Animal Attraction (11 page)

He let her lie there for a moment, allowing her to catch her breath before he slowly began to thrust into her pussy. Pushing herself up, she placed her hands on his chest and slowly began to ride up and down on him. The movement drove his cock deeper and deeper inside with every thrust, and she let out a low moan.

Eliza was just settling into a rhythm when she felt Hunter’s hand smack against her ass. Startled, she let out a little yelp of surprise. But as that same delicious warmth she’d felt when he’d spanked her in the shower the other night began to spread over her bottom again, her lips curved into a sexy, little smile.

“
Mmmm
,” she breathed. “Do that again.”

Beneath her, Hunter’s eyes danced with amusement as he lifted his hand to spank her ass again. Even though she knew it was coming, Eliza let out another little squeal as the smack landed squarely on her already stinging ass cheek.

“Ride me,” Hunter commanded softly, his hand coming down on her other cheek.

Eliza squealed again, but did as he ordered, moving up and down on his hard cock in time to the rhythm of his spanks. Each time his hand smacked against her ass, her pussy clenched tightly around his shaft. Hunter continued to spank her, alternating from one cheek to the other, delivering smack after stinging smack until he finally grabbed her burning ass cheeks with both hands and began pumping into her wildly.

Eliza gasped at the feel of his strong hands squeezing her tender bottom. “Harder!” she cried. “Fuck me harder!”

Hunter obeyed, gripping her ass and pumping into her so forcefully that Eliza couldn’t have stopped herself from coming even if she had wanted to, and her breath started to come in shallow pants as her orgasm approached. A moment later she was coming with such soul-shattering intensity that she thought she might actually faint from how wonderful it felt. Beneath her, Hunter groaned long and low as he found his own release; knowing that he was coming with her only made her own orgasm that much stronger.

As the tremors rippling through her body slowly began to subside, Eliza’s eyes fluttered open to see a grin of complete and utter satisfaction on Hunter’s face. Then, much to her surprise, he threw back his head back and howled.

Unable to help herself, Eliza dissolved into a fit of giggles that soon had both of them laughing. Good heavens, she had created a monster!

* * * *

The rogue werewolf was the main topic of conversation at breakfast the next morning. Since Hunter didn’t have any classes to teach that day, he asked Eliza if she wanted to tag along with him while he went to see Detective Newman.

“Sounds good to me,” she said, taking a bite of toast. It was still a little stale, but for some reason, his company made it taste better.

Half an hour later they were on their way into the city. When they arrived at the police station, it was to find a crowd of people gathered outside the building. Curious, Eliza quickened her pace to keep up with Hunter’s long strides as they made their way across the parking lot. As they drew closer, she could see Detective Newman standing on the front steps, along with several other men.

“…so we’re urging everyone to stay indoors until we take care of this matter, especially after dark,” the detective was saying.

“And how’s that supposed to do any good?” called out a heavyset man from the crowd. “The dang wolf already broke into someone’s house, didn’t it? What’s to stop the beast from doing it again?”

“He’s right!” someone else agreed. “We should be out hunting this thing!”

“Yeah!” came another shout.

Detective Newman held up his hands. “We can’t say for sure that the wolf broke into the victim’s house. It’s more likely that the man heard a noise and opened his door to see what it was. Like I said before, we’re already getting some men together so that we can get out there and hunt this thing down before it can attack anyone else. But that won’t be for at least a day or two, so until then, we want everyone to stay indoors after nightfall. And if you see a couple of large wolves hanging around, call the police immediately.”

Eliza glanced at Hunter to see his jaw tighten. “With people as frightened as they are, we’ll be lucky if they don’t start shooting everything that moves, especially wolves.”

Including him, the idea making her blood run cold.

“I need to go talk to Fred Newman, see if I can find out exactly when they’re going to start hunting,” Hunter said.

Eliza nodded. They headed toward where the detective was standing, only to stop when they heard someone calling her name. Recognizing Andy’s voice, she turned to see the photographer coming toward them. While she wasn’t surprised to see him at the press conference, she was a little shocked to find him hanging out with Nate Corrigan. The two men had certainly gotten chummy.

“Ms. Bradley. Dr. McCall,” Nate said, holding out his hand for Hunter to shake. “I was wondering if you’d be here, since you consult with the cops and all.”

Eliza’s brow furrowed. “You two know each other?” she asked, looking from Nate to Hunter.

Hunter nodded. “Nate’s taken several of my classes.”

She should have guessed. Nate was obsessed with wolves, so why wouldn’t he have gotten to know the university’s resident expert on the subject?

Beside her, Hunter glanced in Newman’s direction, but the detective had already disappeared inside. “I’ll be right back,” he said.

Eliza nodded. She really wanted to go inside with Hunter, but she was half afraid that if she did, Nate might try to follow her. No big deal. Hunter would tell her what he and the detective had talked about, she was sure.

“What the hell is he doing here?” Andy said, bringing her attention back to him.

Eliza followed the photographer’s gaze to see a blond-haired man making his way toward them, and she frowned as she recognized Carson Emery, the whiny reporter who had quit the magazine after she’d been given the werewolf story.
What the hell
is
he doing here?

“Should have known I’d run into you two.” The other reporter sneered, stopping front of them.

“What the hell are you doing here, Emery?” Andy asked.

Carson gave Eliza a superior look. “Scooping your story,” he said. “I work for
Strange Times
now. Once I told them I had it on good authority that there was a werewolf up here attacking people, they got me on the first flight out.”

“Well, you wasted your time,” Eliza told him coolly. “Because it’s just a regular old wolf doing the attacking.”

She held her breath, half afraid that Nate Corrigan would jump in and contradict her, but to her surprise—and relief—he didn’t say anything.

“Well, if that’s true, then what are you two still doing up here?” Carson demanded.

Eliza hesitated, chewing on her lower lip as she tried to come up a convincing lie, but the other reporter held up his hand.

“Forget it. I don’t really care,” he said. “I got a werewolf to find.”

Jerk.
Eliza frowned as she watched him go.

“Don’t pay any attention to him,” Andy said to her. “Emery couldn’t find his ass with both hands. There’s no way he’s going to find this werewolf.”

She looked at Andy in surprise. The other day, the photographer had thought Nate was as much of a lunatic as she did. Now he thought there really was a werewolf?

“And he won’t get anything out of me, that’s for sure,” Nate added. “I stopped reading that magazine when they said Bigfoot was really just an alien from another planet that got stranded here. Everybody knows that’s a crock. It’s obvious that Bigfoot is a direct descendant of the original missing link.”

Eliza simply stared at Nate in amazement, not sure what to say to that. Luckily, she didn’t have to come up with anything because Hunter chose that moment to rejoin them.

“Well?” she said.

“They won’t start the hunt until tomorrow sometime,” he said, his mouth tight. “I want to do some asking around on the outskirts of town, find out if anyone has seen a big wolf hanging around.”

Eliza nodded, but before she could say anything, Nate spoke. “Andy and I could help you with that, Professor,” he said excitedly.

Hunter hesitated a moment, but then he nodded. “That might be a good idea. We can cover more ground if we split up. But call me if you get anything.”

As she and Hunter pulled out of the parking lot several minutes later, he glanced at her. “Nate’s the guy you were telling me about, isn’t he? The one who gave you the werewolf profile?”

Eliza sighed. “Yeah. But don’t worry, you’re not on his list of possible suspects.”

“That’s good to know,” Hunter said.

She smiled. “So, do you really think going door to door talking to people is going to help us track down this other werewolf?”

He shrugged. “It can’t hurt. I’m hoping that if enough people have seen him in an area, then it might tell us where he lives.”

She thought a moment. “Can’t you track him by his scent?”

“If he’s nearby,” Hunter said, giving her a sidelong glance. “Or if he marks his territory. But once he changes back into human form and gets in a car, I lose his scent again. If we get a general idea of where he lives, I’ll be able to keep circling the area until I pick up his scent.”

That made sense. But as it turned out, while a lot of people had seen wolves—this being Alaska, after all—none of them could remember seeing one they thought was exceptionally large.

“What now?” Eliza asked as they got back in the Jeep. It was already late afternoon and they had been to every house in the area.

Hunter put the key in the ignition and started the SUV. “Now we go back to my place and get something to eat,” he said. “Then once it’s dark, I’ll come back, change, and try to track him down that way. It’s a long shot, but it’s all I can think to do.”

Eliza bit her lip. She’d been afraid he was going to say something like that. While she knew it might be the only way to stop the other werewolf from killing, she didn’t like the idea of Hunter going after him. She didn’t say anything, though.

Once they got back to the house, however, she couldn’t hold her tongue any longer. “Hunter, I don’t think you should go after this other werewolf,” she said when they had walked into the kitchen. “It’s too dangerous.”

Hunter reached out to brush her hair back from her face. “I can handle myself in a fight with him.”

She nodded. “I know you can, but everyone is going to be on the lookout for a big wolf, which means that someone could take a shot at you again.”

He gave her a reassuring smile. “I’ll be careful. I promise.”

Eliza wished she could think of something to say that would change his mind, but she had the feeling it would probably do no good anyway. He was determined to stop this other werewolf, and she supposed she couldn’t really blame him. But the thought of Hunter risking himself still upset her.

Hunter bent his head to kiss her gently on the mouth. “It won’t be dark for a couple of hours yet. Why don’t we relax in the hot tub before I leave?”

Eliza blinked in astonishment, her concern temporarily forgotten at the mention of the hot tub, which was on the back deck. “Are you crazy? It’s got to be thirty degrees outside. We’ll freeze to death!”

He chuckled. “You’ll only be cold until you get in the hot tub. And if you’re still freezing after that, I’m sure I can find a way to warm you up.”

She didn’t doubt that. He was very talented in that department. “I don’t have a swimsuit.”

“Me, either,” he said, waggling his eyebrows suggestively at her.

She couldn’t help but laugh. “But anyone could see!”

“Maybe. But this is Alaska, remember? There’s not another house around for miles.” He bent his head to kiss her again. “Now, why don’t you go grab us some towels from the upstairs linen closet while I get the hot tub going?”

Eliza couldn’t help but smile as she watched Hunter walk toward the back door. Despite the fact that it was frigidly cold outside, she couldn’t deny that the idea of getting naked with him in the hot tub already had her body heat rising. Who knew? If she kept him in there long enough, he might just drop the whole idea of going out looking for that other werewolf.

With that thought in mind, Eliza hurried upstairs to grab some towels. By the time she came back down and went out onto the back deck, the hot tub was steaming and Hunter had already stripped off his clothes and was waiting for her inside it. He was leaning back against the side, his arms outstretched on either side of him, his chest broad and muscular above the bubbling water.

He gave her a lazy grin. “Aren’t you going to join me?”

Eliza’s pulse quickened at the idea of undressing in front of him. She’d never done anything so bold with a man before, but the idea of doing a little striptease for Hunter was more than a little arousing, and she felt her pussy begin to tingle a little as she set the towels down on the edge of the hot tub.

Of course, the show she put on for him probably would have been a lot sexier if she didn’t have gooseflesh. Hunter didn’t seem to even notice, however, and as his hungry gaze unabashedly swept over her body as she slowly stripped off her clothes, she almost forgot all about them herself—until a cold breeze struck her completely naked body. That sent her leaping for the warmth of the hot tub in a most unsexy fashion. As she splashed into the steaming water, Hunter let out a deep, throaty chuckle that made her blush with embarrassment.