Once Upon a Shifter (93 page)

She kneeled next to him and started carefully unbuttoning his shirt. As Aunt Cynthia often said, there wasn't a better cure than sound sleep, so she had to fight herself in wanting to wake him up and look into his eyes, hear his voice.

Then she suddenly gasped. It wasn't possible. The skin on his muscular chest was so warm, Keyla thought he might be burning up, but he didn't look feverish. Yet, what shocked her was that beneath the dirty, torn shirt his skin was smooth and... perfect. There weren't any cuts or wounds, no bite marks or bruises. She looked up at his face and saw that the long bloody line on his neck was no more than a trace of faint pink. She rubbed her eyes. What was going on? Nothing was normal today. Perhaps she'd had a bit too much on her plate lately and she was losing her mind. She was more than certain she'd seen at least a couple of spots he was badly injured on his chest and arms. What remained was simply dirt. Even the dried blood was gone.

Keyla took a deep breath. At least he was here. In her home. At least she hadn't imagined that. She was now scared to leave the room again in case he evaporated in the same way his wounds had. She dipped a cotton pad in a jar of cleansing cream her aunt had concocted and swiped it over Troy's forehead. He shifted in his sleep and she immediately withdrew, but he didn't seem to wake, so she went to work again and in a matter of minutes his face was as clean and bright as she remembered it from their school days. She moved over to his chest, carefully slipping the shirt off his arms. There was something extremely sensual in her wiping his sleek muscles as he lay, sleeping and vulnerable, before her. She felt a familiar heat spread from her cheeks down to her breasts and stomach. After all, she didn't get to touch a male body on a daily basis. And definitely not the body of the man who could make her weak with just one smile, just one look.

When she finally reached down to his belt, she stopped and looked around as if she was a criminal caught in the act. She quickly stood up and went over to the door to listen for any sounds of her aunt waking. The house slept as soundly as did Troy and, thankfully, Cynthia. Keyla left the door cracked open, so she could hear if anything stirred upstairs and returned to Troy. At the sight of his belt, she hesitated again. Her heart thumped in her chest and the rising excitement she felt was partially mixed with guilt. She felt as if she was invading his privacy, taking advantage of him in his sleep.

Oh, come on, Keyla, she thought. He is leaving in a few hours. He said Corin is gone. There was no time for squeamishness. She reached over and pulled on the leather strap, but it was lodged too tightly into the buckle and she couldn't free it without risking waking him.

All of a sudden she jumped and almost cried out as a strong hand gripped her wrist. She found herself looking into the deep blue pools of Troy's eyes and she shuddered at his touch. He propped himself up on his elbows and he seemed like a completely different man from the bloodied wreck that had showed up at her front door earlier. His blue eyes twinkled and he exuded the manly vigorousness she had always found so attractive about him. He wove his arm around her waist and scooped her up to his chest, pulling her so close to him, she could feel his heartbeat. The blood rushed to her head and she looked up at him, suddenly oblivious to all that had happened during this long, crazy day. The only thing that seemed to matter right now was that she could feel his warmth, the security of his embrace, his hot breath on the side of her face. Her self-consciousness from the morning was suddenly forgotten.

Keyla moistened her lips, which seemed to go dry so fast in the heat of the fire and the frenetic dance of the butterflies in her stomach. Not losing sight of his eyes for even a second, she saw that he had moved his glance over to her luscious mouth, and though it hurt to break his tantalizing gaze, she closed her eyes in anticipation. Troy had moved her over him and she felt light as a feather over his gigantic, steel body. When the first kiss finally landed on her lips, she shuddered and pressed herself even harder against him, wanting to get lost inside him, become one with him. She felt his tongue slide over her parted mouth and find its way inside. He started kissing her with a hunger and aggression that made her relinquish all of her control and instinctively grab his face in her hands, pushing her lips into his, until they hurt with the sweetest pain she had known.

Her entire body ached with the heightened sensitivity of a million spots that longed to be caressed and licked and kissed. When he finally rolled her over off his chest and onto her back, she was more than pliant in his strong arms. As he towered above her from the side, the flickering light of the fire outlined his perfect pecks and the etched lines of his muscular stomach. Keyla couldn't believe a man could be so handsome, so overwhelmingly disarming. Breaking their kiss, Troy moved over to her neck and traced it lightly with the tip of his tongue, eliciting a potent shiver of pleasure down Keyla's spine. The tiny hairs on the back of her neck stood up as he moved up to her ear and rolled his tongue around her earlobe.

"God, Keyla," he whispered and his breath right in her ear made her toes curl with craving, "you are so beautiful. I've missed you."

A few long hours back, those were the words she had thought she would never ever hear again and that's what had made the world seem so bleak and miserable. Hearing them now made her burn with a primal urge to submit to his hands, to his body, to do and give anything he would ask of her.

As if feeling her arousal, Troy pressed himself to her hips and she could feel, without a doubt, what effect she had on him. His hard erection poked at her soft flesh with the determination of a wild animal and it seemed that he couldn't slow himself down any longer. He wanted her.

Troy quickly peeled the shawl off her shoulders and in the heat of the moment Keyla even forgot to be embarrassed about the nightgown and the awkwardness of having to take it off. Only, with Troy nothing felt awkward or embarrassing and, snatching the frilly neckline between his fingers, he tore the flimsy fabric, ripping it off her chest.

In a moment, Keyla’s heavy, swollen young breasts spilled out, her puffy pink nipples immediately rising stiff under Troy’s magnetic eyes that seemed to drink the sight of her naked body in with an almost feverish excitement. Within the same breath, his large, rough hands were over her breasts, cupping them from underneath, giving each a small squeeze that sent an electric jolt down her body, her groin twitching intensely in response. She felt his lips closing over one of the oversensitive nipples, his hand guiding it into his mouth, and she almost jumped with the warm feeling that flooded her limbs and spread throughout her. The tingling between her legs was becoming more and more powerful. He slowly twirled his tongue around the stiff nipple and each time she heaved a little from underneath him, unable to contain herself. He moved over to the other breast, closing his huge hand over the first one and gently massaging it, rubbing the nipple with his rough palm until Keyla started fighting the heavy moan that was building up inside her. She needed to keep quiet as the door was open, yet the pleasure that warmed her was too good to resist, so she left herself in his arms.

In what seemed like forever, during which she thought she would burst if she didn’t tame the burning quiver in her panties, he lowered himself over her and with his mouth still lightly sucking on her breast, he pressed his rigid cock against her skirts, pinning her at the exact sport where she ached and yearned the most. He reached back to grab the hem of her nightgown and pulled the bunched up lace and cotton up past her knees until his hand dug comfortably underneath and was free to stroke the tender skin of her thighs.

Keyla didn’t realize how she started jerking her pelvis up to press harder against his throbbing erection, slightly parting her legs under him to ease his access. Troy grabbed her buttock, pushing past her underwear and squeezed it roughly, eliciting a moan from Keyla’s sensual lips that had now grown fuller and redder. Her cautiousness had evaporated. She had somehow stopped caring. She knew it was not right to do this with her aunt being only a few closed doors away from catching her in the act, but every fiber of her body resisted her will to fight. What she wanted was more of his hands, more of his probing fingers, more of his lips licking and sucking her nipples.

She finally opened her eyes and what she saw was breathtaking. She had never seen Troy’s (or anyone’s) erected cock in her life and what she saw, sliding in and out of sight among the folds of her nightdress, was bigger and thicker than what she thought possible. She felt weak and wanting, her desire threatening to overflow. Troy lifted himself up a bit and threw her skirts back over her stomach, revealing her soaked through panties. He slipped a hand past her waistline and down her moist, engorged with blood, pulsing pussy. She arched her back at the first touch of a man’s hand on her most private spot. She couldn’t believe it felt so good and it was clear to her now why everyone seemed to be preoccupied with it, how lust could come over you, numbing every rational thought with the only purpose of making it last longer, reach some unknown culmination.

He rubbed her soft, innocent pussy, each movement making her moan louder and louder, the heat spreading through her and growing stronger. She saw he had taken his frighteningly huge cock in his hand and was slowly stroking it between his fingers. Just the sight of the thick shaft, the slick tip and the enormous length of it made her squirm with desire. Her eyes begged him to take her. She didn’t understand why he was holding back. Why wasn’t he thrusting this pulsating beast inside her, why wasn’t he mounting her like an animal, ripping her apart and quenching the burning itch that consumed her?

She forgot all about it as he pressed his cock where his hand had been just a few moments ago and started to violently rub himself against her clit and sensitive lips. She thought she was going crazy, about to explode as something unfamiliar, a forceful sensation started building inside her with his every stroke.

Her eyes suddenly flew back, her entire body tensed up and something erupted inside her, a powerful earthquake that made her entire body convulse with violent waves of pleasure washing over her that brought tears of ecstasy into her eyes. She screamed, despite herself, the sound of her first orgasm echoing in the quietness of the woods.

Troy took his cock, which was now even harder if that were even possible and shoved it between her swollen breasts, pushing them roughly together with his hands. He started moving back and forth, sliding his cock in and out of sight between the supple mounds. Keyla, suddenly hungry to taste it, to have it invade her mouth parted her lips, her legs still trembling, exposed in the soft light of the fireplace. The next time his rock-hard cock came towards her, she sunk forward and took it in her mouth.

Troy groaned with pleasure, a primal sound that made her shiver all over. She started licking his cock timidly at first, growing more and more voracious with each past moment. Not knowing where she got the audacity or knowledge of how to give him pleasure, she started sucking his stiff erection, slurping and licking its length, feeling it throb against her tongue and throat. He suddenly let go of her breasts and took her head, thrusting it forward, his cock digging in her mouth until she almost chocked, his body went rigid and he lunged forward one last time, prodding her with the monstrous rod, growling like a beast, a thick warm stream shooting inside her mouth in violent spurts. She almost gagged and he took it out of her mouth, spilling the hot liquid down her chin and over her exposed breasts.

Chapter 9

Troy

When Troy opened his eyes, it took him a while to figure out where he was. Then, he gradually became aware of Keyla's soft, chestnut hair spilled over his bare chest, the warmth of her cheek over the spot where his heart thumped the loudest and her quiet, even breath, making her body heave almost in unison with his own. A smile stretched his lips when he remembered what had happened the previous night, but he was forced to sober up as soon as the scenes from the ruined wedding flooded his head. It had been frightening, heartbreaking to see his family chased around, bitten, wounded. He had at least managed to sneak Keyla back into her car and placing some herbs under her nose for her to sniff and regain her alertness, he had thrown himself back into the camp to try to salvage what was left of his clan. He was grateful that he had had the chance to save Keyla, but it was time to feel the crashing guilt over letting his brothers and mother disappear into the woods, outnumbered and vulnerable, hunted after and left to fend for themselves. He could only hope that Chase and Matt had managed to take care of Shona and his mother, for when he had been able to next take a breath amid the wrecked benches, the ceremonial arch, the celebration table and the spilled food and drinks, he had been alone.

He couldn't stay now. Though his entire self ached at the thought of being separated from Keyla for even a moment, he knew he had an obligation that was bound by blood. He needed to find them, make sure his family was alive and slowly, in as many years as it might take, start to rebuild the clan. The thought that his father had left him the task of protecting his people, of being a worthy leader to them and all he had done was send them into exile and perhaps even caused their death, broke his heart. At least his father was no longer alive to see the shame he had brought over the Shadow Bears. And all that right when everything was set out to finally work out in peace in this quaint, friendly town, with these warm, welcoming people he had grown to know and appreciate.

He looked down past Keyla's peaceful sleeping face and saw that his wounds had completely healed while he had rested and with a gentle move, he tried to ease Keyla off his chest and onto the folded blanket that served them both as a pillow for the night. She mumbled something as he laid her tenderly on the floor and bent down to kiss her forehead. At least, he had been able to contain himself the night before and she was still a virgin. He wouldn't want to bind her to him and his unfortunate fate. As much as it hurt him to admit it, he was forced to leave her behind. His mate. The woman his bear soul recognized as the only one in the world that could be his equal, his partner, the love of his life. He pulled the blanket to her neck, trying not to look at her beautiful breasts that only sparked more memories from last night when he had known true bliss. It was painful. He couldn't tear himself away, but planting another light kiss on her gorgeous, plump lips, he gathered his clothes and finally stood up.