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  Clive headed into the woods, his nose filled with Ainsley’s scent. She reeked of fear and flowers. It was goddamned delicious.

  The rain felt great to his heated body. It ran in rivulets off his glossy topcoat, leaving his soft undercoat nice and dry. It made it a little harder to track, of course, but Clive was a legendary tracker. That was part of what made him such a great cop.

  Ainsley’s scent led him deeper into the trees. Every couple hundred feet his tracking would be verified by a wet pink sliver of her dress. They looked like little pink cunts, wiggling in the rain, teasing and beckoning to him.

  He growled in excitement.

  When he found Ainsley Connor he would pin her down and fuck her to pieces before forcing her to choose him. Once that was done he’d let the boys finish her off.

  If they did a good enough job helping him catch her, maybe he’d let them have some fun with her first.

  Chapter 17

  Before Erik could think, Ainsley had him by the hand and was pulling him upstream.

  Her small hand was cold and slippery in his, but the throbbing of her blood called to him and he followed. Her dress had been torn half away. It was hard to concentrate on the wolves behind them when he could see so much of her pale skin.

  What had Clive done?

  It made his blood boil, but he didn’t dare let himself change after seeing the fear in her eyes a few minutes ago.

  Suddenly, Ainsley was pulling him into their cave. He let her hand slip in disbelief and she reached back and dragged him into the darkness with a strength he didn’t know she had.

  “Ainsley, this is crazy! There’s no way out – we’ll be trapped.”

  He tried to push past her, but she grabbed him and held him close.

  The simple gesture melted his heart and he wrapped his arms around her.

  He liked how big and powerful his arms felt when her small, soft form was between them. Her exquisite smell filled his nose. It was mixed with an intoxicating cocktail of pine and rain and blood.

  Erik felt his body begin to respond to hers. It was totally inappropriate after what she’d just experienced. Desperately, he tried to restrain his thoughts, but when she sighed and snuggled closer he could feel her rock hard nipples pressing his chest through what was left of the dress.

  She’s just cold, he told himself. She’s cold and frightened and I’m here to make her feel safe.

  “Hey!” Ainsley cried joyfully, pulling back from their embrace.

  Erik let go with equal measures of relief and disappointment. Ainsley was in the corner of the cave, she had an old garbage bag in her hands.

  “Is this our supplies?” she asked excitedly.

  Erik smiled and took a last whiff of the wet air outside the cave. The wolves were still well behind them. He could humor her for a few minutes.

  “It sure looks like it.”

  “We should open it!”

  “Alright, but you’re freezing, come close so I can warm you.”

  “What did we put in here? Do you remember?”

  “Not really – but I like surprises!” he teased.

  He strode over and sat. She stood above him uncertainly, then carefully lowered herself to his lap. He loved the demure way she tried to smooth her torn skirt over her legs.

  She leaned back against his chest.

  “You’re so warm,” she sighed.

  The feel of her on him was incredible. He reveled in their closeness and tried not to let himself think about her warm thighs squirming against his lap to get comfortable.

  Before he could fully enjoy the moment, she leaned forward again to open the bag. He put his hands on her hips to steady her and his wolf moaned at the suggestive position.

  He shook his head to clear his thoughts.

  Everything in the cave was covered in dust and spider webs - just like the day they’d found it. He couldn’t believe that prim and proper grown-up Ainsley was rummaging through the leaves and dirt just like she had when she was ten.

  Triumphantly, Ainsley pulled out a flashlight. She tried to turn it on, but of course the batteries were long dead.

  “What else is in there?” Erik asked.

  “Ooooh!” Ainsley held up a can of chicken soup.

  “Yum – my favorite.”

  “Oh, wow! How did we know we would need this?”

  Ainsley pulled out a folded acrylic blanket. It was the kind that had probably cost five dollars at the drug store back when they were kids. It was still in its package wrapper.

  They both stared at it for a moment in wonder.

  Ainsley tried to open it but her hands were shaking.

  “Let me.”

  He ripped the plastic open. By some miracle the fabric was unspoiled. It was probably because there wasn’t a natural fiber in it. He unfolded the blanket and wrapped it around them.

  Ainsley shivered with delight. Erik could feel her skin begin to warm as the blanket trapped his heat against her. He couldn’t resist pulling her fragrant wet tresses out of her eyes.

  She smiled shyly, her lashes brushing her cheeks. It seemed like maybe she was trying not to look into his eyes.

  He caught his breath as he realized why. She must be afraid she would draw his alpha. Which meant she was feeling the attraction too.

  His heart thundered and he fought to stay calm. His job was to protect her. But he could feel himself hardening and tried to wish it away.

  “What else is in there, Connor?” he asked, slipping into their old vernacular to distract her, and himself.

  She giggled and kept digging.

  “Oh, wow,” she pulled out a comic book. It was practically disintegrating.

  “Do you still read those?” Erik asked.

  “God, no,” she replied with her new tight smile. “I barely have time to read the Journal.”

  “What’s it like up there?”

  She paused and he could feel her thinking.

  “It’s different,” she said simply.

  They sat in silence for a moment. Erik rested his chin in the crook of her neck. Her skin was as smooth as silk. It felt like she was trying to mold herself into him.

  “Do you remember when we found this place?” she finally asked.

  He smiled against her hair and nodded.

  “Tell me,” she demanded.

  “It was hot, was it summer break?”

  “Yes,” she agreed.

  “It was summer and it was hot. We wanted to play in the creek but you promised your dad you wouldn’t because it was still swollen from that storm.”

  She nodded.

  “So, we walked along the bank, hoping for a breeze across the creek – but there were only mosquitoes.”

  “Yes.”

  “And then you spotted it! You ran ahead of me and started pulling branches out of the way without even thinking about what might be in here.”

  “And you told me to stop because there might be snakes!”

  “But you said I was chicken. So I ran right over to show I wasn’t.”

  “Remember all the crap that was in there?” she asked.

  “There’s plenty of crap in here now too.”

  They looked around. There were piles of leaves and sticks and tons of cobwebs. But now that he could shift, it didn’t matter. He leaned his head to the opening of the cave. They had a few more minutes, maybe.

  “Ainsley, when you said that you never shifted before, what did you mean?”

  She went still in his arms.

  “I meant that I’ve never shifted before…” She paused for a moment, considering something. “I thought I might have once, but now I’m not so sure.”

  That was impossible. Everyone knew that wolves had to change at the full moon.

  He listened to her heart beating steadily. She was telling the truth.

  “What do you do when the moon is full?” he asked incredulously.

  She turned and looked him in the eye.

  “Do you really want to know?” />
  He nodded.

  She turned back and nestled into him again.

  “I told my broker that I have terrible lady problems,” she said, her voice tinged with disgust. “Every month I leave town and check into a motel in New Jersey for three days. It’s a sort of seedy, awful place. But if you make noise there no one cares.”

  She paused and tucked her hair behind her ear self-consciously.

  “I don’t think you want the details but you can probably imagine it’s painful.”

  He was sure it was very painful. She must be strong beyond his understanding. But why undertake it? Why didn’t she just shift?

  “Why do you do that? Is it so bad to be yourself?”

  He could feel that he had wounded her, but he wasn’t sure how. He curled his arms even tighter around her and brushed his lips against her ear.

  “I’m sorry. It’s none of my business,” he whispered.

  She seemed to melt into him again.

  “No, Erik, you’re my friend. You can ask anything you want-”

  “Hush!” he interrupted.

  His skin was tingling and he knew they were running out of time.

  “Ainsley, we have to go! They’re close!”

  Suddenly he felt a current of energy running through her. The hairs on his arms stood on end.

  He lifted Ainsley off his lap and moved toward the mouth of the cave. They would be here any second. How had he let himself get so distracted?

  He grabbed Ainsley’s hand and pulled, but she didn’t budge. When he turned to her, she wrapped him in a fierce embrace.

  “I won’t let them hurt you,” she whispered.

  “Ainsley, you can’t protect us. We need to run.”

  “I. Won’t. Let. Them. Hurt. You.” There was iron in her voice like nothing he’d ever heard before.

  Something moved in the cave. It sounded like whispers. He looked up and saw that the vines around the entrance growing and weaving together. Within a minute there wasn’t a particle of moonlight left in the cave.

  “Ainsley, did you…”

  “Yes,” she whispered. He could barely see her at all now, even with his enhanced vision.

  “How?”

  “I don’t know. I never did that before.”

  He felt her tremble and knew she was going to cry. He didn’t know what to say.

  “Everything is crazy here. It was bad enough to be a wolf,” she sobbed. “Now I shoot blue stuff out of my hands and…and I saw a ghost, and I just made vines grow. I just…I just want to be normal.”

  She buried her face in his chest.

  Without thinking, he lifted her off the ground.

  Immediately, she wrapped her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist and wept like a child. After a few minutes her sobs subsided. She still clung to him fiercely.

  He began to talk to her gently and stroke her hair.

  “I remember a little girl who wasn’t afraid to be extraordinary. She loved comic book super heroes with amazing powers. She was a hero herself.”

  Ainsley was still. She was listening. He continued.

  “I think that little girl would think it was unbelievably cool that you made vines grow just now to save us - and that you can do all that other stuff. I think she would have loved to be a wolf whenever she wanted and fly through the woods and howl at the moon.”

  He could hear her dimpling as she smiled.

  Then he felt her fingers slide through his hair. She pulled his face to hers and brushed her lips against his so softly he was afraid he had imagined it.

  The gentle kiss awoke a furious passion in him. In an instant his cock was stiff and throbbing. He struggled with his wolf for control, grabbing her face in his hands, and devouring her mouth, when what he really wanted was the tear off the rest of her dress and lay claim to every inch of her.

  Ainsley gasped, then arched into him, matching his kiss and sinking her fingernails into his shoulders. Her tongue tasted like honey and the way she moaned softly into his mouth made him want to pin her to the cave floor and---

  Erik pulled away quickly and put his finger across her lips.

  Outside the cave he could hear Clive and the others. There were three of them. They came very close to the mouth of the cave.

  Ainsley’s heart fluttered against his chest like a baby bird. She put her feet back on the ground, but he pulled her protectively into the circle of his arms.

  The wolves moved away.

  Just as Erik began to breath again, they circled back. Again they went past the cave’s mouth. But Erik knew they had caught the scent and it would only be a matter of time.

  “We’re going to have to make a run for it,” he breathed into Ainsley’s ear. “If you can’t change then I’ll carry you on my back.”

  “Won’t that slow you down?”

  “I’m fast.”

  “How fast?”

  “Really fast,” he whispered with more confidence than he felt.

  “One way to find out!” she whispered back.

  He felt her smile against his cheek and his heart drummed.

  “Hold on tight,” he said. “And whatever happens, don’t let go.”

  Erik eyed the mouth of the cave and prepared to shift.

  Episode 5

  Chapter 2

  Ainsley crouched in the impenetrable darkness of the dank cave. Her clothes were torn and bloodied and her hair tangled and full of brambles from her frantic run through the woods. Outside, giant wolves stalked, waiting to tear her apart.

  Ainsley had never felt so blissfully alive.

  Erik’s kiss had driven away the thoughts of anything else. She tried without much success to pull her mind away from it. It didn’t help that he was naked and holding her in his lap, whispering strategy into her ear as she nodded along and tried in vain to pay attention.

  She could still feel the warmth of his tongue in her mouth.

  “… just hold on tight. Whatever happens don’t let go,” he finished.

  Well crap. She had missed most of it.

  “So you’ll shift and I’ll hop on and not let go? That’s the whole plan”

  “Yep, that’s pretty much it from your perspective. And if inspiration hits, don’t be afraid to use some of that magical talent.”

  Ainsley nodded. It was sort of nice to think of her new ability as a talent instead of a curse.

  “But mostly just hang on. I want to keep you around,” he said gruffly.

  Before she could think too much about that last he was expanding rapidly. Though her mind knew that the wolf before her was Erik, she still took a step back. A small step - there was barely room in the cave for both of them.

  A cool snout nuzzled her arm. She held back a giggle and let her fingers play in his smooth, silken fur. He bumped her chest with the top of his head affectionately. Then he lay on the cave floor.

  Ainsley placed one hand on his massive shoulder and stroked down the curve of his back. She could feel each vertebrae, like someone had magnified a pearl necklace. He was large but he was no horse - his back wasn’t meant to carry things. The thought that she might hurt him made her hesitate.

  He turned his muzzle back to her and gave her a nudge.

  She threw one leg over and paused again. Was this really a good idea?

  Ouch!

  What the hell? Erik had nipped her.

  She hurriedly climbed the rest of the way onto him and could swear he was laughing, not just panting.

  “Laugh it up, fuzzball. If we make it out of here alive, I am so going to whack you on the nose with a rolled up newspaper.”

  As he rose up to his full height, she gave up trying to hold onto her dignity and focused on trying to hold onto him. His topcoat was long but slippery. His undercoat was less slippery, but too short. She tried just gently putting her arms around his neck but he shook and she flew off.

  She picked herself up and he nuzzled the nape of her neck.

  “Quit it. No more nipping,” she wh
ispered.

  He nuzzled her nape more insistently, then lowered his head.

  Hmm.

  She scrambled up again and grabbed the scruff of his neck. To her surprise, it was easy to hold onto.

  He shook again but she held him tight between her knees and didn’t let go of his scruff. She stayed on board.

  Yes!

  He licked her leg, and the tickly feel of his raspy tongue made her giggle.

  Before she could think he leapt with all his strength. They burst through the vines and into the night air. The moonlight was almost blinding after the dark of the cave.

  In two giant leaps he was over the creek.

  Suddenly, she could hear the other three wolves, they were splashing through the creek, toward Erik, snarling. She put her head down into the shining fur on his neck and willed him to go faster.

  As though he heard her thoughts, the giant wolf expanded his stride. Trees blurred past them. His heartbeat drummed and she felt it like her own as she pressed against him. Soon, she could no longer hear the wolves behind them.

  Erik kept his new pace though. The wind whipped her hair and she lifted her head a little.

  It was exhilarating!

  If she shifted, would she be able to do this?

  Too soon, he was slowing. They came out of the woods back at the bank of the creek. Erik leapt into a stand of bamboo. Instead of crashing through it though, he followed a curving path. When they emerged they were in a huge meadow. The wind and rain whipped the lush grass. Ainsley could just see the roof of a cottage on a hill overlooking the clearing.

  Erik lifted his glossy muzzle and sniffed the air. He seemed satisfied with what he smelled and began trotting through the meadow toward the hill.

  They had thundered through the woods for an hour and Erik was barely panting. As the adrenaline rush faded, Ainsley found herself suddenly weary to her bones. Soft fur warmed her and the slow, hypnotic beat of his heart lulled her. The rhythm of these shorter steps was all that kept her awake.

  Finally, they reached the top of the hill. Erik carried her as far as the steps to the cottage, then stood next to the landing for her to dismount.

  She slid off his back and felt a pang of sorrow that the wolf would soon be gone. She chided herself, knowing that Erik was Erik, no matter what form he took. But their relationship was easier this way, without the sexual pull and the pressure to talk.