Chapter Six
Sam hadn’t meant to get back into bed with her, but he hadn’t been able to stop himself, seeing her naked body stretched out under the sheets. He couldn’t get enough of the feel of her skin, her soft flesh under his hands, the taste of her sweat on his tongue. He was exhausted from staying up all night, alternately watching her sleep and burying himself inside her. In spite of his satiation, his senses had stayed on high alert, listening to every cracking twig, every small night creature that invaded their sphere. He’d long ago lost his head over Callie, but his father was right—his feelings could be a liability.
He’d been stupid to think he could sleep with her in the first place. What was one more lie about not wanting her in the face of all the lies he’d ever told to keep his family’s secrets? What was one more lie if it kept them both safe? But he couldn’t do it. He couldn’t deny that he had always wanted her, had only kept his distance because she wasn’t one of them. He couldn’t lie to her when she was wound up and vulnerable and every single instinct he possessed, human and otherwise, was begging him to take her. There was only so much he could fight.
Then she’d had to poke at that damn tattoo and remind him of his father’s words, his obligations to his clan, his pack.
Sam pulled the grate off the fire pit and dumped in the handful of twigs and bits of kindling he’d been collecting while he stewed. He shook the spiders off the tarp covering the small woodpile and layered a few split logs over the kindling, lit a match, and slowly breathed life into the small fire. His father had delivered a cooler of food with his warning to keep Callie under control.
Callie emerged from inside, stretching and yawning in the same shorts and flannel shirt from yesterday. They’d both packed like it was inevitable. Why else would he bring a box of condoms and she a flannel shirt with snap buttons? He hadn’t even realized the shirt snapped until he ripped it open in his haste to bare her torso. Her arms over her head lifted the hem of her shirt, revealing a hint of her soft belly, and Sam had to consciously talk himself out of turning her right back around and throwing her into bed again.
“Hey.”
“Hey.”
“Is there anything I can do?”
“Not for a few minutes.”
She took a seat on one of the logs that ringed the fire, arms crossed and her knees tucked up to her chest. “Did I hear your dad earlier?”
Shit. “He came up to drop off some more food, check on us.”
“Sam, what’s going on?”
“Nothing.” The less she knew, the better. “Keep her calm. Under control.”
She eyed him dubiously. “Are you sure?”
“Of course.” He ducked his head so she couldn’t see him wince with the lie. “Hey, actually, do you mind going inside and grabbing the coffeepot?”
She got up without a word. She knew he was full of shit, but what was he supposed to tell her? Some goon with a grudge against his father might have run her down to get him to do something incredibly stupid? And it had worked. Callie was collateral damage in a long-simmering struggle she didn’t know anything about, and Sam faced God-knew-what for his part in it. Knowing that wouldn’t help her. She needed time to adjust. To heal. To learn to control the wolf she was stuck with for the rest of her life. Keeping her in the dark would keep her calm. Keeping her calm would keep her safe.
She came back with the pot and a gallon of water and set them down next to him.
“Thanks.”
“Sure.” She sat on the opposite side of the fire. Maybe it was better this way, to let her put some distance between them. He ignored the voice in his gut insisting he go get her and keep her close. “After we eat, will you show me where the pool is upriver? I must smell rank by now.”
In the human world, that was probably true. To Sam, she still smelled amazing. Like sweat and animal and sex, like his. “I hadn’t noticed.” The words slipped out of his mouth before he could remind himself about letting her go. “But yeah, we can go for a swim. I probably don’t smell like roses either.”
She blushed and mumbled, “I hadn’t noticed.”
He left her there to go back into the cabin for the food and the ancient cast-iron frying pan that hung next to the door, where it made for a potentially handy weapon as well as a cooking tool. She was quiet while he fried bacon and eggs over the open fire. He fought the screaming need to uncurl her spine and soothe the furrows in her brow. The feral animal inside him wanted to shore up the fragile bond they’d made.
They ate in silence. Sam smothered the fire and rinsed the dishes and the pan. Callie curled herself smaller and smaller, her anxiety tangible in the air. He hated himself for hurting her.
“You ready to go?”
She smiled weakly. “Has it been a full half hour?”
“I think we can risk it.”
“Sam?” She looked up at him from her place on the log. “Will you please tell me what’s going on? You’re being weird.”
He sighed and scratched his jaw, prayed a half-truth would satisfy her. “I don’t know exactly what’s going on either. My dad is worried, but it might be nothing.” But it probably isn’t.
“Look, I get it. You had to lie to me before, because I wasn’t one of you, but don’t lie to me now. Please.”
She was definitely going to hate him for all of this later. “I won’t. Let’s just get through this, okay?” He could see her anxiety turning restless, the desire to run turning into the need to run away. He had to keep her close. Wolf or no, she could still get lost out here. God help them all if someone else found her.
She unwrapped her arms from her bouncing knees. On her feet, she fidgeted with the hem of her shirt, waiting for something, permission, a cue.
“If you need to shift, do it.”
She pulled off her shirt and dropped her shorts to the ground. She stood there naked, her pink-tipped breasts and soft curves golden in the dappled morning sunlight. Sam’s cock stirred in his pants at the sight of her, bare and mostly unashamed. “You’re getting the hang of this.”
She shot him a dirty look and carefully bent forward to pick up her clothes off the ground. “You next.”
Sam shucked his clothes and tossed them on the porch with hers. Her eyes on him were like the ghosts of her hands, exploring him under the sheets. The sense memory of her mouth on him sent blood rushing to his cock. She lifted an eyebrow, watching him stiffen, her cheeks pinked, but she didn’t hide from the sight of his arousal.
He closed his eyes, summoned the wildness, and found himself on all fours before he could move to take her right there on the ground, rolling around in the pine needles and leaf litter. He turned and took off into the woods. Callie’s laugh rang in his ears as she shifted and followed.
* * *
They ran, following the river upstream, above a set of falls to where the long-worn granite of the mountain had formed a natural pool. The river itself was swift and cold, even in midsummer, but the pool sat in the sun, warming it slightly above the temperature of the surrounding water. There were others like it sprinkled throughout the forest, and most of them were heavily trafficked swimming holes, but here they had total privacy. She shifted, the change coming more easily every time, and got to her feet.
Sam was lying to her, she was sure of it now. Everything she thought was true, that she’d been absolutely sure of, had been blown to pieces yesterday, and instead of helping her put the pieces back together, her best friend was hiding something from her. Maybe a lot of somethings.
Callie picked her way into the water over the rocks, slippery with silt and algae covering their water-smoothed surfaces. Sam ran in behind her, scrabbling across the rocks, still shifted. He dove into the cold water and dog-paddled around the pool for a minute. He hauled himself out, gave a giant shake that sent droplets flying all over her, still only up to her knees, and shifted back to himself, grinning.
“You’re ridiculous.”
“It’s fun. And the water doesn’t feel as cold.” Callie couldn’t help glancing down to see how cold he was. He cocked an eyebrow, put his hands on his hips and puffed out his chest. “You’ll learn soon enough that none of us give a shit that we’ve all seen each other naked. You see it way too many times to care.”
“Yeah, I’m getting that.” She eased farther into the water, her nipples tight with cold. And let’s face it, Sam looks like that naked. Sam, goofing around and trying to make her laugh while the world fell apart, while he was supposed to be keeping her calm; of course he was trying to make her laugh. She bristled and waded in deeper, suddenly uncomfortable being bare-ass naked in front of him.
The pool bottomed out at waist-deep, so she dipped her knees to bring the water up to her shoulders and ducked her head backward to wet her hair. Sam watched her from the bank, giving her space. Callie moved carefully to the far edge of the pool, where it was ringed by a group of large rocks jutting up and out of the river. Perfect platforms for lying out in the sun. She’d have to wade through the freezing pool to get back to shore, but she climbed up anyway. The sun-warmed stone felt glorious after the cold water.
Her body relaxed while her mind churned over the conversation she’d overheard earlier, the argument last night that had led to the sex, the way he was clearly hiding something from her now. And in spite of it, she still wanted him. Arousal thrummed through her veins, and the voice in her head was still crowing with delight that she belonged with him. How could she belong with someone who was lying to her?
She’d kept her distance back at the cabin as some sort of last-ditch attempt at self-preservation. She shouldn’t get attached. Yet she knew if he climbed up on the rock next to her, she’d be hard-pressed to keep her hands off him. She squeezed her thighs together, thinking of the sight of his cock rising in front of her. Only a few days ago, she’d never allowed herself to think of how glorious Sam’s naked body might be; now she knew intimately how good it felt to have him between her thighs. Her clit throbbed in time with her heartbeat, a quickening, and she raised herself up on an elbow and glanced around before she slid her fingers between her labia and closed her eyes.
She stroked her fingers down her slit to dip into her pussy, trying not to think about how full, how possessed, he made her feel when he was inside her. When she’d gotten dressed after he left her that morning, she’d discovered little bite marks all over her body, and she’d liked them. She’d felt the faint bruise he’d left on her shoulder the first time and she loved it. She was his. He was hers.
“Callie.” Wet hands stroked her, cool droplets from his hair and beard dotted her skin as he pressed kisses to her neck. She should push him away, but it felt too good. She kept her eyes screwed shut and let him kiss her, touch her, while she kept pumping her own fingers in and out of herself.
Sam trailed his mouth down to her breasts, took a nipple into his mouth and sucked. His mouth was scorching hot after the cold water, his tongue moving in lazy circles that went straight to her clit. He switched to the other breast and gently closed his teeth around her flesh. Callie whimpered and worked her fingers faster, ground her clit into her palm as she did.
He pressed his body closer to her, his skin still cool against hers, his cock hard at her hip. Skimming his hand down her belly, he gently but insistently pushed her hand away, nudged her legs apart, and got to his knees between them. He kissed her stomach, her hips, pushed her knees up and dipped his head to her pussy and inhaled deeply.
He growled low in his throat and swept the flat of his tongue through her folds, ending with a short, sharp suck of her clit. She gasped and he rumbled and used the tip of his tongue to make tight, hard circles and pushed two fingers into her. She jerked her hips as he thrust his fingers, the dual sensations of his hand and his mouth almost enough to send her over the edge. She wanted to feel him, all of him. Naked on a rock in the middle of the river, she wanted him to take her like the animals they were.
She clutched at his shoulders and pulled him up to her face. She kissed him and tasted herself on his lips, smelled herself in his beard. She lifted her hips in invitation.
“We shouldn’t.”
“I don’t care. Pull out. I need to feel you.” She whined in the back of her throat, a sound as much wolf as woman.
He thrust home and the falls below them caught her scream. The rock dug into her back and her hips but she didn’t care. She had to feel this. One more time. Because she couldn’t let it happen again.
“Fuck, Callie, you feel good,” Sam groaned as he started to move. “I’m not gonna last. What do you need?”
The slide and drag of his cock inside her, the way he filled her and thrust deep into her, made her toes curl and her voice catch in her throat. “Fingers. Clit.” He shifted his weight to snake a hand between them and press his thumb to her clit. His fingers fanned out over her hip and squeezed as he started to circle the nerve endings. Callie clenched around him and moaned, “Yeah, like that. Harder.”
He fucked her harder, each thrust adding a jolt of pressure where his thumb pressed down on her clit. Her thighs tensed and her toes pointed and pleasure coiled in her belly, until she couldn’t hold the tension and let go with a wailing moan as she came. Sam pulled out and stroked his slick cock, the lines of his neck rigid above her. He came with a shout, splashing her belly with hot semen while he wrung himself dry.
Without the distraction of arousal, and with streaks of come drying on her belly, all the hard and sharp places of the rock dug into her flesh, and the sun burned hot on her skin. She sat up gingerly.
“I’m going to rinse off.”
She slid down into the pool and underwater before Sam could say anything.