by Susan Arden
* * *
“Please, don’t tempt me.” Mari implored him with her eyes to stop.
He didn’t think he actually could cease from touching her. From this point on, he’d never stop, not even after repeatedly thrusting deep inside her. God, the things he envisioned doing with her.
“It’s my nature to do just that. Over and over. I promise you’ll enjoy what I can offer.” His instincts might mix messages, but they didn’t lie. She was more than quick sex to ease his lust. There was some tangible bond between them.
“Conrad, consider what impact this will have on me.” A pained expression flashed in her eyes.
He held back from plunging his finger deep into her. The muscles in his arm shook from the magnetic dynamic going on between them. He shuddered at his denying what they both needed…what they both wanted. This sharp yearning was further exacerbated by the struggle to maintain his self-control that he precariously exercised between his primal wolf sense and his human temperament.
A couple more inches, and he’d touch heaven. The scent of her arousal had him silently growling. Her breathy voice. The texture of her silky skin had his self-control vaporizing. His cock rubbed against his zipper. Each swipe of his finger against Mari’s skin sent him into overdrive. He needed to get inside this woman with a hunger that bordered on brutal. The depth of his need ran into the marrow of his bones. Shit. He’d traveled the world, circling the globe not once but several times. Sampled enough to know what he liked, and she was the pinnacle. Zenith. He had to have her.
If she wanted to pull away, she would have done so already. He wasn’t a total wanker. Operative word total. His ability to converse wouldn’t last much longer. He preferred to concentrate on more important issues such as undressing Mari in a private room and learning to navigate every beautiful inch of her body.
“Baby,” he growled, pushing forward, unable to resist a second longer. “I have. Entirely.”
He skimmed his finger across the last inch of her smooth skin before he encountered her knickers. Running his finger over the silky material, he waved his thumb over her sex and found her erect nub. The material was wet under his finger, getting wetter as he stroked across the narrow space between her legs.
Her gasp sent a dart of feral arousal down his spine and into his nuts, then rocketed straight up his dick. It didn’t get much harder or softer than this. His cock was granite, and Mari was satin slickness against his finger.
Fuck, he was going to come in his pants. He pulled his finger back, observing the dilation of her pupils, the way her nostrils pulsed, and the arching of her neck. Damn, she was actually offering herself to him. Did she realize what she was doing? A few more minutes, and she wouldn’t be able to refuse him. A female submitting to a higher ranking male was an unequivocal offer she couldn’t take back unless the male rejected her. Dirty pool. So be it, if it meant a way to cajole her into unlocking her lust.
“Conrad, what do you intend to do?”
“I think you know the answer. But if you’d like me to describe the journey, I’d be more than happy. Shall I break it down, stroke by delicious stroke?”
“No,” she gasped and slanted a glance from side to side. Her golden eyes were glazed when she peered back at him. She was close. So. Damn. Close.
He rubbed his finger across her knickers, teasing her sweet spot, and sure enough, Mari arched her body. Her clit was a tight peak under his finger. He spun a circle around her erect nub, enjoying the way she parted and licked her full lips in response. The other couples seated were conversing, and from his position up against a corner wall, no one could tell what he was achieving. To everyone else, it would look like he was attentively leaning over to hear her. Considering the level of voices in the place, it wasn’t outlandish. She was wet and warm under her knickers, and her slender neck curved, forming a tantalizing line of elegant access offered to him. Twice.
Mari excited his wolf nature. The way she handled herself spoke high-ranking beta or undiscovered alpha. Aroused, she silently offered herself to him. He’d wager she did so without consciously realizing. For all her professionalism and stubborn persona, he could tell she was inexperienced. An enchanting firecracker. She would be his to teach and train. This wasn’t a simple chase. Tonight it was the capture and keep he wanted to explore.
“Let’s go. Now.” Pulling his hand back, he marshaled his thoughts into one goal. Fully thrusting into Mari. “Upstairs. Room 19. You go first. If I leave you down here, you’re likely to talk yourself out of a night of sin and satisfaction.” His muscles constricted.
“I can’t just up and leave.”
“You can. And you will. Do you offer your neck to every Tom, Dick, and whoever?”
“What? I didn’t do any such thing!”
“Baby, you did.”
She reached up and stroked her hand down her neck, her eyes going as round as saucers. “I can’t believe it. You were the one tricking me. Touching and tempting me.”
“No way to foresee the level of our compatibility. You are acquainted with shifter decorum. Are you not?”
“You’d pull that card? In this day and age.”
“Prick tease on a placard does not suit a woman of your position in a place like this. You can say many things and get away with what spills from your luscious lips. Rules. Sure, break a few and get tagged badass. But to offer your neck and then retract the offer? Lock, stock, and smokin’ barrel. Unheard of in any civilized society.”
“Are you mental? That submissive offer came from our grandparents’ day and age.”
“Sorry. Still rings true today if an alpha accepts, and more so in a business that offers professional services.”
“Who the heck are you to argue loopholes? You tricked me with entrapment.”
“No sense in crying over spilled milk. I might not have a law degree, but I can read. The Downtown Den is very specific on protocol.”
“You cannot possibly hold me to a standard for doms and subs. I’ve not contracted a thing with you.”
“You introduced me to your boss, and in front of him, offered your services. A representation extended on behalf of this esteemed establishment.”
“How can you?” she asked, her voice dropping into a growl. With eyes flashing hot and golden as the sun, Mari branded him, scorching her being into him. She provoked him with the biting of her lush lip. He prodded himself to lay it all out there. By now she’d gotten a taste of where he aimed to go. Better she grasp his intentions and the degree he’d undertake to sweep away the details that stood in the way of him claiming her.
“Baby, fun fact. I desire you. I will have you. And it’s up to you how far I’ll go to get you.” He enjoyed the red haze of her spirited temper unfolding. Feeling no shock, feeling no remorse, he observed Mari’s fuse light. The blushing sheen spreading over her skin had him unraveling. Her look nevertheless would freeze the dick off a moral man. Good thing, he didn’t pride himself on astute ethics. He had an acute sense of what he desired. Mari.
And for once, his wealth and ties might come in handy. He picked up his phone and dialed a number. “Denver Times,” a woman’s voice answered on the third ring.
“Good evening,” he said. “May I have your night desk? Reporter on deck.” His aloof voice came out gritty and intense.
“Stop,” Mari said coldly, harshly. “Hang up the damn phone. Fine. I’ll go up to room 19. Give me the darn key.”
“A hot mess is fine. Stop battling your inner nature. We both know this is more than meaningless sex. Right?” he questioned, unconvinced this wasn’t some ploy at buying time. He was willing to work on his mistakes, as long as it meant her by his side.
“I said I’d go up there. What you get inside that room, is nothing short of a match made in hell.”
He removed the key from his pocket and held it surreptitiously, not wishing to draw attention from anyone in the bar to this exchange. She rose and swiped the ornate crimson-colored key from his palm. The feel of her fi
ngers delivered a jolt of electrical pleasure on contact. He was out of his seat, helping Mari from her chair. Taking hold of her arm, he fought to remain in the bar area. Every cell in his body desired her. All the more with her temper flaring.
His wolf nature demanded he subdue her. “We both want this. It may seem complex but really it’s simple.”
She turned her face up to him, sparks spewing from her incredible eyes. Her flushed cheeks and moist lips had his mind spinning. Their gazes locked and the force jacked his spine.
“Is that one of your pick up lines? Better work on it.” Mari jerked her arm from his grasp. To say she stormed away from him, put it lightly. She stopped at the bar and spoke with the woman, Sonya. Their conversation didn’t last long before Hurricane Mari cut a path from the room without a backward glance. Her coworker, Sonya, on the other hand, marched right over to him.
“I think we should have a conversation.” She placed both of her palms on the top of the table.
“By all means.” He rose to pull to out a chair. “Please. Sit down.”
She eyed him suspiciously. “I’m not here as Den staff. I’m friends with her.”
He digested that information. Mari’s friend was going to have her say on the matter. “I’m not going to hurt her,” he replied.
Out in the open, she studied him. He sniffed, detecting her coyote shifter, and knew this type of friend was loyal on the level of cellular. The kind who’d track him down for doing less than he’d already done. “Strangely, I believe you. It’s just your past…and future that are the problem.”
His brows drew together. “The first is dead, and the second so far is uncertain, from what I can tell.”
“Don’t use her while you figure out how to pick up the pieces of your life.”
His chin shot up. “That isn’t my intention.”
“Do you know she’s a reporter?”
He stopped moving. His heartbeat thudded loudly in his ears. “What the hell?” he growled. “Who does she work for?”
“Thanks to you, no one. Mari was probably one of the few people who stood up for you and didn’t want anything in return.”
“I don’t follow,” he said, staring intently at Sonya.
Sonya’s brow furrowed. “She was fired for trying to run the correct version of your soap opera life. A complete screwup. Now she’s been blackballed and can’t find a job delivering newspapers. Don’t tell her I told you. She’d kill me first, you afterward.”
“Where’d she work?” he asked, gripping the table.
“Where do you think?”
“The Times.”
“Bingo. Mari’s got a right to stay grounded. A new job. Here. You talk about uncertain, well what about broken? For all the outer trappings of the Den in artwork, furniture, even the high rolling clientele and the upstairs. People come here…wounded. Believe it or not, this is a place to heal.”
“Maybe that’s why I’m here,” Conrad admitted.
“That would make sense, but you’re throwing a line around someone who is finding her footing. Don’t pull her back into a sea of confusion and leave her drowning. You could easily find another woman if all you’re after is one night.”
“It’s complicated. I didn’t expect to find her.”
“Mari?”
“My mate,” he responded, his need growing stronger to bond with Mari.
Sonya stared, unblinking at him. Silent for seconds. “Does she know?” she finally asked.
“Well, if she doesn’t, she soon will.”
The coyote shifter inhaled and looked him over as though seeing him for the first time. “Jesus. Her brother is going to kill me. One night at the Den, and my best friend’s life is about to change.”
“There’s a chance it could be the right road for her. I’m not an ax murderer.”
“If you break her heart, is there a difference? For your sake, you’d better hope this goes well.”
“So are we good?”
“No. But what would it matter?”
“Just so you know. It does.” He extended his hand, half expecting her to refuse.
Sonya laid her hand against his and shook. She rose, and Conrad followed suit.
“No one will bother you both.” Sonya stopped and turned toward him. “She likes champagne and candles. History. And don’t talk about the ocean. The rest you’ll have to discover on your own.”
It was his turn to stare. “I’m looking forward to getting to know Mari and protecting her.” That was his mission in a nutshell. Claim. Protect. One woman.
Mari’s friend nodded and left the table as the conversation hit home within him. He pressed his fingers against his brow. The startling truth of what Sonya had shared settled as a weighty mantle across his shoulders, then dissolved the hardened outer layers of his being, sinking deep within his bones. Not oppressive. Enlightening. Mari had been hurt on his account. Recently. His beast growled at the idea of someone causing her pain. More so because it was his fucking family.
He walked toward the exit, and Louis met him at the door. “So, you’re leaving.”
Conrad grimaced. “It’s getting late.” He extended his hand. Louis grasped and shook, a lopsided smile unfurling on his friend’s face.
“Or early.” Louis shoved his hands into his trouser pockets. “Take care.”
“Thanks, mate.” Conrad punched Louis in the arm and exited the bar into the outer hall, where subdued lighting fell and cast shadows on either side of him.
This time he didn’t stop to study the photographs he had taken on a journey where Sherpa people had led him and a small group of men and one woman, a healer, if he remembered correctly. They’d taken a week, winding through the Himalayas. One of the men was Shawn Barclay, a leopard shifter he’d not fully known at the time, except he was in trouble. They’d become friends on that trip when Shawn, accompanied Quinn, Tristen and Fin, had been on his way to rid his mind of demons or something equally toxic.
Their destination had been a Tibetan monastery. Unusual as hell, a mixture of wolves, a leopard, and a healer forming an extremely protective pack of friends.
Conrad’s arrival here tonight and the idea of finding oneself surprised the hell out him. When Sonya mentioned healing, it all made sense. A club like this for shifters, skating the edge of society as exotic creatures. A half-truth. Mysterious as an iceberg.
The dark wooden walls hugged in close as he walked over the polished floors. Each of his footfalls echoed down the passage. He found the back staircase without encountering another soul. Opened the door with a whoosh and then scaled the steps two at a time. Upstairs, he veered left down a wide corridor as his steps were hushed, cushioned by the plush carpeting. He stopped and deeply inhaled before room 19.
His senses locked onto one scent. He griped the doorknob. The fur underneath his skin prickled, the beast in him ready to burst into motion. His canines lengthened, scraping against the inside of his lips.
He opened the door and entered, shutting and locking the door behind him. The click of the lock broke apart the silence. He moved ahead, running his fingers over an entry table in a room that was more suite than bedroom. He scanned the room in search of Mari. Doorways opened to the right and left of the main room where sofas and chairs were arranged. His wolf eyesight adjusted to the lack of lighting easy enough. He used the information Sonya had provided, opening a drawer in a desk.
“What are you looking for?” Mari’s voice titillated his senses.
He glanced upward. Unprepared for the intoxicating sight of her, he tripped over his tongue. Her dark hair cascaded in waves, framing the jewel of her face.
“Beautiful. You’re mesmerizing,” he murmured, a man in a voodoo trance. She stunned him. His gaze lowered to the body-hugging slip she wore and his pulse climbed.
“Did you think you’d find me inside the desk?” she laughed softly.
“Oh, this. Matches,” he replied, amused, as his muscles tightened in an uncontrollable desire to take possessi
on of this enchanting woman.
“Yes. It is rather dark.” Mari walked forward, the short hem of her slip hiked up her thighs with the sway of her hips. Miles of lush curves were hinted but not revealed. His wolf sat up and took notice.
He flicked a match, and a small flare burst. A speck of heat close to his fingers reminded him to get a candle and stop staring. Reaching for the candle on the cocktail table, he was fully captivated by this alluring woman and her she-wolf nature. The combination overtook him, and his fingers were all thumbs. He held the candle, savoring the way the flickering flame cast sensuous shadows, licking across her satiny skin.
“And this one.” Mari held a candle out to him, dipping the wick into the flame.
He forgot his next thought, how to breathe, his own name. Nothing mattered beyond her. A mystery. He was caught without witchcraft. His mate stood before him. Her scent overpowered him. Branded him.
“Mari,” he said hoarsely, struggling to put his thoughts in order. Never would he get her out of his mind. “Are you still angry about being forced to come upstairs?”
She softly laughed again, the feminine sound raking across his body, scattering shivers over his skin. “You didn’t exactly force me. I’m here and had time to consider this attraction we’ve got going on between us. There’s no point, as you said, to pretending. I only ask that you don’t lie to me. If this is one night, then fine.”
This powerful side of her beguiled him, another in the endless facets he was discovering about the woman he intended on claiming. A diamond hidden in plain sight. His. “I take it you’ve never been claimed.”
“You’d know. An alpha such as yourself. There isn’t much in my wolf shifter side that I could keep to myself this close to you. Scent, arousal, where I’ve been. A gift. Or a curse to be a female wolf.”
“Pure gift in your case.” She was right. The question was more to see if she’d admit to being in love. Not the same. They could mate, and love might or might not come. Nothing was certain when it came to the need to claim a mate. A risk he was willing to take. It was a full moon. Time. He took the candle from her hand and set it down. “How about a drink? A glass of champagne to celebrate.”