Arielle and the Three Wolves (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) Page 5

  She pointed the pistol straight at him. “Don’t come any closer to me,” she warned him, though he had not made a move off the bed.

  “You’re not really going to shoot me, Arielle,” he told her in that deep, calm voice. He pushed off the covers and slowly got out of bed. He was as naked as she was. He was a huge man, and there was a lot of him to see. Arielle tried to keep her eyes above his waist and the aim of the gun true.

  “I said don’t come near me!” she screamed at him. She wanted to get her phone. She couldn’t remember where she had left it last night when she had come home from the clinic. She wanted to call the police. When she couldn’t see it in any of the usual spots in the bedroom, she decided she must have left it to charge out in the living room. Somehow she would have to make her way out there and retrieve it. The only problem was he stood between her and the door to the bedroom.

  He took a couple of steps toward her, and she backed away from him an equal distance. When he walked she noticed he had a limp and favored his right leg. She brought the gun out farther in front of her body with a single shaking hand. With her other hand she covered her nudity with the discarded T-shirt from last night.

  “Arielle, you know me. You aren’t going to shoot me. You love me, don’t you remember? We love each other.”

  Her hand shook so bad she thought the gun was about to drop from her hold. Her mind was confused, and she couldn’t concentrate on his words. “Who in the hell are you?”

  “I’m the wolf.”

  She backed up to the wall. Her naked rear hit it with a thud, but she kept the gun trained on him. “What are you talking about?” She looked down to the floor. When the man had gotten out of bed, the splint the wolf wore had fallen out from under the covers and uselessly down to the carpet. She had it tied very tight along the angle of the wolf’s hind leg. There was no way it could have fallen off on its own.

  “I’m the wolf,” he repeated and took another step to her across the bedroom carpet.

  “Get away from me,” she shouted at him. Tears still streamed down her cheeks.

  “I tried to warn you last night. Don’t you remember the dictionary? The word tonight. I tried to tell you I was about to shift back to a man.”

  “How did you know?” she asked the man. Had he looked in her window when the wolf took down the dictionary from her shelf? “How long have you been watching me?”

  “I’ve been with you for a month now ever since you hit me with your car.”

  “I hit a wolf with my car.”

  “You hit me with your car. I am the wolf.”

  He took another step toward her. He was almost right on top of her. Her finger tightened around the trigger and she took aim. “Please don’t make me shoot you.”

  He reached out to her. “Arielle, this gun’s not even loaded,” he said, and removed the pistol from her hand. He set it aside on top of the dresser. Then he ran a finger down her face and wiped at a tear. His finger was rough but gentle. She remembered his touch from the night.

  She was completely defenseless now. He had her backed against the wall. She was about to hyperventilate. She gripped the T-shirt in front of her chest as her last line of protection. But she didn’t know what good it would do.

  “Calm down,” he told her. “It’s all right. Everything is all right. I’m still here.”

  “What did you do to my wolf?”

  “I told you already. I am the wolf.”

  “How do you expect me to believe that?”

  “Because it’s the truth.” He still wiped tears off her face and tucked a loose strand of hair behind an ear.

  “Wolves don’t turn into men.”

  “I’m a man now, but I’m also the wolf you said you loved.” He was huge and hovered above her. She was forced to look up into his eyes. They were brown and intense. She recognized them. They had been the eyes of the wolf. Even his proud posture was the same.

  “It isn’t possible. I don’t believe you’re the wolf.”

  He knelt down before her. All the while he held her eyes. She was still too afraid to move. She waited for something to happen. After a few seconds his body contorted. It looked painful but was a quick process. His body became disjointed and indistinct. His eyes never left hers once. Suddenly the wolf was back and at her feet. Everything he told her was true.

  “Oh, my God!” She gasped. She felt nauseated and thought she would throw up.

  The wolf went through the same distortion the man had gone through. In less than a minute he was back. “Now you believe me, Arielle?”

  “How can this be?”

  He got up from his knee. There was a grimace of pain on his face. It had hurt him to make the change, but he had done it to convince her of the truth. He limped away from her and back across the room to the bed where he sat down on the edge. He lay back in the pillows, an arm over his head, and rested. There was now some space between them, but she no longer wanted to call the police. She didn’t know what she wanted to do.

  Suddenly she became aware of the fact that they were both naked. “Would you turn around, please?” she asked him.

  He only looked at her. The wolf had looked at her in the same way. She wanted to cover herself, but couldn’t do it with his eyes on her body. At last he relented and for once let her have her way. He turned his head on the pillow. Quickly she brought up the T-shirt and hunted around for the head and armholes. When she found them she shrugged into it and let it fall to her knees. As soon as her head came up through the shirt, she saw his vision was trained back on her. She smoothed down the shirt modestly.

  “What are you?” she asked him.

  “Some people would call me a werewolf. I prefer the term shape-shifter.”

  “You turn into a wolf when the moon is full?”

  He smiled at her. His face was very strong and handsome when he smiled. “No. I shift anytime I want.”

  “It’s been you this whole time and not a wolf?” Some aspects of the wolf’s strange behavior made sense to her now. Its intelligence was like that of a human, the way it comported itself and its actions were all the same as a person, the way it looked at her, and those eyes. The wolf had just been too smart to be real.

  “Yes.”

  She still stood in the corner of the room, too afraid to approach him. “Why didn’t you let me know before now? Why did you stay as a wolf all this time? You could have changed back into yourself?”

  “My leg was broken. It still hurts like hell when I shift because of this damn leg. I couldn’t have shifted any sooner than now. The pain would have been too bad. Our bones change when we shift. A broken bone doesn’t shift very well.”

  “So you’ve been stuck as the wolf this whole time?”

  “Yes.”

  She put her hands over her face. This was too crazy to contemplate. Tentatively she came out from the corner of the room and walked over by the door. If he tried anything funny with her now she would be able to bolt out of the room, or even out of the house.

  She didn’t think he would. He had limped too badly on his leg when he walked across the floor. He might be a strong man, but at the moment, because of his broken leg, he wasn’t very fast.

  She leaned against the doorway. Now it was her turn to stare at him. He amazed her, and she didn’t know what to say to him. She found it hard to take her eyes off him.

  She thought what she would do with this handsome man in her home. Suddenly she wasn’t alone anymore.

  “Come back to bed with me,” he told her.

  She hesitated for only a moment. She had loved the wolf. This man wasn’t a stranger to her. He beckoned to her, and she went to him willingly. He raised the blanket to cover them both up in bed.

  There was the strong sensation of his rough hands roaming her body. He lifted the T-shirt over her head and tossed it aside. She was naked in bed with him. Though the details were not exact because it all took place in the dark, it was like a dream.

  He was behind her. He was incr
edibly strong and demanded many things of her. She wanted to give into him and meet his every demand. His arms enfolded her, and his palms cupped her breasts, his fingers pinched her nipples to erection. His other hand was exploring down her side. His touch was glorious. Their two nude bodies folded against one another under the blanket and felt right.

  She parted her thighs for him as his hand came from behind her buttocks and grabbed her pussy from underneath. She let out a gasp. He was so strong and insistent. She couldn’t deny him and would not have wanted to even if she could.

  His fingers played with her clit, caressed her lips. She held her legs farther apart for him. He dipped two fingers inside her, and she called out into the early morning. She couldn’t see anything in the dark, but she could feel his rock-hard cock as it came to her from behind. It skipped along her upper thigh. His hand withdrew from her pussy, and he took his cock in his hand. He positioned his great weight behind her. His cockhead met her pussy lips, and they kissed it as he slid past and inside her. She was already wet, and he had no trouble sliding himself down her canal. He felt so large. It was a tight fit.

  She began to moan. The man took his time. He started shallow. His thrusts were slow and deliberate. He pulled her hair back from her neck and teased her skin with whispered kisses. Then he was inside her deeper. She felt him fill her body with his cock.

  His palm squeezed her breasts hard. She wanted to hold out longer, didn’t want to let the man get to her so completely, but it was a lost battle. Her body betrayed her. He drove deeper inside of her than anyone had ever gone before. She didn’t know if she could take it. Every time he moved inside, her body was forced to respond. She felt so small in his arms next to him under the covers of her bed, like she was his plaything. He proved to her that she was his to do with as he pleased.

  In response to his thrusts, she gripped his arm hard. She didn’t think she could hurt him. It felt like his magnificent nude body was made of granite. But he had gotten to her. He had found her spot. He forced her to feel every inch of his penetration.

  She buried her head in her pillow and begged for mercy. “Please,” she cried to him, her voice hysterical. “Please!” A strong orgasm washed over her.

  This was all like a dream, and she fell asleep in his arms.

  Chapter Five

  He regarded her over the breakfast table. She was still afraid of him. That was to be expected, but she held up well under the revelations of the morning.

  “What’s your name?” she asked him.

  “Jason,” he told her.

  “Jason.” She seemed to test the name on her tongue.

  She had prepared him a half dozen eggs and a dozen slices of bacon. She had only taken a small portion for herself. It hurt like hell when he had to move around or put weight on his leg, but he limped out to the kitchen because the breakfast she made smelled so good. The sight of her in the T-shirt was also worth the trip down the hall as well. He had to fold the bedspread around his body and was naked underneath. He still had no clothes to wear in this house. The bedspread was large, but it barely covered his body as he sat at the head of the kitchen table.

  He devoured everything she served him. Occasionally he would catch her in a glance across the table at him. She got up, went to the refrigerator, and came back with a carton of orange juice. She poured him a full glass. He wanted to reach out and grab her naked legs beneath the shirt. Her scent under the fabric drew him to her. She still wasn’t wearing underwear. With an effort, he restrained himself because he knew it would only frighten her more.

  She sat back down on her side of the table and pulled her legs demurely together. She seemed shy around him, like she had a million questions but was afraid to ask any of them. He noticed she barely touched her breakfast. She was too busy with wary glances across the table at him. He just ate his breakfast and waited for her to talk.

  “How did you get to be like this, Jason?” she asked him at last.

  “I was born a shifter.”

  She cleared her throat and looked down at the plastic table cover. “So, Jason, you’ve always been able to turn into a wolf?”

  “We get the ability when we hit puberty.”

  “We?” she asked, startled. “You mean there are more like you?”

  “Of course. Everyone in my family and all of my friends are shifters.”

  “Where do you come from?”

  “Not too far from Wolf Creek.” He looked up from his food. When he met her gaze, she lowered her eyes. He smiled at her submission and thought to himself she was perfect. “Why do you think the town got its name?”

  “I never thought about it before.”

  “It’s not a coincidence. Wolf Creek, Wyoming is home to one of the biggest shifter populations in the entire country.”

  “How many are there like you around here?”

  “I don’t know. We don’t take a census. My guess would be a few thousand.”

  Again he looked across the table at her and smiled. Again she looked away. He knew he was playing with her, but after what they had done in bed this morning before the sun came up, he felt she was already his. He could increase the intensity on her at any time, but because of her frightened nature, kept things calm for the moment.

  “Why doesn’t anyone know about you?”

  He laughed. She was full of questions, but he liked the way she overcame her fear with each new question she posed. “We don’t advertise ourselves, but we don’t hide either. Quite a few of the regular people who live in Wolf Creek know about us. They respect our privacy and don’t speak about us much.”

  “That’s probably because no one would believe them if they did. I still can’t believe it even though I’ve seen it with my own eyes.” He was pleased how she responded to him. Her fear had started to evaporate, replaced by curiosity.

  “So where around Wolf Creek do you live, Jason?” she asked him.

  “I own a ranch back in the mountains. There’s a valley up the Tetons known as Shifter Valley. That’s where I live. It’s about an hour west of here.”

  “You’re a rancher?”

  “That’s right. Does that surprise you, Arielle?”

  “I guess it does. I never thought of a werewolf cowboy before.”

  “Shape-shifter,” he corrected her.

  “Sorry.”

  He listened to the sound of a tractor trailer pass by on the county route that ran in front of her house. It made him think of the outside world and that he needed to get back home soon. When he looked across the table and saw the shy smile on her face, he decided he didn’t want to get home too soon.

  “I haven’t thanked you yet for saving my life,” he told her.

  He knew she felt awkward in her answer. “You’re welcome, Jason. I guess now that you’re a man you should go see a regular doctor. I’m only a vet. I was only good for the wolf, not for you.”

  “No, that isn’t true.” He raised his voice and let her know that was the end of the discussion. “The splint you put on my leg fell off when I shifted. I’m going to need you to splint up my leg again.”

  “I can’t do that, Jason,” she protested.

  “You can and you will.” Again he left her no room for discussion. “Don’t worry. I’m not going to shift back to the wolf. When you put the splint on it will stay this time.”

  “That’s too bad. I liked the wolf.”

  He finished off his orange juice and held his sore leg out in front of him on the linoleum of the kitchen floor. It was painful, but pain was something he had learned to deal with over the years. “You sound disappointed,” he told her.

  “I’m just still in shock. Nothing like this has ever happened to me before.”

  He reached for her across the table. Out of reflex she tried to pull away from him, but he caught her hand and made her look at him. “Don’t worry,” he told her. “I’m not ready to leave this house just yet. You’re too good of a vet, and the two of us have had too good of a time together these l
ast few weeks. But at this point in our relationship there’s an advantage to my being a man and not a wolf. This morning in bed proved that.”

  She blushed the crimson color of the plastic table cloth. “About that…” she stammered. “I know we…” She couldn’t finish. “We shouldn’t have. I wasn’t prepared.”

  “Yeah, I had the advantage on you,” he admitted, but wouldn’t let go the grip on her hand.

  “That’s right, you did. You shouldn’t have done that, Jason.”

  “No, I should have become a man and taken you sooner.” She tried to pull back from him. He still would not let her go.

  “What do you really want from me?” she pleaded with him.

  “I want you,” he told her simply.

  “You don’t know me, Jason.”

  “We’ve lived together for the past month. I know you very well. I know you well enough to know that I can have you. I also know that you need me to have you.”

  “But you’re not normal.”

  “Humans and shifters can mate. It happens all the time.”

  “You mean you don’t have…” she stuttered on her emotion. “You’re not in a relationship?”

  He pulled her up from her chair. She ceased resisting him and fell down on the bedspread covering his lap. Her hands went up to his naked chest. “I made up my mind about you the night you hit me with your car. I want you, Arielle, and I’m going to have you. Go ahead and fight me. I like you to fight me. But in the end I’m going to have you.” He kissed down her neck. Her body smelled so fresh in the early morning air. “I’m going to have you again and again and again. You want me to.”

  “I don’t know what I want.” He made her breath come fast with his kisses. He knew he controlled her at that moment. He also recognized that was exactly what she wanted and needed.

  “I know what you need,” he answered her. He cupped her face in his large palms and brushed her lips. “Before we start, I need to warn you about me. This is the only warning you get. This is the only chance you get to say no.”