Scared of Spiders

Chapter Six

Clint couldn’t sleep, not knowing Josie was only a room away. This whole taking-it-slow thing was really chafing, but Josie was the type to flee if she felt cornered. So, against his desires, and to the chagrin of his raging hard-on, he lay on his bed, hands laced under his head, planning the next step in his seduction.

The scene out at her apartment had chilled him, for he realized if they hadn’t come to rescue her, it might very well have been her blood decorating the carpet and walls in her place. As it was, the two pack members he’d left to guard her place were in bad shape. They’d heal, but whatever attacked them had been vicious, and even more disturbing, neither victim remembered a thing. Their foe appeared to not only be some kind of mind-fucker, he was also wily. The eye-watering fumes and overwhelming stench of ammonia splashed about the apartment foiled their attempts to track by scent. What the fuck are we dealing with?

When he’d arrived back at the ranch, dreading Brandon ’s triumphant grin-for in his place he would have seduced his sweet Josie-he found himself happy that Brandon hadn’t gotten lucky while he was out. A possible perimeter breach had sent Brandon outside to check on things, and while a false alarm, he hadn’t the chance to pursue a lone seduction of Josie.

And, as Brandon grimly informed Clint, she’d refused the offer of nighttime company. Probably a smart move on her part given he didn’t think he’d have resisted the seductive allure of her body for platonic rest. It was the reason why he hadn’t sneaked into her room to cuddle her in repose. Had she woken, he would have claimed it was for protection, but in honesty, he just didn’t like being apart from her. So, instead of spooning and making love to his woman, he stared at the ceiling in his room with a hard-on to batter down doors.

The blood in his veins froze as he heard with acute auditory senses Josie whimper through the walls. Unease gripped him. In a flash, he was out in the hall with his hand on her doorknob. A prickling sensation at his back let him know Brandon had joined him. They might not have marked her, but the connection, even if faint, was there between them.

Together, they proceeded with caution into her room. It was pitch-black, but to a shifter, that meant nothing. Their enhanced nature allowed them to see in the dark-the tool of a predator that hunts at night. The room to his relief contained no intruders, only a thrashing Josie, and yet, there was a scent in the air that didn’t belong. Clint inhaled the musty aroma and almost gagged at the alien stench.

“What is that smell?” whispered Brandon.

“I don’t know,” muttered Clint, “but I do believe that Josie’s nightmares aren’t a product of her mind, but someone else’s.” Even as he spoke, Josie let out a shriek, a chilling cry that was suddenly muffled as if someone had gagged her. Brandon flicked on the bedroom light, dispelling the shadows as Clint dove onto the bed, next to a catatonic Josie, looking for a foe that didn’t exist for him to fight. Frustration made him curse as he beheld her, helpless. Her eyes stared ahead of her, glazed with terror and unseeing when he waved his hand in front of her. Brandon on her other side touched her hand, but he quickly snatched it back. He shook it.

“What the fuck? She’s ice-cold!” Brandon said.

“Something’s screwing with her dreams. We’ve got to snap her out of it.” Clint tried shouting and shaking her pajama clad shoulders, but she remained caught in the unnatural nightmare. Clint let out a sound of vexation for he couldn’t fight something he couldn’t touch.

Brandon looked just as lost. But we can’t give up. She needs us. Clint straddled Josie and placed his face directly in front of her unseeing eyes. “Josie, baby, I need you to wake up.” He hadn’t expected her to respond. Not knowing what else to do, Clint did the only thing he could think of to jolt her body. He kissed her.

It was like embracing a corpse her lips were so cold, but at the skin-to-skin contact, she let out a small gasp. Encouraged, he slanted his lips across hers again and was rewarded with them warming under his touch.

“She needs skin-to-skin contact,” said Clint, removing his lips only long enough to inform Brandon.

“I’m all for that,” said Brandon. “Here, lift up a bit so I can pull down the covers. The more of her skin we touch, the better.”

Clint leaned up to aid Brandon in pulling down the sheets, all the while keeping his lips locked to hers. Brandon didn’t stop at the sheets, though. He tugged her top up and her bottoms down, leaving her cool skin exposed. Clint shifted to the side and pressed his bare chest against her cold ribs while Brandon did the same on her other side.

Slowly, her body warmed to their touch, and her lips parted with a sigh under his. Brandon, for his part, was sliding his lips from hers down to the tip of her breast, then around again. Her skin lost its pallor, and when Brandon clamped his mouth down over her breast and she arched, Clint knew they were winning.

He watched her face as he continued to kiss her, his tongue pushing inside her mouth to slide along hers. Her eyes went from catatonic to aware in moments.

“Welcome back, baby,” he murmured.