Chapter Twelve
Darby was lost in thoughts of the next morning when Calloway pulled up outside their cabin and parked. He didn’t move for a moment, and she was perfectly content to stay snuggled up against his broad back. He turned his head and smiled at her before patting her hands and slipping them free of his waist while he slid off.
“Sit for a moment,” he urged when she started to follow. “I want you to see something.”
He stripped off his clothes, and Darby laughed, glancing around and wondering if anyone was close enough to see them.
“Shouldn’t we do that inside?” She licked her lip as his flesh was revealed, and her body softened at the thought of lovemaking.
“Soon,” he purred, not stopping until he wore nothing but the moonlight.
“I’m sure you can smell how much I like what I see,” she murmured.
His response was a husky chuckle, but he stepped back rather than toward her.
“Calloway?”
He held up a finger and took a few more steps away from her. “Trust me,” he crooned. She nodded.
He took a deep breath, and only with the first, loud pop did she understand what he was doing, what he was showing her. The man was replaced by beast with every forceful crack as his bones reformed. It sounded painful, but other than the change in his breathing, Calloway never uttered a sound. She watched in awe as he went from standing upright to resting on all fours, fur covering his skin until his human form was replaced entirely by that of his cougar.
She eased off the ATV and inched toward him, her hand out. Man or beast, Calloway was her mate. She caught her breath as his moist nose brushed her palm then she giggled at the slow swipe of his long, pink tongue.
“God, Calloway. You’re so beautiful.” The cougar nudged closer, burrowing his nose into her neck as she wrapped her arms around him and held tight. She hugged him close, running her hands up and down his sides, loving the soft fur against her palms.
“So is it true you can leap eighteen feet into a tree?”
He rumbled, a purr vibrating his chest as she continued caressing him.
“What about water? Do you hate water in this form?”
She swore he snorted at her.
“And smell? They say cougars have a poor sense of smell? Is that true? Does your sense of smell change when you’re in animal form?”
Humans say that. I assure you, my sexy, little mate, I can smell every intoxicating inch of you. How much you want me. How wet you are for me.
He did that sexy rumble/purr thing again, and a shiver of need coursed through her.
“Calloway,” she moaned as the cougar’s tongue swiped over the mark on her skin. “Oh, God!” Shivers went through her as tingling heat seemed to surge into the mark and spread through her body. Was there something about the animal’s saliva that made it more potent? She shuddered, her arms falling away from him to clutch her belly where her desire threatened to rip her apart. “Calloway, I need you.”
She was panting. Her body overheated. Her skin over-sensitized, and she yanked at her clothing, desperate to free her flesh. She felt other hands helping her and knew Calloway was once more with her in human form. He lifted her high against his chest, and she rubbed every inch of him she could, turning in his arms so her nipples felt the solid wall of his chest. She licked at his throat, nibbled along his chin. Between her thighs, she dripped with need. A deep ache centered there, and she knew it could only be eased by his possession.
“What have you done to me?” The question came out as a groan, her voice suddenly hoarse and raspy.
She clung to him as he lowered her to the bed, forcing him to go with her. She sprawled her thighs wide and ran her hands down to his hips, urging him to come into her.
“Now, Calloway!” It was a guttural command, a base need for what only he could give her.
He surged deep with a grunt, and she cried out, her body lifting to surround him, legs and arms pulling him to her. She met him thrust for thrust. She scored his skin with her nails, left nipping bites with her teeth. It was as if his beast had called to some primitive nature within her, and now, she was animal in human form. They rode the tide, her scream overpowering his roar as they both came. Still, she demanded more, and he gave, his cock rising to her commands.
They changed positions. Moving to their sides then onto all fours. She loved the power and depth with him behind her, the way he gripped her hips and plunged hard until she swore they were one. She played with the angle, lifting her ass higher then dropping her torso lower, shifting her body from side to side as she searched for something more she seemed to need.
They were drenched, sweat coating them both, her thighs and his cock slick with the tangible results of nonstop lovemaking. Still, she burned with desire.
“Calloway!” His name was a harsh call, a demand for more, for that elusive…something she didn’t understand.
“You’ve been thinking about what I promised earlier, haven’t you?” he asked, trailing his fingers through her rear cheeks and pressing one digit against her tight pucker, tapping and teasing her with the memory of his earlier promises.
“Oh, God,” she moaned, her head thrashing against the twisted sheets while her hands fisted the material and squeezed.
“You want my cock here,” he said with a rumble, a statement they both knew was true. “You’re so slick and wet. I bet I can…” He broke off on a groan that she joined as he sank past the tight flex of muscle and pressed inside her ass. He continued to fuck her, each thrust torturously slow as he worked her until he was breaching her with three fingers.
“Do it!” she commanded. “Now, Calloway! Do it now!”
His cock and hand disappeared, but before she could scream her displeasure, the swollen head of his dick pushed against her anus. She felt the urge to thrust back into him and followed through, crying out as he stretched her wide before slipping past the ring of muscle and filling her. There was a tingle, followed by a fiery burn as her body attempted to adjust to him. He held still, his breath coming hard and fast while his body remained in place. She couldn’t…she needed…more.
“Fuck me!” she screamed, and as if awoken from some spell, Calloway began to move.
He rode her slowly, his cock never leaving her ass as he worked her passage. She was moaning, begging and pleading while he crooned to her. She had no concept of what she said or his response. She was raw sensation, her focus completely on the glide of his penis, the way it felt, the way his possession eased her, building the fire of passion but slaking the inferno she’d been consumed with.
Her hips sank to the bed, her legs straightening until just the curve of her ass was lifted, his cock still claiming her. He followed her down, his weight a blanket she needed, his strength filling them both. He slid one hand under her, teasing a nipple and tweaking it without losing his rhythm. She turned her head, seeking his gaze before wiggling her shoulder. She watched as his eyes fixed on the mark he’d left, saw the hunger and shuddered as his lips peeled back, canines flashing.
“Bite me,” she urged.
He moved his hand from her breast, sliding it under her head and using it to grip her hair and control the angle of her neck. His forearm covered her mouth, and as his teeth pierced her flesh, hers sank deep into him. The skin was more fragile there, and she managed to break through, his blood rising to her lips and glazing her tongue. He shuddered against her, his cock pounding as they seemed to catapult into orgasm.
She must have blacked out. The next thing she felt was cool water lapping at her body as Calloway eased them both into a bath.
“I’ve got you,” he assured her, and she curled against his chest.
“What was that?” she asked, peeking up at him.
“I don’t have a clue,” he said. “I’m definitely not complaining, but I might need a day or two before we can do it again. Four hours is a lot even for me.”
“Four hours?” She wasn’t sure her eyes could get any wider. They’d kept going no matter how many times they came but four hours?
“Yeah,” he agreed with a chuckle.
“Are you sure I’m not ovulating?” she asked, dropping one palm to cup her lower stomach.
“I never sensed a change in scent, and there should have been if you’d reached that part of your cycle.”
“How does it change?” Darby questioned.
“It’s hard to explain. It’s subtle at first, the scent deepening, like a flower that goes from a new bud to a full blossom. Your scent grows stronger until it overpowers everything around it, until the need to take you and fill you with my seed is all that exists for me.”
“That sounds like what just happened.”
“It lasts longer than four hours, Darby. It can last for days.”
“Until?” she prompted, sensing there was more.
“Until it’s over or you get pregnant.”
They both remained quiet for a moment.
“What if I’m pregnant?” she asked.
“Your scent would change as that of the babe mixed with yours.”
“Cougars aren’t thought to have the best sense of smell,” she stated and giggled as he nipped her shoulder. “I’m just saying.”
“What humans think and what’s true are two entirely different things. My sense of smell is on par with any other shifter. What about you? Is there anything significant about your cycle that I should know?”
“Define significant?”
“Do you have what’s medically considered a normally occurring cycle every month or does it fluctuate? Have you ever been on anything to control it? A form of birth control, maybe?”
“I had an implant. It was removed a few weeks ago, and I opted not to get another one.”
“Why didn’t you tell me that?”
“Because birth control won’t work with us anyway and I’d already had it removed before we got together. You kept drilling it into me that birth control didn’t work with shifters, so I didn’t think the implant was a big deal. You also assured me when I asked about ovulation that you’d know if and when I did. Plus, my brain has been fully engaged with other things, Calloway. I just didn’t think about it.”
“With it being removed so recently, the synthetic hormones could still be messing with your scent.”
“Oh God! I didn’t think about that, either,” she admitted.
“Do you feel comfortable speaking to Gideon about it? Having him run some tests to check your hormones?”
“If it makes you feel better, of course, I will. Would it be so bad if I were pregnant?”
He shuddered behind her, his arms wrapping around her and holding her tightly against him. “No,” he admitted. “It wouldn’t be bad at all. I just want you to be safe.”
“Cougars have what? Twelve to fourteen weeks of gestation? So three months. Wow! That will pass very quickly.” She turned, churning the water over the sides of the tub as she faced him. “We could have a baby in three months.”
“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. But, yeah, when you get pregnant, it will be a short gestation period.”
“You realize there’s still a lot about you I don’t know. As the father of my future children, that should change.”
“You can read anything about me in that database of yours,” he quipped.
She shook her head. “Not the same. Those are someone else’s words about you. I think my father understood that, which is why he told me not to access your files. He knew I’d need to hear it from you, and he was right.”
“Not a lot to tell, Darby. My parents died when I was in my early twenties. They’d shifted and gone for a run. I knew something was wrong when they didn’t come back that night. I found them the next day. They’d been shot and killed.”
“Hunters?”
“A local rancher and his son. They had no idea what we were. They’d seen nothing but a predator that might harm their livestock. Shot first.”
“Your parents didn’t shift back when they were shot?”
“No. Most of the time, if we’re injured in animal form, we stay in that form. While we have increased healing ability in human form, the animal’s is still better. For them, it didn’t matter. They were both shot in the head. Died instantly.”
“Oh my God! I’m so sorry.”
“There are a lot of dangers out there for us, Darby. We’re hunted even by those who don’t know who or what we are. It’s why so many of us choose seclusion. We’ve lost so much that we’re afraid of letting anyone else in, afraid of losing them, as well.”
“Is that how you were?”
He leaned back, closing his eyes and resting his head on the lip of the tub. “After the lab and…what they did there, all I wanted was to be alone. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw the blood, heard the screams. I escaped, but it was all right there, waiting for me every time exhaustion pulled me under. I wasn’t myself. At first, there was so much of whatever drug they’d given me still inside me. I was aggressive to the point I almost killed another shifter for no reason. Because of something he said or did or who knows! I was afraid of what they’d made me and whether or not I’d ever recover from it. So I drifted from place to place, always staying on the outskirts, avoiding my own kind as much as possible.”
“Until you saw me,” she whispered.
“I knew from the first moment you were mine,” he agreed. “And no matter how hard I tried to convince myself you’d be better off without me, I couldn’t leave.”
“I’m glad.” She reached out and cupped his face, thumb rubbing over his lip. “I felt something from the start, too. I might not have understood exactly what it was, but I knew I wanted you. I was obsessed with you. No matter how arrogant and heavy handed you were, I couldn’t look anywhere else when you were around.”
He leaned in and kissed her, a soft brush of lips, gentle and easy. “The water is getting cold. We should rinse off and go to bed. It’s already close to morning.”
“I’m supposed to meet Abby first thing,” Darby reminded him. “I can’t be late.”
“We need to sleep then we’ll both head to the lab. I’ll text Tah and let him know.”
She nodded. She was exhausted. Her body felt completely drained, as if their marathon session of lovemaking had taken everything out of her.
“Here, let me wash you.”
She let Calloway do as he wanted, lifting her arms and legs as he soaped them up then rinsed them. He washed everything but her hair then leaned her against the tub while he did the same for himself. They were still soaking wet when he lifted her and carried her to the bed, and Darby was asleep before he pulled up the covers.