First Bite - Shifter Romance Box Set: Anthology of First in Serials and Series

by Vaughn, V.

  He met her eyes and marveled at the way she held his gaze, telegraphing her need. He knew the danger in his eyes intensified when he was aroused — whether in anger or in passion. Every lover he’d ever taken had kept her eyes firmly shut, her soul locked away. But Lana’s sky blues were wide open and utterly at ease. More than that, they looked at him with wonder and promise. The promise of more than a single night, of more than just physical pleasure.

  I told you so, his wolf chided. She can take it. She can withstand the fire in our eyes.

  He hoped to hell it was true, because he couldn’t hold back any more.

  He wanted to draw out this peaceful moment — for her and for himself — but Lana’s nipples were straining for his lips. He could almost taste them. When he finally took one in his mouth, she gasped, and his cock grew harder still. His lips curved into a satisfied smile even as they continued to tease her. When had he ever been so fascinated by a woman’s reaction to his touch? Never. But then again, he’d never known a woman like this.

  Never. He already knew that word would get a lot of use tonight.

  With one hand intertwined with her fingers and the other beside her head, he felt long, light, and powerful. She had power, too, albeit a more subtle kind. Her abdomen was rippling seductively under him, her hips climbing, forcing contact. The heat building in him spiked again.

  All too often, his packmates tiptoed around him, measuring their every word, every gesture. Lana was refreshingly direct, honest. Unintimidated.

  And now, she was unraveling at his touch. A satisfied rumble built in his chest. His inner wolf was damned pleased with what he saw. He’d given her a climax to end all climaxes, and now he would deliver another, and another, setting a new standard each time.

  One push of his hips, and his cock plunged in so swiftly, so easily, that he nearly lost his balance. Like they were made for each other. Her inner muscles drew wide to accommodate him, then clenched tight around him. She was all there, all his, just as he was all hers. Amazing how comfortably that idea sat on his shoulders.

  He withdrew, teasing her entrance, then slid back in, thrilled as much by her moan as the pulsing sensation inside her. On his next withdrawal, she pressed up, rolling him over. He found himself on his back, blinking at the stars while Lana hovered over him with a wicked look. Can you handle this, alpha? Can you handle me?

  He was about to roll back and retort something about being able, but not willing when— Whoa. His train of thought was cut short as she flipped her hair back and balanced over the length of his cock.

  Okay, he might just be willing to humor her, if only for a short time.

  Lana shifted her hips and slowly, deliciously slid over his hard length. He let his eyes close and a low groan escape his throat. His hands shifted to her hips and ground them closer. She slid off and back on a second time, then a throbbing third. When his eyes cracked open, they found Lana’s half-closed in concentration. She mouthed his name, then cartwheeled her arms and leaned back in a graceful arc that lifted and stretched her breasts as she angled into him. The sight of her nipples, front and center, stirred a new chord in him. Small but supple, swollen with need, her breasts swayed as she continued to roll her hips. Her liquid core drew him deeper and deeper as she fought back throaty groans of delight. That alone did him in, stirring a new chord of desire.

  He slid this thumb along the sinew of her hip until it nudged her clit, watching for her reaction. There. Her eyes widened as she let out a sharp cry and arched, ribs straining under her smooth flesh. Her blue eyes were slits, fixed on his hot gaze. Look what you do to me, cowboy.

  Look what you do to me, woman, he almost replied.

  He held on through another of Lana’s sweet cries, then tugged her close and coiled himself to roll. Enough unscheduled changes to his flight plan. He was ready for the main event. They maintained contact throughout the roll, and when they grounded out, his full weight hammered home, eliciting a cry of delight. He thought he might have acted too late, that she’d come too early, but Lana held on as he drove into her again and again. His heart leaped, wanting to give her everything at once. Hard and fast, that’s what she’d asked for, right? The way her breath caught between each curt inhale and exhale told him he was getting it just right.

  Hard and fast, his wolf howled in glee, as much for his own high as hers. The rumble inside him became a roar, and the roar built until he shattered inside her with a raspy groan. He rode the wave as long as he could, letting his voice underpin her high cries until both faded into whispers.

  He heard the cicadas cheer their performance, the stars sing in approval. Slowly, their bodies descended from their shared climax. Heaving, panting, and sweating, they sank into each other as their mingled musk embraced the night.

  He waited for the bubble to burst, for reality to set in. Waited some more, because satisfaction this rich, this peaceful, just couldn’t last. But the high refused to fade. Instead of evaporating into uncomfortable silence, it morphed into a new form: a soft, orange heat, like the glowing embers of a hearth. He pulled her closer and heard his wolf sigh inside.

  Maybe it wasn’t the end. Maybe it was only the beginning.

  * * *

  Ty watched Lana stir from the nest she’d formed along his body to consider the stars. She was so close, face to face, that he felt like an extension of her.

  “I think I might have to recalibrate my scale,” she said. Her mouth curved into an angle that pointed somewhere between shy and sultry. “The guys I gave eights and nines to before seem more like fives now. Maybe fours.”

  He didn’t savor the thought of her having been with anyone else, but the compliment — well, that part, he had to like. And he had to agree.

  “Or maybe forbidden fruit tastes the best,” she whispered, growing morose.

  None of that, not now. He squeezed her close and let his eyes travel up the sides of the truck. “You deserve better than this.”

  Better than this? Lana tucked her cheek against his neck. No way.

  He had to smile. “Yes, way. Just wait ‘til I get you to a bed.” What started as a chuckle ended in a whisper as it dawned on him. She’d only thought the words, not actually voiced them.

  Lana’s head popped up, eyebrows bunched. Dang, can you actually hear my thoughts?

  Sometimes, he said, watching her jaw go slack. Siblings and packmates could hear each other’s thoughts, but it shouldn’t be possible for two near-strangers. Yet he and Lana heard each other loud and clear.

  Before he could dissect that impossibility, a noise tugged at the fringe of his senses. He looked out, past the soft flesh of her breasts, past the parallel lines of her abdomen, highlighted in shades of midnight gray.

  “What?”

  He shushed her, listening. Headlights sliced through the dark as a laboring truck came their way from a distance. “Cody,” he groaned, then jackknifed up. He offered Lana his hand and wrapped his flannel shirt around her naked frame for the second time that night.

  “Is there somewhere we can go?” she asked, a millimeter from his lips.

  He looked beyond her, into the hills. There was a place. His private hideaway. He’d never brought a woman there before. That rule was carved in stone.

  But all it took was one look at Lana for bedrock to tremble and give way.

  * * *

  They were dressed and bumping down the road again before Cody could draw up beside them. Lust hummed in Ty’s veins as the truck rolled over the gravel road, patient in the knowledge that he’d have her again soon. Because he wasn’t going to let this woman go. Not tonight. Not for many nights, not if he could help it. Families be damned. Bloodline be damned. His father, her father — what would they really do?

  He wasn’t about to hide her, either. That would be impossible now, anyway. His scent was all over her. So everyone would know. So what?

  His eye twitched at the thought of his father’s impending return. If ever a Dixon was to step foot here…


  Lana rubbed her bare thigh with a palm and leaned back with a smile that said she was savoring a simmering memory. “You’re very thorough. Covered me well and good with your scent, alpha.”

  Damn, that would take some getting used to. A woman reading his thoughts? He fought back the grin growing on his lips. The idea had its own crazy appeal.

  He met her eyes, and the steady calm he found there was a salve to his troubled soul. His wolf was right. She could do it. He’d met the one woman who could temper him, stand beside him—

  A snake slithered across the road and he jerked the wheel to swerve. He shook off the sense of unease it brought, determined not to let anything ruin this glorious night.

  “So beautiful here,” Lana murmured as mesquite and pinyons slid past, waving to her like visiting royalty. She smiled back at them as if promising to come back soon and meet each one of them. His eyes roamed over the landscape, trying to imagine it from her perspective. What did she think of the yucca, sticking up like a scarecrow? Or the ragged-barked walnut standing sentry over there? To him, the desert had always been soothing despite its rugged edges. Home.

  Lana’s next comment nearly gave him whiplash. “It hasn’t changed a bit.”

  His teeth caught on his lips. It took two tries to get the words out. “What do you mean?”

  “I figured it would have changed since the last time I was here, but it hasn’t. So peaceful.”

  “You were here before? When?” His voice dropped an octave.

  “It would have been…May. Twelve years ago? Thirteen?” Lana paused, checking her memory. “The year the pump house burned down. I remember everyone talking about it.” She looked at him closely, some private thought playing in those eyes. “How is it that we didn’t meet then?”

  His mind whirled. Where had he been in May of that year? Some dim memory stirred, then clouded when Lana’s eyes jumped to left side of the road. “Hmpf,” she mumbled, suddenly distracted. “What do you keep up there?”

  “Up where?”

  She pointed up a gully.

  “Just bush up there,” he assured her, still groping for the memory.

  “I saw something. Trash maybe?”

  He snorted. “Nothing out there.”

  He felt her go tense at the blunt dismissal in his words. Crap. This was just as bad as whipping the luggage out of her hand. Why couldn’t he get this right?

  Lana’s head swiveled as the truck rolled on, clearly reluctant to give up on whatever she’d spotted in the black streak in the landscape. Really, though, what would there be up there?

  But what if? When Lana put a hand on his arm, he pulled the truck to a stop and turned to face her. Lana stubbornly held his gaze, and his wolf stirred again. Look at her! Not even a blink!

  The blue of her eyes was unperturbed. It was only the sideways tilt of her head that said she didn’t like what she’d seen up in the hills.

  He put the truck in reverse and let it roll backward. If she was so sure something was amiss, he’d better check it out. “Where?”

  Lana leaned over, reaching across his body to search outside his side window. For a moment, all he could sense was her pure, flowery scent. He wrapped an arm around her waist, and tugged her closer, reaching with his lips. He would have lost himself in her body again had it not been for Cody’s truck pulling up behind them.

  He gave himself a little shake, then broke away from Lana and turned off the engine. If only it was as easy to settle his raging pulse.

  “Up there,” Lana pointed.

  Cody’s headlights filled the cab, and Ty slipped outside. A door slammed, and his brother joined him in silent contemplation of the hills.

  “What?” Cody ventured.

  “Lana saw something up there,” he said as she stepped to his side and exchanged a nod of greeting with his brother.

  Cody must have caught the way he slid an arm around her waist, like he meant to hold on, not just for tonight but forever, because suddenly he was wildly signaling his doubts.

  You know who she is, Cody started. Are you crazy?

  Ty could imagine the rest. It was one thing to enjoy a woman for one night, but to contemplate keeping one? And not just any woman, but a Dixon? He should never have told Cody about the feud.

  You’re playing with fire. Dad is going to skin you alive—

  He shoved a hand flat against his brother’s chest, letting his eyes flare until Cody wilted and raised his hands in defeat.

  Lana was not a choice; she was a necessity. He knew that now. This wasn’t about pleasure or a fleeting thrill. He needed her to become part of him. The fact that they could hear each other’s thoughts, clear as day, was proof of that.

  Lana wasn’t an outsider. She belonged here, with him.

  He was consumed with the need to possess her. Nothing but the mating call could do this to a wolf. But then again, he thought he’d heard the call once before. Long ago, when he’d caught that phantom scent on the wind.

  The voice of doubt returned. Maybe he was kidding himself, letting one hot night carry him away. He’d go crazy trying to figure it all out in one night, though, and there was more pressing business right now. He set off up the gully, Cody and Lana following close behind. They climbed one hundred yards, scraping along the loose dirt and picking their way around wait-a-whiles. He stopped and cast his eyes around as Lana scrambled higher. Cody was right; there was nothing.

  “Up here,” Lana called.

  He swung up in six long strides, Cody’s skeptical step a tick slower behind him.

  “There,” she pointed.

  How she’d caught the glint of broken glass from way down on the road, he couldn’t tell. But a wave of silent pride swelled in him as Cody did a double take. Man, she’s good.

  Mine, he growled back.

  Cody put his hands up. All right already!

  The ground was littered with shattered beer bottles. Lana edged around the shards on nimble, bare feet and craned her head toward a spot higher up. Mumbling, she set off up the steep slope. Doubled over the way she was, the flannel shirt barely covered her glorious ass. He shot a mental bark at his brother, and Cody averted his eyes.

  “Here,” Lana called.

  He scaled the slope, catching the scent of ashes before his eyes found a burned-out campfire. The ashy smell covered the scent of dried blood, and he studied the hollow until his eyes confirmed what his nose had already registered. There was a desiccated pile of sheep bones stuck with bits of matted wool. The place had been used as a temporary camp.

  He exchanged looks with Cody. The rogue coyotes. It had to be.

  Lana’s nose crinkled, probably as much from the fight that had scarred her as the smell. “Three days old, maybe?”

  Close. More like two. The desert worked that fast.

  “What do you think?” Cody asked. “Four of them? Five?”

  He only nodded vaguely. “Enough to make trouble.”

  Big trouble, Cody agreed.

  “About as old as the dead sheep back there, right?” Lana waved toward where they’d met the Seymour ranchers, and a second stab of pride registered in him. He watched as Lana pointed around the campsite, reconstructing the scene. “So they stopped here and ate their fill. And then?” She looked from him to Cody, then back.

  Exactly the question he was asking himself. Where were they now? Where would they strike next?

  Lana kicked the dirt. “Fresh enough trail,” she murmured, sniffing the air like she was considering going after it herself. “You got a good tracker?”

  He nodded. They had a few. Kyle, for one. Zack was another, but he was still off hunting with his mate. For an instant, Ty wished he could follow the rogue trail himself. He was a good tracker — a damn good one. But as alpha, he didn’t get to do that any more. He had to delegate, even when he wished he could do it all himself. Right now, he wanted nothing more than to follow the trail and rip the rogues to shreds. For trespassing on pack territory, not to mention interrupting his night
with Lana.

  Lana. He wanted her again. But he had duties to fulfill…

  Something his sister Tina had been saying for years echoed in his mind. Give Cody more responsibility. We lead as a family. He studied his brother in the moonlight. Had he finally matured enough to be trusted?

  Lana paced, looking for more clues, bare legs poking a long way out from under the flannel shirt. Ty caught himself looking a little too long, a little too closely and gave himself an inner pinch. Now he was the one who was dazed to distraction by a female, while Cody, of all people, was on track.

  So let Cody handle it.

  The rogues would strike again, but not tonight. He could feel that much in the air. He could afford to take the rest of the night off.

  “Cody will take care of it,” he announced.

  Cody went wide-eyed. I will?

  He made his instructions quick and clear, so that even his little brother couldn’t mess them up. “Get back home and double the night watch. Assemble the trackers by first light. Got it?”

  “Got it, got it,” Cody echoed, double timing it back to his truck.

  He could feel the heat rise in his cheeks as he gave the orders. The very thought of trespassers on ranch land, even here on the periphery, pissed him off. But when Lana pressed to his side, his heat slid from anger over to desire. They weren’t finished for the night. Not by a long shot.

  Chapter 9

  The world was tipping sideways and Ty wasn’t even trying to hang on.

  He watched Cody leave in a plume of pale dust. Anticipation and the glorious sense of letting duty go, if only for one night, danced inside him as he and Lana climbed back in the truck and resumed their drive. A few minutes later, he turned off the main track, putting the truck in low gear to grind up the rough, serpentine path. Would she like his cabin in the hills? Would she feel at home there?