She'd torn from his kiss gazing down to where their bodies joined. Her juices drenched him, coating his heavily veined cock until it glistened. The erotic sight of him disappearing into her depths fueled her need for more. Barreled her to the edge. How she longed to fly with him. To mate in mid-air.

  His heat seared her as his words melted her heart. I love you, baby, he kept saying as he transported her to a higher plane. This time she took him with her.

  Her cell buzzed bringing her back. She looked down to find her hand in her jeans massaging her sex. The man had her hornier than a teen.

  "Hey babe," she answered.

  "How's my Little Doe? Miss me yet?"

  "Yeah, I was thinking about you, too. Sorry, didn't look at my phone until I got home.

  "Did I get you in trouble?" He laughed.

  "Mom was a little miffed."

  "She better get over it, because I plan to keep you very busy."

  She listened to his erotic plans while her fingers stroked her clit, pretending they were his tantalizing tongue. A moan escaped her lips.

  "You okay, Chey."

  "After last night. I'm perfect."

  His wicked laugh shot a thrill straight to her pussy. "I'll be done in an hour of or so. How about an early dinner before you head to the Raven?"

  "Are you on the menu?" she teased.

  "Dessert, sweet cheeks. I'll bring the whipped cream."

  Chapter 8

  Cheyenne's mother glared up from the TV, notching the collar of her robe higher as a chilly breeze swept in the front door with Cheyenne at nearly three a.m.

  "Mom?"

  "She's made a connection between you and the white doe," Tegan said. "I think she knows."

  "Who?" Cheyenne wondered if her mother had been drinking.

  "Dory. She asked about you at lunch today and then, out of the blue, mentioned seeing a white doe. Shane's in love with you, and she can't stand it."

  Cheyenne might have feared this before the other night, but not now. She had shared something with Shane that made them virtually inseparable. "She may have seen the deer, but she can't know it's me."

  Kneeling down, Cheyenne gazed into her mother's face. Deep lines etched between her brows and her hollowed eyes were filled with dread. The same expression she wore when left for Florida years ago. Who had threatened her then?

  "It's just a feeling."

  "Like before? Who was it, mom? You never told me."

  Tegan bit her lip. "Your father. Your natural mother never told him she was a shifter. I was the only she trusted to know her secret. She begged me to take you if something happened to her."

  Cheyenne's heart began to race. "She was a white doe, too?"

  Her mom nodded. "He was an avid hunter and believed he was shooting at a deer. Her death was ruled accidental. You were just a baby. Nona hexed him afterward and he left town. We didn't know you were like your mom until you hit adolescence and began to shift."

  The room seemed to shift beneath her as she processed this revelation. She'd only thought her biological mother never chose to make contact or that her mom had forbidden it. Her stomach lurched and bile hit the back of her throat. Why hadn't she told her that her natural mother was dead?

  Nona was right, so much time wasted.

  "You probably should pack and go back to Florida, baby." She hung her head in anguish.

  Enough was enough. This was her home. This was where she wanted to live. With Shane. He'd declared his love, and no man had ever made her feel the way he did. "No Mom. I won't hide anymore. Shane will help me."

  Tegan flinched. "God, Cheyenne. And give him power over you, too?"

  "He already knows."

  Her mom launched from the couch, planting her hands on her hips. "Jesus, didn't I teach you anything?"

  "He showed me first, Mother."

  With a gasp, her hand flew to her mouth. "He's like Jasper?"

  So her mother knew about Jasper, but not Shane. "He accepts me for what I am."

  "Dory wants Shane. She'll do anything, Chey." Tegan drew her daughter into a hug. "Tomorrow, I'm telling Nona. Maybe she can take the bitch's memory away."

  Or something worse. Cheyenne thought. Nona's powerful medicine was respected throughout the tribe. "Thought Dory was your friend?"

  "I only felt sorry for her because she's pathetically self-absorbed. After she met Shane, she had to have the notorious bad boy. Then she started chasing after Ed for his money and status. Now, evidently she wants both."

  "Shane said he hadn't been with her for a while. Is that the truth?" Cheyenne asked, her pressing her lips into a thin line. She might not like the answer, but she needed to know.

  "According to Dory, not in over a year. She was an easy lay with no strings, or so Shane thought. He's been adrift since…"

  She folded her arms waiting for her mother to continue.

  "When I took you away. He fell into a bad crowd, started messing with drugs. When he turned eighteen, Jasper persuaded him to enlist in the army. I suppose he never got over you, baby. I knew you two were experimenting..."

  Cheyenne's felt her cheeks flush.

  "You couldn't afford to get pregnant. Another reason I had to get you away."

  It wasn't fair. Her wrenching heartache deepened when Shane pretended she didn't exist. Those were some of the blackest days of her life. "He thought I told you. He blamed me. I loved him, Mom." She dropper her head. "I still love him."

  Her mom sighed. "I'm sorry. I tried to protect you. I never meant to hurt you or Shane. When I pulled into the driveway two years ago, he was mowing Nona's lawn. His first words were, Where's Chey? You should've seen the disappointment on his face."

  Her mother had never mentioned Shane's reaction. If she had, Cheyenne might have considered coming home earlier. Before he met Dory. Then she wouldn't have to worry about his vindictive ex-lover.

  Chapter 9

  Shane's muscles tensed as he leaned against his Nona's kitchen counter. All three women eyed him. He had unwittingly put Chey in harm's way. By conscious choice or not, guilt weighed on him. At least now he understood why Tegan had whisked her daughter away years ago. So many family secrets coming to light.

  Nona had finished grinding herbs for the smudging ritual. "I can bind you so you will know if the other is in trouble, but ultimately, you must be on guard," she said, her brown eyes filled with concern.

  They followed Nona to her detached garage, where she lit a tied bunch of sage leaves. The herbs blazed until she tamped them into an abalone shell. Chanting in her Native American tongue, she circled the smoldering stick in clockwise motions. Starting at the north corner of the room, she surrounded herself with the smoke then Chey and Shane, chasing away negative energy.

  A gauzy white fog enshrouded the room. Shane allowed the calming influence to pervade him. He hadn't been cleansed by smudging in years. Maybe if he had listened to Jasper and kept to their ways, Chey wouldn't be in trouble now.

  Nona's chants grew faint and the door latch clicked as she left. Would her magic give them profound sight? He prayed harder than he had in a long time.

  Cheyenne had already settled on the sofa covered by one of Nona's handmade quilts. "Might as well get comfortable," she said, shedding her shoes and hoodie. Then she teasingly flung her T-shirt at him. Her white lacy bra stood in stark contrast against her chestnut skin. The tension in his muscles faded as her sleek beauty consumed him.

  A slight smile tugged her lips as she eyed her voyeur. "Your turn."

  Sex would certainly take his mind off their fucked-up situation, but he didn't want her to believe it was his only interest in her. In the last few days, he'd thought a lot about the future. Odd for him. He'd always been a day by day kind of guy. Life had changed. The thought of kids delighted and scared the hell out of him at the same time. Probably did most men.

  He wiggled his brows suggestively. "Are you sure, because if I get naked…"

  Taking his hand, she tugged him close and slowly unbuttoned his flannel shirt. Her warm hands palmed his chest before drawing off his shirt. "You could be a male stripper." She winked.

  "You wouldn't say that if you saw me dance." He laughed as he finished undressing and dropped onto the sofa, slipping an arm around her. She felt warm in his arms as the aroma of the herbs induced him into a sleepy state. "I promise to protect you, Chey."

  "I have no doubt of it, my mighty hawk."

  She cuddled against him as he stretched out on his side and they drifted off to sleep.

  A bleating bark forced him to cock his head in mid-flight. Darkness swallowed her. Even his keen vision couldn't pinpoint her location. He cried out, begging her to come from hiding.

  Shadows lurked through the forest as he searched in vain. They were close. He smelled them. Something hissed from the dark.

  He screeched in warning. Too late! A bright spray of red fanned from her neck as Chey's life blood poured onto the ground. Enraged, he shot from the sky with a piercing scream and aimed for her hunter.

  "Shane!" Cheyenne shook him. Between forms, and about to shift, he awakened with horror gripping his chest.

  "It's okay." She soothed the goose flesh on his arms.

  He caught her face in his hands. The gut wrenching pain of watching her die nearly paralyzed him. Only touching her kept him from going insane. "I'll die before I let anything happen to you, Chey."

  "Easy, baby. We're both in this." Her words warmed his heart as the pads of her fingers traced down his back. She lay on her side facing him while her toned thigh brushed his hip in a light massage, stirring his cock. "Time to forget everything but us."

  Smoke still hung in the air as she rolled him onto his back and covered his body with hers. Skin to skin, she grazed his chest with her pert breasts. His body tightened. Her soft lips covered his. She flicked her tongue, begging entry, and swept through his mouth, exploring. Between her hot, searching tongue and her mound grinding against his shaft, he was primed and ready.

  His hands slid along her lean back, found her firm ass cheeks and kneaded. Her sexy moans encouraged him. His palm lit her rear with a light slap. She sucked in a breath and rose on all fours over him. A wicked smile crept across her lovely face.

  She glided her slick folds over him, coating his length. Her tongue traced circles around his nipples. Toyed them until they pebbled under her attention. Sleek strands of ebony grazed his chest and trembling abs as she drifted down his body.

  She was strong when he was weak, and he loved her for it. Passion replaced fear. Chey was his new addiction and his cure.

  Dark green eyes raked him as slender fingers encircled his dick. His hips bucked in invitation. She had him by the balls, literally and figuratively.

  He wanted it, yet his masculinity protested being gelded. Until she sheathed him in her heated satin, when thoughts of emasculation evaporated.

  His hands found her waist while her breasts teased his lips. His teeth nipped a dark nipple then latched onto the other, tugging on the swollen bud. She tasted like spice—wild and exotic. With a slow grind, she rode him. Seduced him into a drug-like haze.

  Her dancer's thighs pumped with expert rhythm. On each rise, she let her slick labia graze his sensitive tip. She licked her lips in a teasing gesture that lit a match in his already aching balls.

  His sweet Chey. Was he enough to fulfill her forever? How had he lived without her?

  She clenched her sex, flexed her hips and imprisoned his rod. All those lap dances and now he was the lucky bastard yielding the reward.

  "Yes baby." He wanted to feel her come all over his cock.

  An Indian princess and fierce warrior, she rode him like a stallion. Her pointed nipples entranced him as she drenched him in honey, her walls gripping him without mercy.

  She drove him higher and higher. His palms found their mark, branding her ass until she writhed in pleasure. Impaling herself one last time, she trembled with the force of her orgasm.

  He couldn't imagine wanting another woman more. With a final surge of hips he filled her with his spirit and hoped it was enough.

  Chapter 10

  Cheyenne finished taping the last box of Jasper's things and handed it to Shane to carry to the garage.

  "We'll get the rest of your clothes from your Mom's before we go shifting this afternoon," he said over his shoulder.

  She'd been shocked when he'd asked her to move in with him after they'd made love during the smudging. He'd made her promise not to go out alone in her altered form and started taking her shifting after work. She loved their special time together. Except for the threat of Dory, she couldn't remember being happier.

  When he returned to the house she said, "I promise not to invade your space."

  His gold eyes darkened a shade as he drew her into his arms. "Why? I don't have a problem invading yours."

  True. He had invaded and conquered her mind, body, and soul.

  * * * *

  Shane parked the Harley in front of The Black Raven on a warm and moonless Halloween. Antsy for a peek of Chey in her costume because she'd refused to give him a hint. A self-proclaimed bachelor, he'd quickly adjusted to having her living with him and sharing his bed.

  He heard a familiar voice call his name as he reached for the door. Gritting his teeth in frustration, he turned.

  Dory. Dressed as hooker. Not much of a costume.

  "What?" He exhaled.

  "Ed has a council meeting tonight. I thought we could go for a ride before you downed some brews with the guys." Judging by her slight stagger she'd already been in the sauce.

  "Sorry. No can do."

  "Why? What's a little ride?" She mewed.

  He knew the type of ride she insinuated. "You're with Ed. That's what you wanted." He purposely left Chey's name out of the conversation.

  "Sometimes a girl makes mistakes."

  She certainly was his worst. "And we gotta live with them."

  Without another word, he turned and snatched open the heavy oak door. In her drunk and narcissistic state, she didn't get the message and followed him inside.

  Jack-o-lanterns decorated the tables glowing eerily in the dark tavern. Webbing strung along the exposed roof timbers added to the gloomy effect. The Pirates had already pushed some tables together. Chey caught his attention as she served their drinks. Dressed as Elvira, his lover's black lined eyes turned murderous when she spotted Dory trailing behind him.

  He'd done everything short of physically dissuading the slut. He found an end seat beside Jim. Dory plopped onto an empty seat across from them.

  "Who's heard of the legend of Virginia Dare?" she slurred. "I'm not hunting wabbit, but a white doe." Her drunken impression of Elmer Fudd made the guys snicker.

  "The ghost of Chief Maneto's son will haunt you," Jim said, his expression serious. "She was his beloved. When she declined Chief Wanchese son's offer of marriage, he ordered his shaman to curse her so when she kissed the rival chief's son, she turned into a white doe.

  Later, the two tribes staged a hunt for her. Maneto's son had his medicine man fashion a special arrow that would return her to human form. Wanchese's son had a different plan. When both braves spotted the white doe, her true love's arrow struck first returning her to human. Then Wanchese son's arrow pierced her heart. Legend says the ghost Virginia Dare wanders the Outer Banks as a white doe."

  All eyes were on his friend as he finished the tragic story. Unable to take anymore, Shane vacated the table as Jim entranced the audience with another historical Outer Banks legend.

  "Do you think if I hunt Dory and kill her that anyone would care?" Chey asked, tapping a couple of brews.

  Shane grinned. "I doubt it, but you can hunt me down later." Her Mistress of the Dark costume and push-up bra had him breathing hard.

  By the time he returned to the table, Dory had talked Dwayne, another club member into her wild expedition. An avid bow hunter, Dwayne wouldn't have a bit of trouble killing a deer, but Shane suspected anything he said to dissuade him would only lead Dory to more suspicion.

  Dwayne didn't miss his look of disapproval. "Sorry, man. It's good for a piece of ass," he apologized. "Thought you were done with her."

  "More than, bro. But believe me, the tail isn't worth the trouble that comes with her." He lightly pounded the man's shoulder.

  Chapter 11

  A few days later, Shane stopped at The Christmas Shop on the way home from work. The tourist icon had the best selection of old fashion candies on the Outer Banks. Even in heavy boots his steps fell silent on the wood floors. He wound his way through the small maze of rooms, passing antiques, paintings and other collectables until he reached the confection shop.

  The sweet smell of fudge made his stomach rumble. Lunch seemed forever ago. Barrels and displays of old time candy and snacks decorated the large room. He picked up several classic Moon Pies that his aunt loved so much, and placed them on the counter.

  "I saw Jasper's obituary. How's Nona?" the older woman asked, familiar with his purchases. Her Native American heritage was highlighted by high cheek bones and deep-set eyes.

  "Hoping these will keep me in her good graces. I haven't visited like I should." Except for the smudging ritual, he hadn't seen her since Jasper's funeral. Chey's love had helped heal his heart, but Nona had to still be hurting.

  "Just busy like most young folks these days. Twittering, texting…" She muttered checking his items.

  And sexting. Jesus, he needed to get his mind out of the gutter, but it was difficult when the most vivacious woman occupied up half his bed these nights. "I'll tell Nona you asked about her."

  It was nearly dark when he reached her house. Inside, the kitchen glowed warm and inviting through the window. He knocked and opened the door with his key. The followed his nose. As long as he could remember, cooking or preparing medicines had been her hobby. "Nona?"

 

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