Hunting Her (The Keeping Her #6) (10 page)

She
never knew it, but she gained even more time.  It was some minutes after Logan
had his eyeballs seared by the sight of his naked mate before he could get
himself to remember what he was about, and actually move his ass to get the
truck unloaded and go after her.  But when he did, he did it with a newfound
determination that would not help her.  Not at all.

Logan
sniffed the air once again and wondered at his mate’s ability to hide the way
she did.  Such a dainty creature, his mate in her coyote form, with her dark
fur of every shade of brown he could think of, with just the one spot of white
down her left flank.  In wolf form he was a black wolf, and outweighed her by a
good two hundred pounds of solid muscle.  Even with the speed he saw her
exhibit when she shifted and ran, he should have found her by now.  But
somehow, she had masked both her tracks and scent.  A neat trick.  He knew she
could do it in human form, but he had never expected the same ability in coyote.

How
the hell did she manage that?

It felt
like he had been chasing his tail for hours now, and still no sign of his
mate.   If he did not know for a fact she had been through this way he would
think she had ducked him yet again, but his told him this was the way she came,
and his gut had never let him down before, so he kept stalking silently through
the underbrush, wolf ears perked for any sound that should not be there.  It
had already taken him longer than he expected to hunt up his mate, but damned
if he was going to sleep anywhere but at her side.  He'd had enough of that to
last a lifetime.

He
stopped, tilting his head to get a better idea of what he had heard, if he had
heard anything, and got...nothing.  Damn she was good.  But he knew she was
close.  Whether he could smell her, hear her, or see her, he knew she was there. 
Time to go to extremes.  He stepped out of the brush and shifted to human.  If
he was wrong all it would cost him was his pride.  If he was right, he hoped
like fuck she fell for it.

"I'm
looking forward to what you can do with a steak."  His words were mild
enough, and said in a normal tone of voice, so she would not guess he was
reaching.  "And darlin' I sleep on the right side of the bed.  If you tell
me that's your side as well, I will be a happy man."

He
waited and for a moment he thought she was going to ignore his words, or that
he had been mistaken, but finally she laughed.  "Cocky bastard.  How did
you follow me when I know I left no trail?"

He
looked up into the foliage and found his mate in her human form peering down at
him through the leaves.  He did his best not to show his surprise.  He honestly
had not expected her to climb trees, coyotes didn't.  He just looked up and
smiled, giving none of his thoughts away.  All he could see of her was her face
through the greenery but he couldn’t escape the fact that they were both in
their human forms and naked.  In a secluded glade.  Alone. 

"That
would be telling."  And he had no intention of ever telling his mate how
close she had been to winning.  He had a feeling it would not be the last time
he needed to work that particular deception. 
Damn she’s good.

Damn
he’s good.
  Xena
thought looking down at her mate, who had successfully hunted her.  A first for
her.  She would have to do way better next time.  Since she was naked, and was
not prepared for a naked face to face with her hot mate without jumping him,
she dropped out of the tree and shifted mid fall, landing on four paws.  She gave
herself a brisk shake as Logan admired her coyote form.

"You didn't need to change on my account darlin'"
he said with a knowing smirk.  "I mean unless you didn't trust yourself
naked around me.”

She chuffed her disgust at him, but did not take the bait. 
Lifting her dainty coyote head and sniffing him, she eyed the long broad hard
erection that made his own control doubtful.

She
chuffed again, and then turned to prance off while he laughed and then shifted
to run with her.  Now this she liked.  Her coyote had no problem keeping pace
with the bigger wolf while they ran together for the first time.  Unlike when
she ran this land with stealth in mind, this time it was a free run where she
could concentrate on nothing but the feel of the wind and the pumping of her
legs and lungs.

She
could feel Logan's heat as he stuck close to her, and feel his own enjoyment of
the run.  Though enjoyment was too tame a word for it.  He reveled in it and
she knew how he felt.  Running with Logan McCord felt right.  Like she really
had come home. At the thought, Xena felt a strange melting inside her. 

Panic hit
her, like being caught in a trap she hadn't seen in time.  She stumbled just a
bit, and then growled in her own head. 
It's just mate chemistry,
she
argued with herself, and then started to really run.

The
problem was, she wasn't sure she cared anymore what brought them together.  For
the first time in as long as she could remember, she didn't want to be anywhere
else.  Which meant she absolutely needed to be away from that warm heat at her
back for a few minutes; needed to be far from those too perceptive wolf senses.

Logan
kept pace with Xena, even when the pretty coyote suddenly seemed to falter and
then picked up the pace, rushing over rocks and bouncing off the sides’ of
trees to propel herself further ahead.  He suddenly understood how she had
evaded him for so long.  She was seriously fast.  So fast she was leaving him
behind. 

Shit. 
Lucas got the lead
out.

She beat
him back to the house, easily.  For such a small little creature she could sure
move.  She was already shifted and reaching for her clothes when he came to a
screeching stop beside her.  Her scent was locked down tight, and he could not
see her eyes through the waterfall of dark hair.

"I
want a shower before I cook."  Her voice was not cold exactly but
definitely restrained.  "Where's my room?"  She was not looking at
him, and she had a death grip on her clothes that spoke volumes.

"You
mean our room?" Logan asked mildly enough once he shifted.  He didn’t
bother to dress in his discarded clothes. The thought of trying to pull coarse
jeans over his raging erection was an unpleasant one, and she was carefully not
looking at him anyway.

He
watched her jaw clench and wondered if she was a sore loser, which would be
disappointing.  He liked to play, and he loved to win.  He would hate it if she
pouted every time he did.  He continued to study her but she said nothing, and
she would not look at him.  Xena always looked him in the eye. 

"Upstairs,
and to the right.  Only room with a bed.  The water takes a bit to heat up and
doesn't last long, but it still works."

She
didn't say anything just turned and started up the stairs, it was then he
scented her, and the scent of her heat had him taking the stairs two at a time
to grab her arm and turn her to face him.  He needed to see her eyes.  Her back
hit the wall with a solid thump and her eyes shot to his.  He growled.  Gold
coyote eyes stared back at him from her human face, eyes that burned with
mating heat.

"Xena,"
he growled her name and pressed closer, her soft heat was like a brand along
his skin.

She
hissed at the feel of him, as if, she too burned from it.  He knew his eyes had
flashed to wolf gold and burned with a desire that rose to match the same in
hers.

"It's
just chemistry," she gritted out between clenched teeth.  The words were
almost a dare but her eyes told the true story.  "
I decide
."

"Then
decide," he growled, tipping his head down and running his nose over the
delectable scent at her neck.  She smelled like the land, the wind, and hot sex
in his bed.  He nipped her collarbone, a small punishment and a promise, his
teeth sharper, his wolf too close to the surface.  She could not look like
that, smell like that, and turn away.  She
fucking
could not. 
"Choose now, Xena.  Choose me."

He felt
her hands at the back of his head and then a sharp pain as she pulled his head
back by his hair and growled in his face.  He was not the only one with his
animal close; her coyote was slipping that tight leash of hers. 

"When
I'm ready
," she practically bit the words out. "Now back
the
fuck
off.”

Logan
wasn't sure he could do it.  The fact that he could see she felt what he did,
and she could walk away, was a source of more than a little frustration.  He
snarled in her face, but he backed the small necessary space so that she was no
longer crowded against the wall.  But he could not, would not, walk away from
her.  She was going to have to do that.

After
what seemed like an eternity of clashing eyes, she turned to do just that, and
Logan considered it a minor miracle that he did not put his fist through the
wall.  She was three steps up when she hissed out a curse and turned.  Xena
threw herself down the fucking stairs and was wrapped around him, arms and
legs, her lips on his before he could brace enough to catch her.  The banister
caught both of them.  Luckily it held because they were too busy to stop the resulting
plummet to the ground if it gave out.

Logan
wrapped his arms around her and sucked on the tongue she had thrust in his
mouth.  Happy to have it, he slanted his head to take more, and trailed one
hand down to cup her ass.  He reveled in the feel of her, open and pressed
tight against him.  Her legs wrapped tight at his hips.  Her arms like a vice
at his shoulders.  He loved all of it, but if she was playing a game he would
be seriously displeased.  He thrust his other hand in her hair and pulled her
head back with a savage yank, making her gasp, and growl at him.

He
looked her over with narrowed eyes, wanting nothing more than what she was
offering, but not about to be accused of something later.

She
ground her teeth so hard he could see her jaw work, but she understood what he
wanted because she finally huffed out a breath and said.  "I'm
ready."

He
blinked and then narrowed his eyes further when she shifted against him
blatantly.  He bared his teeth at her.  "You weren't ready ten seconds
ago," he growled.

She
nipped his bottom lip hard enough to draw blood, then she ran her tongue across
it, tasting him.  "You really want to have a talk about feelings? 
Now?"

No he
fucking did not, but he needed this clear.  "If I take you up those
stairs, I will take you in every way a man can take a woman, and I will claim
you as mine."  This time he was the one who bit.  Tasting the blood on her
lip and reveling in her gasp.  "There will be no more running from me
Xena.  No more hands up to hold me back.  I won't let you go."

She
suddenly looked less sure, more vulnerable.  A look he did not expect to see on
his mate’s face.  She was always so fierce.  She let go of his hair and ran her
hand down his neck and up to his chin, over his face, up to his eyes, as if she
was studying him with both hands and eyes.  He watched her press her lips
together, her eyes coming close and holding his captive, as her fingers dug in
just a bit at his temple and held him still.  "Maybe you'll be the one to
change your mind," she said quietly.  Then that fierceness came slashing
back and determination chased it.  Her eyes glinted hard and bright before she
lunged down with sharper than human teeth and bit him, digging in savagely
where his neck met his shoulder.  He grunted in more surprise than pain at the
sharp sting of it, and felt the mating mark burn deep. 

"Mine,"
she said fiercely, pulling back and meeting his eyes boldly, still licking his
blood off her lips.  "Anything else you want to discuss cowboy?"

Logan felt
his lips curl up in a smile that he knew was more savage promise than humor,
but the humor was there too.  "Can't think of a fuckin' thing."  He
growled his answer through a throat gone raspy and took the stairs at a blur. 
He was more than tempted to pound her ass against the stairs, but they were
old, and he couldn't be sure it wouldn't land them on the first floor in a
cloud of dust if he attempted it.  He took her to his bed.

He had
to force her down to the mattress while she snarled and tried to hold on to
him, but he did it, receiving another bite for his trouble, but he finally had
her right where he wanted her.

Holding
her hands above her head, so she couldn't slash him like she so obviously
wanted to, he smiled his wicked grin down at her, and took in everything he
could see of his naked mate. 
Fucking phenomenal. 
Her skin was the same
creamy cafe au lait everywhere, her legs long and perfectly formed, and set to
kick him if he gave her the slightest opening.

"What
are you waiting for Wolf?" she growled, arching her hips and writhing
distractedly beneath him.  The smell of her desire, the flush of her dark skin,
the way she reached for him with every inch of her body had him holding on to
his control by a thread.   But he needed to see her under him.  Just like
this.  He needed it.

Her
breasts were small but perfectly shaped, her hips curvy, and her ass, what he had
felt of it, was lush.  And he was going to bite every inch of that smooth,
creamy skin.  Later.  Right now he needed
fucking in there.

Before
she could snarl at him again, he shifted her hips higher around him, opening
her up completely to his mercy.  He gave both of them not another moment of
torment, but found her wet heat, and pushed his cock inside in one hard
claiming thrust.  Xena arched her back and hissed.  Her eyes closed, she
struggled, not to get away, but to take him farther, hold him closer.