Anger welled inside of me. “Where have you gone, Carina?”
The sun was dipping, and sudden waves of concern washed over me.
Maybe the beast was right. I was... concerned. I did not think it was safe for her to be wondering through the vineyard alone. It was getting dark and many wild animals lurked in the trees. I hadn’t killed her, but they would. She was disobedient, but she did not deserve to die. She only needed to be frightened.
My brows drew.
Finally, I was seeing her. She had not gotten a taxi, as I figured she might have. Instead, she was stalking through the far end of the vineyard; and now I could see that she was overcome with raging emotions.
My ears pricked and burned at the sound of her angry growls. Something inside of me jerked, but I ignored it. I left the doorstep and bolted through the yard, heading in her direction. I was not as quick as my wolf, would never be, but I was fast, and if I hurried I’d reach her in ten minutes or less. My wolf pulsed under my flesh, but I did not need him. I had talked badly about Remi’s beast, but now I knew the truth about my own. He was also irrational and crazed in this situation.
When I was less than half a mile trailing her, I reduced my pace; and when she was almost within reach, I slowed completely. I used light footsteps to advance. Small animals darted out of my path, and for a second, I was fearful that they would alert her to my presence. But it would not matter now. Even if she tried to escape, she would not.
Now, I could see her clearly, and my breathing escalated until I was almost panting. Shit, the way her ass moved under those fucking jeans. Her long, wild curls were blowing against the wind, and that smell... surely, I would make myself a liar before my beast and ravage her the minute I was in arm’s reach.
Stay focused. You want to find out why she has come to Tuscany. Nothing more, I told myself.
I advanced, but suddenly, Shenique jerked around and lunged her small frame at me. A small knife was lodged in her hands, but instantly, I ripped it away and pitched it to the ground. With a firm jerk, I yanked her against my chest and glared at her, disgusted by her misguided aggression.
The woman was irrational and violent.
She was ridiculous and disobedient.
There was no way I would be able to talk to her and find out her plan, let alone be an ally.
There was no way I could...
Something was rising up inside of me, I could feel it. It was my wolf: desperate and horny; and when our eyes locked, there was no way I could fight it anymore.
“Fuck,”’ I grunted.
Our lips collided into a desperate, frenzied kiss. A thin puff of something purple erupted into the crisp air and swirled around us, before dissipating into nothing. To my shock and delight, Shenique’s body folded into mine and a raw moan echoed in the back of her throat.
I gripped the back of her neck, driving her closer. My fingers tangled in her curls, and she threaded her arms around my neck, deepening the kiss. Her nails raked my nape and a thunderous shudder made my body quake.
“Fuck you,” she growled, but she pressed her body against mine, claiming my mouth like it was her own. Her sultry heat cut through the jean barrier and warmed me from top to bottom.
“Is that what you want to do ?” I rasped, voice barely recognizable.
Shenique moaned a response, tilting her head to the side, allowing me unrestricted access to her throat. My hand dropped to her breast and I cupped it, rubbing my thumb over their peaking centers. Then, I ripped away from her and dropped my mouth to her neck. Eager, I planted a trail of kisses down its length. I sucked her skin, and when my canines shot out of my mouth, I pulled them back in, taking only a second to scold my wolf.
But this is what we have been waiting for all of our lives, my wolf informed me. This woman is ours. She is our mate!
I could barely contest the words because deep down inside, I considered them. Never had a connection with a woman debilitated me, yet my knees were so weak, they almost didn’t work, and my chest was so tight, it would only be a matter of minutes before it exploded into smithereens.
Was this what had happened to Remi? Was this the feeling he experienced when he’d laid eyes on his Sasha? Were these the emotions which had driven him to the brink of madness?
I was dazed and confused, but delightfully so. I had been plotting to tell this woman that she should never show her face on the property again, but now, all I wanted was to see her face amidst the rays of a rising sun.
She wants us! My wolf insisted.
Yes, she did. I could smell her raw desire in my nostrils, and my cock stiffened until it throbbed mercilessly behind the fabric of my jeans. But suddenly, the sensation of something fiery hot and burning on her chest stung me, and I had no choice but to rip away from her.
As if coming to her senses, her belligerence returned. She threw her arm back and slapped her open palm against my face. I stood firm, barely feeling the assault. In fact, the only thing I felt in that moment was crippling need.
Our eyes fastened.
“You... stay the hell away from me,” she stuttered before turning around and tripping forward.
She wants us, but she is fighting the feeling. My wolf growled, and for the second time in thirty minutes, I agreed with him.
My hands rolled into fists. “Do not walk away from me!”
She continued, ignoring me.
My jaw stiffened. “Shenique, I am talking to you. Where are you going?” I barked at her.
Merda! I am chasing her and losing control. I stalked after her, shocked that my knees were barely able to support my legs.
“Away, like you demanded,” she grunted out. “Do not follow me, especially after that disgusting stunt you just pulled!”
Disgusting?
And she had not even turned around when she said it. My wolf was desperate to see those eyes again, to get lost in them. But this was not the time for either of us to get lost. We needed to be focused, but there was something about this woman that put my wolf off kilter.
I bristled, trying to manage an intense mix of anger and lust.
She huffed, still talking. “What happened in that house made it all very clear,” she was saying. “That bully in the house doesn’t want me there, and neither do you,” she answered, ignoring my question, “and since that’s the case I might as well leave.”
We do not wish for you to leave. My wolf had the words on the edge of my tongue, but I fought them back. This was not the topic I had come to discuss.
I refocused. “You are right,” I agreed, “what happened back there left very little room for questions. But what about what happened just now?”
Shenique froze and her brown skin paled.
I paused, searching her face, waiting for her answer.
Her lips pursed, as if she was daring me to take her mouth yet again.
“You are not welcome, this much is true, but I want to ask you about – ”
“If I’m not welcome, there’s nothing for us to talk about,” she alleged. Her mouth was pressed tight, and the edges of her eyes quivered. Her chest rose and fell with intensity. She had been walking quickly and perhaps she was out of breath. Had it not been for my keen senses, I would have believed this, but the sultry heat coming from between her thighs would not allow me to do so.
She wants us.
My teeth gritted. We do not want her.
Yes, we do!
I huffed. We cannot...
Shenique stomped forward, oblivious to my auditory hallucinations, but before she could get close enough for me to arrest her again, she stiffened. “I don’t talk to men who sexually assault women,” she lobbed at me.
My stare hardened, and I tried not to reveal the fact that her words had gotten under my skin. “I would never do anything like that,” I assured her. The words slid through my teeth. “I would never need to. If I wanted to have you, you would be a willing participant, just as you were a few seconds ago.”
Her body stiffene
d, and I let my eyes glide over her until they came to a rest on her throat. Everything in me wanted to bury my nose against her skin, but I needed to resist the woman.
She was dangerous. Already I could tell, she had the potential to undo every thread of my fucking DNA, but I wanted to know the truth about why she had come and what she had planned.
Shenique steadied her posture and jutted her chin. “Fuck you, Vince,” she said, her language worse than a sailor’s had ever been. “First of all, I don’t want anything to do with you.”
I inhaled, unable to resist her essence. “Are you sure?” I whispered.
She frowned in horror. “Secondly, you didn’t have to come all this way to tell me not to return. I’m leaving. You could have stayed your ass right in that house, with my sister and your masked-murderer companion.”
Her words grated me. She was making many assumptions about my brother and about me, and they were far from the truth. Yes, we were killers, but we would never kill the women we...
The word died on my tongue. “You do not know me or my brother,” I informed her, “and it is obvious that you do not know your sister, either. Contrary to your belief, she is very happy here and wishes to stay. My brother caters to her every whim, to the exclusion of all else.” My voice was no less than a throaty, desperate whisper. I could almost taste the strange yearning I had for her on my tongue. Our faces were delightfully close, and my mouth was drawn to hers like a cursed magnet. I wanted to taste her lips, especially the bottom one; but there was another taste I wanted to savor even more.
I drew a deep, intentional breath, allowing the sheer potency of her arousal to invade each and every one of my senses. I cursed as my eyes rolled away of their own accord, and when I finally opened them, they were on fire.
My wolf was right on the surface. My nails extended and my canines lengthened, until they were dipping from my mouth. I forced them away. “You smell... delicious,” I growled, unable to hold back the words.
Shenique quaked, but she lifted her chin and stiffened her jaw.
I grinned. “And you are very brave,” I said. “In fact, your bravado is making my cock hard.” I lifted my hand to touch a rogue curl and tilted my head to the side, studying her exotic features, trying to understand what it was she was doing to my wolf. “Why have you come to Tuscany?”
She moved out of my reach, but the motion jerked. “You know why I’ve come.”
I shook my head. “No, it is more than this.” I peered at her. “What are you planning?” I whispered. “I would like to know.”
Her face twisted, and now I smelled her fear.
I frowned.
Without answering, Shenique turned to walk away from me, but I snatched her waist and spun her back around. My eyes dropped to the point where our bodies had collided.
The spot burned.
Those fucking breasts were pressed against my chest, and images of her, completely naked, and my mouth exploring the peaking tips of those plush mounds, ravaged my mind.
My wolf’s desire for her was too great. I fucked women all the time. In fact, I had access to more women than I would ever know what to do with; but never once had the desire been this severe. We were standing in the middle of lush fields, bursting with a ripening harvest. It was springtime in Italy, so the flowers were in bloom, and the wildlife was bustling; yet the only thing that crammed my senses was this fucking woman.
I tried to focus. It was almost useless.
“You’re an animal,” she whispered, but her tone was saturated with... desire? I could not be certain.
“Am I?” I glared, angered by her behavior. I eased away from her, for both our sakes. I could take no more of the torture. If I stayed in her presence much longer, I would be forced to reconsider my beast’s proposal to stand before her naked and on display. My cock jerked, as if in response. It was already on fucking display, but I did not care.
I stood back and rearranged my package. “Do not come back to the mansion unless you are prepared to tell me what it is you are up to,” I warned her. My voice was hoarse, throat dry. “It is dangerous. There are wild animals that live in the surrounding trees. Wolves and coyotes.”
“Is that the only reason I shouldn’t return?”
The muscle under my eye jerked. “Do not come back. At least not tonight.”
Her shoulders broadened and she lifted her chin. “Don’t tell me what to do,” she said with a low voice. “I’ve come for something, and I’m not leaving until I get it. No amount of wolves or coyotes will stop me. And if you try and stop me, I won’t be the one who’s sorry.”
“Perhaps you have forgotten what happened inside of the house,” I suggested.
She raised an eyebrow. “If you wanted to kill me, you would have done it by now,” she recited shrugging one shoulder. “That’s what you said, anyway. And besides, now I know the truth.”
“What truth is that?”
“That you want to fuck me. A horny man is a weak man. Don’t ask me how I know, either.”
My jaw tensed as anger dribbled out of me.
She was right. I did want to fuck her. Really hard. Right there and then, with long, steady strokes. I wanted to grant my beast full control and allow him to shred each and every layer of those jeans and that turtleneck away from her glowing skin. She was also right that horny men were weak, because in that moment, I was completely debilitated.
Shenique rolled her brown eyes and she stumbled away.
And I stared after her, for longer than I should have.
This woman is dangerous, I said to my animal.
She is dangerous, and she is ours!
Seven
Shenique
‘Greatest Fear’
The minute I got to my hotel room, I flew across the threshold and slammed the door to a close. I twisted the lock and slid the bolt over the top; then I peeked through the peephole, down the hall. In that moment, my greatest fear was that Vince would come after me. He would hunt me down through the hotel corridors and throw me to the ground. He’d arrest me again, but this time, using more than his mouth.
Baby Jesus in a manger. The minute he’d pressed his mouth against mine, it was like the world had ended. Everything stopped and nothing existed except him, me, and the dormant emotions he was resurrecting inside of my pussy.
Yes, him coming after me again was my greatest fear.
But my greatest disappointment, was that he hadn’t.
But why?
And where was Loveless? Never had any man been able to penetrate its thick barrier, but Vince’s mere presence seemed to erode it like a corrosive substance against metal. Julian told me that if someone consumed Loveless, their ability to feel emotion would be altered, not just towards the cosigner, but in general. It was one of the terrible side effects.
He hadn’t been lying.
I’d drank Loveless in an effort to rid myself of weak, debilitating emotions for my mother. I had learned early that emotions did not serve our relationship well. In fact, there could be no emotions if I was going to succeed in doing what I had to do to survive, yet there I was, fielding wanton imaginings; reminders of the way his mouth had claimed mine, his hand clutching the back of my neck. Imaginings of him ripping my clothes off, thread by obstructing thread, swirled in my head like disgraced sugarplums. I saw him, taking his thick length, the one I’d seen bursting against his jeans; the one I’d felt pressed against my abdomen, and inserting it deep, far into my shuddering pussy.
Wait, what?
I sighed and my hands curled around the amulet against my bosom.
My jaw clenched.
The point was, Loveless had worked perfectly on me and my mother. The only person I cared about now was my sister, and maybe Julian, and that emotion resembled more concern than anything. Sure, there’d been guys who’d tried to woo me, but it never worked, and that was fine with me. But somehow, Vince had transcended that potent barrier. I had no idea how he’d done it, but it was obvious that he co
uld, and that was all I needed to know, because one thing was for sure: his sex appeal was unde-fucking-niable.
That’s what it was, primitive lust.
I’d get over it, I assured myself. I’d have to, if I was going to get back into that house and give Sasha and her mate a dose of what was in my vial.
I eased away from the door and squared my shoulders, recommitting myself to the cause. I was wasting time thinking about Vince. I had come for a specific purpose, and there was no way I could let a sexy Italian distract me from it.
I threw myself on the bed and stared at the ceiling fan as it made its rounds. I needed to call Julian. He was the only one who would know what to do right now. I was trying to devise solutions, but all I was drawing were blanks.
I reached over to the nightstand and grabbed my phone. It didn’t take long for Julian to answer. He’d probably been waiting next to it, anticipating my call.
“Did it work?”
I sighed. “No, it didn’t.”
I could feel Julian’s frown through the phone. “Shit,” he muttered. “Maybe it was the moonlight. We must not have left it under the rays for long enough. Are you wearing it around your neck like I told you to?”
“Yes, Jules,” I sighed, pinching the bridge of my nose.
“Is it hanging on the left side, though? Above your heart?”
“Julian, it’s a necklace! Gravity dictates where it falls!” I huffed.
He was missing the point.
“But that’s not what I meant,” I said. “It didn’t work because I haven’t had the chance to administer it. When I got to the house, a man opened the door.”
“And?”
“And he kinda... distracted me.”
Silence.
“What do you mean he – ”
“He wouldn’t let me in,” I interrupted quickly. “He was mean, and he was aggressive...”
And tantalizing and sexy...
Loveless: A BWWM Wolf Shifter Romance (The Alpha Series Book 2) Page 5