Trust the Moon Read online

  That didn’t stop him. Not completely. By the time he was twelve, he knew exactly when to leave to avoid meeting half the community.

  He pushed himself off the roof and landed on the grass below with a soft grunt. It would be easier, and faster, if he flew into the desert, but he wanted to bring her clothes with him.

  With that thought, he shifted into his totem animal. It wasn’t a part of who he was; as a shapeshifter, he could take any form he wanted. Totems were an expression of freedom, an animal of choice each shifter selected to commune with the greater earthly forces they were all a part of. Some were cats, others birds. His parents were canines, as were his grandparents. It had always seemed more natural to choose that shape than any other, to answer the call of the moon, especially since he enjoyed the protection and fellowship of being a pack animal. Choosing a wolf as a totem also had another distinct advantage. Nobody reacted with shock when he strayed from the pack to spend time on his own. Shifters with wolf totems were notoriously moody. His mother always insisted that he was just like his great-grandfather. A huge, white wolf who wandered around the new streets of Delta like he owned the place.

  Dylan gripped Gena’s pants tightly in his jaw, the scent of her flesh and sweat invading his nostrils. He hoped it would be a simple matter of following that sweet smell once he ventured beyond Delta and into the desert.

  He began his search at the site of the bonfire. She had suggested he leave her clothes there for her to retrieve later; maybe she’d come back to check. His first circuit found nothing. Neither did his slightly wider second. On the third, he was about ready to try a different tactic when the faintest of whiffs of her body’s unique scent drifted to his nose.

  Dylan stopped and lifted his head. He had to concentrate to separate the scent of the jeans from that in the air, but eventually he found it, wispy tendrils that beckoned him to follow.

  He set off at a loping pace. The trail wasn’t straight. It veered in odd directions, and more than once, the scent pooled in a single spot, indicating she had stopped to rest. He put his nose to the earth in one of them, snuffling around in the dust. Part of him wanted to roll in it. He liked the way he’d worn her smells for the day after his party. He ignored the impulse for fear of distorting his tracking, and he picked up her jeans again to return to his task.

  Delta was a faint glow in the distance when he saw the cave. No signs of civilization were nearby. He had no idea where the closest road was. But her scent was stronger here, and it led directly to the mouth of the cave. There was nowhere else to go but there.

  Dylan dropped her pants to the ground before venturing farther, but he didn’t shift to his human form. If she was inside, and he startled her, there was a very good chance she would cause him serious harm. He’d be better able to defend himself as a wolf. He dropped to his stomach and pulled himself forward, slinking into the inky darkness.

  The mouth was narrow. His shoulders scraped against the walls, and a few times he thought about shifting into something smaller. But it never got too uncomfortable, and so he kept moving forward, following her heady scent. Several yards into the cave, hints of light bounced off the walls. Encouraged, he moved faster, until finally, he came to a sweeping curve. At the other side of that curve was the den he had been hunting for.

  The far wall glowed from a small kerosene camping lamp resting on the packed earth. It illuminated a small chest and a set of shelves with a few basic supplies on it, but most importantly, it showed Gena sitting cross-legged in front of a small mirror, brushing her hair.

  She was more beautiful than he remembered.

  She watched him in the reflection as he dropped into the cavern. Already, he was more than a little intoxicated by the scent of her home. Even more, she smelled delicious. Not wanting to give up the force of that sense, he slinked across the room to lie at her side. He pushed his snout around the ground near her, then against her smooth thigh.

  “I was shifted when you crawled in, you know. I would’ve torn your throat out if I hadn’t recognized your scent. I only changed into human form to find out what you wanted.” Her hand dropped to his head, her nails scratching at the soft spots behind his ears. “But you really are the most gorgeous wolf. The best one I’ve ever seen, even.”

  Dylan closed his eyes in bliss. He wanted to talk to her. He wanted to kiss her again because nobody’s mouth had ever fit his quite like hers did. But he was loath to lose the contact and the simple pleasure that came from lying at her side, feeling her fingers, listening to the soft cadence of her voice.

  He lost track of time, his tail sweeping the floor behind him as she caressed him. He wished she would talk to him, even if the words were meaningless and she told him nothing. The tension that had tightened his muscles since he left his home ebbed from his body, worked free of the flesh by her soothing touch. His nostrils flared with a sigh of contentment, and he almost forgot his initial reason for seeking her out.

  Unfortunately, he had no guarantee she’d let him stick around for very long. If he could extract some promise from her, he’d be happy to lay beneath her hand for the rest of the night. But he didn’t want to waste this chance. So he willed himself back into human form.

  “I’m glad you didn’t rip my throat out.”

  Gena turned back to her mirror and returned to brushing out her hair. “Most of the visitors I get are strays that wander in. I can’t remember the last time another shifter was here.”

  “I hope that you don’t mind me here.” Dylan pushed himself into a seated position, his legs crossed like hers. “But I couldn’t really call to let you know I wanted to drop by.”

  “No parties tonight?”

  “No. I don’t generally party every night of the week.”

  “But you’ve got friends.” A hint of a smile played on her wide mouth. “So I’m not really sure what you’re doing here.”

  “I do have friends. But you’re hotter than all of them combined. You’re more interesting too. I haven’t stopped thinking about you.”

  “I’m not sure if I should be flattered or worried.” Though the amusement in her eyes suggested the former. “But I’m not all that interesting. I’m just different.”

  “Maybe that’s what makes you interesting. I don’t remember the last time I’ve met anybody as different as you. For example, all the shifters I know live in pretty comfortable houses.”

  Her smile vanished. “That’s because they’ve forgotten what they are. We weren’t meant to be locked behind walls.”

  “I don’t know what you mean. We’re not…animals, Gena.”

  “We’re not? How’d you find me then?”

  “I had to take on an animal’s form to find you, but…” Dylan’s nostrils flared. “I can barely smell you like this. I can’t see in the dark. Hell, I’m probably going to need glasses in a few years. I’m taking distance learning classes from Utah State to be a computer programmer. Animals don’t do that.”

  “And humans don’t lose themselves to the moon. They don’t beat their wings, or race across the desert, or roll around in the dirt just because it’s fun.” Suddenly, she pressed her palm flat against his chest, right over his heart. She’d done that the night they’d had sex in the stream too. He’d felt branded for hours afterward. “I saw you running that night. You love it just as much as I do.”

  Dylan couldn’t deny it. After a long day of studying and working, nothing felt better than racing across the warm sand, running without destination or purpose, absorbing the sounds and scents of the desert as it came to life beneath a fat moon.

  “Maybe I do. It…it does feel good.”

  “Because that’s what you are.” She edged closer. Her soft breast pressed against his arm, an all-too-real reminder of the other night. “Why would you spend so much of your time denying it?”

  “I don’t spend so much time denying it. I’m just trying to have a normal life. I like my modern conveniences and comforts. Televisions, computers, showers, cars.”


  A wicked glint appeared in her eyes. “You mean you don’t like tongue baths?”

  Her shift was swift, no time to move away, to react, to do much of anything but sink back as her hands turned to paws, her arms into forelegs that bore him down to the ground. Her elegant nose lowered to his bare chest. As it skimmed upwards, so did her tongue—rough and wet as she licked her way to his neck.

  Dylan sucked his breath in sharply, and his cock stirred slightly—just enough for her to notice. “I don’t do this, Gena. Not like this.” The words were barely out of his mouth before he shuddered as her hot breath blew across his ear.

  The fur disappeared, leaving her curves molded over his body, her lips on his neck. “You have no idea what you’re missing then,” she whispered. “Your loss.” And then she was gone, on her feet and strolling over to the chest, leaving him cold and aching in her absence.

  Dylan sat up, but held himself back from crossing the room to her. His heart still raced, and a twinge in his abdomen made it difficult to sit still. It wouldn’t be attractive to look too desperate, but he could already taste her on his tongue. His fingers tingled for want of her flesh. If he followed her, he didn’t think she would push him away, but what would be the cost?

  “Is that what you want?”

  She lifted a single shoulder without looking back at him. “I’m just saying I don’t ignore that part of me. It’d be like walking around with one eye closed. Or saying, ‘Nope, sorry, the only place a cock goes inside me is my pussy.’ Why pretend the rest of it doesn’t exist?”

  “The rest…” Dylan released a shaking breath, his balls throbbing. If he stood up, his cock would jut out in front of him and confirm his desperation for her. “I’ve never actually done too much as a wolf. That’s not what I am. And it always seemed it would be better as a human.”

  “I never said it was better.” Now she looked back at him. Her pupils had dilated with desire, and a faint pink stained her porcelain skin. “It’s just different. Another part of you.”

  Dylan licked his dry lips. He had never fucked another shifter while either of them were animals. Not because anybody told him he shouldn’t, but it always felt like a line he couldn’t cross. Shifting into a wolf had its benefits, but he never defined himself by the wolf. He never based his behavior on what the wolf would do. Gena wanted him to forget about the line. She wanted him to lose his control, turn over his mind to instincts. To abandon his own rules and live by hers. Once he agreed, once he shifted, he couldn’t take it back. Was she worth that acquiescence of his control? By any standard, Dylan was forced to admit, she was, in fact, worth it. Especially when she looked at him like that, and he could still feel the heat of her mouth on his neck. Every time she touched him, in any way, she left an imprint on his body.

  “Maybe…maybe you should show me.”

  Gena held herself still, simply staring at him. All the stories he’d heard about her living so long in the wild felt one-hundred-percent true then. She regarded him like a hunter regarded prey, assessing that moment to strike when victory was irrefutable. And God help him, he wanted her to pounce. He wasn’t sure he’d ever wanted anything more.

  Slowly, she closed the lid of the chest. Her skin rippled, her golden red coat smoothing over her bare limbs, while her fingers contracted into slim paws. Dylan had seen quite a few wolves in his life, but even in this form, Gena was the most striking female he’d ever been around. Her long body was lithe and elegant, her legs graceful. Rather than sink into a submissive position to approach him, she loped forward with her head high, coming to a stop next to him and licking his ear.

  Dylan closed his eyes, his heart pounding so hard he thought it would burst from his chest. At first, her tongue tickled, but it didn’t take long to grow accustomed to that. She seemed interested in tasting every inch of him, and her muzzle moved from his ear to his throat, and then to his shoulder and the back of his neck. Each swipe of her tongue renewed the ache in his lower stomach, and his earlier protests faded from his mind. When his blood thrummed in his ears, he took a deep breath and returned to his wolf form.

  Her scent immediately assaulted him. He had known from the look in her human eyes that she was excited by him, but this was evidence impossible to deny. Her desire seeped from her pores, coating her luxurious pelt until he couldn’t resist turning his head to taste it. She shuddered beneath his tongue, and a low whimper came from her throat. When he lingered too long in a single spot, though, Gena nipped at his forelegs, encouraging him to explore.

  Despite Gena’s insistence that this was their true form, the way they were supposed to be, Dylan felt awkward. A part of him wanted to kiss her, to feel her breasts and thighs pressed against his, and it was difficult to completely ignore those impulses. But the sensory input from his sensitive nose and ears made their contact seem more intimate. She had seemed wild to him when they were in the stream, but now he knew she was. She tasted wild, and she sounded wild, and as much as he might have protested to the contrary, it made him throb.

  He used his head to push her down to the ground and onto her side. She allowed him to do that, and Dylan wondered if that was just because she felt indulgent. He sniffed along her chest and her stomach, dragging his tongue along the short hair, memorizing and cataloging how she sounded and smelled, how she tasted, the texture of her body.

  Her tail thumped against the packed earth. Though she remained perfectly still, he felt every tremor beneath her coat like an echo into his own flesh. When his head was near enough for her to reach, she twisted around in order to nuzzle under his jaw. The long, deliberate sweeps drew a responsive growl from him, a sound that surprised the both of them.

  Her ears twitched. Rolling away, she stood up and faced away from him, her hind legs stretched back, her spine bowed in order to lower her pelvis. The glance over her shoulder came with a needy whine. The look in her eyes practically dared him.

  As a wolf, he never felt nervous. There was nothing to be nervous about. With a human intellect and a wolf’s abilities and strength, he knew that he could hold his own. Sex didn’t make him nervous either. But at that moment, the alien sensation of anxiety raced through his form. His stomach fluttered in an odd way, but his desire for her didn’t wane. Even though he couldn’t see the moon, he felt its power, and it was nothing compared to the power she held over him.

  He mounted her, his muscles trembling as he sank into her heat. His nerves didn’t disappear completely, but they were muted by the fresh rush of pleasure.

  Her whining didn’t cease. It became a continuous song to their coupling, broken only by the clumsiness of his initial thrusts. She bent her head, and the sinuous slope of her neck was too tempting to ignore. Dylan caught her scruff in his jaw, holding her even more still as he finally found his rhythm.

  Dylan’s low growls became an accompanying baseline to her song. They were automatic, nothing he thought about as they resonated inside the deep cavity of his chest. The heat racing under his pelt wasn’t unlike the electricity he felt before when he fucked her—but it wasn’t exactly the same, either. He moved faster, and she moved with him, pushing him harder and harder to give up the small remnant of control he still grasped. Then it all exploded, images of golden fur and moonlight, of silky skin, of cold water rushing down his back as she rose above him, of hunger, of nameless desire that didn’t have any place in the more civilized boundaries of town.

  He kept thrusting until his erection disappeared and he was completely soft. Dylan pulled away from her and collapsed on the ground at her side, his legs weak. He shifted back into his human form almost unconsciously.

  She settled onto her stomach, languidly licking along his arm before rolling onto her side and burrowing into him. The coarser hair shifted into the softer red waves, the smooth skin of her cheek resting on his biceps. Dylan spooned behind her then, his other arm snaking around her waist to draw her tighter, his thumb straying to caress the underside of her full breast.

  “Now that
wasn’t so bad, was it?” she asked softly.

  “No, not so bad. How was it for you? I mean…you didn’t come, did you?”

  “No, it’s…different like that.” She tickled random patterns along his skin, quiet for a few moments. “It’s more a sense of completion than about the orgasm. Like it’s enough just to be filled. I don’t expect a guy to really get it.” She chuckled. “Well, not a straight guy, anyway.”

  Dylan didn’t get it, but he also fully believed that if Gena wanted, or needed, anything else from him, she wouldn’t be shy about taking it. Her ass was pressed against his cock, and it probably wouldn’t be very long before he was hard again and ready for a second round.

  “You really feel amazing.”

  Her warm breath fanned across his arm. “You’re just horny.”

  Dylan snorted. “No, if I were just horny, there are easier ways to get laid than tracking a strange yet alluring woman halfway across the desert.”

  “I’m not strange.” She laughed.

  “You are to me.” Strange wasn’t exactly right, but Dylan wasn’t a poet, and he lacked the words he needed. She beckoned to him unlike any other woman. Did she feel the same thing for him? If he admitted how intoxicating he found her, would she laugh at him? It was impossible to think that she wanted him a fraction of how much he wanted her. And not just physically. The intelligence in her eyes, the emotions she tried to hide behind a wall of red fur, captivated him. “I don’t know what I should think of you. But I want to figure it out…figure you out.”

  “Oh, I’m easy. How complicated could a girl be who lives in a cave and spends most of her time running in the desert?”

  “In that case, maybe I need to see you someplace other than the desert.”

  That made her stiffen within his arms. Carefully, Gena rolled onto her back, her eyes inscrutable as they turned to him. “Didn’t you have a good time?”

  “Of course. What makes you think I didn’t?”

  “So why do we have to change things?”