Chapter 31

Once again she heard that howl but this time, she realized that it was coming from her lover. It was a deep sound with a high pitched lilt to the last pure note. A few moments later, he leaned in and kissed her neck, then actually began licking the bite marks almost lovingly. She could tell that the skin had been broken because it stung a little but at the same time it felt nice.

He tried to pull his hips back so that they could stretch out and relax but his manhood didn’t budge and they both ended up making pained noises. He seemed to panic a little and he gave a few frantic but much gentler tugs. Still, he could not free himself.

Amanda wracked her brain trying to recall anything she’d ever read or anything she’d ever watched that would indicate this was something that sometimes happened. She came up with nothing. Nothing she had ever heard of would explain this.

Her still nameless lover seemed to give up on getting free and instead, he wrapped his arms around her, one arm across her hips to keep her tight against him and the other across her chest and then he rolled them both onto their sides so that they could at least relax while they both pondered their predicament.

Amanda couldn’t help but think how awkward it would be to live this way, especially considering she still didn’t even know his name.

“Cole.” He whispered against the top of her head as if he’d read her mind.

“What?” Amanda asked, just to be sure she’d heard right.

“That’s my name. Cole.”

“Oh. Cole. Right. So, Cole. Does this happen to you a lot?” Amanda asked, embarrassment making her words hardly more than a whisper.

Cole just grunted softly. Even his grunt sounded embarrassed.

“Okay, so this is new to you too. Good.” At least that knowledge made her feel a little bit better. If it was new to him, it was sure as hell would be new for her.

A sound at the front door drew both of their attention.

“Fuck!” Cole hissed and started fumbling for the blankets, which they were both laying on top of. His movements caused them to move apart a little too much and he groaned in pain while Amanda whimpered. He managed to get one side of the blanket thrown over Amanda.

With her head covered, she couldn’t see anything but she could hear the footsteps coming closer and a woman’s voice.

“Cole? Hey, are you feeling alright, it’s a little early to be—“ The woman’s voice stopped short. “Oh my God!” She made a horrified little sound in her throat and there was a thud as something hit the floor and a lot of smaller somethings went rolling in every direction.

Amanda pushed the covers off of her head and looked toward the commotion. There was a paper bag on the floor on its side and several apples had rolled out of it. Standing by the bag was a woman a few years older than herself with both hands over her mouth. She looked to be about seven or eight months pregnant. She felt Cole shrink inside her just as the woman turned on her heel and hurried out of the little cabin.

Amanda wriggled free of him and crawled out of the bed, darting across the room and into the living room. She dressed as quickly as she could and turned an icy stare toward the bedroom as she heard Cole actually begin to laugh.