Reclaiming the Wolf (Cascade Shifters Book 1) (13 page)

Read Reclaiming the Wolf (Cascade Shifters Book 1) Online

Authors: Jessie Donovan

Tags: #FICTION / ROMANCE / PARANORMAL

BOOK: Reclaiming the Wolf (Cascade Shifters Book 1)
11.34Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub

Of course, he might soon get fed up with her and leave all over again. It wasn’t like she had a claim on him.

Her wolf growled at the thought of losing him, but Kaya pushed her inner animal back. She couldn’t force Sy to stay with her. Hell, probably few people could force Sy to do anything. But once all of this damn looking and searching for a cure was done, she could see what happened.

Then Sy’s warm, rough hands caressed her back and she focused back on him as he said, “Why the frown, Kaya? Is it really that bad?”

“I’m not frowning.”

“You are.”

Shit.
She’d let down her guard without realizing it.

Rather than think about what that meant, she picked up her pace and leaned close to his lips. “Am I frowning now?”

He groaned as she twirled her hips in a circle. He finally hissed, “I don’t fucking care. Just give me more of that.”

She complied, loving the way his cock reached deep inside her pussy. For good measure, she dug her claws into Sy’s chest. As if knowing what she needed, he gripped her ass hard and started moving her hips faster.

As the sound of their flesh meeting filled the room, she cried out when his cock finally hit her g-spot. “Yes, right there.”

Growling, Sy gripped her ass even harder, to the point his nails were digging into her cheeks.

Fuck, she’d missed sex like this.

Without having to ask, one of his hands released her ass and slipped between their bodies to rub her clit. At his rough, quick brushes of his fingers, Kaya whispered, “Sylas.”

At his heated gaze and smug smile, Kaya’s heart skipped a beat. She was in trouble.

He rubbed even faster and it took everything she had to keep her eyes open; she wanted to see Sy’s face when he came.

The pressure started to build and with a few more firm strokes of her clit, pleasure shot through her body.

Her cougar continued to move her up and down his cock until he tensed and cried out. Maybe she was imagining things, but she swore she could feel each jet of his hot, wet semen inside her.

As he came down from his orgasm, Sy moved his hands to caress her sides, then her neck, until they finally rest on her cheeks. He brought her head down for a gentle, lingering kiss before he pressed her head to his shoulder.

Afraid words would break the spell, Kaya simply laid against his chest, breathing in the scent of sex, male, and cougar. Right here, right now, she wasn’t a leader responsible for hundreds of people; she was just a woman lying against the chest of a man she’d once loved.

As Sy’s hand started to caress her back, she nuzzled deeper against him, loving the combined feel of his cock inside her and his chest pressed against hers. While her wolf had been anxious to come out for a run, it was content to simply lie against the cougar-shifter for a little while. He made the human half of her feel warm and protected, and the wolf approved.

Sy’s hand stopped caressing her, but only to wrap his arms around her and hug her tight. He kissed the top of her head and said, “Do you want to see your present now?”

She wanted to scream, “No!” and simply lie against his chest all night. Maybe even sleep in his arms, but it was too soon for her to make any claim on him. While his body obviously wanted her, she wasn’t quite sure about his heart.

Kaya brushed her hand through the hair on his chest and forced herself to not act as if the sex had been anything more mutual orgasms. Keeping her voice light, she said, “As long as it’s not a dog muzzle, then I suppose so.”

She loved hearing the rumble inside his chest as he laughed. “No, as much as it’d be handy to have, it’s not a muzzle.” He lightly tapped her ass. “But in order for me to get it, you need to get up. Strong as I am, I don’t think I can manage to keep us joined as I stand up, walk across the room, and search through my bag.”

Smiling, she pushed up until she could meet his eyes. “What, you’re not invincible anymore? I seem to remember a teenage boy telling me he could do anything as long as he got a little creative.”

Sy grinned and the sight warmed her heart. “That teenage boy was a dumbass. It took him a long time to realize it.”

She laughed. “Good to see the man version of him can admit it.”

She moved to stand up but Sy kept his arms wrapped around her. “How about a kiss as a reward?”

“For telling me what I already knew?”

“Is that a no? Then in that case...”

He tickled her sides and Kaya couldn’t stop laughing. “Stop it...Sylas...”

He stopped and took her lips in a rough, possessive kiss. When he pulled away, he lightly slapped her ass again and released his hold on her. “Stand up before I change my mind and keep you in my lap all night long.”

She almost said that was what she wanted too, but she’d been hurt once before by this male and she didn’t want it to happen again. Until she was sure of Sy’s intentions and ability to withstand the scrutiny of a cross-species pairing, she would keep her deepest growing desire—for Sylas to be her mate, to help with her loneliness, and to always stand by her side—to herself.

She stood up and placed her hands on her hips. “Okay, so where’s my present?”

 

~~~

 

Missing Kaya’s weight and heat on his lap, Sy wanted nothing more than to go over and haul her back, but he wasn’t about to be selfish. As a teenager, he had always taken what he wanted and never really considered Kaya’s needs until she had mentioned them. If he was to ever show he was worthy of being her mate, then he needed to show her how he’d really changed.

He’d made a good start with supporting her earlier by doing her errands, but it wasn’t enough. He needed her to be able to trust him with her heart. One way to do that was to please her wolf and get it on his side.

Ignoring his cock’s desire to toss Kaya down and fuck her again, he moved across the room and took out a small paper bag from his satchel. He held it out. “Here.”

She walked over and took the bag. Looking inside, she frowned. “Is this a dog collar?”

“Yes, but look under the collar.”

She darted a “look” at him before reaching into the bag and pulling out the cell phone placed inside a belt clip.

Sy said, “If we set the phone to vibrate, attached the heavy-duty clip to the collar, and then put the collar around your neck in wolf form, you’ll always know when someone’s trying to get a hold of you. Then it’s just a matter of shifting, removing the collar, and making the call. I already took the liberty of informing Erika, Kian, and some of the others about the new number to call if you don’t answer your usual cell number.”

She stared at the collar and phone in her hands, and he started to wonder if he’d done something wrong. “Kaya? You don’t have to wear it if you don’t want to. It was just a spur of the moment idea so I could run with you, but I can stay human and handle the calls while you run, if you’d rather do that.”

Kaya rushed over to him and wrapped her arms around his waist. “No, no, it’s thoughtful of you, Sy. It’s so simple, but it never would’ve crossed my mind to do something like this.”

He hugged her tight against his body, loving the way she fit against him. “Oh, I think I know how you can thank me later.”

She looked up. “Sylas.”

He grinned and she smiled back at him. He was tempted to tease her some more, but he glanced at the clock on the far wall and noticed the time. “If you want to go for a run, Kaya, we need to leave. Go clean-up and be ready in five minutes.”

She gave him a squeeze. “Yes, sir.”

She released her hold and headed for the bedroom. He watched her tight, round ass until it disappeared behind the bathroom door.

Now that Kaya had accepted his gift, his cougar was anxious to come out to play too. His cat remembered what it’d been like before and was more than ready to tangle with the wolf, like in the old days, and see what new tricks she had up her sleeve.

 

~~~

 

In wolf form, Kaya waited patiently as Sy secured the collar-slash-phone contraption around her neck. The instant he was done, she ran to the side of the clearing and then sniffed the bushes and flowers around the edges to see what she could find.

She’d missed the chance to be outside and do something as simple as run in her wolf form. She wasn’t a cat shifter, but if she had been, she’d be purring right about now.

Sy was still squatting on his haunches in human form with a smile on his face as he watched her dart around. Running back over to him, she licked his face in gratitude for bringing her here to a shifter-designated forest across the lake from Seattle. He laughed, and then scratched her jaw with one hand and behind her ear with the other. Since it was just Sy here with her, she let her tongue loll out in contentment.

He dropped his hands to pat her sides and said, “Now, go for a run, Kaya-love. We should probably head back in about an hour to make sure you have enough time to go over your researchers’ files and get some sleep before your meeting in the morning.”

She looked at him and let out a yip. When he shook his head and said, “I don’t speak wolf,” she grabbed the hem of his shirt with her teeth and tugged, hoping he’d understand what she wanted.

He pet her head and said, “Do you want the cougar to come out to play?” She barked again, and he stood up. “Okay, but just don’t expect me to behave like one of your wolves. Us cats like to be sneaky rather than confrontational.”

She gave a low growl and he laughed. “Okay, okay. I’ll admit that some cats can be confrontational.”

He tugged off his shirt and she sat down on her haunches. She wanted to watch him shift.

Once Sy stood unabashedly naked under the moon, he closed his eyes in concentration, which was a display of trust she didn’t miss.

His body started to change shape as his arms elongated into paws, his head morphed into a feline head with large teeth, and a long, tan tail grew out of his backside. Within seconds, a large male cougar with a tan coat, green eyes, and a pink nose covered in dark spots stood in front of her. He let out a “cougar-chirp” that sounded like a big cat’s meow and she charged at him, anxious to play.

She managed to tumble him to the ground, but he outweighed her and easily regained the upper hand. He’d nearly pinned her to the ground when she escaped and darted to the far side of the clearing. She barked and took off into the woods.

As Sy chased her, Kaya felt some of the weight she’d been carrying on her shoulders disappear. To be able to run in her wolf-form was a special kind of joy that she’d been denying too much as of late.

There might be a possible threat to her clan, but thanks to Sy and his little contraption around her neck, she was able to take a brief break to unwind and get her mind ready for tomorrow. And she could do it all while still being available to her clan if they needed her.

Erika had tried hard to take care of her over the last three years since Kaya had become clan leader, but Kaya had still outranked her. Erika could never truly make her do anything, but Sylas Murray was outside her pack structure, and he damn well knew it. He wasn’t afraid to push her to do something she would’ve brushed aside as unimportant, such as letting her wolf free, when in reality, it was extremely important to her mental health and her ability to face tough situations.

As they chased and tumbled over the next hour, playing the most juvenile of shifter games, Kaya was happier than she’d been in a long time. If things went well tomorrow at Markgen, and her clan was protected, she decided to risk her heart again with Sy and see what happened.

She’d never met anyone like him, and she doubted she’d ever do so again.

 

 

Chapter Eleven

 

 

 

The next morning, Sy stretched out his muscles in his cougar form. First he reached out with his front paws and extended his claws. Then he half stood to stretch his hind legs and claws. After a long yawn, he blinked his eyes and jumped down from his bed to check on Kaya. He’d very nearly curled up against her back in his cougar form, but he had finally decided not to so she could get some sleep. If he had entered her bedroom and lain on her bed, the temptation to shift back into a man and take her again, this time to savor every inch of her body, would’ve been too great.

As a shifter male, his restraint only went so far.

He stopped to peek into Kaya’s room, but it was empty. Since he didn’t hear any sounds coming from her attached bathroom, he went to the kitchen. It was also empty, but the smell of brewed coffee told him Kaya had been here already. He spotted the message scribbled on the white board on the fridge.
I left early. I’ll call you when I’m done with my meeting.

He knew Kaya had a job to do, but he felt a little pang of disappointment at knowing she’d already gone.

Still, she had an entire clan’s future riding on her back and she couldn’t always do what she wanted. After working for years with his brother, Kian, he knew that better than most.

Sy gave one last cat stretch before he imagined his paws becoming arms, his teeth receding, and his tail merging back into his spine. The familiar flash of pleasure and pain coursed through his body before he was human again.

Other books

Duplicity (Spellbound #2) by Jefford, Nikki
SiNN by Tina Donahue
The Kabbalist by Katz, Yoram
Master of the Dance by T C Southwell
Dogfight by Michael Knight