Soul of the Wildcat (16 page)

Mouth crushing down on hers, he began to pump. His hips collided against hers. His thickly veined erection pulled out of her in an endless, wet slide, only to spear back in again a second later. His body was all sinew and muscle, working in a synchronicity that bordered on perfection.

Insides boiling with need, Dakoda tangled her fingers through his thick hair, drinking in his taste, his scent, the sheer delicious glory of him. His tongue thrust deeply into her mouth, even as his cock stabbed into her again and again.

She shivered, electric with intense arousal. Driven by desire, her fingers dug deep trenches across the concrete slabs of his back. Climax rose like the storm troopers of an enemy army gathering on the horizon. Her pulse throbbed at her temples with every beat of her heart, deafening her with the rush of blood through her veins.

Cursing under his breath, Jesse reared up long enough to catch her wrists, pinning her arms down.

“Watch them claws, you vicious little hellcat!” He held her down with absolute control, even as his hips ground against hers with grueling force. Primitive lust vibrated beneath the surface of his sweat-slick skin, his alpha dominance over his female assured. His shift into an animalistic authority over her made the moment exquisite.

Perfect.

Dakoda writhed beneath his weight. Had it been any other man but Jesse, she would have fought his attempts to restrain her. The steely hardness of his cock kept her hips pinned against the floor as surely as his hands did her wrists. It was excruciatingly delicious to feel his strength overtake and then overcome hers. The wind outside rocked the plane, matching the intense rhythm of their bodies.

Jesse was sweating and shaking, fighting not to come. He was going to hold off until the last possible second, make her take every punishing stroke he could deliver, and then some.

The sensations coiling inside her aching sex were erotic and mesmerizing at the same time. Every thrust Jesse delivered grew in intensity, pushing, filling her with the heat generated by the friction of two bodies in lust.

Giving one final, mighty thrust, Jesse surrendered his control, slipping over the edge. Throwing back his head, he released a great, earsplitting bellow, almost like that of a great cat roaring out its pleasure. His cock surged, blasting a flood of hot semen straight into her womb.

Perceptions splintering into a billion shards, Dakoda came with quick, powerless, excruciating need. Her orgasm went off like an atom bomb in the desert, tearing through her with the force of absolute destruction. Shredded down to the last molecule by the sheer intensity of pleasure, she could do little but lay beneath his slick weight as tremor after tremor coursed through her.

They shuddered in the aftermath. Jesse's face was buried in the crook between her shoulder and neck. His breath warmed her skin, chilled now in the aftermath of intense physical activity. The tangle of his thick hair webbed his features, spilling like a glittering black waterfall over his shoulders and back.

Dakoda shifted under his body, relieving some of the pressure of his weight. Pressed chest to chest, she felt the steady rhythm of his heart as she watched the rise and fall of his breath.

He continued to pant in short, quick breaths. “Should I move?” he mumbled sleepily against her skin.

“No,” she murmured. “Stay.”

Tightening her arms around him, Dakoda drew in a deep breath. A strange, unfamiliar ache filled her. Emotion crept through her mind, reviving the sentiments she'd long ago dug a hole for and buried. It was time to take a chance. Really open her heart and let a man into her life.

Jesse Clawfoot was that man. His scent was on her, marking her as his. At last, after a lifetime of searching, she'd found her place in this world.

She closed her eyes, a new sense of contentment filling a void in her heart. She sighed, surrendering to the tug of exhaustion beckoning her toward the realm of dreamless sleep.

I could seriously fall for this man
, was her last pleasant, hazy thought.

T
here was something more than a little frightening about being lost in the middle of nowhere, not knowing which way to go or what danger the next hour might hold.

After two long days spent hiking due north, Dakoda was beginning to suspect what she hadn't dared say aloud: They were lost. Not that it mattered much. With her ankle still giving her fits and twinges, they hadn't managed to get very far very fast. They also didn't seem to be any closer to a territory she or Jesse recognized. Every damn tree, rock, and bush looked the same as the last.

Exhaustion nipping at her heels, Dakoda finally did what she'd been aching to do for hours. She collapsed.

“That's it,” she huffed, trying to catch her breath as she lowered herself onto a half-rotted log. She felt rotten in just about every way a person could feel rotten, and then some. “I can't take another step. I am officially given out.”

Jesse took her not-so-subtle hint, dropping in his tracks and stretching out on the cool ground. “I have to admit I'm ready for a rest, too,” he huffed. “I've never been so damn tired in my life.”

Untying the laces of her boot, Dakoda slipped her foot out of the lead weight with glacial slowness. Still wrapped in its elastic bandage, her ankle was holding her upright, but just barely. She really needed a day or two off her feet, but that luxury just wasn't an option. Her feet felt like they'd fallen off miles ago, leaving nothing but little stumps at the end of her legs.

Though she'd been in reasonable physical shape at the beginning of this unwelcome adventure, she'd soon realized her idea of athletic and the mountain terrain's idea of athletic were two different things. Muscles she didn't even know she had ached, throbbing with the heat of intense exertion.

She looked around for a sign of something, anything, remotely familiar. Nothing came into immediate view. “Any idea where we're at?” This deep in the mountains, most of the region was prime and virgin, untouched by any outside development. Untouched also meant most of it was unmapped and unexplored. If both of them were to drop dead of starvation, chances were their bodies would never be recovered.

Jesse sat up, shaking his head. “I'd like to say we're on reservation land now, but I haven't seen any of the markers indicating the territory we're in. Could be we've passed them by. If so, we won't be alone much longer. We keep the boundaries pretty well patrolled.”

“How many acres of land did you say belonged to the Tlvdatsi?” she asked.

He shook his head as if to clear his thoughts. “About eighty-five hundred,” he said. “A little over thirteen square miles. That isn't a lot, even when traveling on foot.”

“If we're even on your people's land,” she pointed out. “You were outside Tlvdatsi territory, on state park land as near as I can figure. That's eighteen thousand acres right there.”

The South Mountains were the highest and most rugged chain of the isolated mountain ranges making up North Carolina's Piedmont region. Erosion from numerous rivers and streams had given the heavily forested mountains a series of narrow ridges and valleys. The mountains stretched out over a hundred thousand acres or so, and were still sparsely populated. The possibility of running into another human being was about as likely as locating a needle in a haystack. No one knew they were out here but the poachers—and those were the people they most definitely didn't want to encounter a second time.

“So you think we're still on state land?” Jesse asked.

She shook her head. “It took almost the entire day for the Barnett boys to get us to their place, which I'm going to say is part of privately held land. It wouldn't be hard for them to have a sliver to themselves. Most of the South Mountains remain in the hands of private owners.”

He gave a small embarrassed smile. “So in other words, you don't think I know where I'm going?”

She had to ask point blank. “Do you?”

“Sometimes I think I do,” he admitted. “Then other times I'm not so sure.”

Dakoda massaged her toes, which looked as thick and plump as grapes. Too bad they weren't edible. Food was the only thing she thought about, day and night and every second in between. “Guess there's nothing your inner cougar can tell you about directions,” she commented dryly.

Jesse considered. “While it's true the cougar could move a heck of a lot faster than the slow Indian on foot, the brain side of that cougar is still the same. If Jesse's lost, the cougar's lost.”

Well, at least he was honest. Most men wouldn't admit they didn't know up from down under the threat of death.

“Some wild beast you are,” she snorted. “Here I've been thinking you had some inborn animal instincts and it turns out that you're just useless.”

He shrugged and laughed. “That's me.”

Dakoda took off her other boot. “I don't know if I can go any more today. I passed famished hours ago and now I'm just plain ravenous. If I don't get some real food in me, I'm going to faint. Seriously. You won't be picking me up off the ground the next time I go down.”

Smile vanishing, Jesse's face took on a serious cast. “I've got to admit wild berries and roots aren't doing it for me, either.” He tugged at the waistband of the stolen jeans. “Couple of days ago these were so tight I couldn't breathe. Too bad Rusty didn't pack his pockets with more meal bars. I could use a dozen or two right now.”

Dakoda agreed. “Bad as they tasted, they were better than nothing.” She eyed his lanky frame. It didn't take a lot of looking to see his lean frame had thinned a bit. When he'd first taken the jeans, they'd hugged his firm ass and muscular legs like a second skin. Now they were looser, baggier. The amount of energy they were both exerting was peeling the weight off their bodies at a tremendous rate. Though there was plenty of fresh water to be found in the little rivers running through the mountains, finding something edible—and filling—was a little harder.

She glanced down. Her own clothes were getting baggy, too. Amazing how fast stress and a little starvation could take the extra pounds off. If a ten-course meal were to suddenly fall out of the sky, she doubted there'd be enough food to satisfy her. It felt like her stomach had already eaten a hole clear through to her spine.

“We have a gun,” she ventured quietly. “Maybe we should shoot something.”

“We could,” he agreed slowly. “Are you any kind of a shot?”

“I've had target practice, of course,” she admitted. “But as for shooting to kill, I've never done anything like that. You?”

“I've killed my share of game with a hunting rifle.” Climbing to his feet, Jesse pulled out the pistol they'd borrowed from the deceased smugglers. “Never killed anything with a handgun, though I suppose the principle of aim and fire is the same.” He checked the magazine, loaded with bullets. “The ammunition was dry when we found it, so it should be good. Still, you never quite know. I'd hate to pull the trigger and have this puppy blow up in my hand.”

Dakoda shook her head. “Let's just go back to what we agreed, then. Self-defense, only. We won't use it unless we have to.”

He tucked the gun away. “I can agree to that. As for the food, well, I guess we'll just have to break the no-fire rule. I don't know about you, but I hate my birds raw.”

She scrubbed her hands over her face. “Did you say we could have a fire?”

“Honestly, I don't see how we can go much longer without one. I know we don't want to give away our position if those guys are on our trail, but if they're out after us, I don't think they'd do without one themselves, especially with the nights as cool as they are. The one good advantage we have is the storm wiped out all traces of our escape. There was no way we left any tracks behind. They can only guess.”

Dakoda sighed. “If we're going the wrong way, maybe they are, too.”

Jesse started to strip off his shirt. “Meanwhile, we've got to keep ourselves as strong as possible. If there's one thing I can do, it's hunt. But I'm better on four paws than I am on two feet.”

She hesitated. “Jesse…are you sure that's a good idea?”

Draping his shirt over a nearby branch, Jesse kicked off his moccasins and started to shimmy out of his jeans. “I know we said we'd stick together, Dakoda. But if we're going to eat better, I need to shift. I'm faster and can cover more territory when I'm a cougar.”

Feeling the bottom drop out of her stomach, Dakoda licked dry lips. Oh, man. Jesse was naked again, and looking just as hot as she remembered. The heat in her gut coiled around her insides, bringing back pleasant memories of the night they'd spent in the plane making love. Two days had passed since they'd last had an intimate moment, something Dakoda found herself daydreaming about with more and more frequency. Thinking about sex was a lot more realistic than thinking about food. She had a much better chance of getting some.

She shook her head, chasing away the fantasy. First necessities, then luxuries. As much as she didn't like the idea of Jesse going off alone, the idea of staying together and staying hungry was just as unappealing. No, she was going to have to let him go, and hope he wouldn't meet something out in those woods that was bigger and meaner than a cougar.

Or little and more poisonous
, her mind filled in. That timber rattler they'd encountered earlier in the day had almost planted its nasty fangs right in the middle of Jesse's leg. It was just the time of year when the snakes began to emerge from hibernation. The fact that they were active during the day didn't make walking any easier. The snakes blended in perfectly with the dead leaves and other debris littering the ground. Though naturally docile and not a threat to humans, the snakes would react with violence if disturbed. Jesse had only avoided a venomous bite by moving a little bit faster than the snake.

She shuddered at the idea of what other sort of critters they were likely to meet. Staying out here any longer than necessary wasn't exactly appealing, but it sure did beat being sold into slavery as a curiosity.

Dakoda put her boots back on, lacing them tight. “What can I do while you're gone?” she asked, needing something to keep her mind occupied in his absence. Just sitting around waiting didn't appeal to her. She liked to be busy, and contributing the aid of her two good hands was someplace to start. As for her ankle, well, she'd managed to tough it out almost two whole days. She'd just get a little tougher.

Hanging his jeans beside his shirt, Jesse looked around the place they'd stopped. Overhanging trees offered a cool retreat from the worst of the day's heat. Water winding through the mountains on its way to the Catawba River had cut deeply into the terrain, forming rugged and steep slopes. Nearby, a thin stream trickled down a short incline, draining into the belly of a rocky little reservoir. The recent summer rains had filled it to overflowing.

Jesse nodded with satisfaction. “I think this will do as our campsite for the night,” he said. “We've got water and there's enough rocks and wood for you to make a fire while I'm hunting. I shouldn't be gone very long, just enough to snag a nice fat grouse.” He handed the precious lighter over to Dakoda. “Keep it as smokeless as possible. The trees will dissipate most of it, but we still don't want to give away our location to anyone.”

Fumbling to keep a hold on the lighter, Dakoda nodded. “I can make it smokeless.”

He grinned. “A benefit of that ranger training, I suppose.”

It was hard not to stare at his beautiful muscular frame. Dakoda made herself look anywhere but at that delicious cock nestled in a dark thatch of curls. “I did have some training in surviving in the wilderness,” she said, her voice going a little more hoarse than normal. She shook her head, clearing her throat. Hopefully he would mistake desire for fatigue. “Though I will admit I was a little bit better supplied. That will teach me not to sign up for the extreme survival classes. Learning firsthand has been hell.”

Jesse lifted a chiding brow. “Considering we've been though hell, I'd say we've done pretty good,” he said quietly. “And once we get some solid food in us, we'll do better.”

Dakoda smiled in agreement. If she had to be stranded in the middle of nowhere, she was glad Jesse Clawfoot was her companion. Somehow he had a way of putting things into perspective without totally depressing the hell out of her. “Food will be welcome.”

“Guess I should get going,” he said. “The sooner I do, the sooner we eat.”

“Okay.”

Before she could blink an eye, Jesse shifted. The familiar outline of a feline stood in his place. Dakoda's breath caught at the ease of his change, so smoothly done that one could scarcely tell when his human self vanished and the big cat appeared. It didn't matter. Either way he was beautiful, a true wild creature of nature. Whether he wanted to admit it or not, Jesse belonged in these mountains. They were the life, the strength of his people.

Giving a brief roar of acknowledgment, Jesse pushed his tawny frame into motion. Dashing off through the trees, he quickly disappeared through a nearby thicket at top speed. The chances were good he'd soon be able to flush some wildfowl or other small mammal out into the open.