If only his brain could catch up to his body the same way. Because the more Rae melted into him, the harder he grew. His shoulders pulled back, his stomach knotted, his cock pushed at the confines of his jeans.
Off-limits, his mind said. She’s way, way off-limits.
Didn’t stop his heartbeat from jumping as she inched closer, though.
Thunder rattled the windowpanes, yet her breath tickling his ear had a greater impact on him. He struggled to keep his breathing steady, not to give anything away. Why did he feel so out of control?
Because she’s so close! The coyote grinned inside.
So close that every rivet in his mental armor was creaking under the pressure to break free.
Take her! Take her now! his wolf howled.
In that moment, it was easy to believe the old stories. Maybe there really was such a thing as a destined mate. Not that destiny had spent a lot of time visiting Twin Moon Ranch in the past century, or so much as spat in his direction. But maybe the drought was over. Maybe even a guy like him—a mutt, the product of an empty union—could get that lucky.
Lightning flashed, illuminating the harsh truths concealed amidst the desert landscape. He could see them cowering out there. Truth, like the fact that a life lived alone was empty. Truth, that good enough was not enough, not for his restless soul.
Truth, that the path to his future lay not in the barrens but right at his side. His future was her.
For all that lightning tried to tell one tale, though, thunder told a different story. Each roar was like the stomp of an insistent foot. Duty! Duty!
Every member of the pack had a duty and Zack knew his. He was supposed to bring Rae back to the ranch. He was supposed to protect her, not get carried away with crazy ideas.
“Zack,” she whispered, running a hand over his shoulder.
She seemed hell-bent on encouraging those crazy ideas, though. It was in the whisper of her breath at his ear, in the warm slide of her hand along his chest. He’d sensed her wrestling with indecision earlier, but now she seemed to have made up her mind. Didn’t she get the memo about the kid from the wrong side of the ranch?
Apparently not, his inner coyote chuckled as she wiggled closer, making him feel impossibly good. As good as she’d made him feel on that glorious bike ride. He’d tasted freedom, purpose, and companionship, all on two wheels. Those forty-five minutes might have been the high of his life, what with her wrapped around him like a lining to his jacket.
You think that was a high? his coyote sneered. Try this.
Before he realized it, his hand shot out and slid around her waist, and sure enough, her body shuddered with delight that echoed through him.
This is the way to get high, his wolf agreed as his hand tugged her closer.
Her hand settled over his heart while her lips played along his jaw, licking him up. She’d fought her inner battle and won; why couldn’t he do the same?
As his dick grew harder, his wolf came up with lamer and lamer reasons why this would be all right.
Ty only said something about keeping other guys from messing around with her, right?
Logic, Zack knew, had never been the beast’s strong point. Ty’s father, the pack alpha, had also warned Zack to stay away from Rae.
The coyote, though, still managed to be persuasive.
This isn’t messing around, he said, and his voice was silky and sure. This is destiny. Not even the old man can fight that.
And hell, it certainly felt that way. Every cell in his body seemed to lean her way, and the urge he felt was as much a directive to hold her forever as to bury himself in her body.
She wants us, too!
That, Zack had to give the wolf. The woman who refused to flutter her feathers for any man was melting fast, and for him. Her gray eyes were glassy with desire. For all that she’d been on guard with him, she’d reached the conclusion that this was worth it. He was worth it.
His heart gave a little sputter, then hammered on.
She tugged on his chin, turning his face to hers. “I’m declaring it open season on trackers,” she mumbled. “Fair warning.”
He wanted to smile at that, and a lot of other sweet things about her, but his facial muscles were too stiff.
“I can’t kiss you,” he heard himself say, even as he leaned forward. Might as well put the rule he was about to break out there for the record. Maybe that would lessen the guilt, if the guilt ever came.
Oh, but it would, his subconscious promised. Sooner or later, it would.
“I can’t not kiss you,” she insisted.
A flash of lightning revealed the landscape, and it was different than the familiar view of home. A reminder of just how far away the ranch and its rules were. Christ, it had been a long time since he’d taken a risk. It had been a long time since he cared enough to dare.
So dare. Risk. Kiss, his wolf urged.
She closed the distance and let her lips cover his, and that was the last he could think about for a good long while. His arms closed around her and pushed everything else away.
He’d been fighting the attraction with everything he had because he knew this woman was to arrive back on Twin Moon Ranch untouched. She was forbidden. That was as clear as the ivory fangs the old alpha had flashed when he’d interrupted their first kiss. Zack was entrusted with her well-being. He couldn’t fail in the one sliver of trust afforded him by the old alpha. For her sake, and his own.
But for once, he didn’t want to settle for playing the good beta. He wanted to jump right to the top, where he belonged. To take destiny in his hands, not wait for it to come to him.
A man could spend a lifetime waiting, and he had had enough.
He closed his eyes on duty and opened his lips on hers.
That kiss should have been an explosion of sound and color and lust, for all that his wolf had been straining to get at her. But it was soft and cushiony and restrained. Lingering, like every second represented a lifetime. Trusting, with more than just the physical. The kind of kiss he’d had only once before—the one with her, back on the ranch.
The lightning and thunder receded until all he heard was the tame crackle of a fireplace sparkling a cozy vision to life: a bowl of popcorn, two pairs of intertwined feet, a couple of carefree lovers wrapped around each other atop a thick rug.
All that in one kiss. Either this was destiny or he was losing his mind. Whatever it was, he had no choice but to go along for the ride. No seat belt, no helmet, no rules.
No limits, something in him sighed. Not tonight.
His hands hit the mattress on either side of her body, and he was transported back to this remote cabin in the hills, far, far from watchful eyes on the ranch.
“Zack,” she whispered, pulling him closer.
He lowered himself, keeping his weight half an inch off her body, like he might squeeze the goodness out of this if he went too fast. Because for once, he didn’t want to lose himself in a woman. He wanted to find himself there.
Her hands traveled up his shirt and her fingers played along his spine just the way he’d imagined: the index finger first, callused and stimulating, then the middle finger, smooth and long, the softer ring finger, and finally the pinkie, barely a brush.
He wanted to hum and tell her to do it again, but all that came out was a grumble. His coyote sighed in exasperation.
Can’t you get anything right?
I’m trying!
Try harder, his wolf muttered.
“No good?” Her eyebrows shot up.
“Very good,” he assured her, pulling her hand back into place. He said it again, ironing out the kinks in his voice, just for her. “Very good.”
Her face turned on a smile that was all cheek and only a little lip, like she was trying to hold it back. Then her clever fingers found the hem of his shirt and pulled it over his head. A breath later, she was wiggling under him, pulling her own top and bra off, and then settling back.
He held his breath, and his coy
ote sighed inside. Very good.
His eyes raked her torso, a masterpiece of mixed art forms. The cubist planes of her abdomen melted into the soft, impressionist curves of her breasts, then swept up the length of her neck to the chiseled planes of her face.
Your turn, her eyes grinned.
Zack felt the wolf rear up inside, body checking the man and coyote aside. The beast’s hungry eyes locked on the prize, declaring all bets off. It was definitely his turn. And if there were any rules to this game, he was about to blow them to tiny bits.
***
With all the electricity in the air, Rae expected a breathless tussle, a rush to fulfillment, the burst of a dam. But even after their lips met, Zack devoted a long time to nuzzling, staking his claim. The way he touched her suggested that sex came way down on a very long list that put worshiping and discovery above everything else.
She was the one turning up the heat. It was her, pressing her hips to his. It was her, guiding him back to the bed until he had no choice but to ease her into position beneath him. Even then, his kisses were slow and sultry, like a dance on a long winter’s night. He seemed in no rush to peel off her layers, to get underneath.
Very un-wolf-like, she decided. And very, very good.
Nuh-uh, her wolf countered. This one is all wolf. Just you wait.
She pulled off his shirt, then her own, eager for flesh to meet flesh. That’s when the beast flashed in his eyes, making her breath hitch. Animal eyes that promised hot, pulsing passion and steel-hard muscle primed to take. Promised she’d have it all by the end of the night, that he’d do his best to stretch her pleasure all the way to eternity and back.
He dipped his head, found her left nipple, and sucked it into his mouth, gentle despite the raw need pulsing off him. Her nipple peaked immediately, and she could already sense what a wracking mess he’d make her before the night was through.
She arched back, completely at his mercy, and her wolf howled in glee. The irony wasn’t lost on her: the girl who refused to give any man an inch was suddenly handing herself over in yards.
Mine, her wolf growled. All mine.
The muscles of his shoulders and arms were edgy, like a sculptor had been in a hurry to finish his statue off or just given up on hacking at that hard stone. She ran a hand down the landscape of his stomach, diving straight under his unbuttoned jeans and toward his groin. He was so erect, her fingers found him immediately and closed slowly over his shaft.
She couldn’t help a little chuckle. “Gotcha.”
“That was my line,” he mumbled.
“Mine now.”
All mine, her wolf purred as she worked him slowly up and down.
He groaned into her chest and lay panting, motionless.
Relish, she told herself. Do not devour. If any man deserved it, it was him.
He tilted his head up, eyes seeking out hers, and there it was again, that secret, boyish smile. She brought her free hand to cup his cheek, and he leaned into it, humming in appreciation as she explored him from base to tip.
“Tell me you don’t bring all the ranch girls here on the back of your bike.”
His eyes popped open. “I don’t. Never.” His voice was raspy, and she believed him. He shook his head and kissed her. “Never.”
A clap of thunder brought on a flurry of hasty activity, the two of them rushing to tug off the last layers separating them. But even then, when her clothes were flat on the floor and her hands gripping the headboard while her knees spread wide, Zack was tender and slow. A man in a museum, getting it exactly right.
His fingers explored her folds and tunneled slowly inside, working her in languid circles until she was wide and wet and crying for more. He shifted his weight, and she was sure she knew what was coming next. He’d line his body up with hers, lock his hips over hers, and slide home at last. They’d rock and roll and howl their pleasure into the night. Right?
But what Zack did next, no man had ever done to her before. He sat back, lifted her hips, and pulled her knees to his shoulders in one swift move. She couldn’t understand why it felt so right to lie back and let him, but something in her demanded this feeling of being thoroughly and utterly taken.
Claimed? the voice of warning sounded, muffled deep inside.
The raging heat in her smothered the worry right away. Tonight, she would not be denied—especially by herself. It was all about trust. His hung before her like a fragile thread, begging for reinforcement. What choice did she have but to wrap hers around it?
Zack paused and she thought she would burst from the pressure building inside. He tipped his head back and breathed deeply, like a weary man on the verge of claiming a hard-fought prize.
He swiveled his jaw in a look that said, Make ready for me, my mate. Then he lifted her to his mouth like a meal too good to leave on the plate.
Her eyes rolled back in their sockets as he feasted on her, his tongue ravishing every fold, every hidden corner of her sex. The action drove her deeper and deeper into a fog bank of bliss. The man consumed her so thoroughly, so eagerly, that all she could do was ride the exquisite movement of his tongue. Her head fell limp against the mattress—the pillow was long gone, a casualty of their movements—and listened to her own moans fill the cabin as she came undone. Higher and higher, tighter and tighter, until every muscle clenched and shuddered.
He held her as she came, shaking and howling inside, then fluttered slowly back to earth.
Heaven, her wolf sighed.
She wanted to say something, but her legs were already wrapping around his waist, guiding him home. Hitting the orgasm of her life suddenly wasn’t enough; she wanted all of him.
His green eyes were studying her, glittering with need.
Need. Not greed. The man was a prince.
“Zack, please.” She was begging, but it was better than what her wolf was yowling inside.
Fuck me. Fill me. Now.
Another man might have reveled in the power he held over her, but Zack only nodded, like her wish was his command.
The green eyes narrowed as he pushed in, one delicious inch at a time. His slick white heat consumed her, stretched her, tapped at something deep in her soul. This was as emotional as it was physical, and she feared what it might make her say, vow, or promise. Her wolf was trying to bare her fangs and lick his neck in preparation for a mating bite, desperately thirsty for more.
Mate! Mine! her wolf cried, and she swore she could hear his reply.
Mate! Mine!
With a mighty crack, lightning split a tree outside, and the sound boomed over the hills. Zack hammered home then started pumping to a steady beat. Out, and slowly back in. Out, back in. Rae’s wolf receded in her mind as she gave in to the climax coiling inside like a spring, feeling it slip out of her grasp even as she tried to grab on and yoke it back. Zack’s pace went from strong and steady to deep and desperate as he, too, gave in to instinct. When he came with a low grunt, she found herself flying, then floating through space, her brain on standby as her body hung on through wave after wave of pleasure.
Then she was nestled beside him, listening to his heart race. Two solid arms wrapped around her: protecting, not possessing. Promising.
Even his sweat smelled clean. Honest. She burrowed against his skin, wondering if she could ever get enough of this man.
She hung there, suspended between dreams and conscious thought, marveling at this sense of peace filling the cabin. She could lose herself in dreams. Lose herself in plans, in hopes. But lose herself in a man? It seemed foolish and foolhardy.
Yet it seemed so right.
Note from the Author
Read the rest of Rae and Zack's journey in Desert Hunt, the Prequel to the Wolves of Twin Moon Ranch series.
Come meet the hottest Wolves in the West from the very beginning of a new era on their home turf!
Discover Desert Hunt.
Learn more about Anna Lowe at:
www.annalowebooks.com
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Their Runaway Mate
by Lori Whyte
Part of the Mannix Dragon Shifters series
Two Dragons, One Runaway Mate
When Jasmine discovers she's been sacrificed to the dragons as part of a new Dragon Agreement, old fears surge through her and she flees in a panic. Elected by her neighbors to be given to the winged beasts, her life is no longer her own. She evades capture by the mob of creatures who descend upon her house to kidnap her, only to be unwittingly nabbed by one her first night as a fugitive.
She is surprised to discover Kylan, the sexy dragon leader who finds her, isn't what she expects, nor is his drool-worthy second-in-command, Dillon. Instead of forcing her to mate with them, they swear to protect her from the others until they investigate how she could have been chosen without her consent.
She risked life and limb to run from dragons after being selected, but now she wonders what type of life they could offer her. When they suggest she get to know them and consider being their mate, she finds their offer more temptation than she can resist...
Could being a mate to two seductive dragons be just what she was destined for?
Beware: This is a sexy story with a happy ending and explicit scenes of MFM menage between a BBW and her two hot dragons.
Jasmine grabbed a faded dish towel and popped the cooling loaf out of the pan. She had wondered if the tiny appliance, which likely didn't see much use in the cabin, would function properly, but the crust was perfect. Now if only her life was as easy to put together as her aunt's favorite spice loaf.
She should be angry at these men—these dragons. Kylan had been one of the orchestrators of this whole Dragon Agreement fiasco and Dillon had been at her home when the other dragons destroyed it. But anger wasn't there.
"Can you believe that, Kylan?" Dillon rubbed his hands together. "She baked something, just like that." He snapped his fingers. "No recipe or anything."
Dark & Stormy Alpha Nights Page 10