"Huh?" She sat up straight. "No way."
"The three of us together generated enough power to take out a stone wall. Maybe we should try to build up power and attack Blake, instead of giving him control of the situation." There was a long silence. He could hear her breathing, magnified in the dark, enclosed space.
"Do you think we can do it, without Grant?" she asked. "Or maybe I can … we can find him on the astral plane. I think I'm getting the hang of this out-of-body travel. Together we could join again and channel the energy better this time."
"It's worth a try. I've never had much of a psychic bent, but that's changing fast. How do you do it-separate from your body?"
"Let's start with a kiss." Sherrie leaned in and found his lips in the dark. Hers were soft and moist and tasted slightly of herbal tea. At their touch, John instinctively closed his eyes and opened his mouth. He forgot his thirst and the throbbing pain in his head as he savored her tongue's slow exploration of his mouth. His cock grew harder, and his need for her swelled, filling his mind and his senses.
Sliding his hand beneath her jacket and shirt, he touched her smooth skin and the bumps of her vertebrae. How he wished they could take time and do it right, somewhere other than in a shack or a cave shaft. He'd like to lay her down on smooth, clean sheets and kiss every inch of her body, slowly bringing her to the edge of orgasm again and again before letting her come. But this wasn't the time or place for leisurely fucking. They were on a lovemaking mission which included that bastard Perron, if they could reach him. Energy buzzed between them, but it lacked the final element they needed to make it explode.
After several moments, Sherrie pulled away and whispered, "Now, see if you can be with me and separate from your body at the same time. Breathe deeply. Feel yourself lifting up. If you can shift into a wolf, I'm sure you can do this."
John didn't really want to. He was perfectly content with feeling her solid body in his arms, her breasts pressed against his chest and her hot tongue in his mouth. Nevertheless, he focused on his breathing and tried to separate consciousness from flesh. After a few seconds, he thought he did feel a difference, a lightness and awareness of being apart from his physical form. The strange sensation made him nervous, but Sherrie was with him in her essential form so he relaxed and went with it.
She took his disembodied hand and pulled him along with her. Together they shot up the narrow shaft and down the tunnel toward the front of the cave where Evan Blake sat in a camp chair. He didn't seem to be aware of their presence when they flowed past him. His eyes were closed, perhaps focused on his own astral connection to the comatose shifters.
"Come on." Sherrie's voice spoke inside John's mind, and she clung to his hand.
As they sped through the trees, faster than he could run even in wolf form, John caught an unneeded breath. This phenomenon was exhilarating and almost too much to wrap his mind around. The world and his body were every bit as real as their existence in physical form, but everything was slightly skewed. His senses were stronger, his view broader, his mind sharper.
He glanced at Sherrie by his side. Her beautiful face and form were as always, and he could feel her as if she was solid. She seemed to know exactly where she was going so he was happy to let her lead.
They raced through the woods, but branches and brambles passed through them rather than snagging on their hair or clothes.
"Grant's up ahead," Sherrie assured John. "Feel him?" John focused outward, searching for the feline essence of Grant, that arrogant ass, and suddenly he did sense him up ahead. They burst into a clearing, and there the big man lay, drowsing in the sun. Asshole!
While they were imprisoned with their lives in danger, he was catnapping.
"Perron, wake up," John shouted.
"He's unconscious, John." Sherrie stooped by the man's side and brushed her fingers through his blond hair. It didn't even ruffle from her invisible fingers. "Grant, can you hear me? We're here. Come out.
Come to us."
For a second, John thought Grant was shifting. His body shimmered as if the molecules were vibrating, morphing into their new configuration. Then the man sat up, his essence separating from his corporeal form. Now that John looked more closely at the man's body, he saw it was battle-scarred as if he'd been in a catfight.
Grant opened his eyes and focused on Sherrie and John. "What are you doing here? What happened?"
"You got mauled from the looks of you," John said, indicating the torn body still lying on the ground.
"One of your pride?"
Grant rose, grimacing at his damaged physical self. "Naw, a regular mountain lion. I drove it off, but it got in some good bites first. The fall down the hill knocked me out."
"We found Janus. He's holding us both captive," Sherrie explained succinctly. "I think I might know how to end him, but first we need to combine power like we did before." Perron's brows shot up. "Great. I'm in."
"This isn't for you to get your rocks off. It's for a higher purpose." John despised his prudish tone, but couldn't help it; Perron ruffled his fur. When all this was over, if they were still alive, he'd like nothing better than to get into it with the panther for real, fist to fist, fang and claw. Oddly enough, the idea sent a charge through him that went straight to his dick. His erection stiffened, images of violence and sex mingling in a heady brew.
"Nothing like thoughts of duty to make you horny," the panther teased, but his cock was hard too.
John suddenly realized he was naked, as were they. Had they been since they'd left their bodies? Somehow he hadn't noticed. But clothes seemed superfluous here in the astral world where they didn't even have bodies. It certainly made going straight for the sex a lot easier.
"Maybe we don't even need to have sex," Sherrie suggested as she held John's hand again. "It could be more of a spiritual joining and if we simply touch each other-" The moment she linked them by taking Grant's hand, electricity crackled through them. "Jesus!" John gasped as a tsunami of carnal desire swept through him. There was no way they could fight it.
No way some hand-holding and singing "We Shall Overcome" was going to cut it. He needed to fuck someone, either one of them, and he needed it now!
Chapter Ten
When Sherrie took his hand, a ripple of bliss went through Grant as if someone had stroked his fur.
He couldn't suppress a purr. Arching his back in pleasure, he brought her hand to his chest and pressed her palm against it, then bent and kissed her luscious lips. The taste of her and the feel of her soft mouth yielding to his made his cock hard as rebar. In an instant, he was starving for her as if he hadn't just fucked her earlier that day-and the night before. Sherrie gave a soft whimper, and his dick throbbed painfully.
Damn, what was it about this woman? He'd enjoyed many partners both female and male and had even had a sporadic relationship of sorts with Marina, but he'd never experienced anything like his animal attraction to Sherrie.
Grant slid his hand up her arm to her shoulder then caressed the length of her back, coming to rest on the swell of her buttocks. Every inch of her flesh felt as real as its physical counterpart-more so because the sensations were beyond the physical. He was receiving the very essence of her being, the particular vibration that was her, and it was sweeter than honey, warmer than sunlight.
As the wolf moved closer to Sherrie, Grant felt his skin against the back of his hand. Was that his hipbone or his cock? Grant reached to find out and encountered wiry pubic hair and the other man's rigid shaft. He curled his fingers around it and stroked.
Walker gave a small grunt of surprise or protest or maybe arousal. Still plumbing the depths of Sherrie's mouth with his tongue, Grant pumped Walker's cock with his fist. He loved the feeling of the other man's arousal, a mirror image of his own. Pulling on the other man's cock was almost like stroking himself. Grant thrust into Sherrie's soft belly, seeking some relief for his aching erection.
Sherrie slid her hand from his chest to his groin and took him in her hand. She gripped him hard the way he liked and glided her hand up and down his shaft. Grant thrust into her encircling fist and groaned with pleasure.
He tore his mouth from hers and moved his lips to her throat. She tasted like joy and he recognized her nature as basically happy. Here in the astral realm, her essence glowed golden, incandescent. Grant swirled his tongue in the soft dip above her clavicle where her pulse pounded, loving the feeling of all that lifeblood surging through her veins. Stooping lower, he latched onto her tit, drawing one beautiful pink nipple into his mouth. He forgot entirely about rubbing Walker's cock and a moment later it slipped from his hand.