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S omething warm was pressed against Calliope’s back. It felt so good, and she couldn’t help but snuggle against it. She wriggled her ass, and that was when she became aware of multiple things.

First, she opened her eyes. Then, she remembered the awful realization that she and Jaxson were in The Hunt. The ogre, the lake, or sea-monster-riddled water. Finally, the sudden nightfall. Jaxson kissing the top of her head.

And now, she was snuggled against him. Sometime during the night, she must have rolled over, as his arm was her pillow, and Jaxson had snuggled against her.

One of his large, thick arms was banded around her waist, and, well, she felt the hard ridge of his dick pressing against her ass.

How would she get out of this without embarrassing him?

This was crazy. But that decision was taken out of her hands as she felt the change within him.

Jaxson was awake. He didn’t move. Neither did she. It was like they both stopped breathing, and then quickly, as if on some kind of drug, they pulled away from one another at exactly the same time.

She looked at him, he looked at her. They stood, with only a small gap between them. “Morning,” she said, realizing if they even argued right now and an ogre appeared, they were going to die. Neither of them was prepared for an attack.

The best way to deal with this was to pretend it wasn’t happening.

“Morning,” he said.

“How did you sleep?” she asked. It was a perfectly reasonable and non-loaded question as far as she was concerned.

“Good. You?”

“Yeah, I slept well.”

Calliope didn’t know the last time she had slept that well. It had been a long time.

She didn’t know what to say to him. If she looked down, she might bring the direction of the conversation to the fact his ... dick was hard. Not that she knew if it stood out against his pants. This was just too much.

“Uh, how are you?” she asked.

“I’m good. You?”

“I’m ... great.” She offered him a smile.

They were going around in circles.

“I need to pee,” she said.

“Right, right. I guess we use cover around us, and some of these leaves, which might help.”

She chuckled. “That is a good idea. Such a great idea.” And she was reaching.

They turned their backs on each other, and Calliope found a spot. This was insane. She couldn’t believe she was using the great outdoors as a bathroom. It was odd, but a small bucket of water appeared, and she knew it was there for her to wash her hands.

“Okay, manifestation,” she said. “This is pretty neat.”

She couldn’t deny how cool that was. Also, a toothbrush, toothpaste, and even a comb, and some deodorant appeared. Now, this was just plain creepy, but she was not about to say that to the ... magic apparatus. If they wanted to appear out of thin air, then so be it.

Once she had washed herself as best she could, brushed her teeth, and even combed her hair, she felt good. Alive. Like herself.

As if by magic, her clothes changed as well. She was still in jeans and a shirt, but this time, the shirt was not thick, and she was wearing a vest.

“Oh,” she said.

Stepping out from beyond her cover, she found Jaxson standing near a fire.

“Did you make this?” she asked.

He wasn’t wearing a shirt, and his jeans were riding low, showcasing his body. A body she hadn’t seen in a very long time.

“I came back and here it was,” he said. “I guess we did good, and we get to eat. There is bacon and sausage, eggs, and even some tomatoes.”

“That sounds good. So, uh, after, you know, you used the bathroom, did water and stuff appear?” she asked.

“Yeah, they did.”

“Thank you. I thought I might be going a little crazy, but it’s nice to know this place is providing everything. Even the change of clothes.” She picked at the vest top she was wearing.

“Yeah, I’m not sure I’m liking this change,” Jaxson said.

“Where is your shirt?” she asked.

“I wasn’t given one.”

“And I was given this vest top. Okay, so I guess today it’s going to be hot?” Calliope didn’t even need to take a second guess, as the heat was already rising. “They do know I am human, right?”

“Yeah, they know.”

“So, what do we think this change of temperature is all about?”

He shrugged. “I guess the heat gets to a lot of people. They either make sound decisions, or bad ones, or ... you know...”

“Sexy ones?” Calliope asked.

Jaxson nodded.

“Yeah, they really are attempting to take this out of our hands, aren’t they?”

“I guess we could say they’re acting in our best interests,” Jaxson said.

She couldn’t help laughing.

Jaxson looked good without a shirt on.

It didn’t take long for their breakfast to cook, and by the time she took a bite out of the sausage, she was starving, and it was getting hotter with every passing second.

They finished their food without a word, and then had some gulps of water. Calliope leaned back and titled her head toward the burning sun.

“Do you think we should stay here?” she asked.

“No, I think we need to keep moving. It will help us.”

She nodded and got to her feet. There was now a second backpack, and she picked it up and followed behind Jaxson.

“It feels wrong to be leaving this camp. We’ve got everything set up for us to make some food and possibly get some good sleep.”

“Yeah, and an easy place for us to get attacked,” Jaxson said. “Remember, there are still dangers around.”

“Yeah, but what if they are only part of our manifestation? What if we actually get along and nothing bad happens?” Calliope asked. She sounded a little too hopeful, even to herself, and it made her wrinkle her nose.

“I want to agree with you, but you and I both know the challenges the pack will send us. No one has ever fooled The Hunt, gotten out, and then not been mated. Do you feel like mating me?” Jaxson asked.

She pressed her lips together, because the true answer was a hard one.

Yes, she wanted to be mated to him, and at the same time, no.

He’d been a dick to her. Admittedly, not all the time, but that was beside the point.

There was a time he had been her best friend, and she adored him.

Actually, there had been a point where she had loved him.

They had grown apart, as kids often did. Now, there was no love, there was no ... feeling. There didn’t need to be. He had moved on, realizing she was human, and he had more important things to do.

And she, well, she had moved on to making her life work, knowing she was not a wolf. She and Jaxson were not the same, and never would be.

Sure, it had hurt. And part of her still loved him. But that part was long buried. She didn’t want anything bad to happen to him, but she knew he didn’t want to be mated to her. She was just a human.

“We keep moving,” Calliope said, trying to change the subject rather than answer him. They were not ready for this, or at least she wasn’t ready. She didn’t know if she would ever be ready.

Jaxson looked so sad, but she couldn’t just put the last few years aside. He had said some horrible things, and she had retaliated. She never said anything bad about him being a wolf, or different. She just called him an asshole, or dumb, or a loser. Sometimes, she only said that in her head.

Pushing those thoughts out of her mind, she started to walk. This time, it was up to Jaxson to follow, only she got so far and had to stop. She glanced behind her and saw that Jaxson hadn’t moved.

“Come on, we’ve got to go. You’re right and we need to make this work.”

****

J axson was ready to mate with Calliope.

Most of the night, he had watched her, feeling her sink deeper into sleep.

Kissing the top of her head hadn’t been a mistake.

The truth was, he wanted to kiss those full, kissable lips.

To slide his tongue across and inside her mouth, to deepen the kiss.

To taste her. He wanted to strip the clothes from her body and make love to every inch of her.

There were so many things he wanted to do to her, but what was he doing instead? Oh, that’s right, he was watching her walk ahead of him.

She didn’t want to mate him, and he understood it.

The last few years, he had been a dick to her, before they turned eighteen, before the mating.

That was when he’d been a dick to her as well.

When she suddenly became a girl, he just couldn’t seem to handle it.

Which pissed him off. It shouldn’t bother him that she was a girl.

Right now, it didn’t, but back then, it had changed so much, and he didn’t know what to think or feel. His feelings were all over the place.

He needed to get his shit together, and staring down the length of her back, he couldn’t help but admire the curves of her juicy ass. The tight round globes that were making him ache to be with her. Jaxson felt an overwhelming need to touch her.

All too soon, she stopped and put her hands on her waist.

“It feels like we’ve been walking for hours,” Calliope said.

The shirt she wore was soaking wet. It was hot. He struggled as well. He wanted to take his jeans off and just soak up the sunshine.

Calliope pushed her hair out of the way. She had it pinned up on top of her head, which he had watched her do as they walked. He figured one of the clips had appeared in her pocket, making her able to do that.

“It is hot,” he said.

Calliope spun toward him. “Are you thinking dirty thoughts? Hot thoughts?”

“No,” he said. The lie slipped right off his tongue with ease.

“Something is making it hot in here.” She sighed.

Jaxson reached out and touched Calliope’s forehead. As a wolf, he was able to withstand hot and cold, but she was a human, and that meant she was built a lot differently from him. Pressing his hand against her forehead, he felt how she was burning up and she looked exhausted.

“Okay, this is not good,” he said. Reaching into his backpack, he pulled out some water.

“We’re going to have to ration it,” Calliope said.

“No, this is not about rationing. They will provide food. There is no reason for this to be happening.”

She seemed to be a little unsteady on her feet.

Jaxson didn’t like this. The heat was getting to her, and he knew she didn’t want to be thrown into a lake. Besides, there was a chance they would be attacked by whatever Calliope thought of. He needed to get her cool. The heat was too much, and he didn’t want her to suffer.

“Hey, hey, it’s fine,” he said, reaching for her. Jaxson tried to steady her on her feet.

“It’s fine,” she said, looking far from fine.

And then, he cupped her face, staring into her eyes. They were slightly glazed. Her forehead was covered in perspiration. They were not ready for this, but he also couldn’t handle her being passed out from heat exhaustion, not that he would have a problem carrying her.

This could either go really well, or really bad, and without question, he closed the distance between them and kissed her. At first, it was just the meeting of their lips, joined together, and then that changed. The kiss deepened.

His hands were at her shoulders, hoping to steady her, and then, as if by their own accord, he sunk one into her hair, holding the back of her head.

The other went down toward her hip, and he pulled her in closer.

He heard her soft, subtle moan, and he swallowed it down, not wanting to stop.

Calliope didn’t push him away, but the more he kissed her, the more he felt the temperature inside the place start to cool off.

Time passed and he didn’t want to pull away, but he had a feeling he needed to. Kissing her one final time, he looked into her face and stopped the kiss. He didn’t stop holding her. He needed to have his hands on her body.

Slowly, she opened her eyes.

“Thank you,” Calliope said.

“If it gets hotter, I’ll keep kissing you.”

She laughed. “Do you think that is why they made it so hot?”

“I don’t know. How are you feeling?”

“Sticky. Like I need a bath.”

And then, as if by magic, they heard it. Calliope frowned, Jaxson took hold of her hand, and they moved around the corner. There was a waterfall, but from where they stood, it did not look too deep.

“You’ve got to be kidding.”

“I guess they work hard to make it as romantic as can be,” he said.

“It looks so good,” Calliope said. “Do you think we should take advantage?”

“Yeah, I do.” He let go of her hand and pushed his jeans right off his body. He kept his boxer briefs on and started to make his way toward the edge of the water.

Before he went any further, he looked back to find Calliope removing her jeans and vest top. The last time they had been this naked, they had been kids. That seemed like a lifetime ago, and maybe part of an alternate universe. It didn’t seem like it was them.

He watched her, unable to look away. Not wanting to look anywhere else but at her. She wore a padded bra and panties.

“You look nice,” he said. The words just kind of blurted out of his mouth. She looked up and then smiled.

“You don’t have to just say it.”

“I’m not just saying it, I mean it.” Now he felt embarrassed. “Uh, so, yeah, that’s what I was thinking.” And then, with her getting closer to him, he stepped beneath the spray of the waterfall. It didn’t take her long to join him.

She was so close and he could smell her. Calliope always smelled like vanilla to him, which was one of his favorite scents. He loved vanilla—vanilla cupcakes, vanilla frosting, vanilla ice cream. If it had vanilla, he was sold.

He couldn’t help but be drawn to her. She looked so beautiful.

Jaxson watched as she tilted her head back and enjoyed the spray of the water. She let out a moan, and this was different from the one he heard a few short moments ago.

Her lips had been perfect. Kissing her was better than he ever imagined it would be. Every single part of her was perfection.

She opened her eyes, looked over at him, and smiled. “You’re watching me.”

“I can’t look away.”

This made her chuckle. She stepped toward him. “And why not?”

“I have no idea.” He took a step toward her, and Calliope tilted her head back. “But I want to kiss you again.”

He watched as she licked her lips, and it wasn’t fair to keep teasing him.

“Then kiss me,” she said.

He didn’t know what had gotten into her, but he was not about to tell her no. Banding an arm around her waist, he pulled her in close and then took possession of her lips. She let out a brief moan, and he wasn’t done with her yet.

She said he could kiss her, and he intended to take full advantage of that as he slid a hand down to her ass, cupping the flesh, as he finally ravished her mouth in the way he always wanted to.

Calliope was his mate. The elder said so.

This was why he didn’t go to the elder, because he wanted Calliope all to himself.