'Pleasure and action make the hours seem short'

William Shakespeare

Red and I moved together in a state of near catatonia. Though I was as warm as ever, I could feel the cold creeping into her bones where I held her. "Take my car," Paul said, tossing me his keys. I caught them with my bad arm, wincing as lighting-like pain lanced across my shoulder. "Get her home."

Half awake, we both obeyed our Pack's command. I was hesitant, torn with the need to protect her and just protect. But Jacob was right; I'd be useless until she was okay. Sopping wet and shivering, she looked tiny in the front seat of Paul's car, knees curling up into her chest almost instinctively. I worked myself into the drivers seat with care, dropping the seat back so far I was practically sitting in the back seat. Her arm shot out as I jammed the keys into the ignition, pale shaking fingers curling into the waist band of my cut-off shorts. I understood the gesture; like me, she just wanted to make sure I was still there.

Cranking the heat in the little car, I ignored the sweat dripping down my neck and into my half-knitted wounds until the worst of her trembling had ceased. The storm was raging by the time I pulled up to the cabin. Shielding her tiny body against the wind, I forced the door open against the storm, and let it slam behind us.

"Go take a shower," I said, too loud in the quiet of the cabin. "Get warm. I'll bring you something to wear." Red didn't even look up, just pressed her forehead against my chest where I was still holding her against me. "Red, go warm up." Head snapping up, she caught me in her wide eyes, mouth open, ready to speak. I wasn't sure I wanted to hear what she had to say, not now; not when I was already falling off the edge again as the adrenalin that had kept me going was slowly replaced with the after-shock of fear. I'd almost lost her. "No...please. Just...just go warm up, okay? I'll be here when you get out. I'll still be here." I couldn't tell you why I chose to phrase myself as such, only that she relaxed with the words, nodding sharply.

"Okay," she croaked, voice raw with salt-water. "Okay.

She disappeared into my bathroom, and I lingered in the kitchen. Cranking the cold water in the kitchen sink, I waited as the faucet sputtered to life – the water pressure had never been all that great, especially when the shower was running – and scrubbed at my skin and hair with a kitchen-towel. The worst of the salty-ocean water was washed away quick enough, so I set cleaning my wound.

The shoulder was already knitting closed, adrenalin quickening the healing process, thick, wet looking scabs crusting over an angry, jagged, red tear. The rest of my shoulder was the worst of it, five lback-bruised marks where she'd dug her fingers in and peeled my flesh back like the skin of an orange. For all that I would have liked to leave it, I couldn't; sand dusted the seeping edges, grating at the sensitive raw skin. Gritting my teeth, I did it quick – like peeling off a band aid – stripping the flesh back again, and quickly rinsing it with the sprayer, not caring as pink-tinged sandy water pooled on my floor.

It hurt like fucking hell, water sluicing across naked muscle and tendon. Ignoring the red haze of pain tinging my vision, I fumbled under the sink, good-hand shaking as it clutched at the first-aid kit kept there.

"Let me help," Red said, rushing around the counter. She caught the kits just as I dropped it, setting it gently on the counter. Her hair was still damp, hanging in a mess of curls.

"I forgot to bring you clothes," I said stupidly, leaning heavily against the counter. In actuality, cleaning out my arm had just taken longer than I'd planned. She was covered up tightly in a beach towel, - the only ones I could find that fit me- the lengthy terry-cloth wrapped around her small body almost three-fold and knotted under her arm.

Looking up, she gave me a tired smile. "Looks like you were busy." Her voice was still raw from the salt-water. "This is going to hurt."

That was all the warning I got before she sprayed me with the bactine-shit, forcing an undignified yelp out of me. Fire exploded up my arm and I swayed, fingers curling over the edge of the counter behind me to keep me up. I clenched my eyes, hissing through my teeth as Red worked, swift fingers pushing the flesh back in place and securing it with what bandages I had on hand. She wrapped it tightly, working the surgical tape under my arm, securing it with a firm pat of her hand.

"Ugh, I hate blood. We can make you a sling tomorrow, if you need it." I opened my eyes as she was shutting the first-aid kit, her hands now as shaky as mine had been. "I'm going to grab a shirt from your room."

Nodding, I watched her go, pain tingling beneath my skin, I fished a heavy bottle from beneath the same counter I kept the kit in. It was dusty and lablelss, and I popped the cork from the top with my teeth, spitting it into the sink. The clear liquid burned my throat like ice-fire, but not enough to keep me from drinking.

"What's that?" She asked, buttoning the last black button of a plaid shirt at her throat. It hung to her knees, the red of it brighter against her pale, clammy skin.

Blinking, I took another long drink and wondered if she was wearing my boxers. Probably not; they'd never stay up. "Moonshine."

Taking the bottle, she held it in both hands, sucking down a strong mouthful. Her eyes clenched as she forced it down, scrunching her face up and gagging. "Shit."

"The joy of grain alcohol," I agreed, taking a drink myself. "It's the only thing that will get me drunk."

"You want to get drunk?" Red asked, looking up at me. Her cheeks were a little red and wind-raw, and her lips were too pale for my liking. Her hair hung in limp, scraggly curls, heavy ant twisted where they lay against her drooped shoulders. She looked like shit. "I'm in."

"This stuff isn't exactly kool-aid," I commented, letting her take the bottle again. Red took a bigger drink this time, a clear line of fluid escaping at the corner of her mouth. Without thinking, I caught it on my thumb, brushing the edge of her trembling lips.

"Sam..."

She sucked in a breath, slamming the bottle onto the counter. I watched her throat work around a hard swallow, and felt her jaw tremble beneath my palm. Shock had gotten her this far, but the adrenalin was gone, leaving reality to set in. "Hey, hey," I said gently, looping my good hand around her waist and pulling her close to me. "It's okay. Everyone's okay, Red."

Mouth muffled against my damp chest, she wrapped her arms around me. "I thought we were going to die." Her tears burned trails against my skin; she cried to often for my liking. "Oh God, she had me, and she hurt you and-"

"Shhh," I murmured, feeling her shake against me. Her knees gave out, and I caught her, crushing her against me harder. "Shh. It's okay." Slipping my hand down her ass, I hauled her up against me one-handed, and reveled in the way her legs wrapped around my waist without any hesitance. Ignoring the part of me that recognized the very hot, very specific expanse of naked flesh pressed flat against my stomach between her wide-spread legs, I kept my hands over the the shirt where I cupped her ass. Red buried her face in my shoulder, body shaking as she cried, and that if nothing else is what broke me.

I held her too tightly, it had to hurt, but Red didn't protest, simply clung to me even more fiercely for it. I didn't cry, I wasn't sure that I could cry, but the frightened-relief was there, and I clenched my eyes to it, hiding my face in her hair. "When you fell," I began, swallowing hard. "Oh God, Red-"The words tapered off into nothing; nothing could accurately describe what I felt watching her tumble off the cliff, nothing.

"S'okay," she murmured, suddenly shifting to from soothee to soother. I shivered against her, hard pressed though I am to admit it, when she ran her hands across the nape of my neck, nails scraping across the flesh there. "We are okay," she declared firmly, enunciating every word with a tug of my hair, as if physically demanding I believe it.

We. There hadn't been a we before. Still, okay as we were now, I had been so sure I had lost her, sure she was gone as I hauled her frozen, breathless ass to shore. Even with her here, tucked into my arms, that terror couldn't be peeled away so easily. I shook with it, trembling in a way that had nothing to do with anger and everything to do with pure, unadulterated fear.

I'd never been so afraid before and looking into her wide, red-rimmed eyes, I knew I wasn't alone in that fear.

With one hand still holding her tight to me, I snatched the bottle off the counter with my bad arm, tossing my head back and drinking deeply, and ignoring the pulling pain in my shoulder. I barely manged to swallow as I felt the cool glass tugged from my grip. Red drank as deep as I, shaking off the cool burn with a full body shudder and a small gag.

As the sun only began to set, dipping down beneath the storm-torn horizon, with a bottle between us, we drank away our fear.

I woke to darkness, the green glow of the alarm-clock reading 9:56. The wind was still heavy, tearing branches from the trees, and I was still quite drunk. That was the gift of grain alcohol. The bottle lay nearly empty on the floor beside the bed where we'd managed to get. I snatched it up, drinking what was left without so much as a grimace. Red hadn't drank much more then five burning mouthfuls, but it was enough to knock her on her ass. We needed the oblivion in the aftermath of solid fear.

The cabin rattled every time lightning stuck, vibrating my very bones. Peeling away the damp bandages, I phased, wincing as the freshly knitted skin pulled and pushed. The skin was mended, but the muscle burned; the wound was too deep to be so quickly healed.

'Any news?'

Paul answered, his mental voice as rough as sand paper. 'Haven't seen her since you took Red. Jared and I are paroling the coast ten miles both ways. Leah and Embry are running the boarder and Quil and Jacob have the Rez.'

'Seth?' I managed to think, happy that in my mind, they couldn't hear the slur in my voice.

Leah growled, her voice somewhat fainter with the distance. 'Made him stay back, with dad. He wasn't happy.' She skated over images of his scowl as Jacob ordered him to stay back with Harry. Just as well, I thought, he was to young to be on the front line. Still, I currently knew what it was to be left behind.

'Someone get him on the phone and tell him to phase,' I thought, licking at my wounded shoulder. My lips were numb from the liquor, making me drool like a fucking St. Bernard. 'It wouldn't hurt to have him watching the cliff. She came that way the first time, she might try it again.' She probably wouldn't, she was to wily for that, but it would make him feel useful. 'He can do hour rotations between phases.'

Embry's voice cut in, close and crystal-clear. 'I'm close to the Clearwater's,' he explained, flashing images of the woods half a mile from there house. 'I'll sniff it out and make sure she isn't there already, and then let him know.'

'We're good Sam,' Jacob thought, directly at me, not bothering to muffle his exasperated snort. 'Get back to Red. The leech isn't going to be back tonight. "You're gonna want to sleep that buzz off anyway."

Rolling my eyes, I huffed and wobbled as I pushed up to a stand on all four paws. "I want updates, every other hour. You can use Seth as a runner, I'll keep my cellphone close."

Phasing back, I rolled my shoulder and spine, listening to the satisfying sound of every bone in my spinal column popping and cracking. Running a tired hand through my hair, I heard the tell-tale sound of the floor boards creaking. Red stood in the bedroom door, one hand wrapped around her middle, as the other rubbed at her sleep eyes.

"Sam?" Red half-rasped and half-slurred, blinking bleary eyed. She scratched absently at her forearm, and stifled a yawn. "What are you doing up? Come back to bed."

It was such a moment of domesticity that I couldn't help the shiver that ran through me. She looked the perfect picture of mine, standing in my bedroom doorway. Old adrenalin, alcohol, the wolf lurking beneath the surface; the combination was to much. Something in me snapped.

If I had drank away my fear, I'd drank away my inhibitions too, apparently. It was predatory, the thing I felt: I wanted to fucking eat her in the best and worst of ways. Perhaps it was the desperate desire for the affirmation of life, to feel that she was real, real and right beneath me. Red was nearly naked, and I was nearly naked, and she just looked so right standing in my room wrapped in nothing but my own shirt, my own scent. I swooped in on her, gathering her face in one hand and brought my mouth to hers. She tasted like toothpaste and pure alcohol and I knew without a doubt she'd used my toothbrush . The idea that she was comfortable enough to do so did so many weird, unexplainable things to me. Red didn't hesitate, just closed her eyes and leaned into the kiss, fingers digging into my still damp hair. We hadn't been asleep for but a few hours.

Walking her backwards, I caught her as her legs hit the edge of the bed. "Is this," I began, but she caught my mouth in another kiss, one that made me smile and shudder all at once. "Wait stop," I managed to ask, as she let herself fall back on the bed, taking me insistently with her. "Red...Red," I breathed, feeling her heart pound against my chest. I was teetering on an edge, every nerve in my body on fire where she touched me. I was to drunk for this; she was to drunk for this.

She looked up at me then, flush-faced and bright eyed. "It's not like last time," she said quietly, looking away, her cheeks flushed pink as a oceanic sunset. "I know what I want now."

I could taste the silent you on her lips when she kissed me, and let myself believe her selfishly. It pained me to admit that though I knew it wouldn't end well, I couldn't allow myself to tell her no. Not now, not after almost losing her.

Locked between her legs, I kissed her as deeply as I could, feral and desperate. Propped up on my good arm, my bad arm laid beside her head, fingers curled in the sheet. I was hard against her, the length of my cock pressed against the thin cotton between us. Roughly, I plucked at the buttons, our hands bumping as we fumbled them undone. The shirt was parted with painful slowness, but I drank in every inch of her body as it was exposed, pale skin cast in shadows.

Nothing had ever made me feel so feral. Nothing.

Red shivered when I growled, lips curled and teeth bared, fingers scratching nervously at the back of my neck. "Please," she whispered, and the sound was very nearly lost to the wind, but I heard it.

Her eyes caught mine as Red looked up through those dark lashes of hers and it was like imprinting all over again. My breath caught, and I wondered if this was what it wassuppose to feel like the first time my eyes had met hers. All the things I'd been holding back -the feral, desperate need want need- I let go, and it felt more like falling then our tumble off the cliff had.

And then we fucked.

I'd love to say it was patient, that it was sweet and gentle and kind, but I've never been much of a liar. What it was, however, was brutal, and savage and...and wet. Don't be mistaken; it wasn't lacking love, or at least my own, as I can't speak for Red. But when had anything between Red and I been sweet, gentle or kind? We were brutal, we were savage; our fucking was no different. Red fucked like she was going to war, drawing blood both literal and proverbial. She had been little more then vocal but passive the first time. This time how ever, she tore through me like nothing else mattered.

I let her, drunk with awe and too much moonshine, let her twist and wriggle till she could splay me out on my back. The feral desire I felt, every muscle drawn tight, every breath to hot, every touch to much, was tainted with an abject sort of amusement-cum-lust at watching her take charge of me. But still I let her, feeling my heart race as she nipped and bit her way across my jaw and collar bone. Her touch was more heady then the liquor alone, and combined I was gone with it.

I could feel her, hot and wet against my stomach. Catching her mouth with mine, I bit her lip and reached between us, smoothing my palm up her damp thighs. She shivered, muscles twitching beneath my touch, and I was surprised to find that she was shaved bare, nothing but slick naked skin meeting my fingertips.

"You're shaved." The words came out in a sloppy slur, as I pushed a single finger inside her, first one. "Bare." As if it needed elaboration, she probably had a good idea what she was rocking down there. "When did this happen?" My question was equal parts lust, curiosity and violent jealousy.

Pressing into my fingers, she rolled her hips and moaned. "Right after us, fuck Sam."

Again, that feral beast lurking beneath my surface howled in delight. The encounter with the vampire had left me on the violent side of monster, and I wanted what I wanted right now.

"Look at you," I growled in a voice I could hardly recognize as my own. Red seemed to like it, hips stuttering as her pulse raced and her scent grew stronger. "You're fucking my fingers," I told her lewdly, slipping a second finger into her just to make it true Her cheeks pinked, and she squirmed, embarrassed and turned on all at once.

Hell, I was embarrassed by myself, if only in an abject sort of way. For some reason, when it came to Red, the gentlemen in me was no where to be found. I couldn't help myself, I liked the way she squirmed for me. Also, I as incredibly drunk. "And your so wet for me. Are you always this wet for me, Red? Do I get your panties wet?" God, but I hoped so, I thought as I curled my fingers inside her. "Do you think about me? Jacob ain't got nothing on me, Red," I said, and God, but I knew I was going never going to live that down, should it ever be discovered. Still, the wolf wanted it known that Jacob, apparently, was a bitch by comparison. "Do you think about me?" I asked again, thumbing her clit.

She gasped, thighs trembling. "Yes, fuck, yes!"

"Not Jacob?" Insecurity was a theme here, it would seem. "Not Tyler." As fucking if.

"Nnnngh! No! No! Fuck!"

I snarled, and pressed against her clit faster. "What about Cullen?" It was a low blow, but I wanted to hear it, dammit.

"Never."

"Then fuck yourself real pretty on me, baby girl," I said, twisting my fingers into her. "Come on, let go. Fuck em' like you mean it." The look Red gave me was nothing short of drunken incredulity, but she did it anyway, bracing her self with a hand against my the center of my chest. She pushed down and forward and I suddenly really, really wanted to see her bouncing on my dick.

"Do you know how easy it would be?" I asked, jerking my hips up and forcing her harder down on my fingers. My cock slapped against her ass, smearing precome across her crack. "It would be so easy for me to just lift you up and slip you down on my dick. Watch your little pink pussy swallow me whole. You're already so wet, it would be so easy."

To my shock, I watched as she slipped her free hand between her thighs, pushing my thumb away and rubbing circles against her clit. A part of my brain blithely informed me that was my job, but a bigger part thought it was fucking hot, our hands working together to bring her off.

"Keep talking," she said, surprising me further. Drunken sex did have it's perks, I concluded, lack of inhibitions being key among them.

I swallowed, suddenly conscious of the filth spewing out of my mouth. "You gonna come on my fingers, Red? Gonna get yourself off all over my stomach? Yeah baby girl, you don't get my dick till I see you come like this," I informed her, lifting my knees, and fucking up against her ass.

She let out a surprised little grunt as my fingers sunk more deeply into her. I curled them, and watches as her hand stuttered, thighs clenching against me. "Ooooh fuck," she moaned, eyes clenching shut. Damp curls masked her face, and I mourned that I might miss her expression. Still, the sudden rush of wetness dripping down my hand and stomach had my balls drawing up tight. Slipping my fingers from her, I reached around her, and my balls tightly to keep myself from coming untouched.

"Oh God," she said, falling forward. She buried her face into my neck and even her miniscule weight against my bad shoulder couldn't curb my desperate need to come right that fucking second. "Did I pee on you?" she asked, in obvious embarrassment. Considering the sticky pool of wetness coating my stomach, I did understand her conclusion. But the smell was too sweet -enough to drown in- to be anything but her own flavor coating me.

"Oh no," I growled, flipping her without warning. My arm jarred, pain spiking straight down my spine, but lust held the cornerstone for the majority of my senses. "You made itrain, Red."

"Sa-ah-am!" Red cried out as I pushed into her. She was wet, and open, and I knew without a doubt that there would be no pain, no blood this time. She took me like a champ, legs falling wider open as she dug her feet into my ass. Pumping my hips, I fucked her up the bed, till her head hanged off the edge, her fingers curling into the mess of sheets.

It was strange, the sensation that came over me next, and I was sure it would embarrass me in the morning. "I need to bite you," I said, even as I pushed into her. It wasn't a imprint-thing. There was no mating ritual for imprints, no marking, or ceremony. But still, I needed to bite her, needed her to let me. She clenched around me and I hissed through my teeth. "Oh fuck, let me bite you."

"Can I bite you back?" She asked, her words stilted by every thrust. The idea alone was enough to make my balls draw up again and I snarled, and took her question as a yes.

I sank my teeth into her shoulder, just enough to break the skin and the scream that followed was the prettiest goddamn sound I'd ever heard. Nails scoring down my back, she came just like that, a second rush of that sweet, sweet juice soaking my cock and balls.

The second bell might have rang for her, but I was no where near done.

"You fucked the half the bed off the...the...the bed thing," were the first words out of her mouth, as she lay upside down, legs still up on the bedded-part of the mattress. A firm a stroke to my ego as the observation might have been, I was just happy she wasn't running toward the door again.

I laid beside her, one leg sprawled out on the floor. "Yes I did," I agreed, surprised that the words made it out of my mouth at all. She reached for the sheet,wiping at the come on her thighs and I snatched it away just as I realized what she was doing. "No."

Red gave me a smirk, part amused, part drunk, and part sated. "You're really cocky in bed, she noted, wiping her wet hand on my stomach. It was a combination of my come and her own and I didn't fucking care where she wiped it, as I liked the way it smelled all mixed up. I'd have blamed it on the wolf, but I couldn't completely sure it wasn't just me.

"Yes I am," I replied, wondering if I'd have been more embarrassed by my filthy mouth if I wasn't so fucked-out. Probably, as I'd never been particularly lewd. As I had been told by many though, Red brought out both the best and worst in me.

Letting her head rest against my good shoulder, Red sighed. "You call me baby girl outside of this bedroom and I will kill you."

"Thought you liked my nicknames?" I tugged at a messy curl, earning a petulant glare in return.

"I like Red," she conceded. "But I'm no baby, thank you."

Smiling stupidly, I let my head rest against the mattress, still twirling her hair between my fingers. "I don't think there's anything wrong with being the baby sometimes. It's okay to let some one take care of you every once in a while. Hell you..." I paused, swallowing a sudden lump in my throat. "You've been taking real good care of me these last few weeks."

She made to speak, but a thunk outside the door jerked us both from our little post-coital cocoon. Suddenly the open door was filled with the hulking, naked form of Jacob. "Oh God, I didn't need to see this," he groaned, covering his eyes at once.

Yanking the sheet over Red, I snarled at him. "What is it?"

"The vampire," Jacob said, behind his hands. "We got her cornered this time, Sam. She's ours."

Looking down at Red, I kissed her quickly on the mouth. "Stay here baby girl."

"Dammit Sam," she said, embarrassed, angry and most importantly distracted, as I had hoped for. "You better come back."

"For you?" I grinned, not even bothering with the pretense not to. "Promise me you'll be naked, and I'll hurry."

"Sam!"

"Promise!"

"Fine," she crossed her arms but the affect was ruined by the fact that she was still upside down, naked and disheveled. "Just come back."

"I'd be crazy not to."

Jacob groaned, smacking his head hard against the door frame. " Christ, would you stop flirting! Fuck! "

High now on sex and adrenalin, I laughed. "Come on bitch," I said, still apparently post-coital cocky. "We got a leech to kill."

tbc