Running Free (Woodland Creek)(40)
Ronald Jeffries ended up being able to match the hairs from the bear to those of the bodies and concluded that the claw marks came from the bear, so it was a no-brainer. Of course we were still waiting on the DNA testing which had been sent off to Chicago, but once again, Frankie assured me there would be nothing to link Jase to the crimes since it happened while he was in his shifter form and therefore wouldn’t possess normal human DNA. And, since the missing child was located, there was no reason to pursue the matter of the Woodland Pond killer any further. TJ closed the case and gave me a few days off.
Now, hours later, it’s so f*cking late and my eyes are drooping but I keep my eye on the fire pit. Suzie whimpers in her sleep snuggled up next to Cutie Pie on the ground and his ears perk up. His gaze flits to mine before he licks her face and then lies back down.
“When do you think she’ll shift back?” I mutter into Frankie’s hair. She’s curled up under a blanket in my lap. Once we got home and everyone bathed, we’ve been outside ever since, each one of us wrapped up in our own thoughts.
She sighs. “I’d hoped she’d have turned back by now. I think she might be in shock. At least Cutie Pie seems to know what to do.”
I smile at the two pups sleeping side by side. Cutie Pie may be only a mutt but he’s a smart mutt with a heart of gold. He loves Suzie despite the fact that sometimes she turns into a human.
“Maybe I’ll offer her ice cream for breakfast. Kids love ice cream,” I say with a chuckle.
Frankie giggles but it soon fades until she’s crying in my arms.
“What is it, hádanka?”
“How are you okay with all of this? I mean, your girlfriend and her daughter turn into dogs,” she says with a bitter laugh. “Your old foster brother is my foster brother who happens to have turned out to be a psycho. You watched a bunch of people, who you thought were humans at one time, morph into a wild variety of animals. How is this okay in your head, Gun?”
It’s hard to wrap my mind around it but not impossible. If Mom were here, she’d shrug her shoulders and say something clever like, God works in mysterious ways.
I kiss Frankie on top of the head. “Someone once told me there’s more out there than I could simply understand. I opened my mind and made it my mission to understand. I’m still f*cking clueless as hell but I’m quite fine with spending my years figuring it out with you.”
She snuggles close and kisses my neck. “We should put the kids to bed and sleep. I want to be up at the hospital first thing in the morning. That stubborn ass told me to stay home and look after Suzie earlier when I called his room after surgery. He should know by now I don’t take kindly to being told what to do. I’ll be there worrying after him because he’s… ”
I hug her and finish where she trailed off. “Because he’s your dad. Daughters take care of their dads.”
When she starts to sniffle, I stroke her back. I’m beginning to doze off when Cutie Pie yelps. Frankie scrambles out of my lap and soon she wraps up a sleeping human-looking Suzie in her blanket.
“Here, I’ll carry her. You get the guest bed ready and grab one of my T-shirts from the drawer. We’ll get her put to bed and then I have plans for my wild animal lover in bed later,” I tell her with a wink.
She smiles a bashful smile but it’s the most beautiful thing in the entire world. Twenty minutes later after we’ve tucked Suzie into bed with a very watchful Cutie Pie protecting her from the pillow next to her, we sneak into my bedroom.
Frankie peels her clothes off in a slow seductive way and I watch with a lopsided grin. God, she’s so f*cking beautiful and all mine. I don’t give a rat’s ass if she’s a shifter. That shit doesn’t make sense in my head but having seen her physically transform, I can’t help but believe it. Earlier when we sat next to the fire pit, she’d voiced her concerns about accidentally shifting while we had sex. I told her I loved her no matter what and she could shift into a wall for all I cared as long as she still had a hole to put my dick into. She wasn’t amused. Truth is, I’d probably lose my head a bit if she shifted while we made love. I’m going to cross that bridge if we ever get there but certainly am not allowing the weird thoughts to infect my mind with worry.
This woman is mine. All the parts of her. The confusing, unusual, and utterly beautiful parts. All mine.
“You going to stare at me all night, or are you going to mark me, lover?” Her voice is thick with lust as she taunts me.
I make quick work of shedding my clothes and grab my aching cock to stroke it when she bends over the bed. She’s beautiful and her ass is f*cking amazing. When she looks over her shoulder at me with a pouty come hither look, I nearly blow my wad. This woman is hotter than any Playboy magazine model I’ve ever whacked off to. And as exciting as it would be to f*ck her “doggie style,” I’m not going to.
I can’t see her eyes.
With Frankie, I like to watch her emotions change the browns in her eyes from dark chocolate to swirls of caramel goodness. When she comes, those pretty lashes cover her emotion-telling orbs and her plump lips part in ecstasy. I’d miss all her expressions and right now, I simply don’t want to miss a thing.
I stride over to her and drag my cock along her wetness causing her to moan. My dick twitches to be inside of her so with a quick push, I enter her roughly. She cries out and fists the sheets, preparing for me to ram her. Instead, I pop back out of her and flip her onto her back. Those mocha-colored eyes find mine and she smiles. There’s relief in her smile — relief that she’s more to me than a great f*ck.