15. Eli

Ifeel like I've lost my mind.

Somewhere between the moment I kissed her like I wanted to eat her from the mouth down, and the moment I found myself telling her things I've never said out loud before, I realized that my better sense must have been left back in those woods.

One more night.

It's rare that I spend more than one night with the same woman, but it's happened on occasion.It's always been out of convenience as much as anything else, the fact that a warm, willing woman who wants to come back is an easier way to get a release than having to charm a new one.

But Wisteria is different.

Everything about this has been different, from the moment I laid eyes on her. And somewhere in the back of my lust-addled brain, I can hear myself shouting that I need to look at this objectively.

It's fucking impossible to do that when she's in my bed.

A week after the moon, I shouldn't feel like this. I shouldn't be this aroused, this wild with need, almost animal in my ferocity. I'd blamed it all on that, the way she made me feel when I first met her. I told myself the shift was so close that it was clouding my mind.

It's just her. She clouds my mind. And I don't know why.

I can't get enough of her. Her taste, her smell, the way she feels around me, the way she cries out my name. I didn't want to stop eating her out earlier, wanted to make her come over and over again on my tongue, and if it hadn't been for the fact that my cock felt like it might burst if I didn't come soon, I would have. I already intend to lick her to at least one more orgasm before she goes home.

It's not as if you won't get another chance, since you've talked her into another night.But it hadn't taken all that much talking. She wants it as bad as I do.

That's something else, too. I marvel at it all over again as I slide my hand down between her legs, stroking my fingers over her folds before I roll her over and fuck her the way I've been picturing since I watched her pretty ass walk away from me in the bar. I've never known any human woman to get so wet. Wisteria gets slick as a shifter in heat–not just wet, but slick, that thick, sweet-smelling arousal that I associate with a female shifter just before and after the moon. The whole goddamn woods were perfumed with it, the morning after the full moon.

Her scent isn't quite the same, but it's honey-sweet, mouth-watering, making me want to spend an entire day between her thighs. Just the thought has me sliding down the bed again, putting off my own need in favor of tasting her once more before I fuck her again. My cock throbs, eager to be buried in her tight heat again, but I ignore it. And the pressure in my knot has eased, thanks to her explorations–

Another throb, at that memory, as I slip between her thighs. It's been a long time since a woman has played with my knot like that. Long enough that I forgot how fucking good it feels; good enough to make it impossible to speak or think, like no other pleasure in the world. And she took to it almost immediately, stroking me with just the right pressure, just enough to make me spill all over her creamy, smooth skin, but not enough to hurt. As if she knew what to do–but she didn't. She'd never seen a knot before. I'm surprised she wasn't fucking terrified of it.

But then again, I didn't get a chance to finish telling her what a shifter is supposed to do with it.

Imagine how good it would feel to knot her. That feral, growling instinct rises up, my cock throbbing anew as I spread her thighs wide and lean in, breathing in her sweet scent. Above me, Wisteria moans, arching her back as I run my tongue between her folds, lapping her up. I can tell she's a little shocked and embarrassed by the way I like to breathe in her scent, by how turned on it gets me–but she likes it, too.

I think there's a lot of things about fucking me that shock her–and that she's shocked to find out she's aroused by.

She tastes sweeter than anything I've ever known. Her pussy feels like heaven, tight and hot and slick, better than anything else I've ever felt. The thought of knotting her, of finally experiencing that height of pleasure, makes my hips rock against the bed and a moan slip from me, vibrating against her swollen folds as I slide my tongue over her clit.

Settle down, boy,I murmur to my wolf, feeling the pressing urge, the way the need seems to strain at muscle and bone. I couldn't knot her even if I wanted to. She's not made for it. I'd tear her apart. No human woman can take a knot. It's why a mate bond between a shifter and a human is impossible. She can barely take my cock.

I run my hands over her thighs, groaning as I feel her clit pulse under my tongue, my cock aching. Wisteria gasps, her hips arching up against my mouth, her shyness lessening with every orgasm I give her. The girl who blushed and ran away in the bar is gone, replaced with a vixen who makes me want to possess her entirely, who makes me say and do things I've never done with anyone else.

Anyone else would already be gone, after I came the first time. And the things I talked to her about after–

Wisteria cries out, her fingers trailing through my hair, and I press my lips tighter against her swollen flesh, sucking her clit into my mouth. A fresh wave of her arousal coats my tongue, her moans filling the room as her thighs tighten, and I know she's close. I want to taste her orgasm again, but I want her still coming when I thrust into her. I want to feel her ripple around my cock while I slide into her.

"Eli–Eli!" She cries out my name, sending a jolt of lust down my spine as I flutter my tongue over her clit, feeling the warm gush of her arousal over my tongue, drenching my lips and chin. Her back arches as she rides my mouth to her orgasm, her fingers clawing at the blankets, and she bucks against my tongue, grinding as she cries out again and again. Everyone on this floor, and probably below, knows what's going on. But if anything, that only turns me on more.

I pull back, grabbing her hips in my broad palms and rolling her swiftly onto her stomach, pushing her thighs apart. Wisteria gasps as she feels the blunt head of my cock press against her entrance, and even as slick and drenched as she is, even after as many orgasms as I've given her, she's still so tight that my eyes roll back as I thrust into her. She clenches around my cock, her pussy rippling along my thick length, pulling me deeper.

I lean forward, thrusting into her, gasping at the heat as pleasure scrapes over every nerve. Between my orgasm earlier and her manipulating my knot, my cock is almost too sensitive, but I almost can't stop. The driving need to fuck, to mate, is as high as it is when the moon is full, so close to a frenzy that I can barely hold back from fucking her so hard that it might hurt her. I don't want to hurt her, and that's all that holds me back.

I stroke my hand down her side, brushing my lips over her ear. "I want to fuck you," I breathe, lightly nipping the lobe, and Wisteria laughs shakily.

"You are fucking me," she whispers, one hand reaching up to grip a pillow, the other fisted in the blanket.

"I mean really fuck you. But if it's too much, you tell me to slow down. Alright?" I trace my lips over her ear again, pushing my cock deeper, and Wisteria lets out a broken moan.

"O-okay," she manages, and I groan, my muscles tensing at the prospect of going faster, harder, of taking her the way I've been imagining.

I rise up on my knees behind her, sweeping my hands down her sides, down to her hips, the full curve of her ass. "You have the most gorgeous fucking ass I've ever seen," I murmur, squeezing it in my broad hands as I nudge her thighs wider apart, urging her up so that she's tilted upwards. "Fuck, watching my cock go in you like this, god–"

Her pussy is perfect, swollen and pink, stretched around my cock so tightly that I'm amazed she's taking me at all. I glide in and out, my balls tight and aching at the view of my thick cock sinking into her glistening depths. I slide one hand beneath her, circling her clit with my fingertips, wanting to make her come again as I start to thrust harder.

"Eli!" Wisteria cries out, my name coming out a high-pitched moan as she arches her back, thrusting back onto me as I move. It startles me, that she wants more when I was afraid I might hurt her, and I feel a warning throb in my balls, that spreading heat at the base of my spine that tells me I'm dangerously close to coming.

I want to come inside of her.The thought hits me as I thrust into her again, hard, my knot pressing up against her soft folds. It's a dangerous thought, one that I rarely even entertain for a moment. I have no interest in an accident, no inclination to take even a chance. But right now, I feel my wolf rising up, a shudder climbing up my spine as I fight back the urge to fuck her harder, deeper, to sink into her and fill her with my cum until she's dripping with it. To push it inside of her, keeping every drop sealed in her pretty, soft pussy, until she's swollen with my cum.

To mate her. To breed her. My cock throbs almost painfully, my hips snapping against hers as I drive myself into her again and again, so lost in the fantasy that her next orgasm catches me off guard.

Her pussy tightens around me, pulling me deeper, clutching around my over-sensitive length and making me slam into her harder than before, driving her down onto the bed as she comes. "Fuck!" I cry out, nearly losing control of my orgasm, my knot pressing tightly against her as my fingers roll over her pulsing clit. "Fuck, fuck–I'm–I–"

I'm so close to coming. The words catch in my throat, the fog in my head nearly convincing me to let go, to fill her with my cum. To squeeze my knot while I orgasm inside of her, so she gets every fucking drop.

Dimly, I realize my knot is fully swollen again, as if Wisteria never stroked it earlier. I press myself against her, grinding as she arches against me and moans, trembling with her orgasm, my name a whisper on her lips. I shudder, my fingers digging into her hips, the soft, plush curve of her ass pressed against me, and it's all I can do not to try to knot her. I can't make myself pull out, the tight heat of her pussy overcoming all my rational thought, and I fight every instinct in my body to keep from driving forward.

I've never knotted anyone. I never intend to. But it's not just that.

I'll hurt her!I scream it in my head, gritting my teeth as my hips rock forward, burying myself deeper. I feel my knot pressing against her folds, the friction of it nearly pushing me over the edge, and my hand slides down, fingers brushing against the tight, sensitive flesh.

"Fuck!" I groan as I wrap my fingers around my shaft, pulling out of her as I start to stroke myself for the second time, gritting my teeth against the urge to sink back into her. I stroke myself from knot to tip, groaning her name as my cock throbs and spurts, spilling cum over her ass, her back, painting her in it as I shudder with a pleasure so intense my vision blurs and darkens at the edges.

"Eli–oh god–" Wisteria's hand slides beneath her, and I realize dimly that she's stroking her clit. "That feels good–you coming on me–"

Somewhere in the back of my mind, I think that she's saying it on purpose, trying to make my orgasm better by playing to what I told her was one of my kinks–as if it could get any better. But it does. Her soft, sweet voice, moaning those filthy words as I squeeze my knot and come all over her perfect ass, only adds to the orgasm in a way I've never experienced before.

I feel like I'm coming apart at the seams. I come back to myself at last, panting, my hand still clenched around my cock as I look down at Wisteria's flushed, trembling body, most of her covered in my cum. I can't remember the last time I came this much. She turns, looking at me over her shoulder with those wide hazel eyes, a smile at the corners of her mouth that makes me feel, once again, as if all my better sense has fled.

I want her to stay. I want to wake up with her here tomorrow.The thought crosses my mind as I look down at her, my hand finally falling away from my cock, and I close my eyes briefly.

What the hell is going on?

Slowly, I move to lie next to her, trying to catch my breath. Wisteria picks her head up, a slow smile spreading over her face. "I know I'm sounding like a broken record," she whispers, her fingers reaching out to brush against mine. "But I've never been fucked like that before."

"You've never fucked a shifter before." I manage a weak smile. I feel as wrung dry as I do a day after the moon, when I've jerked off so many times during the frenzied rut that I'm nothing but a husk.

"I still don't think it'd be as good as this." She gives me another small smile. "I'm glad you want to do it again."

"I do. I had plans to keep you up ‘til sunrise doin' it. But now I'm glad we planned a second time around, because I don't think I've got another one in me." I breathe in, feeling as if I left my own body for a moment while I came, and I'm just now settling back into it. "Do you wanna get a shower, before you go?"

Her smile falters, the tiniest bit. She catches it quick enough that I know she'll think I didn't see, but I'm perceptive. A part of her wanted me to ask her to stay. And I can feel the words on my lips, words I only just manage to bite back.

"I think a shower would be good," she manages, pushing herself up from the bed. "I think you're going to have to change these sheets, too," she adds with a soft laugh. "This bed isn't fit for sleeping in any longer, after all of that."

"No, it's not." I look at the sheets ruefully, and start to pull myself upright as well. "You go on and get the hot water started. I'll strip the bed."

Wisteria nods, and I can't help but let my gaze rake over her again as she stands up, a little shakily. She's beautiful in a way that almost hurts to look at, in that I've never seen a woman so perfectly made for what turns me on. Her heart-shaped face, those soft lips, her thick dark hair–full breasts that fit perfectly in my palms, that curvy waist and soft, plush ass. Firm, shapely thighs that I want to hook over my shoulders while I devour her, smooth skin that I want to turn pink as I rasp my beard over it, trailing kisses as I go.

"You're staring," Wisteria says softly, and I look up at her face. I can't read the expression in those hazel eyes, but she's still smiling, ever so slightly.

"Hard not to stare, when somethin' so gorgeous is in front of me." I slide off of the bed, standing up in front of her, and Wisteria lets out a sharp breath.

"I can't believe you're saying that." She reaches up, a palm against my furred chest as she looks down the length of my body. "I've never ended up in bed with a man as handsome as you before. You're–" she breathes out again, as if she can't quite think of the words to describe it. It's a boost to my ego, that's for sure. But I feel the same way about her.

"I could tell you the same. I mean–" I clear my throat, and Wisteria laughs softly.

"I know what you mean. But I don't think that's true. I can imagine you've been with a lot of women. Probably a lot of women prettier than me." She blushes. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't say that. I sound insecure, don't I? I just–I thought, coming here today–I couldn't believe–"

"Hey, there." I reach up, catching her chin in my fingers, lifting her face so that she's looking up at me. "I mean it, Wisteria. But maybe we don't talk about who else has been in bed with us, when it's you and I. Maybe we just leave that on the other side of the door."

I brush a finger over her cheekbone as she nods. "Neither of us are blushin' virgins. Well–you blush a good bit. But you know what I mean. There's no need to talk about what came before, or think about what'll come after. That's how I've lived my life, and it's served me well so far. We just enjoy this, now."

Wisteria swallows, and I see something almost like a shadow cross her face, just for a moment. So briefly that I almost wonder if it was really there. "Okay," she says softly. "We'll just think about right now."

"Right now is pretty damn good." I lean down, brushing a kiss over her lips. "Go heat up that shower, darlin'. I'll be in there with you in a minute."

She nods, her head tilting up as she kisses me back, soft and slow before brushing past me, her soft skin touching mine for just a moment before she walks past, into the bathroom. She leaves the door cracked, the light spilling out across the floor, and I can't take my eyes off of her for a moment.

With any other woman, I'd be panicking about the fact that, in the heat of the moment, I signed myself up for another night. That I'd committed to future plans instead of keeping it vague. Oh you know, baby, I can't promise anything, but maybe if we run into each other again–maybe if things line up the right way–

I've used a dozen lines over the years to keep women on the hook while I'm drifting through a town, but not so close that I can't toss them back if I change my mind. But this time, all I feel is a soft, curling anticipation throughout my body as I look at Wisteria and realize that this won't be the last time.

Huffing out a breath, I strip the sheets off of the bed, feeling my own exhaustion in the flex and tug of my muscles as I do. My cock is soft against my thigh, utterly worn out, though my knot is a persistent and irritating swelling at the base of my groin, insisting that we're not done yet.

What if it were true?The question flashes through my mind as I toss the sheets in the laundry bin, catching one more glimpse of Wisteria's pale, soft body before she disappears into the shower. What if I found my mate?

The signs, from what I've heard of them, are all here. An uncontrollable libido in the wrong cycle of the moon, an intense desire to keep one's partner physically close at all times, if not actually bodily linked to you via a knot, a knot that stays swollen no matter how many orgasms occur until the mating is actually complete. Every emotion intensified–lust, anger, jealousy, love.

The last word snaps me out of it. Love. I'm not in love with her. That's not possible–I barely know her. And the mate bond isn't possible either, because she's a human.

I've truly lost my senses if I'm beginning to really consider that, of all things.

Wisteria is standing under the shower when I walk into the bathroom, her head tipped back under the hot spray, humming something quietly to herself. I give myself a moment to just look at her–the curved outline of her body behind the foggy glass door, dripping with water and lines of soap–and then I clear my throat so as not to scare her, opening the door and stepping inside.

The instant I'm near her–the second that I smell the soft warm scent of her skin mingled with the juniper and cedar of the lodge's soap, her scent bleeding through, my cock starts to stiffen. I can smell her, and I can smell me still on her, all tangled up together, and my cock rises faster than it ever has, desperate to be inside of her again.

Wisteria steps out from under the water, nearly running into the iron bar of my erection as she does. The swollen tip nearly brushes her stomach, and she blinks water away from her lashes, her cheeks flushing as she looks up at me.

"Again?" she says softly, almost teasingly, and I swear I feel my own face go red.

"There's no good reason for it," I manage hoarsely, feeling the insistent throb of my pulse in my cock. "Except that you seem to turn me on like no one else ever has."

I don't know why I said that. I don't know how things keep slipping out of my mouth around her that I don't intend to say, why I keep laying myself bare when I've kept a lock welded shut on my emotions all my life.

But Wisteria's face just softens, heat in her eyes as she leans up to kiss me, her hand wrapping around my cock and taking the breath from my lungs. "Come here, then," she whispers, turning away from me to put her hands against the tiled wall, her back arched and her perfect, curved ass pushed out in invitation.

I have a sudden vision of her doing that out in the woods, the morning after I shift back, hands against a tree and the sun gleaming over her bare skin, offering herself up to me to devour, to ravish, to mate.

It's not possible. I don't even want it.Not that. But like a man possessed, I wrap my hands around her hips, my cock nudging between her thighs. She's still slick and wet, warm and inviting, and I groan with uncontrollable need.

"You're gonna be sore tomorrow," I murmur, giving her one more chance to back out. Wisteria laughs, tossing her wet hair over her shoulder as she looks back at me with lust-glazed eyes. Whatever this is, she's got it as bad as I do.

"I'm sore now," she says softly. "But I don't care. Just fuck me again, Eli."

"Gladly." I thrust into her, a long, hot slide that leaves her clasped around my cock and my body trembling with the pleasure of it, and as I bury myself in her all I can think is that I never want to leave.

That I've been running from cages all my life, but now–

I might finally have been caught.