Cherry
The first thing I think as I wake is how comfortable I am. I’m lying on something warm and cozy, and there’s something soft and heavy across my neck and shoulders. But it’s not confining, it’s comforting.
Slowly, I crack my eyes open and realize I’m lying on a wolf. I’m not sure who it is, but I wonder how I ended up like this, as I’m basically sprawled across the chest of an upside-down wolf. Chase, I think, based on his scent of cedar and honey.
My face is pressed into his neck, and since I haven’t had a good whiff of him before, I breathe in his scent.
How does he smell this good? It stirs up feelings inside me that I never felt before meeting these shifters.
The warmth around me shifts, and I get a hint of another scent: cedar, leather, and ash.
Maddox. Suddenly, I remember how I fell asleep last night.
After hearing Maddox’s pained howl, my instincts drove me to comfort him.
I know he wasn’t trying to force me to shift to cause me pain; he was trying to help. It isn’t his fault I’m broken.
I decide this doesn’t change my new mindset to try to let them in a little. If anything, it makes it stronger, knowing how bad he feels about what happened. The problem now is how am I supposed to let them in if I can’t shift?
Wanting to see how he’s feeling this morning, I try to flip myself around to face him. I slip off Chase’s chest and onto the ground, but as we’re all lying so close together, Maddox half falls on top of me, the same way I’d just been lying on Chase.
He pulls his head back and looks down at me, almost looking confused at how we got in this position. I see the moment he realizes he’s basically pinning me down, and he freezes, his eyes going wide.
Deciding I don’t want him to freak out again, I do something completely out of character—lift my head and lick his cheek. I let my head drop back to the ground and watch him carefully. Is that going too far?
Not far enough.
I ignore that stray thought and watch as he blinks, twice, then his eyes soften.
He leans down to nuzzle my neck, making my body relax underneath him.
My wolf loves it. I love it. Those feelings I felt when smelling Chase get stronger.
It scares me a little as I’m not sure what it is, but I don’t think it’s bad.
Nothing that feels this good can be bad.
Maddox nuzzles me more then he abruptly stops. He lifts his head and sniffs the air, then snaps his head down to look at me.
Do I smell bad?
Slowly, he pushes himself off me and quickly darts away to where the supplies are kept. I watch him shift and pull on clothes quickly. I don’t get more than a quick peek at his ass before he’s walking into the woods.
Well, that was weird.
I’m still on my back and turn my head the other way, realizing Chase is still beside me in the same position, all four feet in the air, watching me.
When he sees me looking, he gives me a big, wet lick up the side of my face, then jumps up and runs off down the trail to the pond.
Okay… He doesn’t seem upset, but where did he go?
Deciding it's time to get up anyway, I roll over and stand, shaking out my fur as I notice the other three sitting around the fire in human form.
“Good morning. Breakfast is almost ready,” Gage tells me. “There’s water in those bowls over there. Have a drink before you eat, it’ll ease digestion.” I look where he’s pointing and move to lap up some water.
Standing at the edge of the clearing, I wonder what to do now. I’ve been spending all my time in the cave before last night, because I preferred to be alone. But now… now I don’t know what I want anymore.
I want them.
I want to deny it, but I can’t lie to myself about this. They make me feel things I haven’t felt before, and I’m pretty sure I like it. But trust is still a hard thing to give out so freely.
Slowly, I move over to where Hunter and Bain rest on individual logs and sit right between them on the ground, watching Bain tend to the meat as I lick my lips.
Hunter chuckles. “It’s almost ready, baby girl. A few more minutes, plus a few minutes to let it cool down.” I let out a huff. Smelling it makes me want it now.
Bain lets out a small grunt, and I turn to look up at him. He stares down at me silently. I notice he doesn’t talk much, and I’m unable to read anything in those pale blue eyes of his.
What is he thinking when he looks at me? Is he remembering the way he held me in the water yesterday?
Because I am.
Nope. I shake my head at myself. Not this wolf. I do not need to be thinking about all five of these hunky men touching me and caring for me. That would be greedy.
Not greedy. They’re ours.
Internally, I frown at my own thoughts. It’s not that I’m not warming up to these guys. But I do know one little broken wolf can’t keep five amazing shifters all to her greedy self.
Says who?
I decide to ignore that question as I continue to stare up at Bain. I feel the urge to make him smile. I haven’t seen it yet. What would make this lumbersnack happy?
His hands rest on his knees, and I slowly lean forward and consider licking him, but get scared at the last second.
He might think that’s gross as he’s about to eat.
Instead, I gently push my nose under his hand so my head rests in his lap, his hand on my head, all while never breaking eye contact with him.
His eyes almost widen imperceptibly, then the corner of his mouth pulls up as his fingers start to stroke my face and neck.
Internally, I preen at getting that small reaction from him.
After a minute, I wiggle my body closer to him so I can lean against his side, and he lifts his arm so I can get more comfortable. He wraps his arm around me as he pets my neck, face, and head with both hands, staring at me with what I think is amusement the whole time.
He’s enjoying this.
I wonder why he likes it so much. I know why I like it; his fingers feel amazing in my fur. It’s so relaxing I might actually drift off to sleep...
I wake a little startled when I hear Chase speaking excitedly about breakfast being ready.
When did he get back? Oh, Maddox is here too.
I must have really been out of it. I lift my head but stay leaning against Bain, and he keeps one arm around me, moving his fingers through the fur of my neck and side where his hand rests.
Maddox frowns as he stares at Bain’s fingers, like he doesn’t understand what he’s doing.
He’s petting me, duh.
Hunter passes meat to all the men, and I’m ready to yip to let him know he forgot me when Bain holds out a piece of meat in front of my nose with his free hand.
I look at it, then up at him, and he juts his chin in the direction of the meat, so I gently bite it from his fingers.
It tastes so good that I lick my lips and look at him for more.
His lip twitches and I practically swoon.
I’ll make it my mission to make this man smile. He pulls more meat off the bone and offers it to me. I take it happily. Happy and feeding me? Maybe I have died and gone to heaven. Although if this were heaven, I’d be in my human form and sitting in his lap while he feeds me. Preferably naked.
Where did that thought come from?
I try to forget about my new boy-crazy side as I focus on the food. We spend the rest of our meal like this, Bain feeding me while the others watch with a combination of amusement and confusion, but I don’t care. I’m happy.
That thought sobers me. When was the last time I felt happy? And why does making Bain happy make me feel that way? I don’t know anything about him other than how quiet he is and that he looks good chopping wood.
But that isn’t true, is it? I know he is very protective of his pack, that he’s loyal and caring.
I watch the fire while he feeds and strokes me until I’m full, shaking my head when he offers more.
He finishes what he has and throws the bones into the fire.
Next, he starts massaging my head, neck, and ears with both hands, and it feels so nice that I rest my head back in his lap and close my eyes.
I shouldn’t let him pet me like a dog, but I love it. I decide there is no harm in letting him continue… just for a few minutes, then I’ll give him some space. I’m not his mate and can’t let my defenses down for too long here. I still don’t know much about them or the reasons behind their actions.
But the more time I spend around them, the more my walls seem to be crumbling down, and I can’t decide if I’m okay with that or not.
Opening my eyes slowly, I realize I’m no longer facing the fire. Instead, I’m looking at someone’s shirt-covered stomach. It has to be Bain’s based on the size. I tilt my eyes upward to confirm it’s him, and sure enough, there he is, watching me with those penetrating blue eyes.
I’m basically curled up in his lap. How on earth did I get here? And how do I even fit? I suppose I am a small wolf and he is a big man, but it’s still surprising.
I lift my head and glance around. The twins are kicking a soccer ball with Maddox, while Gage reads a book a few feet away. He must sense me looking at him because his eyes lift to meet mine.
“Did you have a good nap?” he asks, his voice smooth, calm, and deep. I quickly scramble out of Bain’s lap, feeling embarrassed.
“I didn’t mean anything by it. You actually looked peaceful in your sleep for once,” Gage says, trying to reassure me, but I still feel uneasy about it. Did I crawl into Bain’s lap while I was asleep? Or did Bain move me there?
Deciding to give myself something to do, I trot over to the water bowl and take a long drink. I go to relieve myself, and when I return, I sit at the side of their makeshift field and watch Maddox, Chase, and Hunter play soccer.
“Come on, blue. Join us!” Chase yells as he runs past with the ball, his pink hair flying around with the movement.
Even if it does look fun, I feel too nervous to join them, so I lie down with my head on my paws and watch them instead.
It gives me something to do, and, boy, is it something to watch.
Chase has removed his shirt, and the revealed skin is something I can’t look away from.
He’s bulkier than his twin, though not as big as Bain, and as he runs, I see every muscle in his chest and back moving.
He has tattoos running across his muscular chest and up his left arm, making him look like a work of art. It’s mesmerizing.
After lunch, we go to the pond to bathe. The memory of Bain and Maddox holding me in the water is still burned into my brain, so I decide I can’t let myself go in the water with them. I’m stuck in my wolf form and have never wanted not to be more than when I’m being held by a naked god of a man.
Watching them in the water is almost as bad as being held by them. I end up turning to face the forest, unable to control my thoughts when I watch them bathe. I manage to avoid seeing any of their lower halves, but knowing they are naked in there makes my heartbeat increase.
When they are finally done torturing me, we head back to camp, where Hunter and Chase cook some sort of bird they caught. I’m jealous of their wolf’s ability to hunt and catch prey so easily. It’s something I’ll need if I ever try to make it on my own.
Do I want to go out on my own? I hadn’t even thought of trying to run off today.
Since I decided to try and trust them, hoping it will help me shift, all thoughts of escape have left me.
Every day that passes without them demanding anything from me or harming me, I start to believe that they are the good men they appear to be.
Later that night, when I start to get sleepy lying around the fire, I stand up, stretch, and yawn then head into the cave. I still feel safer sleeping in the cave than out in the open. However, I hope that at least one of them joins me tonight. If I could speak, I would ask.
At the entrance, I glance back over my shoulder and see them all watching me. I hold each of their gazes for a moment, silently begging for them to follow me. When nobody moves, I drop my head, move to the back of my cave, curl up in my usual position, and close my eyes.
A minute later, I hear the sound of pebbles moving across the cave floor and look up to find the twins, in wolf form, walking toward me.
Hunter lowers his nose and presses the top of his head against mine in greeting, then moves to lie right against my left side.
Chase presses his nose into my neck then lies at my other side, essentially sandwiching me between the two of them.
A strange feeling of joy moves through me. Without being able to speak, they knew what I wanted. Either that, or they wanted this too.
As I start to settle, I hear Maddox and Gage come in, which tells me Bain will take the first shift at standing guard, something I’ve noticed they do throughout the night. Maddox lies near my head, and Gage moves in close behind him, creating a large puppy pile. Or is it called a wolfy pile?
Whatever it’s called, I love it. I haven’t felt this connected to anyone since my family was alive. Even then, it didn’t feel like this. Like I was the center of something special.
When I’m able to shift, I doubt we’ll continue to sleep like this. They must have their own homes with their own individual beds. Whose bed do I hope to share?
Maddox, with his powerful energy and his green eyes that seem to beg me to obey his every wish?
Or Bain, with his strong arms and protective spirit?
He’d be the type of man to make sure my pleasure comes before his own.
Or Hunter, with his calm, playful energy and serious brown eyes?
Or Chase, who feels like he’d be my best friend and lover wrapped in one exciting, drool-worthy package?
And finally, my thoughts go to Gage. His bright blue eyes, not too dissimilar from my own, trap me.
When he looks at me, it’s like he can see all the way into my soul. He’s both intense and sensitive.
I have a feeling that I won’t be lucky enough to be fated to any of them. Not that they’d want a broken wolf like me, anyway.