by J. K Harper
“Anything I want,” she said. She captured his mouth this time, a fierce desire sweeping through her at the motion. She claimed him, she captured him, he was hers.
Her wolf growled in utter approval as the kiss deepened, roughened, became firm and controlling yet wild and filled with abandon.
Then Kieran pulled back, slightly yet enough for his lips to form words.
“Pack Guardian.”
“What?” But she heard him perfectly well. His words spoke a title. Her title.
“Pack Guardian,” he said again. Patient, yet ardent. “You, Lily. You're a Black Mesa Pack Guardian again. Can't you feel it? Because I sure can.”
Lily let his words flow over her and felt them in her bones. He was right, utterly. Yes, her wolf whispered. Pack Guardian. The power of it, the responsibility. The mantle of protection that she wore again. Yes. It was there, all of it. She was Pack Guardian again, and it filled every inch of her being.
Never would she forget the human she had turned. Remembering him was the right thing to do, not to mention that forgetting past mistakes was a sure way to make them rise again someday. But...she was no longer ruled by that awful memory. Instead, it dropped into her soul as something that had shaped her, made her even stronger today.
Now, she was a Pack Guardian to reckon with.
“Wow,” was all she managed after another few moments of taking stock. “I am, aren't I? I can actually feel it again.”
Kieran laughed, a rich and full sound. Every morning, she could hear this. Not just one night, one morning. For a lifetime of mornings, this man was hers.
Energized, Lily rolled away from Kieran and threw back the soft sheet tangled about them. Her wolf leapt inside, eager and alert at Lily's sudden focus.
“Let's go kick some rogue ass, Kieran. We need to find out what they were doing here. This is our Pack's territory. Not theirs. They are not welcome here.” Her voice rang out with formidable intent, and she almost shivered at the power sizzling through it. She was back.
“Ours, hmm? Ah, my strong, beautiful wolf.” Kieran reached out and caught her waist before she could swing her feet to the ground. “You are ready, aren't you?”
Unresisting except for a playful little growl, she allowed him to pull her back against him. Damn, he felt good, the entire hard length of his long body nestled right behind hers.
Lily went boneless again as sharp lust rose through her. How could the man do this to her so easily?
“One day, Lily, you'll be a fine alpha mate. And we'll have a Pack of our own. You're definitely your father's daughter. A leader, my beautiful she-wolf.” Kieran stroked his fingers down the back of her thigh, and an uncontrollable, purely sexual jolt fluttered its way down her exposed skin.
“But first...”
“Yes?” she breathed in response as his voice stilled while his fingers increased their tempo, exploring her body.
“First,” he whispered against her hair, “let's give you some more energy to go kick rogue ass. I have just the thing you need.” A knowing, teasing chuckle punctuated his words.
“Really,” she said, turning over to face him. A thoroughly devilish grin played over his features and sent a zing straight between her legs. Her breath caught in her throat.
“Right here, my smart, sexy, strong wolf. With me.”
As Kieran kissed her senseless, Lily and her wolf rolled in ecstasy and agreement. The rogues would just have to wait.
the end
What's next? Read Rafe and Sara's story in Alpha Wolf, Book 2 in the Black Mesa Wolves series. Scroll to the next page for a FREE sizzling excerpt from Alpha Wolf!
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Alpha Wolf excerpt
As a Guardian climbing the ranks in the Black Mesa Wolf Pack, Sara Kenyon's life is ideal. A sexy firecracker, she's never regretted her carefree love-'em-and-leave-'em attitude. But when her one-time fling, smokin' hot Rafe Bardou, wants the only thing she can’t give him—commitment—she starts to question if freedom is really everything she desires.
Rafe's patience is legendary. Yet for all his strength and control, Rafe craves something he can't have: free-spirited Sara as his mate. Her red-hot kisses have eluded him for over a year, but he can't stop thinking about how they once tangled the sheets together. Now he's out of time. Her commitment to him is essential—not only for his own happiness, but for the future of the Pack.
Losing control isn't an option for him. But it may be the only way to convince this sweet vixen he's her alpha wolf.
Warning: in this story, a hot springs and a dark alley are both defiled. Read at your own risk.
Rafe grinned and leaped hard after Sara. Her sleek shape vaulted over the metal fence at the back of the hot springs property. He followed in a single breath.
They landed on the upper level, next to the hottest pool that beckoned to weary bones. A black plastic cover draped over the top of the small pool. Sara stood and shed her wolf form in a single moment. The ripple of fur over human flesh blended for just that instant, creating something even more primal and feral than the wolf shape. It reminded Rafe, as it always did, that his fellow packmates were capable of so much more than just human action, or just wolf action. They were a unique blend of both, which in itself created a deeper kind of magic—his human side snorted at that term—than any non-shifter on the planet could ever hope to achieve.
Naked, dappled by shadow and light from the moon above playing hide and seek with the pine branches, Sara stood firm and unselfconscious. She turned her head toward Rafe, watching him shift. He let the change to flow over him more slowly than usual, allowing Sara time to see the process as he merged wolf into man. Controlling the shift was a major advantage of shifter genes. All the bizarre human stories about a full moon forcing a shift, or needing to be chained up during some ravening “werewolf” phase, always made Rafe chuckle. If only they knew.
Rafe stood on two legs, as unreservedly naked as Sara. His utter awareness of her presence beside him, not to mention the immediacy of the shift, kept his wolf very close to the surface. Her body enticed in human form as much as it did in wolf: small, lithe, with beautiful little breasts perking in the evening chill. He let his gaze wander over the soft curves and defined muscles for a leisurely moment before looking into her eyes.
To his amusement and satisfaction, Sara blushed. Good. Her awareness of him as a man was evident. He firmly made up his mind to demonstrate to her now, tonight, his equal intent awareness of her.
“Shall we?” He gestured at the cover on the pool.
“Yes. Right. Let's,” she said, bustling over to one end of the pool cover to lift it up. Probably also to mask the nervous tone he could hear in her usually confident voice.
With a quick fling powered by the strength of their shifter genes, they removed the heavy cover. Steam billowed up and drifted into the pines overhead. Not looking at him again, Sara dipped a toe in the water. She sucked in a breath.
Mine, his wolf growled, low and strong. Mine.
Yes, Rafe thought. Mine.
Inch by slow, captivating inch, Sara slid her beautiful body into the water. She emitted little squeaks and gasps as the heated water moved up her skin. Each noise elevated Rafe's eyebrows as well as his interest. He felt his eyes widen a fraction, his pulse speed up, his breath rate increase. Standing utterly still as he watched her, he took in the slow slide as the dark waters caressed her ankles, then her toned calves, then her beautifully muscled yet still feminine legs. As she carefully sank lower and lower, the water swirled and curved toward her inner thi
ghs and the inviting shadow at their crux.
Damn, how he wanted to stroke her right there with his tongue.
“Wow, this is crazy hot,” Sara said, her voice a strangled gasp.
“It sure is.” Rafe eyed her, letting the frank appreciation come out in his tone.
Sara's back stiffened and she turned her head toward him. Her mouth was a small “o” of surprise. Rafe's imaginings of what he could do with that sweet, luscious mouth increased the tightening in his groin and the stirring in his blood.
“I mean—the water. It's hot. Really hot,” Sara said.
Rafe's eyes caught the darkening of her fair skin as more blushing marched across her face, half hidden by blonde strands. It was so unlike the usually straightforward, fun-loving wolf she presented to the world. Knowing it was all for him, that he was the one causing her word babbling and skin flushing, only further bolstered his sense of masculinity. Sara was easygoing and fun-loving. He knew perfectly well she liked to bar-hop in town sometimes, picking up local human cowboys for a little playtime. Despite the fact it made him clench his jaw every time she'd come back to the pack den smelling of another male, he'd never held it against her. She was a wolf, only doing what came naturally.
But he'd sure gotten damn tired of waiting for her to realize he was the best wolf for her. The only one.
“Coming in,” he said as warning. Slowly, silently despite the breathtaking heat that almost sizzled his bare skin, Rafe stepped into the pool with Sara.
Sara dropped the rest of her body into the pool, hissing as the delicious heat completely enveloped her. Pushing off the wall with her feet, she propelled herself to the other side. It was only five feet across, but being as far away from Rafe as possible suddenly seemed wise. She pressed her back against the far wall and eyed him and his small but distinct grin with wariness.
Because, holy smokes, her hormones were revved up. All she could envision was how they'd tangled the sheets back then, twisting and turning and burning. He'd been pretty spectacular. Okay, they'd been pretty spectacular, together. In bed spectacular.
Rafe lounged back against the wall on the other side of the hot pool. Even relaxed, he still exuded an authoritative air. That little grin tugging at his molded lips softened his gorgeous yet stern features somewhat. Either way, there was no mistaking his confident, self-aware presence.
“Um.” Well, that was a great opener. “That was a good run. Thanks for going with me.”
Rafe studied her for a minute. She squirmed under the dark intensity of his gaze. Squirming heated things up on the inside, which was a sensation Sara was quite familiar with. With Rafe, it meant trouble.
Her wolf rolled in Sara's mind and sent enticing images of Rafe's big, strong maleness. As if Sara might forget.
Rafe abruptly reached out a finger and flicked water at Sara. Startled, she emitted a really girly squeal of indignation.
“Hey!”
A full smile lazed its way across Rafe's face. A shaft of moonlight lit up one eye, one cheek, and cut gently across his mesmerizing lips.
Sara's wolf rolled in ecstasy at her human's fixation on Rafe. Sara thought the word finally might be drifting through her mind, but she wasn't sure.
“Just being playful, Sara. Contrary to popular opinion, I do know how to relax and enjoy myself.” His deep tones sent a shiver across her body.
“Getting me wet is how you enjoy yourself?”
Even as the words left her mouth, Sara wished she could clamp down on them. Or maybe just die of pure embarrassment. Sara the flirt and Sara the anxious were clearly at odds with themselves.
Her wolf cocked a confused ear at the thought of more than one Sara roaming around.
Rafe's smile vanished into a study of laser intent. The look on his face hovered between almost unbearably hard and—utterly captivated. The dark blond tousle of hair, kept short but not severely so, framed his magnetic face. Sara found herself staring at him as if she'd never seen him before.
A long pause held them still. The faint rustle of a breeze sneaking through the pine branches also riffled through the hair on Sara's neck. It felt like the caress of fingers. Rafe's fingers.
Rafe kept staring back at her in a very predatory way. A sexually predatory way. One that her wolf welcomed.
“Yes,” he finally said, simply. “I did enjoy that. Very much. And I'd like it to happen again.”
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Copyright Page
GUARDIAN WOLF
Copyright © January 2012 by J.K. Harper
Cover by LFD Designs
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the copyright owner except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
About the Author
J.K. Harper writes about paranormal romance and urban fantasy because despite a lifetime of wishing, all the cool supernatural book characters of her childhood just don't seem to be real. Besides, it's really fun to make stuff up. She lives in the rugged, gorgeous canyon country of the Southwest, which is a great place to let her imagination run wild.
If you are interested in finding out more about J.K. Harper and her latest writing projects, please visit her website: http://www.jkharper.com/ or sign up for the newsletter: http://eepurl.com/Gp-qv
J.K. Harper Books
Guardian Wolf: Black Mesa Wolves #1
Praise for Guardian Wolf:
"The characters of Lily and Kieran are smoking hot and burn the pages with their passion.... If you enjoy shifter romances, then you are going to love Guardian Wolf." -Sizzling Hot Book Reviews
"What a great beginning to a new series.... It packs a wallop that I didn't see coming. I can't wait to sink my teeth into the next one." -Night Owl Reviews, 4.5 Top Pick
“Sexy as hell…. Very gripping can’t wait to read other novels by J.K. Harper.” -Amazon UK reviewer
“Addictive.” -Barnes & Noble Reviewer
“I loved this story and was kept riveted from start to finish. It was brilliant.” -Amazon UK Reviewer
Alpha Wolf: Black Mesa Wolves #2
Praise for Alpha Wolf:
“Great read!!! Overall it was an awesome book.” -Nerd Girl Official Reviews
“I found this book well written with interesting and engaging characters.” -Romancing the Read
“I must say that J. K. Harper has earned full five stars.” -Amazon UK Reviewer
“Rafe and Sara…are awesome characters, and I was totally laughing at some great interactions.” – Goodreads Reviewer
“I loved the way it did not go straight into sex but led up to it. Wonderful hunting scenes from the wolves.” -Amazon Reviewer
Hunting Wolf: Black Mesa Wolves #3
Praise for Hunting Wolf:
"I love her shifter world! She's created a wonderful world and characters that captured my attention from the first chapter and have held it through three books.... This is my favorite in the series so far." -Night Owl Reviews, 4.5 Top Pick
"I have to say the series just keeps getting better and better. Overall this is a great book." -Nerd Girl Official Reviews
"Caleb is the strong, gorgeous, badass and Rielle is the quiet, bookreading historian of the pack, who calms him like no other. This series is a great read for anyone who enjoys paranormal romance." - Bobbi, Amazon reviewer
"So far this is definitely my favorite Black Mesa Wolves book.... I'd definitely recommend to PNR and Shifter lovers." -Lanie, Amazon reviewer
"Just finished reading and wow!! Ca
leb and Rielle were perfect for each other.... Drama, humor, smexy times with a bit of action." -Dina, Amazon reviewer
If you are interested in finding out more about J.K. Harper and her latest writing projects, sign up for the newsletter: http://eepurl.com/Gp-qv