Something to Howl About: An Alphaville Story
Page 8
“Well, if the chromosomes fit . . .” She giggled at his expression. “Okay, so inbreeding is an extreme term, but you said it yourself, sweetie. Brown bears keep separate from other bears. You might say you’re too different, but the truth is, I think you could use an injection of new blood into your gene pool. There really is such a thing as hybrid vigor, you know.”
He tumbled her back to the mattress and growled playfully against her newly healing mate mark. “I’ll show you vigor.”
“Mmm, good idea,” she purred. “I wonder just how vigorous the offspring of a wolf–bear mating would turn out to be.”
Jonas yanked the sheet away from her, leaving her bare and warm and waiting for him. “I wonder how long it will take us to find out.”
As it happened, it didn’t take very long at all.
Read on for a sneak peek of Christine Warren’s new novel
BABY, I’M HOWLING FOR YOU
Available in February 2018 from St. Martin’s Paperbacks!
* * *
“Hey, wait a second!”
Renny had bitten her tongue through the entire phone conversation, but now she wanted answers. How was it possible that she had collapsed onto the property of a man who knew her stalker? Talk about “of all the gin joints.” The world couldn’t possibly be that small, could it?
Mick ignored her, and she frowned. She scrambled from the SUV, reached out, and grabbed his arm before he could walk away. “Mick, wait—”
She didn’t get out another word.
The moment her hand touched his skin, he went off like a nuclear warhead. At least, she felt as if she’d been hit by one. The wolf reversed their grips, seizing her by the wrist she’d held out to him and jerking her toward him. She crashed into his body and felt the impact like his muscles had turned to concrete. He was hard all over.
All over.
His mouth slammed down on hers, all heat and hunger and barely controlled fury. She wasn’t entirely sure what he was mad at, whether it was she or Geoffrey who had earned his wrath, but when the taste of him sank into her, she no longer cared.
Coffee and pine and thick, powerful musk combined on her tongue. The flavor was so rich, it made her head spin. Seriously. If he hadn’t had her wrapped up against him by then, she would have toppled over. Her legs went weak and threatened to buckle, and still he kissed her like he wanted to devour her whole.
For the first few seconds, shock kept her frozen. She couldn’t do anything but let him kiss her. Not that she suffered from it, of course. In the back of her mind, her wolf had thrown back its head, howled for joy, and promptly thrown itself over to wriggle around on its back like a golden retriever begging for belly rubs. Their mate was kissing them!
Then the initial surprise wore off, and Renny did the only thing she possibly could. She grabbed on and kissed him back with every ounce of passion in her soul. If this turned out to be a momentary aberration, and he went back to trying to ignore her existence the way he had the night before, she intended to enjoy every single toe-curling second of it while it lasted.
Judging by the way her belly clenched, her insides melted, and her pussy dampened, her body was totally on board. As far as it was concerned, she could just lie down on the asphalt and let her mate have her. Road rash and passing vehicles be damned. This was the kiss she’d been waiting for all her life.
If any last thread of doubt had existed in her about whether Mick was really her mate, the kiss burned it up like the fuse on a stick of dynamite. He feasted on her mouth, his tongue mating with hers like he wanted to taste every inch of her from the inside out. The feeling was mutual. She felt herself drowning in the essence of him, and her body began to ache with the need to feel him inside her, above her, behind her, touching her everywhere, in every way, all at once.
Fuck reality. She would defy the laws of physics if she had to, but Renny needed him. Now.
And then he yanked himself away from her as violently as he’d pulled her to him. One minute, she was drowning in pleasure, and the next she was just drowning. Or at least, that’s what it felt like, because at some point during that kiss, she had forgotten how to breathe.
She stood there, mouth open, lungs straining, and Mick just clenched his jaw and turned away. “Let’s go.”
Go?
A voice inside Renny’s head laughed a little. No, scratch that. It giggled a bit hysterically. She couldn’t feel her arms or legs, couldn’t get oxygen to her brain, and he wanted her to master the art of independent locomotion? Was he high?
He was not, she realized, as sanity slowly began to leak back into her body. Her lungs expanded in a gasp, and she staggered for a second before she could catch herself. She’d been the one who’d gotten high, and it turned out that the alpha wolf was her drug of choice.
About the Author
Born and raised in coastal New England, Christine Warren now lives as a transplant in the Pacific Northwest, where she gets ocean, mountains, forests, and farmland all in one pretty package. When not writing (as if that ever happens), she enjoys spoiling her horse, playing with her dogs, concocting all sorts of yummies (both liquid and solid), and most of all, reading things someone else had to agonize over. She enjoys hearing from readers and can be reached via e-mail sent to Christine@christinewarren.net.
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Also by Christine Warren
HARD BREAKER
HARD TO HANDLE
HARD AS A ROCK
STONE COLD LOVER
HEART OF STONE
HUNGRY LIKE A WOLF
DRIVE ME WILD
ON THE PROWL
NOT YOUR ORDINARY FAERIE TALE
BLACK MAGIC WOMAN
PRINCE CHARMING DOESN’T LIVE HERE
BORN TO BE WILD
BIG BAD WOLF
YOU’RE SO VEIN
ONE BITE WITH A STRANGER
WALK ON THE WILD SIDE
HOWL AT THE MOON
THE DEMON YOU KNOW
SHE’S NO FAERIE PRINCESS
WOLF AT THE DOOR
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Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Notice
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Epilogue
Excerpt: BABY, I’M HOWLING FOR YOU
About the Author
Also by Christine Warren
Copyright Page
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
SOMETHING TO HOWL ABOUT. Copyright © 2018 by Christine Warren.
Excerpt from Baby, I’m Howling for You copyright © 2018 by Christine Warren.
All rights reserved. For information, address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.
www.stmartins.com
Cover art: woman © Julien Bastide/Fotolia; bear © Nataliia Melnychuk/Shutterstock.com
Author photo © Lara Blair Images
eISBN 9781250120786
First eBook Edition: January 2018
Our eBooks may be purchased in bulk for promotional, educational, or business use. Please contact the Macmillan Corporate and Premium Sales Department at 1-800-221-7945, ext. 5442, or by e-mail at MacmillanSpecialMarkets@macmillan.com.
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