SkinwalkersWoman (7 page)

“We have waited a lifetime to be joined together, Little
Dove, and when we come together, it is like a wildfire in the desert, burning
up all in its path. I could pleasure you forever.”

“I feel like I’m floating…like I’m some kind of
nymphomaniac. What was in that coffee you gave me last night?” She gasped as he
filled her with another long, slow thrust that made her feel as if his cock
caressed her womb. “Oh God! I’m coming again…” Her voice tightened as she
clutched at his head and turned her mouth to beg for his kiss as she felt her
body explode once more into a million shards of delirious pleasure. Heat filled
her as he came inside her and the warm cream trickled from her overfull opening
as he dragged her tight against his chest.

As she returned to Earth from the intense orgasm, he
startled her by lifting her gently from his lap, allowing his still semi-solid
cock to slide out of her. She had never thought she would be able to handle so
much hot sex, but the feeling of disappointment that filled her as his body
left hers was completely stupid!

Gah! I really am a total nympho!

Zeke could have remained inside her lush body for hours, but
he knew that she needed to rest, and he needed to prepare for the night and the
possibility that the
ch’iin
would return to try once more. The entity
was powerful, and he had felt the rage from it as it had fled from his wolf.
Old Joe would know what to do to protect his woman.

As he slid from her body and she sagged in his embrace, he
rose from the floor and put her back on the mattress, pulling the scratchy old
blanket up to cover her body. “I’ll make food. I will be back soon.”

“Stay…please?” Her soft whisper almost took away his
resolve.

“You need food and so do I. I will only be gone for a short
time, then I’ll fill the tub for you to bathe…unless you prefer a cold spring?”
He watched her expression carefully, savoring the way her face lit up at the
mention of a bath. He needed to feed both of them, then he would join her in a
warm bath under the hot sun.

Lighting a fire in the cold stove, Zeke started fresh coffee
and made biscuit dough. He opened a can of chili and sorted through the root
cellar in search of a few ingredients to add to it. Then he stepped quietly out
onto the porch and called forth his eagle to fly to the high place where he
could speak with Joe. He lit the fire and looked into the smoke, searching. He
couldn’t stay away for long.

* * * * *

The old man raised his eyes from the bough of sage that he
was wrapping slowly with twine to gaze into the dark eyes of the vision that
had appeared in his cooking fire. “You have changed, my friend. Having a woman
seems to have had quite an effect on you.”

The face in the smoke that rose from his fire wavered, and
Zeke’s expression made him lift his brows as the unspoken words sank into his
mind. “The
ch’iin
appeared? So it knows about her already?”

Yes, and it will come again until I destroy it. Ba’cho is
strong enough to fight it, but it vanished before I could kill it. Tell me what
to do to protect her.

Old Joe sighed and frowned at the image. “It cannot be
killed. But it can be driven away.”

How? If I can’t kill it, how can I make it never come
here again?

“The demon’s purpose is to destroy your future. To prevent
love. To sow pain and fear. To drive it away, you must show that love has
already taken strong root within your hearts.”

She is mine now. I claimed her. Shouldn’t that be enough?

“Do you love her? Has she proclaimed her love for you?” The
grizzled face wrinkled in thought.

Love? I don’t know what that is, old man. No one ever
showed it to me and I have never felt it for another. If there is such a thing,
it must hide its face deep.

“You already begin to feel it,
iitsá
łigai
. I
can see the change in your spirit.But she must learn to love you as
well. Otherwise you cannot protect her. Be kind and gentle. She has known
little of that and will respond to it. You are big and strong, but you cannot
force anyone to care about you. It must come naturally.”

I will make her love me.

“Good luck with that, young one. Be prepared for many
battles.”

The face in the smoke faded. Joe sighed and shook his head.
Zeke was wise and strong in many ways, but having no experience of life or love
left a man weak. His young friend had a lot to learn and little time to learn
it.

Chellie had splashed cold water over her body on the porch
and was pulling on fresh jeans and a T-shirt when her host appeared at the
cabin door carrying an armful of dry wood. The chili he had poured into a small
pan was bubbling over the wood fire he had started before leaving the cabin,
and the percolator was beginning to send spurts of fragrant dark coffee up and
over the grounds he had added to the basket before he had left about twenty
minutes before. She could smell the heavenly aroma of the homemade biscuits
he’d put into the oven just before he’d left.

She ran her fingers through her unruly hair and twisted it
behind her neck, unable to do much more without her brush and pins. It had
taken her awhile to get her mind back to work after that heart-stopping session
in his bed at dawn. And even now the sight of him as he knelt to load the wood
into the kindling box beside the stove was enough to make her want to climb
right back into bed and fuck him senseless.

“Eat. Then we can go back to bed.” His words brought a rush
of heat to her cheeks.

Gah! He can read my mind?

She turned away and started pulling things out of her
luggage, searching for panties and a clean bra.

“Why wear them when they will just be removed again
shortly?”

She turned wide eyes toward him as he rose and brushed
splinters and dust from his hands and jeans. “Look…I would appreciate it if you
could leave my thoughts alone and stop butting into them. I feel more
comfortable wearing them. If I’m going to bathe, I want clean things next to my
skin, thank you very much.”

“Why get dressed at all? There is no one who can see you
except me, and I’ve seen every part of you.” His voice was deep and rough. “You
have a beautiful body. It is something you shouldn’t hide.”

A jolt of lust swept through her but she managed to not
swallow her tongue. “I don’t run around nude, so forget it. I notice you have
clothes on. Those things go two ways, you know.”

She had simply meant to throw his statement back into his
face, but when he suddenly reached for the buttons of his shirt, her throat
went totally dry. “Leave your clothes on! I was just being facetious!”

His hand paused as a wide grin made his face look positively
satiric. “Until we bathe, then…”

“
We
? There is no ‘we’.
I
will bathe, then you
can if you want. I expect you to turn your back and be a complete gentleman
when I take my bath. Got that?”

“I don’t waste water. And I never said I was a gentleman,
did I? You shouldn’t assume things about total strangers.”

Her heart fluttered inside her chest as she watched his eyes
trailing down her body. “And you shouldn’t assume that this little fling we’ve
had is going any farther. We’ve both scratched a few itches, but don’t count on
me flopping back into bed with you any time you want.” Her voice didn’t sound
terribly convincing even to her.

“You want me too. It isn’t just
my
want. When you
look at me, I see and feel the way you want me. I smell the arousal you feel
when you look at me. When you stop wanting me, I’ll stay away from you. Until
then, plan to be fucked many times a day, Little Dove.”

She felt the hot red color wash over her face as she
stiffened. Good thing he didn’t know exactly how good that sounded to her. But
then, he seemed to be able to read every thought she had. “You have such a way
with words, you know that? The very least you could do is not be vulgar and
smug about the fact that I can’t seem to think straight around you. Whatever
Indian mojo you’re using on me won’t last much longer. I get bored pretty
quickly with new things.”

“I doubt that you will get bored with fucking me very soon,
Little Dove. You want me even now. But we both need food. When we’re fed, I
will fuck you again, and you will enjoy it.”

Try as she might, Chellie couldn’t get mad at him or dispute
his gruff statement. The images his words brought to her mind left her knees
trembling and her pussy clenching. She had to get out of there, had to get away
from him. He was dangerous to her peace of mind. Dangerous to her flimsy
self-respect.

“I’m going to the little girl’s room. Save me some food,”
she almost snarled, storming past him to the open door of the cabin, her fists
clenched.

As she hurried down the steps of the wide porch, she heard
his deep voice following her. “Don’t try to leave here. You won’t get very
far.”

She bit back her knee-jerk response, because it would sound
like she was inviting him. Instead, she mentally shouted,
“Fuck you!”

In the light of a new day, the trip to the outhouse didn’t
seem quite so scary. Wearing her new cross-trainers instead of those deadly
stiletto-heeled boots was better too. She trekked along the path, swearing
under her breath and making dire silent threats to his balls. She didn’t care
if he could read her mind. If he did, he deserved to hear what she thought of
him.

Inside the little privy, she didn’t even flinch when she had
to shoo a lizard off the toilet seat. “Go away, damn it. Go and pee outside
like you were born to. This is my seat!” She unbuckled her belt as she watched
the little gray-green critter scuttle away through a narrow crack in the wall.
As she did her business, she found herself wishing that there was a sink and
shower as well, but wishing would get her nowhere but more frustrated.

Her belly growled and she pulled her jeans up with a snarl
of anger. There was no way out of going back to the little cabin if she didn’t
want to starve. But the minute he turned his back, she was out of there, and if
he tried to stop her, she would…she would…

You’ll do what? Bleed on his boots when you break your
knuckles trying to slug him again?

She stopped at a water bucket that hung from a peg in the
shade of the overhang and ladled some out to wash her hands, drying them by
running them down the legs of her jeans. Masking her angry thoughts before she
climbed the steps to the cabin, she decided that she would just take her time
and check later to see if the damn car would start after it had had a day to
cool down. Because she didn’t relish the idea of trekking out of here in this
heat, carrying a backpack.

When she stepped through the open door, he was setting a
plate on the table by the stove, and there were two coffee mugs there as well.
Ignoring him completely, she pulled out the closest chair and flopped
ungraciously down onto it, reaching for the closest mug.

“It’s hot.”

She gasped as her tongue burned, and she shot him a glare
over the rim of the mug. He handed her a capped plastic water bottle from under
the sink, and she tried hard not to, but said “thanks” anyway. Damn habit.

He put an old spoon next to the plate of biscuits and
steaming chili, and she once again thanked him despite her resolve to keep her
trap shut. She tried not to stare at him as she sank onto the other chair and
began to eat hungrily. His dark eyes remained on his food as he shoveled it in
like a starving man. Trying not to act the same way, she took a healthy bite
and fought the instant need to groan with pleasure. It tasted like heaven. It
was true—hunger made food taste like ambrosia! In spite of her attempt at
decent table manners, she cleaned her plate and washed the delicious food down
with a long swallow from the water bottle to keep from burning her tongue again
on the still-steaming coffee.

She wanted more food but decided she needed to get a few
feet more from him, and rose to carry her plate and spoon to the makeshift
sink.

“There’s a lot more—help yourself.”

Changing direction without hesitation, she stepped over to
the stove and grabbed a warm biscuit, then ladled a steaming dollop of chili
over it. She almost lost hold of the damn plate when she felt his body close
behind hers. She stepped aside to let him get a second helping and scooted back
to her seat at the table.

They ate in silence until their plates were empty once more,
and she rose to take hers to the sink again. There was a hand pump standing up
through the countertop, which was just linoleum with a band of bent metal along
the front edge. The sink was nothing but an old metal washtub set into a wooden
frame in the top of the cabinet. To empty it, you would have to lift it out and
carry it to the porch and dump it over the side. It looked many years old and
extremely rustic, but beggars couldn’t be choosers.

She set her plate and spoon in the tub and reached for the
handle of the pump. Before she could give it a downward pump, his large palm
closed over her hand as he pressed his front to her back, letting her feel the
long, hard ridge of his cock against her ass. Closing her eyes and fighting the
desire to turn and wrap herself around the man, she said tersely, “I think I
can handle this. I may be a city girl but I have watched a few episodes of
Lonesome
Dove
.”

He moved his hand but not his body. With a growl of
determination, she pumped the handle a few times until a gush of warmish water
splashed over the dishes. It was not crystal-clear, but it would suffice to do
the job. With a grumble about personal space, she shoved her ass back against
his marauding cock and turned away from the sink to reach for his empty plate
as well.

A deep chuckle was her answer as she shoved at his massive frame
until he gave her some space. “Why don’t you go and pump some bathwater while I
finish up here, big guy?”

“We’ll bathe after we fuck. We’ll just get all sweaty
again…” he murmured close beside her ear.

“I don’t plan on going back to bed just now, okay? I want a
bath.”

The words had barely cleared her lips when she felt hands
dragging her shirt up from her belt. Dropping the spoon she was rinsing into
the water, she slapped at his hands and wriggled to get away from him, but a
moment later she was sitting on the edge of the countertop, her thighs spread
wide around his lean hips as he ran his big hands up under her loose shirt to
cup her naked breasts.

“Do you not understand the concept of ‘no’?” She glared at
him.

“You haven’t said it yet.”

“I shouldn’t have to say it. I told you I wanted a bath, not
sex.”

His hands stilled, then his mouth slid up the side of her
throat to her ear. “Your body is asking me for sex, Little Dove. Your mouth
doesn’t have to ask.”

“Then stop listening to my body, because I can’t keep doing
this every ten minutes. It’s
unnatural
…”

He stiffened, and as he leaned back from her, she felt the
loss of his closeness like a cold breeze. “Because you fear me? Or because you
fear yourself? What I want to do to you is natural. I want my cock inside your
body as much as I want to breathe or drink. I want to feel your cunt squeezing
my cock as I pleasure you and you pleasure me. What is unnatural about that?”

“You don’t get out much, do you?” she whispered as she
stared up into his hurt expression. Her gut twisted inside as she realized that
he was sort of like a kid in a candy store. As big and hot and hard as he
looked, she sensed that he had never been with a woman before her, and that
shocked her. As her inner voice spoke softly to her, she stared at his scarred
visage and somehow understood that this huge, muscular male was lost in
feelings he couldn’t explain or understand. She lifted her hand to touch his
face and she watched his eyes drop shut as he trembled.

“I’m sorry…I didn’t know. But you can’t just keep me
prisoner here and keep me in bed all the time. Not that it’s been any real
hardship, but I wasn’t raised that way. Women who let men fuck them so often
are called sluts. That’s not a very nice name. And I really am not a slut, in
case you thought I was. I’m normally not like this at all. I usually don’t fall
all over strange men when I first meet them.”

As she touched his face, her hand gently cradling his
scarred flesh, he knew her thoughts and he realized how he must seem to her.
She had lived in the world her whole life and had been taught different ways
and beliefs. He seemed to be little more than a wild beast, wanting to rut with
her at every turn. She had sensed, somehow, that she had been his first, but
she felt guilty that she wanted him as much as he wanted her. In her world,
women who gave in to their needs were looked down upon. The touch of her
fingertips set him afire with need. The feel of her thighs still cradling his
hips made him hard and hot for her.

And she thinks me an animal.

He stopped the growl that rose in his throat. Little did she
know how much of an animal he truly was. He had claimed her, but she didn’t
want him the way he wanted her. The old one had said that he must be gentle and
kind, but all he wanted was to bury his cock in her to the balls and feel every
slick, tight ridge inside her body. Disgust welled in his throat as he slowly
backed away from her and let her slip to her feet on the floor. He felt so much
when he was buried inside her sweet, hot body, and he didn’t know what to do to
prove that he didn’t think she was a slut.

He backed away as she gazed at him so sadly, not wanting her
pity. “Stay here. And if you try to run, you will not get far. I can catch you
no matter what you do. Understood?”

He turned and left her standing there, and when he was out
of sight he stripped off his boot mocs and jeans and shirt, touched his
medicine bag and released his eagle. He desperately needed the freedom of
flight. He needed to talk to the old man once more.

The sound of an eagle’s cry made her cross to the door,
shading her eyes as she gazed at the morning sky. The bird was huge and it
flapped upward with powerful strokes of its golden brown wings. Her body seemed
to tighten, then float with the glorious creature, and she could almost feel
the wind caressing her face as she watched it climb so high that it became
nothing but a pinprick in the painfully blue sky above.