Chapter Thirty-five

Sam couldn’t sleep.

He never slept in pants, but after realizing Glenna had taken hers off, he knew he’d better leave his on. Or he’d be one more step closer to sex with her. He turned over for what had to be the hundredth time and snuck a peak at Glenna curled on her side in the next bed. Her delicate facial bones illuminated by the light she’d insisted be left on in the bathroom. This was torture.

He could smell her sweet scent, hear her every movement, even her slow breaths. He flipped over again and debated taking a cold shower to relieve his ache.

Glenna moaned in her sleep. He couldn’t do this.

He got out of bed and headed for the shower. If the cold didn’t take care of it, he’d do it himself. There was no way he was going to be able to function with her in the morning and not give in if she turned on the seduction.

Glenna’s breathing quickened. “I won’t. I can’t!”

He stopped next to her bed. “Glenna?”

“Please, don’t!”

He knelt next to the bed. She was dreaming. And it looked like a bad nightmare.

Damn. He’d thought Serena had helped her though her fears. Maybe they were seeping back through because of the near accident.

“Glenna.” He touched her shoulder and she whimpered.

“Why? Why are you doing this?”

That was it. He wouldn’t let her get hurt in her dreams. “Glenna, wake up!” He shook her.

Her eyes opened, they were wide and unfocused. “No!” She pulled away.

“Glenna, it’s Sam.”

“Sam?” She blinked and shook her head.

“You’re having a nightmare.” He stroked tangled hair back from her damp brow. “Are you awake now?”

“Yes. I’m awake now.”

“Shh, you’re shaking.”

“Hold me.” Her voice sounded small, not the bold, confident Glenna he’d gotten used to. She touched his arm.

He couldn’t leave her like this, lost and vulnerable. She might not remember what had happened to her, but he’d seen the cuts and bruises she’d had in the hospital. “Damn.” He sighed and climbed up next to her on the bed. She crawled onto his lap, curling her long limbs up. He leaned against the headboard and wrapped her in his arms as tight as he could. “I’ve got you.”

She quivered in his arms, her nightmare rocking her body with aftershocks. He rubbed her back, soothing her as the shaking subsided. “Better now?”

She nodded.

“I’ll let you get back to sleep.” He moved to let her go.

She clutched him. “No. Please. Stay.”

He’d seen her panties rinsed out and hanging in the shower and knew the only thing between them were his jeans. He’d been aroused before, just trying to sleep in the next bed. Now he was rock hard, his cock an ache pressed against her backside.

“Glenna, I really should get back in my own bed.” He tried to move again, but she held on.

“Please, just until I get back to sleep.”

Her scent still carried the taste of fear, along with the increasing scent of female and pack. “Okay.” He’d keep his pants on and calm her down. Then he’d go to his cold shower.

He slid down to a more comfortable position and moved her to his side.

Her head cradled in the nook of his shoulder and her grip relaxed. “Mmmm, you feel nice.”

She nuzzled his chest.

He didn’t feel nice. He felt like flipping her on her back and tearing off her t-shirt. Maybe a shower wouldn’t have helped, but lying in bed with her half-naked, his cock inches away from her pussy—that was just stupid.

His fingers began stroking her back.

“Mmmm, that feels nice too.” Her bare leg crept up and over his. She rubbed her face on his chest and took a deep breath. “You smell nice.” Her leg rubbed up and down his thigh.

“Glenna, honey, you don’t understand what you’re doing.”

“I’m awake, Sam. I know what I’m doing.” Her long fingers trailed up and down his bare torso.

He swallowed. He should have kept his shirt on too.

“Glenna. I can’t.” The scent of available female grew stronger. Sam struggled for control, against all his instincts and the lure of this woman.

“I won’t tell.” She pulled her body up along his, pushed her leg over and straddled him. Her t-shirt rode her bare thighs revealing her naked ass.

He fisted his hands by his side. “The fever. You’ll call up the fever inside of me.”

She slid her hand up around his neck, lowering her lips until they hovered just above his.

“I want you. I want your skin next to mine, reminding me of who I am, who I can be. I want you inside, satisfying me.” Her breath tickled his face. Need had him shaking. His whole body throbbed. “But if you really want to stop, if you think it’s best, then say it now and I’ll stop.”

It was best. He knew it. Knew it in the tiny remnant of sanity now screaming in the depths of his brain, back behind the lust and desire and need.

“Do you want me to stop?” She licked her tongue out, slid it along his lower lip and just flicked inside for a second.

Screw it.

“No.” He growled.

He grabbed the back of her head, held it still and thrust his tongue inside her mouth. She met it thrust for thrust, his aggressive desire matched stroke for stroke by hers.

He grabbed her ass, dug his fingers in to her skin. She laughed, a long, low, superior laugh.

She thought she had him.

He flipped her over onto her back. Her t-shirt slid up to her waist and he held her there, let his gaze play over her too-flat stomach, her thighs, and her red, red curls.

He looked up at her face, intense with desire, and heard his wolf howl with approval.

And he surrendered.

***

Glenna saw Sam’s look and the tingle shot straight between her legs. This was it.

She yanked her t-shirt over her head and freed her breasts. “I’ve been thinking about you touching me all night. I almost couldn’t get to sleep.”

She’d never been like this before. Not with Roger, not with her short-lived first romances in college or high school. She didn’t care if this was the result of the change. She wanted this. Wanted Sam’s mouth as it descended to her breasts and closed on her nipple.

Wanted the streak of heat blasting through her body, arching her up against his face, pressing her deeper inside the warm wet pressure of his mouth. She felt free. Free and exhilarated.

Her eyes shut and she let her instincts take over.

She gripped his shoulders and raised her hips, bumping into his. His jeans were in the way. She opened her eyes. Her hands roamed the muscles of his back, tugged on his jeans.

“Take these off.”

She moaned when he pulled off her nipple to step away and strip down. She had no time to stare at his magnificent body. He was back on top of her. Kissing her everywhere.

The corner of her mouth. The hollow of her neck. The side of her breast.

And lower.

His mouth trailed heat and fire down her belly to the tops of her thighs. And hovered. She spread wide for him, thrilled at his expression of desire.

His mouth descended.

And she burst into flame.

His tongue and lips and fingers were playing her, driving her up to a place she didn’t know if she could reach. But she was damned well going to try.

Up, and up and up until she screamed his name and opened wide and came. Clenching tight around his fingers, holding his head and mouth against her clit.

Sobbing his name, then spiraling down.

He looked up at her from between her legs. His intent expression told her, he was far from through.

He crawled up her body, kissed her mouth. She tasted him, herself. The need started again and she lifted her hips and moaned. But this time, she wanted more.

“Lay down.” She nudged him until he lay flat on his back, then she turned around and straddled his face. He placed his hands on her legs and pulled her into his mouth. She let herself feel him working her pussy, the need sparking back higher, before she took his cock in her hand and licked the tip.

His fingers dug into her thighs. Good. He liked it and she wanted more. She took a firm grip on his base and took him into her mouth, alternating pulsing movements of her fist with taking him deep into her mouth. He arched up and she plunged down as low as she could, deep throating for a second before pulling off and starting again. He groaned into her and she quivered in response. Every moan he made, every jerk of his hips, every time he grabbed her harder, sent hot responses through her until she came again, rubbing against the roughness of his face, the stubble giving her everything she needed.

And oh, did she need this. His pleasure feeding hers in a spiral that made her only hungry for more. Screw the old Glenna, plotting and planning to get what she needed. Hiding like a chameleon. She could be whoever she wanted with Sam. And she wanted to be this wanton, wild, wicked woman.

She nearly fell off him, rolling to the side, weak with the aftermath of her orgasm, but ready for so much more. Sam climbed on top of her. She burrowed her nose in his neck, the smell of the pine forest singing in her veins. “More.” Her voice came out as a near whimper. “I want more.”

“Hold on, sugar, we’re almost there.” And he slid inside, filling her with his heat and movement and power.

She arched her back under him, bowed in a flood of feeling that didn’t stop. Her orgasm reverberated through her, and she clawed at his back and gasped for air. He flexed and strained and cried out and pumped his climax deep inside her.

She felt him smiling against her neck. “I don’t want to move.” He fit her perfectly. For once, she wasn’t too tall.

He lifted his head, his smile still playing on his lips. “I could stay here, but eventually I’d have to crush you.”

She smiled back in delight. Her whole body was relaxed. For once, after sex, she didn’t feel awkward or less than. She reveled in the knowledge she’d pleased him, just as he’d pleased her. Equals.

“I may not know exactly what I’m changing into, but wow it really enhances sex.”

Sam grinned. “You already smell of wolf. If you didn’t I never would have had sex with you.”

“Are you saying the only reason you had sex with me was because I smell like a wolf?” Glenna’s contentment was suddenly gone. “Your instincts forced yourself to do me?”

“I did tell you the change pushes mating.” His voice was harsh.

“Shut up!” She growled and stood up, dragging the sheet with her. She crossed the room to the bathroom. “Urgh!” and slammed and locked the door.

She’d felt attractive. Powerful. Feminine.

He’d wanted her. Her! Not just anyone, any woman. Or any wolf, she added looking at her face in the mirror.

Red roots, freckles, pale skin drawn over high pointy cheekbones. All of her grandmother’s and Roger’s criticisms came back. Too tall, too obvious, too awkward. Not thin enough, not graceful enough, not quiet enough.

And now that she’d begun to find herself, she’d thought that Sam liked the new Glenna. The one that stood up for herself. The one who demanded answers and took a lover if she wanted one. But he didn’t care about any of that, it was all his stupid instincts.

Suddenly, it was all too much. The bathroom seemed too close, its scraped linoleum floors and patchy grout a tiny prison holding her from the outside.

She dropped the sheet and climbed up on the toilet, clawing at the tiny bathroom window. The ancient wood was painted shut with layers of pink and green and white paint. She dug into it with her nails, small growls of frustration rising in her throat as she tried to get the damn thing open so she could climb out and get into the fresh air.

Her nail snapped off and she gave up, sinking to the floor shaking with anger and the need to get outside and run. She wanted to be out—away from Sam and all this confusion flooding her system with emotions she didn’t even understand.

But where would she even go? She didn’t want to be near him right now, but he was her only chance at survival. And inside, something fierce wanted to survive.

***

Sam knocked on the bathroom door.

“Go away.”

“I’m going outside for a moment.”

“Fine.”

He heard the shower start.  He shouldn’t leave, but if he stayed he didn’t know what was going to happen. She’d be safe enough here.

“Glenna?”

“Just leave me alone.”

“Promise me you’ll be here.”

“Where the hell am I going to go? I have no money, no car. I don’t even have a family to go to.”

He backed away from the rising fury in her voice and threw his clothes on. He’d screwed up and let his hormones push him into bed with another woman who didn’t want him. She’d wanted comfort and her change-itch scratched. Now she’d gotten it. Next step, she’d be off leaving him high and dry and fever-ridden.

He’d better pray the fever didn’t have its teeth in him yet. Better get as far away from her as he could before it left him no choice but to claim her or lose it. The lure of the forest had never left him, it still called to him, luring him to shift to wolf and never come back. He didn’t think he could survive another claiming loss and not go wild.

His wolf pushed him to go back and fix things. Crawl if he had to, but secure the woman, secure his mate. He fought the need down until it simmered just under the surface and instead he left, locking the hotel room door behind him.

He needed to run. Strip down and race through the woods until he dropped. But not here. Not so close that he ran the risk of coming back too soon and licking her boots for pets and kisses. He knew how this worked. He’d done it before.

He got in the truck and started the engine. The national park was close and he had hours until dawn. He shoved the SUV into drive, spewing gravel as he tore out of the parking lot.

Serena had been his. He’d met her first, when she’d come to Colorado on a job interview. She’d told him she liked him. She’d taken the job and moved across the country for him. And then the moment she’d smelled his brother, she’d ditched him.

But it was too late for all of them. The fever had given him no choice but to fight against his twin for his mate. And when he’d lost, he had no desire for anything but running in the woods and howling out his misery.

He had to remember how hard it had been to claw his way back to humanity. He had to stay strong.

He parked off the road near a closed logging road that went straight into the heart of the park, stripped off his clothes, and let the shift work its magic.

The forest lured him with the same temptation he faced every time he shifted and ran, but tonight it was even stronger. He let it all rush through him. The temptation to stay a wolf, stay wild and free, to never feel rejection and humiliation again. The temptation to run and run, until the piece of him that was Sam dwindled and died.

He howled in sheer release, lost himself, for the moment, and ran.