Escaping Death

Chapter 39

Solana

Even before I open my eyes I'm painfully aware that I'm alone in Hunter's bed, and I mean 'painfully' literally. I feel like I've been thrown off the edge of a cliff and have tumbled and crashed into every jagged rock until I fell face first into this bed at the base of the mountain.

There's an unusual prickling to my skin causing goosebumps to appear and my muscles to contract rapidly. I — I think I'm cold. The halo of sweat on the sheets around where my head was would suggest otherwise. I'm burning up and freezing my ass off at the same time. I'm freezing hot.

I'm sticky with sweat, my skin hurts when I rub it to warm myself, my muscles ache... for the first time in years I actually wish I was home. I'd head straight for the thermal springs and I'd soak myself in the hot waters. The closest thing I have these days to a hot spring is a shower shared between me and five grown ass men.

I max out the hot water in the shower but most of it steams off of me all the same. If it weren't for the steam coming off the water itself I would have said it wasn't even warm, it feels tepid at best. Regardless, I feel clean getting out of the shower but dizzy. My hands catch the edge of the sink and stop me from crumbling to the floor.

The combination of shooting pains beneath my skin and my leaden head makes crumbling to the floor a very appealing option. Right as I'm considering giving in to gravity, I catch the scent of pizza...and Hunter. My mouth salivates like I'm some Pavlovian mutt.

I throw on a tank top and shorts, not bothering with a bra and panties. The fewer clothes I have touching my skin the better. I'd go naked if I could.

I thump down the stairs, dragging my feet like they're encased in concrete. Every step is torture. Every movement hurts. But the scent of food and men is enough to distract me from how very odd my body is behaving.

"Smells good down here," I do my best to keep the agony from my voice. Walking around the couch would take too much effort at this point so I opt to sit on the back and slide down the couch into Hunter's lap.

Gods, does he smell good. When his hands touch the bare skin on my thigh I brace for the pain, but instead his touch is like a balm. He soothes my skin beneath his finger tips, the prickles from the chill replaced by warm electricity soothing my aching muscles.

"The pizza?" I hear him ask. His voice sounds distant, like he's calling out to me from the shore. Gods he really does smell good, he's always smelled good – like a wildfire. I snuggle into him, into the warmth of his skin and his welcoming scent. I want to do more than scent him, I want to taste him. Who needs food when this delectable morsel is holding me? "I meant you," I admit to him. I hear his muffled voice speak to me again but his teeth nipping at my ear is all I perceive. My vision is blurry and my hearing is muted, the only senses that are working are touch and smell and they're working overtime.

Hunter shifts, his hands leaving my body, and the aches and pains return at the loss causing a snarl to spill from my lips. I grip onto him tighter, anything to maintain the contact that eases the ache.

"Solana," he commands me with a deep rumble that reverberates through my bones making me melt against him. I press my chest against his to increase the contact between us and his leg slips between mine. Before long I'm dry humping his leg because the feeling is so much more than it's ever been.

Our mouths find one another and something inside me snaps making my wolf surge forward and drive our actions based on her natural animalistic urges. Hunter's wolf calls to mine, the two of them eagerly fighting for control.

Hunter's large hands frame my face, doing minimal work to soothe the unbearable ache all over my body. I need his hands all over me, I need his body pressed against mine, I need to get so close to him I could climb inside and become one with him.