Shifters' Storm (11 page)

“This isn’t a game for you,” she managed to get out. “It’s not some kinky sex play.”

Releasing the rope, he ran his nails over her belly. “No.”

Gasping, she looked down at herself. Her nerves threatened to explode. Still, she noted that their surroundings were becoming darker. Was night returning?

“What?” she managed, thinking he’d just said something. “I, ah, didn’t hear you.”

“You’re essential to my future and the future of others like me.” His nails made another pass.

Half out of her mind, she sucked in a breath and stepped backward. His features neutral, he kept pace.

“You heard what I just said,” he said. “I know you did.”

Praying she could regain control over her body and mind, she squared and looked up at him. “What I did or didn’t hear isn’t the point. Ber, this is insane.” She made a show of trying to move her arms. “As long as you treat me like this, you can’t expect me to give a damn what happens to the Enyeto.”

He lightly flicked her right breast. “You don’t like this?”

“Stop it!”

“I asked you something. Go on, tell me you hate what I’m doing.”

Much as she wanted to lie and tell him she loathed everything about what was happening, she couldn’t force the words. “Let me go. Then we’ll talk.”

She watched, alarmed and shivering in anticipation, as he slowly extended a hand toward her. Taking hold of her chin, he lifted her head a little. “I love seeing you like this—mine.”

“Everything done your way and me having no say?” she threw back at him to keep his words from making too much of an impact. “That’s not how it happens in the human world, don’t you get it?”

Waiting for his response exhausted her. Either that or her system had had all it could handle of his presence. The strange thing was that for a moment she thought she was looking at Songan. Did she need any more proof of how overwhelming this was?

“I’m not human,” he said after too long. “Not in ways you comprehend.”

Suddenly she knew what she needed to do to get through to him, at least a little. Turning her head to the side, she slipped out of his hold. Instead of trying to escape, she leaned into him so her breasts grazed his bare middle. His cock shuddered and jerked.

“So you’re more bear than man, are you? Tell me, how would an Enyeto react to this?” She rolled a little one way and then the other, keeping her breasts with their taut nipples against him. The nonstop electrical charges going off throughout her short-circuited her mind.

Ber or Songan and what did it matter? Bear or elk, both dominated their world—and her, if she wasn’t careful.

“Enough, damn it!” Rough fingers gripped her arms, and Ber pushed her back as far as he could without letting go, shaking her as he did.

Feeling as if she was melting, she sank to her knees. Even with him guiding her journey, she started to tip forward. She rested her cheek against his leg until she regained her balance and a measure of self-control. Only then did she acknowledge his cock.

“Didn’t expect that, did you?” she asked, hoping to convince him she’d landed where she had on purpose.

On the tail of a deep breath, he ran his fingers into her hair. His fingertips against her scalp tore into her. She could remain on her knees before him forever, his prisoner and sex slave, bound and willing.

But if that’s all she did, he’d never understand her, and he’d remain a stranger to her.

“I take your silence as a no,” she said. “You figured you had to rope and tie me in order to get me to listen. What you didn’t count on is how I’d react, the whole female response thing.”

“Go on.”

“My reactions, damn it. I’m not some sow bear in heat. I’m not going to stick my rump in your face.”

“I didn’t say you would.”

“You’re sure as hell acting like it. But you’re wrong. For one, I’m not in heat. There’s a lot more to me than the instinct to procreate.”

“I know that.”

Maybe, maybe not. The only thing she was sure of was that she was no longer interested in what he was thinking. How could that matter with his feet, legs, hips and cock scant inches away? Licking her lips, she touched them to his erection. He rocked back on his heels but didn’t shove her away. God, but he was beautiful! Sexy in a rough, untamed way. Stimulating parts of her that hated the word no.

Filling her lungs, she opened her mouth, leaned forward and brought him into her. She made no comparisons, lived fully in the moment. Ber tasted like the wilderness and more, the more beyond her ability to find words for. His veins were so swollen she wondered if they might burst, prompting her to bathe them in warm saliva. Dizzy and light-headed, she withdrew. Then, moving so fast her head didn’t stand a chance of clearing, she again housed him. Laid claim to him much as he’d done to her.

His hold on her hair tightened. Beyond caring what he might do, she turned her head to the side, taking him with her via the strength in her lips.

Groaning, he relaxed his hold. She did the same. Then, propelled by her clenching sex muscles, she worked more of his length into her until his tip pressed against the back of her throat. Gagging, she paused before coming at him again. She’d swallow him, that’s what she’d do, take him so far into her that he’d never find his way out.

As for why she wanted to do this—no, she wouldn’t go there!

Light-headed was good. Light-headed made mouth-fucking Ber easy. Her thoughts swimming, she worshipped his width and length, smelled him, tasted him.

He started working with her, arching into her and pulling back, guiding her head one way or the other by his hold on her hair. Her belly tightened and stayed that way as she pummeled and was pummeled. Moisture dribbled from the corners of her mouth. Wet heat flowed from her pussy. His harsh, erratic breathing pounded through her.

A gust of cold air struck her right side. She went still.

“Winter’s coming,” Ber said. “That’s all. Nothing to concern ourselves with.”

How right he was. Nothing and no one else mattered. Dismissing the chill, she pushed his foreskin back with her tongue.

He might be saying or trying to say something, but as long as his balls pressed against her chin and her teeth lightly raked his length, she didn’t care. Unfortunately, bobbing about with her jaws wide open was getting to her. Not sure where the idea had come from, she turned her head to the side so his tip pressed against her cheek.

Feeling like a dog with a bone, she growled. Releasing her hair, Ber clamped his hands over the sides of her face. Once more his tip grazed her throat.

Was the crotch rope getting tighter? Maybe her sex juices were making it shrink. No matter. She loved having her body’s heat trapped inside her. Determined to increase the sensation, she pressed her thighs together. The soft fibers against her labial lips belonged there.

Tightening his hold, Ber pushed her back a few inches. Holding on with all the strength left in her aching jaw, she met his gaze.

“Damn you,” he muttered. “Damn you.”

Sensing the truth behind the curse, she pushed him out and licked his balls and cock. Moisture beaded on his tip. Thirsty, she lapped. She’d become a cat, an insistent, rough-tongued cat.

Ber groaned. The pressure against her cheeks abruptly ended. Eyes closing, she once more claimed his cockhead and leaned back. A moment later, she rocked forward.

It didn’t matter who or what he was, what name, if any, he went by. His agenda.

Back. Forward. Back once more. Her pussy hot and tight.

“Ah! Ah!” he bellowed. “Shit, yes!”

Sticky heat filled her mouth. Unexpected tears burned behind her lids. Crazed, she stayed with him.

“Ah yes!” His fingers pressed against her temples. “Oh shit, yes!”

Her mind spinning and vaginal muscles twitching, she swallowed what she could of his discharge. The rest ran down the sides of her mouth. When he’d given her all he had, she slowly freed him. Remained drunk on his taste.

She wouldn’t open her eyes, not yet! Not until—

Whining low and desperate, she rocked her hips from side to side so the rope rubbed against her hot flesh. Still whining, she twisted about while lifting and lowering her body. A flame licked.

Ber’s come was inside her, sliding down her throat and reaching her stomach. He’d taken ownership of her arms and declared mastery over her sex.

Damn him!

On the heels of her oath, she climaxed. Shaking, she slumped over and onto the ground.

When, finally, she could, she looked up at him. Night had taken another forward step. She could no longer see her captor and lover’s features. Shadows clung to his limbs and torso, rendering them indistinct. Now they could belong to any man.

Chapter Ten

Because of space limitations, the hot water heater held only twenty gallons, but as she stood in the steaming spray, Rane wasn’t sure she could make herself get out of the shower even after the water turned cold. A few minutes ago, she’d been asleep; at least she thought she had been. As dreams went, the one she’d just wakened from was above the top of the chart.

Dream, yes, damn it!

Maybe.

Turning her back to the water, she ran a washcloth over her face and opened her eyes. She hadn’t bothered with lights until she’d made her way from her bedroom to the one bathroom and deliberately hadn’t looked at herself in the mirror while waiting for the water to heat. Her arms burned, but when she looked at them, she saw no sign of rope marks. There was also no evidence that a rope had pressed against her belly.

Doing what she needed to, she reached behind her and hesitantly ran her hand between her ass cheeks. Nope, no overly sensitive skin there. After hanging the washcloth over the cold water handle, she leaned forward, spreading her legs as she did. Leery of her reaction to touching herself there, she experimentally fingered her labial lips and clit. They were responsive, all right, but then they always were.

More to the point, they weren’t swollen or sore.

Groaning, she straightened and rubbed her mouth. No soreness there either, and she didn’t taste anything except toothpaste residue.

So Ber hadn’t captured her? There’d been no less than intelligent conversation between them? He hadn’t forced her to endure a crotch rope, and she hadn’t given him head?

The bathroom was cold, prompting her to back into the spray so it caressed her shoulders and spine. By morning, she told herself, she’d have everything pulled together. No wonder she was confused right now
—
she was half asleep.

Except for one little item, she had nothing to worry about.

By the time the water started to cool, she still hadn’t managed to convince herself to face that item. Turning the faucet all the way on gave her another minute of comfort, but long before she was ready to leave the wet cocoon, she started shivering. Stepping out, she wrapped a towel around herself. Then, although a niggling voice warned that she didn’t want to do that, she grabbed the hand towel and wiped steam from the mirror.

The face waiting for her belonged on a woman who’d been through a hell of a lot. Her eyes blatantly said she was exhausted. Her skin seemed to droop a bit, which reminded her of her mother.

“All right!” she snapped. “I should look hot and bothered and in need of some serious masturbation. Instead, I feel not satisfied but damn close.”

And confused, she silently added.

More than a little lost.

After drying off and applying moisturizer, Rane had put back on her nightgown, but despite the weariness tugging at her, she knew she wouldn’t be falling asleep anytime soon, so she went into the living room. After grabbing a throw to put over her legs, she curled up in the recliner and turned the TV on. She found an all-night news station but paid little attention to what the two overly chipper anchors were saying. Ber had been the last person to sit in this chair, and she caught hints of the essence he’d left behind. Just like Songan, the bear shifter was too large to comfortably fit in the recliner. If she was going to have a couple of mountain men for gentlemen callers, she needed to buy appropriate furniture.

A burst of pain between her eyes distracted her. Much as she hated facing the cause, hiding from it would only delay the inevitable. Bottom line, at the end of the
dream
,
she’d been unsure whether she was with Ber or Songan. Okay, so it was a dream, maybe. Okay, so she had no control over whatever had or hadn’t taken place, but what if there was meaning behind the confusion?

A shiver had her pulling the throw up around her neck. Leaning forward, she tried to concentrate on the weather report, but what was the use? Not only did the recliner smell of Ber, Songan had left something of himself in the fabric and padding.

No woman needed two shape-shifters in her life.

She certainly didn’t.

However…

Songan had told Rane he wasn’t sure when he’d next see her, but three days after leaving her in the forest, he stepped onto her porch and knocked on the door. Her truck was in the driveway, which meant he hadn’t come in vain. When after maybe a half minute, she hadn’t opened the door, he tried the knob. To his surprise, he discovered she’d locked it.

Things change, he acknowledged as he knocked again. He didn’t fully comprehend how much and in how many ways her mother’s murder had altered her life and probably should ask, but she had a way of looking disappointed and a little sad when he pumped her for personal information. Apparently she expected him to already know what she was thinking and feeling. However, he seldom did. Truth be told, he didn’t know why what she called human intuition was so important. Her mother’s violent death upset and saddened her. He understood that. Wasn’t that enough?