Authors: Harmony Raines
Tags: #General Fiction
She nodded. “Darius has lived on the human side of the border for years. I mean, a lot of years, and he had a nephew called Kane.” She looked at Kieran, looking for some kind of reaction.
“Okay, today has obviously made my brain work slower than yours because I don’t see how that matters to us.”
“How old are you?” she asked.
“Twenty-two.”
“Kane was maybe a year or two older than you.” She looked down at the nuts they had collected and then she looked at him, straight in the eyes, making sure he understood exactly what she said next. “He lived his life in secret too. I suspect that Kane was a shifter, that he
is
a shifter; I never saw him wearing a collar. But I’m positive that is why he came across the border. Something happened to set this whole chain of events in motion.”
He was beginning to see what she was getting at. “You think that there is some connection? That Darius and Kane kept their secret, for the same reason Philippe told me to keep mine.”
“Yes.”
“So this means we’re not going to your herd. You want us to go find this Kane and find out if there is a connection.”
“I think we have to. I’m not sure if it might be better to go back to where we crossed the border and wait for Frasier.”
“No, I don’t want to go back there. It’s too dangerous. We still don’t know what is going on. Do you have any idea where this Kane might be?”
“Yes. It’s to the north. The woman he went with, Amara, her contract was bought by Darius as well. She was a shifter too; she told me her pride was called the Satoma Pride. I think that’s where we should go first. Amara might be there, and if not, they might be able to tell us where she is.”
He stood still, looking up at the sky, a free sky, and he knew that despite his own reservations, for her sake as well as his, they had to find out about his past and put it to rest. He didn’t want to be with her, to raise a family with her, with the fear of his past always at his shoulder, always affecting his life.
“Come on, let’s make this a fire. I need to eat some of these disgusting sweet chestnuts. And then tomorrow maybe we’ll go visit this Satoma Pride.”
“There’s just one thing first,” she said.
“What?”
“After we eat, make love to me.”
He gathered her into his arms and kissed her, tasting her lips, pulling her tightly against his body, her curves melding against his hard muscles. “That’s the most sensible thing you’ve said all day.”
Fire-starting had never been her strong point; the idea of rubbing two sticks together had always been pretty pointless. But her dad had insisted she learned. Survival skills were his thing. But as her hands became sore, she was just about ready to give up.
“Do you want me to have a go at that?” he asked. She had set him the task of stripping the shells off the sweet chestnuts. They were prickly, but his hardened hands didn’t seem to notice.
Not that she’d been watching and thinking how nice it would be for those hands to be caressing her skin right now… No wonder she couldn’t concentrate on starting the fire.
“No. I’ve got it, don’t worry.” She turned back to the pile of dry kindling she had ready, and rubbed the sticks again, trying to make a spark.
This time
, she told herself.
Concentrating on nothing else but creating a spark, she moved the sticks until, eventually, she saw the gratifying burst of a flame. Quickly, she picked it up, blowing into it, and then slowly added her kindling until a small fire crackled happily. She smiled to herself, filled with a sense of achievement, and when she looked up, she saw he was watching her. “Told you I could do it.”
“I think you can do anything you set your mind to,” he said, smiling. “So when do we put these on? I’m starving.”
“Once this has caught properly.” She pointed to the fire. “I’m going to walk down there and pick some of the blackberries. I’ll have a look what else there is, it’s not going to be much, but at least we won’t starve.”
About an hour later they had eaten their fill of fruit and berries. It wasn’t as satisfying as a proper meal, but together with the cold, clear water from the flowing stream, they at least felt re-energised.
“At least we don’t have to do dishes,” she said.
He moved closer towards her. “You know, I’ve got something much better in mind. And I don’t think I can wait much longer.”
She knew how he felt: the last couple of hours had been the hardest, ever. It was as if she was denying herself air. She wanted him. Wanted to feel him next to her, and inside her.
She turned her face towards him, her hand going to his cheek, stroking the stubble on his chin. And she lifted herself up off the ground and slipped one leg over his thighs, so she was straddling him.
“That is so much better.” His hand went to her bottom and he pulled her close, she could feel the length of his hard cock pressing against her clit.
“This has been the weirdest day of my life.” She pressed her lips against his, kissing him and his tongue slipped along her lower lip. The sensations he evoked spread through her body, and she ached for him, a deep ache unlike anything she’d ever experienced before.
His fingers went to the hem of her T-shirt and lifted it up over her head, and then his hands covered her breasts, stroking her nipples through the fabric of her bra, and she squirmed in his lap.
“I think it’s time we got naked.”
She laughed throwing her head back. “Is that your best chat-up line?”
“I’ve never had to chat a woman up; they’ve always been paid for.”
That thought sobered her. “I’m sure that’s not true.”
“Yes, it is. Women have slept with me for money, or for bragging rights—you know,
I fucked a shifter
kind of thing.” His hands moved to the clasp of her bra and he undid it and then he stroked her soft skin with his callused palms, eliciting all kinds of delicious sensations from her body.
“I think you’re right, I definitely need to be naked.”
But first he lowered his head and kissed her breasts, his mouth covering her nipples, and sucking them in, each one in turn. His tongue traced around and around in a circle, and she was sure she would explode right then. She was so wet, so ready for him, she couldn’t bear it.
She tugged up his shirt, pulling it up over his head, revealing his toned chest. Leaning forward she pressed her lips against his skin, tasting him. Then she trailed her fingers across his broad chest, pinching his nipples, as he kissed and sucked hers. This drove him wild, and eventually he groaned and pulled back from her.
Lifting her, he lay her down on the forest floor, his hands going to her pants and he pulled them down, as she lifted her bottom to help him. And then he cast them aside, as if she would never need them again.
He stood up briefly, and undid his belt, dropping his jeans to the floor and stepping out of them before standing before her, with the glow of the fire illuminating his body. She could see why women fell at his feet, why women would want to sleep with him. But he was hers now, no one else’s.
He lay down next to her, caressing her breasts with his large warm hands, his lips on her mouth and the kiss kicked her arousal up a notch, if that was possible. She was so turned on, and he seemed to be enjoying himself, taking his time, even though he must be bursting to make love to her too. And then his hand slid down her body, over her stomach and lower, touching the place between her legs that throbbed and ached for him.
She lifted her leg and draped it over his thigh, and he pressed a finger inside her aching sex. She gasped against his mouth, and he pressed deeper, his finger sliding along the inner walls of her sex, while his thumb rubbed against her clit. It was too much: the rhythm of his hand moving in and out of her sex brought her to the edge of her climax and then threw her over.
Before she had a chance to recover he had moved between her thighs and was pressing the head of his cock against her slick, wet entrance. And then he penetrated her, thrusting hard and deep into her, filling her. She clung to him, her hands on his forearms as he lunged into her again and again. It was as if he had lost control. His breathing was ragged, and he groaned as he came, filling her with his seed.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered against her ear, but he didn’t have to apologise, his actions had proven his insatiable appetite to make love to her, and that was better than any orgasm. Well, almost.
He withdrew his cock and then slipped down her body, to kiss her inner thighs, and then his mouth covered her clit and he nipped the sensitive bundle of nerves, while his fingers slipped inside her.
“Oh, damn!” she exclaimed as he sucked and licked her clit, his fingers working deep inside her, bringing her to the edge of her orgasm once more. But then he stopped, leaving her hanging on the edge.
Kissing his way back up her body, he lay down on his back, next to her, and pulled her up, so she straddled him again. She immediately understood what he had in mind. Easing herself up on to her knees, she guided him into her sex, and slipped down onto him, enjoying the slow sensation of him as he filled her inch by inch.
Misty rode him, slowly at first, taking her time, circling her hips and rising up and down to gain maximum arousal from her position. To steady herself, she placed her hands on his chest and stroked his skin, feeling him tense as she tweaked his nipples. All the time she watched his face, watched as he bit his lower lip and gasped as she rolled her hips around and around.
Placing his hands on her back, he sat up, adjusting his position, and then lowered his head, to suck her nipples in to his mouth, grazing them with his teeth, which made her insides clench, and her hips buck. Her rhythm quickened as her orgasm closed in on her again.
Kieran slipped his hands down her back, until they rested on her hips, his fingers digging into her flesh as he lifted his hips off the ground and tried to impale her on his cock. Misty threw her head back, closing her eyes as she moved, her climax so close, and this time he was not going to rob her of it.
She felt him tense, and his seed spurted deep inside her, setting off a chain reaction in her body. Her voice filled the night air as she cried out, calling his name; her sex gripped his cock, pulsing around him, until she was utterly spent.
Afterwards, they didn’t speak for a long time, he just gathered her up into his arms and held her close. Lying naked under the stars, each of them knew there was no place they would rather be on their first night in Shifters Prime.
“Do you remember anything about the Prime?” Misty asked him. She lay in his arms, the dark night settled around them. He couldn’t see her, but he could hear her breathing and feel the warmth of her body against his.
“Some things. Only memories from my lion, he can remember things that I don’t. He can remember my father and being taught how to use his sense of smell to track. My father taught me how to hunt too, but not to kill.” His voice trailed off into the dark, and dark were his thoughts now too, he remembered his mother crying, a sound that tore something inside him.
“Can you remember why you left?” Misty asked him.
Did he? He wasn’t sure, but he was aware that in his mother’s tears, in the tone of her crying, there was an urgency. And then he remembered Philippe and crossing the Prime, heading for the border. He remembered being smuggled on a train; he could still recall the way it moved, the way it rattled along the tracks. After that all he remembered was running.
“I think something happened to my father. I think he was murdered and whoever murdered him, that’s who Philippe was always running from. I think he was given me as his ward, to keep safe.”
“He did a good job. Do you think that now you’re back, that’s what’s expected of you? To seek revenge for what happened to your father?” She didn’t sound very happy about it, and he could understand why. He had known this fear all of his life, and now they were mates it was passed on to her.
“My father means nothing to me, I don’t really remember him, only vague things from my lion side. Would it be so bad if I just ran the other way?” he asked hopefully.
“I think you already know the answer to that,” she said. “I was lucky I grew up surrounded by my family and I know that there is nothing I wouldn’t do for them. We have to find out what happened to you and your father, if only for the sake of our children.”
He turned to look at her in the darkness, and could make out her eyes as the moonlight caught them. He could make out the colour of her cheek and the swell of her breasts. And he knew that she was right. He also knew that it was made more urgent now, by the fact that she might already have conceived their child. They had made love all night, and unlike in the other world, where he had always used protection, there had been nothing to stop Misty getting pregnant.
And he didn’t want his child to grow up in fear. He wanted his child to live here in the Prime, just as he should have, with his family, with his mother and father, and with his brothers. Yes, that was one more thing he could remember.
Two brothers, he was sure: he remembered playing with them, chasing them, He pictured them pouncing on each other and rolling around in the dirt. That’s what made him sad, as he lay there with her in his arms with the clear night above them. He had been a lion before he had run away with Philippe, he had experienced what it was like to be a cub, to chase his tail, and pull his brothers by their ears. And all that had been torn from him, taken from him.
He only wished he knew who was responsible.
***
At some point they had slept, and when they woke in the morning, the fire was out and it was cold. Misty was shivering; he used his hands to rub her arms and her back, trying to warm her up and then he went to retrieve her clothes, and she got dressed, her teeth still chattering.
“We have to find somewhere warm to sleep tonight, or else it won’t matter who I’ve been running from all my life, the cold will kill us instead.”