Danger in a Fur Coat (The Fur Coat Society Book 4) (9 page)

Juno turned to walk back into the inner lab with Wyatt.

“We should check on Lily, and see how she’s doing,” she said.

Wyatt nodded. “Hopefully she’s continuing to improve.”

Juno fell into step with Wyatt as they walked back towards sick bay. She couldn’t express in words how happy she was that Wyatt had stood up for himself, and that he had been granted admission to the clan. True, most people didn’t abide by the old clan rules anymore. Grant himself often ranted about how old-fashioned the rules were. But it was still nice to have the blessing of the alpha. It still meant something. Juno whistled happily and reached for Wyatt’s hand as they walked, but her joy came to a sudden halt as they neared sick bay and she heard a crashing sound. Moments later, Lily came running past them at full speed.

“Lily, wait!” Juno said. “Come back! Where are you going?”

“Get away from me,” Lily screamed. “You’re shifters! I can’t trust you! You can’t trap me in here! Who knows what kind of potion you gave me to get rid of the flu. No one survives that, you know that right? I don’t know what you did, but I don’t want any part in these shenanigans.”

Juno felt her heart dropping. “Lily, we were only trying to help you,” she said.

But Lily didn’t answer. Instead, she kept running, heading for the main lab door. Juno’s first instinct was to chase after her, but as soon as she started to run, she felt Wyatt’s strong arms holding her back.

“Let her go,” he said.

“What?” Juno asked “Are you crazy? We can’t just let her go! She’s our ticket to get to the president. We need her, so that he believes that our cure really works.”

“Juno, listen,” Wyatt said. “We can’t keep her here against her will.

Juno felt her blood boiling. Wyatt was right, even though she didn’t want him to be. She wanted to find a way to force Lily to stay, and to force her to testify to the president. It was for the good of humanity, after all.

“We need her,” Juno said again. “Whose side are you on, anyway?”

Sparks of anger flew from her eyes, and she tried to push Wyatt away. But he grabbed her and held her tight.

“Look at me,” he said. She refused, so he repeated the sentence again.

“Look at me.”

Reluctantly, she turned her eyes slowly towards his. She could tell he was trying to remain calm, and damn it if his eyes weren’t the most gorgeous shade of blue right now. They were glowing from the intensity of his emotions, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t mad at him. Did he not understand how serious this was?

“Juno, listen,” he said, his voice calm but firm. “I’m on your team, you know that. But you can’t push someone to testify to the president when they don’t want to. You can’t force Lily to advocate for us. Sure, she would’ve died without us. But remember we did inject her without her permission. She’s going through a lot. Let her go. Let her process everything.”

“Okay, fine,” Juno said sullenly. “I get what you’re saying. And that would all be true in a perfect world. But this is far from a perfect world. We have to get help from the president, and Lily’s our ticket for doing that. This isn’t about research ethics anymore, Wyatt.  It’s about saving the world.”

“I know,” Wyatt said. “I get that. But someone who’s being forced to testify isn’t going to be convincing. What we need to do is find some new subjects. I’ll get you some more bear flu victims. We’ll treat them, and hopefully at least one of them will be willing to talk to the president for us. We’ll just try again until we find someone who will do it.”

Juno relaxed a bit. Wyatt was right, of course. If they cured enough people, someone was bound to be grateful.

“Okay,” she said, taking a few deep breaths to calm herself. “We’ll find some more people. I just hate so much to let Lily go. She was the first, you know. The first one cured is historical.”

Wyatt smiled. “You’re amazing,” he said.

Juno grinned as he leaned in to kiss her.

“Did you mean it?” she asked, pulling back.

“Mean what?”

“You said you love me,” she said. “You told Grant you love me. Did you mean it?”

Wyatt smiled. “Yes, I meant it. I love you, Juno.”

His words swept over Juno like warm summer rain.

“I love you, too,” she said softly. “I love everything about you. Even your quiet, solitary side.”

Wyatt grinned and leaned in to kiss her again.

“Good,” he said. “Speaking of solitary, now that Lily hightailed it out of here, there’s no one in this whole lab but us.”

Juno grinned. “Why are you pointing that out?” she asked.

“I think you know,” Wyatt said, letting out a low growl. Juno squealed as he lifted her up in his arms and walked into sick bay. He found the first makeshift hospital room to their left, and went inside with Juno. The room had a nice, big bed in the middle of all the scientific equipment. Wyatt walked over and dropped her onto it.

“Time to have some fun,” he said. He crept onto the bed with her and pulled her close as he began kissing her. Juno felt her body warm from his touch. His skin always felt like a glowing ember, and every time he touched her he filled her with his heat.

“Wyatt,” she whispered. “I’m so happy I found you.”

“Shh,” he said. “Don’t talk now. I’m happy I found you, too. But I want to show you, not tell you.”

With that, he pulled off her shirt and threw it aside. Then he pulled off his own shirt. He reached back and unclasped her bra, tossing it away as he moved his mouth down to her breasts. Juno moaned as his warm, strong tongue made contact with her nipples. He flicked it back and forth across her hard nubs, sending fresh waves of heat through her body. She closed her eyes and tried to lose herself in the moment. She pushed away thoughts of the bear flu, how they would talk to the president, or even how the clan back home would react to the news that the clan now had a new member who happened to be a dragon shifter. Juno had plenty to worry about and plenty to think about, but right now all she could concentrate on was the growing passion in her body. The feeling of ecstasy built stronger and stronger with each flick of Wyatt’s tongue. Just when she thought she couldn’t take anymore, he reached to pull her pants off, fighting them down at the same time as her underwear. Naked on the bed in front of him, she was keenly aware of her chest as it rose and fell from her rapid breathing. He was everything to her. This moment was everything to her. The whole world could fall apart, but if she had him it would be okay.

He slid down the bed and positioned his face between her legs. Juno moaned as she realized what he was about to do. Moments later, she felt his tongue slip inside of her, flicking back and forth across her clit, then reaching deep to stroke her inner walls. She was dripping wet with the passion and anticipation that her body felt for him.

“Wyatt,” she said. It was the only word she could get out. He didn’t answer her. Instead, he just continued, intensifying the movements of his tongue. Juno felt the pressure building within her. Her core heated up hotter and hotter with each tiny movement her dragon made, and a tingling sensation started where his tongue was working busily between her legs. The sensation grew and radiated across her entire body. She panted, trying to steady her breathing but unable to. The tingling intensified, stronger and stronger, hotter and hotter, until Juno could hold back no more.

She arched her back and let out a long scream before giving in. Her muscles clenched around Wyatt’s tongue over and over. Waves of pure ecstasy washed over her, leaving her breathless. She moaned with pleasure as she rode each wave all the way to its crescendo and back down again. Wyatt smiled and pulled back to watch her as she slowly came back down to earth.

“You’re incredible,” he said.

Juno chuckled softly. “You’re the incredible one,” she said.

Wyatt smiled. “No, you.”

He kissed her bellybutton, then stood and pulled off his own pants and underwear. His erection sprung free, pointing proudly in Juno’s direction. His dick was long, thick and hard, and Juno shivered in delight at just the sight it. How did she get so lucky?

Wyatt winked at her as he climbed back onto the bed and positioned himself right above her. This time, he lowered himself into her slowly, sliding in centimeter by centimeter, slowly hitting every nerve ending inside of Juno. He filled her completely, then paused for a moment. His hard, throbbing dick touched the deepest parts of her. Juno could feel the heat and pressure building again, and then he started moving, thrusting in and out, in and out. He went slowly at first, but quickly picked up speed until he was thrusting with abandon. The pressure and heat returned, along with the tingling sensation.

“Wyatt!” Juno said, gasping out his name.  She felt him move with renewed vigor, until the pressure within her once again reached the point of explosion. She screamed, calling out his name as she found her release once more. He threw back his head and roared in response. Then, with one final, strong thrust, he found his release as well. He came into her, and the heat and electricity in the moment was overwhelming. Tremor after tremor of passion flooded across Juno’s body. She could feel Wyatt shuddering as well. Finally, they both collapsed next to each other in an exhausted, sweaty, and happy heap. It’d been a long day. A long couple of days, actually. And this moment right here was exactly what Juno needed. Come what may, at least she had her love, her lifemate, by her side. His name was the last thing she whispered before drifting off to sleep.

“Juno! Juno! Wake up!”

Juno blinked her eyes in confusion. “What’s going on?” she asked, looking around and trying to place where she was. Slowly, it came back to her. She was in the abandoned sick bay of Hook Labs—the rooms where new medicines had been tested before the place had been abandoned. The bed was unbelievably soft for a hospital bed, and Juno tried to snuggle into it again.

“Juno, wake up!” the voice came again, and she felt her body being shaken. She forced her eyes all the way open, and looked up to see Wyatt standing above her. At some point, he had gotten up and gotten dressed. He was wearing his signature sweatpants, but no shirt. Juno smiled. She loved the way his sweatpants hung low around his hips, exposing that deliciously sculpted “v” in his abdomen that led downward toward what was truly the most magnificent endowment she’d ever seen.

“Juno, focus,” he said.

Juno forced herself to pay attention to what Wyatt was saying. His face was as handsome as ever, and right now he was so excited he was practically glowing.

“Lily came back,” he said.

“She came back?” Juno asked, sitting up slowly and trying to shake off the last traces of sleep.

“Yes, she came back. She wants to help us!”

Juno was instantly alert. “Why didn’t you say so?” she said. She jumped out of the bed at lightning speed, scrambling around to find her clothes and throw them on. Wyatt burst out laughing.

“You look ridiculous,” he said. “Slow down. Yes, she came back, and I’ve been trying to say so, but you haven’t been listening, sleepyhead. She came back a few minutes ago, and luckily I was wandering around in the outer lab because I woke up and couldn’t sleep anymore. I was starting to make plans to go out and get more bear flu victims for us to treat when there was a knock at the door. I opened it and there she was. She wants to talk to you.”

“On my way,” Juno said. She jumped up and ran toward the door at lightning speed. Wyatt followed behind her, keeping pace with her frantic footsteps as she scurried towards the outer lab. When she got there, she found Lily sitting timidly in one of the big desk chairs with her back to them. Juno told herself to act cool and get it together, then she took a deep breath and walked into the room.

“Lily?” she asked. “I heard you wanted to talk to me?”

Lily turned around, and that’s when Juno saw tears glistening in her eyes.

“Yeah,” Lily said. “I wanted to tell you I’m really sorry for the way I acted. You saved my life and I ran out in a fit of anger. That’s pretty embarrassing behavior.”

Juno smiled kindly and sat down across from Lily. Wyatt sat down, too, and he reached over and squeezed Juno’s hand. He believed in her and that meant the world to her. Now if only she could make Lily believe in her, too.

“You don’t have to apologize, Lily,” Juno said. “I know you’ve got a lot to process. You’ve been through a lot. But the bear flu epidemic is killing off entire cities and threatening to kill off the entire world. That’s why I worked on the cure. I’m sorry we injected you without your knowledge, but we didn’t have much of a choice. We needed to prove that the medicine worked, and now we did.”

Lily smiled. “It’s okay. I realized that if it weren’t for the medicine I’d be dead right now, so I’m really grateful. And I’m really sorry I ran off. It’s just that I’m not used to shifters. I was told that you were all mean and vicious, but you guys seem pretty nice and down to earth.”

Juno smiled sadly. “Yeah, the media painted a pretty bad picture of us. But most of us are good people, just like most humans are. We just want to be helpful, contributing members of society, which is why it was important to me to come up with the cure. If things keep going the way they are, humans will be wiped out. But we found the cure. We can stop the bear flu, and that’s so exciting. The only problem is that we have to convince the outside world that we actually did make a cure.”

“How are you going to do that?” Lily asked.

Juno took a deep breath. “Well, we’re hoping that’s where you come in. We want to talk to the president, but we need a reason for him to listen to us. If we could show him the testimony of someone who was cured of bear flu by our medicine, that would be pretty compelling. We’re shifters, so we have to have some outside street cred. Sad, but true. Would you be willing to do that for us, Lily? Would you be willing to talk to the president?”

Lily’s eyes widened. “Yeah, I would. I’m not sure how good I am at speaking and presenting, but I’m happy to tell my story. Especially if it helps get this medicine to more people.”

Juno smiled. “You don’t have to be a professional presenter. Just be yourself and tell your story. My other friends are on their way right now to get people to help us. As soon as they get back, probably within the next day or so, we can go to Washington. As long as you’re game?”

“I’m game,” Lily said with a smile. “I can’t believe there’s a cure for this, and I can’t believe I almost walked out on the opportunity to help with it.”

Juno smiled. “We all misjudge things now and then. I’ve made some pretty crazy decisions myself. But the important thing is to always do your best to help others, and to leave the world a better place. And that, my dear, is something you’re going to do in a big way.”

“Come on,” Lily said. “I’m just the messenger. You came up with the cure.”

“I had a lot of help,” Juno said. “Great accomplishments are usually the result of an entire dedicated team, and this was no different. Way back when I first started college, I realized that the more people I had helping me, the further I would go. And the more people I helped, the more people will be willing to help me. So here I am, with an opportunity to help the entire world. I’m gonna take that opportunity, and I hope you’ll join me.”

Lily smiled. “Sure thing. What do you need from me?”

“Just stick around,” Wyatt said. “We’ve got food, water, and anything else you need. In a few days, the rest of the gang will be back and we’ll be going to Washington.”

“Okay,” Lily said, nodding. “I’ll do that. I promise I won’t run off again. If it’s okay with you, though, would it be all right if I took a nap somewhere? I didn’t realize how exhausted I still was until I wandered the streets aimlessly for several hours.”

“Of course,” Juno said. “There are plenty of beds in sick bay.”

Juno ignored the smirk on Wyatt’s face at the mention of beds in sick bay. She slapped his knee under the table, but thankfully Lily didn’t seem to notice his antics. Juno helped Lily find a bed and gave her a big hug.

“Make yourself at home,” Juno said. “And let me know if you need anything. I’ll be around the lab.

“Thanks,” Lily said, then turned to look quizzically at Juno. “Do you really think this will work?”

Juno smiled. “I think so. And with your help pulling it off, there’s hope for humanity yet.”

Lily grinned from ear to ear. “Alright,” she said. “I trust you. You saved my life, after all.”

Juno gave her one more hug. “It was nothing,” she said. “Now get some rest. We’ve got some big days ahead of us.”

Lily nodded and climbed into bed, while Juno walked back out toward the outer lab with Wyatt. When they got there, he pulled her into his arms.

“This has been a whirlwind couple of days,” he said. “I never would have imagined when I found a girl struggling against an attacker in the lobby of this building a few days ago that she would turn out to be my lifemate. And not only that, but she would also turn out to be the one who saved humanity.”

Juno blushed. “It’s true what I told Lily, though,” Juno said. “It’s been a joint effort with a lot of people. You, Grant, Jack my other clan members…all of us working together. And together we can save the world.”

Juno smiled happily as she said the words, realizing that for perhaps the first time since the bear flu hit, she actually believed there was hope.

“Together,” whispered Wyatt, echoing Juno. “I’m pretty sure there’s no more beautiful word, especially when it’s applied to me and you. Together forever, my love, my lifemate, my bear.”

“Together forever, my love, my dragon,” Juno replied, then closed her eyes as Wyatt leaned in to kiss her.

Everything was going to be all right.