Lup Teren (Wolf Land Series Book 1)

by L. D. K. Johnson

  “Damn it,” she complained scrambling quickly to her feet and resuming her fighting stance.

  “Again,” he ordered.

  Lunging at him once more, she landed a blow to his solar plex followed by a roundhouse kick to his left side.

  “How was that?” she asked feeling her self-esteem rise.

  “Stop talking and concentrate.”

  “Grouch,” she teased.

  Faster than she ever imagined, Nicolae punched her hard on the chin, twice.

  “This is not a game. If you lose this trial, you are dead. Do you understand, Miss Jacobs?”

  “I understand,” she replied, rubbing the area where he’d struck.

  “Keep your hands up,” he barked like a pissed-off drill sergeant. “Stop shuffling your feet and do not look at the area you are going to strike before you do. They are all signals to your opponents.”

  “I got it.”

  Once more, she moved forward, tried to punch his abdomen, but was shocked when he did a vertical jump over her and kicked her in the back propelling her forward. Completely taken by surprise, she landed in a dazed heap on the floor wondering how he had moved so quickly or jumped so high.

  “Get up,” he snarled. “We are not nearly finished yet.” His ethnic accent thickened with frustration.

  “Terrific.” She pulled herself to a standing position using the ropes for leverage. Her body began to ache from the additional weight. “I need a break.”

  “We have to continue. There will be no breaks.”

  “You’re a right bastard, ya know that, Nicolae?”

  “I have been told that,” he said with a scowl. “Get up quickly, damned…irritating…woman.”

  That did it. She stood suddenly, rushed at him, and then quickly sidestepped his widely thrown punch. Before he could adjust to strike again, she turned to the side and landed a sidekick to his ribcage, temporarily throwing him off balance.

  He smiled then, a true smile before saying, “Much better.” His husky baritone sounding almost pleased. “Do it again.”

  This time he grabbed her from behind, arms the consistency of steel bands encircled her torso, the ability to breathe became an issue. Her head started swimming. Her eyes almost bulging out of their sockets, as the extraordinary Romani, determined to push her to the edge of death, squeezed tighter.

  “Fight back, damn it!” he snarled, his anger evident. “In order to survive, you must not give up. No matter what happens. Fight…back…weakling!” his voice boomed in her ears.

  Using all of her strength, she pulled her arms up, wedging them between Nicolae’s forearms and her elbows. With determination, she used them like she would a crowbar, forcing his arms open enough to loosen his grip. Then, with all of her upper body strength, along with her vast knowledge of street fighting, Raina threw her head back, smiling when the sound of crunching bone accosted her ears. Several quick, but effective elbow jabs to the ribcage, followed by one hard closed-fist blow to the groin and he was down for the count.

  Nicolae groaned as he lay on the floor one hand cradling his injured bollocks the other holding his hurt nose, but to her dismay he was still able to stagger to his feet. On instinct, she swept his legs, satisfied when he landed back on the ring floor.

  It took a few moments before he was finally able to sit up, one hand still covering his damaged member, he sighed. “Antonio was right.”

  Darkening eyes narrowed to slits as she asked, “Right about what?”

  “All I need to do to get you to do what I want is piss you off,” he laughed, a full belly laugh that made her smile as well.

  Rolling her eyes, she tried to hide her amusement. “You’re all a bunch of freaks,” her words came without heat.

  Unable to stifle his own amusement, Nicolae continued to laugh, rolling on his back like a child in a giggle-fit.

  “You are correct,” he gasped for breath, “and you, my dear Miss Jacobs, might be the queen of us all.”

  *****

  Dinner was spent with Nicolae insulting her fighting habits. Everything from her weak punches, to her slow movement, to her awkward fighting stance was fair game. What she wouldn’t give for a cattle prod with a handle long enough to reach where he sat at the far side of the dining table.

  “Tomorrow we will work on fixing these things,” he informed as he took another bite of cake.

  Mrs. Radu was going to spoil her or fatten her up…whichever came first. The talented cook had created a meal fit for royalty which included an appetizer of olives, organic tomatoes and radishes, cheese and salami. Then a feast of vine leaves stuffed with minced meat and rice called sarmale, served with roasted carrots and parsnips. Followed by an apple and walnut cake that had her taking seconds. Or was it thirds?

  “Slow down. You’ll make yourself sick,” her father chastised as she continued shoveling large forkfuls into her mouth.

  In her fatigued state, she pretended not to hear him. “What’s next on the training schedule?”

  “I’ll have you next.” Blaine’s smooth as silk voice rubbed against her eardrums doing strange things to her nether region. Damn it! When was Antonio coming back?

  “Dad, when is Antonio coming back?”

  The entire table turned to him, waiting for an answer. Duncan rested his fork on his plate as her father looked down at his plate. Even Mrs. Radu stopped drying dishes and waited for his response.

  Clearing his throat, he said, “Hopefully, soon.” Then returned to his dinner ending the conversation.

  Raina finished eating in silence, and then excused herself for the evening. When she got in her room, she quickly stripped down and immediately went to the shower. Adjusting the water to the perfect setting, she eased under the stream, allowing watery fingers to caress her skin as she tried to unwind from the day’s activities.

  “I wish I were there with you.” The sound of Antonio’s voice echoing inside of her head made her jump. “The things I would do to you.” Yup! It was definitely him.

  Closing her eyes, she concentrated on that seductive timbre. “Where are you?”

  “I’m not far.”

  “Why are your thoughts so faint?”

  “We haven’t f…”

  “Joined,” she corrected, feeling the blush spreading across her face.

  “I stand corrected,” he chuckled. “We haven’t joined in a while and since we are not mated, our connection will get fainter and fainter until…”

  “…until it disappears entirely.” It wasn’t a question.

  “Correct,” he sighed. “I miss you.”

  “I miss you more,” she said, feeling the need to cry, but held it at bay.

  “How’s training?”

  “Torturous,” she answered, making a funny face he couldn’t see. “Nicolae is a right wanker.”

  “He certainly is,” Antonio agreed with a snicker. “What about Blaine? Have you started training with him?”

  She paused, trying to hide her guilt over lusting after the delicious Irish wolf.

  “We start tomorrow.”

  “Having lustful thoughts I see,” he said without anger, which only made her feel guiltier.

  “I’m sorry,” she stated. “I can’t seem to get sex out of my head and you’re not here…and his voice is like velvet. Hell! I need you. Come home,” she rambled nervously.

  “I will…soon, but in the meanwhile,” his voice deepened and turned to liquid seduction, “spread those gorgeous legs of yours.” It wasn’t a request.

  “There are pack members in the house,” she reminded, her cheeks heating with embarrassment. “They will hear.”

  “I don’t care,” he snickered devilishly, causing that delicious shiver to attack her spinal column and travel downwards to more exotic locations.

  “Well, I do,” she thought to the sinful voice that tempted her to be naughty.

  “All you need to do is not make any sounds,” he teased playfully.

  “That’s easy for you to say, beast!”
her answer huffed and accompanied with a roll of her eyes.

  “I’m dying here, sweetheart,” his words a desperate plea. “I need you or I’ll go insane…literally.”

  “Where are you?” she whispered aloud looking around the shower enclosure then opening the clear, glass shower stall door to check the room.

  “Don’t worry about that right now,” he urged with seductive intent. “Just concentrate on my voice.”

  “Alright,” she timidly agreed knowing exactly what he wanted them to do.

  The human part of her shook a disapproving finger at her and reminded she was a good girl, but the she-wolf inside growled to take her man no matter where, no matter when, no matter how. After deliberation, she finally leaned against the cold shower tiles, spreading her legs wide, enjoying the steady stream massaging her mound.

  “What next?” she asked disbelieving what she was about to do with the unseen Antonio.

  “Take your hand,” his voice raspy and filled with need, “put it between your legs on top of your clit.”

  “I can’t believe I’m doing this,” she complained feeling her own desire growing as well.

  “Use your fingertips to make gentle circles…the kind that I usually make.” Submissively, she followed his instructions, wriggling against the pleasurable sensation. “Are you doing it?”

  “Yes,” she said on a breathy moan, her voice low, and rough, like she had recently awoken. “Now,” she whispered, “you need to grab that monster between your legs and pump it for me.”

  “Monster,” he laughed, the deep sound music to her ears. “Is that right?”

  “Uh huh,” she hummed, continuing the small circles against her sex. The sensation between her thighs increasing in pleasure. “Are you pumping?”

  “I am,” he moaned that low, sexy moan of his and she knew it wasn’t a lie.

  Swallowing hard, she asked, “How does it feel?”

  “I wish it were you,” he whispered. “How’s your pussy feeling? Good?”

  “Not as good as when you do it, but not bad,” she confessed spreading her legs a little wider.

  “Mmm. Talk to me, sweetheart. Let me hear those delicious moans of yours.”

  “I do not moan,” she squeaked with embarrassment.

  His voice lowered further. “You make these soft, breathy, erotic sounds that make my balls ache just thinking about it.” Goodness! Nicolae was right!

  “Beast,” she accused, slipping a finger inside her soaking wet entrance.

  “Now, what are you doing with that finger of yours?”

  Shocked that he knew what she had done she giggled. “I’m imagining it’s your cock, but it’s not thick enough.”

  “Add another finger,” he ordered and she followed without argument. “How does that feel?”

  “It’s still not enough.”

  “Then add a third,” the desperation in his voice increasing.

  “Yeah,” she mumbled as her fingers slid inside her slippery entrance, cream easing their way. “That feels incredible. Are you still pumping that cock for me?”

  “I am,” he moaned, drowning in his own desire. “I’m so damn hard I can hammer nails.”

  She giggled then. “Close your eyes and imagine my mouth wrapped around that wide, cockhead of yours. My soft, wet tongue running the length of it, licking and nipping and tracing each thick vein. Both hands wrapped around you…pumping your rock-hard shaft. The tip of my tongue drawing invisible circles over the head, tasting every drop of pre-cum you have to offer.”

  The overheated wolf actually growled then, the noise low, raspy, and tempting.

  “Keep talking. I’m so close.” His admission caused her to swallow loudly. “I can’t wait until I can push inside of you again. Make you take every hard inch of me, sliding deep inside of your slick channel, feeling those magnificent inner muscles gripping my cock like a vise. Then gradually pulling out, leaving just the tip inside as I slowly sink back until I’m buried balls-deep.”

  “Yes!” she declared loudly, movements increasing steadily as the need to orgasm barreled toward her.

  Antonio’s thoughts seemed less coherent too.

  “The sounds of your breathy moans making my balls tighten to the point I want to explode.”

  “That sounds incredible.” She sunk her pumping fingers deeper, curving her fingertips to brush against that sought-after G-spot. “Can you feel me? My lips wrapped around you. Sucking as you fuck my mouth until you feel that sensation telling you you’re about to…”

  “Damn!” he practically yelped. “I’m coming.”

  His adamant declaration pushed her into her own release. The force of it not at all like when Antonio was working her sex, but the slow roll through her nether region was satisfying none the less. It was amazing the things he could do to her with just the sound of his voice.

  Several quiet moments had passed before she pleaded, “Come back to me. I can’t wait to do this for real again.”

  “I can’t wait either, baby,” he sighed. “I can’t wait.”

  *****

  “I’m surprised you’re still awake.” Her father watched as she slowly entered his office. “You should try to get some sleep. It’ll be another long day tomorrow.”

  Finally able to smile, she informed, “I can’t sleep. I keep having strange dreams.” She didn’t elaborate that they were hot, sweaty sex-dreams featuring Antonio, Blaine and Nicolae.

  “Oh.” He studied her silently. “Do you want to talk about it?”

  “I’m fine,” she fibbed, not quite sure how to ask the next question. “Dad?”

  “Yes?”

  “I want to know about our history. My history. I need to know how this all started and why you seem to think I’m…ya know.”

  “I understand.” Richard stood, moving over to the portrait of her mother, him, and herself at the age of two, their faces beaming with joy. They all looked so content. She missed seeing her dad so happy. “You need answers,” he said, swinging the portrait open to reveal a small safe hidden behind the canvas. “I’ve kept this protected for you.” He entered the combination causing the electronic locking mechanism to disengage, releasing the heavy steel door. “It’s yours now to guard.”

  Reaching inside the compartment, he pulled out a box. An artfully crafted wooden box with intricate carvings decorating the lid. The highly polished, dark wood gleamed under the recessed lighting of the room to the point it almost glowed. Once more, the locket around her neck warmed her skin again.

  “It’s gorgeous,” she whispered, unable to increase the volume of her straining vocal chords.

  “It was given to me by your mother, on the day of the…accident,” his words full of regret. “She said when the time was right I could give it to you.” He placed it in her opened palms. “I think now is that time.”

  *****

  The next morning was spent with Nicolae stretching, doing calisthenics, and devising fighting strategies. Which was all extremely boring and highly irritating since the buff Romani was argumentative the entire time. By the end of their session, she’d threatened to slap him. Twice.

  Later that afternoon, she ate lunch with Blaine under the same weeping willow she had enjoyed the previous day. Blaine, as usual was a wonderful listener and sympathetic ear. He listened without judgment to every complaint she flung at him. Even his “Ah ha’s” and “I see’s” were calming. It didn’t hurt that he was also drop dead gorgeous.

  Nicolae, she hated to admit, was also spectacular, in a rugged James Bond kind of way. With those mesmerizing sapphire-blue eyes that could see straight into your soul, a smile that melted away your worries, and even his scowl was somehow growing on her. He was the type of man you just felt safe with, knowing he’d give his life for you without batting an eyelash. Too bad he drove her to violence.

  “It’s time to get to it,” Blaine announced, rising to his feet. The sight of him towering over her made her weak in the knees.

  “Pardon?” sh
e asked with a blush, trying to clear away the pornographic images that his words created.

  “Training. Let’s get to it,” he repeated, a knowing smile playing on his lips. And what lips they were. Firm, plump mounds of kissable delight. What she wouldn’t do to feel those lips against hers. “No more breaks. Time is running away from us.”

  Nodding her head, she rose to her feet. “Are we going to spar as well?”

  “No. I’m your guide for the intellectual challenge.” One of her brows arched which made him elaborate. “I have a 143 IQ, graduated from Oxford University with a PhD in Philosophy and Psychology at the age of twenty-one.”

  “I see.” She wasn’t surprised that Blaine was brilliant as well as gorgeous.

  “You’ve heard of the goddesses: Artemis, Diana, and Athena…right?”

  “Yes, of course. I love mythology. Artemis was the Greek goddess of the wilderness, the hunt, wild animals, and fertility. Diana was her Roman equivalent.” She blushed when Blaine gave her a well-deserved nod of praise.

  “Don’t forget about Athena,” he reminded.

  “Athena was the goddess of war, wisdom and the crafts.”

  “I’m impressed,” he teased, sizing her up in his mind, lips curved in a near smile.

  “You should be,” she teased back, feeling more flirtatious than normal. “This is fun, but how will it help me with the intellectual challenge?”

  “The mythological goddesses: Artemis, Diana, and Athena were all real.”

  “Bollocks!” she snorted, giving him a look of yeah right.

  Nodding his head he explained, “They were real women…hunters…Romani.”

  “I don’t believe you,” she blurted.

  Blaine grinned. “Over two thousand years ago, the world was a brutal place. Strange creatures walked the Earth. Some kept to themselves, existing in peace with humans. Others believed the Earth was created for them and humans were only their sustenance. When shifters…werewolves and other similar creatures…began to annihilate the human population, the powers that be endowed the gypsies…more precisely…the gypsy elder women with medicinal knowledge and preternatural abilities to protect the humans.”

  “Why did they choose the gypsies?” she asked, her fascination peaked over the new information as well as Blaine’s amazing storytelling capability.