Shifters on Fire: A BBW Shifter Romance Boxed Set (51 page)

His headache had gotten worse and his stomach felt tight from hunger. All of the sweating and work couldn’t have been helping things. Had he really thought that fifteen days of this would be easy? During his search for leaves he came across a dirty looking puddle. Water was water. He shifted and drank his fill. Depending on how Bianca’s ankle improved, Mason knew he might need to work for both of them.

He found several large low growing palm leaves and broke them off. The leaves were rigid enough. With any luck, he’d be able to set them up to channel rainwater off of the roof and keep it out of the shelter.

~~*~~

The makeshift crutch and her hurt ankle made the going slow, but Bianca was determined to do her part. She spotted several tantalizing puddles and resisted the urge to shift and drink. It would be stupid to risk hurting her ankle more. Instead, she took advantage of what water she could find caught in large leaves. She was thirsty, hungry, and sore. Going into heat was
not
helping.

For a jungle, there certainly didn’t seem to be a lot of life. Bianca could hear monkeys in the distance and plenty of birdcalls, but saw nothing. She was so focused on looking for a stream that she almost walked right past a low growing fruit. Bianca stopped in her tracks and turned back.

Passionfruit! She grinned and plucked one, then hunted around for a sharp rock. It took some doing, but she managed to break the hard skin open and sucked out some of the flesh. Delicious. Juicy. She devoured the rest of it, followed by a second one. Her shredded clothes were hardly functional anymore, but would serve as a great way to carry the fruit. Bianca filled her shirt with as many as she could carry and started back to camp.

Mason was nowhere to be see, so she set the fruit down on the rocks and headed back in a new direction. The snack had given her a small burst of energy and taken the edge off of both her hunger and her thirst.

Chapter Four

The sight of the food instantly lifted Mason’s spirits. He dragged his palm fronds over to the shelter and sat down, helping himself to one of the fruits. At least he tried. The skin was so tough he had to shift and bite it open. Once he did, he quickly shifted back and ate the contents. One wasn’t nearly enough. He wolfed down a second right after. It would have been easy to eat more than two, but he’d hunt later. If Bianca couldn’t shift, she’d need the fruit more than he would.

Figuring out how best to put the leaves on the roof was tricky, but at last Mason thought he had it worked out. He made three more trips for leaves and soon had several layers stacked up. He had also found a tree with long, flexible strips of bark peeling off. Some of the fibers were almost like rope. He tied the ends of the palms down and stepped back to admire his handiwork.

After allowing himself a moment of satisfaction, he sat back down. The second day in the rainforest wasn’t even over and he was already tired and hungry. As he debated eating another fruit, Bianca returned. She was carrying an armload of more fruit and several leaves.

“I found a stream, but it’s not very clean looking,” she said in greeting, setting down her bundle.

“I’ll work on a fire. See if we can boil it for you… assuming we can figure out how to get it here.”

“Shelter looks great. Need any help? I did say earlier I was going to.”

Mason shook his head. “I think I’ve got it taken care of.”

She sat down outside of it, propping up her ankle. It was then he noticed her clothes. Bianca had taken the remains of her outfit and fashioned them into a new one. Shifting had snapped her bra, so she turned it into a top, using straps braided from her shirt. It gave Mason just a peek at the curves of her breasts. Her shredded pants had been layered into what looked like a short grass skirt. The ribbons of fabric fell to either side of her thighs as she sat, leaving little to the imagination. Including the fact that her underwear was nowhere to be seen. Mason realized he was staring and quickly averted his gaze. He couldn’t keep from glancing back. His partner was
very
attractive. Of course he had already noticed. But, the improvised clothing hugged her body in all the right places and covered up just enough to make Mason want to see more.

Instead, he shifted and cracked open more of the fruit. They each ate a piece in silence, savoring the juice. After she was done, Bianca put several of the leaves in her mouth and started chewing.

“What’s with the leaves?” Mason asked.

“It’s Yerba Mate. If we can get a fire going, and a container to boil water, I can add them and make a tea. It might help my ankle.” Bianca pulled a small ball of chewed leaves out of her mouth and tossed it away with a grimace. “I don’t know if chewing on the leaves will have the same effect. But they contain caffeine too.”

“You seem to know a lot about plants.”

Bianca realized that they hadn’t actually talked about themselves yet. “I’m a florist. But I majored in Botany.”

“Interesting. You must be loving the jungle.”

“It’s pretty exciting. I wrote papers on some of these plants. I never thought I’d get to see them in their natural habitats. I really want to see some orchids though.”

“That your favorite flower?”

“No,” Bianca said. “I’m hoping seeing them growing naturally might inspire how I present them in my store.”

“Oh.”

“My favorite flower is the tiger lily.”

“Funny.”

“I’m serious.”

Mason grinned at her. “I’d think a botanist would be more creative.”

She rolled her eyes. “And what’s your favorite flower then?”

“Obviously, it’s the uh… fox… flower?”

Bianca laughed. “You don’t even know what it’s called.”

“Is there a fox flower?”

“Foxglove.”

“There you go, that’s my favorite.”

They both laughed. Mason was feeling much better after getting some food and a little morale boost. “I think I’ll try to get the fire going again.”

“I can get some more wood.”

“No, no. You need rest. How’s your ankle?”

“Sore, but I don’t think anything is broken.”

“Good.”

The fire making was next to impossible; everything was soaking wet.

“I’ll try,” Bianca offered. “You can hunt.”

“Deal.”

After handing her the bow-drill, Mason stripped off his clothes, set them on the driest looking rock in the shelter, and shifted.

An intoxicating scent instantly filled his nose. He inhaled deeply. What on earth was… it was a female in heat.
Oh shit
. He looked at Bianca, bent over in concentration as she tried to start the fire. He hoped she was coming out of it and not going into it. Of course, if that were the case, wouldn’t he have smelled it before?

~~*~~

Once the fox had trotted out of sight. Bianca pulled the camera off of her head and turned it to her face.

“Could this get any worse?” she asked it. “I can’t shift, which means that if I can’t start this fire I can’t eat any meat or drink any water. And I’m fucking going into heat! I’m
starving
. And I hate to say it, but Mason is looking more attractive by the minute. Has anyone ever, you know… while on the show? I mean, I guess you edit those bits out. I can’t be the only shifter who has ever gone into heat during it. This is going to be a long fifteen days.”

She replaced the camera and returned to her fire starting. By the time Mason returned, she had nearly cut through the shoelace, snapped three sticks, drilled through two bases, and had nothing to show for it.

“I hope you’re having better luck,” she growled to the approaching fox. She could see something small in his mouth. Another rodent.

He dropped it and shifted back. “Slim pickings for a jungle.”

“Eat it. This isn’t going to work tonight.” Bianca tossed the fire starting tools aside. If she was stuck with fruit, she was going to have to conserve her energy.

Mason returned to his fox form and quickly devoured the rodent. He cracked open some passionfruit for them before changing back. He put his clothes back on and settled down next to her.

“How’s your ankle?” he asked.

“Feeling better.” She stretched out her legs, comparing her ankles. The injured one didn’t look swollen anymore. “I think I’m going to wait to shift until tomorrow though.” She picked up another piece of passionfruit and took a bite.

With a nod, Mason did the same. Even though the nutrients he consumed in fox form transferred to his human one, they wouldn’t be as potent. Ideally, a shifter would feed both sides equally. If that wasn’t possible, the rule of thumb was to take care of the form you were spending the most time in. As he savored the fruit, Mason wondered if he was going to need to stay a fox more often.

“I think tomorrow we need to focus on the fire,” he said. “We need to get more protein into our human sides. Especially if you can’t shift.”

Bianca nodded in agreement. “And if I
can
shift, I want to follow the water a little further. See if it gets any cleaner or turns into something larger. Considering how much luck we’ve had hunting, we might be more successful with fishing.” She tilted her head back and looked up at the darkening sky, barely visible through the thick canopy of leaves. “Can’t believe how fast the day is going.”

“I can, I’m beat.” Mason finished his fruit and flopped onto his back. “But, I know what you mean. I thought I’d be bored here. Ended up spending so much time on the shelter the day just flew by.”

“Well, it is only day two.”

Mason turned his head to reply and realized that his new position allowed him to see straight up her fabric-strip skirt. He quickly looked away, hoping she didn’t notice. “Let’s hope the rest of the time goes by as well as today did.”

“And no more nights like our first one.”

They both laughed.

Bianca stretched and looked around at the trees. “Where do you think they are?”

“Who?”

“The people filming us. They’re supposed to be watching us, but I haven’t seen them. Or smelled them.”

Mason scanned the jungle around them as best he could from the ground. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. He hadn’t smelled anything either. “I assume they’ve got these.” He tapped the camera strapped around his head. “And they’re probably shifters.”

“Must be small animals.”

“Must be.”

“You ever watch the show?” Bianca asked.

“All the time,” Mason admitted with a laugh.

“Me too.”

Mason’s laugh turned into a yawn. “It seems weird to go to bed so early but…” It was still more than light enough to see.

“We didn’t sleep much last night,” Bianca said. “Can’t hurt to get some rest. We don’t know if we’ll get another storm tonight.”

Mason rolled over and crawled the short distance to the shelter. “Are you coming?”

She shook her head. “Not yet. I got more sleep than you last night and you worked a lot harder physically today.” Bianca gave her sore ankle a good rotation and was pleased when it didn’t hurt. “I hate just getting into bed before I’m tired enough to sleep. I’ll join you in a bit.”

“Goodnight then.”

“Goodnight.”

The thick layer of palm fronds proved to be much more comfortable than the bare rocks beneath them. It was no memory foam mattress, but it would do. The entire shelter felt more relaxing than the failed first one. In addition to being bigger, it just struck Mason as studier. He felt confident it would withstand the rains that had destroyed the first one. He stretched out on the palm fronds, head under the rock overhang and plenty of room to spare for his feet.

Chapter Five

Night Two

Something jerked Bianca out of her dream. She squinted into the inky blackness, still half-asleep. Another scream tore through the night. The animal itself was unfamiliar, but Bianca knew the sound well enough. It was prey. At least, it had been prey. Now it was some successful hunter’s dinner. The sounds of the jungle pulled her tiger mind further out of the fog of sleep. The predator came awake at the cry of prey and listened, weak though her human ears were, to the sounds of the night.

With a practiced, but sleepy discipline, Bianca pushed the tiger away. As her human half became more aware, she regretted it. The human remembered the dream that had been interrupted. It had been a good dream. A
very
good dream.

Bianca groaned in annoyance. The dreams came nearly every night when she was in heat. Some she remembered having. Others were vague. But they all shared the same important trait: she got off before she woke up. Thanks to her rude awakening, she had lost the dream, but none of the arousal. She could feel a tingling, almost an aching, between her legs. She’d never get back to sleep like this. The tigress inside of her snarled, needing the release just as badly. Even fully in control, a human shifter in heat was more animal than not.

Oh well. It wasn’t the first time she had woken up during a heat-induced sex dream. She knew how to satiate herself and the beast within. Without giving it much thought, Bianca reached down, pushing aside the ribbons of fabric that barely covered her. Her body tensed the moment her fingers touched the outside of her flesh.
Yes.
Her sensitive skin was warm and slick. After a moment of teasing, she was easily able to slip a finger inside of herself. Biting back a moan, Bianca gently began to thrust her finger in and out, kneading against her clit with her palm. She closed her eyes, losing herself in the pleasure. Her hips started to rock of their own accord in time with her finger. She added another and sucked in a long, shaky breath.

Her butt bumped against something and she froze.

Mason
.

Holy hell. She had been so focused on getting off she hadn’t given a second thought to where she actually was. She could feel her flesh pulsing with desire around her fingers. A voice in her head growled.
Don’t stop
. But Bianca couldn’t move. How could she possibly do this with someone right there? Had he noticed? Was he awake?

Bianca wondered what would be worse, holding still or moving away from him. Then she realized just
what
she was touching. The shreds of her skirt had fallen aside and the heat and firmness of Mason’s erection were easy to feel against her bare skin, even though her partner was wearing pants.

And of course he was aroused; she was in heat. Even if he couldn’t discern the scent as a human, he could surely smell it. Given their proximity it would be impossible for him to not be aware of it on some primal level. There was also that fact that Bianca had no idea how long she had been dreaming. If she had moved her hips at all she would have rubbed against him in her sleep.

One thing was for sure, she was
never
going to fall asleep like this. And she couldn’t finish either. Carefully, slowly, she eased away from Mason and relaxed her body against the palm leaves. She tried to think of anything except how horny she was. At least she wasn’t fully in heat yet. Once that happened, stopping in the middle was going to be impossible.

She took a deep breath, trying to relax. It did nothing but fill her nose with the mating pheromone Mason was releasing again. It would be so easy to just roll over to face him and...

No choice. If she didn’t get off, she was going to do something stupid. Bianca inched a little further away from him and, praying he wouldn’t wake up, slid her hand back down between her legs.

~~*~~

It was, without question, the most awkward moment of Mason’s life. He wasn’t sure what exactly had woken him up, but the air was filled with the intoxicating scent of a female in heat, he was hard as a rock, and Bianca was masturbating. Her ass ground back against his dick and he bit back a gasp of pleasure from the contact. The tigress froze and Mason was sure his heart stopped. He had assumed that Bianca was asleep. Obviously not.

Time seemed to stand as still as the shifters. Mason was afraid to even breathe and let Bianca know he was awake. She moved away from him, far enough that he couldn’t feel her, but not nearly as far as he really needed. Even his weak human nose could easily smell her. He longed to grab her, to pull her back against him and…

No, no, no. No!

He took a deep breath through his mouth, trying to avoid her scent, and released it as quietly as he could. Try as he might, it was impossible to fully ignore what was happening a mere foot away from him. Mason tried to think of anything that would lessen his arousal: bad breakups, women wearing fox pelts, horror movies… nothing worked. Not even the fact they were “lost” in a jungle, sleeping on rocks and half-starved. Her scent was overwhelming.

The faint sound of Bianca writhing on the rocks changed and her breath quickened. Her scent filled the air, so thick Mason could taste it. His dick ached with longing and he reached down, intending to adjust his pants in a vain attempt at relief. A rush of pleasure shot through his body the moment he touched it. His hand cupped around his erection of its own accord and his hips jerked against his palm.

Bianca moaned. It was a soft, barely contained moan of ecstasy. The scent of her pheromones washed over Mason like a tidal wave. He didn’t even remember reaching into his pants, all he knew was he was suddenly thrusting desperately into his hand. It didn’t take much, not with how long he had been aroused. Add in a female in heat having an orgasm inches away and he was done.

~~*~~

Day Three

A shaft of sunlight cut through the shelter, hitting Bianca square in the face. She blinked at the annoyance and rolled over. She realized she wasn’t in bed when the sound of a howler monkey echoed through the air. With a start, she remembered the jungle, the show, and her oh-so-improper actions the last time she had been awake. Rolling had brought her right back against Mason.

Mortified, Bianca rolled away, and then rolled again, out of the shelter. She sat up and scooted further away. Had he been awake when she got herself?
Why
on earth had she thought that was a good idea?!

Certain that she was blushing bright red, Bianca stood and tested her ankle, trying to take her mind off of it. It felt good. Good enough to risk shifting. She took off her clothes, praying Mason wouldn’t wake up, and slowly eased into her tiger body. Her ankle felt stiff as it changed, but there was no pain. She walked around the camp, faster, faster. Good as new. Smiling inwardly, she crouched and flew into a practice pounce.

“Ankle all better?”

Mason’s voice startled her and she whipped her head around, growling. The fox jumped, almost as if he was going to bolt. They both shook their heads, regaining control over their animal selves. Bianca suddenly felt self-conscious shifting back. Now that she was in heat, being naked in front of Mason was surely going to arouse her. Of course, she couldn’t very well explain that to him. She walked over to her clothes. Just as she started to change back, she caught a whiff of something… semen? Then her nose was human.

Mason turned away as she got dressed and Bianca was sure he looked awkward. Oh god, oh god, he knew.

“I should probably tell you…” she began.

He turned to her, quickly averting his eyes when he realized she was still putting on her shirt. “Yeah?”

“I’m… uh… I’m going into heat,” Bianca mumbled.

“Yeah… I know.” Mason smiled weakly at her. “I… smelled it.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. You can’t help it.”

“I know, I just…” Bianca shrugged. “I wish I wasn’t
now
. Of all the times, you know?”

Mason nodded. “It is bad timing.”

“If you don’t want to share the shelter, I understand.”

“No, no. We have to stick together. This is supposed to be a challenge, right?” He forced a grin, hoping that he could control himself better the next time around. His eyes rose to the camera strapped around her head. “You think they’re going to cut all of this out?”

“I hope so,” Bianca groaned. She quickly changed the subject. “Now that I can shift, I want to follow that stream. Do you want to work on the fire or join me?”

“The fire seems less urgent, since you’re shifting. Let’s go find some water and maybe some fish.”

Bianca nodded. She had been half hoping he’d stay at the camp.

~~*~~

Mason stood and turned his back to her to strip. As he pulled off his boxers they stuck a little, thanks to his earlier misadventure.
Shit. Had she smelled it when she shifted?
He considered “accidentally” dropping them in the camp. If Bianca hadn’t caught the scent when she was shifted before, she surely would if they were walking through the jungle together. Then again, how mortified would he be if she saw him drop them? With a silent sigh, Mason balled his boxers up tight and made sure they were deep in the center of his clothing bundle. He shifted and picked it up with his mouth. Bianca had already shifted and was in the process of picking up her own tattered clothes.

He shook off and trotted toward her. The scent of female in heat was overwhelming now that they were both shifted. Bianca tossed her head in the direction of the stream and started off at a slow lope. Mason waited a beat, then followed. Her scent was easy enough to track and the distance made it a bit easier to handle.

It was mere minutes before they reached the stream. Bianca plunged right into it, hoping the water would weaken her pheromones. She turned upstream and started walking in the shallow water. Mason stayed on the bank, keeping pace with her.

Day Three was off to a much, much better start, in his opinion. Other than the whole being insanely horny and attracted to his partner. But, he felt like he was in good spirits. He had gotten some food, now there was plenty of water, and they were off to hunt. Not to mention Mason always felt good being shifted. Trotting along in the woods, well jungle, was what a fox was meant to do. Sure, the sounds of the jungle were quite foreign to him, but it was peaceful. He felt closer to nature than ever before.

Soon, the stream grew too deep for Bianca to easily walk in, she swam in parts, then climbed back out. The water
did
lessen her scent and the still-wet fur was a welcome change for Mason.

He was just starting to wonder when they’d need to shift back, when the trees opened and the stream turned into a large pool, fed by a glistening waterfall. Even as a tiger, Bianca’s gasp of awe was unmistakable. She sprinted across the clearing and jumped into the water. Laughing inwardly, Mason hurried after her. He shifted on the bank and waded in up to his knees. The water was cool and refreshing. Shane had told him that the camera was waterproof, so he adjusted the strap and made sure it was still recording.

“I thought cats hated water,” he said as the tigress swam into the waterfall.

The graceful animal vanished under the water and a moment later a woman swam back out with the same feline grace.

“Tigers love water,” she retorted, rolling onto her back and letting the wake from the waterfall gently push her along. “Are you coming in?”

Mason waded deeper into the water. It went up to his shoulders and didn’t seem to get any deeper. The water was so clear he could almost see down to the bottom. A large fish swam right passed him. “Hey, there are fish!” He shifted again and swam back to the shallow water. After drinking his fill, he waited, watching the water.

Across the pond, Bianca prowled the water in her tiger form.

The first catch of the day was Mason’s. A decently large fish swam too close to the fox. Mason lunged and caught the fish in his mouth. He didn’t eat raw fish very often and the flavor was unpleasantly strong, but the fish was the biggest meal he had had so far in the jungle. He eagerly devoured it. Not long after, Bianca slammed a paw into the water and flipped a fish right out onto the bank. Please with catch, she sat down on the sun-warmed grass and munched. She basked in the heat for a moment, before returning to the water.

They each caught a couple more fish and Mason, feeling full at last, returned to human form and floated on his back in the water.

“You’re not supposed to swim after eating,” Bianca joked from the shallows.

Mason sat up and splashed at her. Laughing, Bianca tried to block the splashes. She waited until he stopped his attack and returned to floating, then flung water on him. The fox jerked upright, which caused him to sink. He spluttered and stood up in the pool.

“You’ve done it now,” he warned, before dragging his arm quickly across the surface of the water. It created a small wave that crashed toward Bianca. She slid back into the cool water and sent a return wave at Mason.