Rogue Heart

by Samantha Wolfe

  I open her passenger door and climb in, settling into the seat as I pull the door closed and stare out the windshield wordlessly. Like I have a clue how to start this conversation. Lyric's scent immediately engulfs me, eliciting an instant and profound longing for her that has my groin already tightening uncomfortably. To make matters worse, I hear Lyric breathe in, and I know she scents my arousal when her body answers with its own desire.

  Fuck, I need her so badly that it aches through me, and I don't understand it one damn bit. Is it because she's a trueborn too? Is that the difference? It's not like I've ever fucked one of my own kind before to have any point of reference here. I ball my hands into fists to keep from grabbing her and mauling her like some raging horny beast. She's a virgin for fuck's sake. If I'm going to deflower her, I'm sure as hell not doing it here. Fuck, when did my vow not to do that at all turn into an "if" instead of a big fat "no". I shake my head in disgust with myself. I'm practically old enough to be her father. Goddamn, I'm a piece of shit.

  "Who are you?" Lyric asks, breaking the tense silence between us that went on for far too long thanks to my reticence.

  I finally turn to look at her, and regret it. I can see desire simmering in her gorgeous eyes, and her lips are parted invitingly. I can hear her heart beating fast, and her quick shallow breaths are making her breasts rise and fall hypnotically under her tight sweater. I avert my gaze as I press my lips together and try to battle down my rock-hard erection with sheer force of will, so I can string an actual thought together and answer her question.

  "I'm a hitman, an assassin," I explain, going for brutal honesty. "I kill monsters for a living," I clarify for good measure, then watch her reaction. Her eyes widen in surprise, but I don't see any fear or disgust. That's a good sign.

  "Huh," she says as she turns her head to look out the windshield. "Well, that makes a lot of sense." She looks at me again with furrowed brows. "And those men at the motel?"

  "You mean those demonborn?" I ask with a smirk, and she nods. "Probably the disgruntled friends of a mark." I shrug. "It happens."

  "It happens?" she asks as she shakes her head. "They could have killed you."

  I make a scoffing noise. "I've fought scarier things then a few demonborn, and I'm not that easy to take out, or I'd have been dead a long time ago."

  Another few minutes of silence passes, and I can practically hear the gears in Lyric's head turning.

  "So..." she begins again. "If you know about demonborn, then I assume you know what I am?"

  I nod. "I know that you're a trueborn werewolf."

  She stares at me in bewilderment. "How?"

  I give her a pointed look. "Well, for one, I've seen your eyes flashing silver a few times."

  She looks shocked by that revelation. I guess she didn't realize she'd been doing it around me. I know if it weren't for the iron-clad control I have over my wolf, she'd have already seen my eyes flashing cobalt several times, particularly while we were making out. She drives my wolf crazy after all.

  "And I could smell what you were when we met," I add for good measure.

  "You knew all this time?" Her confused expression grows as I nod. She opens and closes her mouth a few times before speaking again. "I don't understand. You look and smell human." Her expression turns wary as she leans away from me. "So what exactly are you?"

  I guess it's time for complete transparency. I sigh in resignation and reach up to my shirt collar. I slip my fingers under the chain holding the crystal, then pull it out of my shirt into plain view. I figure taking it off and letting her smell what I am will be the most expedient way to answer her question. I'm just about to lift the necklace over my head, when Lyric lets out a startled gasp and her fist suddenly slams into my face out of nowhere.

  Her vicious sucker punch snaps my head sideways and bounces it off the passenger window with a loud thunk. Stars explode behind my eyes, and my consciousness wavers in and out a few times as pain blossoms across the left side of my face and the right side of my head where it hit the glass. Jesus, I can't remember the last time someone got the drop on me like that. Good God, that woman can pack a wallop. If I was human, it would've knocked me out cold and probably sent me to the hospital or maybe even the morgue.

  Before I can even shake off the pain, the driver's side door is hanging wide open and Lyric has already scrambled out and taken off at a dead run. She swiftly disappears into the trees as I blink after her, still stunned and disoriented as I wonder what the fuck just happened. The only thing I do know is that I have to go after her.

  I fling the passenger door open and lurch out of the vehicle, tasting blood in my mouth from my already healing busted lip. I stagger around the front of the truck, but regain my equilibrium by the time I hit the tree line where I can hear her footsteps already growing distant. Damn, that girl is fast. I instantly pick up Lyric's wild honeysuckle scent, not liking it at all when I realize it's laced with fear. I don't know what scared her, but I can't bear the thought of her being afraid of me. I have to fix this. I start running, even though I'm not sure I can catch up to her.

  "Lyric!" I shout after her in desperation, hoping she'll come back, or at least stop. Her response is to run even faster. Fuck. Now I know I can't overtake her, but I'm sure as hell not going to give up. She can't run forever, and I can always track her scent if I have to. I pick up my pace and follow her deeper into the woods, not wanting to take the time to shift and let her get any farther ahead than she already is now. Plus, I want to be able to talk to her when I finally catch up to her since I don't even know why she hit me and took off like that.

  Her footfalls grow more and more distant as I struggle to keep up, but then oddly falter a few times before disappearing completely. A pang of worry hits me at the sudden silence. I know she's inhumanly tough, but the mere thought of her hurt or in pain puts a knot of fear in my gut. It twists and turns nauseatingly inside me as I follow her scent trail until I find the explanation for her floundering steps. I slow to a stop when I come upon her abandoned clothes and boots scattered haphazardly on the ground along her trail. I breathe in her scent and find that it's changed to something wilder and more animal than human now. Fuck. She shifted, and now I'm really at a disadvantage.

  I start to lift my head to survey the area for her, debating whether to shift myself, when a blur of white suddenly comes flying out from amid the trees in my peripheral vision. It plows into me, and the sheer force of it sends me toppling to the ground and knocks the air out of my lungs. She'd silently circled around and gotten the drop on me...again.

  Flashing white fangs come at me an instant later as I gasp for air, and I barely have time to grab the sides of the she-wolf's head and stop her mere inches from sinking her teeth into my neck. Lyric snarls viciously and presses forward, intent on ripping my throat out. I don't want to hurt her, but I don't have a choice. I bring my right knee up hard into her belly, eliciting a sharp yelp from her, then manage to find enough leverage to fling her away from me.

  I roll away and leap to my feet quickly, then find that she's done the same and is already facing me with her hackles up and a deep ferocious growl of menace bubbling out of her mouth. Her eyes burn a bright fiery silver as she drops her head and starts circling to the left, intent on taking me out. Good God, she's glorious, her she-wolf tall and slender with pure snowy white fur. She's just as beautiful as the woman, just as mesmerizing. Her movements are graceful and strong, and her demeanor determined despite the fear I can still smell on her.

  "I'm not going to hurt you, sugar," I say in a reassuring tone with my hands up in a placating gesture.

  Her reply is an angry snarl that clearly communicates that she thinks my assertion is complete bullshit. And before I can even say another word, she charges me again, all wickedly sharp teeth and deadly intention.

  Son of a bitch.

  I leap to the side at the last second as she lashes out at me, and her teeth catch the hem of my trench coat and rip through the black lea
ther like tissue. I whirl and keep moving as she spins on a dime and comes at me again. She's so fucking fast. I don't know how long I can keep this up and dodge her attacks without engaging in a counterattack that will hurt her or get myself mauled. This time she clamps onto one of my sleeves as I dance aside. I have to yank my arms out of the coat and let her have it to get away, but not without one of her canines scoring a line down my forearm. She flicks her head to toss the coat aside and turns to snarl at me again as she stalks forward. Now I'm fucking pissed.

  "Goddamn it, Lyric, stop!" I yell as blood trickles down my fingers from the already healing wound to drip onto the fallen leaves at my feet. "If I was going to hurt you, don't you think I'd have done it by now?! I've had umpteen opportunities to take you out! I'm not going to fucking hurt you!"

  She pauses and lifts one paw in uncertainty. Her eyes flash down to focus on my chest, and she growls warily. I glance down and realize she's staring at the crystal pendant. Is that what got her all worked up? Well, that's an easy fix. I reach up and whip the necklace off over my head before she has a chance to come at me again.

  She lifts her muzzle and sniffs the air a few times, her eyes widening in surprise with one paw still raised in hesitation as she whines softly.

  "That's right," I say. "I'm a trueborn like you."

  She glances at the necklace in my right hand and snarls at it.

  "Look," I say as I hold it out toward her. "It's just spelled to hide what I am. It's nothing dangerous."

  She glances back and forth between my eyes and the crystal, and even in wolf form, I easily recognize her dubious expression.

  "I swear to you, Lyric," I say with as much conviction as I can muster. "It's not a threat to you, and neither am I."

  Lyric meets my gaze for several long moments, then finally drops her paw back to the ground with a slightly mollified expression. Her back abruptly arches as a violent shudder racks her entire body. She starts to shift, the clicking and clacking of bones and tendons loud in the still darkness surrounding us. Within moments, Lyric is crouching nude on the forest floor in front of me. Her beautiful baby blue eyes, still glimmering with hints of silver, meet mine again as she rises to her feet.

  My breath catches and my heart stutters in my chest as I take in her glorious body. She's tall and lean, and curvy in all the right places. Her long caramel blond hair frames her pert little breasts, and tumbles down to just shy of a narrow waist that flares out to soft feminine hips that arrest my attention. She's absolutely perfect. It's all I can do to focus on her words when she begins to speak.

  "Where?" she asks in a rasping and tremulous voice. "Where did you get it?" She nods toward the necklace with a grave expression. "Who made it?"

  "A mage coven crafted it for me after my last job," I explain as I start to tremble with desire. "I killed the group of out of control vampires that injured one of their daughters, and I asked for it as part of my payment."

  "So...y...you're not here to hurt me...or...or kill me?" she asks with furrowed brows and worried eyes.

  "No," I say. "I would never hurt you in any way, sugar." I shake my head. "Believe me, I...I couldn't even if I wanted to," I add in a softer tone.

  I can't explain it even to myself, but it's true. I'd rather lose a limb...lose my life, than harm Lyric in any way. I want her...no, need her to believe me, to trust me. I hold her gaze for a long poignantly tense moment and try to make her see my sincerity and conviction for herself. It goes on for so long that I think I've failed at convincing her to trust me, but then her expression and demeanor finally relax. Her eyes grow soft and luminous, and the scent of fear on her starts to fade away.

  "Okay," she whispers.

  Thank God.

  Elation and relief sweep through me in an almost giddy rush, and I let out the breath I didn't realize I was holding. I smile at her. For the first time I can remember, it doesn't feel uncomfortable or strained, but like the most natural thing in the world. She makes me feel things, and long for things that aren't even in the realm of possibility for me. I don't know if it's because I took the crystal off or the fact that she's naked, or maybe even both, but a sharp jolt of need and desire like nothing I've felt before rolls through me. It stirs the wolf and the man in equal fervor. I want to grab a hold of her and pull her against me. I want to run my lips all over her gorgeous skin. I want to sink my cock deep inside her to claim her, to make her mine and never let her go, even though I know I can't.

  My eyes slide covetously down her body, and the last of her fear disappears to be replaced by the scent of something else. The sweet feminine musk of arousal. It instantly sets my body on fire in a raging torrent of blinding lust that sears through my veins. I know what my wolf needs, what I need, and I don't even try to deny it. I meet Lyric's flashing silver wolf's eyes, and see a stark and irrefutable desire that matches mine in depth and scope. I don't think anymore. I don't resist anymore. I simply give in, and in a gruff and demanding voice I say, "Come here."

  12

  LYRIC

  "Come here," Ronan says gruffly, his deep and commanding voice making things ache and throb down low in my pelvis. His eyes flash a fiery cobalt, and I can smell the arousal lacing his earthy musk. His scent is stronger and carries an untamed edge now, since his wolf isn't hidden by the spelled crystal necklace. The same necklace that terrified me when I first saw it. I feared I'd been tricked just like Raven was by that demonborn bastard, Chavez, who wore a spelled piece of onyx on a bolo tie to hide his true nature, then kidnapped her and tried to kill her.

  For all I knew, Ronan could have been a demonborn as well or some other monster sent to kill me. So I panicked and fled, then attacked him out of self-preservation. But now as I look at him and take in his true nature, acknowledge the feelings of trust and belonging he elicited in me from the very beginning, I know I made a mistake. I should have trusted my gut, not gone off half cocked and tried to kill him. Guilt stabs my heart, superseding my desire, and I wrap my arms around myself for that reason as much as the chill in the air on my naked and gooseflesh covered body.

  "I'm sorry," I murmur as I avert my eyes to the ground.

  "Lyric," he says with a reprimanding edge. "Look at me."

  I can't deny him, and lift my gaze back to his. His eyes are still dancing with cobalt fire, still filled with lust and longing...and something deeper.

  "You have nothing to be sorry for," he says as he absently shoves the necklace into his jean's pocket. "You felt threatened and defended yourself."

  "But I shouldn't have-" I began explaining.

  "It doesn't matter right now, sugar," he cuts me off. "We'll talk about it later." A tremor racks his body as he takes a deep shuddering breath. "Come here," he repeats his command, his voice rough with obvious need as he beckons me with a finger.

  I'm lost to the raw magnetism of his voice, his scent, and his powerful masculine presence. I couldn't possibly resist, and I don't want to. My body is already moving toward him before I even make a conscious decision to do so. He grabs me as soon as I'm within reach. He growls deeply as he takes me in his arms, the noise reverberating through his chest and into mine as he pulls me against him. His scent and body heat envelope me as I meet his eyes and fall into their cobalt fire. I'm not even aware of the chilly night air anymore. I feel safe and warm, and so very aroused as I melt into his embrace. He drops his head and teasingly brushes his lips against mine. I can feel him trembling with a controlled and tightly coiled energy as if he's holding himself back.

  "Lyric," he whispers raggedly against my mouth, his breath sweet and warm. "I shouldn't...shouldn't want you this fucking much."

  "But you do," I whisper with a small frown, feeling a little frustrated with his reticence considering the potent scent of his arousal. "So quit holding back and just kiss me already, damn it," I say.

  He grins against my lips, then with another low rumbling growl he does as I say and takes my mouth with his. The kiss is instantly explosive, detonating an ani
malistic firestorm of want and need that rouses the she-wolf and the woman inside me in equal measure. He owns me completely with long blissful strokes of his tongue, tangling it with mine as our lips press almost painfully together. It's as if neither of us can kiss each other hard enough, deep enough. I mindlessly mewl and whimper into the kiss as his hands grip my ass, yanking me roughly up against his body, then lifting me up effortlessly off the ground. I wrap my legs around him and feel the steely length of his erection under the rough denim of his jeans pressing delightfully against my throbbing core. I writhe in his arms like a mad woman as I dig my nails into his shoulders.

  Ronan groans into my mouth and grips my ass even tighter, his fingers digging bruisingly into my flesh as he grinds my sex against his cock. Suddenly, the clothing separating us feels infuriatingly restrictive and inhibiting. I need his skin on mine. I need him inside me. I need everything. Now.

  "Please," I gasp out between kisses as I latch my fingers into his shirt and start frantically pushing it up his body. "I need...I need..."

  I'm panting now, desperation and need stealing my ability to say more and clarify exactly what I need. Thankfully, he already knows. He sets me down just long enough to yank his shirt off and toss it aside, then immediately pulls me back into his arms. He starts wildly kissing me again, moaning appreciatively as my breasts and tightly beaded nipples press against his bare skin. I place my palms on his gloriously muscular chest and whimper into his mouth. He feels so warm, so solid...so real. My hands slide down his unbelievably sexy and defined abs, and then my fingers start frantically working at his belt buckle. Unfortunately, he immediately grabs my hands to stop me.

  "Please," I say. "I want you...need you so fucking much."

  "I know, sugar." His voice is tense and ragged. "But I don't want to hurt you. You're not ready for me yet, and once my pants are off, I don't think I can control myself long enough to make sure you are."