Page 202 of Shifting Hearts 1
“You’re fucking kidding. Get off me.” I shoved at him again, knowing he wouldn’t move. Without a second’s thought, I headbutted him, tasting blood as my teeth pierced the tip of my tongue.
Mistake.
Wolf still hadn’t moved, but the desire in his face morphed to one of raw hunger. “Fight me, princess. I don’t care.” His hands clasped my cheeks, cradling beneath my jaw as his claws dug at my skin. “Open,” he demanded.
I shut my mouth. “Uhmhh,” I muttered.
“Fine.” He considered me for a moment while the tree at my back shifted restlessly. Then his mouth slammed down on mine, the pressure so electric that I inhaled sharply.
That was all the invitation he needed to thrust his tongue into my mouth, licking at the source of self-inflicted pain, and tasting and exploring. The pressure between my thighs throbbed with the sort of fury I’d never experienced before. I rubbed my hips wildly against his crotch, all conscious thought forgotten in the madness of pure need seeded deep from within.
Wolf broke the kiss, panting. His mouth was stained with my blood, and maybe his. “That wasn’t smart, princess.”
“Yeah, I’m stupid like that,” I muttered, each coveted breath only making it shallowly into my lungs.
Wolf’s onyx eyes flickered and narrowed. “You’re far from stupid, Bryn,” he murmured, his body settling against mine.
I blinked and shook my head. “How do you know my name?”
“I know everything about you.” His black eyes glowed with dark fire. He leaned into my space until his mouth found mine in a soft, almost tender kiss. My furry stalker was confusing as hell. “I know you sleep in spare beds, and never feel at home. I know you constantly look over your shoulder, though you don’t know why, or what for. I know you are in more danger than you’ve ever believed, and I know how you moan beautifully when you come.”
My already stunted breath hitched in my chest. I gripped his shoulders for purchase as my vision tunneled at the edges. “That last was completely unnecessary.”
“Is that what you focused on in all that, princess?” Wolf laughed softly, joined by the tree in his whispery voice. “But sotrue.” He licked his lips free of my blood and actuallygroaned. “I like the taste of you. I want…more.”
“Wait. My Gr— the person on the other side,” I said carefully, figuring they knew what I was talking about and unwilling to be cut off again. “What you said before.” I frowned, my need forgotten. “That’s madness.”
“Madness indeed,” the tree huffed, shifting at my back until his branches wound around my sides, encasing me and Wolf in an intimate, three way embrace. And unbreakable, like a living cage. “I watch everything. I see the children. One way they are safe, the other way they are not.”
I frowned at the tree’s riddle, hating that I couldn’t look up at his angular face from this angle. Not that I understood his expressions, but these monsters in the woods—they weremydamn monsters.
“But the children. They’re hurt,” I explained, staring into Wolf’s eyes, seeking compassion or understanding there, and getting nothing back. I huffed the last of my precious air at him. “They’re abused, you assholes,” I shouted, my voice straining to a whisper, like Tree’s.
What? One’s called Wolf, the other gets to be Tree. Deal.
“They are, but not by their families. Yourgran,”Wolf spat the word like it personally offended him, “sells children from seller to seller. If they are too damaged, they need a place to heal before they're sent off to their new owners. That’s all you’re doing. Taking them from one hell of fear and destitution, and sending them to the next. I should know. I collect the bounties on those they are sold to, and give those poor victims a choice of true freedom.”
“No.”I stared in horror. “No! You’ve got it wrong. That’s not what we do. We’resavingthem–”
“But what if you're not?” His voice lowered, soothing. Seductive. “What if you’re just taking them from one hellhole toanother? What if I have three warrants in my pocket, and your name is on one of them? A bounty for each? But you…I’ll do you for much less.” He licked his lips, his gaze dropping to my mouth.
My lips tingled traitorously as a dual opposing shot of horror and need doused me.
“Fuck you,” I hissed.
Wolf smiled. “I will.”
My lips pulled back in a snarl, ready to hiss again. The motion was pulled into a whimper as something banded around my forehead, pulling me backward. “What—” Another branch, slim enough to cover my mouth pressed to my lips and pressed inward. “Nu-uh,” I mumbled through clenched teeth. “No way.”
“Yes way. Dagan doesn’t like your filthy mouth. Though I must admit it holds a certain…appeal.” Wolf added a hand to the act, closing it around my throat. “I am sorry you found out like this. If it makes it easier I'll tear up your bounty and burn it. But the other two… Those I will claim, princess.” His markings tightened as his fingers closed inexorably on my throat.
“Stop,” I whispered, my lips parting just enough for the branch to slip lengthways across my mouth, behind my front teeth, like a gag. To my horror, a bubble formed, filling my mouth and widening my jaw. “Thoop,” I shrieked, but barely any sound emerged.
“Perfect.” Wolf stepped back, his cruel smile back in place as tears tracked my face.
“I agree,” whispered Tree. Or Dagan. Or whatever name the tree that held me prisoner went by.
I played the stupid rhyme over in my head until the tears stopped, and managed to breathe through the corners of my mouth when my nose refused to work properly.
