Demon Wolf

by Bonnie Vanak

  Lights flooded the yard and the pool as he flipped a switch on the wall. Then he stepped back, and before her eyes, the tall, handsome Mage with the scars and the serious air seemed to melt into the air.

  In his place was a muscled, gray timber wolf. The wolf raised its head to the moon and howled, then bounded down the steps and raced through the yard.

  Throat dry, she watched, her own wolf longing to join him and run free. Every cell pulsed with yearning, the beast inside clawing to get out, but unable to be free. Her female responding to the strong male wolf now running through the yard, leaping over the serene rock arrangement by the garden she’d planted.

  Mesmerized, she descended the steps, watching from the pool’s concrete deck, her hand resting on a lounge chair.

  The wolf trotted over to the bushes and sniffed. Eyes gleaming like gray flashlights, he lifted a back leg and marked one she’d planted.

  Marking his territory.

  She recognized the primal gesture. To warn other males away, and a promise to her to later claim her in the flesh and make her his own.

  Female hormones stirred and arousal pulsed. He loped toward the pool. The wolf leaped in, water splashing over the deck, baptizing her in a cascade of droplets.

  A wolf had jumped into the pool.

  A naked man emerged from it.

  He rose from the water like Poseidon, lacking only a trident and beard. Water cascaded down his sleek flanks, his muscular, scarred abdomen.

  Powerful thigh muscles rippled beneath his skin as he mounted the steps.

  Keira took a step back. Another, as he left the pool and advanced, his black hair slick and wet. Her gaze traveled from the twist and tangle of scar tissue marking his chest and torso, to his strong, powerful thighs and the curve of muscle of calves, back to the apex of his legs and the water beading in the thick, dark hair of his groin.

  His thick, long phallus. At rest, it was impressive.

  She looked up into his face, tense with anticipation.

  “You see what I am,” he said quietly. He spread out his arms, reminding her of Darwin’s celestial man. “What happened to me. This is me, Keira.”

  Deep, jagged scars lined his torso and chest, silvery gouges bisecting every plane of muscle and sinew. More scars flared on his thick thighs, ending just above his knees.

  She’d gone for the thickest muscles to do the least damage.

  * * *

  He waited quietly, watching her face. Melissa had not seen him naked, only the bandages covering the injuries. But her horrified gasp and avoidance afterward had been enough warning.

  The SEALs on his team knew his injuries, saw them each day when he swam laps with them. But no woman had seen him naked since a wolf had carved his torso like a roast.

  Exposing himself like this was a gamble, but necessary. Dale had sworn to be honest with her after the exam at the base.

  He would not keep secrets from her any longer.

  No pity etched her expression. He saw a flicker of wonder and, as she glanced downward, frank female appreciation.

  His sex stirred.

  “So strong. Such a strong, courageous male to take such a brutal torture.”

  A dim memory flickered. Soft voice and sweet scent winding around his body like velvet ropes, a lick of passion teasing his groin, desire and pain mingling together until he wanted to scream and never stop....

  Spikes of pain slammed into his temples. Dale pressed a hand to his aching head.

  “Are you okay?” she asked.

  He nodded, struggling more with pride than pain. Damn, getting naked in front of a woman usually meant pleasure.

  Now it meant possible rejection. Gathering all his strength, he plunged ahead.

  “I’m beginning to care for you, Keira. And I want no secrets between us. Especially...this.” He pointed to his maimed torso.

  Dale watched her reaction, his heart beating fast. Never had he felt this vulnerable and exposed. Not even when he’d been tied to the platform in the basement, helpless against the wolf’s claws. He’d fought the chains, resisted the compulsion to scream with his last breath, until the pain became a hot, living agony scraping over bone and flesh. Even then, the hoarse cries torn from his throat were shrieks of rage and promises of revenge.

  Now, all he faced was silence, and Keira. Waiting for judgment.

  Or redemption.

  Melissa had not wanted to see him naked. On the way to the ball, she’d whispered how they could spend the night together. When he’d informed her, with overt sarcasm, it would require him to remove his clothing, she’d only replied, “Darling, we can always turn off the lights.”

  Tonight, Dale had flooded the backyard with lights, flipping on every lamppost, the pool lights, hell, even the motion-detector lights.

  Leaving nothing to Keira’s imagination, letting her see every single ugly groove and hollow marking him.

  Her lovely mouth wobbled as her large eyes grew luminous. Then she stepped forward, and placed her hand on his chest, over his heart. Her palm was soft and warm against his chilled flesh.

  “They couldn’t scar this. Your heart. No matter what they did to you, they could never take away the courageous, noble man who stepped forward to save a child’s life. Your scars are medals, a testament to your honor.”

  Tears shimmered in her eyes. “You are the bravest man I’ve had the privilege to know. Thank you for sharing this with me.”

  Something inside him eased. Dale cupped her cheek, thumbing aside a tear.

  “Don’t cry, sweetheart.”

  “It hurts to know how you suffered,” she whimpered. “How you were in so much pain. I wish...oh, how I wish I could have stopped it.”

  Distressed, he bent his head and kissed the corner of her mouth. “It doesn’t hurt. Not anymore.”

  A cry tore from her throat, a wrenching sob. She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him. He tasted her, and the salty tears running down her cheeks. Dale deepened the kiss, joy tumbling through him. She moaned beneath his mouth, and drew closer. His sex stirred fully, eager for more.

  Dale nipped at her lower lip and broke the kiss. He gazed down at her, all thoughts of vulnerability gone, wanting only one thing.

  “Make love with me.”

  He needed to be a man again, needed to feel whole. He needed her in his arms, her soothing touch stroking over bare flesh, healing him.

  Keira slid a palm up to caress his jaw. “Yes,” she whispered. “Tonight.”

  “Now.”

  He swung her into his arms and she gave a startled, but happy yelp. Legs dangling over his arms, Keira hooked her hands around his neck. “You don’t do anything by half measure, do you, Commander.”

  “Never.” His grin faded. “Not when it comes to you. I’m not a romantic, Keira. Just a man who’s been to hell and back and needs you, desperately.”

  He hooked a strand of hair behind her ear. “I want you so much, I’m trembling inside.”

  Dale leaned his forehead against hers, needing to touch her, hold her, keep her close. “I want to wrap myself around you like a vine, entwining myself so deeply we become one. I want to make love to you until we become so close, we flow into each other like water. Push myself so deep into you that I become an unquenchable fire, burning you with passion. Give yourself to me, Keira, and I promise you I’ll give you pleasure to remember for a thousand nights.”

  And then she pulled away, her gaze soft and shining, and touched his cheek, her soft hand a redeeming caress. “Yes. A thousand times, yes.”

  * * *

  As Dale kissed her she wrapped her arms around him, losing herself in sensation.

  For years, her heart had been guarded by walls as thick as her cell, encaged in a protective layer. Never had she wanted to share herself, give her heart away to a man and hand him the power to hurt her.

  For the first time since those awful days in the Nicaraguan jungle when the Centurions killed everyone she loved, Keira wanted to open her h
eart. Dale could hurt her, badly. But she’d lived too long in the darkness.

  Only the light would suffice.

  Warmth suffused her as he kept kissing her, his wet body pressed close, the hardness of his erection digging into her lower belly. Keira moaned, wanting to sink into him, wrap herself around him and forget the world. Draw in his inner light and blend it with hers, bond with him in the flesh as their spirits would surely entwine.

  Let him chase away the emptiness for a while longer.

  Dale kept inching backward, toward the deep end. Oh, she was going off the deep end, losing herself in the sharp sweetness of his mouth....

  He stepped back and they fell into the water together. Coldness washed over her. Keira emerged, sputtering, as he laughed and playfully splashed her.

  “My dress!”

  “Take it off and let it dry out.”

  She swam until she could stand, and wrung out her long hair. Fierce hunger glinted his gray gaze as he approached, eyes level with the water, like an alligator. Keira looked at the burning lights. He had the courage to get naked before her.

  The dress clung to her like shrink wrap, but she wriggled out of it. Dale’s warm gaze caressed her as she reached for the clasps of her bra and finally set it aside, then pulled down the matching green panties and tossed them onto the pool deck. Shyly she stood before him, feeling suddenly vulnerable.

  He framed her face with his warm, strong hands. “You’re so beautiful.”

  He kissed his way down her neck, while palming her breasts. Each stroke of her turgid nipples brought flaming warmth, oh, such lovely warmth it felt like she’d never be cold again. Squirming, she kissed him back, rubbing against him, not knowing exactly what to do, but eager to explore.

  Dale nuzzled her neck and spread a palm over her belly, then slid his hand lower, between her legs. Fresh heat flared as he slid a finger between her slick, wet cleft. “Oh, man, I want you so much, so much...” he muttered against her neck. “Sweetheart, if we continue this, we’re in trouble because we need to get upstairs....”

  Deftly he slid a finger into her tight channel. Keira winced slightly. “Upstairs where the condoms...”

  He stopped and raised his head with an expression of shock. “You’re a virgin.”

  “Uh-huh.” A little embarrassed, she ducked her head.

  “Look at me, sweetheart.”

  Finally she did.

  “You’re thirty years old?”

  “Thirty-four.”

  “And never had sex.”

  “I never met a man I wanted,” she whispered, suddenly embarrassed and feeling awkward. “Not until you. Are you sorry?”

  He gave her such a tender look, her heart melted. “Never. We’ll just take things nice and slow.”

  Upstairs, he pulled her into his bedroom, tore off the covers with one hand and tumbled her backward to the mattress, droplets of water from their bodies dampening the sheets. She explored his body, every scar, each curve of muscle. Tattooed on his right biceps was the small insignia of an eagle with outstretched wings behind an anchor, a trident and a pistol gripped in its claws. Keira leaned on an elbow and examined it.

  “Budweiser, what they call the SEAL pendant,” he told her.

  “It means a lot to you, being a SEAL.”

  He nodded. “Toughest, and best, life I’ve ever had.”

  “So much you marked yourself with it.”

  “Not the first mark. When you become a SEAL, they give you the pendant, place it over your chest and pound the pin into your skin.” Dale grinned at her stunned look.

  “That’s barbaric.”

  “It’s brotherhood.”

  “Macho, overrated, he-man ritual...”

  He kissed her, and the warmth of his mouth made her forget her next thought. He’d seduced her with pleasure and promises of more, stroking her skin and baring her to his hungry gaze.

  His hands slowly caressed her hips, then he left her mouth and nuzzled her neck, gave it a slow lick. Pain, sharp and brief, laced her as he nipped her skin. His tongue caressed the wound, replacing pain with erotic pleasure.

  Dale cupped her hips and kissed his way down her quivering torso. Then he slipped his hands between her legs, drew them apart and put his mouth on her. Shocked pleasure shot through her.

  He suckled her intimate feminine flesh, his wicked tongue stroking and teasing. Stretched out like a sacrifice, Keira released a frustrated whimper as the pleasured tension built higher and higher. Then, with his tongue he stroked the one place aching for his touch. Quick, powerful flicks that drew her taut, made her moan as she clutched at his silky hair, gasping until she threatened to fall apart, building the pleasure higher and higher.

  With a shrill shriek, she climaxed, crying out his name. Tremors spilled through her, leaving her in a sensual haze. Dale stayed with her, tenderly kissing her intimate flesh as he cupped her bare bottom.

  He sat back, his heavy phallus bobbing from the apex of his muscled thighs, and slid a hand across his wet mouth.

  He moved his palm over one breast and gently squeezed, then lowered his mouth to sample her rigid nipple. Dale pushed a sleek thigh between her legs, rubbing against her sensitive, quivering flesh. She squirmed, then fisted a hand in his hair as he tasted and suckled her breast.

  This Mage possessed a dark magick and turned her into a slave, shuddering with need. She would do anything he asked.

  As she arched upward to the stroke of his thigh and the flick of his tongue, Keira shattered again in an explosion of hot, wet heat. Moisture gushed between her legs, bathing his strong thigh.

  Her chest rising and falling with each ragged breath she stared into his darkened gray eyes, watching the steely coldness turn to tender warmth.

  He smiled. “We’re not quite done yet. Not for a long while.”

  She thirsted to see his control shatter, his passion shatter as she had shattered in his arms. Sexual pleasure washed through her, the little aftershocks of orgasm rippling along every nerve.

  Keira sat up, and with a strength that surprised her, pushed him backward. Dale looked surprised, then amused, and she began exploring his body. She kissed a narrow hip, ran a hand over his taut belly and traced the groves and indentations her wolf had carved into his flesh. She felt a pang of pure sorrow, then focused on bringing him pleasure, delighting as his muscles quivered beneath her touch. Keira kissed his collarbone, then traced a line over his broad shoulder with her mouth. She licked smooth skin stretched over hard muscle and sinew, tasting the slight salt of his skin. Awe spilled through her at the vast differences between male and female. His was a warrior’s body, thick with muscle, while her body was softer and pliant.

  “Turn over,” she ordered.

  “Aye, aye, sir,” he murmured with a twinkle in his gray gaze.

  Dale turned onto his stomach as she straddled his thick, muscled thighs and ran her palms over the silky hair on his legs, marveling at the strength in his limbs. She slid her hands up to the smooth tautness of his bottom and squeezed, smiling as he groaned with pleasure. Keira trailed hot, wet kisses up from his bottom, along the smooth muscles bisecting his back, to his nape, loving the groans she culled from him. Then as easily as she’d pushed him back, he slid from beneath her and flipped her onto her back. Dale reached into the nightstand and removed a foil packet, tore it open and sheathed his erection.

  Intensity radiated in his gaze as he settled his muscled body between her opened legs. Bracing himself on his hands, he stared down at her. She felt his rigid length probe at her wet, tight opening. Keira stiffened in real alarm.

  “Shhh.” He stroked her hair. “It’s all right, Keira. Don’t resist me. Relax.”

  It wasn’t going to work. She was too tense and too small. But she wanted this.

  Dale laced his fingers through hers, locking their hands together. He pushed forward, his penis like a thick steel bar invading her softness. She gritted her teeth. As the burning pressure turned into real pain, Keira gripped his
fingers as if he were an anchor amid a stormy sea. His heavy weight pinned her to the mattress.

  “Mine,” he whispered. “All mine.”

  He pushed hard and deep inside her. Caught by the sudden shock of pain, she cried out, but Dale caught her cry with his mouth, kissing her deeply. As he raised his head, a single tear trickled down her cheek. He tore his mouth from hers, chased it away with his tongue.

  “I’m sorry for hurting you,” he said quietly.

  I’m sorry I hurt you, she longed to say. Instead, she pulled him down for another deep kiss.

  Locked deep inside her, Dale remained still. The burning pressure between her legs eased, replaced with a curious, delightful friction. He began moving, as her inner muscles clasped the male intruder eagerly, caressing him. Dale tensed and groaned. A bead of sweat rolled off his forehead and spilled onto her breasts like a teardrop. Tentatively, he began to move, groaning as he threw his head back and closed his eyes.

  “So good, you feel so good,” he muttered.

  Emotions raged through her, a maelstrom of joy and intimacy so intense, she could barely stand it. She, who had delivered nothing but pain and suffering to this man, was now giving him this intense pleasure.

  His face alight with fierce desire, Dale spread her legs open wide. Keira braced herself as he thrust deeply, their bodies, slick with sweat, rubbing over each other. He stiffened, then his body shook as he shouted her name. Stroking his damp hair, Keira welcomed his heavy weight as he collapsed atop her, his head pillowed beside hers. After a minute, he slid off, disposed of the condom. Then he joined her in bed and gathered her tightly against him.

  “You okay?” he asked softly, stroking her hair.

  Tenderness shone in his eyes as she nodded. She felt complete and satisfied and filled with awed wonder. Something had happened, and more than making love. Something wonderful, and frightening. Her heart, Keira realized with dismay. She’d done more than give her body to his powerful Mage. She had opened her heart to him.

  They lay in drowsy contentment as Keira curled against him, her head pillowed on his broad shoulder. Her fingers slid through the damp hairs on his chest, tracing the scars she’d placed there, wondering when Dale would remember she was the demon wolf he hated.