Adera Orfanelli

historical shape shifter erotic romance
Release Date: 05/17/2012
Purchase From Changeling Press

Even in the Wild West, there’s nothing much wilder than a werewolf. Except a dino shifter.

For Ryx, hunting dinosaur bones is more than a scientific curiosity; it's a way for him to connect with his people's ancestors. But he isn't the only member of the team with secrets. He knows Eli isn't really a boy, and she doesn't smell quite human. What he doesn't know is that Eliza is a werewolf, and her past is about to catch up with them.

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With Dales’ team out, they wouldn’t have to worry about much until the other scientist decided to head over. And Ryx figured he’d take the rival digger out. An intact skeleton of one of his gods, one of his ancestors, was too big a find to risk anyone else getting it. He followed a trail that only he knew through the next canyon and brought the wagon to the opening of another cave. After checking for signs of anyone else, he led the horse inside, tethering it to one of the iron rings driven into the wall just for that purpose.

“The lake is in the back of this cave. There’s a place where I can watch for anyone coming, but I won’t be able to see you.” Though he hungered to. Thinking of her naked, nubile form in the lake, cool spring water cascading over her body, had him hard in an instant.

“Don’t you need to bathe too?” Her nose wrinkled.

“It would be nice,” he admitted. “But you go first.”

She seemed to accept his words and scrambled from the wagon. He followed at a more sedate pace, making sure to get the rifle they’d left in the wagon. Perhaps if Dobbs had kept the weapon within reach he wouldn’t have died. They reached the spring, and Ryx took a seat on a boulder where the opening narrowed.

“You go on. I’ll wait. Let me know when you’re done.” Ryx turned and stared back in the direction they’d come. The wagon blocked some of the opening. It wasn’t the most defensive position, but the wards at the opening of the cave generally kept everyone away except the natives who used it while they hunted. He wouldn’t tell her it was also a known trysting place for the tribes that lived in this area. He smiled at the thought, even though he knew now wasn’t the time for such things.

“You can come back.” Eliza’s voice drifted toward him.

She had spoken awfully soon, but maybe she was worried about taking too long. He stood and carried the rifle back to the lake. And stopped in his tracks.

Eliza stood in the middle of the pond, the water just covering the tops of her breasts. Her hair was wet and dripping rivulets of water over her shoulders and chest.

Ryx’s mouth went dry. He couldn’t move, couldn’t do the right thing by stepping back and turning around.

“Rince?” she asked, using the softer pronunciation of his name he often used to avoid questions. “You act as if you haven’t seen a woman before.”

He swallowed hard, forcing saliva into his dry mouth and some blood back to his brain. “I’ll just go wait. Take your time.” There, he’d said the gentlemanly thing, done the right thing.

She smiled. “You like women, don’t you?” She moved in the water, rising from it like a goddess.

He should turn and leave. At least avert his eyes like a gentleman. Instead, he was riveted to the sight of water droplets sliding over her body. His mouth went dry. Blood rushed south, his cock hardening in an instant. Ryx swallowed hard to try and muster enough saliva to talk. “I do,” he admitted. He wanted to say more, felt like he should say more, tell her this wasn’t right, that they couldn’t do this.

And yet there was that unique scent. Even here, far back in this cave where everything smelled like dank earth and the metallic trickle of water, the scent of pine forests filled his nostrils. The smell might be foreign to his soul, but it drew him nonetheless.

“The water’s warm.” She lifted her hand, water trickling from it to cascade over her left breast. The nipple drew taut on her small, high breast, and he longed to cover it with his hands. How she’d ever passed as a boy, he didn’t know now. He’d believed she’d had small breasts, but without their bindings, her breasts were fuller than he’d believed. She ducked down in the water, and he thought to leave. But then she appeared again. “Don’t be silly. I’ll turn my back.”

And she did, giving him a view of her narrow shoulders and muscled back. Water dripped down her neck, that God-awful haircut doing nothing to make her look any less womanly.

What the hell? He itched from the dirt, and the water looked inviting. As long as she kept her back to him, she wouldn’t see anything worse than his bare chest. He struggled to remember if the water were clear.

Didn’t matter now because his clothes were falling to the ground next to hers, and he stepped into the surprisingly not-too-cold water. The water slid over his hips, and he moved to the far side of the pool. He ducked beneath the water, keeping his eyes open just to peek, and caught a glimpse of her ass and stomach. From the way she stood, he couldn’t see her sex, but then again, he also thought that might be for the best. Buoyed by the water, his cock nearly touched his stomach; he was that erect. He stood and smoothed his hair back from his face. “You can turn around,” he said, realizing she’d probably do just the same.

“Feel better?” She stared, unabashed and appreciative, at his bare chest. He had a feeling his Eliza wasn’t an untried maiden. Just as quickly as the thought had come, he wondered when she’d become his Eliza.

“I do.” He didn’t have any soap, hadn’t thought to bring any, and even if he had, he was buck naked and their supplies, except the rifle, were in the wagon. Probably not the wisest thing they’d ever done. Water eddied around him, and he realized Eliza had crossed the pool.

“It’s nice to know you weren’t watching me because I was dressed as a boy.” Eliza wound her arms around his neck and drew her body flush with his. Her legs brushed against his, then wound around his hips so her sex rested just above his cock.

Ryx bit back a groan. “Eliza,” he ground out.

“Rince?” She wiggled against him. “We just buried men. You want to dig bones, and we don’t have much food. I think we should take our happiness where we can find it.”

“Ryx,” he said, his hand cupping her ass to draw her even closer, damn him. “My name is pronounced Ryx.”