The Last Wolf: A Highplains Shifter Erotic Romance (Wolf Fire Book 1) (5 page)

“This?” He said with a sly grin, gesturing down at the fresh blood soaking through his shirt. “Got a little bit scratched that’s all. Come on, get on the bike, when we get back to the camp I’ll tell you all about it.”

Hakan started to relax as we reached the glow of the camp fire, through the thin material of his shirt I could feel his taught muscles begin to loosen. The whole journey back I had been clinging to him tighter than was strictly necessary, but I had been so shaken about by the lion, by the orgasm, by the blood on his body when he returned from the prairie, that I felt If I didn’t cling onto something solid I was in danger of losing touch with reality and drifting away into some parallel high plains drifter universe.

Hakan swung the bike into its space by the barn and started to stride off towards the creek.

“I need to clean myself up.” He said. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“No way. I don’t know how badly you are hurt.” I said. “You probably don’t even know how badly you’re hurt. I’m coming with you, I can help.”

Hakan shrugged and carried on walking. “Wait” I shouted “Why don’t we go into the house. The light will be better in there, do you have a medical kit?”

“The river’s fine for me, I’m only a little scratched. I’ve had far, far worse.”

Though the sun had long fallen over the horizon the night was bright with stars and a huge three-quarters-full moon, it’s funny how the sky just never seemed that big back in the city. Hakan strode ahead of me, his dark hair ruffled by the warm breeze, the unblooded white parts of his shirt luminous in the celestial light. He looked like some ancient spirit of the prairie, as natural and unchanging as the hills themselves. When he got to the bank he stripped off his shirt without pausing or waiting to see if I had followed.

As always I was amazed by his body with its flowing ridges of muscle, but what shocked me more were the deep cuts on his back. One set swept up from the dimples above his buttocks to the broad swell of his shoulders. The others ran around his rib cage to his chest. Each set was made up of three separate gashes that made it look like he had been mauled by the claws of some giant cat.

“Hakan!” I cried, running over to him. “What happened to you? Were you attacked by that lion? It came for me too. I was only saved by this huge wolf that seemed to come from nowhere.”

He turned to look at me, the moonlight seemed to accentuate the violet in his eyes, so that they were practically glowing purple.

“You know what happened to me, you just don’t want to believe it yet.” He said.

“I don’t, I don’t know anything. All I know is that you ran off and left me for what seemed like hours, left me at the mercy of all your crazy ass wild life, then you came back all covered in blood. I’m confused. These things don’t happen in the city.” I didn’t want to believe what he was implying, did the crazy man think he was some sort of werewolf?

He strode towards me and put his hands on my shoulder, staring down at me with his burning eyes. “You know what happened.” He said again. I shook my head. “You know what happened.” I wished he would say something else, it couldn’t be true, could it? Could the beautiful man stood holding my shoulders, staring down onto my face and the majestic wolf that had saved me from the mountain lion be one and the same being? I knew things got strange out in the back country, but this was beyond anything possible, I was in the presence of a mad man.

“I, I don’t believe it.” I said shaking my head. I wanted to turn and run. To flag down the first car I saw and ask them to take me back to civilisation. Back to a place where mountain lions only existed in magazines and wolves were from Disney cartoons. “Are you trying to make me believe that creature was you? Are you saying that people can turn into wolves?”

“Not just wolves,” he said. “Mountain lions, bears and eagles, too.”

“You’re saying you could turn yourself into an eagle?”

“Not me, no. I can only change into one form, the wolf. All shifters these days only have one form. But long ago the people of these plains, the
Yee Naaldlooshii
had the ability to transform into any animal under the sun. As we lost our link with the land and the ancients so we lost that power.”

“But how? That makes no sense, are you talking symbolically, like they go into a trance? Some ritual incense and chanting and then they think they’ve a spiritual connection to an eagle?”

“No, they become an Eagle, just like I became a wolf to save you from that lion. You saw me as a wolf last night, you stared into my eyes, we were alone on the ridge and you looked straight into my soul.”

I was starting to feel dizzy. “But, can anyone do it?” I asked, scarcely believing I was taking this conversation seriously.

No, only those with a special energy, those born with the animal spirit inside them and who are willing to let it free. Like you.” He brought his head down to mine, so that his lips were practically brushing against mine, and whispered “You have the energy in you Hope, there is a wild spirit trapped there, but you have kept it caged so long it has forgotten how to be free. You need to listen to it, let it soar.”

I shook my head. “And you need to wash yourself, come on I’ll help you.” I picked up his discarded shirt and dipped it in the crystal clear, free-flowing water of the river. He turned around and I began to gently sponge the dried blood away from his back. The gashes already seemed to be healing, they should barely have finished bleeding but they were already closing up, forming pinkish lines where there should be gaping wounds.

“Your back,” I said, “it’s healing.” He turned to me with a smile.

“There are more things you don’t understand about me yet then there are stars in the sky Hope, but I’ll teach you them all if you let me teach you a bit about yourself. Swim with me.”

He waded further into the stream, to the top of a small waterfall where the silver moonlit liquid danced over rocks and cascaded down to the surface of a dark pool.

“But I don’t have anything to swim in.” I shouted to him over the noise of the river.

“Neither do I!”

I watched in fascination as he pulled off his pants, leaving him completely naked in the moon light. His back was to me, and I allowed my eyes to drink in his thoroughbred frame, the tapering triangle of his back. His muscular buttocks. His long powerful legs. Half of me wanted him to turn around, to show me the view from the front, the other half knew that I would die of embarrassment if I were caught looking. He leapt from the rock, hurtling like a falling star into the water below.

I ran out into the river, soaking my skirt in the cool refreshing water. I watched the surface anxiously for what seemed like an age, until Hakan’s head broke the surface, his dark hair plastered down over his eyes. “Come on Hope!” He shouted with a laugh. “The water is lovely.”

“Hakan you’re hurt. You shouldn’t be doing this, you might get an infection.” I said, hearing my mother in my voice.

“I’m fine, now if you don’t come in I’m going to climb up there and throw you in myself.”

An image of being hunted down by Hakan sprang into my mind, the water streaming from his naked body as he bore down on me. I gave a shudder, perhaps I should make him come and get me. I found myself stepping out of my long dress and unbuttoning my shirt. I stood at the top of the fall in just my underwear, too embarrassed to shed my clothes completely, held my nose, and jumped.

It’s funny how time seems to stretch when you are in mid-air. As I hurtled towards the water I had a perfectly formed image of myself in my head, hurtling downward towards a naked man who I’d only met a few days earlier, what on earth was I playing at? This wasn’t the boring, dependable Hope that the world knew.

I hit the water feet first, surprised at the cold even though the water couldn’t be anything else. It felt so nice to be in the cool liquid embrace, the heat and humidity had been building all day, the pressure rising towards an inevitable summer storm. I struggled to the surface and looked around for Hakan. He caught my eye with a grin and said “I’m coming for you Hope.” Before striking out towards me, his sleek body cleaving the water like the bow of a yacht. I screamed in mock fear and tried to swim away, but he was on me in an instant, wrapping me from behind in his big strong arms.

We stayed like that for a moment, treading water. I delighted in the feel of his warm body against mine, I could feel his heavy member against my buttocks, and, when he bobbed lower, sliding between my legs, pressing against the bottom of my panties. If I wasn’t careful I was going to end up in a situation I wouldn’t be able to get out of, end up giving away that which I had saved for so long, the thing I was preserving for some far off future wedding.

He kissed my neck from behind, one of his hands sliding up under the cup of my bra, the other gliding down towards the top of my panties, my skin ridged with goose flesh. “Give yourself to me Hope, let the beast in you out.” He struck out for the shore, kicking with his legs, swimming backwards towards the small stony beach and pulling me with him. I allowed myself to be dragged through the cool water until I felt rocks under my back. We clambered out and he pulled me down onto the smooth river-worn stones, still holding the warmth of the day’s sun.

He kissed me hard and I closed my eyes, allowing myself to give in to the sensations completely. With one hand Hakan reached behind my back and unfastened my bra, pulling the wet material off and setting my breasts free. His lips traced a line of tiny kisses over my chin and past my collarbone as he moved down to take my waiting nipple in his mouth, his tongue rolling over and around it like it was some delicious cherry to be savoured. I felt myself growing wet under his ministrations, my back arched as his other hand wandered down over the smooth skin of my flank.

Hakan moved suddenly, taking his mouth away from my breasts for an instant, kneeling up and swiftly pulling off my panties, leaving me completely naked under the light of the stars. He returned his mouth to my breasts and I moaned at the pleasure his tongue was working into me. I never knew that my boobs could feel so much, why had I let no-one do this to me before? A whole life missing out on this sensation, it just was not fair.

I cried out as his teeth closed around my hard nipple. The bite was strong enough to hurt, just to remind me that he was in control. His mouth moved downwards slowly, down over my stomach, showering me with little electric kisses until he reached my navel. He looked up at me, his eyes glowing with an intense violet light, his mouth fixed in a wolfish grin.

“Don’t stop.” I moaned. He lowered his head and continued downwards, kissing the top of my close trimmed hair, kissing the top of my soft mound, kissing my inner thighs, first the left, then the right, before finally, deliciously, slowly, he kissed me on my most sensitive nub.

I gasped, my hands shooting out and grasping his dark curly hair, unsure whether to pull him away or push him down.

“Wait,” I said. “I’m not sure I’m ready for this.”

His voice was muffled by my legs. “Set it free Hope, set it free.” His tongue darted out and I arched my back in pleasure. He gently licked me with long steady strokes that covered the length of my valley. Looking down I could see my knuckles were white, I was clinging onto his hair so firmly. His mouth seemed to be dancing over me, delivering little kisses and licks to all the right places, teasing me, making me squirm and moan.

I had heard Cassie talk about boyfriends going down on her, she was always complaining that they never did it enough. I had not really understood until now, I’d always hated the idea of someone down there tasting me. But this changed everything, it was like no feeling I had ever experienced, I just wanted Hakan to drink me up, to suck orgasm after orgasm out of me until I was a shell. “Yes, more, more.” I groaned.

My words seemed to excite him, I felt his fingers on me while his mouth dexterously teased my clit, and before I know it he had slipped one of his broad digits inside me. I felt my hips bucking against him, moving to a rhythm older than anything I knew. I was grinding against him, forcing more of him inside me. I raised my legs opening myself to him, and then clasped my ankles over his back, trapping his head between my thighs. I cried out, a noise I did not recognise, a wild animal call.

My orgasm delivered the same kind of shock my body had felt when it hit the cold water of the pool, only this time the sensation was reversed it was like being wholly submerged in a bath of warm honey. It flowed over me in a boiling wave, spreading to every part of my body, curling my toes and making me pull on Hakan’s river-damp hair as I forced his head down. My vision faded and then came back, crystal clear but in pure black and white, for a second I seemed to be looking down on us from a great height, looking down with eyes as sharp as daggers on a girl with breasts pushed up at the moon and a man’s tousled head between her legs. Then in an instant, almost before I realised I had been away, I was back in my body, my head filled with the flashing sparks of a universe collapsing orgasm.

Hakan was still working between my legs, but I had to push him away, after the intensity of the orgasm I felt like I would pass out if he touched me one more time. He looked up at me, his handsome face smiling, his violet eyes shining, and for some reason, goodness knows why because I was perhaps happier than I had ever been, I began to cry.