Wolf Tales 12 (26 page)

Before she had time to worry about standing in front of him entirely nude with her skinny arms and legs, he was slipping out of his jeans and hanging them beside the moss green fabric. Sunny got her first look at his Louisville Slugger. She giggled, blushed, and shifted before she could make a total fool of herself, but at least now she knew why Adam had given Ig’s package a nickname.

He was truly impressive, even by Internet porn standards. She wondered if he knew that’s where she’d gotten her entire sexual education? Or if he even cared....

Ig shifted, and it was amazing to stand here, nose to nose, with a cougar that was bigger than her wolf. Amazing to stare into those gorgeous green eyes and recognize the eyes of the man. He gazed steadily at her. She sensed his voice in her mind.

Can you understand me? A few of the wolves are able to, but not all.

I can. It’s like listening to someone with a weird accent, but I understand you.

The big cat slowly blinked.
Good. It will make it easier. Safer if we can communicate without having to shift. Are you ready?
He stared intently at her.

I think so.
But would she ever be ready? Was there a way to prepare for something this momentous? This unbelievable?

Without another word, Igmutaka turned and trotted down the stairs. She’d watched on other nights as wolves leapt over the railing and raced across the meadow, but it appeared that Ig was willing to take it easy on her. She relaxed and followed him across the damp grass, trotting along on four feet, heading into the dark forest for the very first time in her life.

The first thing she noticed were the smells. Someone had recently mowed the lawn, and the scent of fresh-cut grass tickled her nostrils. As they crossed into the part of the meadow that wasn’t regularly watered, she smelled dry grass and dirt and sun-warmed rocks. Sounds intruded. The whisper she somehow recognized as a snake slithering in the weeds, the tiny squeaks of mice, and what had to be the whoosh of wings through the night air as an owl passed low overhead.

Dry leaves and grass crunched and crackled beneath her paws. When they passed through the shrubbery growing between the meadow and the thick woods, she felt the brush of twigs against her coat, smelled the pungent leaves from some unfamiliar plant, and recognized the aromatic scent of cedar and pine.

How is it I recognize all of these smells and sounds? I’ve never been in the forest before.

Do you dream of running? At night, are you a wild creature racing through the woods? All of the others have mentioned dreams—dreams they’d had long before they ever shifted.

Shocked, she stopped dead in her tracks. Ig paused, staring over his shoulder. The dark tip of his long tail whipped the air, but Sunny couldn’t move until she thought this through.

She’d always loved her dreams. Only at night had she truly felt free. Though trapped in a body that couldn’t respond, at night she’d run through dark forests and crossed rushing creeks, had hunted and raced the wind, free and wild and whole.

She’d always thought her vivid dreams were nothing more than wishful thinking.
I always dream of running. I had no idea . . .

The others, too. Ask them later. They’ll tell you. It seems to be part of an ancient instinct, this knowledge of the wild.
He snorted, effectively ending the conversation, and trotted on. They followed a well-established trail. The trees here were fairly small, mostly saplings. She knew they’d had a bad fire here a few years back, which explained the blackened stumps among the small pines and cedars. A few trees, much larger and older, had obviously been survivors.

She sniffed the air and recognized familiar scents of people she knew—Millie and Ric must be running this way tonight, and she thought she picked up Nick and Beth, Stefan, Baylor and Manda as well. Using her mind, she searched for conversations but found only the feral thoughts of hunting wolves.

Somewhere, they’d found game. She wondered what it would be like, to hunt something weaker than herself. To kill. She’d never taken a life of any kind—not even an insect. Tonight at dinner she’d tasted her very first piece of meat.

Thinking of the amazing flavor made her salivate, and some primitive, feral part of her mind suddenly craved the rich taste of warm meat and hot blood.

Now, that was something she’d not expected. Wanting to eat something barely dead, something still warm? Still bleeding? Why didn’t it gross her out?

Amazing. That was something she hadn’t expected. She wasn’t all that aware of her thinking processes as a wolf being all that different from when she was a regular girl, but if the thought of chewing on the haunch of a freshly killed deer could make her drool all over herself, there’d obviously been a huge change in her most basic thinking.

She began paying closer attention to her surroundings, testing the air currents for something that might be considered prey. Ig stayed ahead, moving with that sinuous grace that reminded her of his walk when he was human.

Or did the human remind her of the cat?

At least it was a comfortable pace—slow enough so it was easy for her to keep up and still let her mind wander, absorbing and cataloging all the new experiences. She couldn’t have done this if she’d run with the wolves tonight. She’d watched them leave the house in the evenings—they took off at a fast pace and returned hours later, sides heaving from exertion, coats often tangled with burrs and stickers. Adam had told her they easily covered many miles on their nightly runs.

Her body wasn’t strong enough for that. Not yet, though it should be soon. She’d merely have to work hard at getting into shape. Logan said her life of inactivity would have left another person’s muscles atrophied and useless, but when she’d shifted from human to wolf and back again, her muscles had regained their functional condition as a human, just as they had when she’d first shifted into a wolf.

Suddenly Ig slowed and glanced over his shoulder as if to assure himself she followed. Then he slipped through a break in the trees. Sunny stayed close behind him.

It was darker here, where the cedars grew thick overhead, an area obviously spared by the fire. Trees towered above and their thick branches added to the gloom. Very little moonlight filtered through. Her night vision was exceptional, but the lower light seemed to heighten her other senses.

A new scent came to Sunny, something that had her ears pricking forward and all her feral instincts coming to the fore.

Game.
There was something nearby that her wolven mind recognized as food. Something small and yet as wary of her as she was of this new reality.

Rabbit. In the grass near the creek. Trust your instincts.

Her heart pounded until it was difficult to hear Ig’s brief instructions above its thunder. She used her nose, sniffing the air, testing the wind currents. Carefully, moving as quietly as she was able, Sunny crept through the grass until she was downwind of her target.

Her human mind intruded the moment she saw the rabbit. Small and timid, it nibbled at the grass growing near a tiny spring. This late in the year, there was very little water left in the pool, but the damp ground was lush with a thick carpet of fresh grass, and the rabbit probably thought it had found a buffet. Sunny’s first thought—entirely human—of how cute and fluffy the creature was disappeared in a haze of primal need.

Her eyes narrowed. She carefully judged the distance she’d have to cover before she could leap, then glanced at Igmutaka waiting patiently nearby. He was leaving the kill to her. Even her wolven mind recognized the lack of threat from a small cottontail, but still she realized the importance of the hunt.

Her very first. She inched forward, all quivering predator until her left paw came down on a twig. The sharp snap echoed across the small meadow. The rabbit jerked its head up, nose twitching, ears swiveling, listening. Sunny held immobile, her right front foot still raised.

After a very long minute, the rabbit went back to nibbling the grass. Sunny carefully planted her right foot, the muscles in her hind legs and hips bunched and tightened. She paused a moment, listening to the thundering of her heart, the rapid beat a powerful rhythm in her head pounding a primal song. Ancient beyond memory, yet a part of her. Who she was. What she was.

She leapt, jaws spread, front paws outstretched.

The rabbit never had a chance, did not know from one second to the next its life was over. The moment she landed, it was caught in her viselike jaws, the life crushed out of it so quickly it didn’t even struggle. The taste of blood filled Sunny’s mouth—hot and thick, a gamey, tangy flavor unlike anything she’d ever experienced.

She choked the small creature down in a couple of snapping, gulping bites, bones and all. The thought of sharing with Ig never entered her mind—at least, not until she wiped her muzzle on the green grass and caught him staring at her. He licked one big paw, padded across the grass, and shifted.

Sunny did the same, rising to two feet with Ig directly in front of her. He held out a hand to steady her. His touch was electrifying. She wanted more. Now.

Was this what everyone meant when they talked about their powerful Chanku libido? Whether it was the act of running as a wolf, the fact she’d hunted and tasted her first blood, or merely that she could actually feel the air across her skin, the way her nipples tightened into hard little peaks, or the dampness between her legs—for whatever reason, Sunny truly understood what Adam meant, what Logan had tried to tell her.

This was desire. This needy, totally physical yearning for the man standing before her. Whether it was his touch, his kisses, or the connection itself, Sunny needed. She wanted.

And tonight, she fully intended to get what Igmutaka so generously offered.

She reached for him as his arms came around her waist. “I want to know it all,” she said. “Show me everything.”

He kissed her. Gently, so sweetly she whimpered. “Are you sure?” he asked. “Here, in the cool grass, or back at the house, in the privacy of your room?”

She hadn’t realized she had options. She knew, though, that she didn’t want to wait. “Here,” she said. “Here first.” Then she laughed out loud. “Later we can do it in my room. Then maybe in yours.”

His soft chuckle sent chills over her spine. “I like the way you think,” he said. And gently, with great care, he lifted her in his arms and laid her down in the soft, green grass beneath trees older than time.

Chapter 19

Millie chased Ric through the thick forest, reveling in her strength, in the power of this wolven body, the amazing senses that helped her connect with the well-worn surface of the packed trail beneath her big paws, the scents on the night air, the sounds of creatures scurrying from beneath her feet or flying almost silently overhead.

The others had headed back to the house after a successful hunt, but she and Ric along with Beth and Nick had decided to explore further, to run for just a little longer.

She’d never gotten to know these two kids very well. Certainly not the way she knew Matt and Deacon. All the kids—she would always think of them as kids, though she and Ric looked and felt just as young—had been part of the same pack living in Golden Gate Park with Logan and Jazzy Blue. Then Nick had unexpectedly turned into a wolf and saved Tala from muggers.

Now Nick had turned into a wolf and exposed the Chanku to the world. She almost laughed at the irony—the poor kid was having a terrible time getting past the guilt, even though Anton seemed to think it had been a good thing, something bound to happen eventually. At least Nick had friends in high places—after working directly for the president for the past five years protecting the First Family, both Nick and Beth had gained powerful allies.

Tonight, though, Millie and Ric had thoroughly enjoyed both of them. They’d left all their worldly concerns at the house and ran now with the abandon only Chanku could ever truly experience. Nick’s offbeat sense of humor, Beth’s sly wit, and the stories they’d told of famous people, of faces most of the world only saw on the news, had kept everyone in stitches.

The run and the hunt, the sight of beautiful bodies streaking through the dark forest, slipping in and out of the moonlight, had all of them aroused and almost drunk on the pleasure of the night—the expectations. Suddenly Nick ran on ahead. He nipped Ric’s shoulder in passing and the race was on.

Ric snarled,
smart-ass,
dug his nails into the packed earth, and chased after the dark wolf. Millie and Beth picked up their pace, but there was no point in trying to catch the males.

They’d been teasing and challenging each other all evening, ever since Ric had spotted the old buck first. Nick had moved in on the kill, shouldered Ric aside, and pulled the animal down. There was no animosity between them, but a challenge was a challenge. It wasn’t about to go unanswered.

Millie glanced at Beth, running easily beside her.
You know where this is going to end up, don’t you?

Beth’s eyes and teeth glimmered in the moonlight.
Oh, yeah. I just wonder if Nick realizes what he’s asking for. I was with Ric many years ago, shortly after my first shift. Your man is hung like . . . well . . . ouch!

Maybe that’s why Nick’s been flirting so outrageously.

Beth’s silent laughter at Millie’s dry reply had both of them picking up the pace. This could be entertaining.

Both Nick and her mate were definitely alphas.

It was easy enough to follow the scent of the two wolves. Twenty minutes later they caught up to the men in a high meadow at the very edge of the tree line. The view was amazing, with the lights of Kalispell glowing faintly, far to the west, and moonlight glinting off the high peaks of Glacier National Park well to the north.

The view in the meadow was even better.

What’d I tell you?
Beth stopped at the edge of the clearing and glanced at Millie.

Oh. My.
Millie sighed. Both men had shifted at some point during whatever battle they’d waged, one where Ric had obviously prevailed. There was nothing quite like the sensual ballet of two beautiful, well-built men together. Nick’s lean, dark strength had been no match for Ulrich’s power and size, but Nick didn’t seem to mind the fact he’d ended up on the bottom.