
Feral MagnetismLacey Savage
All rights reserved.Copyright ©2006 Lacey SavageNo part of this e-book may be reproduced or shared by any electronic or mechanical means, including but not limited to printing, file sharing, and email, without prior written permission from Changeling Press LLC.ISBN (10) 1-59596-409-6ISBN (13) 978-1-59596-409-0Formats Available:HTML, Adobe PDF,MobiPocket, Microsoft ReaderPublisher:Changeling Press LLCPO Box 1561Shepherdstown, WV 25443-1561www.ChangelingPress.comEditor: Maryam SalimCover Artist: Bryan Keller
This e-book file contains sexually explicit scenes and adult language which some may find offensive and which is not appropriate for a young audience. Changeling Press E-Books are for sale to adults, only, as defined by the laws of the country in which you made your purchase. Please store your files wisely, where they cannot be accessed by under-aged readers.
For the first time in three years, J.C. didn't feel like participating in Fuck Friday, his long-standing weekly guys' night out. "Can't we just... talk?"
Brad Hennessy smirked, showing two perfect dimples through the hint of scruffy five o'clock shadow dusting his cheeks. He was naked except for the pair of black socks he'd left on when he'd hastily discarded his clothing in a pile by the entrance to the small shed. Bright neon light from various amusement rides washed through the narrow window and played over the muscular planes of his chest. "Yeah, right. The day J.C. Hill only wants to talk is the day I turn over ownership of the Hard Delights Amusement Park to one of the janitors."
"Then I suggest you start drawing up papers." J.C. shoved his hands in the pockets of his jeans and turned to look out the narrow window. He was tired and irritable, and he wanted to be left alone.
Outside the mechanical shed of the "Blow Me Away" roller-coaster ride, the night's celebration was in full-force. Tonight's central entertainment, the explosive animated fireworks that Griffin Taylor had promised, was scheduled to go off in just a few minutes, though neither he nor Brad had wanted to remain outside to watch.
Brad's footsteps creaked on the wooden floor, but J.C. didn't turn around. He wasn't in the mood to fuck, though he'd come here tonight intending to do just that.
"Are you sure you won't reconsider?" Unmistakable desire filled Brad's low, throaty voice. His warm breath caressed J.C.'s skin, sending a swirl of heat to his groin.
Since arriving an hour ago, J.C. had been surrounded by sex. Men of all ages came to Hard Delights to indulge in some adult fun away from judgmental prying eyes, and J.C. knew better than anyone how accommodating the park could be for any kind of kinky treat a man desired. And no one was better at showing a guy a good time than Brad, sole proprietor of the amusement park and self-proclaimed confirmed bachelor. At a time when the elders of the Zante pack were forcing every unattached male to find a mate -- a female mate -- J.C. found Brad's aversion to settling down refreshing and completely understandable.
"I have twenty-nine days," J.C. whispered, trying to ignore Brad's thick erection pressing against his back. "Twenty-nine days to choose one of the pack females to become Zante's next Queen."
"So that's what's bothering you? The elders have given us ultimatums before."
J.C. ran a hand through his hair. "Not like this. Ever since... the accident, they've been relentless." He still couldn't utter his father's and older brother's names without his voice breaking. "If I don't take part in a proper mating ceremony by the next full moon, they're likely to hand the entire pack over to the Kölen Alpha."
Brad slid his hands over J.C.'s hips to palm his cock through the confining material of his jeans. Despite the anxiety burning in his chest, J.C.'s dick stirred and hardened under his friend's expert touch. "They wouldn't do that."
"Maybe not," J.C. agreed. "But I'd just as soon not find out."
The Zanteans had been struggling to remain united for almost two decades. Offspring were increasingly rare in unions between mated pack members, and there hadn't been a male pup born in almost twelve years. Morale was at an all time low. Lately, pack members had been abandoning their heritage and choosing to align themselves with the Kölens instead -- a rival pack that made no secret of the fact they were stronger, more loyal to one another, and could continue to produce young.
"Then why not just choose a mate and get it over with?" Brad suggested, rubbing the heel of his palm up and down J.C.'s shaft. "There are plenty of females who'd do anything to be your mate."
J.C.'s chuckle held no humor. "Right. Because becoming Queen of a broken, dispirited pack is such an honor."
Brad moved with feral grace to stand in front of J.C. The smirk was gone. He quirked a single blond eyebrow upward, and J.C. found himself instantly on the defensive. "The Zanteans are a good pack."
"I didn't mean to imply we weren't. What's left of us are, at any rate. But we can't go on like this. My brother should have been the pack's alpha, not me. He'd prepared for the role his entire life. And my father still had decades before he had to step down. Either one of them would have done a better job leading the pack through these difficult times." His voice turned bitter. "I can't even choose a mate."
"Your brother and father were royalty, and so are you." Brad kneeled, pulling down J.C.'s zipper as he dropped to the floor. "But if you want a mate, you're in the wrong place. You won't find one here."
"Good." J.C. pushed his jeans and silk boxers over his hips, freeing his cock. He shifted his hips, thrusting his rod forward to nudge Brad's lips. "Because I don't want a mate. All the pack's females are either already mated, or interested only in the idea of being Queen. I want a lover who'll accept me as I am, flaws and all. Such a female doesn't exist."
Brad didn't answer. He didn't have to. His mouth spoke volumes without uttering a word.
J.C. grabbed fistfuls of Brad's hair as his friend's lips wrapped around his cock, his wet, hot mouth wringing a moan from J.C.'s throat.
"Why can't I find a woman like you?" J.C. asked, only half-joking. "Fuck Fridays saved my life when we first started our weekly ritual."
Brad released J.C.'s cock with a loud pop. His full lips shone with saliva and pre-cum as he glanced up. "The feeling's mutual. I still can't look at another man's cock without seeing yours." He ran the tip of his finger over the drop of pre-cum oozing from the tip of J.C.'s rod. "So thick. So long. So utterly mouthwatering."
As if to demonstrate, he welcomed the entire length of J.C.'s cock back inside his mouth, his palms cupping J.C.'s balls and gently squeezing. Brad then moved slowly, placing open-mouthed kisses on the tip of J.C.'s cock before taking the full length between his lips, his tongue caressing the underside of the shaft with small, sensual twirls.
Blood roared in J.C.'s temples and he ground his teeth to keep from moaning again. Tonight, he could forget about the pressing need to find a mate, about the welfare of the pack now weighing on his shoulders alone. He could forget about everything but Brad's impossibly hot mouth and his firm, waiting ass.
J.C.'s cock thickened and tensed, his balls tightening with the onslaught of oncoming orgasm. He wasn't ready to face his responsibilities yet. He needed more, craved more, as if fucking Brad could quiet all the unease stirring in his thoughts and block out the self-recrimination he knew waited to pounce.
"Stand up," J.C. ordered, fisting his hands in Brad's hair and tugging him to his feet. Brad didn't protest. He rose and wrapped his arms around J.C.'s waist, brushing his lips against his mouth. He tasted sweet and familiar, wholly comforting.
When they broke apart, J.C. pushed Brad down over a wooden table and spread his legs with his knee from behind. "Don't move."
Brad's throaty laugh filled the small room. "I wouldn't dare."
Anticipation pounded in J.C.'s cock, tightening his balls. He crossed the distance to the shelf lining the back wall and picked up the bottle of lubricant he'd left there last week. The smooth skin of Brad's ass enticed him as he made his way back. Squeezing a dollop of lube, he parted Brad's ass cheeks with his fingers. He smeared the slick liquid inside his lover's tight crevice, prodding Brad's anus with his fingertips.
Brad moaned, the sound rumbling from deep inside his chest. "Oh, yeah. Give me your cock. Ride me. Hard!"
J.C. rubbed some of the leftover lube over his cock, stroking his shaft once before positioning the tip against the slick entrance to Brad's ass. "Grip the table. I'm not going to be gentle tonight."
"I'm a big boy," Brad said, wiggling his ass. "I can take it."
They'd done this a hundred times before, but tonight J.C. couldn't take it slow and wait for Brad to adjust to the thick intrusion inside his anus. He thrust once, hard, until his entire shaft was buried to the hilt inside his friend's tight passage. Brad cried out, his scream rending the still air inside the shed and making J.C.'s cock twitch. He waited for only a moment until Brad nudged him on, his groans signaling he was okay.
That was all the encouragement J.C. needed. He thrust in and out with quick, fevered motions, as if his life depended on this fuck. In a way, it did. Brad was the only one who understood him, who really knew how much pressure he was under. In him, J.C. could be completely comfortable, entirely himself. Brad accepted him, took him, welcomed all of him.
Their moans mingled in the quiet room. Outside, the fireworks exploded, sending glittering sparkles over the night sky. From his vantage point, J.C. could see part of what the fireworks depicted, and the images playing over the midnight velvet weren't very different than those he and Brad were painting inside the shed.
A beam of moonlight slid through the window, clear of any cloud cover. It played over J.C.'s face for only a moment before he felt the shift take him. He swore low under his breath. He'd known there was a full moon tonight, but the local weather newscaster had predicted cloud cover and J.C. hadn't thought to take any precautions.
His fingers lengthened, hair sprouting from his knuckles. He watched as his claws dug into Brad's skin, felt his cock expand to fill his friend's ass to capacity. Brad's screams turned frenzied but he kept pushing himself back onto J.C.'s cock until they were both panting. Sweat dripped off Brad's shoulders, its spicy scent mingling with the odor of their combined arousal. The tip of J.C.'s rod slid smoothly in and out of the tight ring surrounding Brad's anus, his rough strokes threatening to send them both over the edge.
The thin silvery beam of moonlight played over the wooden table but narrowly avoided touching Brad's flesh. He remained in his human form while J.C.'s nose and mouth lengthened into a muzzle and fur sprouted from his chest. J.C. groaned, closed his eyes, never stilling his thrusts. Brad's ass tightened around him, milking him in hot, warm silk.
The door slammed.
J.C. turned, his eyes snapping open in a haze of lust. He hovered on the edge of orgasm, the rush of release flooding his cock, pounding in his balls. He saw the woman standing by the door and he grinned, unable to make sense of why she was there, unable even to judge whether she was real or whether his overheated imagination had conjured her out of thin air.
Her brilliant blue eyes widened with shock and fear. Her pretty mouth gaped open as she stared at the scene unfolding before her. She wore a red sundress with a broad black bow wrapped around the middle, like an offering or a gift waiting to be unwrapped. Wavy blonde hair hung around her shoulders looking tousled, as if she'd been running her fingers through it all night.
J.C. couldn't help himself. If she wasn't a figment of his imagination, she'd certainly stepped into the wrong fairy tale.
"Well, well, if it isn't Little Red Riding Hood," J.C. said, pounding hard against Brad's puckered hole. His thighs shook with the effort of holding back his cum. Brad's moans almost drowned out his words. "This isn't grandma's house, babe. And here, the Big Bad Wolf will definitely eat you."
The woman's mouth worked as though she'd either reply or scream, revealing perfect white teeth. She did neither as her eyes rolled into the back of her head.
She fell at J.C.'s feet just as his orgasm burst forth, his seed coating the inside of Brad's ass in slick cream.
Brad's own release wasn't far behind. He spasmed rhythmically, cum squirting freely from his cock, coating the table and dripping on the floor. The heady aroma of semen teased J.C.'s nostrils. His fangs embedded themselves in his lower lip as the last of his own cum dripped from his rod.
With a sigh, J.C. at last forced himself to withdraw his spent, softening shaft from the taut constraints of Brad's slick channel.
"Who is she?" Brad gasped when his cock finally stopped twitching.
"Dunno." J.C. bent to check the woman's pulse. It beat steady and strong beneath his fingertips and her chest rose and fell with the rhythm of her breath. Cum dripped off the hem of her red dress.
He groaned. "She's not gonna be happy when she wakes up."
"Where'd she come from?" Brad stood peering down over the woman, one eyebrow cocked as though he'd never seen a human female before.
J.C. pointed at the wooden door leading to the park. "I'm guessing you left the door unlocked."
"Why would I lock it?"
The expression on Brad's face told J.C. he really hadn't seen a reason to. A large sign stated clearly the mechanical shed was meant for Employees Only, and all Hard Delights employees knew better than to barge in on a Fuck Friday without knocking. Which left only curious park visitors, like the woman in red still sprawled on the floor.
"You knew this was bound to happen sooner or later, didn't you? Some horny visitors getting a little too frisky and looking for a place a little more private?"
Brad shrugged. "Yeah, but I guess I figured they'd be..." His voice faded as he gestured in the direction of their uninvited guest.
"Men," J.C. finished for him. "You figured they'd be men, and we could all have a good laugh about it... after we'd fucked. Right?"
Not even the slightest hint of embarrassment tinged Brad's cheeks, but those irresistible dimples reappeared as he grinned. "Guilty as charged."
J.C. threw his hands up. "Help me get rid of her."
Brad's face drained of color, his lips thinning into a bloodless line. "Get rid of her? You don't mean..."
J.C. rolled his eyes and gave Brad a playful clip on the ear. "Don't be absurd. I just don't want her in here when she wakes up." He grabbed his jeans from where they'd fallen on the floor and pulled them up, not bothering to find his boxers first. The denim hugged his calves and he struggled to pull the pants past his knees. He yanked hard, then tugged again when nothing happened. The clear sound of splitting fabric resonated through the room.
"You're not really planning on going out there like that, are you?"
J.C. swore low under his breath. He'd been so preoccupied with the woman at his feet he hadn't realized he was still in mid-change. Glancing up at the window, he noticed the moon had disappeared. The fireworks continued to explode across the sky, but he couldn't make out the location of the silvery moon. Normally, he could shift at will, but on a full moon night the magnetic pull of the beams held powerful sway over his ability to change shape. The lunar phase regulated the shift, and he needed to be in direct contact with a light beam to be able to either complete the change or turn back to his human form. In the meantime, he was stuck in limbo.
"Yeah, sure. The wolf-man running amuck through a gay amusement park. That would be all over the news first thing tomorrow."
Brad chuckled. "Any publicity is good publicity."
Abandoning his attempt to put on clothes, J.C. tugged on the chain connected to the single light bulb casting its pale glow over the room. The light disappeared with a tiny metal click, plunging them into darkness. Well, relative darkness, at least for a fraction of a second. The colorful fireworks flickering over the night sky lit up the inside of the shed like the 4th of July.
"Now what?" Brad asked.
"Now you move away from the window." J.C. positioned himself in the path of any moonbeams that might make their way through the glass. He sat cross-legged on the floor beside the woman. "And we wait for her to wake up."
"I can take her out myself if you want."
"That's a generous offer, but the owner of the park carrying an unconscious woman past the cotton candy and condom booths would raise more than a few eyebrows. No, I think it's better if we wait. No one knows me, so I can just say she's my sister who got lost looking for me if anyone questions us on our way out."
"Do you think we should move her? Make her more comfortable?"
It was J.C.'s turn to chuckle. "She's unconscious on a wooden floor. She has no idea whether she's comfortable or not. Besides, the only other place I can put her is on the table, and I doubt that would be any better."
Brad slid along the wall to sit on the floor across from J.C. The last of the fireworks fizzled and dimmed, leaving the room shrouded in shadow. In the darkness, Brad's pale hazel eyes glittered like gemstones. "She's beautiful, though, isn't she?"
J.C. tried to keep his tone neutral. "If you like that sort of thing."
In truth, he hadn't been able to stop thinking about the way her breasts pressed up against the thin material of her dress, her nipples clearly outlined through the cloth. He wondered whether her areolas were the color of dark chocolate or a pale, rosy pink. Her legs went on forever under that short skirt, and he couldn't help but picture the creamy skin of her thighs leading up to a perfect, wet cunt.
"What sort of thing? The blonde bombshell look?"
J.C. kneaded a knot at the back of his neck in a vain attempt to relieve some of his cramping muscles. This wasn't the first time he'd been stuck in mid-shift, but he certainly hoped it would be the last. His entire body screamed in protest.
"Pussy," J.C. said bluntly.
"Ah. When was the last time you had some?"
"A few months. No, wait." J.C. frowned, trying to remember. A year? Two? Had it really been that long? "I don't know," he said at last, shaking his head. He was glad he could no longer see the woman as clearly, though her rhythmic breathing assured him she was still alive. She'd come to eventually; hopefully after he'd returned to his human form and put on some clothes.
"Want to have a little fun?" Brad's voice took on that throaty tone he used when he was horny and he'd just come up with a new kinky game to play.
"No."
"Aww, come on. We'd wait for her to wake up first."
"No."
"But you didn't even hear what I had to say."
J.C. sighed. "I'm not interested."
"Really? An hour ago you were lamenting your lack of a mate, now a prospective candidate lands at your feet and you're not even willing to consider a quick fuck?"
J.C.'s teeth ground together before he even realized he'd clamped his jaw shut. "I said I was going to choose a mate from among our pack, not a human with no knowledge of our ways. The mere idea that this woman might be my mate is absolutely ridiculous." His pulse quickened as he glanced at her fallen form. His cock twitched, as if disagreeing with his statement. J.C. looked away before any more body parts could get any ideas.
"Fine, then, no more talk of mating rituals. But the elders didn't say you couldn't fuck a human, right? Though I'm willing to bet she's not the kind of woman who'd indulge in a threesome, which is too bad."
J.C.'s mouth went dry. A threesome? With her? Images assaulted his mind in the dark, each more carnal than the last. He pictured the blonde on her knees, sucking Brad's cock while J.C. fucked her from behind, his dick buried to the hilt in her creamy, wet pussy. He bit his lip to keep from groaning. "Something tells me she'd be willing."
"How about a friendly wager, then? We'll ask her when she wakes up. If she agrees, you win. Not only will we get to fuck her, but..." Brad paused as though searching for a suitable wager. "I'll tell the elders I'm willing to choose a mate. That'll buy you at least another couple of months before they come after you again."
J.C.'s mouth gaped open. The pack's confirmed bachelor -- gay bachelor -- was willing to choose a mate? "Why would you do that?"
He could almost see Brad shrugging in the dark. "I need to do it sooner or later. I just haven't been properly motivated yet."
J.C. shook his head. There was more to this than his friend was letting on. "And if you win?"
"If I win... you let me fuck you for once."
Ah. That explained it. J.C. and Brad had been getting together for their weekly Fuck Fridays for years, but they had an agreement. J.C.'s ass was strictly off limits. He'd never let anyone penetrate him, no matter how horny he got or how often he fucked another man.
He was a Zantean shifter. The pack's alpha. Royalty. No one fucked him up the ass.
"You're awfully quiet. Is that a yes?"
Wanting to make Brad believe he was actually thinking about his proposal, J.C. took a deep breath before responding. When he did, the answer was simple.
"No."
\*
Eve awoke to the smell of sex.
Not the slightly musky odor that permeated the air in her bedroom after she spent a night enjoying the pleasures of her favorite vibrator -- pungent but ultimately tame. No, this was the full-blown, tangy, mouthwatering aroma of unbridled lust. It made her think of hard naked bodies, of sweat and arousal, of semen splattered all over the floor.
She kept her eyes closed, inhaling the scent through shallowly drawn breaths. This was the first time she'd been able to enjoy anything that even vaguely reminded her of an orgasm in... much too long. As much as she liked to tease her best friend, Angelina, about her lack of a sex life since Griffin abandoned her, Eve's own erotic adventures left a lot to be desired. There were only so many nights a woman could spend in the company of a vibrator before even that took a backseat to a good book and Late Night with David Letterman.
"Her breathing's changed. Did you notice?"
"You're imagining things."
Eve's heart quickened at the sound of the masculine voices. She gritted her teeth, trying to yank her thoughts away from nakedness and orgasms and back to the problem at hand. Where was she?
She remembered walking through the gates of the Hard Delights amusement park, finding the fake beard in the trash can, listening outside the doors of the shack, and then...
"Do you think she's awake?"
Eve stifled a gasp as images of two gorgeous men entwined in some of the hottest, wildest fucking she'd ever seen flashed behind her closed eyelids. Her inner muscles fluttered in response while her imagination insisted on replaying everything she'd seen before the world went black. One of the men was blond, lean, with perfectly shaped muscles and a firm ass she'd have loved to dig her fingernails into. Except someone had already beaten her to it.
The other man had been darker, taller, more muscular. He looked strong and menacing, power and authority drifting off him in waves.
And then he'd started to change. She replayed the scene in her mind. His fingers lengthening, his nails giving way to sharp, deadly-looking claws, his mouth and square jaw transforming into... a muzzle?
She swallowed hard and dug her fingernails into her palms to keep from crying out.
"Oh yeah, she's definitely awake. Come on, Sleeping Beauty, if you're up, get up."
For a moment, Eve considered pretending to still be unconscious, but discarded that idea as quickly as she'd thought of it. They'd never let her get away with it.
She opened one eyelid and peered past her lashes, but all she could make out were shadows, dark patches of inky walls and absolute pitch black. Blinking both eyes open, she struggled to sit up. Her head felt like it weighed a hundred pounds. A quick poke and prod of her forehead with her fingertips told her she'd hit her head on the way down. Surprisingly, that seemed to be all the damage she'd done.
"Why are the lights off?" she mumbled while her hands flew down the length of her body to check for any other injuries. Her elbow was sore. She assumed she'd banged it on the way down.
"Because this is a private party."
The male voice made warmth pool low in Eve's belly. Awareness flittered to life in every nerve ending. Dismay crept in. She was not going to be attracted to a man who... who what? Who might not be a man at all?
He sounded so arrogant, so sure of himself. She straightened her spine and turned her head, trying to pinpoint his location. "That much I was able to see for myself."
He made a sound that could either have been a chuckle or a snort of disbelief. Whatever it was, she decided to ignore it.
"Didn't anyone ever tell you you're supposed to lock the door when you're... you're..." She waved her hand in the air while searching for the right word. Her nails scraped against something solid.
Something warm and solid.
"Fucking." He was so close his hot breath tickled her cheek. Cream dampened her panties.
She should have snatched her hand back, she knew, but she couldn't help herself. Even covered with hair, his skin was soft, deceptively so. Underneath the silky texture, his muscles tensed at her touch. Her fingers roamed upward, feeling every tendon flex as she trailed her hand higher. A moan crept up to her throat as more images assaulted her heightened senses. Being in the dark seemed to have done wonders for her libido, even though every logical thought her brain possessed screamed at her to run... or at least to take careful stock of the situation.
She would probably have explored every inch of him if he had let her. Thankfully, one of them still had some common sense left.
He snatched her wrist in a palm that felt much too large. "Why are you here?"
Eve licked her suddenly dry lips. "I was looking for my friend."
"In here? Brad? Is she one of yours?"
An amused chuckle echoed from the other side of the room. "Does she look like she's one of mine?"
"She doesn't look like she belongs to anyone. And that's the problem."
Eve bristled. "I'm not property, so stop talking about me like I am." She snatched her wrist out of his grip and rose to her feet.
The fireworks had stopped blasting their erotic imagery all over the night sky, Eve realized belatedly. How long had she been out?
Panic crept in, replacing her arousal. Her knees wobbled as she turned a full circle on her high heels. "I appreciate the hospitality, but if you'll point me to the door, I'll be on my way."
A strong set of arms wrapped around her waist and pulled her down, yanking her breath from her lungs. Before she could regain her balance, she fell backward and landed hard on what could only be a lap. His lap. And she couldn't explain away the erection pressing against her ass as a cell phone or a lighter. Nor could the fur covering his belly be rationalized away as a fuzzy sweater.
Despite herself, Eve wiggled her hips, just a little. He rewarded her with a sharp intake of breath in her ear. "You're not going anywhere until you and I have a little chat."
She turned slightly, bumping his nose in the process. Or at least, what she hoped was his nose. It could very well have been his muzzle, or whatever other strange appendage he might have sprouted since she'd passed out.
Fear snaked through Eve. Was he dangerous? What did these two men -- if that was even the right word -- plan to do with her? Having been around Angelina since fifth grade, fairies and other magical creatures weren't foreign to her. She knew the world was full of paranormal beings, friendly and otherwise. Sitting on the wolf-man's lap, though, brought home a reality she'd never thought she'd come face to face -- or ass to cock -- with.
"I'd do what he says if I were you," Brad suggested from his spot. She was grateful he was far enough away. She didn't think she could remain sane while two hard male bodies sandwiched her between them.
Eve tried to keep her voice even. "And why's that?"
"Because normally, J.C. Hill isn't the kind of guy you want to mess with."
J.C.
She found she liked the way that sounded. It fit him, somehow. Direct and succinct, with a touch of mystery. "Normally?" she echoed.
"Yeah. On a normal day, J.C. is a force to be reckoned with. This entire month has been anything but normal. So right now, he's either your worst nightmare, or your darkest fantasy."
J.C.'s cock twitched against her ass and he growled, low and menacing in her ear. She couldn't tell if the warning was meant for Brad, or for her.
Eve swallowed hard. "Is there a difference?"
The inside of J.C.'s head pounded like the roaring firework explosions that had shimmered and faded only minutes before. He struggled to think logically about the situation, but the shift had done more to his ability to reason than he'd realized.
He was too aware of Eve sitting on his lap, her feminine scent enveloping him, her curvy ass pressing against his shaft. Her effect on his self-control was disturbing, to say the least. He couldn't remember the last time he'd felt more than a slight stir of interest in the presence of any female, and this woman -- this human woman -- had managed to get him hard as a rock in two seconds flat by doing nothing more enticing than... speaking.
"What exactly did you see when you walked in here?" J.C. asked. He might as well get right to the point. There was no reason to prolong the inevitable. If she'd seen him shift, he had some serious damage control to do.
"I saw two grown men having sex. I figure what you do behind closed doors is none of my business."
The matter-of-fact tone she used made him laugh out loud before he could catch himself. The sound echoed strangely even to his own ears. He saw Brad's body jerk forward in surprise at the unfamiliar noise. J.C. coughed to cover up his mirth, but it was too late.
"What's so funny?" She sounded affronted, like he'd just insulted her.
"You actually mean to tell me you don't see the irony in what you just said? The door was closed, lady. Therefore, whatever was going on behind it was, in fact, none of your business. Yet you barged in anyway."
She cleared her throat and shifted in his lap, sending another jolt of awareness to his groin. J.C. gritted his teeth.
"Yeah, well, it was an emergency."
"It was?"
"My friend has disappeared. I thought she might be in danger."
"And what exactly led you to think she was in here?"
"I heard screams."
"You haven't had much sex, have you?"
Her body tensed in his arms. "I don't see what my sex life has to do with anything."
"I was just thinking that if you'd had sex... say, more than once or twice, you'd realize that the sound of a man groaning with pleasure and a terrified scream are quite different from one another."
She squirmed against him, struggling to rise. He tightened his grip and pulled her closer, feeling her soft, curvy body mold against his own. It was all he could do to keep from demonstrating one of those manly groans he'd just described.
"Yeah, well, you weren't exactly being... discreet."
"Lady, did you read the sign on the gate when you walked in here? This is a gay amusement park. What do you think men do after the fireworks go out?"
"Eve."
"What?"
"My name," she said. "It's Eve, not 'lady,' 'babe,' or even 'Little Red Riding Hood.' Eve."
Eve. J.C.'s first instinct was to tell her it was beautiful, just like her. Only the knowledge that Brad sat a few feet away, silent and watchful, kept him from making a fool of himself. He clamped his mouth firmly shut. He wasn't the kind of man who uttered cheesy lines in vain attempts to get a woman into bed, no matter how hot she might look in a little red dress.
"Tell me, Eve, why aren't you afraid of me?" By all accounts, she should have run away in fear the moment she realized what he was. Humans had no concept of the otherworldly. They didn't go around offering themselves as vampire snacks or werewolf companions. So then why was this one still sitting in his lap as though she interacted with werewolves trapped in mid-shift every day of the week?
She turned toward him fully, swinging her leg over his thigh and straddling him. She wrapped her arms around him, her breasts pressing into his chest, her pointy nipples brushing his bare skin through the thin material of her dress.
"I know you think I should be." The sound of her throaty voice went straight to his cock. "But I don't believe you're quite as scary as you'd like people to think."
Until today, he hadn't particularly cared whether anyone thought of him as scary. Humans didn't even know werewolves existed. He'd wanted his pack to think of him as authoritative, sure. Powerful, definitely. Assertive, commanding, and maybe even a bit domineering, absolutely. But scary? What would that have accomplished for the Zanteans?
A few werewolves who'd recently abandoned the pack for greener pastures could benefit from seeing him as frightening and perhaps even dangerous, but he had more pressing concerns than a few runaways.
Yet she was right, he realized with a sigh. He wanted her to see him as something more than what he was -- a reluctant leader who couldn't even keep his people together. At least for tonight, he wanted to be a creature straight out of myth, a powerful being who could toss her over his shoulder and carry her back to his den where he'd fuck her until her voice was hoarse from screaming his name.
"You're wrong," he said, fighting to keep his voice even. "You don't know anything about me." He trailed the back of his fingers up her spine, careful not to graze her with his claws, then dipped underneath one silky strap and molded his large palm around her neck. "I could snap your vertebrae with nothing more than a flick of my wrist."
"And why would you do that?" She sounded so innocent, so naïve. Her nonchalance had to be a game. She was playing with him, that much was clear. The question was, why?
"Fun. Sport. Entertainment. Why else do predators terrify their prey?"
"Turn on the light."
Her words startled him almost as much as the feel of her hand on his cock. He hadn't even realized she'd moved it there until she shifted back slightly to give herself enough room to touch his throbbing dick. His shaft twitched against her palm.
It was his turn to play dumb, but it took all his self-control to keep his voice steady. "And why would I do that?"
"Because I want to see you. If you're really as scary as you led me to believe, I'll just pass out again and you'll have nothing to worry about."
"And when you wake up? Then what? You'll run straight to the National Enquirer and spill the beans about the Connecticut wolf-man?"
Her silvery laugh sent a warm shiver down his spine. "Right. Who'd believe me?"
"Tabloids aren't about truth, just about sensationalism. And you have to admit, you've a hell of a story to tell."
"So what's your plan? You're going to keep me here until I forget what I saw?" She trailed her hand lower to cup his exposed balls. This time he couldn't fight the groan that broke free from his throat. "Or what I feel?"
"It sounded like a good plan when I wasn't sure if you'd seen anything at all."
"Right... because all women faint at the sight of your cock."
Brad chuckled, reminding J.C. of his presence. Between the shifting darkness and Eve's enticing scent, body and voice, he'd forgotten his old friend was still in the room.
Could he do it? Could he turn on the light and let her see him in mid-shift? She'd never accept him the way he was. She'd likely faint again, just as she said, or at least scream, terrified.
He sighed. What did he have to lose? She'd already witnessed his change, and she was too strong-willed to pretend she hadn't seen anything at all.
"Fine. I'll turn on the light. But at the first sight of female hysterics or the slightest hint of panic, I'm knocking you out myself."
\*
Eve sat on the floor, listening to J.C.'s footsteps as he walked through the shed. Her heart thundered, drumming an insistent rhythm in her ears. She had a mental picture of J.C.'s lean body, the hard planes of his chest, his powerful thighs, burned in her mind, but she fisted her hands at her sides, digging her fingernails into her skin.
What if he looked nothing like she remembered? What if he was so hideous, so monstrous, she'd pass out again from one look?
Eve gritted her teeth, daring herself not to scream no matter what terrible vision the light unveiled. In the dark, J.C. had been sexy, witty, and... gentle with her. She wanted to think of him that way for the rest of her life, but she also needed to see the truth for herself. There were many myths passed down through the ages about werewolves, and none depicted them as kind or loving.
Could J.C. be the kind of legendary monster that snatched children from their beds simply to delight in a midnight snack? Did he chase women for nothing more than the entertainment their screams provided? Deflower virgins and bathe in their blood?
Eve shook her head at her own foolishness, willing her pounding heartbeat to return to normal. She was just about to ask what was taking so long when light flooded the room, making her squint against the unexpected brightness.
"Enjoy this, babe. It's likely the only look at a real werewolf you're ever going to get."
Eve's breath caught in her throat as her sight returned. J.C. stood before her, completely naked, his hands on his hips. Unmoving, he looked like something out of an adult fairy tale. Not a shred of clothes marred the lean perfection of his body. Eve blinked a few times to clear the last of the cobwebs from her vision, then allowed her gaze to travel up J.C.'s hard length.
His feet were mostly human but for the fur covering the tanned skin of his toes. His muscular, well-shaped legs sported more fur, though not as much as she'd expected. Strong thighs gave way to a nest of dark hair at their apex, from which sprung the most magnificent cock Eve had ever seen. She gritted her teeth to keep from gasping, unwilling to give him the satisfaction.
Thick and impossibly long, J.C.'s cock looked even better than it had felt in her hand only minutes before. Veins snaked up the length of the imposing shaft, leading up to the large mushroom head. He was fully aroused, rock hard and straining. His dick twitched slightly at her inspection and she glanced up to see his jaw clenched tight.
A smile played over Eve's lips. Obviously, he wasn't immune to her, either. The thought should have been unsettling and absolutely unwelcome, but it had the opposite effect. Her pussy tightened in response and cream flooded her core. She could almost feel his cock entering her, his length stretching her needy cunt to capacity.
J.C. growled. "Well?"
The sound startled Eve out of her sexy reverie and she stared at his face, so unlike a human's. His nose and mouth had lengthened, turning his jaw into a wolf's muzzle. He kept his jaws tightly clenched so she couldn't see his teeth or his tongue, but she imagined they were as ferocious as any beast's. His dark, wavy hair formed an unruly mess around his features and his face sported thick stubble. Only his eyes, brilliant blue and flaming with intense awareness, reminded her that he still expected an answer.
She shrugged nonchalantly. "That's it?"
J.C.'s eyes widened to the size of saucers. He dropped his hands from his hips and tried to flex them into fists, but his elongated claws wouldn't allow it. "What do you mean, 'that's it'?"
Eve leaned back against the wall and stretched her legs out in front of her. "After all your talk, I'd expected you to look more... monstrous."
Brad chuckled. "She's got you there."
"Hey!" J.C.'s voice sounded like a low growl. "You're the one who fainted, remember?"
"I haven't eaten lunch today," Eve lied. "I have low blood sugar. It must have caught up with me."
J.C.'s mouth opened as though he meant to say more, but he clamped it shut again. Eve had a brief glimpse of long incisors and a pink tongue. She shuddered at the thought of what that tongue could do to her already heated pussy.
Outside, a man laughed as he walked in front of the window. A shadow fell on the wooden floor, then disappeared. Moonlight snaked inside in its wake. A perfect silver beam played over the dark fur sprinkling J.C.'s chest and as Eve watched, he began to change.
His claws retracted, his muzzle receding to reveal full lips and a prominent nose. The hair that had covered so much of his body disappeared, leaving a light dusting of curls in its wake. Eve groaned.
J.C. the werewolf had been magnificent.
J.C. the human was breathtaking, drop-dead gorgeous, and sexy as hell.
Her gaze slid lower and she breathed a long sigh of relief. His cock hadn't changed. It remained just as long and thick as it had before he'd turned back to his human shape, and just as stiff.
She fought the urge to tear off her sundress and leap into his arms. Instead, she rose unsteadily to her feet. "Look, this has all been very... educational, but I really should be going."
"Oh, I see." J.C. reached for a pair of jeans lying on the floor in a corner of the room. "You barge in here, see me as I really am, and you expect to just walk out afterward. Do I have this right?"
A hint of panic rose like bile in Eve's throat. "Sure. Why not?"
"We've been over this. Humans don't simply get to realize werewolves exist one day and have their eyes opened to all the secrets of the otherworldly. It doesn't work that way."
"What do you propose, then?"
J.C. zipped his jeans. They were torn in a number of spots along the thighs and at the waist, as though sharp claws had shredded them. She didn't even want to know what would have prompted J.C. to try to dress in a hurry while he was still in werewolf form.
"I don't know," he said at last. "But I'm not ready to just let you walk away."
Eve released a breath she didn't know she'd been holding. "I have to find my friend. Angelina came in here to sabotage the fireworks display, but I haven't heard from her in hours, and I'm worried."
Brad pulled on his jeans. "Angelina Moore? Griffin's ex-lover?"
Hope fluttered in Eve's chest. "Yes. Have you seen her?"
"Not tonight, no, but I know Griff thought she'd show up here. He was right, then? She came for the fireworks?"
"Yes." Eve swallowed hard. "He stole her formula, the only thing she ever had that was uniquely hers. The only thing she could be proud of. But Griff knew she planned to come here, didn't he? Angelina's scheme wasn't a surprise at all."
"He knew she couldn't pass up an opportunity to get back at him, yeah. That's why he advertised the fireworks display in every major newspaper and magazine in the entire state."
"Oh, God." Eve slid back down to the floor. "Do you know what he planned to do with her once she got here?"
Brad laughed. "Yeah. He planned to fuck her senseless."
Eve gaped at him. "He planned to rape her?"
Brad's laughter died on his lips. He frowned and knelt before her. When he spoke, his voice was low and indulgent, as if speaking to a child. "No. He planned to tell her he loved her. By the end of the evening, he figured he'd have her convinced."
That sounded almost as preposterous to Eve as her misunderstanding of the situation. "He stole her formula and abandoned her. Right. That has love written all over it."
"And what makes you such an expert?" J.C. asked, pausing briefly while buttoning a navy shirt over his flawless chest.
Eve licked her lips. "I never said I was. But I'm no fool, either. There has to be more to this plan of Griffin's than he's told Brad."
"Believe what you will." Brad rose and crossed the distance to the window. "But I know Griffin, and he loves that woman as much as I've ever seen a man love someone else." There was a touch of wistful yearning in his voice when he spoke, and it sent a wave of answering longing to Eve's stomach. Before she could analyze her emotions any further, she got to her feet and headed for the door.
She gripped the doorknob and turned back to J.C. "I'm going to find my friend." Lifting her chin in a silent challenge, she dared him to stop her.
That's when J.C. lunged.
"Let go of me this instant." Eve's voice was surprisingly level, considering the apparent anger roiling just beneath the surface of her sapphire eyes. "Angelina's in danger. I know she is."
J.C. tightened his grip on her arm and watched her grimace. "You're not calling the shots, little girl. You don't think I'm fierce? You're not scared of me? I'll give you a reason to be."
She peered at him intently, as though trying to memorize his face. "This isn't you."
His gut churned as if she'd hit him. He tried to feign nonchalance, but his words came out low and sullen. "What isn't me?"
"This." She waved a hand in the air, the gesture encompassing all of him. "The threats and the viciousness. It's not you."
"And you know me so well, do you?"
She shrugged. "Perhaps better than you think."
He released her arm. "This is ridiculous. I'm not just going to let you walk out of here."
Eve rubbed at the spot where his fingers had gripped her arm. Angry red imprints stood out vividly against her flawless ivory skin. "What do you want me to do? Cry? Beg? Plead?"
Shame washed over him and he averted his gaze. "Of course not."
"Good. Then you have no reason to keep me here another minute."
He scowled. Couldn't she be just a little afraid? It wasn't every day that a werewolf showed himself to a human. He liked her first reaction better, when she'd fainted instantly at the sight of him. The more he thought about it, though, the more he realized she'd probably fainted at the sight of two men fucking and not because one of them was in mid-shift. He didn't want to ask and have that theory confirmed. It would be much too embarrassing.
Behind him, Brad cleared his throat. "Let the girl go. She didn't see anything."
"What?" J.C. and Eve asked in unison, turning to gape at him.
Brad grinned, showing a dimple in his right cheek. "You didn't see anything as silly as a werewolf, did you, darlin'?"
Great. Brad's deep south accent only came out when he was trying to impress someone. J.C. himself had fallen for it more than once. He crossed his arms in front of his chest and waited. This ought to be good.
"Uhh..." Eve hesitated. "No?"
"Of course not." Brad took a step forward to emphasize his words. "Because werewolves don't exist. And no one would believe you if you started spouting off about them anyway. Isn't that right?"
Eve cleared her throat. "Yes. Yes, of course it is." She turned to J.C. and quirked an eyebrow at him. Her lips twitched upward. "The only thing I saw here were two men having a good time."
Her smile grated on his nerves. She'd seen a hell of a lot more than that, and the fact that she could be so nonchalant about it irked him on a fundamental level. He was going to show her what it meant to be a pack alpha werewolf; what it meant to be afraid of one.
He matched her expression with an arrogant grin of his own. "Then you won't mind if I escort you around the park."
Her face turned serious. "Suit yourself. Though I doubt I'm in any danger from the men here. Their tastes don't seem to run to skinny blondes."
But J.C.'s did. The constant stirring in his groin was permanent proof of that.
He gritted his teeth and yanked on the doorknob, determined not to let her know the effect she had on him. Her bizarre mix of arrogance and naiveté had to be an act. A game. It just had to be.
Thin channels of moonlight flittered through the trees bordering the park, and J.C. took great care to avoid stepping in the path of any direct beams. The last thing he needed was for the shift to hit while he strolled past the candy apple booth. He had enough trouble with one woman knowing about his true appearance. If he started shifting in front of a few hundred people... well, it would be a whole lot harder to convince all of them to pretend they hadn't seen anything.
He took Eve's hand and stalked beside her, keeping her close to his side as they wove through the throng of men. Laughter and the sounds of passion permeated the air, giving the night a surreal, sensual feel. Or maybe that was just the woman beside him. Her hair smelled like apple shampoo, fruity and natural. It drove him crazy.
"Where are you taking me?" she asked at last as they neared the edge of the park.
"Why? Are you afraid I'm going to lead you somewhere away from prying eyes and take advantage of you?"
She gave an almost inaudible snort. "Of course not."
Of course not. J.C. tightened his grip on Eve's hand and clenched his jaw firmly shut. Oh, how her flippant words grated! Didn't she think him capable of taking her, whenever and wherever he pleased?
He stopped behind a cotton candy stand and yanked her to him, pressing her body to his. He gripped her head in both his hands, keeping her lips inches away from his own. Eve's mouth parted slightly and her eyes widened in surprise. Her pupils stood out, large and dark against the backdrop of her blue eyes.
"Maybe you're wrong," he murmured.
She started to shake her head, but he wouldn't even allow that much motion. He had only to lower his mouth a fraction of an inch and he'd be able to kiss her. A tempting thought, but one that would be much too easy.
There was nothing easy about Eve. Every line and curve of her scrumptious body, every tempting word promised a challenge. He wanted to give her one.
He pressed harder against her, knowing his erection would be firm against her belly. Her gaze flickered down to his belt, then back up to meet his eyes. "I could scream, you know."
J.C. tilted his head, listening to the sounds of the park. He'd spent at least one night a week here for the past three years. He knew every one of them. The moans of passion, the cries of orgasm, the buzz of excitement. A woman's scream might cause a few raised eyebrows, but not much else.
He stroked her temples with his thumbs while he ground his hips against hers. Eve's lips parted, a sigh escaping on a flutter of warm breath. It caressed his mouth, made his cock harden so powerfully he thought it might explode.
Abruptly, he released her and turned to his right. He was not going to let her get to him like this. He wasn't going to lose control. And there was no way he was going to have sex with a woman -- not with any woman, even one as... delectable as Eve. Not as long as the elders were pushing him to mate.
He gestured in the direction of a row of trees in the distance. "Come on."
They were still a few minutes away, but he knew the trees bordered a large parking lot on three sides, keeping prying eyes away from the nightly festivities. It was normally used to park trailers and other park necessities, but tonight it would be mostly empty.
Eve hurried to catch up to him. Her ragged breathing rang in his ears and he had to fist his hands at his sides to keep from touching her again.
"Do you really know where Angelina is?"
"If she's still here, there's only one place she would be."
"The fireworks display," Eve murmured as they made their way into the lot. A large flatbed truck that had housed the firework shells earlier sat silently silhouetted against the dark sky. Behind it, an expensive-looking trailer had been set up, but no lights glowed in the windows to indicate it was occupied.
The spotlights that had been set up around the parking lot earlier had been turned off, but the neon glow from Hard Delights glittered through the foliage behind J.C.
It was impossible to find shade out here. J.C. glanced up warily, thankfully to find that the bright silver moon had ducked out of sight behind an imposing cloud.
"That's our best bet. She came here for the fireworks, didn't she?"
Eve nodded. "Maybe I can reach her now."
She dipped two fingers into the valley between her breasts. J.C. swallowed hard, his dick stirring against the hard material of his jeans. His mouth went dry as she fidgeted inside her cleavage and pulled out a black cord. A microphone, J.C. realized with a start. Apprehension snaked up his spine.
"Has that thing been on all this time?"
"What?" Eve glanced at the small object. "Oh, this? Yeah. But don't worry, no one heard us." She gnawed on her lower lip, her eyebrows furrowing. "At least, I don't think anyone heard us. I haven't been able to reach Angelina since minutes after she stepped through the park gates."
J.C. threw his hands up in the air. "That's great. Next you'll tell me you have our entire conversation on tape."
She shot him a look that could melt steel. It almost worked, too. His cock twitched, softening slightly under her withering glare. "Are you always this paranoid, or is it a trait I bring out in you?"
"Oh, it's definitely just you," he assured her. Since he'd met her, his emotions had swerved wildly from the urge to throttle her, to the urge to fuck her senseless. He hadn't been anywhere near this wound up before she strolled through the door of the "Blow Me Away" mechanical shed.
"Angelina?" Eve murmured into the microphone. "Can you hear me, hon?"
A hollow, plastic sound echoed nearby. J.C. slowed his pace, scanning the area. Here, so far away from the center of the park, the sounds of merriment and male groans echoed with no more than a dim buzz.
"If you're there, please say something. I'm worried about you."
The fuzzy white noise sounded closer now. Something crunched under J.C.'s foot. He stopped and peered at the smooth dark asphalt. There, barely visible in the dark lay another microphone identical to the one Eve held close to her lips.
He knelt and picked up the broken pieces. "I don't think she'll be able to answer you."
Eve's face drained of color. She snatched the object from his hand, her lips hardening into a thin line. "I told you she was in danger. If only you'd let me get to her sooner I might have been able to --"
A cascade of giggles, loud and crystalline, cut off the rest of Eve's words. A sharp gasp and a moan followed in quick succession.
Eve dropped both microphones and ran toward the sound, J.C. close on her heels. They careened around the side of the flatbed and stopped beside the open door of the truck.
"Well, I'll be damned." J.C. ran both his hands through his hair and peered inside the cab. The smell of sweat and thick, eager arousal assaulted his senses. "Looks like your friend was in danger after all. The imminent danger of impending orgasm."
\*
Eve was almost at the park gate before J.C. caught up to her. Another few minutes and she'd have been able to leave this place, and him, behind. The van she and Angelina had arrived in waited on a side road not too far from the Hard Delights' entrance. She could have hopped in, driven away, and called Angelina in the morning.
Angelina... who obviously hadn't needed her help.
"Slow down a second, will you?"
J.C.'s gruff voice was laced with amusement. Anger rolled up into Eve's gut. A slow burn scorched her cheeks at the memory of Griffin flat on his back in the cab of the fireworks truck, Angelina riding his cock with the same fervor she might have ridden a mechanical bull at their favorite hangout.
Eve kept walking, elbowing through people as she made her way toward the front gate. It loomed ahead, dark and ominous against the cloudy night sky. "Why? I found what I came for. I'm out of here."
He gripped her shoulder, hard enough to make her halt in mid-step. "You know I can't let you leave."
Eve gritted her teeth and spun around to face him. Neon light from a nearby streetlamp spilled over his features, bathing him in brilliant white light. "Are we having that discussion again? You can't keep me prisoner here. As Brad said, I didn't see anything."
"You'll forgive me if I find that hard to believe." He hadn't released her shoulder, but his grip loosened and he slid his hand down the length of her arm, pausing when he came to her wrist. His touch sent a shiver down her spine. An answering longing thrummed deep in her pussy.
Despite her earlier assurances to the contrary, she believed he was dangerous. Oh, he wouldn't hurt her, she was sure of that. But the smoldering blue eyes and the way he watched her, as though prepared to devour her whole, frightened her. Her body responded to his on a primal level. Her nipples tightened, rubbing against the fabric of her dress.
"I didn't come here to spy on you, if that's what you were thinking."
"Right. You came for your friend."
Eve searched his voice for a hint of skepticism or irony, but found neither, so she nodded. She had no illusions about J.C.'s motives for helping her find Angelina. It had been obvious he'd needed to keep an eye on her while she wandered through the park, but how long could he keep this up? Was he going to follow her to her apartment? To work the next morning? The prospect was absurd.
A flutter of apprehension rose in her belly along with an image of J.C. strolling into her bedroom, shedding his clothes and curling up on her king-sized bed. Her breath quickened and she shook her head to dislodge the image, but it seemed to have settled behind her eyes. She could see him every time she blinked, the perfect length of his hard body, the magnificent cock jutting out from the thick patch of curls.
"I'm not going to keep having the same argument with you," Eve insisted when she could finally trust her voice. "It's late, and I have to work tomorrow. I need to get home."
J.C.'s eyes crinkled at the edges. It was the closest she'd come to seeing him smile, she realized with a start.
"You have to work on a Saturday?"
Eve swore inwardly. She didn't have to go to the lab on the weekend, but she would if it meant getting away from here as quickly as possible. She nodded, not trusting her voice to utter yet another lie.
"It's already almost 2 AM." The hand on her arm slid to her hip. She stiffened while energy coursed through her veins, making her fingers tingle with the need to reach out and touch him in return. "Why not stay just a little bit longer?"
A man with skin the color of dark ebony pushed past J.C. His muscles screamed for attention, encased in a white tee shirt that showed them off to their full advantage. Just a few hours ago, Eve would have turned her head to follow the man's progress through the crowd, mentally undressing him as he walked. Yet now her gaze remained fixed on J.C., whose angular features and mass of wavy hair falling almost to his broad shoulders held her interest like a set of raw muscles could never do. Damn. This wasn't good. Not good at all.
J.C. took a step closer, filling her line of sight with his body. Heat radiated from him, tore through her defenses. She gnawed at her lower lip and tried to avoid his gaze, but she knew she couldn't deny him anything he asked. Worse yet, she didn't want to.
His mouth lowered to within a breath of hers. She could swipe his lip with her tongue if she tried. They'd been this close once before, but he hadn't kissed her then. Would he kiss her now?
Eve decided she didn't want to wait to find out. She encircled her arms around his neck and pulled him down the remaining fraction of an inch until their mouths melded together, tongues reaching, tasting, flicking over one another. Arousal coiled in her stomach, thrummed in her pussy. Cream coated her panties. A sound echoed around them, emanating from where their lips met. She was moaning. The impact of that knowledge sent another rush of heat down to her pulsing inner muscles.
She broke away just long enough to ask, "Where? Where can we go?"
J.C. glanced over his shoulder to the "Blow Me Away" mechanical shack. They would have to go through a throng of people to get there. It would take minutes. She couldn't wait that long.
Eve shook her head. "Somewhere else. Somewhere closer." She hated the pleading note that crept into her tone, but she couldn't have hidden it from him even if she'd tried. Her entire body hummed with arousal, throbbed with need.
For him. For a werewolf.
The thought was too astounding to contemplate, and her brain wasn't willing to think about anything but what was about to happen between them. She saw the answering arousal in his own eyes, the hunger lying in wait just beneath the dark edges of his gaze.
"Follow me." He took her hand and led her to a nearby circular, spinning, twisting ride. The name on the flickering green neon sign read "The Sucking Vortex of Ecstasy." She was too distracted to even chuckle.
They ducked out of sight beneath a ledge at the base of the "Vortex" that reached just below Eve's chin. Shadows obscured them from view. Above, the metal whirl of the ride drowned out the noises from the park. It would also drown out the sounds of her pleasure.
She shuddered with anticipation. "Yes, here. This is good."
"It's only going to get better."
She chuckled, hoping the sound would mask the hint of nervousness that managed to trickle through her arousal. "This arrogance seeping from your every pore... is that a werewolf thing? A guy thing? Or what?"
He knelt and tugged on her hand until she crouched low to the ground. His hand slid up her thigh, under her dress, spreading her legs wide. Cupping her mound in his palm through the cotton of her panties, he grinned a predatory grin that glimmered white even in the obscuring shadows.
God, she loved that grin.
"I'm not going to answer that... not with words, anyway."
"Oh." She gasped as his finger smoothed down along the edge of her panties, then slipped beneath to touch the wet heat of her engorged pussy lips. "Oh..."
"You're so wet." His voice held a hint of wonder, as if he marveled that he could incite that kind of response in anyone. Or maybe he was simply surprised he could have that kind of effect on a woman.
"You made me that wet." She bit her lip, wondering if she shouldn't have said anything. This was sex. Just sex. They shouldn't even be talking. It wasn't like she was going to see him again.
He looped his fingers under the elastic and peeled her underwear down over her hips slowly as she rose slightly to help him. Throwing the cotton panties to the ground with one hand, he used the other to spread her labia open. She felt her cream coat his fingers while a new wave of liquid heat trickled down the inside of her thigh.
Oh, God. She couldn't remember the last time she'd been this turned on. Was it the man? The beast she knew to be lying just beneath that controlled exterior? Or was it something else?
Perhaps it was nothing more than the sexual energy in the air. Everywhere she'd turned, she'd seen men enjoying each other's bodies. Hell, even J.C. and Brad had been fucking when she'd first met them. Why was she going to be the only person in Hard Delights to not have an orgasm tonight?
"I bet you taste as sweet as you feel," J.C. murmured. She could barely hear him over the noise of the machine above.
She didn't have to answer, but she whimpered in reply anyway. His mouth clamped down on her pussy, the tip of his tongue snaking out to delve into the crevice leading to the opening to her soaked channel. She grabbed hold of his hair with shaking hands, digging her fingernails into his scalp. If she hurt him, he didn't show it.
His hot tongue speared her opening, sweeping inside her until she gasped, her knees buckling beneath her. He lapped at her with long, thick strokes, as though finally devouring her whole. She felt the beginnings of her orgasm begin to coil in her belly, thrumming and pounding against the inner walls of her pussy.
"Fill me. Please."
She wasn't sure if he heard her, but soon he had a finger poised at her entrance, circling her opening with the tip. His tongue moved up to her clit, swirled around the hard nub as his finger speared her cunt. It slid in easily so he added a second, and then a third. The intrusion stretched her gently. She gasped and clenched her inner walls in response. "Yes. Oh, J.C. Yes!"
He caught the plump edge of her pussy lip between his teeth and tugged as his fingers thrust inside her. She groaned. A bead of sweat rolled down her temple and into her cleavage.
Applying more pressure than before, he skimmed the ridge of her clit with the tip of his tongue. Eve's pussy ached with barely controlled desire as he repeated the motion. She was so close... so desperately, unbearably close.
And then she was over the edge, floating on a scream wrought from her throat against her will. The orgasm started low in her belly and uncoiled through her veins until she was shaking, shuddering from the overwhelming release... in his arms.
She didn't know when he'd risen, or when he'd wrapped her in his arms, but there she was, her body convulsing from the power of her orgasm and his warm hands rubbing circles down her back. He kissed the top of her head. The gesture wasn't sexual. It was... comforting.
A flicker of panic rushed through her. Something wet hit her chest. She raised her hand to swipe away the sweat and realized it wasn't more perspiration. Tears ran unheeded down her cheeks.
Embarrassment flooded her as thoroughly as her orgasm had only moments earlier. She untangled herself from his embrace and stood, hitting her head on the top of the ledge. She gritted her teeth against the pain and smoothed her dress, avoiding his gaze.
She ducked low to avoid the ledge again, intending to head straight for the gate without looking back. The reality of what she'd done was too much to bear. She'd never lost control like that. It wasn't just unnerving. It was humiliating.
Though she still wore her clothes, she felt vulnerable, naked in every sense.
J.C. grabbed her wrist and she fought the urge to break away. He was going to try to stop her again. They'd had this argument too many times and she was drained, physically and mentally. She had no more arguing inside her.
Not knowing if she could face him, she didn't turn around.
J.C.'s breath warmed the back of her neck. "Come back next week."
He released her hand, and Eve didn't wait to see if he'd say more. She did the only thing she could.
She ran.
The colored lights of Vernon, Connecticut, glittered outside Eve's office window like stars in the night sky. They made her think of the moon, auspiciously absent tonight, which in turn made her think of J.C.
She sighed and pushed away a stack of paperwork. Everything made her think of J.C.
She rose from her desk and threw a white lab coat over her charcoal pantsuit before leaving her office. The hallway, painted a pale peach color thought to be comforting to visiting research and development donors, was empty at this time of night. Eve should have gone home long ago, but the only things that awaited her in her apartment were a frozen dinner, an empty bed, and another lonely sleepless night.
Glass doors slid open noiselessly at Eve's approach. A woman wearing a lab coat identical to Eve's stood in the central laboratory, peering intently into a microscope. She looked young, too young to be a scientist.
She glanced up when Eve entered. "Doctor Benning? Is there something I can do for you?"
Eve waved her away. "No, thank you..."
"Bonnie."
Eve smiled. "Right. Bonnie. You're Daniel's new research assistant, aren't you?"
A faint crimson blush stained Bonnie's cheeks as she nodded, making Eve wonder whether she and the head of the Kraus Genetics Foundation were more than lab buddies. She pushed the unwanted mental image away. What Daniel did in his spare time was none of her business. Still, the girl seemed so... young. In reality, she must have been at least twenty-one. Daniel had probably picked her from a hundred qualified applicants willing to do anything for an internship at his prestigious genetics research foundation.
"Don't let me interrupt your work." She tried to match the girl's cheery grin. "I just came to check on my latest test subjects."
"Yes, Doctor Benning. Let me know if there's anything you need."
Eve made her way past rows of microscopes each designed to perform a different function and stopped in front of a stainless steel table that ran the length of an entire wall. She picked up a test tube, held it to the harsh neon light and glanced at the white powdery residue coating the inside of the glass.
"Your spores doing okay?"
Eve jumped at the sound of the unexpected masculine voice, almost dropping the test tube. Instinctively, she brought her hand up to her chest, trying to calm her hammering heart before she turned to face her boss.
"I hadn't heard you come in."
Daniel shrugged, nonchalantly. "I think you and I need to talk."
Eve bristled. Placing the tube back among a circular container holding eleven others, she willed herself not to say anything impulsive. Daniel Kraus had never believed in her research. Using fungus spores to predict the spread of common airborne viruses seemed ludicrous to him, and outside the immediate interest of his facility. Unfortunately for him, the United States government, whose health officials hoped she might discover a way to stop, or at least slow the progress of airborne biological warfare, funded her research.
"Why?" she asked at last, turning to face him.
His gaze swept over her from head to toe. "You've been working too hard."
She took a deep breath and met his eyes evenly. In his late thirties, Daniel Kraus had the kind of imposing presence that made interns, both male and female, swoon when he entered a room. Brown hair cropped short over his ears showed only a hint of gray at the temples, while his hazel eyes danced as though he always had some sort of secret to impart to anyone willing to listen. His full lips often twitched in amusement, serving to accentuate that impression.
"We all work hard, Daniel. It's what you pay us for."
He pushed his hands into the pockets of his lab coat and bounced lightly on the balls of his feet. "Ah, but that's not all you do, is it?"
Memories of J.C.'s mouth clamped on her cunt, his fingers thrusting inside her eager channel assaulted Eve from all sides. Sensation coursed through her, tightening her nipples, making liquid heat gush from between her thighs. She pressed her lips together, hoping the sudden wave of arousal didn't show on her face.
Fat chance of that.
Eve fought to lighten her tone, pushing away images of J.C.'s flat abs, his broad shoulders, his dark eyes. "I have no idea what you mean, and I don't think my personal life is an appropriate topic of conversation."
Daniel grinned, showing perfect white teeth. The smile was predatory, reminding her -- like everything else -- of J.C. "Sure it is. At least, it is at four in the morning."
Eve glanced at her watch, holding back a groan. When had it gotten so late? She looked over Daniel's shoulder for Bonnie, but she was nowhere in sight. She must have realized it was way past her bedtime, too.
"Fine. You want me to go home? I'll go home."
"Not yet. I want to show you something." He turned and headed for the door, and Eve saw no option but to follow.
He led her down the hall and ushered her into his office. It was a spacious room with floor-to-ceiling windows that bathed the place in sunlight during the day. At night, they offered a perfect view of the city.
One end of the office housed the usual furniture: a wide mahogany desk, leather chairs and a matching sofa, bookshelves and a widescreen TV Daniel used for teleconferences. The other end had been turned into a private lab. Stainless steel and flawless white marble floors gave that part of the room a sophisticated, scientific appearance. All of it smelled lightly of disinfectant.
He paused in front of a large, state-of-the-art microscope. "Have a look."
Despite herself, Eve had to admit she was intrigued. Daniel never showed her what he was working on, and she'd learned long ago not to ask. Their scientific methods and approaches were too different, but they worked well together... when they weren't working on the same project.
She pressed her eyes to the lens. Red shapes came to life before her, swirling in circular patterns. "What is it?"
"That's the million dollar question, isn't it?" She could hear the pride in his voice, the barely-controlled need to share his breakthrough. She waited for him to continue. "It's the answer to a legacy."
Eve swallowed a sigh. That was just like Daniel. Talking in riddles and not saying much. "I don't understand."
"What would you say if I told you I found a way to cure your friend of his condition? Permanently."
She blinked twice, trying to read between the lines and figure out Daniel's meaning. Her boss loved to play games. The more obscure his scientific references, the happier he was when someone finally figured out why his latest discovery was so important. "You lost me again, Daniel."
His brows furrowed, forming a crease just above his nose. "I'm talking about J.C. Hill. He's a sick man, as you well know."
Eve's heart pounded against her ribcage. How did he know about J.C.? What did he know about J.C.?
"Lycanthropy," Daniel continued in a calm voice, as though he was talking about the day's weather, "is a disease, like cancer, AIDS, or multiple sclerosis. And I can cure it."
Eve gripped the edge of the stainless steel table, feeling the metal bite into her palm. "You've got to be kidding."
"On the contrary. I spent the last twenty years perfecting this formula, and it's finally ready."
His smug, self-satisfied grin made bile rise to the back of Eve's throat. "Why are you telling me this?"
"Because you're in a perfect position to administer the cure."
"I am?" She needed to sit down, but there were no chairs in this part of the office, and the leather couch looked so far away. She wasn't sure her feet would carry her without her knees turning to Jell-O on the way there.
Daniel picked up a black plastic case and handed it to her. She opened it with trembling fingers. A syringe and a vial of clear liquid sat on red velvet lining, like a morbid offering. She snapped the lid closed.
"Inject the alpha with the serum, and its effects will spread through the pack like wildfire."
Eve gnawed on her lower lip. "How?"
"Genetics. J.C.'s boys' night out is the perfect opportunity for the formula to do its job. Brad will be cured next, as will anyone the two of them have sex with from there on. It's fool-proof."
Thoughts churned through Eve's brain, flashing by before she could formulate them into coherent sentences. The last week had been a jumble of strange situations and bizarre phenomena. She rubbed the bridge of her nose, yearning for the days of never-ending spore analysis.
"How do you know so much about J.C.?" she asked at last.
Daniel shrugged. "Any good scientist does his research before embarking on a new project, you know that. When J.C.'s father died, I was the one who performed the autopsy. I know more about lycan anatomy than anyone else."
Doubt nagged at the back of Eve's mind, but she couldn't quite grasp its source. Something in Daniel's explanation didn't make sense. "Did J.C.'s dead father tell you about his son's fondness for men?"
He waved away her question as if flicking away an annoying insect. "Don't be absurd. Knowing their physiology isn't enough. I needed to know the alpha's habits, his hobbies, his impulses and obsessions."
He still hadn't answered her question, but she didn't push him. Her head spun. "Why don't you inject him, then? Why do you need me?"
She had the satisfaction of seeing him frown. It wasn't something Daniel did often. "Because he trusts you. He'd never let me get that close to him."
"Will this hurt him? Kill him? What kind of cure are we talking about?"
Daniel's smile didn't quite reach his eyes. "Nothing like that. He'll simply no longer be affected by the full moon, or anything else that might cause his shift, for that matter. He'll remain human for the rest of his days."
Human? Well, that would be good, wouldn't it? She'd seen the aggravation being stuck in mid-shift had caused J.C. Maybe a cure for lycanthropy wasn't such a bad thing. It would certainly solve a lot of problems for him. And for her.
The notion of a relationship between a human and a werewolf was absurd. But if J.C. was no longer in danger of turning into a creature of the night when they were together... well, things could be different then.
Eve slid the case into the front pocket of her lab coat. "I'll talk to him. I can't promise anything else."
Daniel gripped her arm as she turned to leave. "No. You can't let him know what the formula does. Werewolves don't see their condition as a medical anomaly that needs to be cured. For them, it's simply a way of life."
Pain flashed behind Eve's eyes as the migraine that had been lurking dimly in her head all night finally hit with sudden force. She shook off Daniel's grasp. "I'm not promising anything. To be honest, I wasn't planning on seeing J.C. again. Ever."
Liar. She saw the accusation in Daniel's dancing hazel eyes, in the upturn of his lips. "You'll have to do what you think is best for you, of course. Take the day off and think about it."
Eve nodded and headed for the door. Back in her office, she pulled out the box from her pocket, shed the lab coat, and grabbed her briefcase and keys.
Outside, the sky wasn't quite black anymore. Dawn would break soon. The digital display of her wristwatch read 5 AM.
It was Friday morning. J.C. would be at Hard Delights tonight.
And so would she.
In one short night, Eve had managed to take every rebellious feeling J.C. had ever harbored against finding a mate and turn it into a mass of lust and confusion. He still didn't want a mate any more than he'd wanted one a week ago. That hadn't changed. Unfortunately, neither had the pressure the elders were applying. He had just a little over three weeks to mate before the elders took "decisive action," whatever that meant. J.C. had a feeling he didn't want to find out.
What had changed, though, was him. He couldn't stop thinking about her. Every flash of yellow-gold hair, tumbling down a woman's back, every slip of red material that crossed his path, every pair of sapphire eyes boring into his made his cock jolt to throbbing awareness.
J.C. leaned his elbows on the metal railing overlooking the park. The cool evening air caressed his face with a feather-light touch. It was a busy night. Men walked in holding hands, whispering in each other's ears, anticipating a night of delightful adult fun. He scanned the crowd, his eyes searching, seeking, desperately yearning for one glimpse of her.
"Don't tell me you just want to talk again." Brad's teasing voice washed over him, reminding J.C. of why he was really here.
He turned and leaned back against the railing, eyeing his lover. They'd been doing this for years, yet until last week, J.C. had continued to look forward to their nights together as though it were the first time. There was something about Brad that drew J.C. to him, and it was more than his solid build, his thick cock, or his perfect, tight ass. The man carried himself with the kind of confident presence that only came from being truly self-assured. J.C. envied him that.
"No, definitely not. I'm here to fuck. Hard. Take my mind off things."
Brad grinned. He'd been doing entirely too much of that lately. "Things? Or a certain blonde?"
J.C. grabbed Brad's chin in his fingers, tilting his head until he could smell the strong scent of his lover's aftershave. Old Spice. His favorite. "You're the only blond I have a thing for, and you know it."
"Then why --"
J.C. silenced him with a kiss. He'd meant it to be gentle, but it turned savage, raw, before he even knew what happened. His teeth scraped across Brad's tongue when the man's lips parted to allow him entry. He tasted blood.
Thank the Goddess there wasn't a full moon tonight. He didn't want a repeat of their last time together.
Brad broke away, an appreciative smirk spreading over his face, making his eyes crinkle. "Now that's the man I remember." He glanced over J.C.'s shoulder and his grin deepened further, bringing out his dimples. "If you're not interested in any other blonde, then I suppose I shouldn't tell you who just strolled through the front gate."
J.C.'s heart pounded against his ribs. Blood roared in his head, thrummed in his veins. His cock twitched in protest at being confined.
And he hadn't even turned around yet.
"This is stupid," he said, though more for his own benefit than Brad's. Taking a deep breath, he spun on his heel and let his gaze wander. It didn't take long to spot her.
Men swarmed around Eve as though she drew them all like a magnet. J.C. rubbed his hand over his jaw. He hadn't shaved, and the light bristles tickled his palm.
Maybe she did attract them with unnatural force. Maybe she had some sort of magical ability to draw the attention of every man in sight. Maybe that's why he couldn't stop thinking about her.
He craved an explanation, something simpler than feelings, emotions, or anything else that would only get him into trouble. He did not want a mate. And a human mate was worse than no mate.
Tonight, Eve wore another short dress, this one a soft powder blue. He didn't have to see her eyes to know the color would set them off to their full advantage. Her legs peeked from under a ruffled hem and he couldn't help but stare at the lean lines of her calves, her elegant ankles, her white strappy lace-up sandals.
A growl formed unbidden on his lips. She looked incredible. No, better than incredible. She looked delectable, good enough to eat. He wanted to run his tongue over every inch of her body. The dress pushed up her cleavage and her breasts bounced with every step she took. Last week, he hadn't been able to pay much attention to her breasts. He vowed to change that tonight.
A tall black man whispered something in Eve's ear as she walked past him. She tossed her head back and laughed, the silvery sound of her giggle reaching J.C.'s ears on a breeze. He clenched his jaw, fighting the jealousy that settled like lead deep in his gut.
This wasn't happening. The feelings pounding at his heart were too much to control, and they were happening too fast.
They shouldn't be happening at all!
"I think she's seen us," Brad said.
She had. Glancing up to where they stood on the wrap-around wooden platform of the "Blow Me Away" roller coaster, she gave a small wave and headed in their direction.
J.C. gritted his teeth. Arousal poured through his veins, set his balls on fire. It drove hot tremors into his hard dick, making it rise and sway in the confines of his pants. If he felt this way now, what would fucking her do to him?
Panic washed over him. He didn't want a mate, but Goddess, he wanted -- needed -- to fuck Eve.
"I'll take the wager," J.C. whispered to Brad as Eve climbed the steps toward them. "A threesome," he added quickly. "If you win, I'm yours."
Brad inhaled sharply. "What changed your mind?"
J.C. didn't have time to answer before Eve reached them. It was better that way... he didn't think he could have admitted it aloud anyway. Besides, Brad would think he'd lost his mind, but on the contrary, he was thinking clearer than he'd been all week.
A threesome was the answer to all his problems.
He'd get to fuck Eve without the danger of that impulsive action turning into more than it needed to be. After all, any woman willing to fuck two men at once wasn't mate material.
J.C. repeated that thought in his mind like a mantra as Eve stood on her tiptoes and brushed a light kiss over his jaw. "Shall we go inside?" Her breathy whisper made his gut clench in anticipation.
"You don't waste time."
She laughed again, that same silvery sound. "What would be the point?"
"I wasn't sure if you'd return, especially after the way you ran out of the park last time."
Her brilliant blue eyes clouded over for only a moment, then she shrugged and the beaming smile returned. "I've been thinking about you all week."
"What a coincidence," Brad said. "So has --"
"No one," J.C. interrupted before Brad could say something they'd both regret.
Eve raised a perfect eyebrow. Black liner circled her sapphire eyes, making them shimmer in the park's hard neon light. "So has no one?"
J.C. grunted and stormed through the flimsy door into the shed. Inside, the dim overhead light flickered in the dusty interior of the small room. He heard the door close behind him and the bolt swing into place. He smiled at Brad's thoughtfulness. Obviously, he didn't want them to be interrupted again any more than J.C. did.
With one last look around the room to make sure he had everything he'd need close at hand, J.C. turned and took Eve in his arms. A becoming shade of red coated her cheekbones as she grinned up at him. Her eyes sparkled. "Now who's not wasting any time?"
"As you said... what would be the point?"
She tilted her head, a smile lifting the corners of her mouth. Her nipples pressed into his chest through the thin barrier of her dress. He lowered his lips to the side of her slender throat and her breathing quickened as he nipped the silky flesh.
"Werewolves don't bite, right?"
"Not the same way vampires do, if that's what you mean."
She released a sigh that could only have been relief.
J.C.'s pulse quickened. He ran his hands down her back and cupped her ass, pressing her against him, showing her how much he wanted her. "You still maintain you're not afraid of me?"
She shook her head and murmured, "There's nothing to be afraid of."
But her voice had quivered for a moment, just enough to make J.C.'s balls tighten in their sac. Oh, yeah. He'd have her exactly where he wanted her tonight. She'd be at his mercy.
"Then why don't you let me take control?"
Her giggle held more than a tinge of nervousness. "What do you mean?"
"You'd have to trust me. Should be easy for a woman who isn't afraid of werewolves, don't you think?"
She hesitated. He could almost hear her brain working on the puzzle he'd presented. Should she let him do with her as he wished? What if she'd misread him? What if he really was capable of hurting her?
J.C. didn't push her. He waited until she made up her mind. Another sigh escaped her lips, this one softer, more resigned. "All right."
J.C. flashed Brad a grin over Eve's shoulder. The other man had blended into the shadows at the back of the room, waiting for an indication of Eve's willingness to play with both of them tonight.
"Take off your dress," J.C. commanded.
She stepped out of his arms, tossed her small purse in a corner of the room, and slid the thin straps of her dress down her shoulders. Her creamy breasts sprung free. Dark areolas and tempting pointy nipples took his breath away. He held his breath as her dress slipped lower, revealing her flat stomach, her curvy hips, and the smallest slip of a thong he'd ever seen. She pulled that down as well without needing to be told.
Her pussy looked magnificent in the dim glow. He hadn't been able to see much beneath the ledge the previous week, but now he could tell she was a natural blonde. A thin strip of hair ran down the length of her cunt, but the rest of her was bare and, he knew from experience, smooth and soft and wet to touch, to taste. Her pink, enlarged labia begged for attention.
"Your turn," she said, standing in the middle of the room, her gaze fixed on his.
"I'm giving the orders, remember?"
Her brows furrowed, but she didn't contradict him. He saw her swallow hard. Was she nervous? Maybe even a little frightened?
"See that table?" He pointed to the wooden piece of furniture in the middle of the room. It was square, and had perhaps served as a dining table that sat four at one point. Deep grooves ran the length of the tabletop and thick legs supported its weight. There were no chairs.
Eve nodded.
"I want you to bend over it."
Her kohl-rimmed eyes widened as she took in the length and height of the table, then her gaze moved to the shadows. To Brad. She jumped and tried to cover her breasts with her arms while her hands flew to her pussy. "I didn't know you were still here."
Brad's wolfish grin gleamed white from the darkness, but he didn't answer.
"I asked him to stay," J.C. said.
He waited for her reaction. If she was going to run, this would be the time to do it. "Oh, you're good." She tilted her head and watched them both. "You're very good."
J.C. smiled in spite of himself. "Bend over the table, Eve."
She licked her lips. The static electricity of excitement practically hummed in the dusty air of the small shed. After what felt to J.C. like an eternity, she inclined her head. "As you wish."
She did as he'd ordered, but it was J.C. who hadn't been prepared for what that meant. Her rounded, tight ass was perfect. Smooth, unblemished skin begged for his touch. The sight of her exposed pussy, swollen and wet, made drops of pre-cum leak from the tip of his cock.
He spread her legs apart so they were in line with the thick table legs, then reached to a nearby shelf and pulled down a thick strand of rope. When he kneeled to tie her to the wooden slabs, the scent of her arousal flooded his nose, made his mouth water. He clenched his jaw to keep from tasting what he smelled. Yanking on the rope, he made sure she wouldn't be able to unravel the knots with a simple tug.
Eve whimpered in protest for only a moment before falling silent. He quirked an eyebrow as he worked at the rope. Perhaps she'd decided she couldn't trust him after all.
Her tits pressed down against the tabletop. He saw the creamy mounds from the side only, but the tempting areolas were now hidden from his view. J.C. instantly regretted not having lavished attention on them as he'd planned. It was too easy to lose control around her, to forget himself. He had to make sure that didn't happen again.
He walked around her and knelt on the other side of the table to secure her wrists. She wriggled slightly but the bonds were tight and he knew she couldn't break free without his help. He drank in the sight of her lying spread-eagled on the table.
Brad stepped out of the shadows, one hand already working at the zipper of his jeans.
"He's not just going to watch, is he?" Eve asked. A tremor laced her voice, but she hid it well. J.C. admired her for that.
He unbuttoned his shirt and shrugged out of it, his gaze never leaving the swollen folds of her pussy. "I think it's safe to say Brad is going to be a willing and very eager participant in all of this."
Eve made a sound, something between a curse and a whimper. What would it be like, J.C. wondered, to be tied down securely, waiting for two men to do Goddess only knew what with you? If she was afraid, she didn't show it, but her evident arousal spoke volumes.
Sliding his pants and boxers down his legs freed his cock. J.C. crossed the distance to the table and pressed his hard shaft against the swell of her ass. "Just like you."
"Bad boy," she murmured. "Bad, bad boy. I'm going to get you back for this."
"Maybe," he agreed, caressing her ass with his palm. He raised his hand and let it fall. The smack echoed in the otherwise silent room and she gasped her surprise. "But not tonight."
Clutching the table legs until her fingers hurt, Eve stared at Brad's cock poised just in reach of her mouth. It was slightly longer than J.C.'s, but not as thick, and the wild thatch of hair between his legs was a dark blond in contrast to J.C.'s deep black.
She took a deep breath, resisting the urge to trail the tip of her tongue over the small slit at the top of Brad's dick. He hadn't touched her, and Eve thought it was because he waited for a sign of approval from J.C.
"Brad and I work well together," J.C. said. He stood behind her, his hands spreading her ass cheeks as his thumbs caressed her flesh. She squirmed beneath the scrutiny. She didn't have to see his eyes to know they were fixed on her most intimate places.
Her heart pounded in her ears and arousal thrummed through her with a slow, steady beat. She wanted this. She wanted him. And if she had to take Brad, too, to have J.C., she'd do it. The man was gorgeous. It wouldn't be much of a hardship.
"I have one request," Eve murmured. Her lips brushed against Brad's cock as she spoke.
"I thought I made it clear you're not in a position to give orders," J.C. said, landing another slap on her ass. The blow stung, but the gasp torn from her throat was more from surprise than pain.
"You're right, though I never said it was an order. Just a request," she repeated. "But it's important."
Brad's hands tangled in her hair, but he didn't shove his cock forward. "Give the girl whatever she wants," he whispered.
J.C. sighed. "All right, let's hear it. What's your pleasure, sweetheart?"
You, she wanted to say. Just you. But she didn't. Instead she said, "Condoms. Promise me you'll both use condoms when you enter me."
There was a pause as a hush settled over the dim room. Eve held her breath.
"As you wish," J.C. said.
She heard him step away. A moment later, something flew over her head, sending a light breeze down her bare back. Brad caught the object and held it in front of her face. A box of Trojan Magnum Warm Sensations lay in his palm. Large Size Condoms, the box declared.
Eve nodded. "Good. Did you know one in four HIV-infected people don't know they have the disease? Most people never bother to get tested, and aside from abstinence, this is the only way to ever be sure." She knew she was rambling, but now that she was so close to having them both fuck her, she found her thoughts spinning a mile a minute through her head. Would they be gentle? Rough? Careful? Would they take their time? Would they worry about her pleasure, or just theirs? Her restraints chafed her wrists, serving as a painful reminder of what she was about to allow them to do.
"We don't have HIV, Eve," J.C. said as Brad threw the box back to him. She heard him open the cardboard package and tear the plastic protective wrap. She could picture him sliding the condom over his throbbing cock. A groan settled low in her throat but she bit it back, afraid it would come out on a trembling sob.
"Maybe you're one in four."
J.C.'s laugh held no humor. "Our species doesn't suffer from human diseases. Our genes aren't compatible in that manner."
"Oh. Then why did you have condoms on hand?"
"I knew you'd ask," he said simply. "And I couldn't expect you to believe me."
"Oh," she repeated, feeling foolish. Sweat coated her palms. She shouldn't be nervous. She'd been wanting this all week, thinking about J.C. fucking her every waking moment. Now it would happen. Better yet, she wouldn't have to fuck him alone. That meant she could think of this as simply sex for the sake of sex, a fun romp and nothing more. Certainly nothing that could endanger her heart.
"I'm ready," she whispered, and was surprised to find she was. Her voice didn't shake. Her heartbeat had slowed. She took another deep breath and looked up at Brad.
Concern was etched on his features. "Are you sure?"
She nodded. "Absolutely."
J.C. brushed a soft kiss over the back of her thigh, startling her. She hadn't realized he'd knelt. Not knowing where he stood or what he intended was going to be entirely too disconcerting.
He flicked his tongue over the folds of her labia, sending a shiver down her spine. The pure tenderness in his touch shocked her and she arched her back as much as the restraints would allow.
Emboldened, Eve nudged Brad's cock with her tongue, finally allowing herself a small taste. He moaned and closed the rest of the distance between them. His cock pulsed against the roof of her mouth as she took the entire length between her lips. She closed her mouth and let his cock lie on her tongue, enveloped in her wet warmth. Then she released it, letting his throbbing shaft slip out between her lips. She nuzzled the hard length, licking along the deep purple rim.
Brad shuddered, his fingers clenching and unclenching in her hair. "Oh, yeah. Oh, fuck, yeah."
J.C. sped his rhythm on her pussy. He flicked his tongue along the crevice between her ass and her cunt, lapping at the cream flowing from her core. Eve's inner muscles clenched as she struggled to keep up with the onslaught of sensation pouring through her body. The restraints rubbed her wrists and ankles, adding a twinge of pain to the pleasure flowing into her cunt.
J.C.'s fingers found her clit, positioned just at the edge of the table. He gently tweaked the engorged nub and a sudden, unexpected orgasm crashed through Eve. She gasped and cried out around Brad's cock, sucking it harder, deeper inside her mouth as she rode the wave of the climax. She felt the wetness drenching her nether lips, felt J.C.'s tongue carefully lick every last drop of cum attempting to escape down her thighs.
Spent, she released Brad's cock and collapsed, grateful for the rope binding her. She couldn't have stood up, anyway. Her pussy ached with contented fulfillment and her nipples rubbed against the hard surface of the tabletop.
"Good girl," Brad teased. His cock glistened with her saliva, the dark veins protruding against his pale skin. "Very good girl."
Foolishly, she grinned up at him, encouraged by the praise. She wanted to please them, she realized. Both of them.
J.C. thrust a finger into her pussy, making her cry out again. "Are you ready for more, sweetheart?"
More? Could her body take much more? Eve could only nod.
J.C.'s cock prodded the opening to her pussy with a gentle nudge. She leaned back into it, her heart hammering against her chest. She wanted him in her. Needed him in her.
"Please," she murmured. J.C. got the message. He slid the entire length of his thick cock inside her waiting channel. Her inner muscles clenched around it, grasping him as he thrust in slow, rhythmic motions in and out of her.
She moaned as the feel of him made its way through every nerve ending. It felt so good, so right, so perfect.
Oh, God. Heaven.
She couldn't even think in concrete sentences anymore. The rhythm of J.C.'s thrusts, the feel of his sac slapping against her thighs was too much to bear. She reached out with her tongue for Brad's cock again but before she could taste him, he moved back.
"No. I have something else in mind for you."
He moved out of her line of sight and panic edged its way into her stomach. Behind her, J.C.'s cock pumped in and out of her cunt, his groans mingling with the cries and laughter from the park.
The tabletop creaked and she instinctively knew she wasn't alone on the table anymore. There wasn't enough room for two people to lie side by side, but as soon as she felt Brad's weight on the small of her back, she understood.
"Oh, God." The words came out as a hoarse croak.
He was going to fuck her ass. And she was going to let him.
The rip of another condom sleeve filled the air and Eve waited in anticipation. Something wet and cold splashed against her ass and she clenched her muscles in protest. "Relax. It's just lubricant." To prove his point, Brad smeared the silky cream over her hole. She unclenched her muscles and he drove a finger inside her tight anus.
"Oh!" She cried out again at the intrusion, but neither Brad nor J.C. seemed intent on letting her off the hook any time soon. Brad's finger slid out of her with a pop. She breathed a sigh of relief, then held her breath as she felt the tip of his cock nudging her entrance.
She'd had anal sex before. Twice, in fact. But her pussy had been empty at the time. Would she be able to endure the onslaught of ecstasy? She gritted her teeth, ready to find out.
She didn't have to wait long. Brad's cock slid into her, slowly at first as she adjusted to his girth. Her pussy tightened even further around J.C.'s shaft. She could still feel his gaze on her ass, now stretched to its maximum capacity by Brad's shaft.
They moved inside her in unison, as though they'd done this hundreds of times before. Eve closed her eyes, refusing to think about that possibility. Their breathing combined to fill the room. She moaned, groaned and cried out, no longer caring whether she was being too loud, or enjoying this too much.
J.C.'s fingers dug into her hips and he increased his rhythm. She could picture his face, strained as he neared orgasm, the intensity in his eyes deepening with the need to come. Brad's hands gripped the edges of the table around her face as he fucked her ass, thrusting as deep inside her tight channel as his cock would go.
Tears slid freely down her cheeks now. It was the second time she'd cried while on the brink of orgasm, but she was beyond caring, beyond embarrassment. When it came, her release was thunderous, pounding through her, slashing at her defenses, making her scream. She felt J.C. going over the edge with her, stilling his thrusts as his cock pumped his seed.
Brad wasn't far behind. His low, guttural growl was more restrained, but unmistakable. They rode the wave together, flesh slamming against flesh as their bodies quivered with the final spasms of climax.
She felt entirely sated, fulfilled, and much too delighted. She wanted to see J.C.'s face, to run her fingers over his jaw, to kiss those luscious, plump lips. She wanted to hug him, to feel his body molding to hers as they lay together, spent.
Brad slid out of her first and leapt off the table onto the floor. "Goddess," he murmured. "Taking that bet was the smartest thing I've ever done. Who cares if I didn't win? If mating with a woman is always like this..."
His voice faded and died out as blood rushed to Eve's ears. She only heard one word, over and over in her mind.
Bet.
"What..." The words died in her throat, drowned by the sting of tears. She licked her dry lips and tried again. "What bet?"
J.C. knelt and started to undo the knots holding her ankles to the table. Colors swirled in front of Eve's eyes, intensifying with every moment that passed while no one said anything.
"What bet?" she repeated, louder this time.
"Brad thought you wouldn't have a threesome," J.C. said.
Her right foot was free. She flung it backward, hitting something soft. J.C.'s knee? His thigh? Not his groin. She'd have known. He didn't make a sound. "So this was all a bet. And you won. How... wonderful for you."
Humiliation washed over her and she jerked backward, the rope that still tied her wrists biting into her skin. Heat rushed to her cheeks. She gritted her teeth and swallowed back tears that threatened to spill over her cheeks. Crying in the throes of orgasm was one thing. But crying because of a man... or a werewolf, was another. And it wouldn't happen. Not here, where they could see. Not anywhere. She wouldn't give them the satisfaction.
No one said a word as J.C. worked at untying the knots. When he slid the last of the rope from her wrist, she jumped off the table and reached for her dress. She slid it over her head, not caring where her thong had fallen.
Her gaze swept the room, taking in both Brad's and J.C.'s naked bodies. Their faces were masks, no longer readable. Not that she could trust anything she saw there anyway.
She bolted for the door.
"Eve, wait."
J.C.'s voice.
She turned the knob. It wouldn't budge. The bolt was still drawn across the door. Frantic now, she yanked at it, dug her fingernails under the slab of wood until it gave.
J.C. leapt after her from across the room, no doubt afraid she'd tell the world about his kind in a rush of vengeance. He knocked over a terra cotta pot sitting on a high shelf as he reached for her. It crashed to the floor, shattering in dozens of dark clay pieces.
Like her heart.
She tore her arm out of his grip and rushed outside, gasping in lungfuls of air with every ragged breath.
He was naked, so she knew he wouldn't follow, but she refused to take her chances just in case modesty ranked lower on his list of priorities than the secret of his species.
So she ran.
Past lovers entwined in passionate embraces. Past the black iron gate and the two men stationed there. Past the main road, past trees, past stumps, past tufts of dead grass and fallen branches, into the heart of the forest bordering the park.
She ran, ran, ran.
Eve didn't know when the tears started in earnest. Perhaps it was the moment she left the park behind, the exact second she stepped through the gate and out of J.C.'s world. Or maybe it was when she finally found herself alone. The press of hard, male bodies had surrounded her from all sides inside Hard Delights, and the mere sight of a muscled chest made her breath hitch as she ran for the gate.
She was glad to be away from them; away from all of them.
Only a thin sliver of moonlight penetrated the thick foliage of the forest, but it was enough to illuminate a few feet in front of her. Branches snapped beneath her feet as she sprinted between massive pines and sycamores. She hadn't bothered to stop and lace up her sandals when she'd bolted from the shed, and the soles of her feet had taken a beating as she ran over the rough terrain.
Her feet would heal. The stitch in her side would disappear. Her lungs would stop burning and the lactic acid igniting her leg muscles would eventually recede. But the pain that ripped through her heart with every ragged breath would still be there tomorrow, and the day after, and the day after that.
Eve didn't want to think about it. As long as she kept running, she was safe. Her emotions couldn't flood her with shame. Humiliation couldn't take over. She wouldn't have to remember the chuckle in Brad's voice as he congratulated J.C. on his win.
The memory of J.C.'s betrayal tore through her heart and she pushed herself harder. The worst part was that she'd done all of this to herself. She'd gone back to J.C., practically begging to be fucked. She'd let him tie her up. His name had been on her lips as he'd made her come, again and again and again, knowing she was no more than some light entertainment for the evening.
A bet. Nothing more.
Eve's dress snagged on a thin branch and tore as she pulled away. The ground was softer here. She stumbled and reached out to steady herself. Her palm grazed the jagged bark of a nearby white pine tree, sending a hot splinter of pain into her hand.
Good.
More pain to take the edge off. Even as she thought it, the ache in her palm began to fade to a dull throb. She wondered briefly if scratching every bit of herself on every inch of this forest would make the pain of J.C.'s betrayal hurt any less.
Somehow, she didn't think so.
That's when she heard them. Footsteps echoed not far behind her, crunching leaves and branches in their path. Someone was coming after her, and it wouldn't take him long to find her.
J.C.
It couldn't be anyone else. She swore low under her breath and tried to get her bearings. She'd been heading north for ten minutes. The highway couldn't be much farther. Somewhere in the distance, a wolf's howl pierced the cool night air. Her heartbeat sped up, pounding so hard she could feel it.
J.C. It had to be. He'd probably changed into wolf form to chase after her. But what if it wasn't? For the first time since she'd fled Hard Delights, Eve began to think that perhaps running alone through the forest in the middle of the night wasn't the best idea. There were more dangerous creatures in the forest than J.C. Hill.
The footsteps sounded closer. He'd spot her any second now. Eve turned and ran, and when she thought she couldn't make it another step further, she pressed on. Adrenaline kept her moving.
Adrenaline and shame.
She couldn't face him. Nothing he could say to her would take away her humiliation, and she didn't want to hear any excuses. To think that for a moment while he fucked her, she actually thought this thing between them might be more than sex. She believed she'd felt a connection, a spark of yearning and mutual understanding that might have developed into something deeper than a one-night stand.
How stupid could she have been?
Eve bolted between two massive oak trees and found herself in a clearing. It wasn't large, perhaps only about the size of her parents' backyard, but it stood out in the middle of the densely populated wood. She was too visible, too vulnerable here. She had to go before he saw her.
Eve made a mad dash for the edge of the clearing, and safety. A car horn echoed in the distance. The highway was close. She could hitch a ride back into town and return for her car tomorrow morning.
Her toe caught the edge of a rock and she fell forward, landing hard on her outstretched hands. The wound in her palm flared anew. The footsteps faded and she knew he'd reached the clearing.
Eve scrambled to her knees and turned to face him. "J.C.," she gasped between forced breaths, "I don't --"
"Is it done, then?"
Eve squinted. The moon was only a quarter-full, but it managed to illuminate the man's features.
Not J.C.
"Daniel," she whispered, completely at a loss. "What are you doing here?"
"You didn't think I'd protect my investment?"
"Your investment?" she repeated hollowly. Her breathing was slowly returning to normal. "I don't understand."
He crossed his arms over his chest but made no move to approach her. His black shirt molded to his skin, making him seem even more powerful and authoritative than the white lab coat he always wore at the Foundation.
"The formula I gave you. I assume you're running because J.C. found out what you were up to. I don't particularly care one way or the other, of course," he said before she could reply, "but I need to know whether you've managed to inject him before you ran from the park."
Eve frowned. Daniel had obviously followed her from Hard Delights, but he didn't look winded. He'd run the same distance she had, yet while she was panting and rivulets of sweat ran down her face, Daniel wasn't even breathing hard.
"It wasn't like that," she said. "J.C. doesn't know about the formula."
"Ah. Lover's quarrel, then?"
Eve clenched her jaw. "None of your business."
Daniel grinned, his teeth glinting in the moonlight. His smile looked menacing, dangerous even. She struggled to stand.
"Well, whatever happened between you, it obviously wasn't pretty." He gestured around him. "If it had been just your average, garden variety spat, you'd have driven away, not run aimlessly through the forest like a lunatic."
Eve bit her lower lip but didn't contradict him. Now that the adrenaline had run its course, even she had to admit that sprinting through the woods wasn't the brightest thing she'd ever done.
"It was the lycanthropy that made him do whatever it is he did to you. He's not human, Eve. He doesn't behave like rational men."
Eve's laugh was hollow. "It wasn't his... condition. He's not sick. He's an asshole."
"It's not too late, you know," Daniel continued as if she hadn't spoken. "You can still inject him with the formula. If you won't do it for the good of mankind, do it for yourself."
Eve took a deep breath. "I don't understand."
"Revenge," he said slowly, as if speaking to a child. "J.C. doesn't want to be cured. So, cure him anyway. He obviously did something to you that you didn't want. Do the same to him. An eye for an eye, so to speak."
She shook her head. "I don't have the syringe anymore. I left everything in my purse, and the purse... with my shoes." On the floor of the shack, probably right beside her silk thong.
Daniel waved a hand dismissively. "I have another." He reached into his back pocket and pulled out a small box. He flipped the lid open. Moonlight glinted off the glass syringe, fragmenting the silver light into a myriad of colors.
Daniel held his hand outstretched as he crossed the distance between them and offered her the container. She reached for it, feeling the familiar anger pool low in her belly as her hand instinctively closed around the box.
"I knew you'd come through for me," Daniel whispered. "Now go finish the job."
\*
J.C. growled and flew through the air, but it was too late. He wasn't charging into the clearing like a dashing hero rescuing his lover.
No, Eve clearly didn't need rescuing from Daniel Kraus, a man J.C. had known for decades. He'd heard every word. It had only taken him a minute to dress and run after her, and her haphazard tracks through the forest hadn't been hard to follow.
She meant to destroy his kind. His way of life. If his father or brother had been in his place, they never would have let Eve get as close to them as she'd gotten to him. Guilt and shame flooded him. He wasn't a leader. He never would be.
He landed in the clearing on all fours, fully shifted to wolf-form. His heart pounded against his ribcage, Eve's betrayal still flooding his thoughts.
"J.C. How nice of you to join us." Daniel's voice was calm, but J.C. caught the glimmer of surprise in the man's eyes.
J.C.'s claws dug into the ground. Blood lust rushed through him, compelling him to attack first and ask questions later. The threat to his pack couldn't be ignored. Neither Eve nor Daniel could be allowed to leave the clearing alive.
"J.C.," Eve said. "This isn't what it looks like."
He'd have laughed if his current shape had allowed it. As it was, he could only grunt. He crouched low to the ground, preparing to strike.
In a flash, Daniel closed the distance separating him from Eve and grabbed her by the waist, pulling her to him. He wrapped his arm around her neck and she cried out in surprise.
"You'll have to go through her to get to me," Daniel said.
"What... Why are you doing this?" Eve gasped.
"Because J.C. would never harm his mate. And I can't allow him to get to me in his current condition. Look at him. The bloodshot eyes, the feral growl. He's likely to tear my head off before I can even blink. It's not going to happen."
"I'm not his mate," Eve said, eyeing J.C. coolly.
"Don't be stupid," Daniel retorted. "I can smell his seed all over you."
A hint of silvery moonlight flooded Eve's face, highlighting the blush traveling over her skin. J.C. looked away from her, forcing himself to focus on Daniel. The woman had betrayed him. He couldn't let his lust or whatever misguided emotions he felt for her overshadow his common sense. That's how they got here in the first place.
"So we had sex." Eve squirmed in Daniel's hold. "That doesn't mean we've... mated."
"Oh, come on," Daniel argued. "You graduated Magna Cum Laude from Harvard with a degree in human genetics, and you mean to tell me you're not bright enough to realize the creature has marked you as his own?"
J.C. took a step forward, keeping his body low to the ground, ready to spring into the air and attack them both. Daniel had been wrong. He would hurt his mate to get to him, because the woman he'd chosen for his own clearly hadn't been the woman he thought her to be.
Half an hour earlier, he'd been prepared to argue for their union in front of the entire council of elders. While he'd been with her in that shack, while he'd been in her, nothing else had mattered. He knew she was meant for him the way no other female, human or werewolf, could ever be.
How could he have been so wrong?
Daniel must have seen the determination in his gaze, because he tightened his hold on Eve. He tilted her head at an angle, the skin of her throat stretched taut from the uncomfortable position.
"You're wrong," Eve insisted. "No man who wanted me as his own would treat me the way he has. Like a whore."
Her voice shook as she spoke but she met J.C.'s gaze boldly, daring him to disagree. He couldn't, and not just because he was in wolf-form. He had treated her with no regard for her feelings, only his own. Making sure he didn't fall for her had been more important to J.C. than showing her how much she meant to him.
Obviously, he'd been right. The woman had broken through all his defenses with one clear goal in mind: the utter destruction of his kind.
"He's not a man," Daniel said. "As you can clearly see for yourself. He doesn't have the same emotions men do; the same ability to reason and do the right thing. This beast needs to be destroyed, and not just him, but his entire kind."
J.C. had heard enough. He bared his teeth and howled a challenge to the alpha leader of the Kölen pack.
Daniel understood. He wrapped his large hand around Eve's throat and ran his thumb in small circles over the fine pale skin of her neck.
"No," she said, her voice barely above a whisper. "What he's done to me is none of your concern. But J.C. isn't evil, and he's not a beast." She met J.C.'s gaze and heat sizzled between them as tears flooded her piercing blue eyes and rolled down her cheeks. "He's beautiful. And all he wants right now is to protect his kind from people like you."
Daniel snarled. "What do you know about people like me?" He made the words sound like the worst kind of slur. "The formula wouldn't have killed him; though I suppose now we'll never know. Judging by the way he's looking at you, I doubt he'll ever let you get close enough to him to find out."
"I don't believe you," Eve gasped out. "You're insane. You'd have killed him, killed them all given half a chance."
"Believe what you will. I've been working on this formula for two decades, and I've finally perfected it. There hasn't been a male child born of a union between Zanteans in twenty years, thanks to me."
He paused for a moment, as though reliving an old memory, then continued, "J.C.'s father and I were... friends once, long ago." He spat the words as though they tasted foul in his mouth. "At least, the fool thought we were. I always knew our pack was stronger, braver, tougher. I think deep inside, he knew it, too. One day, he proposed we join forces, unite our packs under one common name. His name. I had other plans. By that time, I had a prototype ready. He never even felt the needle pierce his skin."
Daniel's eyes narrowed, his gaze going cold. "The formula worked, though not quite as well as I'd intended. Sure, the bloodline can't continue without a male, but filthy Zantean bitches are still being born every few months. My latest achievement won't disappoint."
"Sterilization," Eve said, horror flooding her voice. "Mass sterilization was your brilliant plan for destroying a species?"
"Not a species. Only a pack."
The knowledge that Eve hadn't been aware of Daniel's intent dazzled J.C. Tears streamed down her face, but her look of sheer terror told him everything he needed to know. She hadn't been involved in Daniel's plot to destroy his pack. The realization flooded him, made his knees weak.
In the next instant, he lunged.
Although J.C. struck with his customary speed, Daniel must have been expecting the imminent attack. He shoved Eve away from him with a forceful push and she fell to the ground, crying out when she landed. The man ran to the edge of the clearing, shifting as he went.
Changing from human to wolf-form wasn't an instant transformation. The process took minutes under the best of conditions, but a werewolf could hurry it along by physically speeding up the cells in his body. It took immense willpower and it was extraordinarily painful, yet at times absolutely necessary, as Daniel demonstrated while J.C. chased him.
Daniel flung himself from one tree to the other, keeping J.C. at bay through the thick underbrush as the shift took over. When they finally met in the middle of the clearing again, Eve was on her feet, screaming at them to stop. Neither wolf listened.
Daniel's coat was pure silver, a bright contrast to J.C.'s own pitch black, but much easier to spot in the night's shadows. J.C. hoped his own dark fur would give him the advantage, though in such close quarters, visibility probably wouldn't matter.
J.C. jerked forward. Daniel matched his move, and they sprang up into the air where they collided with an impact that stole the breath from J.C.'s lungs.
Daniel snarled. They rolled on the ground, J.C.'s teeth snapping as he fought to bite down on Daniel's flesh. Daniel's hind feet came up and shoved against J.C.'s midsection, sending a stream of pain shooting from his ribs into his groin. The air wheezed out of his lungs in a rush. He countered with a sudden and vicious snap of his jaw, but only managed to bite a mouthful of air.
Eve's scream pierced the night air. She was crying out his name, J.C. realized through a fog of pain and anger. Emotions vied with one another inside him. Fury toward the man who'd tried to destroy his pack for nothing more than envy, selfishness and greed. With the Zanteans out of the way, the Kölens would be the only remaining pack of werewolves. Cohabitation had probably never even entered Daniel's mind. For him, survival of the fittest had been the goal all along, and he'd have gone to any length to achieve it.
J.C. and Daniel tore away from each other and circled the clearing, gazes locked. Eve's anxious face caught J.C.'s attention from the corner of his eye and he nodded, intent on reassuring her.
That slight movement of his head cost him the advantage. Daniel lunged, claws extended, canines snapping. His lips curled back, showing a mouthful of pointy teeth, teeth he was determined to embed in J.C.'s neck.
At the last moment, J.C. flexed his muscles and jumped out of the way. Daniel's claw grazed his hind leg, but J.C. spun quickly, dredged up all his remaining anger and flung himself on his opponent's back.
J.C.'s teeth finally found purchase at the base of Daniel's throat.
Blood streamed over his lips and into his mouth as Daniel writhed beneath him, his ragged howl turning to a pain-filled whimper. J.C. tore his teeth away from Daniel's body, dragging along a chunk of flesh that he spat on the ground. Rearing his head back, he howled and snapped his jaw again, intent on returning for another bite, this one to Daniel's carotid artery, then another and another, until there was nothing left of the wolf who'd threatened his pack, his future, but a misty ceaseless spray of blood.
Only Eve's terror-filled gaze stopped him from tearing his opponent to shreds. Her mouth gaped open, her eyes wide with horror. For a moment, he saw himself through her eyes, blood covering his mouth, anger, hate and destructive power keeping his body in a tense, murderous coil.
With a jerk, he got to his feet, releasing Daniel. Bright crimson blood stained Daniel's silver fur, flowing freely from his throat. J.C. didn't need to finish the job. The blood loss alone would probably kill him.
J.C. howled again, but Daniel obviously didn't need any prodding. He ran for the edge of the clearing in the direction of the highway. A moment later, he disappeared into the trees.
J.C. collapsed to the ground, panting. His side hurt from the earlier blow, and he checked quickly for broken ribs. None, thankfully, but his hind leg stung where he'd been bitten and he felt warm blood flowing down his shin.
Eve hesitated for only a moment before rushing to him.
In her right hand, she held a syringe.
"I can help you."
J.C. snarled at Eve, baring long, glistening canines. Blood dripped from his mouth. She swallowed hard and took another step forward, hand outstretched.
"This is the formula Daniel has spent years perfecting. I can help you find an antidote to the original he injected into your pack. And if that doesn't work, I can attempt to create a fertility formula."
She saw him pull his lips back over his teeth in warning and dropped the syringe to the ground. Suspicion flared in his eyes and he turned his head away. She reached out to him, but before she could touch his fur, he started to shift. His claws retracted, his fur smoothed out into solid flesh and sleek muscles, his muzzle retreated into the familiar full lips and square jaw. He wiped the back of his hand over his mouth, cleaning Daniel's blood off his skin.
Despite herself, Eve breathed a sigh of relief. She hadn't believed he'd hurt her... not really. But after seeing him practically tear Daniel apart, she couldn't have been sure he wouldn't do the same to her.
"Why would you help us?" His voice was hoarse and rough, as if he hadn't used it in much too long.
"Because..." She hesitated, debating how much to share. "Because I care about you," she said at last.
J.C. snorted. "Right. Half an hour ago you told Daniel you thought I was... what was it again? An idiot?"
"Asshole," she corrected, fighting the smile tugging at the corners of her lips. "And you deserved it."
"Uh huh." He stood and applied his weight on his right leg. A jagged wound ran down from the crease of his sexy ass halfway down to his knee. It looked like it hurt like hell, but J.C. didn't even wince. "And I don't anymore?"
Eve tugged at her dress and pulled it over her head, conscious of the fact that she wore nothing underneath. "Actually, you do. I still don't understand why you and Brad... why you did what you did."
He raised an eyebrow. "So you're going to fuck the truth out of me?"
"Don't flatter yourself." She ripped a piece of material from the hem. The flimsy fabric came apart easily in her hand, but it would do the job. "Turn around."
He did as she asked and Eve wrapped the makeshift bandage around his thigh. When he'd shifted back to human form, no shred of clothing had covered his perfect body, which Eve had expected. What she didn't know was whether or not he'd run out of the park naked. She could only imagine the stir that would have caused in Hard Delights.
After she'd finished tying the strip of cloth, she scrutinized the rest of his body in the pale moonlight. A nasty bruise had already begun to form over the right side of his ribs, purple against his tanned skin. "I think you'll live."
"Is that your professional opinion?"
Eve's gaze had already begun to wander, and it took her a second to return to the thread of conversation and tear her attention away from his cock. Even flaccid, it was impressive, hanging long and thick between his legs. "I'm not a doctor."
"Right. Geneticist, I assume?"
"Yeah. I worked for Daniel."
The growl that echoed from J.C.'s throat sounded more wolf-like than human. She took a step back.
"And you had nothing to do with the formula." It wasn't a question, but she felt the need to answer it anyway.
"I swear to you, I didn't know what he planned. He told me little of his research; only that he'd developed a cure for lycanthropy."
A vein twitched in J.C.'s jaw and he clenched his fists at his sides. "Some cure."
"Yeah," she agreed, running a hand through her disheveled hair. "Some cure."
"Look, about the mate thing --"
"You don't have to explain," she said quickly, cutting him off. Her pulse quickened and her heart beat an insistent rhythm in her chest. She refused to get her hopes up. Just because she'd managed to fall for him didn't mean he felt the same, and the lousy bet had proved it. "It was just sex. Great sex, but just sex."
He took a step forward, and she was suddenly reminded of her nakedness. His shaft stirred, beginning to harden. Cream flooded her pussy in a feminine, instinctual response. Damn.
"You don't believe that," he murmured. The sound of his voice, throaty and low, sent a shiver down her spine. Her nipples beaded as cool air caressed her skin.
"But you do." She winced, hating the defensive whine lacing her tone. "Or you wouldn't have made that bet."
He reached out and cupped her breast in his palm. Sensation speared every nerve ending, making her squirm. He didn't caress, rub or fondle. He simply held her breast, lightly, as though it were the most precious object in the world. "That bet was the only way I could defend myself from you."
"I told you, I didn't know about Daniel's plan."
"I'm not talking about Daniel. I'm talking about this." He lowered his head the remaining fraction of an inch and covered her mouth with his. She could still taste the blood on his lips, but far from being repulsed, the faint coppery flavor only served to remind her of his strength, his fierce aggressiveness.
Eve responded eagerly, wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling him closer. His cock nudged her belly, taut and insistent as his tongue swept between her lips and invaded her mouth. His fingers skimmed along her breast, pausing to gently tug on a nipple. She gasped, the sound lost inside his mouth.
J.C. broke the kiss and leaned down to replace his fingers with his teeth, his tongue. A brief breeze danced on the wetness left behind by his saliva and her nipple stiffened further. A moan stuck in her throat. She was afraid to breathe, afraid the slightest movement or sound would break the spell and he'd stop licking, nibbling, tasting.
His hands roamed over her body. Her inner muscles tightened, needing to clench around his fingers, his cock, any part of him he was willing to give. Her lower lips felt engorged, heavy with the need to be touched.
J.C. trailed hot, wet kisses along her stomach, down to her pussy. When he knelt before her, she felt her knees weaken and begin to quiver. Cream leaked down her thighs. He cupped her ass in his broad hands and stared up at her, his eyes shining with intensity and something she didn't dare try to name.
"This, Eve." He punctuated his words by sliding his finger along her slit, wetting the tip with her juices. "What's happening between us scared the hell out of me. I didn't need a mate. I didn't want a mate. And a human mate at that..."
His voice drifted off and Eve's stomach clenched. She feared what would come next but couldn't make herself tell him to stop talking and finish what he'd started. She needed to hear him say it, whatever it was going to be.
"Things between us... they're not going to be easy. Being a part of my pack means convincing the elders that taking a human mate is best for the Zanteans. It means dealing with a fragmented pack, with weres who no longer believe in a future worth having. It means fighting to prove them wrong at every turn, but it means doing it together."
She swallowed hard, relief flooding her veins. He wanted her, not just right now for a quick romp, but forever. He wanted to share his burdens with her, his fears, his life. Still, she thrust her chin forward and forced a haughty look. "You talk as though this is already a done deal. What if I don't want to mate with you?"
He inserted a finger inside her pussy with agonizing slowness and she reached out, grabbing his shoulders to steady herself. This time, she couldn't stifle the moan breaking free from her throat.
"Don't you?" J.C. asked, sliding a second finger alongside the first.
"I always thought I'd have a big church wedding, and marry for love."
"The church wedding isn't part of the mating ritual of my people, but perhaps it can be arranged after the official ceremony."
He bent his head to her pussy and swept his tongue around her clit once, twice, a third time. The rhythmic motions made her inner muscles clench around his fingers, milking him. Eve closed her eyes as the orgasm that had been building deep in her core from J.C.'s first touch finally flooded her pussy. Cream dripped thickly from her cunt. Her muscles tightened with the onslaught of release and she screamed, the sound echoing through the forest.
"Love, though," J.C. said, his words muffled by her cunt. "That I swear to give you every day of my life."
This time, Eve knew the tears rolling down her cheeks weren't caused by the overwhelming orgasm. Emotion tightened her throat, making it impossible to speak.
She knew she didn't need to. Not now. There would be plenty of time to tell J.C. how she felt. Later.
She brushed her fingers through his hair as his tongue laved at her cum, pulsing her hips to the rhythm of his mouth. Despite the recent release, Eve's need for J.C. didn't subside. Her skin felt heated and sensitive, hyperaware of every scrape of his stubble along her thigh, every velvety lick of his tongue.
As the sun began to streak a pink line across the horizon, she breathed in the honeyed scent of early morning air tinged with her own musky arousal and opened to him, surrendering herself to a lifetime of feral magnetism.
Fuck Friday was cancelled.
From the moment Brad watched J.C. run through the open door of the shack after Eve a week ago, he knew things were over between them.
J.C. had found a mate. The elders would be ecstatic, once they got past the fact that she was human. Brad had no doubt J.C. would be able to convince them the union was best for the pack. He'd learned Eve was a scientist, and likely one who could help the Zanteans with their fertility issues.
No, Brad wasn't worried about them. He was concerned about himself.
The constant need in his groin, the longing that had to be satisfied, hadn't diminished just because J.C. was off-limits. If anything, it grew and grew. It pulsed and throbbed, begging for release. And more than ever, he wished he was the one fucking a man's ass, plunging his cock inside a tight, hot anal passage slick with lubricant and eager for him.
From his spot in front of the "Blow Me Away" roller-coaster ride, Brad looked over the span of his amusement park, eyeing men in turn. As always, Friday nights were packed. There were tall men, short men, muscled men, lean men... every sort of man imaginable.
He should have been looking for a woman. The elders would have liked nothing more than to finally see him paired off with a female of their species. Well, the elders would just have to wait a while longer. He'd enjoyed sharing Eve with J.C., but that didn't mean he was ready to make a permanent commitment to never fuck a man again.
Palming his thick, eager cock, he descended the brief set of stairs and walked out into the crowd. He had to find a man to alleviate the ache in his balls from among the hundreds of guys who filled the amusement park.
"This is going to take off. I know it is." The rich, deep voice caught Brad's attention. He stood to the side of a small group of men of mixed ethnicity. Four of them were eyeing each other with amused smiles, while the fifth gestured excitedly. "I've got the meeting in the bag. I just need a chance to --"
"The only thing you should have in your bag is a cupful of cum waiting to spurt all over some guy's ass. That's why we're here, Sean."
Sean blushed, a becoming shade of red traveling up his neck to highlight his cheekbones. The contrast to his blond hair and blue eyes was mesmerizing. Brad nibbled at his lower lip, unable to tear his gaze away.
"No, that's why you're here, Richard," Sean said. "I'm along because you guys would have dragged me out of the house if you had to bind and gag me first."
Ah, now there was an appealing thought. A brief mental image of Sean splayed on Brad's bed, ankles and wrists bound to the bedposts, cock jutting forward just waiting to be sucked, flew across Brad's field of vision. He swallowed back a groan.
Oh, yeah. It had been much too long since he'd had a new man in his bed. And he wanted this one.
A couple of minutes later, Brad broke through the tight circle of men. Flashing a brief grin at the group, he handed Sean a folded piece of paper.
"What's this?" Sean asked, confusion flittering briefly across his brow.
Brad shrugged. "Your mission, should you choose to accept it."
Then he walked away, grinning. Excited whispers echoed in his wake.
The End... for now.
Lacey Savage
Lacey Savage began her love affair with romance at an early age. In high school, she checked out steamy romance novels from the public library and would often be found reading them in the middle of class. Lacey still reads more than she cares to admit, and probably more than her husband would like, considering how many books she keeps bringing into the house. Her favorite genres have always been erotica, romance, fantasy, science fiction and mystery, so she tries to incorporate a little of each into her writing. She initially majored in Marketing, then went back to school to major in English Literature. After earning her degrees, she decided to turn her efforts to her true passion: writing. A hopeless romantic, Lacey loves writing about the intimate, sensual side of relationships. She currently resides in Ottawa, Canada, with her loving husband and their mischievous cat. You can learn more about Lacey by visiting her website at http://www.laceysavage.com, and can reach her at laceysavage@rogers.com.

