SHAPESHIFTER ROMANCE: Protection of the Wolf (Paranormal Shifter Army Navy Seal Protector Alpha Wolf Romance) (Fantasy Military Action Adventure Urban Werewolf Romance Short Stories) (42 page)

He nodded.

She used her interior muscles to get his attention. “I want something from you. I let you use my body to satiate your lust. Now, I need a favor. Do you understand?”

Hal had a degree in English and taught at the high school on the island. He said, “Where did you learn the word ‘satiate’?”

“I know lots of things you don’t know about.” She grinned down at him. “Are you getting hard again? I hope so. I want another load of your semen. Am I helping you?”

He nodded again and closed his eyes.

She leaned down until her eyes were a few inches from his. She used her fingers and thumbs to open both of his eyelids. She locked onto his eyes with her own. “Are you listening to me? You are, aren’t you? In fact, you can’t hear anything but my voice. I want you to call the Sheriff’s office and tell them that I’ve been kidnapped and taken to the old bowling alley. Can you do that for me? One final thing, after you do it, you’ll forget about it.”

She moved her hips in a circular motion that drove any doubts from Hal’s mind. He nodded.

*****

In the car, John said, “I’ll take the job permanently.”

Kate slammed on the brakes and stopped the police car in the middle of the street. She turned on him. “What? You’re saying ‘yes’. That’s bullshit. You’d have me as a partner and more than that. How can you agree to that?”

“I saw something in you that tells me this tough guy attitude is an act. I don’t know why you’re doing it, but I don’t buy it. I want that loving, delicate woman I saw holding Peggy just now. That’s who you really are.”

John was prepared for anything but what he got. Kate leaned her head down on the steering wheel and bawled like a baby with colic. Her shoulders shook as she wailed. He didn’t comfort her. He was too shocked.

Without explanation, she lifted her head and drove the car to a local hotel. She walked past the office and waved at the clerk. He waved back. Inside room 121, she faced John. She
 
waited for a minute to gather the courage. “You’re right. I’ve got a chip on my shoulder that weighs a ton.” She came to a decision. “You’re the man to help me get rid of it.” She nodded her head. “Let’s get you into the agency.” She looked him in the eye. “You’ll understand when I tell you about the change, but for right now, let me give you a demonstration. Then you’ll know what you’re getting yourself into.” She stepped into the middle of the room. “Watch me. Don’t be afraid. I won’t hurt you. It’ll mean more to you if you touch me after I ... change.”

A dark, dense cloud engulfed Kate. He saw her clothes come out of the cloud. John heard gasps and whines and sounds of pain coming from inside the cloud.

It dissipated quickly. Where Kate had been, a giant Kodiak bear stood. It turned its head toward John and grunted.

After a moment’s hesitation, John stroked the bear’s back. He felt its muscles and hard body. He stepped back.

The cloud covered the bear, and Kate appeared when it went away. She was naked. She’d lost the dismissive attitude she wore the last time he saw her naked. “We’re werebears. Everyone in the office is. It helps us catch criminals. We’re going to issue an invitation to you to join. Almost everything about being a werebear is positive. We’ll tell you about it after you’ve made a decision. First, you need to know why I act like I do. Since you and I will be partners and mates, it has a direct bearing on your decision to join or not.”

She was so earnest he forgot to look at her body. She said, “I lived in Vancouver until I was a senior. I was morbidly obese until the start of the eleventh grade. I tried to disappear when I was in school. The other girls were relentless in teasing me. I developed a disease of the digestive tract that put me in the hospital for three months, and I had to stay home from school the rest of the year. I lost half of my body weight and had to do regular, difficult rehabilitation sessions. I got a new, thinner body that was really strong and reliable. I liked my new body and my new muscles. I decided to keep them.”

The look on her face surprised him. She was deeply ashamed. “I became a bully. Suddenly, I was bigger and stronger than any of the girls who picked on me. I found them, one-by-one and beat the shit out of them. I didn’t have friends. I had other criminals. I stayed with that lifestyle for half a year until my mother came to school one day and found us planning to rob a convenience store. She didn’t blow up. That’s what I expected. She moved the entire family to this Island. It has just two hundred residents and no crime. She gave up the home she loved for me. Little by little, I stopped being evil and started being good. Well, let’s say better. I still had a lot of bitterness, and I was still a bully, but I controlled it.”

John listened intently. “Why are you telling me this?”

“Wait, there’s more. I loved a man deeply. He was a Deputy like me. We were going to be married. He answered a domestic call and a gang of criminals ambushed him. A werebear is much tougher than a human, but we can be killed. That’s what happened to him. He died.” She sniffed. “I felt like I died. I couldn’t help it. My old personality started to come back. The Sheriff says I’m getting mean. He’s right. He wants me to make you a werebear.” She blew her nose on a tissue.

John was puzzled. First, he's seen a beautiful woman turning into a huge bear and back again then he’d heard a heart-wrenching story about loss and renewal. Now, he was apparently going to have to rescue a woman from her own sorrow. He looked into her eyes and found he didn’t mind doing it for her. He smiled and thought about a phrase his commander said whenever they had something impossible to do. “If it were easy, anybody could do it. You’re not anybody. You’re Marines.”

Kate said, “I can offer you a nice body. You’ll like me when I’m not being a bitch.” Kate held her arms out and gracefully twirled around. She was right. John liked her body. It was full of interesting curves; curves he’d like to explore. Kate said, with more seriousness than the words imply, “Do you like me... my body?”

John had to be honest. “Yes, I do. But I don’t understand. What does your lovely body have to do with joining the department and becoming a werebear?”

She didn’t answer his question directly. “The Native Americans who married into the Anvik tribe didn’t become werebears until their wedding night.”

John began to get an idea.

Kate continued, “They didn’t turn until they’d had sex with their new wives or husbands. If you want to join, you have to go to bed with me.” She stopped talking. John could see her tremble. Her voice turned shaky and unsure. “Would you consider doing that?”

“We need to see if we fit together.” He walked over to her and took her in his arms. He appreciated her generous breasts pressed against his chest and the strong, but graceful curve of her thighs. She kissed him and circled him with her arms. Her voice became whispery, “Is this a ‘yes’?

“Yes.”

She pushed away from him. “Wait. There’s something else you should know. We take on some of the emotional attributes of a bear and keep some of our own. Bears mate with just one partner, but they only do it for a year. Our humanity changes that to lifetime fidelity. If you become a werebear with me, we’ll be mates for the rest of our lives, which can be hundreds of years. Is that something you’re willing to do?”

This was it. John T. Dunnigan held this woman’s soul in his hands. She was just coming out of a life of tragedy and loss. If he rejected her now, she’d be damaged beyond repair. He found the thought of hurting her unacceptable. He said, “Just one thing. I refuse to call you ‘Sarge’ at work or at home. You’ll have to live with that.”

She said, shyly, “I can do that.”

He stepped forward and picked her up. She hadn’t been carried around in a man’s arms for decades. She curled her body into his and cuddled with him. She said, into his chest, “If the others could see me now, Sarge being held by a big man and snuggling into him, they’d be shocked.”

He placed her down on the bed and stood up. “How long has it been since a man, or anyone else, touched you?”

“Not since my lover died. I’ve been alone since then.”

“That explains why you’re always in a sour mood. Nobody can survive without pleasant contact with someone who cares about them.”

He sat down next to her and touched her neck and shoulders. She looked at him with gratitude then closed her eyes. He was right. She drank it in. She said, “I’ve missed this so much. I’ve been so lonely.” She put her hands on top of her breasts. “You deserve a reward for taking me on. I’ve been told I have the kind of breasts men like. I hope you enjoy them.” She turned her eyes to the side and lifted her hands off her chest.

John stared. She was right. Every man’s magazine had women whose breasts looked like hers. They balanced on her chest perfectly; each one the size of a half grapefruit. They were high, round and heavy. When she moved, they followed a second later in a ponderous dance.

She looked up at him. “I think you like me.” She picked up one of his hands and placed it on her left breast. “I love it when a man holds them. They’re sensitive.”

John felt her breast under his hand. It was warm and soft yet firm enough to keep its shape. He bent over and took her nipple into his mouth. It was even softer, but with a firmer tip. As he sucked and gently bit it, the tip lengthened and hardened. Kate twisted underneath him, turning one way then the other, but not enough to pull her nipple out of his mouth. He added his other hand and moved his mouth from one to the other. He could feel her incredible strength as she moved. She had muscles without bulk.

He kept it up for long moments. Finally, she said, “John. I need you now.”

He got out of his clothes with efficiency and started to lie down. She stopped him and sat up. She said, “You’re big. You’ve got a beautiful cock. Let me get to know him before he comes inside me.”

She sat on the edge of the bed, opened her mouth wide and dropped it over the head of John’s substantial cock. She sucked hard, and he groaned. She added her hands.

Quicker than she wanted it, John backed away. He said, “Let me look at the rest of you.” She laid back on the bed on her side and slipped her hands under her cheek. She bent one leg and pointed her knee toward the ceiling. She put her foot in front of her other knee. She knew he could see everything.

John ran his eyes up and down her body. He said, “You’re perfect.”

Kate felt his eyes on her and little fires started inside her body. Her eyelids felt heavy and her breasts tugged at her chest.

She held out her hand and John covered her with his body. She wiggled herself underneath him. He was so broad. She imagined his body concealing hers. Anyone looking down from above would see her legs and feet and nothing else.

She fell in love with him at that moment. He was a good, strong man who could keep her safe and who would let her use him to hide from the world.

She pushed his shoulders and said, “Kiss me. Down there. Please.”

He slid down her body, stopping to revisit her breasts and nipples and kissing her belly. He passed by her navel and licked it. She giggled and quivered.

He was there. She could feel his breath on her private garden. She bent her knees and hooked her hands behind them. She pulled them to her chest then spread them out. She presented John with an open and available pussy. When she felt his tongue on her clitoris, she fell back on the bed and groaned. She whispered, “This is so wonderful.”

He spent time on her body, seeking out those spots where she was sensitive. He felt her hips hunch up into his face. The movement was instinctive and sudden. It meant she was ready for the next step.

He moved up her body giving the same spots extra attention as he did before.

She was giving herself to him without holding back. Her legs wrapped around his waist leaving her pussy open to him to do whatever he wished. Her hips grew hot and full; heavy with passion.

She felt the head of his cock press into her opening. She moaned, and her eyelids fluttered. He pushed inside slowly and cautiously. Too slowly for her. She clenched her stomach muscles and humped herself into his cock. He understood and penetrated her more quickly. She nodded.

Her eyes darted from one corner of the ceiling to another without seeing anything. Her hands lay limp and unneeded on the bed, palms up, elbows bent. Everything in her body centered on the junction of John and Kate. Her legs tightened around him and urged him to penetrate her. She moaned in anguish. “Deeper, John. Please. I need you fill me completely.” He pushed her knees up by her ears, which curled her hips up into his cock. She felt the end of his cock stretch her channel. She moaned again. “Deeper. Push deeper again. Please.” He leaned into her body and buried another inch of his cock.

She smiled. “That’s what I needed. I’m completely full of you. Can you feel me all around your wonderful cock, from the bottom to the top?”

He said, “Yes” in a distracted voice.

She floated along on a wave of lovely sensations.

Too soon, her beautiful world closed in on itself and her orgasm crashed down on top of her. She couldn’t breathe. Her orgasm made the muscles in her chest and back clinch at the same time. The tightening came over her in waves.

The air she brought into her lungs smelled like concentrated sex. John’s intense male smell and her delicate female smell combined inside her. She felt the sensations swirl through her body. The feelings whirled around in tighter circles, centering on her hips and the place where they became one person.