Heart Mates - 2nd Edition

by Mary Hughes

  His tongue was rough and insistent, lapping her over and over, long sweeps paying special sweet homage to her clit. She arched against him with a strangled sound, bowing so hard she’d have pushed a normal man off. She barely moved the alpha.

  She grabbed his thick erection just out of self-preservation. She didn’t stroke it so much as grip it rhythmically, her rudder in the storm.

  “Harder.” His growl rumbled against her belly. When she clenched him tighter, he slid a finger into her and tongued her clit. She whimpered. He sucked. She trembled so violently her bones rattled. He used his superior weight to hold her steady while he sucked and thrust again and again.

  Her mouth was hot and swollen. Needing to suck too, she pulled his cock to her and swirled her tongue over the head.

  “Yes.” He thrust a second finger into her. It slid in like she was drenched.

  She bucked against him, on the precipice of the biggest orgasm she’d ever had, rolling toward her like an avalanche.

  Coming. She opened her mouth over him and sucked him down.

  He shouted and climaxed. The heat and force of him overwhelmed her, triggering her own orgasm.

  She burst, pleasure swamping her in huge, hard waves.

  Brring.

  Her heart, pounding in her ears, drowned out most of the phone’s jangling. His mouth worked her rhythmically through the orgasm, his fingers driving into her sex, wringing even bigger contractions from her.

  Somewhere along the way he pulled out of her mouth and turned his hips to the side. His fingers gentled, easing out her last bits of pleasure.

  Wow. That orgasm had totaled her. Even now, her body rang with the aftershocks.

  As the contractions ebbed, peace settled in their place.

  Brring.

  “Damn it.” Peace broke. “That’s the third callback. I have to answer.”

  “I know.” He rolled onto his feet and held out his hand.

  She took it, her eyes flicking to his cock, hanging satisfied, though still heavy and thick. As she came to her feet, her naked breasts swayed with unusual weight. Swollen. She went to the phone. Even her hips worked differently, languid, extra-fluid. Her inner parts were swollen too and walking brushed everything in all sorts of exciting, distracting ways.

  She was wrung out, totally satisfied…and yet shockingly, she wanted to do it again. Only this time face-to-face, with tab A in its proper slot.

  It took all her willpower to reach that phone. “Uncommon Night Owl, how may I help you?” Her voice was husky.

  “Sophia!” Aunt Linda sounded quite chipper. “I’m absolutely fine. Just ran into a tiny spot of trouble with Noah’s hex. Looking for a cure. Be back soon. Ta-ta!” Click.

  That shocked Sophia out of her languor. “What? Wait!”

  Only a dial tone answered her.

  “Damn it, damn it.” She jammed the earpiece onto its hook, wishing for a regular handset and a satisfying slam. Well, at least now she knew the hex’s victim. Poor Noah.

  “What’s wrong?” Noah growled right behind her.

  She spun with a squeak. Should’ve put King’s belled collar on him. “Nothing.” Everything. “That was Aunt Linda. She’s fine, which is good. She’s looking for a cure to—” In the nick of time she realized he might not know he’d been hit with a spell.

  “To my hex?”

  “Yes.” She glared her frustration at him. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “I thought the problem was solved, so I omitted it.”

  “Omitted… You mean you lied. You lied to me?” Why him, why now?

  She’d trusted the wrong man at the wrong time and promised herself she’d never make that mistake again.

  Only she had made that mistake, and worse… Her gaze slid down the rapid rise and fall of Noah’s heavy chest. Below, he was coming to attention again. And damn her, that thick, jutting erection made her want to climb on and yell yee-hah so badly she burned with it.

  Yeah, worse, she wanted to make that mistake yet again.

  A witch rubbing naughty parts with a wolf was bad enough. Having intercourse—making love—with a man who’d just lied to her?

  He was actually growing bigger under her gaze. She could see his cock throb. Looked painful. She should at least help him out with that.

  No, I shouldn’t. Not her problem. He was an alpha wolf. He’d have no problem finding some little she-wolf to raise her tail.

  Sudden pain stabbed Sophia’s gut and propelled her into motion. “Doesn’t matter.” Grabbing her clothes as she went, she headed for the stairs. Aunt Linda was okay. Sophia could put inappropriate wolf/witch attractions behind her.

  She could go home.

  And why didn’t that make her happier?

  Trotting upstairs, she turned resolutely for the bedrooms. Despite knowing the penalties, she’d been two seconds from humping Noah like a bunny. Willpower alone wouldn’t cut it. This was one of those decisions she had to make by changing the environment.

  Time to get away from temptation. Get out of there ASAP. She’d have to find a place for King but… Speaking of, where was King? She slowed, puzzling at it.

  Noah leaped up the stairs after her. “Sophia, wait.”

  Panic flared. She scrambled for the bedroom and managed to make it inside just in time to shut the door in his face. His strong face with that sexy stubble, those broad shoulders, those capable hands…she nearly popped the door open again. Clunked her skull against the door as if it would drive her insane stupidity from her head.

  “Sophia, are you okay?”

  “I’m fine,” she called back. “Go away.”

  Clothes. Clothes would keep her from doing the unthinkable and jumping his bones. Or, even if it didn’t stop her, it’d delay her. Hopefully. She wasn’t discounting the possibility of strip-shredding like the Hulk. She fumbled on her bra, wishing she could be like the groomer and don asexuality with an apron. At least then she wouldn’t clench her teeth simply from her swollen nipples and sex brushing air.

  “Sophia, let me in.”

  Without a lock he could walk in any time, but maybe he didn’t know that. “I’m getting dressed.” She shrugged on her blouse and left it unbuttoned while she slid on panties and pants, dancing over to the bed while she zipped and buttoned to haul her suitcase out from under. Her haste stirred Auntie’s crystal dream-catcher, hanging in the window.

  “I won’t stop you. But we need to talk.”

  Click.

  The door opened behind her. She spun, hastily buttoning.

  Noah glided in, big and silent—and still naked.

  She pointed. “C-cover that.”

  He carried his clothes. His answer was to slowly press his crumpled jeans over his groin with one strong hand. Tendons stood stark in his forearm, emphasizing his strength.

  Sophia groaned. Urges flooded her, the insane need to shove him to the floor, climb on and play Chutes and Ladders on his naked chest. Which bulged most intriguingly as he took a deep breath then slowly let it out.

  A pendant emerged briefly, unseen before because it nestled between his impressive pectorals. Or because she’d been fixated on his thick, vein-throbbing…arms. Yeah, right.

  The small lacquered piece was a sleek black animal shaped like a wolf.

  “You’re leaving.” He breathed again, and in the lift of those heavy muscles, she forgot the wolf, forgot everything, forgot even her name in the desire flushing through her, surging to her extremities and pooling heavily in her lips and groin. She couldn’t relieve the renewed ache between her legs, but she did lick her lips.

  His eyes dropped to her mouth and he groaned. “Why do you have to be so beautiful?”

  Me? What about you? She shook with longing, so hard it scared her. She tried to put words between them. “You said my nose was too long.”

  “You remember the strangest things. Sophia, please don’t leave. I need your help finding Linda.”

  “I’m afraid Linda doesn’t want to be found. Could
you get dressed?”

  “With you watching? No.”

  “Well then, could you at least stop breathing?”

  He smiled. “That’s my line.”

  She smiled back; she couldn’t help it. The ultrabad alpha was compelling enough. Leavened with a touch of humor, he was irresistible. “What if I turn around?” She suited action to words. Though the image of him, naked, breathing, was burned on her retinas forever.

  “Sophia, please. I need you here.” His voice was underlined by the sound of denim riding up long muscular legs.

  Imagining him in jeans and nothing else, she clenched her hands against a flood of desire. “Why do you need to find Auntie so badly?”

  “I can’t tell you the full details.” His tone rumbled with a low growl.

  More secrets. She hated secrets. She wished King were here, the uncomplicated little doggie with his happy little yip… He was oddly quiet. Oddly missing.

  Her mouth fell open, events rearranging themselves in her brain.

  King, missing at night. The unused papers. Noah, missing during the day. King, howling like a miniature wolf. Seeming to understand her.

  It gave her weird ideas.

  No, no, no. There were weird ideas and then there was getting a new white coat that tied charmingly in the back—by the arms. Did King have clunky glasses and bad hair, and Noah a cape and a curl, and she was too dense to see they were one and the same?

  Never seeing King and Noah at the same time. Both males assigning themselves as her impromptu bodyguards.

  Her fingers tangled in her pearls. No more secrets. Not ever again. “Noah, tell me the truth.” A fair amount of time had elapsed since he started dressing so she dared turn. “Are you the dog…”

  He was pulling on his shirt, muscles sliding under his skin as he worked, as gorgeous donning it as he was taking it off. His jeans were still open, baring lots of bronzed skin along with a trail of black hair she wanted to follow with her tongue.

  All the breath left her lungs. She managed a whispered, “…King?”

  He finished pulling flannel over abs, tucked and zipped. Her gaze, finally released, rose to his. He’d been looking at her the whole time, and there was a pleading depth to his silver eyes. “Sophia, please let me explain. Yes, I’m King. Your aunt hexed me.”

  “You fur-faced liar.” Anger tore through her haze. “My aunt would never throw a hex on a good person.”

  “Not on purpose. She was aiming for that little thief Marlowe.”

  “Oh.” Sophia’s anger deflated. That sounded like Auntie. Her aim wasn’t the best—honestly, she couldn’t hit a Hummer with a handful of magnets. “How do you know she hexed you? Only witches can feel magic.”

  “She told me.” Flags of color darkened the skin over his cheekbones. Then she saw the question hit him. “How do you know that? Are you a witch?”

  She grabbed her pearls. “I don’t do magic.” The truth, as far as it went.

  Some tension seemed to go out of his big body. “I was wondering. Your aunt is.”

  “I know.”

  “The reason I didn’t tell you about King…couldn’t tell you…well, do you know about shifters?”

  “Yes.”

  “I’m a wolf. Pack alpha, actually.” He slid a look out of the corner of his eye, as if he was checking her reaction. To see if she was impressed?

  She was, and not simply from the fact that he was alpha. But because he was brave and loyal and coping really well despite the curveball her aunt had thrown him…and it didn’t hurt that he had a body like a stallion. “So?”

  “So if my pack knew I’m stuck as the dog during the day, it’d be the end of me.”

  “What?” She blinked at him. “Why?”

  “Remember Killer? I outweigh him as a wolf, but I’m sure he’d love to challenge a fifteen pound doggie.”

  “You can’t shift at all?”

  “Not during the day.”

  “That’s some hex.” Sophia shook her head. “And at night?”

  “Then everything’s okay. After sunset, it’s like the hex is gone. I can shift, man or wolf. But if a challenge comes during the day…I must get this hex off me.”

  “You will. Aunt Linda is searching for a reversal. She’ll be back soon.”

  “You don’t understand.” He shook his head. “Soon isn’t good enough. Killer’s not the worst of the lot. I can’t chance any of them learning about my disadvantage.”

  “There are more like Killer?” She goggled.

  “The old alpha’s cadre. Five anti-alphas, each more tricky and treacherous than the last. Every second I’m under this hex is another second closer to, not if they find out—but when.” He spread his hands in a gesture of appeal. “Please help me contact Linda.”

  He had such strong, capable hands. They’d feel marvelous spread over her skin, urging her to ride faster…damn. Lust was eating her brains.

  “Noah.” She used his name to signal she knew this was serious. “I hurt for you, but I simply have no idea where Auntie is.” She shook her head. “She’ll be back when she’s ready.”

  His jaw clenched visibly, as if she’d hit him. “But—”

  “I’m sorry. There’s nothing I can do.” And if she stayed one more moment she’d lick that clenched jaw then rip his shirt from his body and lick all his muscles until they clenched too under her tongue.

  “Sophia, please—”

  “I have to go.” She grabbed her case and spun past him toward the door.

  A shaft of moonlight sheared through the crystal dream-catcher. A rainbow of colors dotted the walls—and a blue beam speared her in the eye.

  A wolf and a Blue.

  The prophecy. The Key. Her cousin Daniel. Have you fallen in love…?

  Perhaps she was the Hungry Ghost, needing Noah with a desire that would kill them both.

  And if not the Ghost, there was always the Witch’s Council’s headsman.

  Get away. Urgency propelled her. She raced out the door and fled downstairs.

  Strong dread drove her out the front door and onto the sidewalk. The empty sidewalk—and emptier street. She stopped, bewildered.

  Her car was missing.

  Chapter Ten

  A stone rattled across the street, as if it had been kicked into the concrete gutter.

  Sophia’s head jerked up.

  A man sauntered off the curb toward her, his hood darkening his features. “Hello, Sophia.”

  Even without seeing his face, she knew that voice.

  Shock numbed her. Her guts shredded, her brain threw run, run, run, and acid poured into her veins as her heart started pumping overtime, but she stood frozen.

  Last time she’d seen him, four years ago, he’d worn a pale gold robe and a snooty attitude. Now he had on jeans, leather shoes, and a hoodie, but the snooty attitude was the same. She managed a breath.

  “Rodolphe.” She was proud of how normal she sounded. “Don’t suppose you know anything about my missing car?”

  “Yes, actually. I’m afraid I have to keep you in this backwater burg a little longer. The fun’s just starting.”

  As he approached, she could see he looked younger than he had four years ago, and flush with power. She swallowed hard, not liking that. What was he doing here, and why now? “Are you an ass, or do you just play one on TV? The fun’s just starting, huh? What does that mean?”

  “My dear little witch.” He smirked. “Always so many questions.”

  My dear little witch. That scraped along her nerves like a wire brush. He’d always called her that. She’d thought it was an endearment. Gullible twit that she was. “Maybe not enough questions.”

  His face split in his white, even smile. She’d thought it attractive once. Now she saw the gloating, the smug.

  The door shut behind her. Noah had padded out. Hopefully he hadn’t heard Rodolphe calling her a witch.

  Noah’s strength and heat at her back thawed her. “I could care less about your clumsy threats. Whe
re’s my car?”

  Rodolphe’s gaze never left hers. To a man, Noah was the bigger danger, but not to a witch. Then again, Rodolphe didn’t know she was no longer any threat to him, either.

  “Your rattle-trap is around the corner. I accidentally ‘broke’ it. In the battle between powerful magic and technology, well, you know which side invariably wins.”

  She managed a toothy grin in reply. “Except for the last time we met.”

  His smile disappeared. “Last time was an aberration.” He lashed out with, “Too bad your aunt left. I had a little surprise for her.”

  She clenched fists. “Bastard.”

  “Enough.” Noah took a single step and was somehow in front of her. His stance was deadly, the wolf who protected his own. “Leave.”

  While she was impressed, acid for the alpha flooded her stomach. Rodolphe was a wizard. Noah’s challenge was sure to be met with magic, and a shifter couldn’t hope to compete.

  Rodolphe straightened as if surprised. “You dare to tell me what to do?” He reached in his pocket.

  Noah took one threatening step forward.

  Rodolphe flinched; then he scowled. “You won’t be so bold after I deflate you like a balloon.”

  As his hand rose from his pocket, something pink in it, Noah leaped and pinned the wizard’s arms in a bear-hug. Rodolphe struggled but didn’t move the powerful alpha one jot.

  “Drop it.” Noah’s voice was all growl. “Now.” He goosed the word with a squeeze to the wizard that nearly cracked ribs.

  “All right, all right!” Rodolphe’s voice squeaked like a little girl. The pink thing fell back in his pocket.

  “Sophia. Get the leash.”

  She hesitated leaving Noah with the other witch, but against all odds, it seemed the shifter had actually won this round. She darted inside, grabbed the new leather leash, and returned it to Noah.

  Noah bound Rodolphe’s hands behind him, then gave him a little push. “Now go away.”

  Rodolphe stumbled before catching his balance. He covered it with an irritated shrug. “I have business elsewhere anyway. I’ll be seeing you soon, dear Sophia.” He gave her a mocking wink and stalked off. A stumble or two spoiled his stalk.