Shifters' Storm (3 page)

“Songan,” she whispered. “I need you.”

The elk shuddered. She’d seen the transformation and knew what to expect. Still, it had been awhile, and she’d forgotten how much power was involved.

Even though she knew it wasn’t true, as he jerked and shivered, she half believed he’d been struck by lightning. Wave after wave of movement rolled down the rut-swollen neck and through the solid body. The waves came faster and faster until she could no longer distinguish where one ended and another began.

Similar to a balloon robbed of air, the form before her shrank and morphed from rich golden brown to flesh color. Front legs transformed themselves into arms. The massive rack disappeared. One heartbeat, she was watching an elk. The next, the man she’d given her virginity to stood naked before her.

Recalling that he’d need several minutes to adjust to the change, she clenched her fingers and studied six feet three inches of muscled male. The last time she’d seen Songan, which had been some six months ago, she’d talked him into stepping on the scales. He’d weighed just over two hundred pounds, but it looked as if he’d put on at least twenty more, every ounce of it muscle.

When in human form, which was about half of the time, Songan and his fellow shifters gravitated toward physical labor. Political and economic factors had led to a decreased need for timber in recent years, but several tracks of mostly lodgepole pine had opened up for harvesting this year. Her mother’s e-mails had kept her up-to-date about work on the new logging roads into the area and the massive, expensive equipment that now did what hundreds of loggers had once accomplished. Despite those changes, the two women had agreed there’d always be a need for men who understood trees and the dangers inherent in working among them.

Even as he stood naked with his hair-dusted belly and muscled ass, Rane acknowledged that Songan was one of those strong, brave and resourceful men. He belonged in the wilderness even more than she did.

He needed a haircut and hadn’t shaved for days. His thick, long, red-black hair had been combed by the wind. The way he stood with his legs spread and his arms out from his sides made her wonder if he felt as if the world was tipping under him. She could only guess what changing felt like. He gave no indication he was aware of her as he took in the meadow with its slender, white-barked aspens and the large pines surrounding them. Obviously he was reluctant to leave his animal half.

Songan had an erection. She’d never seen a more potent cock, all dark prominent veins and thick foreskin ringing the base of his cockhead. Thinking about how she loved to slide the sleek foreskin about made her hands sweat.

“Songan, it’s me, Rane.”

“I know.”

His eyes no longer had that faraway and unfocused look, but his unemotional tone told her he hadn’t completed the transformation. He’d once explained that he felt as if he belonged nowhere while morphing from human to animal or back again, and although he’d said nothing about being alarmed by the experience, she didn’t see how it could be otherwise. He didn’t want to be touched until he was fully in one body or the other.

She’d waited long enough. She had to remind him of what they’d once had.

Otherwise, he might never understand her need for him.

Her legs had grown weak. Either that or knowing what she was asking of them had stripped strength from them. Whichever it was, she had to concentrate on walking. As a result, when she looked up at him, she was closer than she thought she’d be.

Warmth flowed from his naked form to reach and caress her skin through her clothing. If the cool mountain air had made an impact on him, he gave no indication as he placed his broad, strong hands on her shoulders. She’d left her backpack and rifle behind. Except for the clothes she suddenly wanted nothing to do with, she and Songan were equals. Hopefully alone.

Will you help me?
was what
she’d believed would be the first thing to come out of her mouth once they stood face to face. But sex had always defined their relationship. It still did.

“You’re back,” he said.

“My mother—you can’t be surprised to see me.”

“I’m sorry, Rane. Sorry about what happened to her and what’s happening to me right now.” Letting go of one shoulder, he cupped his cock. “This time of year, I can’t fight the elk in me. I wanted to be there for you, but—”

“I know.” Strangely, staring at what she could see of his cock was easier on her nerves than looking into his eyes. All except needing to have it buried inside her. “Remember, I was here when you matured. The first fall when the rut hit you—”

“I wanted to fuck your brains out.”

“Not just want. You did.”

Maybe he was no longer interested in going down memory lane. More likely sex held the upper hand as he pulled her against him. Her face mashed into his chest. Even as she turned her head so she could breathe, his cock grinding at her belly loosened and moistened her pussy.

Clouds were starting to gather, a brisk wind pushing them and bringing a faint, distant scent of snow. Except for acknowledging the cool air, she paid little attention to the change. It would take a lot more than a breeze to kill the desire tearing at her.

Songan’s hold let up a little. Freeing her arms, she wrapped them around his neck. No doubt about it, being in rut added bulk and muscle to his human form. As a wildlife biologist, she was familiar with the creatures that inhabited the Northwest forests. Songan was at his sexual peak. Depending on how well he took care of himself and how many bull-to-bull battles he got into, he could stay like this for years. Be everything she wanted in a man.

In a distracted way, she knew she had no business letting his body take control of hers, but she’d been fantasizing about this moment for too long, when she could be free of grief. Needed it too much. She’d gone looking for him because she wanted justice for her mother, but even that would have to wait.

First and maybe always came feeding this awesome hunger.

A low whimper escaped her as she stood on her toes, tilted her head and raked her teeth over the side of his neck. Grunting, he lifted her off her feet. Since moving away from Forestville, she’d engaged in rough sex with two men, but they hadn’t outweighed her by over a hundred pounds and weren’t more than a foot taller.

They weren’t half animal.

“What’s this?” Smiling slightly, he turned his head so she could see the red marks she’d left on him. “Some point you’re trying to make?”

“Impulse. Craziness.”

“Caused by what?”

My mother’s murder.
“It’s not like we’ve ever set any limits set on what happens between us. Let me down.”

Smiling, he shook both his head and her. “Like you said, no limits or boundaries.”

He’s in his prime, dangerously so. Don’t do something stupid.
Despite her warning, however, she lightly pressed a knee to his groin. “Things haven’t changed with you. You still insist on being in control.”

“Human nature.” Giving her a look she couldn’t fathom, he lowered her to the ground but kept his hands on her waist. Her fingers dragged over his neck.

“You aren’t human, not all the way.”

“And you can’t handle it. That’s why you left.”

“That wasn’t the only reason, and you know it. It was time for me to find out who I was. In part to break the addiction between us.” Any other woman would probably be too intimidated to say what she just had, but Songan brought out something strong and wild in her, something she didn’t understand or trust.

“You also wanted more than any elk shifter can give,” he said. “Me being there all the time.”

“Not now. That’s not what I—”

“What then?” he demanded. “Damn it, Rane. I am what I am, just as you are.”

“What are you saying?” Lightning hadn’t struck. Songan and Songan alone was responsible for what raged through her. “That I don’t live up to your expectations because I’m not a shifter?”

“I’ve always accepted you. I just wish you felt the same way.”

“It’s easier for you. You don’t have to deal with human emotions all the time.” The words weren’t out before she wished she could take them back. “Look, I’m sorry. This is hardly the time to—what brought you here?” She nodded in the direction of the dead elk. “Did you sense—maybe you heard shots.”

“I don’t know.” Letting up on the pressure around her waist, he started stroking her there. Her nerves jumped. “Maybe you’re responsible.”

He was talking about the powerful connection that had once existed between them, a connection she’d believed she had to sever if she was ever going to live her own life.

These mountains had once been part of her world, but they no longer were. She had to remind herself of that, somehow.

But later. When her body no longer cried out for him.

She’d intended to beg for his help in finding out who had murdered her mother, not beg him for sex. As early as this morning, she’d believed, or told herself she believed, that her need for justice would see her through seeing Songan but not wanting to fuck him.

What a damnable liar she’d been.

Feeling as if she was drowning and flying at the same time, she yanked her flannel shirt hem out of her jeans waistband. Her fingers jabbed at the buttons, and she fumbled repeatedly before she managed to free all of them. An insistent inner voice cried
hurry, hurry, hurry
as she attacked her jeans fastening. To hell with that broken nail. She’d never cared about how her hands looked anyway.

Grabbing her shirt, Songan pulled it as far off her shoulders as he could, given her determination to get out of her jeans.

She felt no need to speak. Action said everything. Obviously Songan felt the same, because the moment she’d finished her task, he spun her away from him. Not asking permission, he tore off her top and hauled her jeans down over her hips.

Despite the hindrance, she crouched and clawed at her boots’ lacing. Songan unhooked her bra and started to pull it off her, causing her to stumble. Muttering something unintelligible, he gave her his legs to brace against. Once she’d succeeded in loosening the boots, she lifted a foot and tried to shake off her footwear.

Something moved in the nearby woods. Tense, she clutched Songan’s arm with both hands. With the veins at her temples pulsing, her ability to hear was compromised, but her sight was still sharp, wasn’t it? A little more time and she’d know who or what was out there.

“What?” Songan muttered.

“I’m not sure. Something.”

Chapter Three

Motionless, Songan looked in the same direction she was. The clouds were still darkening, but that wasn’t the only reason she was having trouble making out details. Being around Songan had always made her stupid. Stupid and horny. Maybe dangerously so today.

He tensed and let out a long, slow breath. Then he inhaled, and she guessed he was searching for telling smells. She tried to do the same, but Songan’s earthy scent was so strong.

“Bear,” he whispered.

Of course. Now that Songan had pointed out the obvious, she made out the large, dusky form among the equally dark tree trunks. The creature was down on all fours with his head high and nose up, looking at them.

“He didn’t leave.” She winced at having voiced something so obvious. Then because it was driving her crazy dangling from her shoulders, and certainly the creature didn’t care, she finished pulling off her bra. If this turned into a footrace, she didn’t stand a chance.

What was she thinking? Songan would protect her.

Except he was now in human form, naked and unarmed.

“My rifle.” She tried to determine how far away it was, but Songan’s form was in the way.

“You won’t need it.”

A shiver that might or might not be a reaction to the wind struck her. Still studying the bear, Songan drew her against his warm, strong chest. “You can’t know that,” she told him.

“He’s content to watch.”

Her lips went numb. “Watch?”

“Us having sex.”

The world suddenly became even less comprehensible than it had the day she’d learned her mother was missing, but as much as she needed Songan to explain how he could be so sure about the bear, she knew better than to ask because he understood the other creatures that called the forest home.

“We’re going to fuck,” he said. “Now.”

He was right. Until mutual need had been fed, nothing else mattered, not even justice for her mother. Thinking to hide her wanton response, she started to sigh, then swallowed the lying sound. Songan knew her too well for anything except honesty on her part. Her leaving hadn’t changed that.

Besides, Songan knew her body as intimately as she did, maybe more.

“Watch, then,”
she silently told the distant bear.
“You’ll do what you want, same as us.”

Relegating the grizzly to a quiet part of her mind, she watched and waited and trembled as Songan crouched and placed her left boot on his thigh. Running her fingers into his tangled hair, she balanced herself. He wasted no time pulling off her footwear, followed by her jeans, but left her practical panties untouched.

Palms together, Songan slid his hands between her thighs. Believing he intended to head for her pussy, she closed her eyes and held her breath. Her heart raced. His hands didn’t move.

“Songan?”

“I’m still elk.” The words came out low and rushed. “In rut. Don’t forget that.”

“I won’t.” Could she fully comprehend what that meant?

“I have needs.”

Leaning into him, she rubbed her breasts against his face. Her nipples were already hard, but they tightened even more, almost painfully so. Seeking both distraction and a way of responding to what he’d just said, she hooked her thumbs over the elastic in her panties and began a downward journey. Much as she wanted to go slow, she couldn’t. When her buttocks were exposed, she was forced to stop because his hands were in the way. Trusting him to finish what she’d begun, she straightened. As she did, she admired the strength in his legs that allowed him to crouch for so long.

Leaving the garment he must know she had no use for in place, he exhaled. His breath floated over her naked belly. Eyes unfocused and breathing ragged, she followed the warmth into her pubic hair and between her legs.