Front Range

Rocky Mountain, Colorado

Six Months Later

Tori had adapted to being not only wife to a well-known gangster, but to life as a scimitar-shifter. There was a glorious freedom that came with running in her altered self. Knowing that she was an apex predator certainly boosted one’s self-confidence—not that she’d ever really lacked in that.

She’d always loved these mountains and had loved having a piece of it to call her own. It had taken her all this time to persuade Axel to come and find the peace and rejuvenation this mountain range brought to her. Even in her darkest and most chaotic times, this place had provided her with solace.

Axel wanted to build a proper house, but she loved the yurt she and David had built together the year before he died. For Axel it was roughing it; for her, it was her sanctuary. They’d done a ton of research and then bought the plans. Hauling the materials up had been interesting and expensive. They had literally toted as much of it as they could on their own backs and the rest they’d had to have flown in by helicopter and lowered to the ground by a winch as the chopper hovered high above the trees. Nerve-wracking hadn’t even been the half of it.

Being a woman alone on a mountain in the middle of nowhere was fraught with danger—and not just those that belonged in the wilderness. There were plenty of fringe-type men who were always looking for either a captive wife or just to get laid. She’d never been able to be without a gun.

Now, she ran with wild abandon, able to traverse the rugged landscape without fear of anything. Granted, she needed to try and ensure she wasn’t seen in her altered state, but if someone caught a glimpse of her it could be easily explained as tales of mythical creatures had abounded in these mountains for centuries—prehistoric cats, dire wolves, and dragons were often reported by tourists, while locals laughed at their absurd sightings.

Galloping along paths that had been mostly untrodden for hundreds of years could be challenging, but she loved it. She was able to either leap over or up onto and down off huge boulders and fallen trees. Streams could be forded or splashed through, depending upon her mood.

She’d managed to ease out of the great iron bed Axel had flown in and had set up prior to their arrival. She and David had always used separate cots, but her husband’s idea of roughing it was anything less than a five-star hotel. He’d also insisted on having ‘proper floors’ installed before agreeing to come.  It wasn’t so much that he’d had a pampered childhood, although growing up at Spellbound Farms in terms of creature comforts had been pretty cushy. It was the ten years he spent as a Navy SEAL. He figured he’d put in his time on cots and in sleeping bags.

Tori had laughed at him and his demand for creature comforts, but truth be told, the yurt was much improved with both.

If he woke up before she returned, he would not be happy, and would not hesitate to let her feel his displeasure. The problem was that true discipline was never more than a hard smack or two to her ass before it gave way to far more pleasurable swats, which led to highly sexualized ones and then to incredible sex.

Her man was a man of almost insatiable sexual need and appetites, and she reveled in his attention, love, and physical affection.

She had another quarter of a mile to traverse, most of it uphill along a well-beaten path that led to their yurt. She charged up the hard-packed ground, loving the way as a shifter she could feel the environment around her so much more. The grass felt different, the dirt, the pebbled bottom of rivers and streams, even the wood flooring in the yurt felt different as a scimitar than as a human.

Tori bounded into the yurt, planning to pounce on him and shifting in mid-air so that she smashed into him as human. That should not only wake him up, but put him in a predatory dominant mood, a mood that never failed to leave her spent and replete in his arms.

The yurt was empty. She could feel the lack of his presence before she even had a chance to look around. Shifting, Tori pulled on his shirt and looked for any clue as to where he might have gone. The yurt was pretty open except for the wet room which served as a water closet that could, in bad weather, also be used as a shower. The really nice shower was just outside the main building in its own separate space.

She was rounding the corner of the wet room to go into the closet when a pair of strong arms encircled her waist to pull her against his hard body.

“Don’t you know it’s dangerous for pretty girls to go wandering around the wilderness in next to nothing?” he growled ominously.

Along with the ability to shift from human to scimitar had come the bonding link which allowed them to send their thoughts and feelings to one another. Axel might sound angry and menacing, but all that was coming down the link was pure lust. A fact that was confirmed by the long, hard length she could feel throbbing against her backside from behind his fly. He was half naked—jeans and nothing else.

So, he wanted to play? That was always fun.

“Oh, no,” she feigned in distress. “I’m just a poor girl trying to make her way in the wilderness. I don’t have anything worth stealing.”

“Maybe I’m after more than money or jewels.”

One of his hands slid down her body, cupping and then squeezing her mound possessively. Spinning her around, Axel dragged her towards the bed. Tori resisted, but only because she knew it would heighten her husband’s enjoyment. He backed her against the bed and then ripped the shirt from her body, his gaze sweeping over her possessively. There was nothing playful about that look.

Fisting her hair, Axel tilted her head back, bringing his mouth down on hers for a brutal kiss, plundering her mouth with his tongue. Tori sagged into him, moaning. God, she loved this man and the way he could bring her body alive.

Ending the kiss, he turned her around and shoved her onto the bed, pinning her in place with his body as he dragged her up onto her knees. Tori’s breathing was labored and gasping as she tried to check her own arousal. One sharp slap to her buttocks reminded her that she wasn’t allowed control in their sexual activities.

Axel opened his fly, allowing his cock to spring free and fitting it to her opening. Holding her with one hand wrapped around her hip and the other on the top of her shoulder, he entered her in a single stroke as her pussy clamped down and she climaxed. How he could make her come just by mounting her was still a delicious mystery to her, but she’d take it.

Tori moved her hips back, arching her back and offering her pussy to him for his use, knowing she would take as much pleasure from the encounter as he did. Hard and fast, he thrust in and out of her. He pounded her pussy, grunting and groaning as he did, reveling in his possession of her as much as she did.

“God, yes,” she moaned.

Just as she was about to topple into another climax, Axel pulled out all the way and flipped her over onto her back, grasping her thighs and hauling her up so he could plunge into her again, making her writhe from the intensity of his lovemaking. He held her in a way that gave him all the leverage and control. Over and over, Axel drove into her. The feeling of his cock sliding in and out of her slick, wet pussy was too much. He was so large that he filled her completely.

“Fuck,” she moaned.

“Damn straight, woman. You’re mine to fuck whenever I want. And waking up wanting to fuck you and finding you gone is not the way I want to start my day. So, I’m going to fuck you hard, and you’re going to come again for me so I can fill you with my seed.”

Hammering her pussy with his cock, Tori grasped his strong forearms as his thrusting became frenzied and primal. Her body shaking in anticipation and need, Axel held her tight as he thrust in a final time, grinding against her and emptying himself in her and holding her still as both of them trembled in the aftermath.

Sated for the moment, Axel lowered her onto the bed and then allowed himself to cover her while he was still buried deep. Tori’s arms came around him, stroking his neck and back, purring to him of her contentment and love.

“Good morning, sweetheart,” he rumbled. “I missed you when I woke up.”