by Katie Reus
He knew his wolf was in his gaze as he watched her. He wanted to pin her up against the door, to take her right up on it, to claim and mark her so every-fucking-one knew she was his.
“Aldric?” Her brief touch on his forearm had him moving before he realized his intentions.
He pressed her against the door, inhaling deeply, her cherry blossom and vanilla scent making him crazed. His wolf clawed at him, sharper and deeper this time, demanding.
She gasped once but arched into him as if it was the most natural thing in the world.
The feel of the sensual female moving against him, practically purring, was too much. She was so sweet—definitely not for him. He needed to stay away.
Hell, to run away. Before they both got burned to ashes. Because this wouldn’t end well. He’d screw up and hurt her. He’d let down the one female he’d been meant to protect, and Natalia already meant more to him than… He shoved the thought away and bent his head down to her neck. He ran his nose along the elegant column and inhaled again.
Mine.
His fingers curled against the wood of the door on either side of her head. He liked caging her in, liked having her so damn close. “I let you boss me around occasionally because I find it sexy and charming,” he growled.
Not exactly a lie either. He did find it hot when she bossed him around. But when it came to anything sexual, he needed to be in charge and right now she was pushing him.
He ran his nose along her jaw and throat, moving to the other side of her neck. The compulsion to scent all of her was overwhelming. “But I won’t explain myself further about this job. So don’t think you can use your charms to get what you want. Don’t. Push. Me.” If she did, he was certain he wouldn’t be able to hold back any longer.
Her breathing was as erratic as his, the scent of her desire an aphrodisiac that nothing could ever compare to.
Instead of shoving him back, she reached up and tentatively trailed her fingers down his chest. He wished he could feel those fingers on his skin.
A shudder racked him and he buried his face against her neck. Groaning, he did the one thing he shouldn’t. He scraped his canines against her neck, something he had no right to do. His control was slipping, fast and frantic.
Another, more potent scent rolled off her, pure sex and sin. She wanted him as much as he wanted her. There was no doubt in his mind.
No, no, no.
His claws extended without thought, digging into the door. Before, he’d been uncertain what she wanted, if she even wanted him at all. To scent her desire so pure, so strong… He shoved back, grabbed his bag and left.
He had to get far, far away from her before he did something they’d both regret.
Chapter 16
Things were going better than she’d planned. In the last couple hours the knowledge of a Clifton vampire murder at the hands of a Kinley shifter had spread like a plague throughout the coven.
Leigh hadn’t been extremely well-liked, but he was still a vampire. One of them. Not a fucking animal.
So far no names had been given about who the guilty party was, but she had no doubt that would come soon enough. Eventually one of those shifters would figure out Constance’s scent was all over the crime scene. And Elian had to know as well—he should be the one announcing the new info to his own coven but for some reason was sitting on it. The knowledge pissed her off. But things would fall into place, she just had to be patient. With the set-up murder scene, it would be easy for the coven to convict that bitch and sentence her to death.
If Constance’s pack didn’t turn the shifter over, well, she had a backup plan for that scenario. It would require testing how much the shifter female truly loved Darius.
Threatening to kill her almost-mate unless Constance turned herself in—that would get tricky, so she’d have to make sure to pressure Constance that if the shifter female told anyone that Darius was still alive, he would die immediately. That should be good enough motivation for the bitch to turn herself over to the Clifton coven.
She wanted to strike while news of the murder was still spreading throughout her coven. So she made a phone call. Then another.
Feeding the fire of old grudges against the Kinley pack was harder than she’d thought. It seemed that her people really did want peace. They were sympathetic to Leigh’s death, of course, but there hadn’t been calls for vengeance as she’d assumed. She’d only spoken to the newer generation and the newer members, however. Their lack of demand for justice rankled her to her core. Vampires were predators. Peace wasn’t a way of life. She sneered at the thought. God, her people were turning into shadows of what they’d once been.
The older generation, her generation, would be easier to sway. They remembered the wars between the shifters, the blood and death. Changing tactics, she started contacting the older guard.
She didn’t care if there was peace or war. She was old enough to know that things never stayed the same. Even if there was peace for a time, war would come soon enough. Whether from the Kinley pack or another threat, there would always be war. Part of her missed the constant fighting. It was her predatory nature, her lust for blood.
Right now all she wanted was vengeance—for Constance to die and Craig to suffer. And she would have the revenge she deserved. It was the only way she could go to her grave in peace, to be certain that fucking Alpha paid for his crimes.
Thinking about the agony he would be in, the rage and helplessness he would feel, a surge of hunger spiraled through her body. Her breasts grew heavy and heat flooded between her thighs.
She desperately wished she had someone to help her with release, but that wasn’t possible now. When she’d first come up with the idea to capture Darius she’d toyed with the idea of chaining him up and fucking him. Sending pictures of Darius with another female to Constance would have been brilliant. God, the pain it would have caused the other female would have made this plan even better.
She stroked between her thighs at the thought of forcing that stupid, traitorous vampire to get hard, to fuck him against his will, to bring her pleasure against his will. He deserved everything that happened to him for taking up with an animal.
But there were too many risks. Even chained and restrained there was no guarantee she’d be able to get Darius hard. And on the chance that she did, she wouldn’t risk him escaping his chains and hurting her. In the cage the male was subdued because of the spell she’d had a witch cast around it. Chains were a different story.
Nonetheless, things were still going according to plan.
She began stroking herself harder, rubbing her already pulsing clit as she relished all the pain and suffering she was causing.
This revenge had been years in the making. Now that it was finally here, she could hardly believe it.
Chapter 17
Natalia stripped off her scarf and hat as she and Aldric stepped back into the B&B. A light blanket of snow covered everything outside and the icy chill in the air followed them into the foyer even after the door was shut.
She knew that they were the first ones back, since Jayce had texted Aldric that he and Kat were running down a lead on an enemy of the deceased Leigh Dawson, who’d recently done some business transactions with the dead male. Things had gone south, and with Leigh out of the way, it would be a very good turn of events for the vampire he’d been working with.
They didn’t have any proof the male was involved but it would be stupid not to at least talk to the guy.
Her phone dinged with an incoming text as Aldric shut the door behind them. Sent you a few more files on Ivonne and Crystal. Unfortunately not much available. It was from her packmate, Ryan, hacker extraordinaire. He was also her brother-in-law since he’d recently mated with her oldest sister.
“Ryan sent us something about Ivonne and Crystal. I should have known he’d be up even at one in the morning,” she said as they headed into the study, which they’d turned into their command center, complete with a big whiteboard. Anyone who was a suspect wa
s on that board.
The owner of the B&B was apparently above reproach, according to Jayce, and kept this place locked down tight when they weren’t here. Natalia knew that jaguars preferred to live alone or in small packs but wondered if it was hard for the female to run this place by herself. Shifters tended to need touch. Natalia couldn’t imagine not living with a pack or other shifters.
Jayce had told Natalia that the female had not only video cameras and a top-of-the-line security system, but she employed supernatural methods of security as well in the form of spells. So if any of her alarms went off she’d know immediately. The spells freaked Natalia out a little because it was very different than the natural magic that let her shift into her wolf.
Natalia’s gaze landed on Ivonne’s picture on the board. “I know vampires are different but I don’t get being okay with sharing your mate,” she murmured.
“If you were mine, I would never share you.” Aldric’s deeply spoken words came out guttural.
She swiveled to find him watching her with grayish-green eyes gone lupine. The truth of his statement wrapped around her, the possession in his voice making heat shimmer through her. Too much was between them. He’d hurt her so badly. But being around him for this investigation desperately made her want to reconsider what she’d said to him.
Because she did want the male in her life. “I…” She wanted to tell him that she could never come second to a dead mate, never wanted to be compared to someone else. But she wasn’t sure how seriously to take him. She believed he meant what he said but he’d also made it crystal freaking clear that he just wanted friendship from her. She couldn’t do just friendship, even if she wanted to try. It would hurt too much.
Instead of continuing, she turned back to the board. It was definitely time for a subject change.
“I hate saying this, but something about Ivonne bothered me. Which is stupid, because there’s no rulebook for grief. God, she lost her mate. That’s gotta be—” She winced, feeling like a jerk. Of course Aldric knew how hard it was.
He moved to stand next to her, his presence impossible to ignore. “Finding my mate, finding Isla’s broken body…” His voice cracked. “It was the hardest fucking thing in the world.”
Natalia went motionless. For so damn long she’d wanted him to open up. She wanted to know what had happened to his mate. Not out of morbid curiosity, but because she wanted to know everything about him, for him to trust her enough to be real, be honest about what had to have been the most altering event of his very long life. Instead of responding, she went on instinct and reached for his hand, grasping his much bigger one in hers.
From the riot of emotions rolling off him she knew that his wolf needed touch.
He squeezed once, but didn’t look at her. Just stared at the whiteboard of names and faces. He wasn’t really seeing anything though, that much she could tell. His eyes had glazed over and she wondered what he was remembering.
“I found them. Found Isla. She was dead by the time I got there, her body ravaged. My…” He cleared his throat, his voice thick with grief. “It was a feral coyote. I killed him immediately. Went into a blind rage. Afterward I…lost complete control. I attacked my brother in my pain, then ran. I roamed for so fucking long.” The words poured from him as if he couldn’t stop himself.
She didn’t want him to stop.
“For decades I stayed in wolf form, just roaming. It’s a miracle I didn’t go feral myself.” Now he looked at her, his eyes human again. Too many emotions flickered in his gaze—sadness, regret, others she couldn’t even define. “She was pregnant when she died, and something inside me snapped when I saw what that coyote had done. It took a long time to become human again, to start living again. And the truth is, I don’t know how well I’ve been living the past couple centuries anyway. I’ve been a fucking shadow of a wolf—until you.”
A wealth of emotions flooded Natalia as she digested his words, as his own emotions rolled over her in a tidal wave. He was saying things she’d needed to hear, but the pain in his voice shredded her up.
“I never bonded with her. We were mates, not bondmates.”
Natalia blinked, surprised at the admission itself and the truth of his words. She’d assumed they’d been bondmates by the way he’d seemed to grieve for so long. He was so damn alpha. Bondmates were linked for life, unable to leave each other. “I don’t know what to say to that.”
His jaw clenched tight. “I’m not…diminishing what I had with Isla. I did love her. But it wasn’t all-consuming. We were mated because it was simply what lupines did back then. I didn’t know any other she-wolves in the area and we fit. She was sweet and submissive. She never pushed for a bondmating either.”
A pang of… Natalia wasn’t sure what she was feeling. Jealousy? She felt like shit at hearing his description of his dead mate. She couldn’t be jealous of someone long gone. Yet, she kind of was.
He didn’t seem to notice her inner turmoil as he continued. “The nature of her death tore me up and…” He scrubbed a hand over his face, the sharp scent of guilt pouring off him so starkly it was suffocating. “I’ve never admitted this out loud, never wanted to. I felt guilty because I wasn’t there to protect her, and because I should have loved her more.” Now in addition to guilt she sensed shame coming off him. “I see what my brother has with Kat, and…” He shook his head, turned away from her.
Natalia wasn’t sure what to say, if she should say anything. When he didn’t make a move to leave the room, just kept his back to her, his body rigidly tight, she wrapped her arms around him from behind. There was simply no way she could just ignore his pain, not comfort him. Like the time he’d told her that he hadn’t celebrated Christmas in centuries. It had made her want to pull him into her arms and hug away his pain.
The agony and shame coming from him tore her up. She laid her cheek against his back. His big body vibrated, tensed for a moment before he let out a shuddering breath.
“I’m sorry for the way I hurt you.” His words were savage, real. A dark truth. “You’re the last person on the fucking planet I’d ever want to hurt. The first time I met you, I felt a spark of something… Something I don’t ever remember having. When you told me you would flay me alive if I didn’t let you out of that elevator, I got more turned on than I’ve ever been in my life.”
She snorted against his back, even if she’d felt the same way the night they’d met. It didn’t matter that she’d wanted to smack the obnoxious look off his face. Her wolf had recognized something in him on a primal level that she hadn’t been able to admit until much later. “You’re such a liar.”
He turned to face her and not for the first time she thought of how small he made her feel. She was petite anyway, but he was huge, even by shifter standards. Without trying he made her feel feminine and protected.
“You made me feel alive, Natalia. Ever since that day I’ve been fighting what I feel for you.”
Looking up into eyes once again turned lupine, her own wolf responded to the pull she felt to this male. She leaned into his embrace as a rush of heat flooded between her thighs. There was no hiding her reaction to him. Even if she’d wanted to try, she simply couldn’t.
Everything he’d just admitted was… Hell, she didn’t know what to do with the overload of information. He’d opened up to her in a way she’d dreamed about for so long. She needed so badly to hope that maybe, just maybe, he was saying he wanted more with her, that there could be something real between them, something more than friendship. But she was too afraid to ask the words, too afraid of the rejection that might follow. He was speaking the truth but she still sensed the shame and guilt from the way he seemed to think he’d failed his mate.
Right now, Natalia didn’t even want to think about that, didn’t want to let her own feelings of someone long gone cloud her mind. Letting her wolf take over, she lifted up on her tiptoes. Before she’d moved even a few inches Aldric’s mouth crushed over hers.
Demanding, hungr
y, consuming.
His tongue invaded her mouth, tasting and teasing. A growl rumbled in his throat and she couldn’t help her own groaning response.
Her most primal side was taking over in a way that had never happened. She didn’t care where they were, she just knew she wanted to claim this male. She wasn’t sure what the hell was going on, what the future held or if he’d regret this kiss as soon as it was over, so for now, she held on tight.
She fisted her hands in his shirt, clutching the material and his shoulders. She was vaguely aware of moving backward. When her back connected with a wall, her eyes flew open.
Aldric looked down at her, the purest hunger in his gaze. Her throat seized as she stared up at him. Everything around them fell away as he hoisted her up. Without thought, she wrapped her legs around him. What she wouldn’t give to feel him—
A door slammed.
She blinked even as Aldric snarled and turned. She dropped her legs, returning to the floor as he swiveled fully, moving his body in front of her to shield her from… Niko’s scent trickled through the haze of lust filling the air.
“Shit,” she heard him mutter because she couldn’t see him around Aldric’s huge frame. “I’ll come back.”
“It’s okay.” Natalia squeezed Aldric’s waist, stepped out from behind him. While she desperately wanted to follow through on what they’d just started, sanity was slowly returning. Because deep down, she kept waiting for him to do the same thing he’d done before. To cut and run.
They needed to talk more before things went any further. And she had no doubt that things would have definitely gone further without that interruption. She hadn’t cared about anything other than feeling Aldric skin to skin, feeling him push deep inside her.
But she wouldn’t be a mistake or a regret to him. No way. Her heart couldn’t take it. She didn’t think he would intentionally hurt her, but that wouldn’t matter if he regretted something happening between them and then ran again. It would slice her up all the same. She’d already lost so many people in her life. She didn’t want to fall even harder for him only to have him leave again.