Hunter, Hunted: Claimed by the Enemy (Werewolf Erotic Romance) (5 page)

She walked around the crumbled walls, trailing her fingers in fascination over the mossy surface. The stones were grey and oddly uniform, rectangular in shape. It must have taken an eternity to carve them this way. She was amazed to find shattered glass – an impractical material rarely used - on the ground among the leaf litter, and narrowly avoided cutting a bare foot.

“What is this place?” She asked.

Lucas was watching her from where he sat on a ruined step. He shrugged. “Who knows? There are many such places out in the wild.”

“They must be hundreds of years old.” She breathed, fascinated.

“Or thousands.”

Her hands brushed over something and she paused. There was something smooth and cold attached to the wall, under all the moss and layers of dirt. She licked a finger and scrubbed at it.

It appeared to be a flat sheet of metal, partly rusted, but she could make out some words written on the un-corrupted half. “...no par-king.” She sounded. Addy could read, but the words didn’t make sense. She frowned, looking up at the werewolf, who watched her curiously. “What is ‘parking’?”

Lucas didn’t know either.

They found some wild raspberries. Adrianna ate them straight from the bush, suddenly realizing how empty her belly felt. Lucas watched her as though amused, refusing to take any of the fruit for himself.

“I will hunt.” He said, sniffing the breeze. “Will you stay right here? It is safe – I sense nothing around except you, me, and some animals.”

Adrianna nodded, licking juice from her pink-stained fingers. Her desire to flee had wilted since hearing the banshee screech and the wolves howling in the night. Despite herself, she was glad of his protection, and felt safe with him around.

“I will be close. If you need me, just call.” He told her. He turned around, and effortlessly changed form.

When she had seen him fighting with the other beast, the two had looked different – as though half-shifted. They had all the bulk and height of men, but hunched, muscles bulging and hair sprouting from their skin. At the time, she’d thought it grotesque. Monstrous.

Now Lucas took the form of a huge, shaggy black wolf. The transition looked as natural to him as breathing, and took only seconds. His leather garment was left on the ground.

He looked back at her. His head came almost up to her shoulders – far, far larger than a natural wolf. He had the same amber eyes, and stared at her with the same human intelligence. His ears twitched and tilted, picking up the sounds of the forest.

It... he... was majestic. Adrianna couldn’t help but feel somehow privileged to witness such a sight, one that surely few humans had seen. Well, except maybe for the hunters, aiming their silver-tipped arrows. Her stomach clenched at the reminder and she looked away from him. How many had
her
arrows killed in the hands of those hunters?

The wolf gave a huff and loped off into the trees, his nose to the ground.

After she had picked all the berries she could find, she foraged a little more, circling around the outside of the ruin and scuffing in the dirt and grass until she found some of the small potato plants that grew in abundance in the forest near her home.

She dug in the soil with her hands, feeling around the base of the leaves until her fingers found the small globes hidden under the dirt. She smiled to herself, happy her woodcraft had paid off.

By the time Lucas returned she had a small pile of the potatoes, some green herbs and a stack of kindling. She sat at the top of the ruined steps that led to nowhere, her prizes stacked at her feet.

The sight of the huge wolf appearing out of nowhere made her jump, startled, before she recognized him. In his huge jaws he held the limp bodies of two rabbits.

The rabbits were bigger than any she had seen before. Perhaps everything this deep in the forest grew larger, she thought, looking at the wolf. She was taken with the desire to touch him - to run her hands through his fur and feel him move. But he unnerved her too. She held back, afraid.

He dropped his prey within the walls of the tower, and sat down for a moment. His ears twitched toward Addy as he looked at her.

“I found potatoes.” She said lamely.

The next moment, he was shifting. In a few seconds he was Lucas again, crouched naked on the ground.

The two of them skinned and dressed the rabbits in silence. They had to start the fire the hard way, but Lucas was obviously practiced at it and it didn’t take long. Before long the meat was roasting, the potatoes cooking in the coals.

They ate. Lucas ripped one of the rabbits apart with his hands, devouring the entire thing. He left a small pile of bones on the ground. Adrianna wondered if he even usually cooked his meat. Probably not. He wouldn’t touch the potatoes.

“Lucas,” she said, picking at her meat as she watched him eat.

“Hmm?” He mumbled, cracking a bone with his teeth. He looked like a wild man, the way he tore into his food and chewed on the bones.

“Were you ever human?”

His amber eyes regarded her solemnly. He finished his mouthful. “Me? No. I was born into the pack.”

Despite everything she’d been taught by her family, she wasn’t entirely surprised. Nothing about the way Lucas moved – or the way he ate - looked human. “Werewolves don’t... turn people then?” Was it another piece of misinformation?

“They do.” He answered. “Sometimes.”

“Oh.” For some reason, she was disheartened by that. Maybe she wanted to believe he wasn’t a monster.

B
y the time they finished eating, the sun was going down, and it was getting cold. Adrianna had only her torn chemise and dirty skirts, and her cloak to wrap around her shoulders.

She sat sullenly on the top of the stone steps, rubbing warmth into her arms and watching the werewolf. Lucas was staring at the sky as the sun set, as though waiting anxiously for something.

“What is it?” She finally asked.

“The moon is rising.”

As though on cue, there came the howling of wolves. First one, then many. Lucas smiled, a feral grin that showed sharp teeth. He looked at Adrianna, the wind blowing in his long hair. He held out a hand. There was a gleam of excitement in his eyes. “Come.”

A shiver went through her as she reluctantly got to her feet. “Where?”

“We run with the moon.”

She took his hand, and he guided her courteously down the stairs, as though she was some Lady in an old tale. She stood looking up at him, not knowing what to expect.

His hand lingered on hers for a long moment. Finally he let go. In the next instant he changed, and she was standing next to his big black wolf form.

It was disconcerting being so close to him. She took a small unconscious step back.

He turned his great shaggy head to look at her, and stepped closer.

Hesitantly, drawn by curiosity and that strange compulsion to touch him, she put out her hand, and Lucas walked beneath it. Her fingers closed on his long fur. It was soft, with a thick undercoat and wiry guard hairs. She let out a wondering sigh, and buried her hands in it.

He nudged her, his warm body up against hers, and she suddenly knew what he wanted her to do.

“Are you sure?” She asked. He put his head down and nuzzled at her leg.

It wasn’t like mounting a horse. The wolf moved more smoothly, made of wiry muscle. Adrianna gripped the thick mane-like fur around his neck and climbed up onto his back. Her weight didn’t seem to faze him at all.

She let out a short laugh. This was crazy.
She
was crazy. But he kept still as she settled onto his back, one ear tilted back toward her, one eye watching.

Her heart was racing with nerves, but she found that once she was seated properly, it was comfortable. She gripped him firmly with her strong thighs, well used to riding.

This felt different though. When he moved, she swayed, gasped and bent forward, clutching his fur. She wrapped her arms tightly around his neck, feeling as though she would fall at any moment.

Lucas didn’t give her an opportunity to adjust. He set off at an easy lope, then quickly into a full gallop.

There was none of the jolting she sometimes felt with a horse. The werewolf flew through the forest as though his feet never touched the ground.

He moved in a sinuous, easy motion. His mouth was open and he was breathing heavily, panting in time with his stride, but he seemed tireless. He wove in and out of trees, jumped over branches and fallen logs. He seemed to anticipate every rise, every obstacle in the landscape.

After a while, Adrianna loosened her hold and began to look around. Her fright gradually gave way to a sense of freedom.

Never had she run so fast – not even on horseback. The wind whipped in her hair and her skirts, the scenery slipped past in a blur. She had never been able to experience this flight through nature, never run freely through the deep forest.

It was beautiful. With the moon shining through the canopy, the trees seemed to sparkle. And there were flowers and fruits here – foliage she had never seen before, that didn’t grow in the parts of forest near her home.

Addy sat up straighter as she grew used to the wolf’s stride. Her hands tangled in his shaggy fur. There was a sense of giddy joy emanating from him as he ran. She felt it as though it were her own emotion.

She felt as though the moon pulled her own blood, affecting her as it was rumoured to affect the tides of the ocean. She thought now that she understood what Lucas meant, at least a little. She laughed into the wind.

She became aware of a presence running along beside them. Looking off to the right, she saw flashes of something light moving between the trees, keeping pace. They went over a rise, and the creature broke from the brush for a moment. Another wolf, silvery-grey, almost as large as Lucas.

Adrianna gasped, and held onto him more tightly, hugging his neck. “Lucas!” She raised her voice to be heard. But he only kept running.

So did the wolf beside them, following along, weaving in and out of the trees and bushes. And she wasn’t afraid because she
knew
that it was no threat. For a few minutes she saw flashes of its fur as it ran. Then, it broke off and disappeared into the woods.

It might have been an hour later, when Lucas suddenly swerved, changing direction. He slowed, and they came on a clearing and a large pond, almost a lake. He stopped, panting and pawing at the ground.

Adrianna got down. Her legs felt stiff and shaky when she took a few tentative steps. As Lucas drank from the water, she stretched and rubbed feeling back into her thighs. She was out of breath, and her heart still pounded with excitement and the same exuberance she had experienced during the ride.

Lucas was leg-deep in the water. He changed to his human form, and waded quickly in, naked. Adrianna couldn’t stop herself from staring at the way the muscles of his back moved, and the way his body glistened when he ducked under the water and rose up wet. He turned, looked at her and laughed.

She grinned, and acting on a sudden impulse, untied her cloak and let it fall to the ground. She quickly pulled her chemise over her head and shed that too. She stepped out of her skirts as she waded into the water.

It was cold and exhilarating. Addy gasped, her skin immediately breaking out in goose-bumps. She laughed as she took huge steps, her feet sinking into the soft sand on the bottom, and finally fell over with a splash. She laughed again as she came up, teeth chattering.

Lucas took her in his arms. His hair dripped and rivulets of water ran down his face. He felt warm to the touch, even in the chill water. 

When he touched her, that strange feeling came back. His emotions, his thoughts were radiating from his body and pulsing in his blood. She felt what he felt.

It was like being intoxicated but without the dulling of the senses and wits. Energy thrummed in them both. She was hungry and restless. She could have ran all night. Ran, and hunted.

“You feel it now.” he said, a statement not a question.

Her eyes snapped to his. She felt his desire, his need. And something more, which felt like genuine love - despite the fact that he barely knew her at all. She was speechless. Was this what he meant when he talked about being fated? Was this the way he saw her?

Caught up in the moment, she kissed him. At first he seemed surprised, but he quickly responded, fiercely seeking her tongue with his as she wrapped her arms around his neck. He lifted her up to his height and crushed her close, her feet coming up off the lake bottom.

She felt his arousal, his heart beating fast and his manhood hard against her hip. She wrapped her legs around him, giving in to her desire.

He shifted her, and entered her, and took her with ferocity. Their senses entwined, it was more intense than the first time. Lucas sucked hard on her breasts, grazing her nipples with his teeth. He bit her neck, and made little claw marks on her hips.

Once, twice, then three times she shuddered in pleasure. She sensed the way he was restraining himself, making a conscious effort to keep his human form. When finally he came, releasing his seed inside her, he howled.

.

He took her several more times in the night, driven by the instincts heightened by the full moon. In between frantic matings, they slept an exhausted sleep.

Adrianna woke and sat up, the cloak falling from her naked body. She raised her arms in a stretch, and realized how stiff and sore she was. She grunted, and looked down, realizing she was covered in small bruises and scratches. It felt like she was waking up with a hangover. Memory of the night was hazy.

Lucas slept beside her, curled on his side. Adrianna smiled as she looked at him. The bond she had felt was weaker now, but there was a lingering affection. Was it real or some enchantment?

She reached down and brushed a strand of his hair away from his face. He woke up at her touch, instantly alert. When he saw her he smiled lazily, and rolled on his back and stretched, naked without self-consciousness.

They foraged for edible fruit. “We are almost home.” He told her.