LickingHerWounds (4 page)

Scratch that.

He would probably claw me to pieces.

Cal nearly swallowed his tongue when Jane rolled onto her
back and lay naked on his bed, her hair strewn around her head like a mussed
halo and her thighs long and slim, falling apart just enough for him to see her
hair-free sex. Lykos females had no pubic hair? He felt his mouth begin to
water. Her lips trembled as if he terrified her. It took every ounce of strength
he possessed to not drag her down the bed and feast on that utterly delectable
pussy. His cock strained against his zipper as if it had a mind of its own, and
the female gave a strangled cry and flung herself down in front of him on the
bed in a totally submissive posture.

He did the only thing he could in the circumstances. He
grabbed the comforter and flipped it over her naked body and sent a swift
silent call to Hallie.

He heard the door open quietly. It had taken her only a
moment to come. He glanced at her thankfully and said a trifle shakily, “Um…can
you show her how to get dressed?”

“I’m sure you could have helped her get clothes on. I
thought you were going to be her big helper.” She shot him a wry glance.

Her sarcasm wasn’t lost on him but he was grateful for her
presence. She turned to Jane and said quietly, “If you are going to live here,
even for a short while, you must wear something to cover your body when you
can’t shift. We live among humans and we blend in with them this way.” She picked
up a sleeveless dress that looked suspiciously like the sundress she’d worn a
lot when she had been pregnant. Cal watched her as she demonstrated how to pull
it on over her own head, then she handed it to Jane. That seemed simple enough.

Jane looked at it, then glanced at him as if for his
permission.

He cleared his throat and nodded. He watched as she sat up
and dragged the soft yellow material over her head and wriggled into it,
looking down at it as it settled over her breasts and pooled about her hips.
Her sweet feminine flesh remained uncovered and he said roughly, “Stand up and
pull it down over the rest of you.” He wanted to smack Hallie’s ass as he heard
her choking laugh.

Jane slipped off the bed and obeyed, and when she stood
there wearing the bright sunny shift with her eyes wide and questioning, he
prayed he would have the strength and the brains to handle this one little
Lykos. Hallie cleared her throat and handed Jane a pair of sandals. “These will
protect your human feet when you walk on rocks and sticks.”

Cal watched as Hallie showed her how to slip them on and
buckle them. Jane’s wide eyes were no longer confused and wary. She looked up
into Hallie’s face and did her very best to smile, although it resembled a weak
snarl. His nervousness melted as his heart skipped several beats. Yes…there
were a lot of questions that needed to be answered. Had she never smiled
before?

But then she looked quickly around and said, “I need to
urinate.” He felt hot color fill his face.

Hallie practically dragged the Lykos into the bathroom, and
he realized that he was, indeed, taking on a great deal by saying that she
could remain with him. He prayed that Jane was a quick study, because he wasn’t
at all sure how to handle any more intimate emergencies!

She watched Hallie demonstrate the proper place for
relieving herself within the house and she followed suit, feeling as if she
were going to fall into the strange hollow seat. It took her a long time to
relax enough to relieve herself, then she was further confounded by the
explanation of “toilet paper” and “flushing”. She wondered why Hallie turned
red like Cal when she explained how to use the long strip of soft white paper
to dry off her bottom.

She would be so happy when she could shift again! There were
so many unnecessary, strange things humans did. But if Cal wanted her to do
these things so she wouldn’t disgust him, she would do them.

I have a new alpha.
And she didn’t want to anger him.
She liked the way his mouth curved when he was pleased. Jock never made that
nice face. And for some reason the nice faces these cats made reminded her of
something pleasant. Something buried deep in her memory. Something that
surfaced almost close enough to touch…

It tantalized and twisted itself into her mind…but she couldn’t
quite figure it out.

Chapter Four

The old Halleran place was only a few blocks away up the
private lane, but Gar drove because of all the supplies they needed. Jane had
refused to climb into the big SUV until Cal had pointed adamantly at the open door
and ordered her inside. He had slipped in beside her and had instantly found
her slim arms wrapped about his body as she had whimpered and shoved her face
against his side. She had shivered uncontrollably as the vehicle had started,
and Gar had wheeled out of the circular drive toward the wrought iron gate that
opened to the lane beyond the property walls.

Cal drew a shaky breath to calm his inner animal and simply
patted her on the back as one would a nervous puppy. But when he heard her draw
in a couple of deep, sniffing breaths of his scent, his cock came to full red
alert and his pulse leapt. Dear gods…where was Hallie when he needed her?
Hallie had stayed home with the boys, saying, “I wish you luck, Cal.”

He glanced suspiciously at Gar as he heard a deep chuckle
issue from the driver’s seat, but his sibling ignored him. He swore under his
breath and stifled his body’s reaction to her little murmurs of enjoyment at
the feel of his overheated flesh and his shudder of reaction to her sweet warm
breath through his Polo shirt.

He was certainly glad that she was happy. But his body was
seriously gearing up for a meltdown, and he fought the involuntary shift he
could feel coming on. He saw the house coming up along the crest of the hill,
and when the SUV pulled into the pitted, unkempt driveway, he leapt out the
door and paced to force his throbbing body to relax.

Jane stared up at him from the wide-flung door of the
vehicle, her bottom lip caught between her teeth. He walked around slowly for a
minute as Gar slid out from behind the wheel and shook his head at him over the
roof of the SUV.

“You had better get that under better control if you mean to
be her protector, kid. Otherwise who the hell is there to protect her from
you?”

Cal inhaled deeply and snarled at his brother. “I can handle
this.”

Gar lifted one dark brow and shrugged. “I sure hope so. I
don’t think she will be able to withstand a full-grown Seronta male trying to
ride her into the ground.”

Cal hissed across the black sunroof at his brother, then
spat, “I will never harm her.”

“Glad you feel that way. I would hate to have to take you in
hand. But if I must, I will, brother.” The quiet reminder of Gar’s alpha status
and his vicious temper made Cal inhale deeply and calm his libido. Gar was
right. If he shifted, his animal half would do some serious damage to the small
Lykos, even in her wolf form. He could easily kill her in her frail human
shape.

If he did ever take her, it would be as a human. His
experience with Hallie had taught him much about the gentleness required when
mating with a female in human form. And he wanted Jane to like him…
To more
than just like me.

He tried hard to contain his beast. He glanced down at Jane
as Gar opened the hatch and rear door. She was huddled on the leather seat, her
knees drawn up to her chest, her wide eyes on him as he paced. A trickle of
something soft and gentle slid down his spine, something warm and very
soothing. Hallie’s sweet voice came to mind as she had whispered that he must
remember his humanity. He trembled and drew in another great breath, exhaling
the tension.

He let his tight lips curve into a gentle smile. “I’m sorry,
Jane. You’re safe here but you must remember what I am. I’m a Seronta shifter.
I can use that to protect you. But at times I can be dangerous even to you. Do
you understand?”

She stared at him and slowly shook her head. “You would
never harm me.”

He groaned softly under his breath. He glanced at his
brother, who was pulling boxes out of the SUV and pretending not to listen.

“Look…you know women, dammit! Tell her why I’m dangerous to
her!”

Gar turned and set the box down, glanced at him, then walked
over to the open SUV door and held out a hand to Jane. “Come with me, Jane. Cal
has asked me to talk to you.”

Her wide silver gaze lifted to Cal’s and he nodded jerkily.
“Go with him. I’ll get this stuff into the house.”

Cal transferred the boxes and supplies into the house,
carrying the bedding and linens upstairs, then the food boxes into the old
kitchen. He had put nearly everything in its place by the time the creaky old
porch steps groaned underfoot and Gar stood there, with Jane a few paces behind
him, her eyes on the ground at her feet. Cal’s heart jumped at the desperately
sad look of the Lykos and he lifted one brow questioningly at his brother.

“Jane will do her best to behave properly.” Gar’s voice was
quiet and even. “I explained to her about touching without being invited to
touch and about trying to help you around here to clean the place up. Having
been in wolf form seventy-five percent of her life, she needs to have
directions, Cal. And she’s relying on you to guide her in this until she’s
capable of shifting again and going back to her pack.”

The brothers stepped down from the wide porch and moved
slowly to the vehicle, noting the little female skittering up the rickety steps
but not entering the house. Cal hoped she would pose no big problems once they
were alone. Hell…he hoped
he
would pose no big problems.

Cal swallowed the tight lump in his throat and nodded his
thanks to his brother. He knew that the little speech had been more for Jane’s
ears than for his. He extended his hand to Gar and his brother caught it and
jerked him close for a half-chest hug, then cleared his throat and glanced
around self-consciously. He ran a shaking hand through his dark hair, looked
back at Cal and said gruffly, “You watch your ass, kid. No heroics. If you get
into a jam, shout! I’ll be here.”

Jane stood on the wooden verandah that ran most of the way
around the lower level of the venerable old house and watched the two men
interact. She had never seen a male succumb to emotion before—unless it was
rage. The way the big dark one treated her new alpha amazed her. She swallowed
hard, because her throat felt as if it were blocked, then she blinked, startled
to feel wetness on her cheeks. And somewhere, at the very back of her mind,
something awakened at the sight of the brothers embracing.

A long-lost memory flickered, then dissolved into
nothingness again, but not before she snatched at it and tried to place it. As
she stood there, transfixed, a woman’s voice seemed to call to her…

Jessie! If I’ve told you once, I’ve told you a hundred
times not to wander off like that! There are dangerous things down in them
swamps, and last week old man Ramey lost two of his best hounds… Stay close to
the house or the loup garou is gonna snatch you…

The voice was so very familiar, yet she couldn’t quite place
it. The stinging behind her eyes increased and she swiped away more wetness
from her cheeks with a shaking hand. She stared at her fingers and licked the
salty moisture.

Hush, li’l baby, don’t you cry… Mama’s gonna sing you a
lullaby…

The sensation of arms around her shoulders and the
remembered touch of a soft mouth on her forehead made her inhale sharply. She
frowned at her fingers and murmured softly, “Don’t you cry…”

Am I crying?

Words formed. Sounds flitted through her head. Images
flitted through her mind and she tried hard to remember where she had seen
them. She pursed her lips and whistled like a bird.
I’ve done that before.
Somewhere. Long ago.
And the words came out with a strange lilting
singsong… “Hush, li’l baby, don’t say a word, ‘cuz Mama’s gonna buy you a
mockingbird…”

Cal turned away from the pitted old asphalt lane as the SUV
vanished down the hill, his ears catching the sound of…singing? He blinked at
the young Lykos female kneeling on the rough boards of the porch, hugging
herself tightly and rocking—singing to herself. Singing a song he’d heard long
ago when they had first come to Rutledge, before rock and roll and rap had
taken over. Her voice was soft and melodic and she sang the words easily, as if
they were extremely familiar to her.

He walked silently up the gravel driveway to stand at the
side of the peeling verandah railing, not wanting to interrupt her. And when
the sweet song ended, she started another. Another old lullaby. But where would
a Lykos hear lullabies? He didn’t want to stop her, so he sank to his haunches
on the yellowed grass and plucked at a long stalk, rolling it between his
fingers as she sang several more songs, before her voice fell silent, and he
heard her…crying?

He rose silently and saw her with her knees pulled up to her
chest, hugging them as she wept helplessly into the fabric of the yellow
sundress. Gods, but a woman’s tears just tore him up inside.

“Jane? What is it?”

She lifted her streaming eyes with a hiccup and a sniff and
said in a shaking voice, “It’s Jessie.”

Cal sank down onto his knees beside her, gently touching her
shaking back with one large palm. “What’s ‘Jessie’?”

“I am…I think.”

He stared blankly for a moment before finding his voice. “I
thought you didn’t have a name.”

She turned those silver eyes up to him and her lips trembled
as she whispered, “I think I had one…before they stole me.”

Chapter Five

The memories had washed over her like a tidal wave. Memories
of a place that was warm and safe. Of arms that were strong and tight hugging
her. Memories of a tall human man with a wide smile and a woman with a lilting
voice that made her happy. Memories of a rag doll with a pair of blue button
eyes.

Memories of the day she’d been taken away…

And she buried her face against her raised knees and sobbed.
Cried.
Hush, li’l baby.
She was crying. Just like a human.
I am a
human.
Had
been
a human. But the big one had carried her off into
the swamps, just like her mama had warned her. And after he had dragged her
into the loup garou den, he had left her all alone to lie there sick. Burning
up with fever.
No. Burning up with the change.
He had bitten her arm
half off. But it had gotten better after she’d changed. The pain of her first
change had made her want to be dead. It had felt as if her bones were on fire.
Her fingers and toes had felt as if they’d been snapped off.

The rest of the pack had wanted to kill and eat her, but the
big one had told them she was to be his…whatever that meant. He had seen her
silver-white hair and wanted her to be his. So as long as the big one was
there, they had left her alone.

When the big human who smiled…
Papa
…had come with many
others, looking to kill them for carrying her off, she hadn’t been a little
girl anymore. She had been one of them. And when the men with guns had started
shooting the pack and chopping them up with axes and scythes, the big one had
grabbed her by the scruff of the neck and run with her in his jaws.

Or the men would have chopped me up too.
At least,
that was what he’d told her they would do.

Only a handful of them had escaped the purge. It had been so
long ago she’d had almost no recollection of it until she’d seen the big
leopards—the men—hugging. And Cal had cried. It had started her remembering. It
had almost overwhelmed her. All those strange feelings… All those startling
memories…

When she sensed him there, sinking down by her side, and
heard his voice so close to her ear, felt his hand touching her back, she
wanted to just turn to him and hug him tight, as she’d seen him hug his
brother. But Gar had warned her not to touch him unless he invited her to. It
had been so long since she had been touched like a human. Held in arms as her
mama and papa used to hold her. But she wasn’t a little child anymore. And the
idea of Cal putting his arms around her made her feel all funny inside. Not
like when Papa had hugged her. But as he slid his hand over her back so gently,
she wished desperately that he would tell her she could hug him.

Cal frowned at her wet face. “You okay?” He sensed her
elation and her fear. Her sudden change of thoughts and feelings. It was pretty
obvious now that she hadn’t always been a Lykos. He had heard many old stories
about human young being stolen—changed—when packs had a shortage of females or
hunting males. They chose very young children so that their memories of once
being human would die. And he knew that the forced change was painful and
terrifying…if the child survived it.

So my little Lykos was once human.

That would explain many things. He could help her. He could
teach her.
If she is still here.
Maybe she would want to go when she was
stronger. He balked at the thought of letting her go away alone, because she
sure as hell wasn’t going back to the Lykos. Not to be tortured and possibly
killed and treated like garbage. Worthless, she had called herself. He would
figure something out.

He felt her trembling as his hand caressed her spine and he
realized that he was doing what Gar had warned him not to do. He was touching
without being invited to touch.
Shit!
That went both ways, and he was
already screwing up. He had vowed to protect her. He had agreed to behave. And
if he touched her, even without lusting after her, she might misunderstand.
Or
my own traitorous body might misunderstand…

She shivered and leaned in to him and his need became a
gnawing, greedy thing. He withdrew his hand from her back and put a few inches
between them, feeling as if his guts had just been ripped from his insides. He
heard her little whine of disappointment, and swallowed hard to clear his
constricted throat.

“Jessie? I guess I should call you Jessie. You need to go up
to your room and get some rest. It’s the second door on the left at the top of
the stairs.” He inhaled a deep, shaking breath and received the full force of
her pheromone track.
Sweet gods!
His mind almost deserted him as his
cock rose to eager attention. When she didn’t move, he nearly snarled, “Go
now!”

Without hesitation, the little Lykos darted from her place
on the porch to the open front door and was racing up the stairs inside the
house. He gave a groan of aching loss as he followed her progress with every
sense in his body until her door slammed and he heard the heavy creak of old
bedsprings as she flopped onto the mattress…and started sobbing.

It took every atom of strength he possessed to not follow
her and comfort her. Not to crash through her door and take her without bothering
to think. He stepped into the old house and locked the door. He moved from
window to window and checked the sash locks. Then he placed the heavy-gauge
wire mesh Gar had purchased over every window and hammered it into place with
U-shaped wire brads. It wouldn’t stop a wolf but it would slow it down and
would make a lot of noise if torn out.

He closed his mind to the heart-wrenching sobs. She was far
safer away from him at the moment. He had sworn to protect her. He would not
break that oath. Even if it meant that he had to keep her locked in her room
and remain locked in his own. Because his need for her was as dangerous to her
as her pack was.

Once the lower floor of the house was secure, he set about
preparing a meal of some of the canned goods and some venison that Hallie had
sent in the big cooler. It was the remains of a mule deer that he and Gar had
taken down last week. And despite his natural preference for raw flesh, Cal had
grown to enjoy the wonderful herbal flavors Hallie used to spice the meat.

The lush smell of basil and pepper made his belly growl,
reminding him that he hadn’t eaten that morning. He’d been far too agitated to
bother with breakfast. And lunch had been forgone in favor of packing the SUV,
then unloading the boxes and getting settled in. He was pretty sure Jessie
hadn’t eaten either.

He couldn’t hear weeping now. Maybe she had gone to sleep.
He would go and wake her in a while, when the food was ready. His thoughts were
far too out of control for him to face her yet. He stirred the gravy and set
the reheated roast on the top of the old stove, then busied himself opening the
cans of vegetables Hallie used when she didn’t have fresh available. That was
something that might keep him busy…planting a kitchen garden like Hallie had. New
potatoes, onions, carrots and fresh herbs sounded great. But it was late in the
year to start a garden.

And he could paint the porch…maybe rescreen it to keep out
the flies. The plumbing could use work. The repairmen had checked the main
water line and had turned all the utilities on, but there hadn’t been enough
time for them to go much beyond the basic necessities. Cal was pretty good with
his hands. He could fix things up. In fact, the thought of fixing up the place
for Jessie and him left his gut tied in knots. A real home of his own. Not half
as grand as the one Gar and he had shared all these years, but with privacy and
a mate of his own? It was almost too good to be true.

He was about to go upstairs to tell her supper was ready
when her voice murmured softly inside his head,
I’ll eat when you’ve had
your fill.

She had heard him thinking? He lifted one brow and
considered that. He would have to be careful what he thought if she had that
talent. He wondered now if she had “heard” all the rest of his heated thoughts.

It doesn’t work that way here, Jessie. Come down and eat.
No one expects you to starve while I stuff my face.

Jessie had sensed his thoughts just as he started to come up
to fetch her downstairs for supper. She dashed the tears away and sat up on her
bed, feeling oddly better after her long cry. There had to be something about
dripping eyes that healed humans.

She knew he was upset with her for something. She just
couldn’t figure out what. She had expected him to make her remain in her room, so
his response to her pleased her oddly. She smoothed her rumpled dress down over
her legs and went out the creaky old door and down the stairs to where the
delicious smells came from. Her belly growled loudly as she stepped into the
room and found her alpha dishing up food onto two plates.

He motioned for her to sit on one of the chairs that flanked
the old table and he placed one of the plates on the wood before her. When he
sat in the other chair and picked up a fork to spear a piece of succulent
venison, she followed suit. She ate hungrily. The food was almost as tasty as
that Hallie had given them all. Cal was an odd alpha, fixing food for others.
She had only eaten food that was raw, bloody from the kill, almost as far back
as memory served. But this food was marvelous…because it was the kind of food
her mama had made. She had almost forgotten that.

Sharing meals with Cal’s big happy family had taught her
that she needn’t bolt her food down quickly in order to get her share, as she
had when trying to snare a morsel from the pack. There had been more than
enough for all, and the males did not snap angrily when the cubs reached for
“seconds” as Jet called them.

Hallie had even let her help to fix meals, showing her how
to use the big stove. Would that be part of what she would do in this place?
Serve her alpha his meals like Hallie served her family? Or would he have her
scrubbing the floors like the cubs did at the big house down the road? Would he
hug her and touch his mouth to hers like his older brother did when Hallie put
food in front of him? That thought made her shiver with odd sensations in funny
places.

The food was too delicious to leave even a drop on her dish,
so she put the fork down and lifted the empty plate to lick it clean and heard
his voice ring out in laughter. She froze and lowered it to the wood, her eyes
wide as he tried to hide his face with one large hand.

“Is this wrong?” She thought about the meals with his
brother and Hallie. No one had done that in front of her, so maybe it was not
right.

He was laughing behind his hand, and when his eyes met hers
they were bright with some emotion she hadn’t seen for a long time. Not
since…home. An image of the tall smiling man who had laughed like that so long
ago flitted into her thoughts, and a deep-buried memory of a woman…Mama…eating
the laughter from his mouth.

She licked some of the liquid from her lips and watched as
his hand lowered to reveal that mouth with the strong white teeth and beautiful
lips, and she felt her nipples begin to tingle for some reason. Then her dress
grew wet as something warm slid from her core and its warm, earthy scent filled
her nostrils. Her belly fluttered as his eyes darkened, and his smile changed
as his breathing grew ragged. He sniffed deeply and she realized that the scent
of her wetness was probably disgusting to him.

“I’m sorry…” Her voice felt raw. She started to rise from
the chair, but he moved so fast he was almost a blur. He was on his knees on
the floor, his eyes closed and his big hands shoving her thin yellow dress
slowly up her thighs.

Her insides felt as if fire were licking at them, and she
stared down at him as he opened those golden eyes and pressed his tongue to the
back of his teeth as if holding his control with care. The sight of the elongated
canines should have terrified her, but instead it made her thoughts swirl and
her insides tremble.

He stared into her eyes as his hands pressed her legs wide
apart and folded her dress gently up against her belly. Her heart felt as if it
were about to rip out of her chest. Then he closed his eyes and bent his head
and her body jerked with indescribable sensations as he began to lick and
suckle at her wet, hot slit, pulling her bottom forward to the very edge of the
chair.

She heard a high keening sound and realized it was coming
from her own throat. What he was doing to her was as wonderful as the food he’d
given her, and when she was certain that he was not going to tear away her
flesh and devour her, she caught his head and whimpered.

Her fingers threaded through his silken hair as her head
dropped back and a moan of pleasure left her throat. “Oh, what are you doing to
me?” she gasped as a devastating, trembling shot of white-hot sensation made
her body explode in all directions and she felt his sharp canines gently break
the sensitized skin of her sex. Another bolt of amazing excitement filled her.
Her scream of pleasure was muffled as she clasped her palms over her mouth and
rode out the most mind-boggling, heady feeling of shocking pleasure she’d ever
had in her life. More wetness slipped from her slit as her pleasure peaked, and
her alpha lapped it up along with the drops of blood that his fangs had drawn.

She heard a growl from deep in his chest as he buried his
long tongue deep in her slit, and her body convulsed once again, leaving her
shuddering with reaction and breathing as if she’d run for miles. Unable to
remain upright in the chair, she slithered to the floor, and he lay between her
spread thighs, licking and probing her with his hot, greedy tongue until she
came apart a third time. His hands cupped and lifted her rear and brought her
quivering opening closer to his devouring mouth.