Chapter Eight

Xavier

Experiencing the sight of Otsana coming apart, hearing her growl from deep in her throat was surreal. My dick ached with want, I'd never needed a woman so badly before.

I crawled up the bed far enough to open the drawer of my side table and grabbed a condom. There was no need for lube since Otsana was drenched and the condom was pre-lubed. Sitting back on my haunches, with one leg on each side of the glowing, post orgasmic, beautiful lady, I tore open the foil packet, removed the rubber, threw the foil to the floor, and rolled the condom down my length.

Sliding back, I lifted Otsana's arms above her head, grasped her hands in mine, and with my eyes burning into hers, I pushed inside with a single thrust.

Otsana's hips lifted in reaction, and she met me thrust for thrust, her eyes remaining open and locked on my face. She was tight, her muscles contracting around me like a vice. My dick demanded relief, but I took things slow, wanting to watch Otsana come apart for me once more.

She wriggled her hands free, wrapped her legs around my waist, and I felt her heels digging into the muscles of my back as she used them to pull herself closer and my dick deeper.

Her nails dragged at my back, and moments later, her entire body quivered, and I felt the warmth of her release as she came apart beneath me with another growl. She relaxed, I kissed along her jaw, and when she bit down on my shoulder, the sting of pain had my balls drawing up close to my body, and I swear to fuck the explosion of cum was dragged up from my toes.

I held her tight while my dick pulsed and I shot my load, hoping the condom was up to the task of containing it all. Regardless, at that point in time, I didn't give a fuck if cum went everywhere.

Finally spent, I rolled off Otsana, carefully pulling the very full condom free, tying it off, and placing it on the floor.

Rolling to my side, I met Otsana's gaze and spoke the words I never expected would leave my lips, "Stay the night." I was in trouble. Otsana was never going to be a one and done after what I'd just experienced.

"Is it what you want? You kind of blurted out the question as if you hadn't thought it through."

"It's what I want," I confirmed, running my fingertips over her soft cheek.

"Then, yes, I will stay."

I shimmied closer, taking her in my arms and sipping at her lips until my dick rose to the occasion and demanded seconds. It was going to be a long but satisfying night.

***

My eyes flashed open, something had caused me to wake. The room was dark, the sliver of light that peeked around my curtains was absent indicating daylight hadn't yet broken.

I snatched the cell phone from my side table, powered on the screen to check the time, and groaned on seeing it was 3.21 am. I'd been asleep for less than an hour after my sexual gymnastics with Otsana had left me exhausted.

Flopping back on the pillow, I reached for Otsana, patting the mattress and finding she was no longer in bed. Hearing a noise from downstairs and thinking she had gone down to the kitchen for a glass of water, I switched on the side table lamp and dragged myself from bed.

Crossing to my large chest of drawers, I pulled one open, and took out a pair of sweatpants that I pulled on. Clothes were strewn over the floor from the previous night, and I made a note to fold them when I came back upstairs.

I made my way down to the kitchen, and on hearing the soft click of the laundry door closing, I frowned. I wondered where the hell Otsana was going. Her clothes were on the floor of my bedroom with everything I'd worn to dinner, so unless she'd managed to find another of my shirts, the woman was stark naked.

In the laundry, I pulled on a pair of joggers I kept there and grabbed a previously worn t-shirt I'd thrown in the washing machine. Before leaving the house, I set the alarm, and didn't bother locking the door behind me.

Once outside, I checked the grounds, and although the light was dim, there was no sign of Otsana. I stood in the front yard, peering up and down the street and trying to figure out where the hell she had gone. Surely she wouldn't have walked home, more than a mile away, while she was naked. Maybe she was sleepwalking?

A flash of silver across the road, about fifty yards away in the trees bordering the park caught my eye and I set off jogging in the direction. When I came to where I'd seen the flash, I worked my way through the trees.

Surrounded by tall trees, the almost full moon barely visible and unable to penetrate the growth with its beams, I was barely able to see a hand in front of my face. I stayed still, listening, and wishing I'd had the presence of mind to grab the torch off a hook by the laundry door.

I remained still, hearing rustling from every direction as creatures of the night were now on the move, headed back to the safety of a burrow beneath ground or the hollow of a log where they would spend their daylight hours sleeping. Maybe it was one of those I'd seen on the move, but if that was the case, it still didn't answer the question of where Otsana could have gone. My instincts insisted she was somewhere in the park, but where…and why?

I set one hand on my hip and carded the fingers of the other through my hair while deciding on what my next move should be. Knowing the chance of me finding something in the inky blackness was low, and the chance of me becoming lost was extremely high, I headed back to the house. Following another check around the property, just in case I'd missed something, but finding nothing, I dropped into a chair in a darkened corner of the veranda.

Staring off into the distance, I noticed the horizon beginning to lighten, but it would be another hour or so before dawn broke which was usually when I made my way into the office. Today I would be late.

While waiting, my thoughts drifted to Otsana. The woman had turned my life on its head in less than a day and I knew stuff all about her.

A silvery flash emerging from the edge of the tree line drew my attention and I watched in fascination as a beautiful wolf slinked into the light, wary of everything in its vicinity.

The animal was black with wide streaks of silver, reminding me of Otsana's hair. A chill danced down my spine on making the comparison. The beast stood on its back legs, stretching to full height, and raised its arms toward the moon. I waited for it to howl like I'd seen in sci-fi movies, but the wolf stilled, seeming to pay homage to the sparkling disc overhead. I wondered how long the animal had been roaming the park and why I'd never seen it before.

What happened next had me scooting to the edge of my chair and not only questioning my eyesight, but also my sanity. I watched as the beast transformed from a stunning wolf/dog…whatever it was, into Otsana!

As the naked woman crossed the road, I stood. When she saw me, she stopped short, frozen in place. I looked over her naked body, the one I'd fully explored a few hours earlier, but realized now I knew nothing about, before walking toward where she stood.

"Xavier," she whispered.

"Come inside," I snapped.

I took Otsana by the hand a little roughly, and when she called out in pain and attempted to pull it away, I eased my grip and apologized.

In the laundry I tore off my t-shirt and pulled it over Otsana's head, covering her nakedness which was a major distraction, and we needed to have a serious conversation.

I tugged her through to the kitchen, where I flipped on the light, pulled out a chair, and asked her to sit. Although, the tone of my voice made it sound more like an order and I saw Otsana stiffen in defiance.

"I need to fetch my clothes and purse from upstairs. I'll walk home." Otsana started to the staircase, but I pulled her back, and pushed her down into a chair, admittedly a little roughly.

I felt like I'd entered an alternate universe and was not angry, but highly annoyed with Otsana's deception. We'd barely met but her almost unbelievable ability to shift into a wolf was something I should have been told.

I sat in a chair at the end of the table close to Otsana. "You're not leaving here until I get some answers." I pointed toward the front of the house. "What the fuck did I just see out there?"

Otsana dropped her head into both hands for a few moments and when she looked back up, her eyes were clear and defiant. Fuck, she was gorgeous.

"I've just signed the death warrant for my pack." Her voice was soft and had a tone of sadness.

"What? What the fuck are you talking about?"

"When you tell your friends about what you obviously saw, the authorities will come looking for me and they will round up all my close friends and family. When our blood is tested, they'll note the wolf gene in us and we'll be locked away to be studied as oddities. Once we are of no further use, we'll be exterminated so we are not a threat to society."

"Back up…Are you saying you have never had your blood tested so this gene you talk about has never been witnessed?"

"We are looked after at a hospital owned by our pack where staff are from various packs. Of course it is accessible to the public, but it is where we are protected from discovery…or were."

"How many are in your pack?"

"Around two hundred and at the moment the hierarchy are all young. There is only one, our Beta male, who is a few years older than me. Our oldest pack member is fifty-five."

"Where have the older members gone?"

"They usually retire when they reach their early sixties, and the pack goes through periods where everyone is relatively young."

"You mentioned there are other packs in the area?"

Otsana nodded. "About twenty-five in this area." She paused before continuing. "I thought you'd be on the phone to a friend in some government department by now and screaming at me for being a freak."

I placed a hand on Otsana's arm. "I was as annoyed as hell, maybe even angry that you'd deceived my by not saying something, but now I'm beginning to understand your fears. I give you my word, no one, and I mean no one, including Cillian will hear about your secret from me. I would never put you in danger, but sweetheart, you need to be much more careful about where you…what is it called when you turn into a wolf, or from one?"

"Shifting."

"Yes, you need to be more careful because anyone could have seen you."

"I know. It was a stupid thing to do and is something I've never done before. I was thinking about you, and it wasn't until I shifted back to human form that I realized where I was and what I'd done. When I saw you, I knew I needed to warn the pack immediately. That's why I wanted to go home."

"There's no need for that, I promise you're safe. Do you mind if I ask some questions?"

Otsana shrugged. "Go ahead, you know my biggest secret so what could it hurt?"

"Do people like you usually have sex or relationships with people like me?"

"We are known as hybrids, two in ones, I suppose you'd call us, and no one…oh, wait…there is one who has had sexual encounters with humans, but never the same one twice, and they don't know who she really is."

She…I suspected Otsana was speaking of Zarina, but I wouldn't ask her to confirm my suspicion.

"What about other packs, do their members have relationships with humans?"

"Yes, some are married to humans or have them as partners. It's frowned upon in our pack and over the generations, the elders have always been adamant we do not become intimate with those who aren't our kind. I think some of our younger members are beginning to resist the directive. I only hope they are careful."

"Does it have to be a full moon or near full moon for you to shift?"

Otsana laughed and I was relieved she appeared to trust me enough to relax. "You've watched too many sci-fi movies. Although a full, or close to full moon brings about a quicker shift, we are able to do so at will."

"What about children, do you birth pups?"

Otsana laughed again and shook her head. "No, we have human babies who learn how to shift when they are older. While they are young, the adults are careful not to change in their sight because they can't be trusted not to say something. At around eleven years old, they begin puberty, and that's when they develop the ability to shift. They undergo extensive education during this time so they fully understand how they are different and the dangers of being discovered."

"Have you been with a human before?"

"No, you're my first."

"Was Nick a wolf?"

"Yes and the woman he betrayed me with was a she-wolf from another pack who I'd considered a friend. I still laugh at how they struggled to get apart when I walked in on them. They were knotted together, and by the time Nick managed to wrench his dick free, it was red raw and had spots of blood where the skin had been torn away."

Otsana laughed and I chuckled at the funny story. "Serves him right."

"It did."

"Is he still with her?"

"No, they only lasted a couple of weeks and she dumped him. He wanted to come back to me, but I told him in no uncertain terms to fuck off."

"Good for you."

"Any more questions?"

"Not at the moment. I'm not going to ask who some of the other pack members are because it's not something I need to know."

"Thank you."

I pushed up from the table and held out one hand. "Come back to bed."

"Otsana accepted my hand. "Are you sure?"

"I'm very sure." I paused briefly. "Otsana?"

She looked me in the face, a smile on her gorgeous face. "Yes?"

"You know a great many of my secrets and I trust you to keep them so please trust me to keep yours."

Otsana stood on tiptoe and kissed my cheek. "I trust you," she whispered before we headed upstairs to the bedroom.