9. Trapped
So. The long and short of it is: we’re trapped.
I’d hoped that maybe it was just me. When I swore I sensed a witch outside of our cave, I went motionless for a few minutes, trying to figure out if they knew where we were. For a couple of blissful seconds, I convinced myself that they didn’t—and when my protective wolf urged me to go out and see for myself, I discovered that I couldn’t.
As though there’s some kind of invisible barrier blocking the narrow crevice that leads to the cave, I can’t get through it. Worse, it zapped me so hard when I tried, it tossed me backward.
Not the best thing in the world when you’re naked and the crevice you’re wiggling your way through is maybe three-feet wide at the most. I got tossed around in there like I was a Luna-damn ping-pong ball.
My scrapes and bruises were basically healed by the time Tristan came to, but to show him what I meant, I volunteered to try again.
And, yup, it hurt even worse the second time.
I tried to tell him not to attempt it himself. After all, he only just woke up from the last witch spell that hit him. I can take a hit and be fine. But Tristan? He’s still healing other injuries.
Though, I notice now that our bond seems to be working again, he’s recovering a lot faster than I would’ve expected.
In the back of my mind, I can’t help but think that my suspicions were true. That he did use too much of his shifter energy to block me, but now that he isn’t? He’s regenerating at the usual pace for a beta wolf.
Great. That still doesn’t explain why our bond is open—unless he needed that extra energy. But if that was the case… was our bond open before he got hit? Or am I just being delusional again?
I refuse to think about that right now. Especially since Tristan insists on poking the invisible barrier. He doesn’t walk right into it like I did, so at least that’s something, though he does get zapped. Luckily, it’s not as bad as mine—he only gets knocked back on his ass instead of tossed around—but it does let us know one thing: we’re both trapped.
And Tristan thinks he knows how.
I made another mistake. Gabriel was the bigger threat, but that didn’t mean that Claude was harmless. By not double-checking that he was dead dead, it seems as if he was able to follow us to the waterfall, using his blood to create a ward that neither Tristan or me can escape.
Because that’s what that is. A blood ward designed to keep us in.
After living alongside a witch coven for almost a century, Tristan knows a bit about blood wards. While the most well-known type of ward is when a witch takes a little blood for someone, using that as a basis for the warding spell, it seems like death magic is a thing.
Claude didn’t use our blood to seal us up in the cave. He used his own, and the fact that it’s impenetrable means it was probably the last thing he did before dying. And since a death curse uses the last of his life force to cast it, it doesn’t disappear as soon as he stops breathing.
Nope. It’s not just impenetrable—it’s seemingly unbreakable.
Lovely.
Here’s hoping that he, like, dropped just beyond the waterfall or something. It’ll make it’ll a whole lot easier for the rest of the pack to find us if there’s a dead witch covered in shifter wounds acting like a fucking neon sign, saying: two wolf shifters trapped inside.
Fallon’s the coven leader now, right? She can get one of her witches to reverse it.
Right?
Hours later,we’re both still in our human shapes.
I can shift to my wolf. Tristan, though? He can’t.
That must have been one last fuck you from Gabriel. Whatever his spell did to Tristan, it made it impossible for the Beta to tap into his wolf.
He’s taking it much better than I am. I guess, after seeing what his Alpha went through—dealing with becoming a feral beast during the full and new moons every month—losing control of his shift is a much better curse to be dealt than having a beast he can’t control.
Tristan assures me that he can still reach his wolf. It’s more like his wolf is sleeping, and he suggests that we try to do the same.
“Things will look better in the morning,” he promises. “My wolf will be okay. Luc and Fallon will probably realize something’s wrong and come looking for us. Everything will be fine.”
Those are all very Lorelei things to say. My twin always looks on the bright side of life, and I’n so fucking glad our twin bond doesn’t stretch across states, because I’d hate for her to have any idea what kind of trouble I’m in right now because… yeah. Pessimistic Jeannie Lipton is pretty sure this situation is gonna look as crappy when we wake up in the morning as it does now.
Sure, he might be able to shift back, but it’s not like his wolf can help us break out. Fallon and Lucas will figure out we’re missing, and knowing that we would never be together unless we had to, Fal will immediately jump to something being wrong.
Does that mean she can break us out of here? Claws crossed.
Since he can’t shift, I figure misery is company and I stay in my skin. It’s better this way, too, because we can actually communicate with words. My type of wolf can understand another shifter no matter what shape I’m in, but that’s a guardian thing. If I go to my fur, I won’t be able to talk to Tristan.
Not that we’ve done much talking other than discussing the trouble that we’re in. Talking about what happened at the creek earlier—either today, or the first day we met—is a no-go… mainly because anytime Tristan tries to bring it up, I shut that shit down real quick.
Sensing his emotions before… that wasn’t a fluke, either. I’m actually the one doing my best putting up some kind of boundaries between us. I don’t block him off, but my aura makes it very clear: don’t push me on this.
For the most part, he gets the message. He does apologize for leaving me in a situation where I had to pick him up and carry him to safety, but I nip that shit in the bud, too.
“I’m a protector,” I tell him in that flat voice I use when I’m trying not to lose my temper.
He knows that, too. “For the Luna. On her orders. But you’re my mate?—”
That’s not the first time he’s called me that. That he’s acknowledged what I’ve known for months. I ignore it before just like I ignore it now.
Besides, I can’t change the truth. I am his mate. Until one of us rejects the other—and I’ve made my stance clear from the beginning that it was never gonna be me—our bond exists. It’s back now, too, so I can sense he’s telling the truth every time he says it even without using the Luna’s power to compel him to.
So all I say is, “All the more reason for me to protect you, too.”
Tristan’s quiet after that. It’s not a bad quiet, either. It’s thoughtful.
He’s obviously thinking about something. So am I.
We have no idea how long we’re going to be trapped in this cave. Minutes? Hours? Days? He can’t shift. I won’t until I’m sure he can. You know where that leaves us? Stuck in the dark, no food, no water, in the damp, in the chill—and, fuck it, we’re both naked.
I can pinpoint the exact moment Tristan starts to notice. Unlike catching a glimpse of a fellow packmate after a shift, this is different. There’s a sexual attraction that’s never been in doubt, and with our bond open? It’s doubled.
Lust thickens the air. Not gonna lie, a good chunk of it is mine. I’ve never bothered hiding my attraction to Tristan. The Beta’s gorgeous, and when he’s not growling at me, Fallon insists he has an easy-going personality.
I’ve wanted to get to know that Tristan, but he never gave me the chance. Stuck together in this cave… maybe it’s time. Even from across the cave, I can feel his stare heating up my skin, sense the need welling up inside of him.
He’s still a little sore that I would’ve given my lift for him. He makes that clear almost immediately. Though I discover he wasn’t faking his injuries from Gabriel’s hit, it was hearing me goad Claude into coming at me that gave him the strength to go for the witch’s cock and balls.
To a shifter, that bloodthirsty and protective of a gesture is almost like a Luna damn proposal. In fact, the only thing that would make it more obvious that he considered me his mate would be if he fed me…
…or, you know, actually mating.
We can’t do anything about that first part. It’s an empty cave. We’re shit out of luck when it comes to some stray prey animal wandering inside, prepared to be a meal to a pair of wolf shifters. Now that we’re trapped? I don’t even know if the blood ward is keyed just to us, or if nothing can get in or out.
No food.
No help.
No hope…
Well, I don’t have any. Tristan does, and I’m just so happy that he’s feeling better, I let him try his best to convince me that everything will be okay.
The Beta figures that out pretty quickly. That, or he’s learned enough about me in the last three months to know that it really wouldn’t take much to get me to touch him. Considering the way I basically jumped him when we were first met, I’m no shy virgin.
But I’m also not about to put out only to have him reject me again…
So when he suggests we try to get some rest, then has the nerve to sprawl out on the hard ground before patting the space in front of him, I so want to say ‘yes, please’ and take him up on his offer.
If only. But I’ve been burned before. Not just by Tristan, either.
His expression is hidden in the shadows of the cave. I only know that he’s lying on his side because the shape of the darker shadow has moved. His hand rapping against the ground echoes around the space so that was pretty obvious, too.
So is what he wants…
“Yes?”
“Come over here, Jeannie.”
Yes—
“I’m good.”
“Please.”
Damn it. As much as I’m a hard-ass, I do have a couple of weaknesses. Pups. Weaker shifters and full humans in need of protection. A caramel latte with whipped cream, extra caramel.
And the way a needy male says please…
Betas are a dominant rank of wolf. They’re right beneath the Alphas in shifter society, and I’ve spent months trying hard to convince myself that Tristan didn’t run away from me because he caught on to the fact that I was dominant, too.
Maybe even more dominant than he was.
I didn’t want to believe that the Luna would give me a mate who couldn’t handle every facet of me: dark and guarded, protective and sassy. That’s just who I am, and if Tristan chose not to accept that, it was his loss.
It’s one of the reasons why I’ve never mated another shifter before. I stuck will full humans for all of my trysts because I could handpick those who wanted a woman to control them in the sack. With shifters… a delta might, but a beta? I never thought I’d hear Tristan Crowder say ‘please’ like that to me.
But he did, and though I huff as I basically scuttle over to the other side of the cave, it never occurred to me to give him a little taste of his medicine and rebuff him.
“Okay. Now what.”
“Lie down, Jeannie.”
I plop down. I got used to the cold floor making my ass chilly, but as I lower myself so that I’m on my side, I shiver all over again.
Tristan lays his hand on my hip. “You’re cold.”
“I’m in my skin.”
“So shift.”
I could. I’m not going to. “It’s fine.”
“Here. If that’s how you’re going to be, at least let me warm you up.” Looping his arm around my waist, Tristan tugs against his chest. He might not be able to access his fur coat, but, hey, shifters run hot, and he does more than warm me with his embrace.
Holy shit. I feel like I’m burning up.
It doesn’t help that I’m pressed right against him. That means his arm is caging me in, his chest is scalding my back, and his dick… yup. It’s like a length of pipe is cushioned between my ass and his junk.
I’m not surprised he’s hard. I’m just a little shocked that he doesn’t care if I know it.
“There,” he murmurs. “Is that better?”
“It’s alright.”
Tristan chuckles. “You know what? Fallon was right when she said you were a shit liar. You just can’t help but let everyone know what you’re really thinking.”
I scoot away from him. “Trust me, Tristan. You don’t want to know what I’m thinking.”
“If our bond was still intact, you’d have no choice.”
“The bond you blocked.”
He pauses. “If that’s what you think I did.”
No. That’s what I know he did.
“Forget it.”
“Mm. Okay. I’d rather snuggle than argue with you anyway. If you’re going to bite my head off, at least I have you skin-to-skin while you did it.” And, punctuating his surprisingly light-hearted comment, he uses his shifter strength to pull me against him again.
Actually, he used a little more force than before. My back arches, my ass slamming into his dick so quickly, the entire fucking thing seems to be nestled in my cheeks.
I gasp.
He growls.
I can’t help myself. It’s such a ridiculous situation that, if I don’t laugh now, I might start cursing up a storm at how quickly my fate has changed. “You know, you made that sound at the creek earlier. I thought you were pissed at me.”
It’s not the only time he has, and I’ve clocked it as half possessive, half pissed whenever he does it.
“I was,” he says bluntly. “You were sleeping naked by the creek where anyone could’ve seen you.”
And? “I’m a predator, hotshot. Even if they tried to catch me off-guard, I think I could’ve handled them. I’m two-for-two with witches, yeah?”
I had to say it. What happened with the witches… that just proves my point. I’m not the one who went down when the spells were flying. For Luna’s sake, my wolf is too vicious to go down until I’m dead.
But she’s still got a protector streak a mile wide. Usually, I only take care of those that the Luna tells me to. Lorelei is the only exception, though I’ve recently added Fallon to the list; my duty to her and Jolie is complete, but if anyone fucks with her, they have to go through me first. The way she insisted on shielding Tristan and doing anything to keep him safe while he was too vulnerable to do so himself?
My wolf wanted to protect him—because my wolf still looks at his and sees her mate.
“I’m not worried about that. I know what happened at the Coven House. How you tore out Remy Gauther’s throat… do you know how long I’ve wanted to do that? All the decades of listening to him run his mouth, but I couldn’t do shit about it because Lucas insisted on an uneasy truce with the witches until the curse was broken? And you did it, easy as that.”
Something happens. Tristan moves, taking his cock with him, and I figure he just caught on to the fact that, with the right angle, he could easily mount me—and I probably would’ve let him.
His skin slides across the cave floor. I hear it, but I have no idea where he’s going until one warm hand settles on my thigh. That’s not all he does, either.
Tristan nuzzles my hip with his nose before slowly, slowly using his grip to ease me onto my back.
I start to protest, but my words dies a quick death when he whispers into the cave, “When I scented the echoes of his blood on you, if I’d have been in my human form, I’d have creamed my pants.”
Really? I never would’ve guessed it. In fact, when the golden wolf with the slight limp formed one point of a triangle with his Alpha and his packmate, the only thing I remember is the possessive yet judgemental sound he made before he yipped at me.
“You growled,” I remind him, panting in anticipation.
In anticipation for what? No clue. But I’d be lying if I said I didn’t sense something in the air apart from mildew.
“Of course I did. Ellie’s cloak didn’t cover much. I could see everything.”
“What?” Planting my hand on his forehead—though it’s still so dark, my palm mashes into his nose—I push him away from me. “Did my naked body offend the Beta’s sensibilities that bad?”
The edge of my palm is suddenly damp. Damp and hot.
I yelp. “Did you just lick my hand?”
“I want to know your taste. Since you tried to stop me, I took what I could get.”
My taste? “Most people start with a kiss, you know. If you really want to know what I taste like.”
I’m being bitchy. I can’t help it. This is such an about-face for the Beta, and though I’m guarding my heart a lot better than my pussy right now by not asking him about that, he has to remember that he does know what I taste like.
We had our first frantic kiss by the creek right before he rejected me for the first time.
“Oh, Jeannie… I know.” I can’t see him yet, but I can sense his smile in the easy way he says my name. “And I could’ve handled this whole mate thing a lot better… I’d apologize if I thought the words would actually sway you… but I’m beginning to understand that it’s not words that’ll do it for you. You need a male to act.”
He’s not wrong. “Yeah? And?”
“I can do both if you let me. I can tell you that I’ve been dying to kiss you again, but if this is the only chance I get to be close to you… I’ve spent decades dreaming of this. But since you need actions…”
Using his hand to move mine away that so I’m no longer blocking his access to my pussy, he pushes gently with his other, opening a gap between my legs big enough for him to shift his body into the space.
I could’ve stopped him at any moment. With my wolf, with my words, or even a warning down the whisper-thin bond stretching between us again. If I didn’t want his mouth on my pussy, it wouldn’t be there.
But, Luna help me, I do—so I brace my body up on my elbows and forearms, throwing my head back with the first heated swipe of his tongue after he uses his fingers to lift my labia, baring the rest of me to him.
Tristan said he’s been dying to do this. That he’s dreamed of it.
And then, after only a few seconds of his mouth on me, he lifts his head. “No.”
That single word snaps me out of my pleasurable bliss.
No?
My foot goes straight to his shoulder. It might tear a ligament or two when I kick the Beta away from me, but if he hates going down on me that bad, he can get the fuck away from me.
I knew it. I let my guard down for an instant, but this male only rejected me again.
What the hell was I thinking? Was I so relieved that he was here, that he seemed interested in giving this mating thing a second chance that I forgot how bad it hurt to know he was mine and not be able to have him.
I thought I did. With his nose nuzzling my clit, his tongue dipping into my pussy… I was already imagining what it would be like to take his cock next.
And now this?
Tristan tenses under my foot. “Jeannie, wait.”
“You have two seconds to explain why I shouldn’t kick you to the other side of the cave.”
“Sorry. I’m sorry. Your musk… I think it went straight to my head. Am I drunk? Shifters don’t get drunk so I don’t know if that’s what this is like, but your scent… your taste… I didn’t realize how that would sound until I already said it.”
“One.”
He lifts his hand, thumb squeezing my inner thigh. What’s he going to do? Latch on if I do kick him? And then the air around us moves as he shakes his head.
“I was answering you from before. That’s why I said ‘no’.”
I flex my toes. “Tw?—”
He laughs. I’m threatening bodily harm, and Tristan laughs. “Anyone ever tell you you’re a feisty she-wolf?”
“Yes,” I say flatly. “Usually human males who thought that was the best way to sweet-talk me into their beds.”
His laugh dies a quick death. To my surprise, there’s that possessive growl again. “When you’re with me, there are no other males. I know you have a past. A beauty like you… I’d be fooling myself if you didn’t have males trying to mate you. But you’re here now. The Luna said you were mine… and I’m done with pretending you’re not.”
Luna damn it. It shouldn”t work. After three months of this male purposely avoiding me and our mate bond, this about-face shouldn’t do shit for me.
But while commenting on my attitude and talking to my boobs instead of me never seemed to work for any of my previous prospective lovers, if there’s one sure-fire way to get my motor running, it’s a male acting possessive over me.
Part of me hates it. I’m a dominant wolf shifter who kills for the Luna. But another part? The part that needs to protect?
It loves it.
“Your body doesn’t offend me, Jeannie. It excites me, and makes me think things I never have before. It makes me want to do things I never have before… and I couldn’t stand the thought of anyone else looking at you and having those same thoughts.”
He lowers his head, suckling my clit into his mouth. I suck in a breath, the heat of his mouth on my skin almost making me forget what it was he said a second ago.
Never done before…
“So… what? This is your first time?”
“Oh, Jeannie… haven’t you figured it out? I’ve waited seventy years for my mate.” He buries his face in my pussy, lapping at my slit before gazing up at me. His eyes are white, his wolf in complete control as he says, “For you.”
Seeing his wolf in his eyes gives me an idea. Even though the Luna has been silent, I’m still Luna-touched. I won’t be able to hold it for long, but I tap into her power, making my usually tanned skin glow just enough that I can see the expression of pure hunger on Tristan’s face.
Hunger and wonder.
I smirk. “Sometimes it helps if you can see what you’re doing, hotshot. I mean, anything worth doing is doing right.”
He grins. “Then I better make sure I do it right.”
And, lowering his head once more, treating my pussy as if it’s his favorite meal, the Beta of the Winter Creek Pack does just that.