Annoyance snapped through him, almost strong enough to quench the lust the sight and smell of her caused. “Or you could stop breaking into my home.”
Her grin didn’t soothe the roiling emotions in his gut. “Well, well, well, the little submissive wolf does have a bit of claw after all. How did you come all the way in here without smelling me, anyway? I mean, I didn’t cloak myself at all. The place has to reek of me by now.”
Opening his mouth, he decided it was a better idea to drink his beer than to answer. It wasn’t as if he wanted to admit he’d been fantasizing about her so much all day, he’d not noticed when his imagination became reality. “I’m assuming you’re here for a reason. If it is about your wolves, they came to me—”
Her relaxed pose vanished in an instant. Leaping off the table, she fisted his shirt and slammed him into a wall. “My wolves?”
With a frustrated sigh, he looked at the beer on his fist, sloshed out of the bottle when she’d pushed him. “Dammit.”
“Answer me.” The command in her tone was spiked with her dominance, leaving him no choice but to answer.
“Charley and Greg came by my work to see me today. They wanted to know where you are. They’re worried.” Licking his fist, he took another drink of his beer. Perhaps if he pretended nonchalance, she wouldn’t notice how having her body so close to his own left his pulse jumping and dick hard. Not to mention she might not back away. There was something sincerely wrong with him if he craved her so much that just her shoving him around flat out did it for him.
“They came to see—so you didn’t seek them out?”
“Nope.” Glancing down at her fist on his shirt, he then met her yellow-blue eyes, fascinated with the blend of colors. “You can’t seem to keep your hands off me, have you noticed that, Alpha sweetheart?”
Flattening her palm, she smoothed the wrinkles she’d caused in his shirt. “Sorry. I wanted to thank you properly for your help. I—”
“I am going to bet you’re not going to give me the thanks I want, in this case.”
Biting his lips, he dropped his gaze. He really needed to learn to shut up. Egging her on, pushing her dominant side, wasn’t winning him brownie points in her estimation and he wasn’t sure being around her was a wise choice, not when she might be his mate.
“Well.” Blowing out a puff of air, she patted his chest again. “So we’re going to talk about the elephant in the room, then?”
Glancing down, he couldn’t resist grinning. “I’m not small, but I don’t think I’d call it an elephant in the room.”
Choking on laughter, she moved away from him, taking another drink from the bottle as she went. The sight of her lips wrapped around the brown glass shot another unwanted shiver of attraction like a homing missile right into his ‘elephant.’
“Look, let me be really blunt, Lynwood.”
“When aren’t you, sweetheart?”
Again, those fascinating eyes turned his direction and he tightened his grip on his own beer. His skin felt hot, practically aching for her touch. If she felt a fraction of what he experienced when she was near, her cool demeanor didn’t show it. He wanted to break through her practiced calm, see her trembling in release…taste her, even if only once.
“Good point,” she conceded. “Okay, I can smell your attraction.”
Shaking his head, he sat the bottle on the island between the kitchen and the dining room. Bracing his hands on the wood, he closed his eyes. Maybe if he didn’t look at her, the wanting would lessen. “Yeah? Well, I can smell well enough to know it isn’t only me attracted, alpha sweetheart. Not to mention the simple fact I’ve been really open about my interest in you from the start, so it would hardly take wolf abilities to pick up on the obvious.”
“Another point which I’m willing to concede, yes.” When she spoke, he realized not looking at her didn’t help. If anything, the sensation of her voice curling around words became almost a caress when his eyes were closed. “However, although it is clear we’d both likely enjoy having sex, I don’t think it is in either of our best interest to satisfy the craving.”
“Then why are you here?” he snarled, tether snapped. “Why did you come to me, out of all the places in the world you could’ve gone to heal, if you didn’t want to be here? I’m calling bullshit, Dara.”
Eyes still closed, he couldn’t see her response and didn’t particularly want to. All the logical reasons she should leave rattled through his head in a litany. She was pack, he wasn’t. They’d never work out. He couldn’t fuck her without wanting to claim her. He wasn’t sure if she liked him, not to mention he might be deluding himself with the idea of her being his mate—it could be he only looked for excuses to explain a powerful attraction to a strong and beautiful woman.
None of the reasons mattered, not when she was so close and yet so damned far away.
“I don’t know.”
Her simple answer startled him into turning around. She’d sat down her beer and stood, hands limp at her sides, looking small and fragile. Her dark hair hung around her face, her eyes looked fathomless, and he was struck by her loveliness. Although she displayed vulnerability, nothing about her posture seemed any less powerful. If anything, her willingness to show a bit of uncertainty only made her seem stronger in his eyes.
“What do you want?” he asked.
Walking to him, she reached in her pocket and presented a small band of gold. Similar to a bracelet, but when he flipped it over, the inside of the band was marked with paw prints and a quote. “Whatsoever the wolf wished, that the fox was compelled to do.” He read the words aloud, tracing them with his fingertip. “Isn’t this from a Grimm fairy tale?”
Her shoulders lifted in a vague shrug before she said, “I thought you’d like it.”
Slipping the small band around his wrist, he stroked it. It was from her. He loved it. “Thanks.”
“Thanks for helping me out. You know, you didn’t have to.”
He didn’t look at her. He kept his gaze on the metal twining around his wrist. When her smaller, pale fingers covered the band on his arm, he shivered. “I know,” his words were practically a whisper of sound.
Her hand tightened. “I don’t think we should have sex.”
His breathing quickened. There was a silent but on the end of the sentence. He was sure of it. He waited, both impatient for her to finish her thought out loud and terrified she’d say she was leaving, all in one tangled mess of spiraling thoughts.
When he couldn’t take the silence any more, he looked into her magical eyes. She didn’t speak, instead she leaned closer. Their lips touched and he sank into the kiss. Spinning her, he pinned her smaller frame to the wall, his starved lips plundering her mouth with a desperation he couldn’t hope to rein in.
Dipping his head, he traced nibbling bites along her jawline, the flavor of her so vibrant and tantalizing, he needed more of it.
“Stop.” The command didn’t lace her tone, it slammed through it. His spine bowed, pleasure jerking him away from her. Waves of her power seemed to rush over him, forcing him to obey but feeling so damned good, he practically groaned with the pinpricks electrifying his nerves.
Her nails traced down his chest again, and he drowned in her gaze. “You don’t get to push me around, wolf.”
Another blast of her dominance brought him to his knees. Reaching out automatically, he caught her hips and buried his face in her stomach. “Alpha sweetheart, I told you it felt damned good when you do that. Tone it down a little or I’m going to come in my pants whether you’re touching me or not.”
She tugged his head back by the hair and smiled at him. His heart soared when he considered her flushed cheeks and racing breath. The aroma of her desire wreathed her, almost as potent as the dominance flowing in tentacles of light around her. “You’re not in charge,” she reminded him.
“Then command me.” He wasn’t sure where the words came from, only knew it would please him more than he could say to make her happy. “U
se me. I’m yours.”
Her eyes closed and her grip on his hair tightened to become almost painful. “You should probably word it differently when speaking to an Alpha.”
He didn’t revoke the words. Mate or not, right then he was hers. Nothing outside the moment mattered—not pack, not right and wrong…only the small woman and her touch filled his mind. If it was insane, so be it. Nothing, not in all his travels, felt as good as her kiss. If he lived the rest of his days with only the memory of this night? He wanted to make the night count. “If you’re in charge, command me,” he demanded, fingers tightening on her hips.
Her touch trailed over his cheek and he closed his eyes. The teasing caress only served to make him want more. Turning his head, he pressed a kiss into her palm. Rolling his eyes upward, he nipped the fleshy part of her thumb, reveling in her betraying shiver. “You’re awfully damned bossy for a man on his knees,” she said.
She still hadn’t rejected his touch. “I’ve been told I’m very good on my knees.”
“Prove it.”
The challenge in her tone gave him permission to touch. To take. Capturing her wrist in his hand, he kissed each of her fingertips and wrist before turning back to her body. Sliding his hands up her waist, she allowed his gentle push and leaned her shoulders against the wall. Dragging the slightest suggestion of nail down her waist, he caught the waistband of her leggings and panties in his hands and tugged them down her thighs. One brow arched, but she didn’t stop him.
“Gladly,” he whispered, then kissed her mound. Smooth skin, ripe with the scent of her arousal, drugged him further. Almost impatiently, he pushed her legs further apart before lifting one to rest it on his shoulder. “Brace yourself, Alpha sweetheart. I’ve been wanting to kiss you since we met.”
“You already—oh.” The last came out a whisper as he spread her lips to place a kiss on her clit. Savoring her flavor, he devoured her. It only took moments for her hips to buck into his face, her panting breath coming faster as he circled and nibbled between her legs. Her skin flushed, her leg flexed against his back and she let out a soft moan. “Lynwood,” she breathed.
Backing his head away from the feast, he used his fingertips to continue his sexual provocation so he could speak. “Yeah?”
“Take off your clothes.”
It only took him moments to obey, but he didn’t look away as she pulled off her shirt and bra while he scrabbled with his own garments. Once they were both naked, she pushed his shoulder, returning him to the same position he’d been in before. Happy to return to his carnal chore, he licked her in one long stroke before her hand caught his head. “I want you to grab your cock while you do it.”
Reaching between his legs, he leaned back so she could see. Her leg slipped off his shoulder, but she didn’t complain. “Like this?” he asked. Gripping his dick, he gave one long tug. She licked her lips, her own fingers trailing between her legs.
“Yes,” she whispered.
It was no punishment to find some relief from the tension tightening his balls and seeming to steel his spine. She was naked, legs spread, against his wall. Her scent surrounded him, the taste of her was on his lips. Watching her fingers sliding between her legs…he sped his hand, tugging harder and faster.
“No, slow.” Her demand rippled with power and the pleasure of it nearly wrecked his control.
Nearly. Gritting his teeth, he obeyed her command. She rewarded his behavior by kneeling. Her mouth against his neck left him trembling. Yes, mark me.
Instead of saying the words, he ran a hand up her spine, stopping once he cupped the back of her head. She shoved hard and he toppled onto his back, the image of her blushing skin and heaving breaths imprinting on his mind in an erotic tattoo.
CHAPTER Eight
He lay as obedient and submissive as he’d been ever since she’d met him. Nothing challenged her dominance, and his hands on her flesh brought more pleasure than she’d imagined possible. Yet she hesitated. Every man demanded dominance over the woman in his bed. It was human nature.
It was wolf nature. If she gave him her body, he might try to take her pack. She wouldn’t risk the pack, couldn’t, though her senses practically reeled for the bliss of his embrace. Although she second guessed herself, she trailed her fingers over his skin. Smooth, under laid with taut muscles and hot, she reveled in the feel of him under her hands. His eyes closed and his head twisted as she traced the line of his skin from waist toward groin. A groan slipped free from his throat and his fingers dug into her hips. She straddled his body and he neither resisted nor bucked against her gentle torture. “I’m noticing less back talk when I have you naked.”
His eyes opened, their darkness calming the tempest in her soul. “You know what that means, right?”
“No, tell me.” Bending, she sucked his nipple into her mouth and bit down.
The roughness of his voice, the growl of the wolf whispering through his tone, ignited her already molten body. “It means you should keep me naked as much as possible.”
She’d never laughed during foreplay or sex and found it didn’t diminish her passion in the slightest to do so. “Do you want me to touch you this way?”
Gripping him in her hand, she used the same motion and tempo she’d seen him use on his own body. Although his grip tightened further on her legs, he didn’t fight her control, not even with the new layers of tension making him bite down on his lip. “Yes. More.”
She stopped her motion, considering him carefully.
“Please. Sweetheart, please, give me more.”
Still subservient, she noted. Still not taking the reins from her. To reward them both, she again gripped his cock in her hand and rose above him. Those dark eyes of his followed her every motion and his hands moved to her waist. “More…like this?” She stroked the head of his cock against her slit, already so wet for him she wouldn’t need much to find her release.
He didn’t tug her down, didn’t shove inside her more than willing body. His breathing came a bit harsher, his neck muscles stood out as he fought to resist her, but he allowed her play. “You feel good, Alpha sweetheart,” he gritted out. “The scent of you…I need you. Please.”
Capturing his mouth, she let herself drown in his kiss. Their tongues tangled as she continued to rub herself against his dick. Scents and mouths merging, but it wasn’t enough.
One arch of her hips and a bit of repositioning with her hand and he rested at her opening. It would only take a slight movement to join them, yet still he let her control when the moment would happen. His teeth grazed her shoulder, mouth opened wide in hungry kisses. Filling his palms with her breasts, he tweaked the nipples which sent a fresh jolt of lust between her legs. Gasping, she hovered just above his neck.
One strike. He’d be hers, claimed and mated.
Her gums practically ached with the need to bite down on the warm brown of his skin. So easy to take him, to have him, to own him as he’d said only minutes prior.
But to claim him, he’d also claim her.
Instead of giving into the wolf and instinct, she plunged her hips down, taking all of him in one violent shove which stole her breath. His gasping convulsion and tight hug proved the thrust felt as good to him as for her. Panting, she tried to regain some semblance of sanity in the twisting insanity of sensation, but she’d apparently finally reached the end of his tether.
One motion flipped her. Then his hips were riding her own, his mouth claiming hers in a devastating kiss. Her own body jerked, meeting him halfway and sizzling her mind with fiery pleasure. Higher and higher he drove her flesh, the tension a coil which built inside her as he managed to both move faster and swivel his hips into her own.
Spine bowing, she shrieked out his name, nails scraping into his back as she tried to find something to hold her together while it seemed her soul splintered into stars. Aftershocks quaked through her, their pleasure almost equaling the initial release, and his body shook above her. Their breath, wet and hot, panted between
them in almost eerie synchronicity.
Sanity returned in a rush and she punched his chest, shoving him off her. “I knew it.”
Snagging her leggings, she dressed while he lay sprawled on the floor—the floor!—with his eyes closed and breath still heaving out. She’d managed to get fully clothed and was pulling on one shoe when he finally spoke. “Knew what, sweetheart?”
“I knew you couldn’t resist trying to dominate me. We’re done here. Get out of my town. Tonight.”
Slamming the door behind her, she blinked back tears as she ran as far and as fast as she could away from him.
***
Stuffing his clothes into the bag, Lynwood ignored the banging at the door. When the person didn’t desist in their pounding, he hollered, “Go away!”
He neither knew nor cared who wanted in. It wasn’t as if he’d been expecting company. Besides, for all he knew, she’d sent her pack back to ensure he followed her orders to leave.
“Dammit.”
Fisting his hand to his face, he wondered where he’d gone wrong. In the moment, she’d seemed to be having as good of a time as him—he wore the marks of her nails and carried the memory of her face as she shattered in his mind to prove it, in fact. Yet the second it’d been over, before he’d caught his breath, she’d stormed away. Banished him from her lands before he’d cooled from the heat of her body. Damned fickle woman.
He blamed pack life. Something about so much structure and responsibility obviously made the woman mad as a hatter. What else would explain her behavior? He hadn’t challenged her. Almost in defiance of her dismissal, he ached for her, would fall to her knees if she showed up at his door without the slightest hesitation...perhaps she wasn’t the one who was insane.
The wind outside howled, the windows rattling in response as if someone banged on the glass. It was almost as if the weather knew what a shitty mood he was in and decided to join him in throwing an all-out temper tantrum. Glancing up, he would swear he saw a figure outside his window, hovering almost.
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