She nodded. “For what it’s worth, I hope she stays.”
“Me too.” Very, very much.
Gem ran, working her shorter legs hard to keep up with Shaun. She liked that he didn’t slow down for her anymore, that he pushed on and found a comfortable tempo to run. She was able to maintain the pace better now than when she’d started this adventure.
That’s what she needed to let him know. While seeing her father had brought up some doubts and concerns, it had also made one truth that much clearer. She and Shaun belonged together. Figuring out where to live was the least of their worries.
If her daddy had any idea of taking her back south against her will? There would be none of that. Plus, the one detail she and Shaun needed to complete? It was going to happen soon.
Her wolf shivered with anticipation.
They slowed as they reached the outskirts of their campsite, her heart pounding from the exertion and from the thrill of her secret plans. She tossed back her head and breathed deeply. The caribou were still in the area, their scent strong in her nostrils, but not as strong as she anticipated.
Ahead of her, Shaun had shifted back to human. She joined him, checking the landscape from their lookout perch.
He pointed to the side. “There. The caribou have already changed location. Not much, but enough we can get at our things.”
She squeezed him briefly before they shifted and returned to the tent.
They made quick work of packing, silent for the most part, talking as they gathered the scattered objects. Even a single night later, the animals and winds had begun to take their human possessions back to the wild. Gem smiled as she examined the chewed toe of a sock, the fabric shredded to fuzz, some no doubt stolen away for a nest or a burrow. She carefully pulled the rest of the sock apart and deposited the scraps into the scoop of a hollow at the edge of a bush. One of the small creatures of the tundra would find the supplies soon enough.
Pulling her hiking boots back on was painful, yet not as bad as she expected. The happiness she experienced every time they bumped elbows or rocked into each other in the tent…there was no containing how much she truly enjoyed being with him now.
They hit the path, and once they’d walked far enough their voices wouldn’t disturb anything, conversation began again.
“I’m sorry if I blew it with your father.”
Gem laughed. “He should be apologizing to you. And to me. That wasn’t what I expect of him.”
“Really?”
Well… “Okay, yes, he’s very decisive about what he wants for me, but I didn’t think he’d question if we really were mates.”
Shaun fell silent. She understood his reticence. There wasn’t much he could say. While neither of them had ever denied their mating, they hadn’t been shouting it out to the world either, had they? She hadn’t marked him, she hadn’t confirmed they would stay together.
A string of swear words bubbled inside, wanting very badly to escape. Northern air getting to her again, or simply what really needed to be said.
Gem paced closer to Shaun, to make sure he heard her question. “We going to camp one night on the way back?”
“I think so. You good to hike for a little longer tomorrow?”
Definitely, since she had plans for tonight. “That’s fine.”
They fell silent, the rhythm of hiking smooth and almost hypnotic as his feet hit the path ahead of her again and again. Thoughts raced through her mind in an endless loop.
North, south, north, south.
She had no idea, no way to know which was better. The only thing she knew for certain was that she had to be by his side.
They set up the tent again, got a pot of water going. Shaun sat across from her as she leaned away from lighting the stove, the most peculiar expression on his face.
“What?”
“You look… No, it’s silly.”
Gem knelt back and planted her fists on her hips. “What?”
“You look good.”
Lot of work for a little compliment, but she’d take it. “Thank you.”
He didn’t stop staring. And she couldn’t stop staring back. Her wolf bumped her, hard. Really hard, and she swallowed with need.
Screw supper, she wanted her mate.
She turned off the burner and his brow rose. When she stood and reached down a hand to him, he smiled. “Are we fasting?”
“Shut up.”
“Shutting.”
The tent was small and cozy after the cold metal of the DEW Line building, the light making the blue nylon fabric glow above their heads. She scrambled out of her clothes, reaching to find he’d already joined her.
They tumbled together onto the sleeping-bag-covered Therm-a-Rests.
“Shaun?”
What to say? Or should she simply do? The questions disappeared when he rolled her to her back and lowered his head to kiss and suck on her breasts. He held her, cupping and supporting her as he drew the tips into his mouth and made her crazy.
There was a physical addiction happening here, and Gem had no intention of attempting to find a cure.
She scratched her nails down his body, pulling a groan of happiness from his lips. As she sat upright, he wiggled away, until with very little effort she had hold of the base of his cock, a trembling note of approval breaking free.
“What are you doing to me, love?”
Gem licked the salty seed from the slit, wetting the heated head of his shaft with her tongue before pulling away to respond. “If you have to ask, I must be doing it wrong.”
“No, no, totally right. Totally, oh my fucking—”
She’d enveloped his length completely, taking as much as possible, as deep as possible. The continued happy noises escaping him pleased her. Made the tingling and aching between her legs increase as well, wetness brushing her thighs. But she didn’t want to rush this. It had been a long time coming, and she was going to do everything right.
Slow drag up, quicker plunge down. She wrapped her fingers around the base of his erection, letting herself descend that far on each bob, her saliva coating him and easing the way. When she pressed her tongue hard along the underside of his shaft, he jerked his hips, catching hold of her head and freezing her in position.
“Don’t…move.”
Gem pulsed her lips and sucked.
“Arghhh, don’t do that either.” A series of short pants burst from him as he pulled himself free, lifting her from his groin.
She turned her most innocent face his direction. “But I wasn’t finished.”
He blew out a slow stream of air through pursed lips as he tweaked her nose. “We were nearly done before we began.”
“I wanted you to come.”
He grinned. “Oh, I will. But ladies first.”
Okay. She could work with that.
Somehow he flipped them around, and instead of her on top, giving to him, it was all about what he could do to drive her crazy.
He teased her nipples with his fingers. Trailed kisses down her belly, and licked the inside of her thighs. When she giggled, he planted his palms on her legs and pressed them apart, staring down at her sex with craving in his eyes.
And then…the things he did with his tongue were indescribable. Her mind went foggy right about the time he slipped a finger into her core. The first orgasm went off and she sighed.
He didn’t stop. A second finger joined the first, pressure building rapidly without a break as he licked and sucked, tossing her over another peak, and another, until she lay quivering with the excessive pleasure driving through her veins.