As Love Shifts (24 page)

“Enough!” His voice was a deep, sexual rumble and Ever was dying to open her eyes. She backed up her head and stood up, keeping her promise until he touched her cheek. “You can look now. Don’t be frightened please, it is still me inside.”

Frightened? What exactly had he changed into? Her curiosity was suddenly stanched by hesitation. Had he turned into a hideous beast? Ever slowly opened her eyes. Her bottom lip dropped as she stared directly into his brilliant, glowing, pumpkin-orange eyes. He took her hands, gently stroking her fingers. “My eyes are shocking, aren’t they?”

“They are beautiful, but a bit creepy. Do they always glow or is it just the moonlight?”

“They glow.”

Ever smiled. “I love your voice, it is so sensual and husky. It makes you sound big and bad.”

“Back up a bit and look at me. I am big and bad.”

She stepped back until her ass brushed against the prickly pine branch and looked at him more completely. Her slim elf was gone, replaced by a man that looked more like a titan god. He was bulging with muscles, his legs and arms rippled with layers of mass. His chest was massive, his waist slightly thinner to give him a really tapered appearance. He reminded her of Thor from the movie, who probably wasn’t a titan, but a Norse god. Hell, did it really matter? He was even hotter than before. She couldn’t keep the smile from her face.

“I take it you like?”

“I thought that you were amazing before. Now you’re even more so.”

“I’m glad you approve. My problem is what will happen when I change in front of the others. It’s not like I can stop it or even turn back until my dick gets soft or my anger fades. I have no control over this, it just happens.”

“Oh. I presume that you dislike it?”

“I don’t know. It gives me more strength when I am angry, and Mother says it makes me more sexually desirable. I want to be desirable for what I am, not what I become.”

“I like you either way. Like I said, I have always thought that you were amazing to look at. Even when I knew it was wrong to want you, I did.”

His serious grimace faded slightly. “You did?”

“I’m standing outside, in the cool breeze, stark naked before you and you ask me if desire you? Why don’t you shut the fuck up and fuck me?”

That got him to smile and he motioned to her with his very muscular finger. Ever sauntered up to him, looking up at him as she ran her palms up his chest. His body was like putting her hands to a mannequin. He was hard under soft skin, just like his cock had been in her mouth. She stood on tippie toe and draped her arms over his shoulders, locking her hands around his neck. Without any help from him, she lifted herself and wrapped her legs around his waist.

His smile was ethereal, his orange eyes taking on more red as they shone brightly. His face was also more muscled, but in all honesty, she liked it better when it was thinner. It gave him a softer look that fit his personality better.

“Now what are you going to do?” asked Chirrot in a challenging tone.

She shifted her lower body and released him with one hand, reaching down behind her body. She could feel his cock hard against the crease of her ass and she moved her hips outward, trying to balance as she reached down to shift his dick upward. “I could use a bit of help here.”

“I wanted to see if you could do it yourself. I have been told that my dick loses some of the normal flexibility and it is far easier if I’m lying down.”

“I have no problem with the position. I just need to get my pussy in a better place because the shaft is straighter than usual. I’m very flexible.”

He lifted her ass, giving her the space she needed to arch her back and slide over his cock. She gasped, the enlarged muscle breaching her already throbbing cunt in a way that took her breath away. It was incredibly hard and seemed to ripple inside her without him having to thrust his hips.

“Oh shit. Are you doing that?”

“No. I don’t have to pump my dick. It is filled with muscles that move on their own like a snake.”

“I’m surprised that I didn’t feel it in my mouth.”

“It doesn’t happen that way. It is only in the tight, wet confines of a woman’s pussy. Does it feel good?”

“That was an understatement. It feels spectacular.” He held her ass, shifting back slightly and then refilling her with the odd sensation. It was like an inner caress, rolling over her inner pussy to push and shift against the muscles. It was completely intoxicating as he began to withdraw again, his hands digging into her ass cheeks to hold her firm. Ever’s hips wanted to buck against him, drive him onward as she soared upward into a higher state of arousal. Cropped whimpers were slipping up her throat as she stared into his beautiful eyes that were slowly becoming darker with red color. “Are you sure that you’re not a devil in disguise?”

“I promise that I’m not a devil and I’m not evil, despite my eyes. They just get redder as I get closer to climax.”

The sexual darkness in his voice touched her ears like a song. She wanted to taste him again and see if he was still sweet like fruit. Pulling herself upward, she leaned to his lips, kissing him softly as his wood-hard dick slid back tightly into her pussy. A moan billowed around their joined lips as his tongue swept over hers. He was cinnamon and sweet spices, savory unlike the tangy sweetness of earlier fruits. Ever liked it as she greedily returned his embrace.

He slid his cock slowly out again, and then pushed it back in, slightly harder than before. It was creeping faster, like a scared millipede racing for its life within her. The kiss ended, her hips slamming into him as he leaned his head back and released a dark, husky growl that echoed in the darkness. Ever screamed, unable to help herself as she shivered in the sweet desperation of a climax so dramatic the air was crushed from her lungs by the spasms in her cunt. She clung to Chirrot, her head lulling back on her shoulders as his eyes slowly returned to green, his body thinning against her inner thighs.

Lowering her feet to the ground, he pulled her into his chest, hugging her tightly. “Are you okay?”

“I’m spectacular. Why?”

“I have been known to cause pain. That’s why I move so slowly.”

“No pain. It felt really good, almost too good. Has it always done that crawling thing?”

“Yes.”

“I think it feels more like a millipede than a snake.”

She heard the sound of feet slapping in the soft soil and turned her head. Kris, Liam, and Demetri ran up to them, their slightly sleepy faces tinged with concern.

“What the hell happened?” asked Kris. “Why did you scream?”

“Uhm,” replied Chirrot. “Have you ever heard of a changeling shifter?”

“No.”

“Let’s go inside and I’ll try to explain. You will find out sooner or later anyway.”

Ever was tired of growing things. She had grown trees, fish, and even a pair of chickens that had been found wandering around while the men were fishing. She had prompted the now twenty-pound chickens to lay eggs and then had grown the eggs to create more chickens. The original two were now roasting on a huge fire in a pit with the half dozen ten-pound trout. It was speculated that she could probably do the same thing with the vegetables, taking them from seed to food and then back to seed in the matter of a day, but the weather was turning colder and she didn’t try.

Liam and Demetri had watched the children and helped gather wood as Chirrot taught Kris how to lay the stonework for the fireplace. They were using the clay-like compound for grout that Chirrot got after flying down to the reservoir earlier. He said that after it was fired, it would be as hard as the bricks and would hold up well for years of fires and cooking embers.

Collecting wood was certainly no problem, although it was still kind of wet to use. A crew had collected and cut a lot of trees and stacked them under some plastic tarps that had been down in storage. As the day passed, they had shared a feast that was served outside by the roasting pits. Kris sat beside her, picking at his chicken. He was watching Chirrot play the age-old game of tag with the children. “He is really something, isn’t he?”

Ever snuggled up to his side. “I guess. What was it like working with him?”

“He is infuriatingly knowledgeable and equally as patient. I wanted him to get mad and yell, just once so I would know that he isn’t a saint.”

His words made her giggle. “From what he told me, getting him mad isn’t a good thing.”

“Why is that?”

“Because he changes when he gets mad. How mad, I don’t know.”

“What is that like?”

“Your eyes turn a shade of gold, his turn orange and get redder. They also glow like he’s possessed. It is slightly creepy.”

“That’s all that happens?”

“No. He also becomes ridiculously muscled and his dick gets super hard.” She had no intention of telling him about the centipede thing. It wasn’t something that a normal man could do and she was already getting the impression that Kris was jealous of Chirrot again. “Why did you choose to take me from behind last night?”

“I don’t know. Was there something wrong with it?”

“No. It felt wonderful, but I was worried that it was because of your eye.”

He hugged her tighter, his palm wafting up and down her spine. “Am I that transparent?”

“No. I just know you well. I know your eye bothers you, but it honestly doesn’t bother me. I think the small scar is sexy and I look into your remaining eye for the emotion that I love to see there.”

“Sexy, huh? Sexy like Chirrot when he changes?”

“There is no comparison between you. I love you, I trust you in a way that it will take many years for me to feel about him. I don’t compare the traits of my men. I simply enjoy their likenesses and differences. I would have to be a very shallow woman to love you only for your eyes.”

That brought a dim smile to his face. “I guess you would. I guess that I’m a shallow man for being so vain and worrying about it.”

“Maybe a little. Stop comparing yourself to Chirrot. If you want the honest truth, I think it bothers him when he changes because he has no control over it. It’s something that happens and he can’t change it, just like your eye.”

His smile brightened as he kissed her on the forehead. “I guess I should give him a break, huh? I’m the asshole who invited him to join us in the first place. Now I’m being stupid and regretting it.”

She rolled her eyes at him, smirking dramatically. “It’s not like I can ask him for a divorce.”

“No, you can’t. Weres don’t get divorced.”

“I thought that Snow was divorced.”

“No. Her husband took the children and left her, but they were still bonded to one another for eternity.”

Ever yawned, she was so tired. “Can I go to bed?”

“That’s a silly question. Of course you can. You were up late last night and then got up first thing this morning with the children. You’re entitled to be tired.” He whistled and the four children stopped what they were doing and raced over to them. Ever was stunned. “I taught them that a whistle means that we have something important to tell them.”

“Oh.”

Avia slid into her mother’s lap. “What’s wrong, Mommy?”

“Nothing’s wrong, sweetie. I just wanted to say goodnight. Mommy is really tired and she is going to bed.”

“That’s cause you were up late with Chirrot out in the woods. He was telling you the truth. The spell wasn’t evil. It just made you both stronger.”

This was one vision that Avia should have kept to herself. Ever hadn’t mentioned the spell to the others and Kris gave her a quizzical look. “Spell?”

“Yeah. Ask me in the morning and I will explain.”

“I’m asking you now.”

“Then come tuck me into bed, please.”

She didn’t want Avia to know that she had just gotten her mother in trouble and she gave each one of the children a hug and kiss. “I will see you four in the morning, okay?”

“Can we go back and play now?” asked Lash.

“For a little while. Then you also need to get some sleep.”

Lash nodded and raced back across the space to Chirrot. Chirrot gave her a shrug and she made the gesture of going to sleep with her hands against the side of her face. Chirrot and Demetri both nodded and blew her a kiss. Ever wasn’t sure where Liam was, but he would get the message from the others. Kris grabbed her hand and tugged her to her feet, leading her into the house. He walked her directly into the bedroom and shut the door before glaring at her. “What spell?”

“I didn’t think to mention it. It wasn’t all that important. Chirrot just wanted to speak his words of shifter custom to me. I thought it sounded like a spell, but it seemed harmless.”

“Do you remember this spell?”

“Not word for word. The gist of it was that we were both creatures of nature and that we would be stronger if we were together. I made sure that it didn’t influence what the rest of us have together and he promised me that it wouldn’t. Please don’t be mad at me. I just didn’t think to mention it.”

“I’m not mad at you.”

“No, you’re mad at Chirrot. I don’t want the two of you fighting for the rest of our lives. Please, let it go, Kris. He is not your competition. He is your friend or will be if you allow it. You are my alpha and I will always love you more than anyone else.” She implored him with her eyes, taking his hands and kissing his knuckles. “I love you. Do you hear me?”

“Of course I do. I love you, too. I think that is the problem. I love you so much and the thought of losing you to Chirrot is driving me insane. He is just so damn charismatic.”

“Yes, and so are you. This shouldn’t be a competition. I want us to be a family and jealousy will drive a spike through the center of it. Liam will take your side and then Demetri will be forced to choose. Me and the children will be in the middle and I don’t want that. If I had known that Chirrot would create rifts in our relationship, I would have said no to him.”

He sighed, the sound coming out weary. “I know. I’m sorry. I will try harder to curb my feelings and try to be friends with Chirrot. I guess I’m still feeling a bit lacking and last night’s sex didn’t help anything. Since when does it happen so quickly?”