Dawn Discovered

Completion inched outward from her core and spread along her limbs. Gasping she clung to him, so close, so ready. Need more, the primal part of her brain cried out. More. More. More. The universe sucked into that singular spot of absolute divine pleasure. So good. Her lips pursed as they curved to cry out his name. A taboo. Something she shouldn't do. She could say anything, except for his name or I love you.

Jan teetered on the brink. He tortured her. He prolonged the moment. Skating his fingers around the slick, pulsating nub beneath them. Oh no, Miss Jan was going to have to work for it. A bit of suffering would do her some good. He was as tense as she. Her hand was working him with every bit of eagerness that he worked her. His groin was on fire, tight and aching. And he wanted nothing more than to wrap her lean and muscular thighs around his waist and plunge into her. Damn. He. Wanted. Her. Now.

He was well practiced at waiting, too well practiced at the waiting game. He'd waited for a seemingly eternity for her to stumble into his life. And he'd wait a few more minutes. Enjoy exploring her slick, hot, wet, depths until she came. His name was on her lips. She wouldn't cave and giving him the satisfaction of saying it. He wanted to hear her say his name as she came for him. He wanted her to know exactly who she was fucking.

Thomas worked Jan harder, massaging the sweet spot deep within her core the way she liked it. Her lips quivered to trap the word. But, he wasn't having any of that. He dipped his head and trapped a ripe nipple between his teeth. Lapping his tongue back and forth as he applied suction to the tip. Her hips bucked and rocked against his fingers as she sought her own end. He pulled back and pushed forward, harder, faster, sliding another finger deep within her sweetness. Her nails raked down his shoulders, leaving a stinging path in their wake. She came with shuddering breaths, gasping and crying out his name like a prayer.

What was he waiting for? Was he trying to kill her? Torture her and drive her insane with the sensations his fingers produced. She came, but once wasn't nearly enough. He'd given her no reprieve before his hand was working her sex and his mouth her lips. Her body burned as the tension of her mounting pleasure rolled up her spine from the source of the fire. "Please," she moaned. She needed release. His teeth scraped against her taut nipple, sending a new ripple of pleasure zinging down her flesh and straight to her aching core. "Thomas, please."

The words were nothing more than a breathy whisper. He delivered her, finally, to the brink and let her sail over the rocky cliff of her orgasm. Scorched by the knowledge that she'd broken the cardinal rule. Jan had said his name in the heat of passion. Saying no name at all implied that there was no commitment or ties. Saying his name had implied the very things neither of them wanted.

With a few strokes of his fingers along her core, Jan forgot her dilemma. She'd think about what it all meant later. Right now, she was occupied. Back arched against the cool bedding. Legs parted and her body begging for more of his touch. Clumsily, she fumbled in her nightstand, found the slick package, and slid it into his hand. Never ever, no matter what, without the proper precautions was she having sex with him. This wasn't a relationship. There would be no messy entanglements. No marking her with his scent, with his come dripping from her depths. This was sex. Pure. Simple. Pleasurable. Sex.

Thomas tore at the wrapper with his teeth. He could feel the wet heat of her on his fingers. Smell the sweet, musky scent of come and desire on his palm. He stopped long enough to slip the condom into place. From somewhere deep in the primal part of his psyche that was pure male. He was satisfied that his name had been on her lips as she came. Her body writhing in the throws of the orgasm he gave her. Tonight, that orgasm would not be her last. In the middle of the night, when her bed was empty and she was alone in the dark, he wanted to be the only man she longed for.

With his cock thoroughly wrapped like a package on Christmas morning, he slid into her. Moaning in the sheer pleasure of the heat of her tight walls. He was getting down to business when his cell phone rang. His body screamed out. His mind urged him to ignore the shrill ring tone that buzzed like an annoying fly from the hip pocket of his abandoned jeans. "God damn it," he hissed.

"Ignore it. If it's important, they'll call back." Total buzz kill. She felt the cold chill creep across her naked body as he pulled out and rolled off of her to retrieve his pants. If she had a hammer, she'd bust that damned phone into a million tiny pieces. Her body was tense and on edge. Thomas had felt so good inside of her. Pumping in her hard as if his life depended on it. Damned phone. Fucking phone. Isn't that why people had voice mail? Sorry, can't come to the phone right now. Fucking. Having mind-blowing sex. Please leave a message. Shit! Shit! Shit! She pounded her fist against the mattress and bit back the insults quivering on her tongue.

"If my phone is ringing, it is important," Thomas retorted. His cock shriveled, hanging limply inside of the condom. He could still feel her wrapped around him. His groin was tight and aching with the wonderful sensation of being buried so deeply inside of her. "What!" he barked, answering the call. If it had been his other cell phone. He wouldn't have bothered to answer. Sex was so much more important than anything the caller had to say. But, this phone, he had to answer. It was a private encrypted cell phone that linked him directly to the Sons.

"Yeah, I'll be there as soon as I can." A string of curses floated in the air as he snapped the phone closed. "Jan, I've got to go. I'm sorry." He gathered up his clothes and made his way to the bathroom to get dressed. Leaving a confused and probably very pissed off Jan sprawled out beautifully naked on the bed. He couldn't really explain the truth of his situation to her. He felt that he should tell her something though. Leaving her in her condition wasn't fair, to either of them. He was so there with her, aching and hurting from the denied orgasm.

But, he had no choice, not when the brotherhood called. He'd been summoned with his medical kit to the bluffs. Something was going down and they needed him there stat. There was little he could do besides pack it up and paste a smile on his face. He had to go. He owed them.

"Thomas, is something wrong?" Jan asked as Thomas flicked off the bathroom light. Emerging fully dressed, and glaring as if he hated the entire world, which knowing Thomas he probably did. She'd slid under the covers, partly to feel the bit of warmth his body left behind and partly because she felt naked and exposed. Embarrassed that he'd chosen to answer the phone over having sex with her. How humiliating. She rationalized that Thomas was a doctor and had commitments and a family. Things that went on in his life she wasn't privy to know about and definitely wasn't a part of.

"I..." Thomas dragged his hand through his hair biting back a curse. "It's hard to explain." He couldn't if he tried. And he was not going to try. "But, my friends need me. I have to go. Nothing at all to worry about." He stood over Jan, wishing like hell he could shirk his obligations and climb into that warm bed beside her. Finish what he'd started. God, he needed it.

"Your friends?" Now she really felt insulted. She chastised herself for sounding like a jealous shrew. But, he was leaving her to go hang with his friends? He'd chosen his friends over having sex with her? She was insulted and more than a little put out. "You couldn't tell them you were busy and you'd catch up with them later?" She sat up in the bed and pulled the covers tightly over her naked breasts. She sounded like a possessive, jealous, bitch. She didn't know what was going on or what his friends meant to him. His reason for leaving might be important. And it was definitely none of her business.

"I know how it sounds," Thomas mumbled. Jan was definitely upset and he couldn't blame her. He had no choice. "I really am sorry. If you'd like, go ahead and get some sleep. I know how hard you've been working. Rest a little and I'll come back as soon as I can."

"Ah..." Take a nap? Was he really suggesting that she get some shuteye while he gallivanted off to do whatever it was his friends had called to ask him to do? She was as wound up as an eight-day clock. Every nerve fiber in her body screamed for completion of what he'd started.

"Look, I've gotta go." Thomas bent to kiss Jan goodbye. His brow wrinkled in a frown as she turned her face away. "Tell you what. I'll come back by when I'm done. If the door is unlocked, I'll come in. If not, no hard feelings, I understand." What could he say that didn't sound completely cheesy? Leave the door open and be in position ready for me? Ugh! Instead, he ran his hand along her hair, smoothing down the wild tangle of waves. "Bye."

"Bye." Prick. She added silently as the door latch caught behind his departure. Leave the door unlocked? Not likely. She wasn't concerned for her safety, far from it. This was the quietest town she'd ever lived in. But, leave it unlocked for him? Not a chance. She was not a service station. He could not pop by, get his tank topped off, and simply pull out with a wave. No way. She slid down into the sheets and pulled the blankets high around her neck. She had no right to be pissed. He didn't owe her a thing.

Biting off a curse, Jan got out of bed and padded through her dark living room. Shivering and naked she stood in the dark. The deadbolt slid back with a hard clank as she unlocked the door. Determined not to lose one ounce of sleep she climbed back into bed and buried herself under the covers. If Thomas came back, he came back. If not, that was his loss, wasn't it?

She sighed and tried to force her mind to still and her body to relax. Wasn't happening. She was stiff as a board. Her mind racing a million miles a minute, playing and replaying the last twenty minutes or so she'd spent in this bed. She sat up and leaned against the pillows. She was a big girl and could take care of herself. She didn't need Doctor Thomas Sterling to scratch her itch. Tears welled hot beneath her closed eyelids. She was naked, alone in the dark, and in an empty bed. The bed Thomas had fled in preference of his friends.

He hadn't finished. He hadn't finished her. He'd left her aching and in a hell of a bad mood. Even the friction of the blankets, as she slid them down over her tender breasts was too much to endure. If he'd planned to do a drive by fucking, wouldn't he have made sure he'd at least gotten himself off first before he arranged to have his friends call and bail him out. Maybe, he thought fucking her wouldn't take as long as it had. Maybe, even though he'd always been quite thorough with her, he'd planned to take the more direct approach instead of the scenic route. Maybe, he didn't want to be stuck with her in the awkward after sex phase and had asked his friends to call and provide him a handy escape from the shame of pillow talk.

Jan threw back her head, landing in a soft stack of pillows and her long, sleek, dark hair. Her sex was still wet and silky, velvet smooth beneath her fingertips. Cursing Thomas's name, she ran her fingers over her cleft, working the sensitive nub with a fingertip the way Thomas had with his tongue. It wasn't the same. It was never the same as the real thing. And how pathetic did that make her that logically feeling good should feel good and all her body could do was manifest some small measure of pleasure instead of the breathtaking sensations Thomas managed to create within her.

Cupping her breast, she smoothed the pad of her thumb over her erect nipple. Nope, this was not the same at all. But, desperate times called for desperate measures. And she was a very desperate girl. A tear rolled down her cheek as she slid her fingers in and out of her core. Trying with feverish intent and urgency to work herself up into some state of orgasmic bliss. Jan blew out a deep breath and tried to separate her emotions from the sensations she created with her fingertips. Toying with her clit, she swabbed the throbbing mass of nerves with the tip of a finger. Pulling her labia open wide, she speared her fingers deep into her core.

Her hips bucked with wild desperation against her hand. She needed to come. She had to come. Now. Faster and faster her fingertips flew over her sex. Touching and stroking all the places she longed for Thomas to discover. Sweat beaded on her upper lip. Her breaths were a panting series of curses as the moment finally came and dissolved as quickly as it had happened. Her fingers were coated with come, sticky and slick from the combined wetness of her sort of orgasm and the lube from the condom.

She didn't bother with washing her hands. She wanted the stain of what she'd become on her fingers. Jan Collins was a needy woman. Weak. And falling in love with the last person on earth that was right for her or even remotely deserved her. Thomas had ruined her. Given her pleasure and then taken it away with the ringing of a cell phone. He'd done the unthinkable and unforgivable and made her feel. Curled in a ball, naked and gasping, her body still aching with unfulfilled needs. Her face flushed and hot with unshed tears. Her lips quivering with all the things she should have said and the one thing she had said instead. She stared unblinking out into the darkness. "Fuck you, Thomas Sterling. Fuck you," she said. And she meant those words in every way conceivably possible.









Chapter 36

Gina stifled the quivering of her lower lip and tromped through the shin deep summer grass on the flat planes of the bluffs. Grey rock and black woods loomed menacingly on the sides of the gusty plane. The evening breeze picked up stray bits of pollen and dandelion fluff and tossed them about in tiny cyclones of fury. Despite the purpose behind her visit, the bluffs were an amazingly beautiful place. And, she was about to get naked in this natural wonderland and set her wild side free.

It seemed transforming into a werewolf was quite the spectator sport. She recognized everyone gathered at the bluffs. And all of them were her friends, both the bloodsuckers and the furry. One lone human, Thomas, the doctor who had treated her when she arrived at the compound stood amongst the group. He was here, judging by the bulging orange medical kit at his feet, in case something went wrong.

Gina exhaled a worried breath and squeezed Hunter's hand tightly. The sky above faded quickly into a dark indigo canopy dotted with dully gleaming stars awakening for their nightly debut. The moon was nothing but a sliver, slowly rising on the eastern horizon. Now or never, it was go time. Her fingers trembled as she kicked off her tennis shoes and prepared to strip down. She downplayed her trembling and busied her fingers loosening her belt. She huddled tightly against Hunter. Absorbing even the most miniscule bit of warmth and reassurance radiating off of him.

"Try not to think about it," Hunter whispered against Gina's ear. He held her tightly and pressed a soft kiss against her reddened cheek. He held open the sleeping bag and helped her climb inside, loosely closing the layer of nylon over her body.

Marianne had never seen a calling out ceremony and didn't know what to expect. The ceremonies weren't that common. Most of the time, the wolf just simply popped out of someone and a ceremony wasn't necessary. She was excited and nervous at the same time. She hoped when her time came. Her wolf would spring free wild and untamed. The way she was supposed to. She shuffled through the dewy grass and knelt at Gina's head. "I'll take your clothes."

Gina's fingers shook violently as they fumbled with the zipper on her shorts. Clumsily, she lowered the brass pull and kicked free of her socks, leaving them in the sleeping bag and shimmied out of her shorts and underwear. The denim made a light whispering sound as she slid it against the sleeping bag and handed it to Mouse. She closed her eyes thinking to herself that she was half way there. Braving the embarrassment of getting naked in front of all these people, she gathered up the hem of her t-shirt and pulled it over her head. One item left to remove. Chilly fingers raised goose bumps across her back as she unclasped her bra and put it in Mouse's tiny fingers. She was naked. She was freezing on the damp grass. Hunter was right; she was best not to think about it. But, forgetting was damned difficult if not impossible.

Marianne folded the clothes into a messy ball. Grasping them tightly so that she wouldn't embarrass Gina by dropping her unmentionables in the grass. Slowly, she lowered her face till it was even with Gina's and planted a kiss on her cheek. "You'll be just fine," she said through a smile. "You'll see."

Daniel awkwardly shuffled toward Gina. She was shivering violently beneath the thick layer of down and nylon. He'd chosen the thickest and heaviest sleeping bag the Pack owned. But, she was still shaking like a leaf within the protective all weather rated bag. He didn't know what to say. Good luck? Bon voyage? Hope you don't die? He settled for pulling the nylon layer tighter under her neck and giving her a gentle rub across the cheek with his fingers. "See ya soon."

Tristen nodded at Gina and bent low, tweaking her nose in between his fingers. "The sand colored wolf following you on your first hunt, that'll be me."

Gina snickered. She was beyond scared and had surpassed freezing despite the heat and humidity in the air. Her head rested on the smooth nylon beneath her, cradled on the soft grass. Hunter dropped to his knees and smoothed her hair away from her forehead. Drawing symbols with some sort of thick, sticky, foul smelling finger paint over her eyelids and down the curves of her cheeks.

Once Gina was properly marked with the symbols that would pull her wolf free. Hunter cradled her head in his palms and gently lifted her. Holding a steaming thermos mug to her lips. "Drink this. It will open your mind and help you to find your wolf."

Gina winced as the sickeningly sweet and bitter steaming concoction burned its way over her tongue and down her throat. Bubbling in her belly as it landed. She heaved and swallowed hard. Trying to convince the foul liquid to stay down where it belonged. Her body flushed as the herbs did their thing and worked through her nervous system.

Thomas didn't like this one bit. He knew what was in the tea. Jimson weed, and belladonna, mandrake root, peyote, and mushrooms not found on any pizza he'd ever eaten. Powerful hallucinogens. Members of the deadly nightshade family, capable of making someone go night-night permanently. He grappled with his jump kit. Unzipping and preparing what he thought he might need if this little coming out party completely turned to shit. He couldn't reverse whatever effects the herbs might have on her. He could try. But, the best he could hope for was to keep her alive until their potency wore off. That, and pray to God, she wasn't brain damaged for life, if she lived.

Hunter stilled Gina's quivering body with his palms. Holding her down as the powerful herbs took effect. Her skin was slicked with sweat and burning hot, reddened with a flush. He felt her heartbeat pounding against the pulse points in her neck as it sped and raced dangerously fast. "Just close your eyes. Try to relax," he soothed. The visions were coming on. Frightening, terrifying visions meant for her eyes only.

Gina thrashed and kicked at the heavy covers restricting her body. She was hot. Burning alive. The world around her melted and bubbled in a puddle of hot sulfur drowning her in its rotten stench. The hands pressed down onto her shoulders. Holding her in place. They were strong and familiar and she recognized the touch. She panted and cried out as spasms wracked through her body. Gritting her teeth as the visions shifted and tore through her mind.