Cynful

He blinked. “Now, Julian, what?”

She huffed out a frustrated breath. “Why is it that when I want you to get naked you’re not, but when I don’t want you to—mmph!”

He didn’t hear the rest of what she wanted to say. Her shirt was blocking her face, after all. Julian had her clothes off her so fast a Cheetah would have missed it. Then he was kissing her again, tugging at his own clothes in a frenzy to get his skin against her skin. He barely got his jeans down to his knees when her legs wrapped around his waist and he was flipped onto his back.

He stared up at her, startled. How the hell…?

She grinned down at him and took his painfully erect cock in her hands. “Too slow!”

And then she was sliding down him, gripping him inside her, and it no longer mattered that he was too slow, or that his jeans were around his knees. His mate was riding him, her breasts bouncing, her face pinched in a way that told him she was riding the thin edge of her own orgasm.

Damn, she had the prettiest breasts he’d ever seen. He cupped them, thumbing her nipples into hard little points, grunting when she tightened around him. He let her set the pace, watching the way she took him. This first time, for him at least, had to be all about her. Whatever she needed, however she wanted to love him, he’d accept.

But later, it would be his turn.

Soft sighs, the creak of the bedframe and the slap of flesh against flesh filled the room. Cyn’s eyes were unfocused as she chased her orgasm, her hips snapping faster and faster. She clenched his shoulders, the small bite of pain barely registering as his spine began to tingle.

Julian grabbed and pulled her down, kissing her savagely as his body erupted. She cried out into his mouth, spasming around his cock as her orgasm took her.

Julian softened the kiss as they both came down from their high, breathing her in as she panted above him. Finally she tried to pull away, only getting as far as the end of his nose. He refused to allow her any further away.

“Wow.”

Julian grinned in sleepy satisfaction. “Yeah.”

She chuckled. “You’re still wearing your boots, cowboy.”

“Yup,” he sighed, happier than he could ever remember being.

Cyn shook her head, but couldn’t hide the small smile curling the edges of her mouth. “Next time we need you completely naked.”

He hugged her tight, ignoring her squawk of surprise. “Yeah, we do.”

She shook her head, but allowed him to keep her close. He breathed in her scent, and decided that today had to be the best fucking day ever.

This had to be the worst fucking day ever. Cyn walked along the rocky dirt path and wondered what the fuck was going on. She’d thought she was dreaming at first. After the incredible sex she’d had with Julian, she’d pretty much passed out.

Then she’d stepped on a sharp stone and the pain had been excruciating. She was even bleeding. She’d never done that in a dream before.

“Freaky ass Kermode. Super Bear my butt.” She glared at the scrub on either side of the path. “If I see even one dead person I am so out of here!” She blew her bangs and renewed her embarrassingly naked march down the road, hobbled by her bloodied foot. “Guess what, Cyn? There are a few things I forgot to tell you. For instance, when I bite you I’ll chuck your soul into the middle of a B horror movie. Enjoy!” She clenched her hands. “He is in so much trouble when I get back.”

She wandered down the road for what seemed like hours. The one time she even considered going back, she rejected it immediately. Every instinct she had declared that if she did turn back, what she sought could never be found again. She had to go forward. She had to succeed if she was going to protect those she loved, even the stupid Bear who’d done this to her.

Eventually the road forked, but that wasn’t what surprised her. What did was the simple glass sitting right at the juncture, half full of what appeared to be water. Cyn stared at it. “The glass is half full, huh?”

Fuck it. She was thirsty. She shrugged, sniffed it to make sure it really was water, picked it up and drank it, then carefully placed the glass right back where she’d found it.

She took a deep breath and studied the two paths. One seemed similar to the one she was already on, rocky and dirty with the occasional scraggly tree to add some visual interest. Bland, sort of boring, in no way like the other path.

The other path, if you could even call it that, appeared chock full of thorn bushes and sharp rocks. Even the air down that path appeared different, full of menace.

“Gee, Captain Obvious. I wonder which path I should take.” She’d been a fearless adventurer in her Dungeons & Dragons days. She was pretty sure she could guess where this little side trip was going. She gritted her teeth and covered her boobs with her hands. There were some places she really didn’t want scratched all to hell and gone, thank you very much.

The moment she set her foot on the dark path, she realized she’d made the right choice. “OW! Mother puss-bucket!”

After an eternity of painful steps, her flesh gouged in places that would make sitting down very difficult, the path finally opened up. Blue skies and a meadow full of wildflowers greeted her weary gaze. In the middle of that meadow a child knelt, crying. Over her stood a man, his hands at his sides, his expression pinched. The child cringed as the man raised his voice, his words muffled by the distance between them. He raised his fist into the air and shook it.

Cyn’s eyes narrowed. That man was bullying the child. Without even having to think about it she reached behind her and grabbed hold of a thorny branch, breaking it off the bush. She darted in front of the child and held the branch in front of her like a sword. “Hold it! Leave the girl alone.”

The man’s searing white eyes burned into hers. “You do not believe I justly chastise her?”

Cyn shifted her stance, ready to defend the girl. “It’s possible. But if I’m wrong, you’ll have hurt her, and I can’t allow that.”

“What if she were the danger, and not I? An innocent face can hide a monster just as easily as an ugly one.”

Cyn shook her head, certain of one thing. “Her posture. She was down, kneeling. Defenseless. Her hands were on her face, so unless she’s got daggers up her nose I don’t think she was hiding a weapon.”

“So you put your back to her, hoping I was the threat.”

“No. To protect a child.” She waved the stick at him. “Are we done with twenty questions now? I have places to be.” Bear butt to kick.

The man smiled, his teeth blindingly white, and held out his hand. The child took it, using her free one to wipe away her tears. “Look behind you. The path continues on. Know that the one you have set your feet upon will be difficult, but I believe it suits you.”

The man and the child both smiled at her and disappeared.

She turned and stared at the path. It was remarkably similar to the one she’d just left. “Peachy.”

God, part of her just wanted to lay down in the meadow and sleep, but she couldn’t. Again, if she faltered here the elusive something she needed would be lost. She had the feeling she would wake up in the real world, puking and completely human.

There was no real choice to make. Cyn put her foot on the path and cursed at the top of her lungs in both English and Spanish.

Hours, perhaps a day, passed, as more of Cyn’s skin was stripped away by the thorns. She was bleeding so badly now that if it hadn’t been a dream she was sure she would have died from the wounds. She ignored the few side paths that opened up to her, her only goal to move forward. Sheer determination kept her on her feet when she should have faltered.

The path opened before her and she sighed in relief. Too much more and she would have gone down, willing or not.

Her bare, bleeding feet met stone and she gasped. The feel of the cool stone was a balm to her sore soles.