Clayton's Jade (Runes Stone Series) Read online

  “Jeez thanks! That’s just what every guy wants to hear.” He knew Clayton was right but it did not make it any easier to hear. Why had the stone picked him? He was not a fighter. He would put everything that he had in him to win this war because he didn’t want the world to end. “Whenever you want to train me I will be ready for it. Just for the record I am a fast learner.”

  “Bridget will train you in the water. If she can fight so can you. I will be training you on land. Kaylee was only leaning the basics from Vie today. Both of you still have a lot to learn. Why don’t we get a little nap in while Kaylee is working in the lab? It will do us both good.” Brad nodded his head in agreement and was quickly dozing off. He still had some major healing to do before the full moon hit.

  The bedroom had a television and DVD player so after dinner she brought in a movie for them to watch. For some reason she could never watch enough of the Die Hard movies. Vie wanted to watch it with them so she put off healing them until the movie was over. Kaylee curled up next to Clayton in bed and Vie rested next to Brad on his bed. Clayton had to remain on his back with the pillows elevating his head so he could watch the movie. She had to lie on his left side so that she wouldn’t hurt him. Her head lay on his chest so that she could see the movie. At first her arm was on her side then he took it and placed it on his abs. Her hands wanted to explore, but she made them stay in one place. He seemed to enjoy messing with her hair, but she didn’t mind though it did cause some tingling in some areas that she hadn’t really acknowledged before.

  Just as the movie was about to end he started making little circles around her ears and running his fingertips up and down her neck. She could feel her pulse speed up as her hands moved over his chest getting used to the feel of him. She moaned in pleasure lucky for her that it was during a scene that the machine guns were going off, otherwise Vie and Brad would have heard her. Shocked at what she was feeling she jumped off of the bed and just waited for the movie to end. She was unsure of what she was feeling and just wanted to go to bed and think about things. She wanted Clayton in way that she hadn’t wanted any other man she had ever been around. He made her feel alive and wanted.

  He looked at her and reached for her hand and brought her body over to him. Then he pulled her down towards him and he kissed her. He stared by just nibbling on her lips until she sighed and opened them. Taking advantage he slipped his tongue into her mouth. He did not leave any inch of her mouth unexplored. She responded kindly and for once gave into her passion. It was like having cold water poured on them when they heard the coughing coming from the next bed. Why did he have to be sharing a room? Timing sucked! He was going to have another long night he feared. She stood back up and looked at them. “Sorry.” Now she just had to wait for Vie to heal them both a little more then she would lay Vie on her bed and go to the couch to sleep. Vie did used as much energy as she had the day before so she was still awake when Kaylee put her in the bed. The only reason she didn’t sleep next to her was she was afraid of rolling on her in the middle of the night. It was safer this way. She headed out the couch and lay down and went to sleep.

  CHAPTER 8

  Having given chase after a rabbit. Kill. Food. Very few animals came after her, she went after them. This was the life running, jumping, and climbing. She knew in the back of her mind that she would have to go back to her human form and that for some reason she was supposed to be careful, whatever that meant. Things didn’t have the same meaning in animal form. Her only responsibility in animal form was survival and she was good at that. As she was chasing the rabbit,her sense of smell kicked in. The forest was too quiet and at night that was the last thing you wanted. That meant something was wrong. There was a vile musky smell in the air, in fact it triggered her flight response. She could feel her heart pounding as she tried to figure out where the smell was coming from. Skidding to a stop she turned in the direction that she had come from.

  Running as fast as she could back towards the house with people in it, she hoped they were still awake. She didn’t know if they could help or not. She didn’t know if she was going to make it there anyway. She could feel other creatures around the area some of them had good intentions and others she could sense the evil rolling off of them. The bad thing was they were not from this area. She came to a complete stop when she saw a bunch of creatures blocking her way to the house and a Tasmanian devil in front of all of them. With this being the second night of full moon she couldn’t change into her human form. She looked behind her and realized that she was blocked in. She wished she had practiced fighting in cat form, but she didn’t think she needed it. The Tasmanian started to advance toward her.

  Waking with a start, her heart pounding so hard she thought it would pop out of her chest. She needed to get more of her kind around the house. Land shifters, that is. Seeing some of what was going to happen helped but there was a lot of work to get done and some people to heal quickly. She needed Clayton’s help, this was beyond her capabilities. She grabbed a chair from the kitchen table to take to his room so she could sit on it till he woke up. As she put the chair on the floor next to the bed he moved a little. She didn’t want to wake him for he still needed the healing sleep. Taking a deep breath she sat in the chair and waited for him to wake up.

  He really was cute when he was asleep. His bangs had been swept to the side. This had emphasized his eyes that were usually so piercingly direct you couldn’t really look elsewhere. Lines that etched his face were now relaxed which gave her a whole new perspective of him. He was calm, not worrying about what was on the horizon. She knew the minute he woke up everything would go back to normal. She would keep this moment to herself.

  He was starting to wake up. She knew instinctively that he was going to stretch as he awoke. Leaning over she brushed the back of her fingertips down his cheek. “Good morning, and just so it stays that way don’t move too quickly.” Then she kissed him tentatively on the lips. For once she wanted to be in control of their kiss. She slipped her tongue between his lips and began to taste and explore. When she retreated, he invaded taking over in a very demanding way that took her breath away.

  It took all of her will power, which she did not have a lot of, to pull back from him. “How do you feel this morning? If you are able, I need you to get dressed and meet me out at the table. I had one of my dreams last night, so we need to make some plans.”

  “I believe I can move around very slowly. Just give me a little time and I will be out there.” Smiling at her he went to pull the covers back so that he could get out of bed.

  Getting up she smiled at him as she turned and walked out the door. Once out in the kitchen she poured two cups of coffee and sat down to wait for him. Today was a good day to be inside. There was a light haze outside. With both of the guys injured it wouldn’t be good for them to go outside. She had a detailed map of the area surrounding the house. She was having a hard time locating the place she had been attacked in the dream.

  She heard him coming down the hall towards the kitchen. He had put on pants, but that was it. There went her concentration. Well, it didn’t go away, it was just redirected. She wanted to run her hands down his chest and not stop. “What happened to wearing a shirt?” There was no way in hell they were going to get anything done if he didn’t put one on.

  “I couldn’t bend down to get it out of the drawer.” Before he knew what was going on, she raced down the hallway to his room grabbed a shirt from the bottom drawer and took it out to him.

  “There now, you can put it on. I have to be able concentrate on the problem, not you.” Did she just say that out loud? Crap. Maybe he didn’t catch that. Looking over at him she could see the huge grin on his face and knew that he had. Double crap. Ok, just play it off. “This is a map that has been in the family since we bought the land. Every generation updates it with the natural changes of the land. I figured if I looked at it long enough I would see where the attack is going to happen. Also, we don’t have enough people here.” Hop
efully that would redirect his thoughts.

  “Now that the shirt is on you can look at me. I am very glad that you like my chest.” She kept her eyes averted knowing her face was red. Her and her big mouth when would she learn to think before she spoke? “Where is the most likely spot that this is going to happen? Do you have any idea when this is going to take place? I have more people we can bring in and I think you know some people that can help. Between the two of us we will gather enough to fight them off.”

  “It will happen the second night of the full moon. All of my people will be in ware form. Brad will have to be in the ocean before he can shift. As for where the attack happens I haven’t figured that out yet. I will be in cat form when it happens. I will be more agile, but so will they. I woke up before the actual fight.” She was glad she didn’t see the fight, she didn’t want to see who gets hurt and who doesn’t.

  “What area do you normally stalk when you are in cat form? That would help us narrow down an area.” She looked worried so that dream must have been bad. “Could you go and grab my lap top from the bedroom. It has a list of people stored in it. That way I could get started on getting ahold of them to get out here.” After she had left the table he got a good look at the map. It was much more detailed than what he had found. I guess if you come from a family of shifters its best if you know the land around you like the back of your hand. Looking at this map he realized that there were a lot of places for an ambush situation. He now had an understanding of why she was worried.

  “Here is the laptop and I grabbed my phone, I couldn’t find yours. The place I have woken up around the most in is this upper left section. I have clothes stashed all over this area, also in a couple of other places. If you are up to it tomorrow I can take you out to them.” He was watching her point out the different areas while opening his lap top up. As she looked at the map she flashed back to her dream. As she had been chasing the rabbit she caught sight of a fallen tree there had been a hint of blue under a log. “I was here.” She had been closer to the house than she had thought. “It’s only about fifteen minutes from the house.” They were blocking me from getting back to the house. I am just one person. Why would they corner me? It doesn’t make any sense.

  The more she thought about it, the more confused she got. Getting up she went down the hall to check on Vie. When she got to the door she remembered what Vie had said, you will have to decide. She was in heat and would have to decide. She was going to have to trust him and not get scared. However people were always of afraid of what they didn’t know so how would she fight it? “Vie, are you awake?”

  “Yes, Just very weak. What do you need to know?” Vie always knew more than she let on.

  “I had a dream last night and other creatures were chasing me. Why just me?”

  “You are one of the keys to stopping Ragnarok. You now realize what decision you have to make and that is why you are here. You have nothing to fear. The desire that has awakened in you is natural. There will be bumps along the way, nothing in life is ever easy as you already know.” So she still had to figure out how to keep from changing into her cat. “When you are ready the want will override the fear within. You’re closer than you know.”

  She already wanted him, that much was obvious, at least she thought so. Her concentration went out the window when he was around and she always wanted to touch him. There was more to what she was already feeling. She was already experiencing a constant ache that never seemed to go away. “Thanks for the help. I guess in the end I will have to figure it out on my own.”

  “I’m going to my place to finish resting up. I will go and heal Brad a little more and then he should be good to go. You should be fine today and I will be back in action by tomorrow night. If you need me you know what to do.” And just like that she was gone. Wasn’t it sad that the first thing she thought of was having a free bedroom? She didn’t think that he was up to doing anything today, but it didn’t stop her from thinking it. Maybe they could cuddle tonight and go from there. Ya right, like all they would do is cuddle, they could barely stop kissing once they started. Shaking her head she went back out to the kitchen and found him talking on the phone trying to get people out here to help.

  “Do you need anything?” she whispered into his free ear as she passed by him. Grabbing the coffee pot she refilled both cups. Taking the note pad from the kitchen counter she sat down at the kitchen table and started to write. She wasn’t really paying attention to what she was writing when she heard him say, got to go see you tomorrow. He was staring at her like a new toy that he wanted to unwrap. What had caused that? Looking down at the paper that she had written on she turned several shades of red. Written on the sheet were the words; need, want, aching, arouse, appease, there were more but she knew what he had seen.

  “You have something on your mind?” That look in his eyes set her whole body ablaze.

  “Yes, but it’s nothing we can act on right now. You are still healing and can barely move. It can wait. Besides, we have other things to do.” Even though she said the words her mind wasn’t listening and from the looks of it he wasn’t either.

  He got up from the table, grabbed her hand, “I may be hurting, but I’m not dead. We can take it slow and easy. I have wanted you since the day I first arrived her.” She stood and looked him in the eyes then pulled him towards the bedroom. When they shut the door he looked her in the eyes “are you sure?”

  “Yes, I am very sure.” Then his lips touched hers in a soft kiss. As her lips parted his tongue slipped between them, delving and probing every crevice of her mouth. She breathed in his scent, a light musk with a twinge of mint. His hand lowered to the round curve of her rear. Her hand wound around his waist and up his back. She loved the way he felt, his warmth and touch set her body on fire. The fire raced through her veins and settled between her legs. The more they kissed and touched the more she burned. She wanted more and this time she wouldn’t stop. Her hand swept down and cupped the front of his jeans. Her thumb moved in slow circles along the center. He wanted her, she could tell by how tight the front of his jeans had become. His mouth moved from her mouth to the side of her neck. He started to move her back towards the bed. As the back of her legs touched the bed he lowered her onto it, his hands moved to her jeans and undid them and drew them down past her knees. She immediately kicked them off so that she could better move. Her hands went to the back of his neck drawing his mouth towards hers; she wanted to feel his mouth back on hers.

  His shirt needed to come off, she wanted to feel skin, however he had other plans as his hand lowered and she felt his fingers slide into her. Her whole body jerked from nerves firing at the same time through her whole body. She had never felt this before and wanted more. Her hips moved towards his fingers, wanting more as she tightened inside to hold them there.

  This created even more friction within her body as his fingers withdrew then plunged back in. She couldn’t stop the moan as his lips trailed down her neck to her breast. He sucked the tip of her breast into his mouth his fingers plunged into her again causing her whole body shutter as a small scream came from her lips. She had felt the release of the pressure that he had built within her. He stood up and with a speed she had never seen before his clothes were off and he was back on top of her. He was bigger than she realized. How was he ever going to fit inside of her? The pulse in her neck was beating a mile a minute as his hips dipped towards her. She could feel the tip of him parting her then he withdrew. The next time he went a little deeper then withdrew. Then he kissed her and sank into her all the way and felt her tense up then waited for her body to adjust to him. When he felt her body relax into his he began to slowly move his hips until she caught the rhythm. Every time he withdrew and would plunge back in sent her nerve endings into a dance that had no ending in sight. All she could think, feel, and see was him and what he was doing to her. Just when she thought she couldn’t take anymore, warmth spread through her as her entire body released at the same time that
his did.

  Wrapping his arms around her he rolled over until she was tucked alongside of him. She draped one arm over his chest and closed her eyes.

  She awoke to a new sensation; his hand was skimming the very tip of her nipples. Every time he barely touched them it sent a shock straight to the core of her causing liquid to pool. She took his hand and brought a finger to her lips and sucked it in, using her tongue she slid all around it like it was a prized lollypop. He slowly pulled his finger out and replaced, with his mouth. His hand traveled down finding her wet and swollen. He needed her now, later they would be slow. He slowly glided into her silken sheath until he fitted against her completely.

  When they were both spent in the afterglow, she was tracing small circles on his chest. “Unless you want more, I would stop that. As it is you are going to be very sore, in fact I believe soaking in a bath would be a good idea.” He picked up her hand and kissed it in the center of her palm.

  “Be that way.” She got up and went to the bathroom to run a tub full of water. “So are you going to be joining me?”

  “As much as I would love to I had better stay here. If we don’t take a break you won’t be walking very well tomorrow. In fact while you take your bath I will go and finish making those phone calls. I believe we only have three days until this fight is going to happen. You need to talk to Brad and get going on your end.” Pulling up his pants and buttoning them he headed out to the kitchen. He couldn’t believe he still wanted her. For now he had to let her rest if he could keep his hands off her until tonight. It was going to be a long afternoon.