by Michele Hauf
“Bella, I’m sorry.” He hugged her and kissed her jaw. Beyond his usual scent, he smelled like something darker. Blood? She didn’t want to think about it. “Want to come to a party next weekend?”
“At your woman’s house?”
“My house. But she’ll be there. I’d like to introduce you. Sans wolf, of course.”
Next weekend was the full moon. Bella didn’t want to go anywhere. Nor did an invite to meet Elvira sound particularly intriguing.
“Can I take a rain check? Severo’s got some things going on.”
Seth laughed and a jerk of his arm spilled the cosmo across the table. “Ah, shit. Sorry. Just push it all to the other side. That’s cool.” He pressed his nose against Bella’s hair and kissed her hard on the neck, lingering too long. “Let me guess. Full moon coming soon? He’s going out on the prowl. Does the werewolf fuck you, Bella?”
She hauled off to slap him, but the small booth wouldn’t allow her to get her arm around. Seth caught her fist and kissed it. His wicked smile disturbed her.
“You’re crude, Seth.”
“Yeah, but you know what they say about werewolves, don’t you?”
“What?”
“They aren’t happy unless the werewolf has a mate. That it’s the monster, not the man, who needs to get boned every full moon. I can’t see you screwing a hairy beast, Bella. It’s so not you.”
“Like letting some Elvira wannabe suck out your blood is any more sane? God, Seth, just…sit back. You’ve changed.”
“So have you, Bella. You’re uptight now. More so than usual. Bet if I asked you to dance, you’d make an excuse not to.”
“My shoes are wet with cosmopolitan.”
“See?” He grabbed her wrist when she stood and roughly tugged her back to sit by him. “Don’t go yet, please? Or is your master here, lurking in the shadows?”
“Is yours?”
His drunken smile cut into her heart. “Touché. As a matter of fact she isn’t. I wanted it to be just us tonight. Let’s go to my place and watch a movie and make like old times again. Would you like that?”
His eyes were bloodshot; she could tell that even with the red lighting. And he was so pale. He was a vampire. He had to be.
Severo had said he could scent vampires. Bella wished he’d taught her to pick up that distinctive odor.
“Tell me one thing before I decide. And it has to be the truth, Seth. You know I can tell when you’re lying.”
“Very well, Miss Uptight. What truth do you need?”
“Are you a vampire?”
He smirked and mumbled a lackluster, “No.”
Seth always mumbled his lies. God, what had happened to him?
“I’ve got to go. Bye, Seth.” She leaned in and kissed his forehead. This time he let her go and tilted his head toward the dance floor, not even watching her leave.
Bella’s feet raced as fast as her heart as she shoved through the club.
Severo was sitting on the passenger side of the Mercedes when she arrived. Bella got in, and before she could sniff away the tear, he reached for her cheek and wiped it away.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “It was inevitable.”
“At least he won’t die now,” she murmured. Forced optimism didn’t work this time. Gripping the steering wheel, she closed her eyes and tilted her head against the seat. “Is there any way he can change back?”
“Impossible.”
What she’d suspected.
“Will you drive home?” she asked.
“Climb over me, sweet, and I’ll take you away from this nightmare.”
The drive home was quiet. He didn’t ask her what she was feeling. Bella sensed he knew her thoughts. She could understand Severo hating vampires now.
Halfway home he took her hand in his and pulled it onto his thigh. His silent reassurance made her cry. A gift he couldn’t realize meant so much to her.
God, she loved this man. She ached for him. She loved him for the compassion he would never admit to possessing. For the domineering spirit that always erred toward protection over humiliation.
And she loved him for his humanity, for the fact that he loved and lived as she did, and was the same as her, except for the one small thing about his ability to shift shapes.
They pulled into the garage, and the radio shut off with the engine. Severo reached to open the door, but she told him to stop.
Bella climbed onto his lap, straddling him, and he inched over to the middle of the seat. She was grateful it was an old car, the kind without a floor shift and with a full front seat.
He found her mouth with a fierce kiss. She moaned into him, releasing the last remnants of sadness and surrendering to the desire that had built during the drive home.
Shucking off her sleeves, she tugged down the front of her dress and lifted her breasts to his mouth. He sucked at each one, again and again, drawing up the intense coil of climax with expert precision. It took no longer than a few minutes before she came, long and loud and crying out in the confines of the car.
“You’re mine,” he growled.
Bella eyed his fly and he tilted up his hips so she could unzip him. “And you are mine, wolf. I need you now.”
“Tell me you want me, then. Where do you want me?”
“Inside me.” Yes, she could use his rough language, because she trusted him. “I’m so wet for you.”
He sucked in a hissing breath as she fitted herself onto his hardness. They clung together, moving little, for she squeezed him with her muscles, milking him to a fierce and triumphant climax.
This wolf was hers. And though he might think he controlled her, Bella knew otherwise. He was hers to command. And tonight she wanted him to serve her.
Sliding from his lap and lying across the seat, she put her heels on his thigh, pushing him away.
“I want your mouth on me, lover,” she said.
Severo opened the door and stretched out his legs. He pulled her hips up and entered her with his tongue.
With her shoulders deep into the seat and her heels on his broad, muscled back, it didn’t take Bella long to find the stars a second time.
Chapter 14
B ella’s shoulders hit the wall, her arms stretched above her head. Her lover clasped her wrists, pinning her roughly. His greedy smile thrilled her. Every part of her was hot and wet for him.
He dove for her jaw, nipping along it up to her ear, where he sucked in the lobe. His erection ground against her bare thigh. He was naked, too, and had been since that afternoon, when they’d started making love.
Tomorrow night the moon would be full. Which meant tonight it was waxing and the werewolf would come out if it was not kept at bay with sex. This was a challenge Bella met eagerly.
“I’ve said it before,” she murmured as his kiss found her mouth. “You like it rough.”
“You do, too, sweet.”
“Your strength is an aphrodisiac.”
She tried to wriggle her wrists from his hold. It was loose, but she didn’t want to be set free. The faux containment only made her more eager to satisfy his insatiable desires.
“Someday, sweet,” he whispered in the harsh growl that accompanied his frenzied quest for sex, “I will bind you with ribbons and fall on my knees to worship you.”
“I’d like that.”
“Bella, my sweet, you own me. Know that.”
He lifted her by the thighs and fitted her onto him. It was a slow, sure glide as he found a familiar position deep inside her. He pounded into her, with one hand at her hip, the other holding her hands against the wall. His determination was fierce, the fire in his dark eyes intent.
With a growl, he bent his head to suck in one of her nipples. He tugged at it, not biting hard—he never would—but his technique matched the force of his need for climax. He’d already come half a dozen times, as had she. Wrapped in each other’s arms, they vacillated between urgency and a sweet, lazy lingering.
The clock struck midnight. So l
ong as he kept making love to her, the werewolf would not show.
By now, sated and achy, Bella could no longer sense when orgasm neared. Instead it attacked without volition, ripping through her core and forcing out her pleasure in an unabashed cry. She dug her fingernails into his shoulders, which were already raw from her fantastic struggles.
“Yes,” he hissed.
She dug in deep, sure she would draw blood, but knowing the wolf could take it.
Swinging his arms, he laid her on the bed and pounced upon her as she floated down from the climax. He was randy and frisky, like a puppy eager to play all day long. The more sex they had, the more alive and vigorous he grew. Bella sensed she would collapse from exhaustion soon. But what a delicious collapse.
Severo reached for the water pitcher Bella had placed near the bed hours earlier and drank right from it. Water glistened down his chest and splattered Bella’s stomach.
“It’s still cold,” she said in surprise. “Share some of that with me, lover.”
He dove in to kiss her, his mouth filled with cool water. It trickled out the sides of her mouth, and some she swallowed. Drinking from him, she giggled. He slashed his tongue across hers, performing a dance they both knew well.
Every touch stirred her. Every look devastated her. Every time he withdrew from her, she died a little, only to be resurrected when he entered her.
He nuzzled his bearded chin under her jaw, tickling her roughly. “Getting tired?”
“Not if the werewolf has in mind to make an appearance.”
“I think you’re close to putting it off,” he replied.
“Really? I don’t believe that. You’re not near being sated. You could do this all week, couldn’t you?”
“With you, sweet, I could. Once more?” he said with such enthusiasm, Bella laughed and tugged him down on top of her.
She didn’t get to sleep until six in the morning.
Tonight was the night. He’d known Bella two months. He loved her. She loved him. When he’d asked her to have sex with him to keep away the werewolf, she’d gladly done so. Even when he’d known she was exhausted last night, she’d kept at it, stroking him, teasing him to another and yet another orgasm. The woman was a marvel.
But now the true test of both his and her love would be put to them.
Could Bella love the werewolf?
Rather—and more important—could the werewolf accept a human mate?
Dropping his shirt on the flagstone patio, Severo hissed in a breath as Bella embraced him from behind. Kisses down the back of his neck and spine ignited his libido. Not that it needed jump-starting. He’d been frenzied with her in bed this morning. It was as if the werewolf sensed that tonight would be its turn.
All his life he’d had to deny the werewolf’s instinctual needs. He’d become accustomed to riding out that ache for what was missing, content to serve his werewolf’s needs in other ways, through hunting and racing the moon through the night.
Was it really about to happen tonight?
The idea humbled him. Maybe he asked too much of Bella? She could be agreeing just to please him. Not that Bella did anything simply to please him.
“Are you sure about this?” he asked over his shoulder.
“I want to meet the werewolf.” She slid a hand around his waist and stroked him over his pants, toying with the zipper.
“The werewolf will want to do more than meet.” His erection pulsed for attention, but he would not have her now. Not yet.
“I know. You’ve prepared me.”
“But are you prepared? I don’t wish to harm you, Bella, and I will not. As I’ve said, I’m not completely myself when I’m the werewolf.”
“The werewolf wouldn’t harm a potential mate, would it?”
“No, but I can’t imagine…”
How the beastly part of him perceived a human woman. It was the most dreadful thought, and yet it focused him and made him more eager to call down the moon.
He knew that some of his breed took humans as mates, and had sex with them. When in werewolf form he was mostly shaped like a man, with arms, legs, torso, rib cage and a penis—but with a wolfish head and shoulders. And fur, lots of fur. But he’d never spoken to a single werewolf who had had a successful long-term relationship with a human.
They were a lonely breed, forced to find satisfaction with human females, which was never the ultimate mating.
“I’ll be fine,” she offered from behind him.
Bella’s delicate embrace would never fit around the werewolf’s torso; he knew that much. God, he didn’t want to scare her away from him forever.
“Maybe we should wait until next month.”
“Who’s more afraid?”
“I am.” He hugged her, pressing her head to the base of his neck. Her skin smelled of cloves, along with wine and the strawberries Heloise had left in the fridge for them. “I admit it, Bella. I’m terrified about the shifting tonight.”
“Does it hurt?”
“No.” He kissed her hair. “The werewolf instinctively knows it’ll be allowed to come up to the house. I can’t do this.”
“You can and you must. I want to know all of you, Severo. Isn’t this what you want? Besides, if the wolf could romp around with a cat, then I think I’ll survive.”
He knew she meant Aby. “That was different.” The werewolf hadn’t had sex with the cat, nor would it have considered such a vile act. In fact, his werewolf had rarely gone near Aby. “Bella, it burns in my heart to worry about you.”
“Then don’t.” She kissed his chest, gliding her fingers through the fine hairs. When she snuck her fingers under his waistband to toy with him, the swollen head of his erection bulged, desiring release.
The worst part of it all? He wouldn’t recall what went on tonight between the werewolf and Bella.
Could he be jealous of himself?
“The sun’s almost set,” she said. “Are you going to…stick around here?”
“No, I’m off. I’ll return. If you get frightened or change your mind, don’t hesitate to lock yourself in the house.”
He clutched her arms, lifting her to her tiptoes. “Promise me you’ll not put up a brave front?”
Her mouth tasted like strawberries. Never would he tire of her kisses. He would die fighting an army of vampires for another of Bella’s kisses.
“Promise,” she whispered, and he swallowed her sweet strawberry breath. He’d take that part of her into the wilds tonight.
And pray the werewolf did not steal her breath forever.
As the clock struck twelve, Bella sighed. She sat on a wicker chair, dangling her bare feet over the grass where it met the patio flagstone. Her white silk nightgown did little to protect her from the chill in the air. It was late September, a cool night, instead of the Indian summer she’d wished for. A sweater sounded great, but she hadn’t yet brought her winter clothes over from the loft.
She tugged the terry-cloth towel from the chair and wrapped it around her shoulders.
The canine howls in the distance soared across the horizon, as if the animal paced, unsure which way to go. She couldn’t know if it was her lover, but her heart sensed that it was.
Was the wolf unsure? Or was Severo so focused on maintaining control that even in wolf form he exerted enough influence to intimidate that part of himself that he referred to as the werewolf? What form was he in right now? Was he the caninelike wolf or the man-wolf creature?
Anticipation kept her awake. She wasn’t fearful in the least. Okay, maybe a little.
More than a little.
She’d met the wolf. Despite her fear of dogs, she’d handled it remarkably.
But tonight? This was like an introduction to the last part of a man she loved, the one part of him he kept hidden from others. The core of him.
He wanted to share this part with her, to have her know him completely. She understood how difficult it was for Severo to do this. He couldn’t know what his werewolf would do to her.
And how would she react? Would it be as that night when she’d first been chased by vampires? She’d fled out of fear of what she’d seen. And that had merely been fangs.
“Be brave,” she coached. “He is your lover.”
She would look at Severo, no matter how beastly he appeared. He’d explained to her that all the important parts were still like those of a man, though his head and shoulders sort of wolfed out. She’d not watched many werewolf movies to know what to expect. But then, coming to this with an open mind and no expectations was best.
If he wanted her, she would give herself freely, no matter what it entailed. She trusted him that much.
Standing and pressing her feet into the cool grass, she closed her eyes. The night surrounded her with clean, heady air and a hint of sap from the maple trees. The last lingering hedge roses released a surprisingly sweet aroma. She spread out her arms, and a breeze tickled her beneath the thin silk, sending shivers across her flesh and raising goose bumps.
And then the world changed.
An animal noise pierced the darkness. Not quite a growl. More a throaty murmur.
Bella stepped out a few paces. The house loomed twenty feet to her left, and the hedgerow six feet behind. Lush grass blades speared her toes.
Eyes closed, she could feel a presence. Not human. Feral, perhaps. Predatory, yet cautious.
Brisk air cut her cheek. She started but knew better than to make a sudden movement.
She heard the sound of a great weight crushing the grass, limbs bending, stretching out, sharp and clear. Were they feet or…paws?
Breath spilled hotly over her shoulder. Bella turned abruptly.
The dark shadow cringed but did not flee. She couldn’t immediately make it out in the shadow of the maple tree, but it was big. It breathed heavily, panting like an animal.
It had to be four heads higher than her, and its shoulders, silhouetted against the pale brick house, were wide. It was not a man, though it stood on its hind legs and long, muscular hands hung near its muscled thighs. The chest was wide yet deep.
It was too dark to make out details and the fur was black, so while she knew it wore no clothes, she couldn’t see anything below the waist.