Tropical Wounded Wolf (Shifting Sands Resort 2)

Then Neal stirred, and sighed, and said, Come home.

Mary woke with a start, her fingers buried in a coarse red mane, and not Neal’s short hair. She looked down in wonder at the creature lying beside her. He had done it. Neal had shifted. He had overcome years of trauma and fear and terror, and found his way home again.

The red maned wolf still slept, but his breath was strong, and when Mary felt through his fur to his skin, his heartbeat was steady. She wept, exhausted, and buried her face in his fur.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Neal woke from dreams of dark-skied sunlight and bones that cracked back into their proper places with blood-chilling sounds. Mary was curled at his side as a deer, head resting against his neck, and it felt comfortable and right, as very little had felt comfortable and right in the last decade.

Looking down at his body, he found that it was not strange or triggering to have paws again, and his wolf was not a painful thorn in his mental side, but a trusted companion once again.

Sunrise was beginning to color the ocean before them, and the tide was out again, revealing a golden-white semicircle of pristine sand.

He was breathing easily again, he realized, and took a particularly deep experimental inhalation.

It still hurt, and his chest still felt tight, but it was markedly better. His leg had only the barest of aches.

Neal was surprised. He knew how deadly even a partially collapsed lung could be, and while he knew that shifting could heal many ills, he had not expected this level of improvement.

Mary’s breath changed and Neal put his nose to hers and gave a grateful, tender lick as she woke.

Her shift to human was seamless and smooth, and Neal wondered if he had ever shifted so gracefully. His own transformation was rockier—he could feel the injured places inside stretch and change as he returned to his human shape. As his body remade itself, it tried to make itself properly, healing the leaking places in his lungs.

“Oh, Neal.” Mary was weeping, wrapping her arms around his neck as he rose to gather her up for a close embrace. “I thought I’d lost you.”

“I love you,” he told her, holding her tightly against him. He still felt weak and slightly dizzy, but the feeling of her skin against his made his strength return. “I love you,” he repeated.

She snuggled closer, and Neal could feel her smile against his neck. “I know.”

“I’m sorry I was so stubborn,” he said sheepishly.

“There you go apologizing again,” she teased, but she said it lightly.

I forgive you, his wolf said loftily, as if he’d been the recipient of the apology.

I missed you, he admitted to it, wondering what his response would be.

He got in return a lupine laugh, lolling tongue and all.

“Mmm, you are feeling better,” Mary observed, and Neal realized that he had a terrific erection, pressing between them.

“I have lost time to make up for,” he said, running a thumb along the slope her neck to her shoulder. “Here we are, lost in the romantic, tropical wilderness, and all I wanted to do was lie in the sand and let you make fire and save us. At the very least, there should have been more snuggling together for warmth.”

He followed his thumb with his mouth, kissing to her collarbone, and she hissed in pleasure.

“Will you be very disappointed if I tell you I don’t want to just snuggle right now?” she asked slyly.

“I’ll take a raincheck,” Neal suggested. He didn’t stop at her collarbone, but fell to her bountiful breasts, kissing until he had to cough.

“You’re still not fully healed,” Mary said, drawing back in concern.

“A few more shifts to get everything back into proper shape,” Neal guessed, battling his breath back. “But I’m well enough for this.” His erection had not ebbed after his coughing fit, and his hands were hungry for Mary’s soft skin.

“Maybe you should let me look you over,” Mary suggested, and when she put her hands on Neal’s shoulders, pushed him back down onto the sand and straddled him, he let her.

“You need a proper inspection,” she said with a laugh.

First, she kissed him on the mouth, firmly but gently, slowly and with breaks so that he never ran out of air, then started to work her way down his body. Every scratch got a feathery kiss, and spaces between got licks and caresses. She worked her way down his chest, pausing to tease his nipples, and Neal had to draw in a sharp breath as she teased down his abs on a sure course towards the member that was acting as a flagpole below.