She was on him in an instant.

He saw her coming and braced himself with his legs as she
pounced. He caught her about the waist, the force of her furious leap sending
them both toppling over backward to the floor. Her nails scratched against his
skin and when that got no response she then grabbed a handful of hair and
pulled hard.

“Damn it, Blair! That hurts!” He grabbed her arms, which
only made her fight harder, catching him by surprise and freeing one of her
hands. It connected sharply with his cheek and he grunted before rolling her
under him.

His weight held her, unmovable, on the floor. She struggled
and squirmed beneath him, trying in vain to get loose. But then she heard him
laughing.

He used her momentary break in focus to pin her arms with
his own.

“What the hell is so funny?” she screeched up at him.
Renewing her struggles, she tried to hold on to her anger in the face of his
amusement, but he was adorable when he laughed and she felt it slipping away
just as fast as it had come.

“I knew there was some feistiness in you somewhere!” He was
full-blown laughing now and it was wonderful to watch. But she was still pissed
at him. She was shocked he seemed happy she had tried to hurt him, but he
hadn’t tried to hurt her back. Even when she had hit him.

“Are you done trying to beat me up?”

Blair contemplated and decided she wasn’t going to win this
battle. “For the moment,” she said with a smile and he answered with another
deep chuckle.

Her hand had left an imprint on his face and she felt sudden
regret. She reached her hand out to soothe the reddened skin, trailing her
fingers over it.

Then she noticed other things, like his hips resting between
her legs and the heat of his body against hers. Her gaze caught and held his
and the laughter on his face died a quick death. He rocked his hips ever so
gently against hers and she felt the growing bulge there.

Heat pooled between her legs and all she wanted to do was
wrap her arms and legs around him and feel everything he had to offer.

“The floor must be hard against your back,” he said as he
released her and got nimbly to his feet. He held out a hand and she let him
pull her up. Without his body covering hers, she was cold and started to
shiver.

Blair wondered at the sharp stab of disappointment but she
pushed it aside. There was nothing new there.

He wrapped her in his robe and within minutes he had a
steaming cup of tea in her hands. It didn’t take her long to warm up with the
combined heat and soon she was feeling much better.