Wolf Tales VI (3 page)

Eve blinked, remembering. “Mei? You’re little Mei?”

The girl nodded, smiling. “Mei Chen. Yes. That’s me. I was about four, you must have been eight or nine. Sheesh, that’s over twenty years ago! I missed you so much when you left.” She took another bite of her meal, chewed and swallowed. “Why did you go?”

Eve shook her head, remembering things she’d tried so hard to forget. “I don’t know. It always seemed as soon as I got comfortable in a home, I’d get moved to a new one, have to prove myself all over again.” She rolled her shoulders, put the memories back where they belonged. “Mei. Wow…I can’t believe this. It’s good to see you. How have you been?”

Mei looked down at her napkin. “I wish I could say I was great, but…not good. Homeless for the past few months. I got my GED for high school, but no college. I really wanted to go to college, but…” She shook her head. “No training for anything. It’s tough, ya know?” She raised her chin defiantly and stared at Eve for a moment. “I worked in a couple of fast food places.” She smiled crookedly. “Jobs were okay, managers had too many ideas and too many hands.”

Eve could understand that. Mei practically pulsed with sensuality. Her clothing might be torn and ragged, but her hair was shiny and clean, her skin clear, her tall, lean body absolutely gorgeous. She moved with a sinuous grace, an innate passion that spilled over onto Eve. Aroused her even beyond the frustrated desire she felt night after night.

Eve squeezed her legs together and felt an answering shiver race along her spine before it arrowed directly to her clit. She took a deep breath. For the first time, Eve noticed Mei’s eyes. Dark lashes surrounded perfect, almond-shaped, green eyes. Eyes the color of summer grass with specks of amber scattered throughout. Eyes almost like the other Chanku shapeshifters Eve knew.

Almost, but not exactly. She took another bite of her sandwich and concentrated on Mei. Concentrated on her thoughts and tried to find an answer to her sense of the almost familiar.

The frisson of awareness intensified. It was there, just beyond reach. Alien, unfamiliar, suffused with sensual needs almost completely overwhelmed by fear and loneliness. Still, she felt the connection to another mind, to another’s desire. Mei raised her head. Looked long and hard into Eve’s eyes. Brushed her hand across her forehead and blinked.

“What are you doing?” Mei’s whisper radiated confusion and desire. “I feel you.” She tapped her temple lightly with her forefinger. “Here. I feel you here. And here, as well.” She swept her hand along her torso, paused at her small breasts, then roughly grabbed herself between the legs. “Here, most of all. What the fuck are you doing in my head?”

Chapter 2

“I wondered if you could feel my thoughts. My arousal.” Eve slowly gathered up the papers and crumbs from her meal to give herself time to think.

“You a lesbian?”

Eve smiled at the challenge in Mei’s voice. “When the company suits me.” She stood up and walked across the room, dumped her garbage in the small trash can and grabbed the bottle of brown capsules Anton had given her. She sat down again and smiled at Mei, pushing gently with her mind. Sharing her growing arousal. “What about you?”

“Sometimes I like women. Mostly I dig guys, ‘cept when there’s not one around.” She was watching Eve now with more than a little interest shining in her green eyes. Watching the pill bottle Eve had set on the table in front of her.

Somehow, Eve had to get Mei to take Anton’s pills. The big, ugly capsules were filled with a mix of dried grasses specific to the Tibetan steppe, the Chanku ancestral home. The nutrients in the pills activated a small gland lying dormant near the hypothalamus of a latent Chanku. It was the only way, she knew, to find out if Mei shared the same genes.

If Mei was merely human, the pills would have absolutely no effect on her. If she was Chanku, she would have the ability to shift from woman to wolf within a week.

Eve took a capsule out of the bottle, popped it in her mouth and downed it with a swallow of coffee. “They’re vitamins,” she said, holding the bottle out to Mei. “Nutrients and stuff to keep me healthy. I get them from a good friend. Do you want one?”

Mei eyed the ugly pills suspiciously. “I don’t do drugs.” She took one out of the bottle and sniffed it. She raised her head and frowned. “Smells like weed. Really expensive stuff.”

Eve laughed. “I don’t do drugs either, and these are most definitely not marijuana. Never mind. I don’t have all that many of them anyway. I just figured your diet’s probably not been all that healthy. These are a good supplement.”

Mei gave her a crooked grin. Instead of replacing the capsule back in the bottle, she popped it into her mouth and swallowed it down with a gulp of orange juice. “Last night’s dinner came out of a dumpster near that hamburger joint on the corner. I’ll take your pills.”

Eve grinned broadly as she took another sip of her rapidly cooling coffee. “You need to find better quality dumpsters. That place has lousy hamburgers and really greasy fries.”

Mei laughed out loud this time. “Yeah, well…when you’re on the streets, you don’t always have much of a choice.” She pushed her chair back and stood up. “Thanks for the meal. I better get going. I don’t want to impose.”

Eve reached across the table and touched Mei’s hand. “Stay. Please?”

“Why?” Mei paused. Her dark brows scrunched up in a frown. “You hardly know me.” Then her eyes narrowed with suspicion and she glared at Eve. “You want sex? That’s it, isn’t it?”

Eve shrugged. “Sex is always an option, but only if you’re interested. You’re a link, Mei. Someone who knew me when I was a child. I have so few memories of friends from my childhood. In a way, you’re the closest thing to family I’ve had since I left my last foster home. Stay, please?”

Mei cocked her head to one side. Obviously she still wasn’t buying it. “Do you live here? In this motel?”

Eve shook her head. “No. I came back here on business, but I had car trouble. My friend is on his way to fix the truck. I expect him in a couple days.”

“Boyfriend?” Mei pulled the chair out and sat.

“Could be. Some day.”

“What happens when the truck’s fixed?” Mei twisted a strand of her long, dark hair. Her constant motion told Eve a lot more than mere words. Her eyes, hands, smile…all spoke volumes of Mei’s nervous energy and lack of trust. “Where will you go then? Where do you live?”

“Nowhere, right now.” Eve sighed. “Montana, maybe. I’ve got friends there. Friends who want me to live with them, but I wasn’t ready. Like the boyfriend. I think he loves me. It scares the crap out of me, that kind of relationship. I needed time to figure out what I want to do with my life. What I really need.”

“Yeah. I wish I knew what I wanted.” Mei laughed. “Other than a bath and a clean change of clothes.”

Perfect! Eve stood up. “That I can do. We’re about the same size. You can borrow some of my things for now. Get a shower, some clean clothes. Later we can get a cab and go shopping.”

Mei blinked, but for the first time since entering the room, she sat perfectly still. Eve realized she was fighting tears.

“You’d do that for me? Buy me clothes?”

“Of course. You were my friend years ago, Mei. I’d like to think we can be friends again.”

Mei nodded. Then she grabbed her purse. She didn’t hesitate when Eve pointed her toward the shower. Nor did she seem to realize her thoughts were growing clearer by the minute as Eve consistently probed her mind. She had to be Chanku. Could Mei be the reason Eve had been drawn back to Florida? It was too perfect to be purely coincidental.

Anton was going to love it! His ongoing argument with Stefan over fate versus coincidence was gaining credence by the day. Eve almost picked up the phone to call Anton. Almost. She hesitated, fingers spread in the act of grabbing her cell phone off the nightstand.

How easy it had become, to think of Anton, of Keisha, Stefan, and Xandi when she had something to share. Already she thought of them as family. Why hadn’t her thoughts rushed to Adam? Or even to Oliver?

Because they scare the crap out of you. She wasn’t ready for the powerful connection she felt with both men, but especially with Adam. Not yet. It was easier not to think of them. Knowing what little she did of the two men, she still expected at least one, if not both, of them to show up within a day or two.

Eve curled her fingers into the palm of her hand and listened to the sound of the shower. Mei was in there now, her slim body naked beneath the spray, her long black hair flowing with the rivulets of water as it sluiced over her shoulders, trailed between her breasts.

A sense of well-being poured into Eve, and she knew she was catching Mei’s thoughts and feelings. She sat back in her chair and closed her eyes. She would think of Mei, of possibilities. Adam was on his way. Eve knew it the way she knew the sun would rise each morning. He was coming and he wasn’t alone. She shivered with a strong sense of premonition. There was power in this room, in the woman blissfully enjoying the shower. Power in the throbbing arousal that surged through Eve’s body at the mere thought of Adam, of Oliver…and Mei.

She wrapped her arms around her waist and bowed down until her head was between her knees. Desire shimmered, hot and sultry, pulsing in her veins, engorging her sex. Desire fueled by images of herself, of Adam and Oliver and Mei, a tangle of arms and legs, slick with the lush dampness of sweat and saliva and all the intimate fluids that bodies produced in the heat of passion.

She’d gone three weeks without sex. Three weeks of easing her own needs but never satisfying them. Three weeks with the powerful surge of arousal that accompanied each shift, growing and spreading with the same rush and power as the blood in her veins or the oxygen in her lungs. Arousal so much a part of her very existence she’d become one living, breathing, pulsing creature of lust.

She’d risked everything to bring two strange men to her room, just for sex. Thank goodness she’d survived that idiotic decision. The risk with Mei was different. With Mei, she could lose another bit of herself. Strangely, though, the need for independence that had driven her away from Adam and Montana somehow faded, now that she’d found Mei.

Even Adam wasn’t as frightening anymore. She realized she missed him, wanted him for more than what he could do to ease her basic sexual needs.

That was definitely a step in the right direction.

Smiling, Eve stared at the closed bathroom door, imagining Mei. Picturing the younger woman’s lean body slick from the shower, imagining Mei’s hot mouth between her legs, licking and sucking, bringing Eve closer and closer to climax.

She leaned back in her chair and spread her legs wide, imagining and calling out silently, in the way of the Chanku. Calling to any mind willing and able to listen. Her breasts ached, her womb clenched and the need built. Eve closed her eyes against the growing arousal that had become as much a part of her identity as her name. She thought of Mei, and then she thought of Adam and Oliver and the things the four of them could do together, in that nice big king-size bed, back at the house in Montana.

But Mei was here, so most of all, she thought of Mei.

Mei closed her eyes as the hot water cascaded over her body. She’d not had a decent shower in weeks, bathing instead in the dirty sinks in public restrooms and quick showers at the occasional homeless shelter when she’d been lucky enough to find a bed. This was luxury unlike anything she’d experienced for far too long.

It felt wonderful. It felt beyond wonderful when she washed her hair with the expensive shampoo on the side of the tub and used the conditioner she’d never once been able to afford in her life. She’d grabbed a new razor out of a pack on the counter and, while she’d never had much body hair, went ahead and took the time to shave what was there.

Sleek and smooth and clean. It just didn’t get much better, especially since there was still plenty of hot water and she didn’t have to get out if she didn’t want to. Suddenly Eve popped into her thoughts and just like that, Mei’s nipples puckered up into tight, sensitive little beads and she felt a rush of heat between her legs.

What was it about Eve that turned her on so much? Mei had never been all that particular about her sexual partners, but she was most definitely heterosexual. At least she thought she was, until she thought of Eve. Eve was definitely beautiful. She was kind, and she smiled a lot. She had a fun sense of humor, but there was something in her eyes, something about the way Mei felt as if Eve were inside her, reading her thoughts, feeling her feelings.

Mei stood there for a moment longer with the water running over her shoulders, pondering the weirdness of it all. Slowly, the water cooled. Sighing, she turned the spigot off, wrapped her long mass of hair in the soft terry cloth towel and grabbed a second towel to dry herself. She glanced at the filthy clothes on the floor and kicked them into a pile.

She paused a moment, staring at the closed door. Was she ready to walk out into the room naked? Even with a towel around herself, Mei knew exactly where it would lead, but that was a good thing, for now, at least, as far as she was concerned. She felt drawn to Eve on so many levels, in so many different ways. Felt a connection to her that reminded Mei of the time they’d been together as children. Now though, there was a major difference. That same connection carried the weight and promise of two sensual women.

She’d trusted Eve then. She would trust her now. And just maybe, they’d still have time to shop.

Eve glanced up as Mei walked into the room. Mei’s green eyes were wide, her skin glistened dark and damp against the white terry cloth towel. Mei looked around with studied innocence and shrugged. “I left my clothes in the bathroom. They’re pretty dirty.”

“No problem. I’ve got things you can wear.” Eve slowly peeled herself out of the chair. Her heart pounded. Her sex throbbed and her nipples had puckered into such tight, needy little peaks that they ached. When she stood up, Mei stepped closer, the movement slow and subtle like a sinuous cat stalking its prey. Eve watched a single drop of water find its path from Mei’s throat to the dark valley between her breasts. It slipped beneath the towel and she imagined its damp trail down the middle of Mei’s belly to the soft thatch of dark curls beneath.

Eve realized she was staring and snapped her chin up. She caught herself in Mei’s green eyes and sensed a pressure behind her own eyes, as if Mei searched her mind. Could she read thoughts? Did she have the Chanku power even now, before the nutrients had had time to work their magic?

Mei swallowed and the sound was loud between them. She blinked slowly and her pupils narrowed. They changed to vertical slits, then slowly returned to their natural round shape. The effect was oddly feline, reminding Eve of a Siamese cat she’d had at one of her many foster homes.

“I don’t understand.” Mei’s whisper was a harsh counterpoint against the pounding of Eve’s heart.

“What?” Eve asked. She shook her head. Her mind felt fuzzy and thick, as if everything moved in slow motion. “What is it you don’t understand?”

Mei shook her head slowly, side to side. “I feel you in my head and my body responds to yours. There’s a sense that we have to have sex, we have to touch and share, but I don’t understand why. I’m not like this. Not usually.”

Eve licked her lips. How could she explain without telling her secrets? Were explanations all that necessary? Now, when all she wanted was to feel, to touch and taste and share her needs and desires?

She didn’t answer. Instead she reached out and cupped Mei’s cheek in the palm of her hand. Drew the woman forward until the damp heat of Mei’s body enveloped Eve. Mei smiled and shrugged, and her towel fell to the floor. She tilted her head and the one wrapping her hair slowly unwound and fell beside its mate.

Naked, she stared at Eve. Then, as if they’d done this many times before, Mei leaned close and kissed her full on the mouth. Her lips were firm, her tongue an insistent pressure against Eve’s mouth. Groaning, her body throbbing with heat and lust, Eve wrapped her arms around Mei and pulled her slim, damp body close against her own.

She smelled of fresh soap and floral shampoo, of need and want and the subtle hint of forest. The mingled scents filled Eve’s head, an aphrodisiac as powerful as Mei’s sleek, wet body.

Eve opened her thoughts. Opened to whatever she could find in Mei’s mind, and she was immediately swamped in the lush purity of Mei’s arousal, in sensation and expectation and want. Weakened by the power of Mei’s desire, Eve collapsed with her into the welcoming softness of the big bed.

They lay together, lost in the ripe sharing, the images passing from mind to mind without words. Heat spiraled through Eve’s core, and she knew Mei felt the same intense wash of pleasure. Her clothing was nothing more than an inconvenience, so Eve slipped out of her shorts and panties. She held her arms up while Mei peeled the soft tank top over her head and tossed it aside.