He thought again about how Nadia had wrapped her arms around him and rubbed her forehead against his. The wolf in him had reacted strongly to that simple caress.
She’d been behaving like a mate.
Logan’s heart throbbed. Yes. That felt so right. The bond he’d begun to feel for her twined more tightly around them.
She’s a demon, his common sense snapped at him.
So? She knows what it’s like to be separate, apart. I no longer belong to my pack. Nadia’s family and clan disowned her, and tragedy found her because of it.
Logan would make sure she never knew tragedy again. He’d protect Nadia as his mate—he’d kill for her.
Logan’s palm tingled from the drying cut on his hand. He’d blood-pledged not to kill any of the werewolves until he had backup. Nadia had made him promise, had made him blood swear, knowing he’d never break an oath like that.
Damn her cute little ass and big brown eyes.
They drove down the mountain without meeting any other traffic, and Nadia pulled expertly up in front of the motel room and shut off the bike. She dismounted after he did then leaned against the seat and ran her hand through her hair, yawning.
“It’s a wonderful ride. Thank you, Logan.” She smiled as she yawned again. “I think I need a nap.” She stretched, hands over her head, and Logan’s libido soared.
He snaked his arm around her waist and yanked her against him. Nadia looked surprised, then smiled and snuggled in under his chin like she belonged there. They were silent a moment, not kissing, only sharing warmth, sharing the touch.
Logan could stand like this with her indefinitely, but danger was too near. He pressed a kiss to her hair. “Let’s get inside.”
He made himself step away from her so she could enter the hotel room first. Her scent as she brushed by him, the sway of her body, made Logan long to seize her and hang on, but he deliberately turned around to shut and lock the door.
She smelled of violets and roses. He’d never get her scent out of his head. It was imprinted upon him, as was her voice, her smile, the beauty of her dark eyes.
Logan didn’t look at Nadia, who yawned again and slumped tiredly into a chair, but rummaged in his things for the big topographic survey map he’d brought with him. He traced their route and fairly easily pinpointed where they’d seen the camp. Logan pulled out his cell phone, which had a signal this time, and called Nez.
He talked to his partner for a time, while Nadia watched and listened to his side of the conversation.
Logan let out a sigh as he hung up. “Nez said he’ll try to put together an investigation team,” he told her, “but he’s not getting much cooperation. He talked to the police here. They’re denying that anything bad is going on with Lodge of the Pines. Nez can smell a lie like I can smell blood, and he thinks the local authorities might even have been in on your abduction. Or at least aware of it and looked the other way. I’m guessing Matt paid them off and paid the lodge to use one of their vans.”
Nadia gave him a nod when he finished. “Makes sense. People who run no-paranormals-allowed resorts wouldn’t care much about the abduction of one demon. Demons are evil, didn’t you know?” She shot him a smile that fired Logan’s blood.
He kept control of himself by putting away the map. “I’m glad you got lucky enough to find a phone and call me. How did you know my number, by the way?”
Nadia didn’t answer right away. When Logan turned to her, Nadia flushed. “I remembered it. You gave me your card once, told me to call you if I needed anything.”
Logan looked at her in surprise. “That was months ago.”
Nadia shrugged, looking away. She was embarrassed that she’d memorized his number, but the fact made his heart warm. “Thank all the gods you did,” he said.
The embarrassment left her face, and she looked exhausted. Tears started in the corners of Nadia’s eyes, but she blinked them back.
Her bravery made Logan’s pride in her surge. Nadia had gone through hell last year when demons had been hunted on the streets of Los Angeles, and now she’d gotten mixed up in Logan’s chaotic life.
Logan had no business bonding with her, but he’d been interested in Nadia from the first time he’d seen her. He’d liked how her brown eyes had gazed at him in fury from her hospital bed, liked how she’d agreed to testify against the people who’d hurt her and killed her sister, liked her determination to get the bastards and make them pay.
He’d learned from Samantha that Nadia was into motorcycles and managed to encounter her at a popular Harley spot. Logan had enjoyed their conversations about bikes, telling himself that was all their relationship would be, friends who shared an interest in motorcycles.
But his wolf had other ideas, and had started bonding with her before his human self could stop it.
His wolf’s interest in her had nearly got her killed.
Logan went down on his knees beside Nadia’s chair and pressed his face to her lap. He felt her hand on his hair, a tender caress.
He was supposed to fear and hate her kind; she was supposed to hate his. Death magic and life magic cancelled each other out, right?
Or were they like yin and yang, two opposites that made a whole?
Nadia stroked his hair, and Logan remained still, loving her touch.
“Thank you,” Nadia whispered.
She couldn’t believe Logan knelt beside her with his head so tenderly on her lap. She loved the feel of his hair, rough but silken, sleek and warm.
Logan raised his head but remained on his knees, bringing his face to her eye level. Rough stubble covered his jaw and chin, and his skin was creased with red scratches. From his smudged face, his eyes blazed yellow-gold, the wolf awakened.
Nadia leaned forward and kissed his mouth, letting her yearning for him surge. Logan touched her face, his thumbs at the corners of her mouth opening her lips.
Nadia pulled him closer. No matter what happened next, she could have him now. After this was over, Logan might decide never to see her again, but she could be with him now.
To her acute disappointment, Logan gently eased her hands away.
“I need a shower. You get some sleep.”
Nadia laced her fingers through his, holding on. “We’re both a long way from home, and there aren’t any rules for us here. It’s only you and me.”
“I know.” Logan stood, letting his hands go slack so hers slid from them. “That’s why I’ll be in the other room.”
He turned and walked into the bathroom, closing the door firmly behind him. The sound of the lock clicking cascaded pain through her, but it couldn’t erase the heady vision of his fine backside as he walked away from her.
Chapter Ten
Logan’s hand shook as he adjusted the temperamental faucets of the shower. Fatigue, anger, and fear didn’t cause the reaction—holding himself back from Nadia did.
He shed his clothes and stepped under the water, liking the bite of heat on his cold and weary body. Nadia was right that they were far from home and had no rules to keep them from each other. Walking away from her had been one of the toughest things he’d ever done.
Logan’s skin might be cold, but his body was hot and hard, his heart still jumping from his decision to reject what she offered. He craved her—had for some time now—but too many things bothered him to lose himself in sex.
For instance, where was Matt? Why hadn’t the pack leader followed Logan or attacked him yet? Why had the werewolves stayed in camp with their human guide instead of spreading out to look for Nadia?
Logan had no illusion that Nadia was safe in this motel room. The door had a lock, and they had weapons, but he remembered the click of the second phone when he’d talked to Nez earlier. The motel clerk could just be nosy, or she could be in Matt’s pay.
So, why hadn’t Matt shown himself? Why had he let Nadia get away?
Nadia had been very lucky to find a phone, lucky to remember Logan’s number. And if she’d made it to the phone, why
hadn’t she called 911 or run inside the convenience store for help?
The questions nagged his fatigued brain, but wouldn’t resolve.
The bathroom door opened. The draft sent the thin white shower curtain against him, and the plastic stuck to his skin. Before Logan could peel it away, the shower curtain moved back, and Nadia stepped over the tub rim.
She was naked. Steam curled her hair into ringlets, moisture beading on her skin and on her lashes.
As Logan stilled, Nadia stepped close and twined her arms around his neck. Her eyes had widened and darkened, like her demon’s eyes.
A low growl came from Logan’s throat and rapidly filled the room. Nadia growled back playfully and kissed his chin.
Logan’s resolve vanished in the face of his need. He pushed her against the tiled wall and nuzzled her, inhaling the scents of outdoors, sweat, and her own musk. She smiled under his lips, her eyes heavy.
Logan cupped Nadia’s waist with his hands, liking how it curved beneath the swell of her breasts. He’d seen her naked in the woods as they’d shifted back and forth, but when he was close to his wolf he paid little attention to nudity. Not until he’d settled back into human form a while did clothes and modesty seem to matter.
Now Logan’s human body throbbed at the beauty of her. Nadia smiled against his lips, then licked them.
The brush of her tongue made his already stiff erection rise. Nadia rubbed against his hardness, sliding her body against his so that his tip poked at her naval. She laughed.
“Stop that,” he growled.
“Stop what?” Her eyes held challenge.
“Being so damn adorable.”
“Adorable?” Nadia’s eyes widened. “Adorable is for kittens. I’m a demon, sweetie.”
And her demon was seducing the hell out of this werewolf. Logan skimmed his hands to her breasts, holding the weight of them, brushing his thumbs over her nipples, which were tight points. He’d wanted her for months, had been resisting her for far too long.
Logan ran his hands to Nadia’s hips, lifted her, and slid her up against the tiles. He felt his own eyes burn golden, and her answering smile made everything go dark.
The cold tiles pressed Nadia’s back, hard yet supportive. Logan hadn’t shaved yet, and Nadia gave in to the urge to lick his jaw, to feel the sandpaper roughness on her tongue.
Logan grunted and scooped her up to him, so he could slant his lips across her mouth. Nadia tasted a hint of toothpaste he’d used before he got into the shower along with his own, heady spice.
Her breasts burned where they brushed his chest. Nadia slid her hand between his body and hers until she clasped his hard arousal, which was hot and huge.
By all the gods, why was Logan so sexy? And why had Nadia fallen for a werewolf? She had to be crazy.
Nadia cupped the head of his cock, liking the heat of it against her palm. When she closed her fingers around it, Logan groaned into her mouth.
How fate let her stand in this shower and hold this beautiful man in her hands, Nadia didn’t know. She’d always loved his body, his strength, his touch. And now she had all of him.
Logan’s eyes were fierce when she pulled out of the kiss. Nadia licked her way down his throat, tasting sweat in the hollow at his collarbone. She went on licking as she slowly sank to her knees.
“Damn it, Nadia, don’t kill me.”
“I don’t want to kill you.” Nadia smiled. “I just want to suck you.”
He put a heavy hand on her shoulder. “You have to stop.”
Nadia shrugged, pretending nonchalance. “All right.”
“No.” Logan balled his fist and pressed it into the tiled wall beside her. “I don’t want you to. That’s the problem.”
“Good.” Nadia opened her mouth—wide—and teased him with her tongue. Swiping his cock once made it dance, and then she caught it in her mouth.
Logan groaned again. He was smooth and hot, tasting of himself and the tinny water from the hotel’s pipes.
“Why are you doing this to me?” he whispered hoarsely.
Nadia’s mouth was too full of him to answer. She suckled him gently, then rubbed the underside of his head with her tongue. She withdrew a little, but only to nibble on his tip.
Logan threaded his fingers through her hair, his other hand remaining fisted on the wall. He rocked back as she kept on, quiet sounds of pleasure coming from his mouth.
Nadia glided her hand to his hard balls, liking the warm firmness of them. She squeezed one.
“Shit,” Logan said.
He rocked faster, driving himself into her mouth. Nadia licked, suckled, and nibbled, at the same time squeezing his balls with shaking fingers.
Strong hands landed on her shoulders and dragged her firmly away. Nadia looked up in surprise, and Logan yanked her to her feet.
“Not yet.”
His eyes blazed gold, and a hint of fang poked from his curled lips.
“Why not?” Nadia’s body throbbed for him, every part of her burning.
For answer he lifted her slippery body in his arms. Logan stepped out of the tub and ran with her, both of them dripping wet, to the bedroom.
“Aren’t you going to turn off the water?” Nadia asked as she landed on her back on the rickety bed.
“Screw that.”
The water continued to patter merrily in the bathroom as Logan landed on the bed over her. His cock pointed firmly to her as he positioned himself on hands and knees.
The bedroom was cold after the roiling heat of the bathroom, but Nadia’s flesh was plenty hot. Hotter still when Logan lowered himself onto her.
“What do you mean, not yet?” she asked him, giving him a smile. “Didn’t you like what I was doing?”
Logan put his face to hers. “When I come, I want to be inside you.”
He pressed her thighs apart. Nadia snaked her fingers down to help him, revealing moisture between her legs that wasn’t from the shower.
“Damn you,” Logan growled as he looked her over.
“For what?”
“Why are you making me hurt for it?”
Nadia blinked, startled. “I’m not.”
Logan’s hair tickled her skin, his legs rigid inside the spread of hers. Every muscle on him was hard, from his strong neck down his back, his thighs, his calves, his backside.
When Logan finally eased inside her, it was all Nadia could do not to scream. He was huge and hard, and she was tight with longing.
“Logan.” She bit her lip.
He stilled. “Are you all right?”
“Yes. Why are you stopping?”
His breath was ragged. “I don’t want to hurt you.”
“You can’t.”
“I could. Believe me, I could. But I won’t.”
Nadia’s heart beat faster, and she slid her hands to his hips. “Come to me.”
Without answering, Logan slid in all the way inside. Nadia dragged in a breath as he filled her. He was big, but it didn’t hurt—it was wonderful.
“Logan. Please.”
Logan was beyond questions, beyond talking. He kissed her, his lips bruising, then began to thrust.
Their lovemaking was silent and intense. The bed creaked and rocked, both of them holding each other while Logan drove in and in.
Nothing slow, nothing sweet about this sex. It was pounding hard, need held back for too long finally finding release. Nadia met his thrust with her own, their bodies coming together in hard desire.
They were both strong enough to take it. Nadia skimmed her nails down Logan’s back, and he nipped her throat, his teeth scratching her. He held himself back and didn’t bite, and Nadia shivered as she wondered wildly what would happen if he let go.
She was demon; she could take what he gave and give it right back to him. She’d never been with anyone as strong as Logan, someone who made her feel delicate. She laughed at the thought of it.
He gazed down at her, his wolf’s stare intent. “What?”
“I love
how strong you are.”
He growled again and nuzzled her, very wolflike. “I love how strong you are, Nadia. And how beautiful.”
He kissed her, his body opening hers in a way that had never happened before. Nadia hadn’t made love like this in many years, and that encounter paled compared to Logan. Then she’d been little more than a child and madly in love; now she was an adult and better understood adult needs.
She felt the burn of Logan’s life essence, and the demon in her couldn’t resist it. The essence sparkled across Nadia’s hands as she brushed her fingers across his face.
She made herself pull back, resolving not to steal it as she would from an addict. She didn’t wish that with Logan.
“Take it,” he whispered.
“What if it hurts you?”
“I’m a big, bad werewolf, sweetheart. Your matriarch fed off me for a year and it never weakened me.”
Nadia’s heart squeezed with a dart of jealousy. “She did?”
“She didn’t mean to. Take it, love.” His eyes glinted, the wolf shining through. “You’re dying for it, and I have it to spare.”
The demon in Nadia was snarling, starving for what she’d only been given a taste of. She held Logan’s face between his hands as he continued to love her, letting the darkness in her reach out to his light.
Chapter Eleven
Nadia nearly screamed at the sensation. Logan’s life essence poured into her and swamped her with light. She rocked her body, hips arching to take him all the way inside.
She grabbed his face and forced his mouth to hers. His beautiful life essence sparkled over her tongue, and she drank like a woman dying of thirst.
Her body moved with his, he thrusting hard into her again and again. She shouted his name, and he groaned hers. Sweat slicked their bodies despite the cold, Nadia hotter than she’d ever been.
His life essence coupled with the climax was the best thing she’d ever felt. She had all of him, drew all of him into her body. Gods, Logan, I love you.
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