Authors: Leela Ash
8.
The bullet powered into the ground at her feet and he shot again. Laurie jumped back in terror. The dirt sprayed around her in a cloud and she fell back onto the forest floor shielding her face.
“I knew you were fucking around behind my back,” Brad spat as he laughed and moved quickly towards her. “I’d been saying it for months and all you did was lie.” He raised the gun and pointed it at her chest again. “And now you have the nerve to run out on me in the middle of the night. Did you honestly think that I wouldn’t find you?” He laughed like a maniac and in his eyes there was something more than sinister. He wasn’t messing around.
“You followed me?” she said.
“I didn’t have to follow you Laurie,” he shook his head in disbelief, “You used to talk about this place incessantly, and sure enough your albums, you know the ones with all the summer postcards in them? Yeah, those. The address was right there. I knew where you would come. I just had to be a little patient. Truth be told I did start to think maybe you weren’t coming after all. But here you are. You see, you’re not that clever, did you really think I was just going to let you leave?” His eyes were wild.
She closed her eyes as she heard footsteps behind her. Aiden. Her heart was pounding so hard in her chest she thought it was going to burst out of her ribcage.
“Oh here he is,” Brad laughed, “The man who stole her heart.”
“Whatever you’re thinking, you’re wrong,” Aiden said calmly. “She hasn’t been cheating on you. We just met.”
“I don’t need your fucking lies,” Brad spat, he alternated pointing the gun between them. He pointed it frantically at Aiden and then at Laurie, his eyes popping out of his head.
“Put the gun down,” Aiden said calmly, as if this situation was nothing to be concerned about. And then his tone changed, “Now.”
“You think you’re going to tell me what to do?” Brad screamed, “I’ve got news for you douchebag, I’m the one holding the gun! I decide what’s going to happen here! Understood?”
A smile crept across Aiden’s face before he curled it up into a sneer.
“No,” Aiden growled, “That’s actually not how it works at all.”
Suddenly Aiden’s body heaved and buckled, his muscles ripping through his clothes as his voice turned to snarls and growls. At the same time his limbs shortened and his torso grew long as he fell to all fours. Everything about him was changing before their eyes, as he continued to issue a ferocious howl. His tanned skin turned even darker before a coat of luscious thick fur burst forth. His big hands pulled in as they morphed into paws with sharp claws and his gorgeous face morphed into the handsome features of a wolf. A magnificent, and enormous wolf. One with beautiful fierce blue eyes. Laurie blinked, breathless and struck dumb all at once. She couldn’t believe her eyes.
What the fuck is happening
? She thought.
Within seconds the beast had spanned the distance between himself and Brad, who had mere seconds to stand there in utter disbelief and shock before the giant creature had clamped his jaws on Brad’s throat. Laurie didn’t want to watch but she couldn’t tear her eyes away. Carried by momentum the wolf knocked Brad maybe ten feet back, even as it shook its head, tearing his throat out. Before she could comprehend what was happening the wolf, or whatever it was, dragged him off into the trees. The only evidence left of them was the gun lying on the ground in front of her. And then there was the blood.
Aiden was a shifter. Holy shit. Her heart pounded even harder as everything suddenly came into focus. That explained everything. His icy blue eyes, the way his skin felt like it was on fire, the power that ran through him… and of course the creature that had saved her. It had saved her. It was him. It was him all along. No wonder he felt so different to anyone she had ever met before, she had never met a shifter before…Of course she had heard the stories, but never believed any of it. How could she know such creatures actually existed?
She swallowed and kept her hands covered over her ears. Somehow Brad was still able to scream and she could hear both his cries and the creature’s snarls coming from inside the forest. She couldn’t block them out. Brad started to gargle and Laurie knew he was going to be dead. There was no way he could possibly survive an attack like that from an animal of that size. She had thought the first bite had finished him.
Her thoughts returned to Aiden. He was a majestic creature in either form but seeing him as the striking dark wolf had had an unexpected effect on her. She felt inexplicably turned on. She just wanted him to finish with Brad so they could get the hell out of that forest.
The remaining gargles ceased and the forest fell silent. Laurie stood waiting nervously, unsure of how to feel or what to do. Should she go and see what was happening? Before she had a chance to make the decision Aiden came walking towards her from the trees. He was naked and covered in blood. But he was a man again. Laurie looked at his amazing body. He was so muscular and toned, his thighs were wide and his arms were huge. She didn’t dare look between his legs but of course couldn’t avoid it. His manhood was the biggest she had ever seen and looked to be half engorged already. Laurie felt a gush between her legs.
“Aiden,” she whispered, “Is he…?”
He nodded and looked down at the ground, unsure of how she was going to react. “I didn’t want you to see that, and I did not want to frighten you, but I had no choice. I had to act.”
“You saved me again,” she whispered. “He’s what I was running from.”
Even though what had happened was too horrific to put into words and she knew Brad was lying mangled in the forest behind them, the site of Aiden in front of her was too much. She had to have him.
“Are you alright?” Aiden said, his voice deeper and gruffer than it had been before.
“I’m fine,” she smiled. And she meant it. For the first time in a long time she felt completely safe and at ease. This man was more than she could have ever hoped for. He had burst into her life out of nowhere and in less than twenty-four hours had saved her twice from perilous situations, swept her off her feet, and now she had seen him turn into a wolf before her very eyes. That was hard to beat.
“Come to me,” she whispered, holding out her arms.
Aiden approached her slowly and slipped his arms around her. His huge manhood had become fully erect and poked into her side, even as she felt her own sex grow warm and tingly. She ached to have him inside her and when he kissed her and lay her back down on the ground the heat coming from him was so intense she felt like she was going to get burned. He pulled her t-shirt off from over her head and slipped down her shorts as he climbed between her legs. He kissed her neck and ran his hot rough hands up the length of her naked body as he slowly and sensually pushed his huge length inside her.
Laurie gasped. The pleasure was so intense she felt like she was being opened up for the first time. Aiden thrust in and out of her slowly, his cock red hot and powerful. They lay making love beneath the trees and looked into each other’s eyes. He fit inside her perfectly, she had never felt so filled and completed before. Aiden lifted her leg up and wrapped his hand delicately around her throat as he pumped into her while she dug her feet into the base of his spine. He grunted louder with each thrust and Laurie was on the verge of the most amazing orgasm of her life. She screamed up into the trees as she came and Aiden unraveled too, cumming hot and heavy inside her as he collapsed on top of her. His skin was electric and on fire.
She wrapped her hands in his hair and pulled his face to hers. She stared into his stunning eyes and he kissed her again. She had never been so reckless and she had never felt so good. They lay under the trees until the sun went down and the stars came out.
9.
Laurie sat on the front of the speed boat as Aiden drove it into the shore where his car was waiting. It was the following morning and they had spent the night together under the stars. She had conflicting emotions. She was completely in awe of him but also a little scared. He had murdered Brad, even if it had been to save her. Brad was dead and it was at Aiden’s hand.
She turned to look at him, his dark hair was shaggy and windswept from the breeze. She still couldn’t get over how incredible he was. A smile crept across her face and she hugged her arms around herself. She had told him she wanted to leave Blakestone Ridge that morning and he hadn’t tried to stop her. She had to go home. If she was missing when questions about Brad arose, it was going to look suspicious on her part. If she went home at least she could say Brad had gone out driving when he was drunk and she hadn’t seen him since. In a sense she wasn’t that worried though. No one would believe the truth anyhow. If there was a truth it was that he had been mauled by a wild animal anyhow. Again, Aiden had said he would take care of it.
They got into Aiden’s car and he started the engine. He reached down and took hold of her hand.
“I’m glad you’re going to go back to the city,” he smiled. “I couldn’t face you going on the run and never seeing you again.”
“On the run,” she playfully punched him on the shoulder, “Last night you spectacularly eliminated what I was running from.”
“I know,” he almost looked embarrassed that the aggression had taken him over. But Laurie wasn’t sorry for what he had done. If he hadn’t she never would have been free from Brad. His ex-fiancé had confirmed how dangerous he could be.
“You will always be safe with me,” he said, wrapping his hand in her hair and kissing her again. “I would appreciate it if you could keep the part about me turning into a wolf just between us though,” he said, in a mock matter of fact tone. Yeah, he was a keeper.
“I’d be honored to keep your secret, Aiden,” Laurie smiled, “I would never tell a soul… I think we’ve been through too much together this weekend for me to tell anyone. I think we owe it to each other to keep all this between us. Besides, who would believe me?”
“I agree,” he smiled as he put the car in drive and pulled out of the clearing onto the deserted country roads. “I’m going to head back this afternoon,” he said. “Will you be alright in the meantime?”
Laurie churned over everything in her mind. The idea of being away from him just now was frightening. She knew the drive back home wasn’t particularly long and would only take her two hours max, but she had gotten used to having him there to protect her. Still, she knew he would be there when she returned.
“I’ll stay with you, if you want.” he looked at her, his eyes alive with passion.
“I’ll be fine,” she smiled, all she had needed was that tiny bit of reassurance. “But if you really want to, maybe you can come see me once things blow over a bit.”
As they drove back into the town and headed up Main Street she noticed some of the items for sale in the store windows. There were wolf figurines in one shop and as she looked at the old man working there she noticed that he too had an ice blue glint to his eyes. A memory glazed over her to when she was a child and she stood with her father looking in one of those stores. He told her that he’d heard the rumors about the forests and that they’d had big animals living there. She had thought about it a lot afterwards and the whole time they were staying at the lake cabin she had hoped to see one of the creatures that the legends had told of, but nothing ever came of it and the memory had faded as she grew up. It was funny how life could work out. The fact she had been drawn back to that place and had met this man seemed like proof of some divine intelligence. In this moment she could easily see herself spending the rest of her life with him. Of course she hardly knew him, but there was plenty of time to remedy that. When she was a child she had romanticized about the legends of the animals, but never in her wildest dreams could have predicted what she would come to know as the truth. She looked across at her alpha billionaire shifter, and his huge frame and gorgeous chiseled features. Just looking at him sent a shiver down her spine, as well as up her legs. She had never been a big believer in fate but something had pulled them together. There was something between them that worked better than any relationship Laurie had ever had with anyone in her life before. Aiden didn’t just seem to understand her, he seemed to be inside her head. She loved the air of mystery that was constantly around him, and now with a promise of a reunion in the city she couldn’t wait to see where their relationship was heading. She looked up at him and he squeezed her hand. Everything was going to be just fine. She was sure of it.
Chapter One
Love at first sight was as unrealistic as unicorns and vampires, at least according to Ginny Night. That was until she saw
him.
It all happened by chance really. Ginny had been walking down the street, rather late for her first day of her new job as a journalist. She hadn’t been paying attention to where she was walking, more concentrated on not tripping over herself to notice the man coming straight for her. They had collided in a pretty intense way.
Of course Ginny had given countless apologies but her voice went soft when she first laid eyes on the man. Tall, dark and handsome would be the perfect way to describe him. He was easily over six feet with thick jet black hair perfectly coiffed. With matching dark eyes and a rather pale complexion he was a sight to behold. Upon seeing his broad shoulders and muscular arms and chest Ginny nearly drooled on the spot. But after bumping into him, she gathered herself up well enough and apologized one more time before walking off.
The man had been imprinted in her mind from then on. And as she had quickly figured out the insanely attractive man walked the same path every day. Ginny had started to make a habit of watching him down the street and every once in a while she would ‘accidentally’ run into him. By now she was sure he knew her intentions but she just couldn’t help it.
And now here she was, walking down the street with an armful of papers, ready to run into him again. Perhaps this time she would be brave enough to ask him for his name. Suddenly he came into view. Now it was time to act. Ginny averted her gaze and made a beeline for him. Just as she was sure she was about to collide with him there was a firm hand on her arm.
“We really should stop meeting like this.” The man chuckled lightly. Ginny was sure her face was beet red from embarrassment. Surely he had figured her out!
“Haha, yeah, I suppose I should pay better attention to my surroundings. It’s just so early I haven’t had my coffee yet so my brain is still waking up.” Ginny tried to laugh and lie her way out of the situation, suddenly very aware of how close he was to her body.
“Well perhaps we should change that. If you aren’t too busy would you like to get some coffee?” Ginny thought she was going to explode from the excitement bottled up inside of her. She tried to play it off as coolly as she could.
“That would be great. If you aren’t in a rush either.” Ginny mentally berated herself for how lame that sounded but kept steamrolling ahead, hoping to cover up her awkwardness with more words. “I’m Ginny by the way. All this time I keep bumping into you I never told you my name.” Ginny extended her hand and the man happily took it, shaking with gusto.
“My name is Liam.” They shared a small moment of just smiling at each other while shaking hands. It was a small moment, but it was a moment nonetheless. Ginny would take what she could get.
“Shall we? There is a wonderful little café just around the corner.” Liam pointed to a corner not even a half block away. Ginny nodded her head enthusiastically, perhaps a little too enthusiastically.
“That sounds great.”
They walked side by side to the coffee shop and when they got to the counter Liam insisted that she order first. Ginny got a vanilla latte, her secret guilty pleasure of a coffee drink while Liam got an Americano. Ginny went to pay for her latte but Liam refused to let her, saying that it was the gentlemanly thing to do. Just another reason Ginny could tell she was already falling in love with him. Though, Ginny would still never admit that she believed in love at first sight.
“So Liam, what do you do?” Ginny inquired as she sipped her latte. Liam added a single sugar packet to his Americano as he contemplated how to answer her question.
“I guess the best way to answer that would be to say that I am a businessman of sorts.” Ginny gave him a puzzled look.
“And what do you mean by that?” Liam was hesitant to expand on it any further, yet there was something about Ginny that made him feel at ease. The usually closed off and private man saw something in Ginny, something that he hadn’t seen in a very long time. It was a comforting feeling, almost familiar in nature. Perhaps that was why Liam didn’t stop the words from pouring out of his mouth. There was a connection between him and this girl, a connection he wanted to explore in more detail.
“My family owns the Langley Corporation.” Ginny thought she was going to spray her drink everywhere. The Langley Corporation was a family with money in the billions, and if this guy in front of her was for real he was likely the second son, William Langley, of the current CEO, Edward Langley. The whole ‘Liam’ nickname was likely a way to help keep his identity secret. The family had gained its wealth starting all the way back with the railroads, and through constant diversification with new ventures they had built a reputation of being the closest thing to royalty in the United States. Ginny almost couldn’t believe she was sitting across from such a ‘prince.’
“Are you really William Langley?” Ginny had to set her latte down for fear of another crazy revelation. Liam seemed rather perturbed by the question but answered it nonetheless.
“Yes, though I would prefer if you didn’t share that with anyone. I enjoy my privacy.” Ginny shook her head in understanding.
“No, I get it. It’s just a bit of a shock. It’s not every day that you meet a billionaire.” Even saying the word billionaire was blowing Ginny’s mind. Here she was, a nobody journalist, having coffee with the heir to the corporate throne. To say it was overwhelming would be an understatement.
“I appreciate your understanding. I just want to enjoy my coffee with my beautiful date.” Ginny felt her face turn red again from embarrassment; he was almost too much.
“You aren’t too bad looking yourself.” Ginny wanted to slap herself silly. Had she really just said that to
the
William Langley?!
Shoot me now,
Ginny thought to herself.
Liam chuckled a bit at her slightly awkward statement, but didn’t tease her about it, which Ginny was forever thankful for. Instead Ginny decided to shift the conversation back onto Liam and away from herself.
“So if you are from such a well-known family why do you walk around here every day? Wouldn’t it be better to just take a car or limo or whatever it is you drive around in?” Ginny questioned as she re-gathered her latte in her hands. Liam leaned back in his chair and smiled.
“I like to walk the streets and breathe in the … well, I guess ‘fresh’ isn’t the right word, but I like to breathe in the air of the city. I don’t like to be so isolated from the people around me. Besides, no one really knows what I look like so I can get away with walking around town unnoticed. Though, I will say I wasn’t planning to have near constant run-ins with a certain red headed woman.” Liam smirked and Ginny thought she was going to die again from embarrassment. Ginny sputtered for words, but there was really no defense for her blatant actions. “Don’t worry, I always enjoyed our little run-ins,” Liam half-smiled.
Oh God,
Ginny thought to herself.
“Heh, yeah, well anyways, what else do you do during the day besides get semi-harassed by me in the streets?” Ginny was determined to learn more about the secretive man in front of her. And damn it if she wouldn’t get the topic off of her semi-stalker behaviors. It was bad enough that the conversation had primarily revolved around that singular topic.
“Well I also enjoy Pina Coladas and getting caught in the rain.” Liam stated.
“Those are lyrics to a song,” Ginny called him out on his tease. Liam only beamed back and her.
“You caught me, though Pina Coladas are delicious. I mostly just help out at the company doing boring business stuff like emails, memos, meetings and phone calls. It’s rather monotonous, which is why I love walking through the streets. Everyday something different can happen.” Liam eyes lit up as he talked about the near daily adventure of walking down the street and Ginny couldn’t help but smile along with him. His personality was infectious and the more they talked the more she came to like him.
It was strange Ginny thought, sitting here with a man that was essentially a stranger and yet feeling like there were old friends, or even old lovers. Ginny had never felt such an instant connection with someone before and it was exhilarating. There was an easiness to him that instantly drew Ginny in and talking with him was comfortable and pleasant. The entire hour they enjoyed their coffee there wasn’t a single moment of silence or awkwardness. The conversation flowed from one topic to another, covering things from life in the Big Apple, to their careers, to the minutest of topics such as pet names and Ginny’s irrational fear of pool drains. There was just so much they had in common - it was uncanny the instant connection they shared.
Every time Liam’s hand brushed hers, whether intentional or by chance, Ginny could feel an almost electric charge pass between them. There was just something that lit a fire deep within Ginny and she was eager to fan the flames, if only to see how much they could burn. In the back of her mind Ginny wondered what about this man before her was so intoxicating, so captivating, that he nearly had her heart on the very first ‘date.’
The coffee date went as smoothly as it could have and ended with William and Ginny exchanging numbers. It was an afternoon Ginny was not likely to forget anytime soon. She had met an amazing man, who also happened to be an extremely hot billionaire. Things like that don’t just happen to people like Ginny. It was a day to remember and in that moment Ginny felt like she was on top of the world. There was nothing that could bring her down.
That night, after Ginny went home, she wrote about her experience, about her date with a billionaire. It was just too good of a story to pass up. Of course she changed both of their names but it was too much to keep to herself, so Ginny decided to write it all down. Since it was fresh in her mind Ginny wrote down in as much detail as possible the entire story of her first ‘encounter’ with the nearly perfect man. When she finished she looked it over and contemplated what to do with the piece of writing. Sure she could keep it as a sort of diary, but something pulled at her to do something more with it.
As a last minute decision Ginny decided to post it to a blog site. She didn’t think much about whether or not she would get any followers, but as a journalist Ginny just had a deep urge to report her experience, whether it was warranted or not. Perhaps it was the day and age of oversharing, but Ginny was compelled to throw her story in with the rest out there on the World Wide Web. It wasn’t like she was printing it in the paper. It was just a harmless and unassuming blog post, just a way for her to keep a journal of sorts. What could be the harm in that?