Shifters of Grrr 1 (10 page)

"You're a bore, Jay, we was just having some fun with the lady here, that's all. Just a bit of fun." He smiled nastily at her again, whispering in her ear as she walked by.

"Next time we meet, my sweet, I'm going to make you scream."

Harper didn't need to fake the gagging noises as she retched loudly in response, pushing past him to get outside. The man was disgusting, more than enough to bring her mood down after the encounter.
 

Without any further leads, there didn't seem much of a point in continuing to search for Mr. M. If things were meant to happen, then she would just have to accept them as they came. It was past time that the insurance paperwork was filled out anyways. She wasn't looking forward to it, but for Harper it was easier to do that and go back to ignoring men like she had for so long now.

Yet that night, as she lay in the bath, she felt his hands on her once more. This time though, they didn't confine themselves to her waist. Her eyes rolled back into their sockets as she let his imaginary hands explore her naked, soapy body. The warmth of the water was nothing compared to the heat from his palms as it rushed out through her skin each time he made contact.

Just the slightest brush of his fingers across her nipples had them standing on end. She moaned softly, writhing slowly in the bathtub as he teased her farther and farther, building up the pressure within her ever so slowly.
 

It had been so long since a man had touched her this way, if one had ever touched her so. He knew just where she needed attention, guiding himself between her legs as she opened them for him. Whatever he wanted from her, she would give it to him. All she craved was that sweet, sweet explosive release.
 

It was so close, almost within her grasp as he toyed her clit, her wetness combining with the water to allow him to slide easily over her skin in a perfect rhythm. She gasped as the pace increased, bringing what had once seemed so tantalizingly far rushing at her in a wave of pleasure that enveloped her, holding her tight within its cocoon as she called out to him, begging him to keep going as she came under his touch.

Harper slowly opened her eyes, her chest heaving with exertion from the orgasm she had just had. It was hard for her to believe that he wasn't really there, that it had all been her own doing. His touch felt so real, far more solid and tangible than any fantasy dream she had had before. It was almost as if he could reach out and touch her through her mind. She didn't believe it possible, but it was obvious she needed to find him again.

Sliding into bed, feeling extremely refreshed, Harper vowed to resume her search for Mr. M as soon as she was done meeting with the insurance agents in the morning. Promise made, she drifted off to sleep easily, a smile upon her lips as she thought once more of her mystery man.

***

Jake

A howl broke the stillness of the morning.

Jake grinned, his wolf doing its best to mimic the image, lips pulled back and head tilted to the side with the long tongue dangling out the side. It had been some time since the pack had last run free like this.
 

It felt so
good
to just stretch the legs and race through the forest, unbeknownst to the rest of the world. As if to voice his enjoyment, Jake let loose another howl, to which the other wolves added their noise to the chorus. They broadcast loud and clear to any nearby predators that they were not to be messed with.
 

As they padded forward again, the canopy pulled back to reveal a restful clearing in the middle of nowhere. A large tree trunk lay across the middle, a fallen giant laid to rest, surrounded by comrades.
 

Shifting back to human form, he ran his hand along the trunk, imagining all the things the magnificent sentinel had seen its day. With a sigh he turned, leaning back against the trunk as the sun beamed down, warming his skin immediately. The others joined him, the magic of their shifting allowing them all to keep the clothing they wore intact.

"I'm telling you guys, she's the one. There was this electric connection between us. I felt it everywhere, my brain, my heart, even my wolf felt it."

"Yeah, I'm sure that was
everywhere
you felt it," Ethan said dryly. He was the joker of the group. Even now they were all smiling or chuckling. Jake received an elbow to his side from Chase who had picked a spot next to him.

"Seriously though, I feel like we're connected now, and we haven't even kissed. I've had daydreams before, but I've always been out of it, in another world with those. With her, I would swear I could feel her hands on my chest last night. Her head, it was tucked into my chest as she curled up next to me."

The others looked back and forth at each other. He knew they were thinking he was crazy and delusional, but Jake knew better. They didn't believe she was his mate, that they could never have met under circumstances like that and known it. Besides, she was a human, and wolves that mated with humans were rare.

"I'm not going crazy guys. I can see the looks you're giving each other. Try to be a little more discrete next time, okay?"
 

They at least had the decency to look embarrassed, but that didn't cause them to back down.

"She's a human Jake. I mean, you know we'll back you up and do whatever we can to help. But the last human-wolf pairing that we know of was what, thirty years ago?" Bryce seemed worried for his friend. He was always the practical one, grounded in reality as best as a shifter could be.

"I didn't choose to feel this way about her Bry. I just looked at her last night, and something happened. It was as if something inside of us reached out to each other and bonded. Like, oh I don't know! Like freaking superglue, okay? It meshed together and held there."

"So why didn't she feel it?" Kevin had a knack for getting straight to the point, and he did so just now.

"I, I don't know." That was the question that had been bugging Jake for the past day and change. It was why he hadn't gone racing into town to try and find her, instead staying out in the wild with his pack.
 

"Perhaps she was just shy."

"Or maybe she was scared, being a human she would never have expected something so physical to occur. Perhaps she did feel it but didn't know what it was, so instead of running towards it, she turned and ran away."

Holden had a point there, Jake had to admit. Shifters grew up hearing about the connection that was forged between two mates once they discovered each other. It was a bond between their animal halves, that ensured they were mated for life. But it stretched past that, entering into the physical realm to a mild degree.

A shifter could sense the emotions of his mate if they were close, but beyond that was the physical touch of the others soul. It was a physical thing, that transcended distance once the connection was forged. That was how Jake knew Harper was his mate, for he had felt the connection as he lay down to sleep the other night.
 

"What if it was the alcohol?" Kevin asked. "Perhaps it somehow inhibited the connection from taking completely?"
 

"That's actually entirely feasible Kev, good thinking," Jake replied, slapping his friend on the shoulder as he moved away from the fallen tree. He was feeling energized, more sure of what he was feeling. "I need to find her, to see if it's any different now."

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Chase exclaimed, breaking out into a jog ahead of the others.

With a grin, Jake leapt forward, shifting mid-leap and landing on all fours as he raced past his momentarily startled friend. They were quick to react though, and soon enough the chase was on as the six of them barreled through the underbrush towards their trucks. Beyond them waited the city.

And Harper.

***

The trucks pulled up to the bar a while later, the six of them piling out. The sun was almost cresting its peak, and would shortly begin its descent into the western skies. The door opened under his pull as they walked inside.
 

"Hold on, it's okay. We're here in peace," he called out to the bartender, who had a panicked look on his face and was already reaching for the phone. He hesitated, but then something in their body language seemed to assure him, so he set down the phone.

"What can I do for you?" he asked suspiciously, still not completely trusting them.

"Do you know anything about the woman in white who was here the other night?"

"I'm sorry sirs, I can't say as I do. She's never been in here before. The only thing I caught at one point was something about the fire at the campground. It sounded like she had maybe come from there? I'm not sure though."

Jake was disappointed, but he thanked the bartender nonetheless and left him a tip to help ease things over from the night before last. He was new to town, and though he may not end up staying, Jake wasn't one to make friends.

"She did come in here yesterday though, funny enough. Looking for you actually," the bartender added a moment later.

Jake looked up, his spirits buoyed by the news. Harper
did
feel something, he knew it! Now all he had to do was find her.
 

"I'm going over to the campground, just to check it out. Why don't you guys go grab some lunch, explore town a bit or something?"

Sensing that he wanted to be alone for a bit, the others didn't put up a fight. They wished him luck and then went off in search of some food. Jake, meanwhile, turned his back on the bar and set off towards the site of the fire. The bar was on the south side of the road, and as he walked westward, he came to the three-way intersection that marked the beginning of the inner-city campground.

Crossing the road he made his way over to the entrance. There was no sign stating it was closed, but he figured it wasn't needed in such a small town. The smell of smoke and burnt wood grew strong as he moved up the drive, past the barrier of trees that sheltered the campground from the city. He once again marveled at the ingenuity of the design. He would very much enjoy meeting with the person who had designed and built this place. He expected that it was quite an interesting person.

Rounding a bend, he saw some cars parked ahead. They didn't have the look of police or emergency response vehicles, so he wondered if perhaps he might have the ability to meet the person. As he moved past the cars, he saw three people talking in a group, standing at the edge of the road, just clear of the ash-stained field that used to hold some of the campsites.

Their backs were all to him, allowing him to get a little closer. He stopped about fifty feet away, looking closer at the three people there. Something was niggling in the back of his brain, trying to tell him he was missing something.
 

There were two men, much taller than the person in the middle, with a dour demeanor that Jake could feel from far away. The shorter woman in the middle looked like she was being overwhelmed by the two of them. He took a moment to look at the woman again before it sank in.

It was Harper!

His wolf immediately bubbled to the surface, a snarl upon his lips as he saw more than heard them telling her something that didn't help. Jake almost trained his ears on the conversation to eavesdrop but decided against it. Whatever they were talking about was private, not something he needed to know at this point. Once he and Harper were mated, then he would know everything. Until then though, she deserved some level of privacy.

What she didn't deserve though, and what he was now rising to stop, was the condescending attitude the two pricks were giving her. Long strides brought him closer, and as he smelled Harpers dismay and sadness, his temper boiled over. Not wanting to resort to violence as he had the night before, Jake stopped a few steps behind them.

***

Harper

"Well, Miss Muller, I'm not sure that your policy will cover you for that amount."

"What the hell do you mean it won't? I specifically pay you crooks a ridiculous amount of money every month to protect me from this very damned thing! So don't come in here and tell me it won't be covered."

Harper was seething on the outside, but internally she was so very close to cracking. If the insurance company wouldn't give her the money to rebuild, then her dream was dead. It seemed ridiculous that she would pay for a coverage designed for this type of situation, and then not be covered by it. The whole reason she had paid a ridiculous sum of money to them was just in case of this eventuality.

"The Fire Marshall can't even point out the exact cause of the fire Miss. How do we know it was an accident? You need clearer proof that this wasn't deliberate."

Her mouth fell open at that comment. She had no reply to that. None of them knew just how hard she had been working to make Muller L&C a profitable business, one that she could live off of. She felt herself on the verge of tears as she recalled all the sacrifices she had had to make to get it up and running. She had lived in one of the lodge buildings for six months to help save money that was funneled straight into the business.

The rudeness with which they were brushing her off was appalling, and she didn't know what to do now.

"Get out."
 
She spun at the voice, recognizing it instantly.