Caught in Heat [Half-breed Shifter Series Book 1] (10 page)

The alpha roared. “God damn you. She was the best I ever had.”

Shaw sneered, his voice hard and steady. “Too bad she died a pathetic nothing.”

“I’m going to kill you,” the shifter snarled. “I’m going to kill you and then I’m going fuck your little kitten to death.”

Knowing he’d shift into his wolf next, Riley anticipated his move and shifted first, charging a split second before he did. Nudging Shaw out of the way with her swinging tail, she leapt at the alpha, and they met in a clash of fur and teeth and claws. Hissing and spitting.

Realizing her shoulder, which was still tender from the first wolf’s bite, was her weak spot, he clawed at her wound. She flickered into her human form. But her adrenaline drove her on, keeping her animal. She had to stay strong, had to protect Shaw.

The older wolf wasn’t an alpha by accident, though. He was strong. He was fierce, and he knew how to fight. Every advance she made, he countered with an even deadlier blow. She could tell he was merely toying with her, running her dry. She clawed at him only for him to bat her down and pin her to the ground with ease.

She struggled under him, her vision going dim.

No! She couldn’t fail Shaw.

But her human lover wasn’t about to let her fight alone. Leaping onto the alpha’s back, he wrapped his arm around the thick, wooly neck.

“Remember this?” he growled in the wolf’s ear right before he twisted sharply and broke the animal’s neck.

The alpha slumped on top of Riley, dead.

Really dead.

She struggled a moment before Shaw rolled the wolf away. Then she shimmied to all fours and shook like a wet dog, hoping to get the slimy feel of wolf off her.

Shaw gawked. “A jaguar,” he breathed, automatically stepping forward, hand outstretched to pet her before he caught himself.

Riley loped toward him, head bent down, encouraging his touch.

He hesitated a moment before slowly reaching out and stroking her sleek, speckled fur. “Holy shit. I’ve never touched a jaguar before. You’re…you’re beautiful.”

She purred under him, making him chuckle.

As he continued to pet her, her body grew warm. She shifted so he was caressing skin instead of fur. He hummed his approval. “Better looking this way, though,” he added before kissing her full lips.

She wrapped her arms and legs around him, and he picked her up off the ground holding her by her ass.

“Take me home,” she said. “I want to wash off the reek of dog before I take you again.”

He grinned and turned them toward the compound.

Chapter Eight

Shaw couldn’t believe it was over. But there he walked—still alive after taking on three shifters—hand in hand with Riley as they returned to the compound , their arms swinging widely back and forth between them while she sang.

“Ding Dong! The Wolf is dead.” Imitating the Munchkin song off The Wizard of Oz, she changed a few words and bellowed, “Which old Wolf? The Big Bad Wolf! Ding Dong! The Big Bad Wolf is dead.”

Despite the tremor of hyped up adrenaline still flooding his system, Shaw grinned and shook his head. “I wouldn’t quit my day job if I were you, Sinatra.”

“Fuck you,” she said mildly, grinning away. “I’m an awesome singer.” To prove it, she opened her lungs and hollered, “
Wake up, sleepy head, rub your eyes, get out of bed. Wake up, the Big Bad Wolf is dead
.”

Shaw winced and rubbed at his ear, hoping it didn’t start bleeding.

Riley rolled her eyes and bumped her shoulder against his as she continued to hum under her breath. “You know you like my voice.”

“I like something, but I wouldn’t say it was your singing voice.” He winked and sent her a roguish grin, ready to demonstrate exactly what he liked best about her.

Sighing, Riley rested her head on his shoulder. Her voice was content as she answered, “I like you too, human.”

Overcome with an emotion he hadn’t felt in fifteen years, Shaw lifted their connected hands so he could kiss her knuckles. “Thank you,” he murmured, turning serious. “Thank you for tonight. But the next time you put yourself in danger to help me, I’m kicking your ass.”

Her dark eyes were huge with feeling. “I’m not sure I can hold back, Shaw. You’re too important to me. If I watch you leap into jeopardy, I’m following. That’s all there is to it.”

Kissing her nose as more emotions consumed him, Shaw murmured, “Well, next time remember your condition first, will you? I don’t want you needlessly putting our baby into danger.”

Her swallow was loud enough for him to hear. “You don’t?”

He shook his head. “No, I don’t.”

“So, you’re…okay with this? With the baby?”

“I’m not too sure what I am. But I know you’re important to me, too. And the thought of you carrying my child brings out all kinds of macho, caveman pleasures I didn’t know I had.” He smoothed his hands over her belly. “Reminds me too much of how I got you that way.”

She purred, not bothering to hide her jaguar in the sound. “I can think of a better way to remind you how I got this way.”

Shaw went rock hard. Eyes lighting, he stopped in his tracks, making her halt, too. As soon as she looked up at him with questioning eyes, he wrapped his hands around her waist. “Oh, yeah? Well, I think my brain’s going muzzy. Maybe you need to give me a little of that reminding now.”

* * * * *

Riley’s fever had calmed significantly since the first moment she’d looked up from his trap and stared into Shaw Griffin’s blue eyes, but it hadn’t cooled completely.

Embers in her belly ignited and her cunt pulsed with arousal. Thighs tingling, she slid her leg up and hooked it around the back of Shaw’s knee.

Feigning a pout, she puckered out her bottom lip. “But how could you forget
this
?” After slipping her fingers through his hair, she cupped the back of his head and brought his face down so he could meet her mouth to mouth. He groaned, sliding his tongue across hers.

“Oh, right. I think it’s beginning to come back to me now,” he rasped. “Maybe you should remind me a little more.”

They mated, teeth to teeth and tongue to tongue. The lips of her sex swelled, making her whimper. Knowing exactly what she needed, Shaw eased his hand down and grazed her clit, capturing the bud between two fingers. As he massaged her, rolling the lips of her pussy over her sweet spot, she moved her hips in rhythm with his administrations, humping his hand. Continuing to tease her clitoris with his palm, he walked a couple of his fingers down to swirl around the outer rim of her vagina.

She moaned and begged to be filled. When he dipped in two fingers, her inner muscles hugged him tight. But it wasn’t enough.

“I need your cock, Shaw. I need it right now.” She bucked her hips against him, growing frustrated. Kissing him again, she bit his tongue, turning rough. When the taste of his blood filled her mouth, the metallic zing had her growling, aching for more.

She wanted to sink her teeth into his flesh and rip—

“Oh, God,” she cried, flying back and covering her mouth with both hands. The flavor of his blood continued to tingle against her tongue, enticing and delicious.

As his fingers were jerked from her pussy, Shaw stumbled. He glanced in amazement at his soaked hand before he lifted his face to her. “What the hell?”

Her vision twitched, then slanted sideways. She saw him through her human eyes and then through her jaguar vision, like a predator focusing on his prey. The sound of his blood pumping through his veins echoed through her ears.

“Um, Riley,” he said, his voice leery as he eased a step away. “Do you know you just blinked into your animal and back?”

She patted at her body, relieved to feel human skin. “I…I…” She swallowed, her throat going dry. “I just had a vision of eating you.”

He arched a brow. “Huh? Why?”

“I don’t know,” she screeched. Her mind went fuzzy and a sick terror flashed through her, a heat pulsing from her shoulder where the first wolf had dug his teeth into her. Realization dawning, she gasped and clutched the wound. “Oh, no,” The words came as a whispered dread from her suddenly numb lips.

“What?” Shaw demanded, coming closer. Concern and confusion swirled in his gaze. “What’s going on?”

She lifted her hand to ward him away. “It bit me,” she said, her voice ringing hollow. “That first wolf. He bit me.”

“Are you okay?” Shaw touched the bite mark, and his warm skin almost undid her. She wanted to bare her teeth and shred him into human coleslaw.

Jerking backward, she snarled. “No, I’m not fucking okay. That animal
bit
me. He had bloodlust. Do you know what that means?”

Going deadly still, he stared at her a moment before slowly answering, “You said bloodlust was like rabies.”

“Exactly,” she answered as sweat began to trickle down her temple. The lust for his innards was intensifying. In minutes, she’d probably be completely infected. “I’m turning into one of them,” she whispered.

“No,” Shaw said, his voice strong and demanding. He grasped her shoulders and shook her. “No, you’re not.”

She nodded. A tear clogged her eyelashes. “I’m so sorry, Shaw. You…you have to put me down. Right now, before it’s too late.”

“Absolutely not,” he snarled. Then his voice broke. “I can’t. I love you. You’re going to have my baby. We’re going to leave this fucking forest and buy a house with windows so you can put up curtains. Then we’re going to live happily ever after. You can’t die.”

She choked on a sob even as her stomach contracted, already demanding blood. “Shaw, please don’t. It’s too late.”
“No, it’s not,” he roared, sounding savage, though his fingers were gentle when they cupped her face. “You can’t leave me. Not when I just found you.”

Though she wanted to pounce on him and brutalize, she stood her ground, trembling while her body resisted temptation. More tears sped down her cheeks. “I love you, too.”

“Then stay with me. Tell me how to fix this.”

“You can’t.” Shaking her head, she tried to move back so she couldn’t smell him as strongly, but he wouldn’t let her go. “There’s nothing we can do.”

“I don’t accept that.” His fingers probed her wound. “There has to be something, some way to flush out the infection.”

His determination only made her tears run thicker. “Shaw—”

“Don’t say my name in that tone of voice. There has to be some way to stop it. To reverse it. Just look at us. We’ve already defied nature together, having orgasms when we weren’t supposed to. Remember when my cock wasn’t supposed to grow without your cunt inducing it? Remember when you came without me being inside you? If anyone can get through this,
we
can.”

“But how?” She sniffed, unable to see him clearly through all the tears.

“I don’t know,” he muttered, running his hands through his hair as he stared down at his feet, deliberating.

Riley couldn’t take her gaze off the pulse beat in his throat. His life-force. She wanted to suck it out and take it all into herself.

“That’s it!” He lifted his face, but still pointed down. “Your ankle. You said sex seemed to heal it.”

“No.” Riley skipped back away from him, realizing exactly what he intended. “It’s too dangerous. Not only will it not work, but I’ll end up killing you instead.”

Actually, it just might work. Shapeshifters under bloodlust could bite a human and not infect them. And if she was half human, maybe—

But, no. It was too risky. She refused to put Shaw into that kind of danger.

“I want to try,” he said, advancing toward her, the features of his face set and determined.

“No, I refuse to hurt you.”

“Well, maybe I refuse to live without
you
.”

She closed her eyes and sobbed. “Don’t say that.”

“Then don’t leave me,” he countered, cupping her face and licking the tears off her cheeks. His smell traveled up her nose and taunted her fever, making moisture drip down her thigh from her swelling cunt.

Two needs swirled through her. Fuck or kill? Her animal was momentarily confused.

Shaw’s talented hands drifted down her body, teasing her breasts and nipples as he barely skimmed the slopes and kept going. “I know you want me,” he said, his voice husky and too sexy to be merely human. “I can smell it.”

Despite her fear and misery, she gave him a wet smile. “You cannot.”

He grinned, his sexy mouth quirking with amusement and love. “I’m right, though, aren’t I? You want me. Only me.”

“Oh, Shaw. I love you so much. If this doesn’t work, swear to me, you’ll kill me.” If she didn’t kill him first.

“It’ll work,” he assured, kissing her. “Now make love with me.”

The fight in her seeped out. She wanted him one last time. Her fever needed release, too. Badly. It even outweighed the bloodlust taking control of her.