Neither of them could stomach staying in that clearing, next to the dead hyenas, but their mutual exhaustion wouldn't take them that far either. Before Jessica would agree to take another step, however, she insisted on tending to Marcus's arm.
"It's going to be fine," he said. "My kind heal very quickly. In a week or so, it's just going to be an ugly scar that doesn't bother me at all."
"Okay, but right now, it's an open wound that is going to attract all sorts of nastiness. Here, stop being such a hero, and let me tend to it."
For a few minutes, she was so busy washing out the wound and disinfecting it with their decades old first aid kit that she wasn't aware of anything else, until suddenly she realized that she was tending to a patient who was not only sexy as all get out, but very naked. She couldn't stop a blush from rising to her cheeks. She guessed that Marcus could tell what she was thinking, because despite flinching from her touch, he chuckled a little.
"What have you got on your mind?" he asked innocently. "Whatever it is, it looks entertaining."
"Um, it's about the fact that you're naked," she muttered. "Does... does that happen every time?"
"I'm afraid so. Some of the other shifters have forms smaller than their human bodies, and they get off a little better."
"You probably shouldn't be naked going through the jungle," she said, and he nodded.
"I don't have any more tactical gear, more's the shame, but I have an extra pair of pants in my pack. Might even have a shirt, though that's a little less likely."
As it turned out, after she had patched him up as best she could, he dug out a T-shirt, a pair of running shoes, and a pair of ancient jeans. He made a face after he put them on, and she laughed.
"You look like some guy from Brooklyn on your way to get some artisan yogurt or something," she teased, and he sighed.
"Honestly, I’m not exactly sure what artisan yogurt is, but I might try it. Let's get out of here. I'm ready to be away from this mess."
They walked for an hour or so, but after just a few minutes, Jessica could see that Marcus’s injuries were getting the best of him. He appeared to be fading fast. He stumbled more, and his gait had slowed. Before, she had guessed that he was deferring to her, but now she could tell that he was just exhausted.
When they reached a small stream, they paused to rest, and Jessica determined it was time to put a stop to this.
"All right, executive decision time," she said. "We're stopping here for the night."
He glanced at her with a frown.
"There's still plenty of daylight," he said, and with a feeling of dismay, she could tell he was going to argue with her. If he got his way, he would be marching with an injury, possibly losing more blood and getting weaker all the while, and she refused to think about what that might mean, quick healing or no.
"Well, yes, but there's a stream here," she said pointing. "And some shelter among those rocks. And honestly, I'm really sorry, Marcus, but I'm exhausted. I'm not sure how much farther I can go."
She had a feeling that if he were a little more alert and aware, she never would have gotten away with that tiny fib. Instead, the moment she mentioned that she was tired, Marcus couldn't begin to set up camp soon enough. He wouldn't allow her to prepare the lean-to or set up the mosquito netting, but he at least let her rove the immediate area looking for firewood for the night.
She thought that they would simply prepare their rationed MRE’s. She was startled when she saw Marcus select a long straight branch from a nearby tree. He snapped it off with a casual strength that should have been terrifying, and with a few strokes of an enormous knife, he put a sharp point on it.
"What are you doing?" she asked, and he grinned.
"I thought I would catch us some dinner," he said, and Jessica decided that she had had enough.
"No, you are not," she said, loudly enough that he looked at her in surprise. "You are not doing one more thing tonight that is going to aggravate your arm or prompt more blood loss. You are not going to go throwing a spear into the water and trying to... to wrestle with whatever you pull out of it."
"I'm not?"
"You are not," Jessica said sternly. "Give me the spear."
"Okay, but whoever carries the spear is in charge of getting us dinner," he said, amusement lurking in his bright eyes. At that point, she was well past caring, and she held out her hand for the spear.
The moment he put it in her hands, she could feel how heavy it was, and she started to wonder if she had made a bad decision.
He settled on the bank to watch her, and refusing to be daunted, she marched out to the water where the bright afternoon light would make it easier to see the fish she was supposedly trying to spear. She tucked the ends of her long skirt into her waistband and kicked off her shoes. There were no open cuts on her feet, so she probably wouldn't have to worry about parasites, and taking a deep breath, Jessica stepped into the water.
"Augh!"
The jungle was sweltering, but the stream, likely fed from the meltwater in the mountains to the north, was frigid. She waited, teeth clenched for her skin to get acclimated to the temperature, and the whole time, she could feel Marcus's amused glance at her back.
"Want me to take over?" he called, and she could have snarled at him.
"I don't give up so easily," she retorted.
"Stand with your feet planted, and balance the spear in your hand," he said. "Remember that you are stabbing, not throwing, and that you want to adjust for the fact that the water bends your vision. The fish isn't where it looks like it is."
It was good advice at least, even if her first half-dozen thrusts netted her nothing but splashing water and a glimpse of a frightened fish lunging away.
Her seventh attempt, Jessica overbalanced and ended up in the water herself, and the only thing that made it even marginally acceptable was Marcus's roaring laughter from the bank. He had lost the drawn and stern look he had worn while they were marching through the woods, and she had to assume that his wound was healing after all.
"Yeah, laugh it up," she called, and he shrugged.
"Any time you want me to take over, I will," he said, and she turned back to the water.
Her tenth try netted nothing. Her fifteenth was similar. However, sometime after she lost count, when her body was aching with the strain of holding still and when she was wondering if she could just try to net the fish with her shirt instead, her spear made contact, and suddenly there was a wiggling fish the size of her forearm on the end of her spear.
"Oh my god!" she yelped, because she had honestly not thought this far ahead. It had seemed an unlikely enough procedure that she would land a fish in the first place, and now that it happened, she had no idea how to proceed.
"Scooping motion!" shouted Marcus, standing up from his seat. "Down to get the spear in, and up to toss it on the bank!"
Gulping, she did as he said, half-expecting to see the fish squirm away no matter what she did. Somehow, miraculously, the fish went flying through the air to land half in the water and half on the bank. It might have fallen back into the water, but Marcus was there in a flash, scooping it out with powerful hands.
"Is it good?" she asked anxiously, coming in from the water. "Is it dinner?"
At some point, her stomach had started crying to be fed, and she could feel the pangs claw at her when she wasn't distracted.
"Unfortunately, no," he said with a frown. "This one's toxic to humans."
Jessica could feel her eyes well with tears that she struggled to hold back. For god's sake she would not be a baby about this, there were MREs, and Marcus probably could fish if he had to, and...
"Oh, sweetheart, don't look like that, I was joking! It's fine! It's perfectly fine, I promise!"
For a moment, Jessica could not understand the words that Marcus was saying. Then the meaning set in, and she dropped the spear, launching herself straight for him.
"You bastard! I was doing that to make sure you didn't hurt your damn arm! I was so worried you were going to hurt yourself, and I'm soaking wet, and I'm exhausted and you tell me that it's poisonous?!"
Marcus’s laugh was deep and sonorous, rolling over her like the tone of a golden bell. In the fading light, she could see his eyes glow with pleasure and amusement, and she stepped back. She had to, otherwise she might lean in too far towards that preternatural warmth. Who knew what might happen after that?
“Can... can we get this cooked?”
“We can,” he said softly. To her relief, he didn't question her brief pause.
He was able to scale the fish and gut it while directing her to get the fire started, and soon enough it was spitted over the crackling flames. As the fish cooked over the fire, Jessica flopped down on the ground. It was hard underneath her and if she lay still too long, it would start to bruise her, but right then she was too tired to care.
'It really will be okay,” Marcus said. “I promise you, I'll make sure that you're okay.”
Jessica was too tired to do much more than smile at him, barely turning her head.
“That's not even what I was thinking about. I mean, I am going to be very grateful if you get me out of this, but if for some reason, you can't, you need to get this gear to the village I was going to. They need these samples back in the city. The WHO needs them. If you have to make the call, that's the one to make.”
Marcus frowned at her.
“There is no way that I'm going to value some medical gear over-”
She propped herself up on one elbow, looking at him narrowly.
“That's what's going to have to happen,” she said. “Marcus, promise me. These are important. I am too, but when it comes to furthering the understanding of the disease and how it's working on people... that's the call you need to make. I need to know that's the call that you are going to make.”
“Jessica, please, don't...” To her surprise, Marcus's expression looked disturbed, and he reached out a hand to fold over hers. His touch sent those indescribable tingles through her again. Though it was hard, she drew her hand away. She looked into his eyes, trying to convey how important this was to her, how essential this was to the fate of the people in the region. She needed him to be absolutely clear on what her needs were. Their eyes locked, and he was the one who looked away first.
“All right,” he said, his voice barely more than a whisper. “All right.”
He shook his head, turning towards the fish to give it an unnecessary poke with his knife.
“You are one hell of a woman, Jessica,” was all he was willing to say.
When the fish was cooked to Marcus's satisfaction, he deftly pulled it off the spit and cut it in two. There were no plates, but he found two large waxy green leaves to serve them on. Jessica was very nearly brought to tears again when she took her first bite of the fish. The meat was thin and scanty, and she had to carefully eat her way around the pale needle-like bones, but she thought it was perhaps the best fish she had ever eaten.
It wasn't until she had finished her portion that Jessica looked at Marcus guiltily.
“You... need more food than I do, and we split this down the middle...”
Marcus chuckled.
“After that joke about the toxic fish, I've lost all right to make any demands like that. And as I said, my kind heal fast. By tomorrow night, I'll be back in fighting condition. I might not be very elegant about it, but I can get us fed. Not to worry.
Jessica was surprised to feel her eyelids droop as the sun fell below the horizon.
“I don't know why I'm so tired,” she complained, and Marcus laughed again as he banked the fire to last through the night.
“It's being in the bush,” he said. “I have a friend that says that the wilds turn us all into birds, we rise early, we sleep early. You'll probably wake at dawn and feel drowsy again at midday. This is what people did at the dawn of their history.”
“Their history? Do you not think of it as your history?” she asked, and he thought for a moment.
“That's... complicated,” he said. “and not something that I really should talk about.”
“Oh, I'm sorry,” she said, “I didn't...”
“It's all right.”
Marcus felt strong enough to make them a bed, weaving together thin branches to offer them some padding from the increasingly cold ground. He found a way to drape the mosquito netting so it hung around the bower. From her place close to the fire, Jessica thought that there was something lovely about it. It was something that a knight might build for his lady fair, and she smiled a little at that thought.
“We should sleep,” he said. “Then we'll be ready to march as soon as it becomes light.
Jessica felt a light blush creep over her face as she realized how closely they would be sleeping. She knew that there was no choice, and when Marcus told her that the bed was ready, she crawled onto the branches. She lay stiffly on her side as Marcus readied their camp for the darkness. There was a part of her that liked listening to the soft sounds he made as he moved around her. She knew that they were still in a great deal of danger, but somehow, being able to hear him made her feel oddly safe. Marcus was with her, everything was going to be all right.
She flinched a little when he came to lie down behind her. She might have been stiff, but Marcus had no similar doubts. He lay close to her, her back to his chest, and he threw an arm over her waist as if they had slept together for years.
“We need to stay warm,” he explained. “The fire isn't going to last, not without our gathering a lot more wood, and it’s the wrong time of year to find dry wood anyway. This is the next best thing.”
“I...I am not sure it is,” she said, trying to joke. “I mean, I think the next best thing might be a room at one of the big hotels in New York, you know? With a hot tub and room service and a view...”
Marcus chuckled, a warm sound right next to her ear. She shivered as the sound sent a pleasant thrill through her body.
“Well, I'll admit that in general, camping is a little more relaxing when you don't have to do it on behalf of the World Health Organization. When you're up in the Rockies, and the sky is clear for two hundred miles in all directions...that's beautiful.”
“I hope I get to see it someday,” she said before she remembered that her time with Marcus was a limited engagement. Despite her powerful attraction to him, she could not afford falling in love or making a commitment, not if she was to do all the good that she wanted to do.
“I hope you do as well,” he said quietly.
They drifted off to sleep then, and Jessica fell into a thin, uneasy slumber. She was running from something that giggled with a madman's cackle in the night. She knew that if she simply made it to the village she would be safe, but when she got there, the gates were bared against her and the villagers drove her away with shouts and stones...
Jessica woke with a start. The last light was fading from the banked fire, and all around her was a deeper darkness than any she had ever known. She might have been flying through space without any idea of what was in the future or the past. Nothing held her to the earth except for the bed of branches underneath her and the man who held her in his arms.
She stirred, and his arms tightened around her. Instead of feeling restrained or threatened, it sent a spear of desire straight to her core. She bit her lip, trying to stay still, but behind her, she could feel Marcus's bulk, his warmth against the cold of the world.
Her slight shiver turned into a full-on squirm as his hands roved fitfully over her belly and her thighs. He made a low growling sound in his sleep, almost a purr. Biting her lip, unable to help herself, Jessica pressed herself back against him. She knew that she was playing with fire, but there were some things that were more powerful than her doubts and her fears. There was a need inside her that begged to be quelled, and a part of her was tired of being without him.
She could feel Marcus wake up suddenly, going perfectly still with one hand right under her soft breasts, the other slightly lower. He froze for a moment, and then she felt him grind against her, his body tensing. When she pressed back against him, he groaned and pressed his mouth against the back of her neck. She trembled when she felt the brush of sharp teeth against her nape. Her hands flew up to fit over his, but instead of pulling them away, she pressed them closer.
“Jessica,” Marcus said, a note of urgency in his voice. “Jessica, are you...”
“Yes,” she murmured, because out of her exhaustion and the adrenaline that had been keeping her going sprang fiery desire low in her belly. “Yes, please, I need... I need...”
Marcus didn't wait to hear the rest of her stuttering confession. He pulled back just enough to turn her over, and then it didn't matter that she couldn't see him because he was pulling her close for a kiss. It was like nothing she had ever encountered before, all need and teeth and behind it, a desperate restraint. Somehow, she could tell that he wanted her safe, couldn't stand the thought of hurting her.
In response, she threw her arms around him, kissing him just as wildly as he kissed her. She could feel the muscles that slathered his frame, feel the way they tensed underneath her touch. She held on to him tightly, insinuating her body against his. She could feel his manhood hardening between them, drawing a response from her body that was almost too powerful for her to understand.
Marcus groaned, his hands sweeping from her waist up to her shoulders. One hand landed in her hair, tightening just hard enough to make her gasp, and the other swept down to her rear, squeezing gently. He cut off her soft cry with another kiss, and this time he pressed his tongue past the seam of her lips. She could feel the velvet wetness of his mouth against hers. Jessica drew his tongue deeper into her mouth, suckling gently and drawing a moan from him.
“I want you,” she whimpered, and then it was as if a dam had broken. With a deep growl, Marcus rolled up over her, trapping her legs together with his knees planted on either side of hers.
“I need you naked,” he growled. “I can't stand it when you're clothed, god, sometimes, it's all that I can think about...”
She only had a moment to puzzle over that before he pulled back just far enough to grip a handful of her shirt in his fist. With a hard tearing motion, he ripped the shirt from her shoulders, leaving her wearing only her bra. With another yank, he pulled down her skirt as well, her panties joining them. For a moment, in shock, she tried to cover herself, but he grabbed her wrists and pinned them over her head. She cried out a little at his hard grip. She knew instinctively that she could struggle all she liked, but she could no more move against him than she could an iron shackle.
“You are so perfect,” he growled, leaning down to kiss her. He started at the point of her jaw and then moved down to her throat, where her pulse fluttered like that of a prey animal brought to bay. He measured her pulse with his soft lips for a moment, and Jessica felt a shudder roll through her. He laughed a little, as if he could guess her thoughts, and she could feel him smile as his kisses trailed down to her tender collarbones. She shivered, and then his fingertips traced over the lacy edge of her bra.
“Please don't tear my bra,” she murmured, and he laughed.
“As the beautiful lady wishes…”
He let her sit up, and then his arms went around her, plucking at the hooks of her bra. Jessica gasped as he pulled away her last garment. She resisted the urge to cover herself with her arms, and then Marcus was lying her back on their makeshift bed.
“It's so dark,” she whispered. “Can you see anything at all?”
“I can see just fine,” Marcus murmured, “I can see that you are exquisite. I can see that you are tired and afraid. I can see that you want me, and god above of the men and the beasts, I want you as well.”
When he knelt to start kissing her again, he was still straining with need, but there was something almost reverent about the way he ran his hands down her flanks, how he kissed the very center of her sternum. When Jessica reached for him, he lightly pinned her hands to her sides.
“I want to feel you,” he murmured, just the hint of a growl in his voice, and she trembled.
He started with his hands, running them up and down her body, resting them briefly against her wrists, her throat, her ribs. He brushed his hands over her breasts, teasing the peaks until they were hard and straining. He waited until she was writhing gently under his touch before he lowered his head to her breast. Jessica felt his teeth brush against the straining tips of her breasts, teasing them and taunting them until she thought she might go insane.
“What would you do if I told you that you were allowed to bite me?” she whispered, and Marcus laughed, a harsh sound.
“You should not do that,” he said softly. “That would be... unwise...”
It only tempted her to it more, but then he was shifting, kneeling between her legs and spreading her thighs apart. She closed her eyes, draping her arm over her face in embarrassment. In the dark, she had no idea how well he could see her, but it didn't matter. No man had ever looked at her so closely or with such obvious hunger.
“God, you are beautiful,” he said again, and he dipped his head down to her belly.
In that moment, when he grazed his teeth over the skin of her stomach, when his powerful body crouched down over hers, she knew that he was a predator. Jessica had seen him transform, and she knew that he could hunt just like any other big cat, but now her hind-brain knew as well. There was a part of her descended from people who had crouched in the dark, afraid of the sharp-toothed predators, and that part of her knew that he was one of them.
It should have sent her screaming into the night, trying to get away from him with everything she had lest she be devoured as well. Right now, however, it only made her want him more, and it was a struggle to surrender to him, to allow him to kiss her while keeping her arms down by her sides where he had left them.
Marcus made soft noises of satisfaction as he kissed his way past her hipbones and down to her thighs. Though his hands passed achingly lightly over the dark fluff between her legs, his mouth never went close. Her body arched up against his touch, but he teased her mercilessly. Once or twice, he pressed the base of his palm against her dampening flesh, but he drew it away again just as easily.
“Please!” she found herself saying. “Please, Marcus!”
She wasn't sure why he finally gave in. She thought that there was a chance that he would simply tease her forever, leaving her a shivering, shuddering wreck in the heart of the jungle. Then suddenly he shifted down, moving his body until his head was pillowed against her thigh. There was something strangely sacred about the moment, as if they were taking part in something that people had been doing since the dawn of time.
“You need me?” he asked, his voice hushed. “You want me?”
“Yes, yes,” she cried, and he needed no further prompting. He spread her legs wider with his hands, and then he kissed his way up to the secret tuft of fur between her legs. He spread her open to reveal the sensitive flesh there, and at the first touch of his tongue, she whimpered wildly. The heat that had been rolling through her intensified with every stroke of his tongue on her clit and every teasing fingertip down at her wet entrance below.
There was something ravenous about the way he laid his mouth to her, as if he wanted to eat her whole. She tried to focus on Marcus and what he was doing, but the waves of pleasure that started to wash over her were far too strong. She shuddered, her belly lurching as he pushed higher and higher, harder and harder.
“Oh, oh please...” she cried, and he laughed, a vicious sound in the wild darkness.
“Another time, I will make you beg,” he growled. “I want to hear you plead for the release that I can give you...now I cannot wait...”
She started to ask him what that meant, but then his mouth was moving against her flesh again, working her hard and leaving no room for anything like words or doubts. She couldn't leave her hands down at her sides. Instead, they came up to bury themselves in his ha. She could feel the muscles of her thighs tightening and tensing. It was almost painful, but it was far less important than the way he was stroking her most tender flesh. She was torn between wanting to try to get away from the intensity and wanting more of it.
In the end, all she could do was shudder under his touch. Her body wound tighter and tighter until all at once ripples of sensation started to tear through her. Each one was more powerful than the last, and she was shaking so hard she had to drum her heels into the ground underneath her. She was writhing, held only to earth by his powerful hands on her hips, and then she convulsed wildly, the pleasure simply too great to be constrained by her frame.
Jessica scrunched her eyes shut, listening to her own cries echo through the forest as if they belonged to someone else. The pleasure that coursed through her was so intense that she could barely process it, let alone understand it. She had made love to men before, but it had never been like this. There was something beautiful and primal at work, and when Marcus pulled back, Jessica wailed out loud.
Her climax was still pulsing through her body, making her shiver, when he rose over her. He blocked out the faint light from the fire, from the stars above, and for a moment, she thought of gods come out of the jungle, ready to take what was theirs by right of tooth and claw.
With a growl that barely sounded human, Marcus lowered himself to her waiting body. For a moment, she thought that she would be far too tired and wrung out to take him without pain, but when she felt the blunt tip of his cock pressing against her entrance, she knew that she was ready for him.
"I want you," she whispered nakedly, and he responded with a soft sound that was nearly wounded.
"I don't understand how I can crave you this much," he replied, but before she could scrutinize his confession, he was pressing inside her.
She whimpered as he entered her, but Marcus had absolutely no mercy as he sheathed himself with her body. His entry was smooth and slick, perfect.
When Marcus was settled completely inside her, she opened her eyes to look up at him. She caught a gleaming flash of his gaze, and then he was thrusting into her. His motions started out slowly, but she could tell that he had held off too long for it to last. He was trembling with need just as she had been, and suddenly she did not want him to torture himself any longer.
Jessica reached up to rake her nails down along his back, and when he groaned, she did it again.
"Don't stop yourself," she said, her voice high and breathy. "I want all of you, please..."
On that please, she could feel something inside Marcus shatter. He reared up slightly, taking her hips in his hands and dragging her towards him. He handled her as if she were as light as a leaf blowing on the jungle breeze. She felt lost in the storm of his passion, surrounded by his ferocity, his breath, his heat.
Jessica clung to him as his thrusts turned desperate, and with a deep growl, he thrust into her one last time. His teeth found the sensitive join between her shoulder and her neck, the eroticism of the bite mingling with the feeling satiation in her as he spilled in her body.
Jessica was a woman of science, and though she studied the world, she had never quite felt herself a part of it. Tonight was different. Lying in the heart of a pristine jungle, Marcus above her and earth below her, she knew that she was as a part of the world as the trees, the water and the beasts that stalked the night. She clung to Marcus hard, letting him shake until he went still.
When he pulled away from her, she protested, but he only chuckled, moving a short distance away. He returned swiftly with a rag drenched in water, and Jessica's protests turned to a soft purr as he started to clean her from head to foot.
"You're a scientist, you should know how important it is to stay clean in the jungle," he said, a soft hint humor in his voice.
"I'm a scientist who never thought that people could turn into wild animals, either," she retorted. "I think I can be excused for forgetting... oh!"
Jessica's eyes fluttered closed as he started to clean her between her legs, his touch light with just a hint of sensuality. It was a distraction, she supposed, but it felt far too good to make him stop.
"I shouldn't have bitten you so hard," he said, ruefully, touching the spot on her neck. It was slightly sensitive with a lush throbbing sensation that made her feel oddly needy again.
"I don't mind," she said, and he sighed.
"You should," he said, and would say no more.