Page 17

Vuk

I need to find somewhere safe to tend to my female. My mate. I still don’t fully believe this is possible. Lycans and humans have never mixed. I always assumed we were incompatible. Stroking my hand down her back, I grab a handful of her ample bottom, grinning at her incensed squeal.

The moment I returned to my body, her scent called to me in a way I knew she could only be mine.

All the strange feelings I’ve been having about her suddenly make sense.

The cool air caresses my skin and the moon lights my way as my long strides take me through the forest. I’m so much stronger like this. Faster. My vision sharp and keen.

Tipping my chin up, I breathe in deep. The scent of pine and mud surround me, but it’s the heady scent of her arousal so close, it goes straight to my erect cock.

It sways with each long stride and throbs with unfulfilled desire.

I need to get somewhere safe. Somewhere I can sate this ache riding me to claim her.

But first, I must eliminate the threat of the hunter.

Breathing in again, I search the air for a sharper scent. It’s putrid and wrong, belonging to the evil hiding from me. My nose wrinkles when I find it. The acrid smell of pain and suffering is far off and drifting farther.

Relief loosens my muscles. The hunter will need time to tend to his wounds before he comes after us again. That will give me time to hide my mate somewhere safe.

Holding her small, squirming body over my shoulder, I can feel her heart beating rapidly as she fights me. Her voice is harsh as she pleads with me to put her down, but it’s not safe. Not with the hunter still alive and out there. Not after he threatened her.

I’m crashing through the underbrush, scanning the forest for some place I can hide her when a breeze kicks up bringing with it a bitter scent.

I came across the small cave, with its strange scent, while searching for a way out of the forest. It didn’t occur to me then, but now I realize it will make a perfect hiding spot for my mate.

Picking up my pace, I turn toward the scent, following it to the base of a steep hill and up a rocky incline to the mouth of a cave. The scent of sulfur is thick and cloying and I wrinkle my nose even as I check for other scents. When I determine the cave is empty, I duck inside.

“Where are you taking me?” My mate squirms and twists in my arms, but I have a good hold of her.

Inside the cave we’re surrounded by warm, moist darkness. The smell of sulfur deepens when we reach a small pool at the back. Above it, a small opening in the ceiling allows the moon’s silver rays to filter down where they reflect on the water.

“Oh.” My mate lets out a soft gasp, going still in my arms as she takes in the sight.

It’s lovely here. Even more than I remember. I set her upon the thick layer of moss that covers the ground. Marveling at the sight of her among the lush greenery surrounding the warm pool .

“This is beautiful,” she breathes, slowly taking in the cave. She tips her head back and looks up at me. “How did you know this was here?”

I tap the end of my flat nose with a claw-tipped finger. “Smelled it.”

Her eyes widen. “You can speak?”

“Of course I can.” I’m not sure whether to laugh at her surprise or be offended. I’ve spoken to her twice already, did she not notice?

“Sorry,” she apologizes quickly. “It’s just… You were a wolf and now you’re a… a… what are you? ”

I frown down at her, surprised that she doesn’t know. Then I remember my kind do not populate this plane.

“I am lycan,” I growl, dipping my head so I can breathe in more of her sweet scent.

Her eyes are wide as she pulls back from me. “You’re a werewolf ?”

A deep growl slips past my teeth before I can stop it. “Not a werewolf. Those beasts are little better than the wolf I was trapped as. They are ruled by the moon and their base instincts. Violent. Stupid . Lycans are superior in every way. Smart. Cunning. Strong and faithful.”

“Oh.” She squirms, trying to back away, but I pull her small body closer, so I can feel her soft curves against me. I need to go take care of the hunter, but with her so close—I’m finding it increasingly harder to leave.

She goes rigid as I curl my much larger body around her. Tucking my face into the side of her neck, where her scent is rich and soothing.

“Are there no lycans here?” I ask.

“Like, for real ?” Her words come out breathy and I groan as my cock jumps, wanting to hear her make more sounds like that. “No. They only exist in fiction. Books and movies. They don’t—they aren’t real. ”

I chuff and pull back to look down at her pretty face.

My pack would never let me hear the end of it if they knew I considered a human pretty.

The humans I’ve known are pallid and filthy.

Ugly, noisy things that are barely above vermin.

But not my Hana. My female is beautiful.

Her dark skin is rich and smooth, flawless.

Her round face is surrounded by a cloud of wild curls my fingers ache to sink into.

Her wide-set eyes turn up in a pleasing way at the edges and glitter in the dim light like dark gems. She is perfect.

“Am I not real, then?” I ask her.

She lets out a dry laugh. “This is all pretty unbelievable, I’m not gonna lie.”

Banding my arms around her, I pull her against me. Hard.

She lets out a soft gasp as I dip my head so I can press my nose to the column of her throat. I can smell her blood singing through her veins here, the soft lub-dub of her heartbeat is a drum beat my own heart aches to match.

Her pulse flutters rapidly against my tongue as I taste her warm flesh. It’s soft with a hint of salt. A groan ripples through my throat as her sweet arousal surrounds us. It teases my senses and fogs my thoughts, changing my groan to a deep purr that rattles through my chest.

Hana presses her palms against my chest and gives me a weak push. “Wait. L-lycan, please.”

I reluctantly pull back from her, just enough so I can capture her gaze.

“Vuk,” I say. “I only want to hear my name whispered from your lips, no others.”

“Vuk,” she repeats softly.

My cock jumps at the sound of my whispered name rolling off her soft pink tongue. I bite back a groan, but I can’t stop my hips from pressing against her soft belly. The way she feels pressed against my aching cock is bliss .

Instead of melting against me like I want, she pushes at my chest to put more space between us. “Vuk, stop.”

The word is a sharp contradiction to the breathy way it comes out.

Or the way her scent flares so sweetly as her eyes slowly slide down my body.

I groan when they flare wide and her plush lips part on a sharp inhale when they pause at my hips.

My cock is reaching for her, painfully stiff and leaking beads of pre-cum from the tip.

Having her close like this, standing in the circle of my arms where her scent is all around me, her eyes grazing over my body, flips something inside me.

Triggering an instinct that is already riding me to claim her.

Now, under the rays of the full moon. To mark her, so that everyone knows she is mine before the hunter finds us.

The hunter.

I clench my teeth. They ache to bite, to claim. My cock throbs with the need to take her roughly. To fill her with my seed and scent. I’m falling into rut, which is not ideal and will leave us exposed to the threat still out there. But I don’t think I can stop now.

I drag a deep breath through my nose. It’s filled with sulfur, water and moss, my mate’s sweet sex, and faintly, the hunter.

“Too late, Hana.” I snarl.

“How—how do you know my name?” She stumbles back a step, but before she can escape the cage of my arms, I draw her back.

“I’ve been watching you. I heard your friends call you by your name many times.

” I curl my arms around her so she’s pressed to my solid chest. “I wondered if the hunter trapped you within this forest, too. Then I thought you might be the key to my escape when your scent triggered something in me. Now I can’t stay away. ”

Holding her tightly against the part of me that aches for her, my other hand reaches back to pull at the pack she’s wearing. Sliding it down her back so it tangles around her arms.

“Will you stay here long enough for me to take care of the hunter?” I ask.

Her eyes dart to the entrance behind me and I can see the calculation in them, giving me my answer. My female will run at the first chance. My cock jumps, imagining the chase she’ll take me on—except it’s not safe.

“Maybe I should tie you up so you can’t run?” A vision of her body intricately bound and spread wide for my use drags a low moan from my chest.

Her eyes dart back to mine and narrow. “You wouldn’t dare—” When she starts to struggle, her body rubs against mine.

My cock grows even harder, and I can’t hold back a deep moan at how good she feels touching me like this.

If she doesn’t stop her squirming, it’ll send me fully into rut, and I’ll have no control over how hard I’ll take her.

“Enough,” I bark. Pulling her pack free of her arms, I drop it behind her with a soft thud. Reaching behind her once more, I grip the back of the lightweight covering she’s wearing. Pulling it down over her shoulders and pinning her arms at her sides with it.

Beneath the jacket are more clothes. I growl at how many layers I need to peel away before I can get to her soft body. I want to shred through the strange material with my claws, but my female’s weak human body has no fur and needs these layers for warmth.

“Stop! What are you doing?” She struggles uselessly as I push her to the mossy floor and pull her leg coverings down her thighs.

The scent of her weeping sex hits the center of my chest like a fist. The rut I’ve been holding back comes barreling forward.

I have just enough presence of mind to stagger back toward the cave entrance.

A quick sniff assures me the hunter is still far off, but to be sure he won’t be able to find us easily I channel some of my sexual aggression into pulling down trees and uprooting bushes to cover the entrance, giving us a modicum of privacy.

When I turn back to face my mate, she’s wiggled her arms free. Her eyes are wide and frightened as she works to pull the jacket back into place.

“Don’t—don’t come any closer,” she warns.

Letting out a low huff, I ignore her striding across the cave to crouch down in front of her. Reaching out, I push the jacket off her shoulders once more, then I use my claws to shred her thin shirt underneath.

“Vuk!” she shouts, but I cover her mouth with my hand, pushing her back into the soft moss, continuing to peel away the ruined fabric.

“We must be quiet,” I warn her, even as I’m planning to make her scream my name again. This time, with less indignation and more passion.

Reaching down between us, I drag her pants the rest of the way off her legs, pulling her shoes off with them. Then, crouching over her, I get my first good look at her.

She’s beautiful. Her skin is smooth and dark, glossed with a slight sheen from the humidity in the cave.

Her breasts are round and full, tucked into thin cups that push them up enticingly.

The material is thin enough I can see her tight brown nipples centered within large dark circles through it.

My mouth waters at the sight of her nipples pressing against the material and I lean in, closing my lips around one, circling the tip with my tongue before sucking it through the silky cloth.

She arches up with a gasp, pressing more of her deliciously soft breast against my mouth. Her fingers curl where she pushes against me, and she digs her blunt little nails into my skin as I move to suckle her other nipple .

I need more. Biting through the front closure, I hum as the material falls away, giving me unrestricted access to drag my tongue across her sweet tasting skin without any barrier.

I move back and forth, licking and sucking before making my way up her chest to lick a salty path up her throat. My sharp teeth nip at her jaw before capturing her lips in a fiery kiss.

She doesn’t move, keeping her lips tightly shut against the slant of my mouth.

Moving over her body, I shove a knee between her legs, forcing them to open.

My tongue flicks out to taste the seam of her lips as I rub my knee against the juncture of her thighs.

When she parts her lips for me with a gasp, I sink my tongue inside her warm mouth.

Hana stiffens under me, but then she meekly meets my seeking intrusion.

The first brush of her soft tongue against mine sends a flare of heat searing through my veins. Her unique flavor explodes across my tastebuds, and I melt against her with a sigh as I delve inside her sweet mouth again.

Bracing one hand beside her head, I cup one of her heavy breasts with the other. Rolling and pinching her nipple between my fingers as she drags her nails down my chest, over the thick pads of muscle before sliding them back up to my shoulders where she grips me, pulling me closer.

Sliding my hand between us, I drag my fingers down her soft belly to the scrap of silk wrapped around her hips. Tucking my thumb into the band, I pull.

“Wait!” she gasps against my lips, reaching down to wrap her small hand around my wrist.

It’s too late, the fabric rips and I toss it aside so I can cup her bared cunt in my palm where she’s warm and wet for me.

“Oh…! ” She pulls back from my kiss, pushing at my shoulders even as her hips lift to meet my seeking fingers. Her eyes are wide as I slide through her slick folds to tease at her center with a claw.

“Vuk, careful!” she gasps when I slowly ease the tip of my claw into her soft channel.

Pulling my hand from between her thighs, I bring my fingers to my mouth where I make a show of sucking her sweet cream from them.

Then I place the claws of my first two fingers between my teeth and bite them off, all the way to the quick, before returning them to her drenched slit to tease at her entrance again.

Using my thumb, I draw a light circle around the tight little pearl pulsing near the top of her slit.

She gasps and squirms and I’m pleased to find this pleasure button is one sameness the females of our kind share.

When she is panting and restless, I watch her intently as I press my declawed fingers inside her. Pleased when her mouth falls open with a breathy moan and her eyes roll back.

“That’s right, my female. Moan for your mate.”