Erotica- Forever His/ Spanking (9 page)

“I don’t love him.” Had she denied it too quickly? She let Seth do things to her no other man ever had. She enjoyed being with him, even arguing with him. She didn’t want to leave here. “I can’t love him.”

“Maybe not, but you do. I feel it. My gremlin sense is all whacky that way sometimes, like now.” He held her gaze, sadness in his eyes. “Talk about problems to overcome. Sweetie, you have a ton of them. Your big man isn’t just a rough, tough rancher who likes his life here in the middle of nowhere. Who likes his privacy to the extreme, I might add. I’ve done a bit of research on your lover. You’re one of my oldest friends, after all.”

Teri tensed, waiting for her long-time friend to tell her something she had clearly not seen about Seth. Finally she snapped, “Just spit it out!”

He hesitated, looking like he really didn’t want to answer. Then he said grimly, “Seth Stevenson is a werewolf.”

She gaped at him. “Seriously?” She didn’t believe him for a second. She wouldn’t have missed something like that. Right?

He nodded. “Seriously. I’ve known it from the moment you came home with him. I watch after you. But I never felt any threat from him. Fact is, everyone around here thinks a lot of him.”

She knew that already. “Yes, but…”

“No ‘buts’ about it. You’re living with one strong Alpha male wolf shifter. Your spidy senses must be off for some reason because you should have known it, too.”

She sat stunned, not worried, in no way frightened. She’d encountered other shape shifting wolves over the years and had no problem with them. Actually, she respected them. They lived in packs, watched after each other, didn’t bother anyone else unless necessary. Some of the other special beings she’d met weren’t as loyal to each other. Generally she tried to steer clear of any people other than full-on mortals. It made her life less of a problem, except for having to move on every five to ten years because she didn’t age. Seth wouldn’t have that tricky problem. Wolves aged, but they could live a very long time. How old was he anyway?

“Why isn’t he with his pack?” She’d seen the loneliness that haunted him sometimes in his eyes. Had something driven him away from them? Like she’d been driven from her family? Was that why he stayed so much to himself? To keep the others from knowing what he really was?

“I don’t know. That’s something you’ll have to ask him.” Tyrone moved away, seeming restless. “I’ve got to go.” He tapped his bald head. “Someone else is trying to get my attention. I just wanted to tell you what I’ve heard about Mama Queen.”

From time to time she had telepathically communicated with him, too, so she understood. Her skills at using such abilities were rusty. Obviously her skills at sensing other special beings were rusty as well, which could be dangerous. She should have picked up on Seth’s uniqueness. Maybe she just hadn’t wanted to. But, now that she thought about it, every sign of an Alpha wolf-shifting male was there. Dominant. Determined. Leader. Protective. Defensive. No wonder he’d been so “hot” in bed. She’d sensed a primal side to him. Okay, at least she’d sensed something. Her skills weren’t completely lost.

“Are you going to be okay?”

She gave her friend a weak smile. “You’ve thrown me a double whammy, but I’ll figure it out.”

“Your Wolf Boy has feelings for you. He’s probably confused by them, since you’re not a wolf female.” He glanced toward the window. “I imagine that’s why he took off today. Needs time to think about the matter.”

She thought about how panicked Seth had looked when he’d first pulled away from her after they’d made love. How desperate he’d been to get away from her. Then how passionately he’d kissed her. Wildness had sparked in his eyes, an animal’s wildness. How could she have been so blind all of this time?

“Maybe I should leave.” But she didn’t want to, even if it would make both of their lives easier.

“He’d come after you.”

Would he? Her heart raced. Would she want him to? “I told him I’d stay until he came back.” Her excuse for not leaving and she was latching onto it.

“Give him a chance, honey.” Tyrone started fading, but added sternly, “Watch your back. Watch for your mother’s trackers.”

As Tyrone disappeared she lay back. She hadn’t showered and she smelled Seth’s scent. A wolf’s scent. Her body ached for him, for his touch. Moisture beaded between her legs. Her nipples hardened. She wanted him, desperately.

Pulling in a ragged breath, she tried to calm her body. Was he thinking about her? Did he ache for her, too?

She wished he would come back so they could discuss the situation. She had so many questions, wanted to know his past and how he had ended up here. Now she understood more about why he kept refusing to go on book tours. He couldn’t trust himself in certain situations, something she’d learned from being around other wolf-shifters. Stress pushed them to the edge.

She smiled. She had pushed him to the edge…rather their lovemaking had. He’d fought changing in front of her. Probably feared hurting her, too. She could have prevented that easily enough, but he wouldn’t know that. While she’d been naïve about what he really was, she should have sensed his shifter abilities. But he would never guess that she was a faery. Faeries rarely had dealings with any other beings. She being the exception. But then she was out in the real world far more than any faeries she knew. Still, she was fairly certain Seth would not have encountered one before. Would he even believe her…if she admitted it? Should she tell him? Such an admission could cause even more problems.

Her head hurt from all the troubles that now faced her. Seth and her possible feelings for him and what could possibly be done about them. His reaction when she confronted him about his secret, because they had to deal with it. His reaction should she decide to admit her secret. Oh, and let’s not forget the other huge issue of her mother and the faeries looking for her.

She squeezed her eyes shut. Maybe she should just end her life.

No! She had to stop thinking that way.

Maybe she should leave before Seth came back. She could keep on hiding from her family. She could keep them from having anything to do with Seth. He didn’t deserve to get caught up in the mess that was her life. But how could she walk away from him?

Chapter Six

For two days Seth had waged a war with himself in the small cabin. He ached for Teri, for everything about her. The way she struggled with cooking, grumbling under her breath when something didn’t turn out like it should have. At first, he’d been irritated with her obvious lack of cooking skills. Yet he’d eaten whatever she’d made and he certainly hadn’t lost any weight. The way she’d washed his blue jeans with his white briefs, turning them a bluish-gray. She’d huffed in annoyance when he’d questioned her about them, and then thrust that chin of hers up and all but dared him to fire her because of the problem. He’d honestly thought about it—for all of two seconds. In truth, he’d been kind of amused at her lack of any sort of typical housekeeping abilities for cooking or cleaning or doing the laundry. And she hated sticking to any kind of strict schedule, another problem they had.

He drew in a breath and thought about how she’d narrowed her eyes in disgust at him and stomped off in a snit after the laundry incident. He’d almost gone after her to warm her pretty little bottom for attitude. But he’d simply smiled instead. Smiled. It had been so long since he’d felt anything close to happiness, or been tempted to smile about anything. It had taken a tiny bit of a woman with car problems and a huge box of condoms—whatever had happened to those?—to shake his world up. She had shaken it up in a “good” way as opposed to his horrendous disaster of a marriage to Sarah.

What was he going to do about Teri Pennington? For all of the talking—okay, mainly she’d talked—they had done while watching movies some nights, he still knew next to nothing about her. Except that she’d been a photographer and she was tired of that. He had a feeling she had some history that she didn’t want to share with anyone. Secrets. But then he did, too. At least they had that in common, which wasn’t really a good thing.  He’d been here two days and still didn’t have a clue about what to do with her.

Okay, he’d spent a great deal of time thinking about having the pretty blond naked and at his mercy. He wanted to mate with her in every position possible…and then do it all over again. But he couldn’t. When he’d taken her from behind after giving her a belting, he’d barely stayed sane. Not that she’d complained. Still, he couldn’t chance hurting her. Even now his dick was so damn hard, shoving at the front of his jeans.

He reached down and gently massaged it with the hope of calming down his erection. Instead his mind envisioned Teri on her knees in front of him, her sweet mouth administering to his need.

Damn! All he wanted to do was fuck her blind. Damn, damn, damn!

Angry with himself for wanting a woman he shouldn’t—couldn’t—have…angry with her for enticing him, he released his erection and a growl of frustration. His wolf wanted out, desperately.

He fought the change and sucked in a breath of the cool morning air from where he stood in the open doorway. Think of something else. Forget Teri. Forget mating.

Again a growl curled up from deep inside him and burst out, echoing across the acres and acres of rolling hills down to the small patch of trees by a pond that stretched out before him. Somehow it seemed to settle him, a little bit.

Breathing easier, he focused on why he was here at this part of the ranch. Privacy. He never allowed cattle to be brought to this part for grazing, which meant his men never had reason to ride here. The only ranch hand who had been to this area from time to time was Walker. His friend, a man every bit as troubled by his life as Seth felt. Walker, too, needed somewhere to go occasionally to work through the frustrations he dealt with. Seth couldn’t imagine surviving nearly five years in prison for a crime he hadn’t committed. Acquitted or not, Walker was still judged as an ex-con.

He ran a hand through his hair, thinking he needed a haircut. Now that he thought about it, the Double S was the home of a whole bunch of society’s misfits. His ex-con foreman. His odd group of ranch hands included five young men who had come to him one at a time from a troubled youth camp. They’d settled in well and were extremely loyal to him now. Then there were the two brothers who had ridden in one day looking for a chance, desperate for jobs. They’d been alcoholics and spent some time in jail for DUIs. They hadn’t had a drink as far as Seth knew since coming here almost two years ago. Rounding out his crew were two former rodeo cowboys, both slightly disabled but damn hard workers. And, of course, his motley crew included him…a shape-shifting wolf who couldn’t let anyone know his dark secret.

He frowned and the worry he carried with him at all times surfaced once more. If something happened to him for whatever reason, what would become of this group of men? This had become their home, their safe haven against a world who judged them unfairly. He’d been thinking for a while now about making Walker a partner in the ranch so he could spend more time writing, something he really enjoyed. He would build a new house here to replace this old line shack. Maybe he should make each of the other men partners as well, in much smaller portions.

It was all too much to think about right now. His body was tense. He needed distance from all of his problems, needed to run off some of his frustration. Maybe if he let himself change, let the wolf run freely around this part of the ranch for a while, he could settle enough to deal with it all. He’d fought changing, as he always did. It was a natural instinct, but he’d learned to carefully guard his secret since he’d settled here. He liked it here, liked the townspeople, and liked his men. Finally, he’d been able to let go of Catherine’s death, the death of their baby, and the loss of his ties to his pack. With the exception of his screw-up with Sarah, his life was all right.

All right? Just all right. Was he willing to settle for that for the rest of his years? Did he want more? Did he want Teri in his life for more than just as his housekeeper?

He shuddered with the growing need to become the other part of him, the wilder part. He shouldn’t do this. Usually he only allowed his change to overtake him at night, and then he made sure he stayed well away from anyone the next day if he hadn’t changed back. Uneasiness fluttered through him. Yet as he took another look around the area, he didn’t see anyone, heard no sounds of horses or trucks headed this way. Still he hesitated.

He listened again; let all of his heightened senses do their thing. Nothing. No sounds other than some birds chirping to each other as a small flock flew overhead toward the pond. No strange scents drifting on the breeze.

Even though a strange uneasiness remained, he stepped back into the shack and began removing his clothes. When he stood naked in the middle of the cabin, he felt free, at last. He could give in to his nature and let the beast out for a short while. Just long enough to tame the wildness that had built inside him. Maybe once he’d had a good run and cleared out that tension he could finally go home. Finally face Teri.

His bones began shifting, rearranging and he grimaced with the familiar pain of it. Gray fur sprouted from his hands, his feet, and his body. Within minutes he shed the human side of him and fully became the wolf. He shot out the door and raced across the field.

* * *

Silly as it was Teri had slept in Seth’s bed for the last two nights. Actually she hadn’t slept there; she’d lain there unable to fall asleep. She worried about him, fought the urge to go find him and somehow help him through whatever was troubling him. Okay, she was pretty sure it was his secret that bothered him, but it didn’t bother her. She wanted to tell him that. Yet she knew that he had to be the one to share his secret with her. What about your secret? Are you going to share it with him?

She heaved a sigh and stared up at the ceiling fan as the morning sun shone in through the open window. Would he come home today? Would they finally be able to talk, really talk?  At least about his concerns. She’d have to wait and decide about sharing her concerns, see how he reacted to her acceptance of his uniqueness.