Page 21 of A Hunter Cursed
His smile was reassuring as he confirmed, “I’ll still be me, just a different form.”
Her nod was thoughtful, though the way she transferred her weight from foot to foot suggested she was nervous.
“We don’t have to do this,” Jeremiah told her.
Keegan visibly steeled herself. “I want to,” she told him adamantly. “This is a big part of who you are and I want to see.”
Jeremiah was thrilled that she wanted to know this part of him as well. This seemed to be a night of milestones – they’d actually gone out at night rather than during the bright light of day, their flirting had evolved into actual kissing and touching, and now, she wanted to meet the other side of him. Not to mention, all of this was despite her belief that she was cursed. His mate was incredibly brave and, as impossible as it seemed, he fell even more in love with her.
Before he stripped off his final piece of clothing, he checked one more time. “Are you ready?”
Her nervousness had disappeared in favor of once more eating him up with those gorgeous, big, blue eyes of hers. She nodded, and Jeremiah pushed down his boxer briefs and immediately shifted.
Keegan let out a little gasp. Not out of fear, but in awe. Cautiously, Jeremiah padded closer until he could gently bump her leg with his head. Her hand dropped, fingers sinking into his fur to stroke him. If he were a cat, he would have purred.
Slowly, carefully, Keegan bent down, her hand still smoothing over his pelt. Her words were barely more than a whisper as she told him, “You are beautiful.”
Jeremiah wanted to preen. Trotting a few feet away, he posed for her, head held high, and Keegan let out a delighted laugh at his antics. Tipping his head back, he let out a long, low howl and saw her raise her hands to her cheeks, tears swimming in her eyes but a smile on her lips. Returning to her side, she once more buried her fingers in his fur as she told him, “This is amazing.Youare amazing. Thank you for sharing this with me.”
Lowering herself to the ground, Keegan sat in a cross-legged position and Jeremiah laid down as well, his head on her lap so she could continue to pet him. They stayed that way for quite a while, Keegan occasionally looking up at the sky and pointing out constellations as he listened to the sound of her voice and reveled in the feel of her stroking hand.
It was only once she’d begun to yawn, her eyes growing heavy-lidded, that he shifted back to his human form and quickly dressed. As with the need to feed his mate, seeing her obvious exhaustion had kicked his protective instincts into over-drive. He didn’t even want to bring her back to her own car, wanted instead, to see her safely home and tucked into bed with his own two eyes, but he didn’t think those kinds of heavy-handed tactics would go over well. Considering she was a witch who could most likely put a spell on him that would shrivel his balls into raisins if she got pissed enough, it was probably best to keep those particular domineering urges well leashed.
“Are you sure you’re okay to drive?” he asked once they were standing beside her car, tacking on, “It’s no problem for me to give you a ride home and drop your car off to you later.”
Keegan shot him a fond smile and teased, “Would you even fit behind the wheel?”
He couldn’t hold back his bark of laughter before he told her, “I’d call in a much smaller pack member.”
Shaking her head with a grin, she patted his chest. “I’ll be fine.”
“Can I at least follow you? Make sure you get home okay?”
Jeremiah held his breath, waiting for her reply. Before tonight, she wouldn’t even let him pick her up, insisting they meet places instead. They may have made progress in leaps and bounds tonight, but that didn’t necessarily mean she would suddenly be okay with him knowing where she lived.
“If it’ll set your mind at ease, you can follow me home.”
He let out the breath he’d been holding in a big gust of relief. “I won’t come in,” he quickly assured her. “I know you’re tired.”
As if him saying the word had conjured it, Keegan attempted to stifle another yawn behind her hand. “I think that spell I did today took more out of me than I realized,” she muttered with a little shake of her head before she shot him a smile. Her hands lifted to his face to stroke his jaw. “I had a good time tonight. Thank you.”
She rose on her tiptoes, and Jeremiah lowered his head, eagerly accepting her chaste kiss of goodbye. When she pulled back, she was smiling. “Call me tomorrow?”
Nodding, he watched her get into her car before he returned to his Suburban and pulled out behind her.
Her apartment building on Royal Street in the French Quarter was adorable, just like her, and it made Jeremiah smile. Pink with gray shutters, it had black, wrought iron, scrollwork railings on the balconies that were practically a trademark for the area, and little flower boxes under the windows loaded with colorful blooms.
Waving to him as she unlocked the front door, Jeremiah watched for a few minutes more to make sure she got in okay before driving off.
Inhaling, he let out a rumbling growl of pleasure. The Suburban smelled like her now. A combination of her soap, shampoo, and laundry detergent with the faint, yet lingering musk of her earlier arousal. Shifting in his seat as his dick sprang back to full hardness, he decided that as soon as he got back home, he’d shift again and go for a run. There was no better way to work off a case of unfulfilled desire than a full-tilt race through the bayou guaranteed to tire him out.
Busying his mind by planning his next date with Keegan, Jeremiah made good time returning to pack lands. Stripping down to skin in his rig, he opened the door and shifted, taking off into the trees like a shot.
Barely ten minutes into his run, he staggered to a halt as a ringing in his ears began. It was just annoying at first, but the sound grew progressively louder. He shook his head to clear it, but still, the ringing persisted. Pawing at his ears, ineffectually, he shook his head again, the sound growing so loud he howled. His back legs buckled, and he stumbled. His stomach lurched as chills wracked his body and his visual field seemed to collapse around the edges. He hit the ground, unable to rise.
He didn’t know how long he’d been lying there in agony. It could have been mere minutes, though it felt like an eternity as that ringing grew to a scream in his head. Something fell on his shoulder and Jeremiah managed to jerk his head up and snap his teeth in warning only for him to see Archer squatting next to him. His alpha’s mouth was moving, his face lined with worry, but Jeremiah couldn’t hear. That ringing… it was so loud, so excruciatingly painful, he could no longer keep his head up or his eyes open.Stop, he mentally begged.Please, just stop. A moment later, he fell into blessed unconsciousness.
∞∞∞
