ChangingPaths (14 page)

Harmony tilted her head to scowl right back at him. “No, we
did not. We agreed that Pete’s deputies would patrol and they are. They were
just by here about forty-five minutes ago.”

She must have seen the worry in his eyes because she sighed.
When she leaned her face back toward him he gave up. He let the warmth of her
skin against his soothe him. They stood that way for several long minutes
before he dropped his arms to shed his jacket. Then he tossed it on the
coatrack by the door before he took Harmony’s hand.

He led the way to the living room, glad to see a fire
crackling in the stone fireplace. Gareth dropped to the couch. As she smiled,
he reached up to pull her down to the couch beside him. “I told you about Rion?
My…brother.”

Even now he stumbled over the word. Her soft hand rubbed
across his shoulder then under his hair to touch his neck. “Yes. You said he
was the man in the car at your place. Is everything okay?”

Shaking his head, he told her the whole story. From the time
they’d left their birth Pack to Rion’s unexpected appearance at his cabin to
the conversation with Micah and Kaj tonight. By the end of his tale she had
moved into his lap, holding tightly to him. She tugged his head down so their
eyes met. Then she leaned forward, kissing him softly.

“Oh, Gareth, your poor family. You’ve all suffered so much.
You are going with him, right? You’re going to see your mom?”

He nodded. “After the next Gathering. Micah wants me to be
here for the young until then.”

“Good, that’s good.” She kissed him and smiled. “I know
better than anyone, sweetie, how much you need family even when you don’t want
to and just how much they can mean to you. So, are you hungry? Do you want a
drink?”

“No.” He stood up, holding her tight to his body. “I want
you.”

“I think that can be arranged.” She smiled as she snuggled
into him.

He started to turn toward the bedroom then stopped. Setting
her on her feet, he tossed the cushions from the couch onto the thick rug in
front of the fireplace. Facing her again, he toed off his boots before starting
to strip.

“Gareth?”

“Right here. Right now.” He felt the warmth from the fire
but the heat from the woman facing him was so much better. She shook her head
but let the terrycloth robe fall to her feet then slipped out of the flannel
pants and long-sleeved t-shirt she’d been wearing underneath. She was standing
in front of him in just her panties, the firelight turned her skin a gorgeous
golden-brown, she was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen.

“I’m the luckiest fucking male on the planet. For someone
like you to want someone like me? You’re a miracle, Harmony.”

“No, honey, I’m just a woman. Just a woman standing here
wanting you with every breath and every bone in her body. I want you so much.”

“You have me. You have all of me.” He took the two steps
separating them and scooped her into his arms again before settling her gently
on the floor. With her hair spread out on one of the pillows and her hands
reaching for his, she was truly the most amazing woman he’d ever seen.

Trailing a hand down the side of her face, he cupped her jaw
and leaned forward to kiss her. Her hands were on either side of his face as
she returned his kiss with a small growl. He lifted his head in surprise but
didn’t have time to wonder at that before she’d pushed him onto his back and
straddled him.

“My turn. You’re mine tonight.”

“Whatever you want, babe. Anything you want.”

“I want,” she trailed her nails over his chest, raking
through the hair there, causing him to toss his head back as his nipples
pebbled and his skin prickled with awareness. He could feel her heat, feel the
moisture soaking through her thin cotton panties and he fought his wolf. The
wolf wanted to push her down and fuck her hard. The man wanted to see what came
next.

“I want to taste you.” With that she leaned forward to lick
a slow, warm path from his neck to one of his nipples, biting gently then
harder. Sharply enough for him to press a hand on the back of her head. She was
biting him right where she’d leave a mating mark if she wasn’t Moon-Denied. His
mouth opened on a hoarse cry when she released his skin to move her mouth over
his abdomen, biting, licking and sucking. He didn’t know what she would do next
but he didn’t care. He never wanted her to stop and this was just what he had
needed. To lose himself in the woman he…loved.

Feeling him flinch, Harmony wondered if she’d bitten too
hard. She could see the impression of her teeth in his flesh, could hear his
heartbeat pounding in his chest, could feel the rapid beat under her mouth. She
had wanted nothing more than to break his flesh, to mark him as hers even
though that wasn’t typical Denied behavior.

Still, this was
her
male. They had chosen each other.
She wouldn’t have it any other way. With a smile she opened her mouth over that
most sensitive part of his anatomy. Wrapping her lips around the crown of his
throbbing dick, she sucked…hard. He groaned again. Watching, she saw his fists
clench in the rug as she stroked one hand over his length.

She cupped his heavy sac in the other, tugging slightly. He
was hot satin over hard steel and she wanted to drive him insane. His taste
filled her mouth, her senses. His warmth and the heat of the fire had her skin
glistening. She alternated sucking then stroking his thick cock, driving him
closer and closer to an explosion. He was so warm, almost hot. The pre-cum
leaking from the end of his cock caused her to move faster, hold tighter, suck
him in deeper. She wanted him to come in her mouth. She wanted to taste the
very essence of Gareth Volpe. She wanted…and she took.

But more than anything else she wanted that gorgeous blue
eye focused on her face. So, releasing him from the warmth of her mouth, she
lifted her head. “Gareth? Look at me.”

He opened his eye, managing to focus on her face. She saw
the silvery glow that showed his wolf was close to the surface. Shivering just
a little, she still managed to smile at him. Despite her past, she knew that
this man would never hurt her. This man would gnaw off his own arm before he’d injure
her or Rain.

“Watch me, watch me, Gareth.” Keeping her eyes on his face,
she sucked his cock back into her mouth. The angle was weird but it didn’t seem
to matter. He reached down to push on his cock so that she could keep her eyes
on his. His breathing picked up speed as she stroked and tugged and sucked. She
licked down his shaft every now and then before taking the sensitive head back
into her mouth, swirling her tongue over and around him.

She could feel his hips moving, could see his abdomen tightening.
So she let go of his balls to trail her fingers over his thighs, scraping
gently with her nails. When she brought her hand back around to scratch lightly
at his sac he growled deep in his throat. He let go of the rug to gently grab
her hair.

His grip was tight but not punishing as he showed her just
what he needed. “Fuck.” His voice sounded guttural and deep. She loved it. “I’m
gonna…oh fuck…Harmony…”

The disjointed speech just spurred her on. She sucked
harder, squeezing and tugging at his cock with both hands now.

“Oh…fu…fu…fuck…” His hips raised off the rug as the first
stream of cum hit the back of her throat. She loved that she could reduce this
powerful male shifter to babbling, loved that he would let her take so much
control, loved…

Swallowing every drop he offered, then softly licking at him
when he forcibly pulled her off his cock, she fought back her fears. She didn’t
want to be in love. That scared her more than any thoughts of her ex. But
somehow, some way, this scarred, damaged male had wormed his way into her
heart. Now she just had to figure out how to deal with that.

Sighing, she snuggled closer to him as he wrapped his arms
around her and panted softly. When he tilted her chin back to kiss her she made
sure all he saw was her smile.

Gareth took a deep breath then raised his voice. “Settle
down. Let’s get through this. Some of you said you needed to leave early and
the only way that’s going to happen is if we get through this session.”

When he had the attention of the youngsters he started over.
Telling a group of teenagers how to prepare themselves for their first shift,
reining in the ones who had already shifted and wondering how to console those
who would be Moon-Denied, he talked until his throat was dry. He had lifted his
water bottle to his mouth when the door to the res meeting house opened. Micah
and Rion walked in.

The teens immediately got quiet as the Alpha moved through
the room. Gareth saw the glances they exchanged as some of them wondered why the
Alpha was there. If Rion hadn’t followed Micah in, Gareth might have wondered
the same thing. For a week now, Micah had been pushing them together, inventing
reasons why the twins needed to be around each another.

He’d resisted at first. Then last night, after Harmony had
told him more about why she’d left home, about the misunderstanding that kept
her away, he’d given up. Hearing how much she had missed her family drove home
how much he’d missed his. Everyone, including Rion it seemed, wanted them to
talk. So, they’d talk. But first he had to dismiss these kids. The moon would
be full in another day. He almost had them ready to experience it.

“Okay, everyone, for those who don’t already know, that’s my
twin Rion Volpe with our Alpha. Now take a break. We’ll meet up near the lake
in an hour.” As they got up to leave he pitched his voice to carry. “An hour!
Don’t make me wait for you.”

Micah nodded in response to the respectful greetings from
the teens and as soon as the last one had left the room, closed the door. “Gareth…”

“My apologies for interrupting you, Alpha. I know, I need to
talk to Rion. You, Olivia, Kaj and now even Harmony have all told me what an
ass I’ve been. We have an hour. It’ll give us a starting point.”

Micah laughed and shook his head. “Once your female starts
in on you, you might as well give up. I will expect all of you at the lodge
tonight for dinner.”

With a short nod he left, closing the door quietly behind
him. Rion still stood near the exit but moved closer when he sat down in one of
the chairs in the middle of the room. The loose circle worked best for talking
to the teens as he demonstrating a shift. Though some of the kids were still at
the “giggling at the naked man” stage, most of them were more interested in the
way the shift flowed over his body.

“Sit down, Rion. I don’t want to break my neck looking up at
you.” As soon as they were both seated he took a deep breath.

“So, Micah mentioned your female? Are you mated?” Rion had
beat him to the punch, so to speak.

“No. I have a female but we haven’t been together long and
we haven’t taken that step. She’s not ready.” He met his brother’s eyes. “Are
you mated?”

“No. Though Mom is pushing hard. She wants grandkids again.
She still visits our sister’s grave and the children’s graves every week. She
really does want you to come home. She’s been sick. I’m not sure what it is,
she won’t say.”

“I’ll go with you, Rion. I gave Micah my word and I wouldn’t
disappoint him for anything in the world.”

It was Rion’s turn to take a deep breath. “I remember when
that was how we felt about each other. I remember how we used to be, G. Do you
think we’ll ever get to a point where…”

“We can be like that again?” He finished the sentence when
Rion stopped. “I don’t know, Ri. A lot has happened, to both of us, in the last
six years.”

Gareth adjusted his patch and glanced at the clock. “We need
more time. I guess we’ll have plenty of that on the way back to Oregon.”

Rion laughed softly. “Yeah, it’s quite the drive. Do you remember
when we first left home? How many times we stopped that first week? I didn’t
really think we’d ever get out of Oregon, much less all the way to Mexico.”

Gareth joined his brother in laughter. He tried to remember
all the stops they’d made on their trip. They shared memories for the next
forty-five minutes before he got to his feet. He felt an easiness with his
brother that he hadn’t felt in a long time.

“Come on, then. You might as well join me at the lake. The
kids need to see someone other than me shift, plus I need to work on their
tracking skills. Remember playing hide-and-sniff?”

They walked out of the meeting house, not entirely back to
where they’d once been but he had the feeling that they’d made great progress.
Strangely enough he wanted to get that closeness back. He missed Rion and hadn’t
really realized how much until right this minute.

Rain couldn’t keep her attention on what Gareth was saying.
He’d sent the males off with his twin—and how freaking cool was that?—to “hide”
in the woods, giving the females their turn at tracking by scent. But she wasn’t
really listening as he explained what was going on. Her attention had been
caught by a huge light-gray wolf standing at the edge of the lake. She glanced
to the side to see that most of the other girls were also watching the wolf.
She knew without being close enough to really see that the wolf was male.
Something female in her just responded to him even though he wasn’t Keme.

The other females in the group were having the same trouble.
Gareth turned to see what they were all watching so intently and sighed. “Kajika,
should have known. Ladies, you have five minutes to ogle him then you need to
hit the woods to find the guys.”

Gareth’s laughter didn’t distract her attention at all. The
wolf waded into the water and she shivered just watching him. It was too
freaking cold to be swimming in the lake. In the early morning air there was
frost on the grass and a thin layer of ice on any standing water. Without
hesitating, he swam out toward a floating dock then turned and started back
toward the edge of the lake. He came closer and closer then went underwater.
She’d didn’t even know wolves
could
go underwater!

When he emerged it wasn’t a wolf’s head but a man’s.
Muscular arms lifted out of the water then he smoothed his hands over his head.
She had an impression of long black hair, but it wasn’t the hair that caused
her and some of the other girls to catch their breaths. The guy was seriously
built, gorgeous with a lot of ink. Tattoos on his right pec, a full sleeve on
the right and his left arm was done down to the elbow. Even though his chest
was hairless she could see a thin line of hair that started just below his
belly button and…

Feeling herself turn red, Rain dropped her gaze. She still
wasn’t comfortable with the casual nudity the shifters displayed—especially not
with this hot guy. Alicia, one of the females who had already gone through her
first shift and was one of the most beautiful girls Rain had ever seen, laughed
softly as she nudged Rain. “Well, I guess what they say about
some
guys
and cold water isn’t entirely true. No shrinkage there!”

Rain bit her lip but didn’t turn around. She really didn’t
want to see all of the hot guy. She didn’t really want to see any guys naked,
but Gareth had told all of them they’d get over that. Nudity didn’t mean someone
wanted sex, it was just that they were pretty comfortable in their skin.

She didn’t think she’d ever get to that point, especially
after seeing Alicia and one of the other girls undressed. They had model
bodies, all skinny but with muscles. Maybe more like really amazing dancer
bodies. She watched Alicia do a one-armed cartwheel and amended that to Olympic
gymnast. Her tummy wasn’t tight and she didn’t have the muscles they did. Yeah,
her body wasn’t anywhere near that great. At least the other girls hadn’t been
mean to her once they found out she was one of them.

Still, Keme had sat down next to her during the training
earlier. He’d even reached for her hand as they walked through the woods. In
the past month at school they’d gotten closer. He was one of her best friends.
She thought he could be more.

She hoped that maybe he felt the same way she did. Maybe he
wouldn’t mind that her boobs weren’t as big as Alicia’s, but that her ass was stupid
flat. She really wanted her butt to look like Erica’s did. All the guys watched
Erica in those filled-out jeans. Knowing it was dumb to compare herself to the
other females, she rolled her eyes then tuned back in to what Gareth had been
saying.

Her skin felt itchy, almost as if it was too tight on her
body. She’d asked Keme on the way to school the day before what shifting was
like. He’d told her as much as he could. Then he’d ruined it by saying that it
was different for everyone. He blew off the importance of the first shift,
saying that he really didn’t remember it. He did recall his first run through
the woods as a wolf. He’d painted a picture in her mind where everything was
sharper, clearer and smelled better.

She wanted that. Wanted it desperately—had even said a
prayer every night since finding out that she might be able to do it, that she
wouldn’t be like her mom. And that felt disloyal as all hell. Her mom was
great. Her mom was the best. It wasn’t fair that she couldn’t experience this.
Some of the other kids had Denieds in their families, so it wasn’t too weird
having others know.

Realizing she’d tuned out again, Rain tried to force her
attention back to Gareth. He shot her a bemused look then jerked a thumb at her
then toward the pines. Some of the girls who had already shifted once were
getting naked. It was time for them to hit the woods and try to find the guys.
She lifted her head, scenting the air as he had taught them. The faint trace of
hazelnut that she associated with Keme caught her attention. Just for a moment
she thought she smelled something sour on the air that reminded her of her dad,
but she lost that as soon as Gareth’s shouted “Go!” reached her.

Taking off in the direction of the hazelnut scent, Rain gave
herself up to this experience. She mouthed another silent prayer that when the
time came tomorrow night, she would be doing this on four legs instead of two.

Gareth grinned as the females took off into the woods. No
doubt they’d be rounding the males up to bring them back to the edge of the
lake soon. And no doubt he’d have to go into the woods to find the stragglers.
He remembered his own training— how it felt to be chased by a female during
this same game. If he had been placing bets, he’d bet that Rain found Keme and
Alicia Strong Pine found the Johnson boy. He’d have to make sure they didn’t
delay too long in the woods. That brought his thoughts around to Harmony and he
took a deep breath.

She was so responsive to his touch—her scent was so strong
he couldn’t believe she couldn’t shift. He’d been with other shifter females as
well as humans. Harmony just
felt
like a shifter. She took every ounce
of strength he had then gave back as good as she got. She wasn’t afraid of his
wolfish side. God, his wolf responded to her as it had to no other female.

Just remembering that morning had his cock hard and ready
again. She’d awakened him with her mouth on his cock, sucking him deep and
squeezing his balls. He’d nearly shredded the mattress because he’d been
holding so tight to it. Then when she’d risen over him to take him deep into
her throbbing core he’d totally lost it. They’d fucked harder, faster than he’d
ever done with a human female. He had thought for sure that he’d bruised her
but she had only laughed as he’d inspected her hips and thighs for marks. Then
she’d flipped over on her hands and knees. All looking for marks went right out
of his head. He’d risen up over her to fuck her one more time. And very nearly
been late for the morning class.

The sound of someone clearing his throat had him spinning
around. Kaj’s grin was wide and his eyes sparkled. “Well, well, well, another
male bites the dust. What female has you in such a state, or should I even ask?
Must be difficult to get horizontal with her daughter in the next room.”

“We manage.” He couldn’t help the smug tone as he shoved
Kaj. Kaj teased everyone, even their normally staid Alpha. It was just his way.

“Yes, I can tell.” Kaj’s features turned a bit solemn as he
combed through his hair with his fingers. He nudged with words this time. “Gareth,
is it true that she’s one of the Moon-Denied?”

“She is.” He sighed. “Kaj, it’s weird. She insists she’s
Denied but I’ve never felt this way about a human, never been able to just let
go the way I do with her. She even
smells of
shifter. I don’t get it.”

“Has Micah offered to help her?” He knew Kaj referred to
Micah’s gift of forcing a Change on a shifter who couldn’t do it on their own
or one who was injured to the point that they couldn’t shift on their own.

“No. I haven’t really talked to him about it. But you know?
Last month when we showed Rain about shifting, Harmony said something to me
about her skin itching during a moon. I’ve never hear a Moon-Denied say that.
Have you? That sounds like a shifter who hasn’t shifted.”

“That is unusual. I think Micah should be told. The full
moon is tomorrow night. When did you intend to talk to him?” Kaj raised an
eyebrow as he finished braiding his hair. “Don’t you want to know what is going
on before you have to leave with Rion?”

“Yeah, I’ll go to the lodge after I release this Pack of
pups. By the way, next time you want to skinny-dip, you might not want to do it
in front of this group of females. They’re some of the most sexually aware and
aggressive teens I’ve ever seen.”

“Ah, the times they are a’changing, brother wolf.” Kaj
laughed. “I remember when a wolf was well into his twenties before having sex
for the first time.”

At his eye roll, Kaj clapped him on the back and strolled
off toward the lodge. He narrowed his eyes when he noticed new ink on Kaj’s
ass. He’d never seen that tattoo before. Kaj was addicted to ink, apparently.
Every time he showed up, he sported something new. The tribal black resembled
an Inuit piece but he couldn’t be sure.