STORY EXCERPT

Two men were stepping around from the back of her house. They were two of the biggest men she had ever seen in her life. They were young, probably a few years younger than she was, dressed in cowboy hats and cowboy boots. They had determined looks on their faces and didn’t look like they were in any mood for an argument. They looked serious, and she detected something not quite normal about them.

“Can I help you two?” she called down to them from her front porch. A wind blew across the prairie, and her voice sounded small.

The men tipped their hats to her. They didn’t seem polite. “We were hoping you could help us, miss,” the biggest of the two said. He was about six foot seven and seemed to be made of pure stone, his body was so hard. They took the steps of her front porch and came up to her. They towered over her.

She took a step back. She was afraid of them.

“My name is Luke Wildback and this is my brother, Kyle,” the second man spoke to her. She thought she might have to reconsider. Now that they were up close, he seemed like he might even be larger than his brother. He wasn’t as tall, but the muscles on his body positively rippled out of the tight-fitting T-shirt he wore. Both of their voices were baritone and severe.

“I’m Arielle Banks.” She didn’t feel comfortable with introductions to these two but forged ahead anyway. They had her cornered. “I’m the town veterinarian in Wolf Creek.”

“We know who you are,” Kyle, the tall one, said to her.

Luke, the muscle builder, reached deep into the pocket of his tight-fitting blue jeans and pulled out a photograph. He handed it to her. “Have you seen the man in that photo?” he asked.

She could hardly concentrate with both huge men up so close and on her own front porch. She felt claustrophobic all of a sudden and like she couldn’t breathe. She caught a scent from each man. Not that they smelled bad or had body odor, because they didn’t. On the contrary, they actually had a musky scent that was disturbingly male and aroused her. Arielle wiped her brow as she looked at the photo. It was too hot on that little porch.

“I’m sorry,” she told them and had to clear her throat. She had no idea why she should apologize to them except for the fact that they scared her. “This isn’t really a very good picture. I don’t think I’ve seen this man. Who is he? Is he from Wolf Creek?”

When she handed the photograph back to the muscle builder Luke, he was angry.

“Cut the crap, Dr. Banks.” He raised his voice. The lonely prairie wind blew against her face again. She felt very vulnerable and alone. “We know he’s been here.” He moved a step closer toward her on the porch.

“We know he’s been inside your house. We want you to tell us where he is now.”

Arielle swallowed before she spoke. She had no spit left in her throat. “I don’t know what you guys are talking about. No one has been here to my house. I live here alone.”

“I’m an honest man by nature. I don’t like it when someone lies to my face,” the muscle builder Luke said, and his voice was mean. She could feel his anger as he addressed her.

Arielle had backed against the door. She had her key inserted in the lock, ready to bolt inside. However, these men scared her so badly she didn’t even think she could turn the key. “I’m not lying to you,” she pleaded with them.

The men looked at each other and exchanged a silent communication. They both were obviously very angry from their words, but their anger was controlled, not seething, but calculated. The tall man leaned down to her. He rested his hand against the front doorframe. Now he was not twelve inches from her. His facial features beneath his Stetson were well defined, his jaw strong and a cleft in his chin. His brown eyes pierced her to her very core as if he was able to read her mind. She realized in her moment of panic that he was the most handsome man she had ever seen in her life.

“I would like to help you if I could,” she told him, her voice quivering. “Perhaps if I only knew what this was about, why you wanted to find this man, I might be able to remember if I’ve seen him around town.” She was surprised at her own reaction. She would have gladly helped these two men if she only knew how, but clearly they had her badly confused with someone else. They frightened her in the worst way, and at the same time, she felt inexplicably drawn to them, and that frightened her even more. She had never been drawn to the bad-boy type before. Why was she making an exception for these two just because of the way they looked?

“If you’re lying to us and we find out, you will be sorry, Dr. Banks,” Luke threatened her.

“We intend to find this man and take him with us,” Kyle informed her. “If he is with you, we’ll find him. By lying to us, you’re just making things harder on yourself.”

Arielle was so scared she felt paralyzed. She wanted to cry, but was not about to give them the satisfaction. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she told them. She had backed up to the locked door behind her. She had nowhere left to move away from them and was trapped. “Tell me what this is all about.”

ADULT EXCERPT

Suddenly she became aware of the fact that they were both naked. “Would you turn around, please?” she asked him.

He only looked at her. The wolf had looked at her in the same way. She wanted to cover herself, but couldn’t do it with his eyes on her body. At last he relented and for once let her have her way. He turned his head on the pillow. Quickly she brought up the T-shirt and hunted around for the head and armholes. When she found them she shrugged into it and let it fall to her knees. As soon as her head came up through the shirt, she saw his vision was trained back on her. She smoothed down the shirt modestly.

“What are you?” she asked him.

“Some people would call me a werewolf. I prefer the term shape-shifter.”

“You turn into a wolf when the moon is full?”

He smiled at her. His face was very strong and handsome when he smiled. “No. I shift anytime I want.”

“It’s been you this whole time and not a wolf?” Some aspects of the wolf’s strange behavior made sense to her now. Its intelligence was like that of a human, the way it comported itself and its actions were all the same as a person, the way it looked at her, and those eyes. The wolf had just been too smart to be real.

“Yes.”

She still stood in the corner of the room, too afraid to approach him. “Why didn’t you let me know before now? Why did you stay as a wolf all this time? You could have changed back into yourself?”

“My leg was broken. It still hurts like hell when I shift because of this damn leg. I couldn’t have shifted any sooner than now. The pain would have been too bad. Our bones change when we shift. A broken bone doesn’t shift very well.”

“So you’ve been stuck as the wolf this whole time?”

“Yes.”

She put her hands over her face. This was too crazy to contemplate. Tentatively she came out from the corner of the room and walked over by the door. If he tried anything funny with her now she would be able to bolt out of the room, or even out of the house.

She didn’t think he would. He had limped too badly on his leg when he walked across the floor. He might be a strong man, but at the moment, because of his broken leg, he wasn’t very fast.

She leaned against the doorway. Now it was her turn to stare at him. He amazed her, and she didn’t know what to say to him. She found it hard to take her eyes off him.

She thought what she would do with this handsome man in her home. Suddenly she wasn’t alone anymore.

“Come back to bed with me,” he told her.

She hesitated for only a moment. She had loved the wolf. This man wasn’t a stranger to her. He beckoned to her, and she went to him willingly. He raised the blanket to cover them both up in bed.

There was the strong sensation of his rough hands roaming her body. He lifted the T-shirt over her head and tossed it aside. She was naked in bed with him. Though the details were not exact because it all took place in the dark, it was like a dream.

He was behind her. He was incredibly strong and demanded many things of her. She wanted to give into him and meet his every demand. His arms enfolded her, and his palms cupped her breasts, his fingers pinched her nipples to erection. His other hand was exploring down her side. His touch was glorious. Their two nude bodies folded against one another under the blanket and felt right.

She parted her thighs for him as his hand came from behind her buttocks and grabbed her pussy from underneath. She let out a gasp. He was so strong and insistent. She couldn’t deny him and would not have wanted to even if she could.

His fingers played with her clit, caressed her lips. She held her legs farther apart for him. He dipped two fingers inside her, and she called out into the early morning. She couldn’t see anything in the dark, but she could feel his rock-hard cock as it came to her from behind. It skipped along her upper thigh. His hand withdrew from her pussy, and he took his cock in his hand. He positioned his great weight behind her. His cockhead met her pussy lips, and they kissed it as he slid past and inside her. She was already wet, and he had no trouble sliding himself down her canal. He felt so large. It was a tight fit.

She began to moan. The man took his time. He started shallow. His thrusts were slow and deliberate. He pulled her hair back from her neck and teased her skin with whispered kisses. Then he was inside her deeper. She felt him fill her body with his cock.

His palm squeezed her breasts hard. She wanted to hold out longer, didn’t want to let the man get to her so completely, but it was a lost battle. Her body betrayed her. He drove deeper inside of her than anyone had ever gone before. She didn’t know if she could take it. Every time he moved inside, her body was forced to respond. She felt so small in his arms next to him under the covers of her bed, like she was his plaything. He proved to her that she was his to do with as he pleased.