“So, they’re like . . . your pack. You’re the leader?”
“Yes.”
She gripped the door handle and slid the door on its runner. It was chilly outside. The meat smelled good. Smoke drifted up into the breezy air, and Matthew cringed when he looked at her.
“I told him to keep quiet. Told him I could stay with you. Be your pet.” He flashed a sideways grin, and she had to smile back. It was a little funny, after all. There was something charming about him. She figured he was used to wooing people and getting his way.
“Do you live with Darius?” She went to sit on the lawn chair she’d slept with Darius on a couple nights back. How had he been able to keep all this secret? What else was he not telling her?
“Naw. I just pop in when I want to get on his nerves. Mostly I sleep in the woods. I work.” He turned the steaks one by one. “I take odd jobs here and there. Sometimes it’s enough to flop me in a motel for a few weeks. But when it’s not, I live under the sky and trees like my parents did.”
She lay back and stared up at the blue of the sky, contemplating this. While she decided what to do, the men went to work setting the little patio table with plates and food. Darius carried out a pitcher of juice and cups. When the food was ready, though, Matthew snatched up his plate and drink and left through the house with a nod to Kendra.
“Hungry?” Darius asked.
Kendra pushed up from the chair and went to sit at the table. “It does smell good.” She settled in and stared at her neighbor. “Things sure did get strange fast.”
He nodded, looking sad again. “I’ll understand if you don’t want to have anything to do with me. I won’t bother you or stalk you like your ex did. I’m not like that.”
She scooped up potato salad on her fork and placed it in her mouth. It did taste good, creamy, mustardy, a little hint of celery with the potatoes. She hadn’t realized how hungry she was until then. Hospital food was okay, but not really enough. She swallowed. “Let’s not talk about that right now, okay? I’m really not sure what to think or what I’m supposed to do about it. I’m in shock over what happened with Jack, mostly that I did what I did. I killed him, Darius. I know he was going to kill you and probably me, but it’s really bothering me that I killed a man.”
“I understand.” He went to work on his food.
She stared at him a little while, but then did the same. An awkward silence settled in.
“You think you might want to go pick pumpkins at the farm next week?” he asked.
She forced a smile. “I don’t know, Darius. I just don’t know. I think I need some time to myself for a while.”
“Right.” He finished up and carried his dishes to the sink.
She watched him through the glass door as he started hot water and cleaned up. He was a good man . . . wolf . . . whatever he was. Even as her mind told her this was all wrong, as she watched him, her body wanted to be at his side, in his arms, closer to him. She looked back at her plate and finished eating. This wasn’t how she had wanted the barbeque to go.
Kendra took her dishes in and set them in the sink. She started washing, and Darius rinsed and dried them right beside her. She’d never had a man do something like that, such a simple courtesy. Jack had always expected her to clean everything, and she used to do what he wanted without question.
After she pulled the plug to let the water drain out, Darius locked his arms around her shoulders, drawing her into an embrace. She sank against his skin, breathing in his scent and listening to his heart thrumming in his chest. He kissed the top of her head. They stood there like that much longer than was normal for a hug. She didn’t think he wanted to let her go.
Chapter Fourteen
He memorized the scent of her hair, softly sweet, an alluring perfume he couldn’t get enough of. Darius relented. He gave up his animal instinct and let go of her. She couldn’t take him the way he was. She couldn’t possibly. He knew he’d been a fool to ever tell her. He should have listened to Matthew. He pressed a kiss to her cheek and backed away, ready to go home and deal with what he was losing. He’d just have to wait for a woman who was his kind to come along. If one never did, then so be it. He couldn’t try this again. It hurt too much.
“I’m going to head home,” he said. “I’m sorry . . . for everything.”
Her eyebrows pulled together in a look of confusion. She opened her mouth to say something, but no words came out.
Even with her face all bruised up, she was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen. He backed further away until he finally turned and started for the front door. With every step he hoped she would say his name, ask him not to go, to stay here with him. But every step only brought more silence until he had stepped out the door. He crossed the lawn and went home to Matthew, who was sitting in the office having a candy bar for dessert.
“Don’t say it,” Darius said and held up his hand, palm out.
“I don’t have to say it. You know it.” Matthew didn’t look happy that he had been right. He offered a grim frown and turned over on his back to glare at the ceiling. “When do we go to the mountains anyway? I hate hanging around neighborhoods.”
“Two weeks. Sam still wants to bring the girls by foot?”
“Yeah. You know Sam. Always the wolf.”
“It’d be easier to drive them in my truck. I have the big animal crates. It’s less risky for them.” Darius settled in at his desk and turned on his computer. With his last article done, the next one wouldn’t be due for a while, but he figured he might as well make himself useful and get started.
“You going to run with the pack tonight?” Matthew asked. His candy bar wrapper crinkled loudly as he rolled it in his palm.
Darius rubbed his temple and tried to get Kendra out of his head. “Yeah. I’ll run tonight. That’s probably the best thing to do.” He started typing and growled when the wrapper smacked him in the back of the head. Matthew was still immature in so many ways.
“Yeah, well, I’ll see you when the moon comes out, man.”
He heard Matthew shimmy out of his shorts. The back door opened, shut, and then the sound of paws skittering across the patio let him know his packmate had left.
Darius was alone. He figured that was the way it should be. He could do alone. It was easy.
* * * *
Kendra sat in the bathtub trying to reconcile all that had happened. It had been a busy week. She’d fallen for her neighbor, a man she never thought she’d have the courage to even talk to. Her crazy ex-husband was dead, her fear of him catching up to her and destroying her life again finally over with. And now she found out that her neighbor was something straight out of a horror flick. And there were others like him, others who lived nearby.
She breathed in the hot steam and closed her eyes, picturing Darius. He was passionate, hot. She had never been kissed like he had kissed her. Despite it all, she still wanted him. Even though she knew she shouldn’t. Kendra didn’t know how she would deal with what he was. Then his words drifted through her thoughts. “I can choose to change, or I can choose to stay the same.” She knew now what he meant. He’d choose to give it up for her. He’d been trying to give her the reason to ask. He wanted her too.
It couldn’t have been easy for him to live like that, and he’d isolated himself because of what he was. She’d isolated herself, too, because of her past. She supposed they were more alike than she’d realized before.
The phone rang, and she reached over to the little table by the tub where she kept her bubble bath and her usual romance book. She picked up the cordless and answered.
“Hello?”
“Hi, Kendra. This is Larry. How are you doing?” It was the principal, her boss.
“Better. Thanks for visiting me in the hospital, and tell everyone thanks for the bouquet.”
“I put you in for two weeks’ leave. I hope that’s okay. I can have Mrs. Redding substitute.”
“That’s perfect. She knows the kids and my curriculum.”
>
“Take the time to heal, Kendra. I know this has been hard for you. We’re all so thankful that you survived this horrible incident.”
She bit her lip, thinking of Mr. Keenan. It started the whole memory of that day rolling through her mind. “Yeah. Thank God,” she whispered. “I’ll be back in two weeks. Everything should be okay by then.”
“You call me if that changes or if you need anything at all.”
“I will.”
They hung up, and she knew that things would never really be okay again, because they hadn’t been okay in the first place. They’d been wrong. Now, they were mostly right. And she knew she needed Darius to stay a part of her life. She’d have to find a way to deal with it.
She pulled the plug and sat there while the water drained away. Afterward, Kendra toweled off and got dressed. She dried her hair and pulled it up in her usual ponytail. It had been a day of being lazy. The sun was setting, and she needed to face her last fear and get over to Darius’s house to tell him how she felt.
She slipped on her shoes and marched outside, across the fallen leaves and through the hedges. His truck was parked in the drive. He had to be home. She peered around the front yard for any sign of Matthew, but he wasn’t there. She knocked and waited.
No answer.
“Hello? Darius? Are you in there? It’s me.”
She knocked harder. Maybe he didn’t want to see her. She had rejected him, after all, and she knew it hadn’t been easy to tell her the truth. Leaves crackled underfoot behind her in the yard. She turned to find Matthew standing there in his wolf form, three others behind him. Kendra swallowed so hard her throat clicked.
Matthew wagged his tail and sauntered toward her, his gangly legs graceful. The others stayed back. A scruffy-looking wolf eyed her with icy eyes. He was a lean male with a cautious nature and a gray coat of thick fur. He paced in front of the two females, watching and waiting, and obviously ready to bolt at the first sign of danger. When Matthew’s head pushed against Kendra’s hand, she knelt beside him and scratched behind his ears. How she had thought he was just a dog was beyond her now. Of course, she’d never seen a real wolf close-up. From the bushes a fifth wolf emerged, his fur black as night and his eyes a fiery gold color. He froze when Kendra looked his way.
She knew it was him, her Darius in his other shape. They were all gathering together. She had a sick feeling deep inside that he was leaving. That maybe he’d made his choice already.
Chapter Fifteen
Darius’s nostrils flared. He breathed in her scent, which was stronger for him now. She’d come for him. She’d made the choice to accept him. Excitement sizzled through his wolfen body, and he started for Kendra. With a yip he told the others to go on without him. He would not hunt this night. He would claim his mate. He would finally have what he wanted more than anything.
Matthew nuzzled Kendra’s arm and pushed his furry face into her belly, drawing a jealous bark from Darius. His old friend heeded the warning and skittered away with a playful whine. One by one the others ran across the yard to the back and pushed through the bushes to get to the alley. Sam was the last to go, giving both Darius and Kendra a curious stare before he trotted away.
Three steps from her, Darius pushed his body to change. It had never felt so good to shed that side of him, to become human and escape the wildness in his blood. He pulled her against him and held her tight in his arms, both of them tumbling onto the thick leaves across the lawn. Then he did something silly. He rolled her with him until their hair was dotted with bits of leaves and grass.
She laughed, her face alight with happiness.
He laughed too. Until he filled in the space between them by kissing her soundly. She submitted and sank into the leaves and grass, her breathing steady, her body pliant against his. Kendra’s mouth opened to let him in, and he tasted her sweetness with a hunger he had been holding back. He wanted her now and knew this shouldn’t happen in the front yard. It was dark, and most of the neighbors would be busy eating dinner, but a naked man on the grass making out with his neighbor wouldn’t be good for children to see.
“Come inside,” he said, his voice low and demanding. “Come to my bed, Kendra. I need you.”
She panted and looked up at him with an expression that said it all. She wanted him too. “Okay,” she whispered.
He scooped her up in his arms and carried her to the door. It wasn’t locked, so he balanced her and used one hand to turn the handle. Inside he had to fight to control the urge to take her. The couch would have been a nice spot to stop, but he wanted their first time to be special, slow and sensual in the familiar softness of his bed.
“I don’t care what you are,” she told him as he carried her through the hallway. “I don’t care. I want you no matter what.”
He beamed at her and set her on his bed. “You’re sure?”
“Just don’t bite me.” She giggled.
“I might nibble.”
Her smile faded into a sensual pout. “Oh.”
He slipped his hands under her blouse and pulled it over her head. “I might lick,” he teased. He brushed his fingers over her hardened nipples and sighed even as she made a small guttural moan of pleasure. He knelt on the mattress and gently laid her back. She watched him with wide eyes as he dipped his face to her breast. Darius kissed each curve as he worked his lips to her nipple to draw it into his mouth. She shivered and arched. He responded by nipping the tender flesh and then moving on to the other one. Slowly, painstakingly, he sat up and reached for her skirt and then pushed it down and off. Her little pink panties needed to be shorn off as well. This he did with his teeth, which made her giggle again.
* * * *
Kendra sucked in a breath when Darius kissed her inner thigh. “You’re so beautiful,” he told her. “You’re what I’ve been waiting for. I know it. I feel it.” His hot, wet mouth accosted her thigh, higher and higher until she felt his hand parting her folds. He pushed his face into her center and kissed there. As he searched her sex, she closed her eyes and tried to just breathe. His lips found her clit and sucked until she twisted away. He gripped her hips and forced her still, then went to work on that sensitive spot again. She was wet and ready for whatever he would do to her. Shuddering, she let out a weak cry when her body tightened, an orgasm beginning to take over. Then he pulled away.
She sighed out her disappointment. Why had he stopped? She stared up at his face when he raised his body and reached to the nightstand. Without a word he retrieved a small packet and tore it open. He slipped a condom on and then pulled himself over her body. She felt the thick heat of his sheathed cock touch against her slick slit. She wiggled, and the tip dipped to her waiting entry.
“In a hurry?” he asked, half grinning.
She bit her lip.
“Slow down,” he said. “I want this to last.” He contradicted his words and pushed his body forth. His thickness sliced into her, pleasantly filling her body. She gasped out a moan. He fixed his hands on her waist and pulled her body back with his until he was standing and she was effectively straddling him, their bodies joined as one. He moved from side to side in a slow, erotic dance, his cock hard and rimming her insides. She fisted the comforter while he worked her body, his half-closed dark eyes holding hers. The pace increased a little, and she felt him pulling out ever so slightly only to thrust back deep.
“You like that?” he asked.
She nodded, unable to form words.
With one hand still holding her hip, he reached across and slipped his thumb into her folds. He circled her hard clit with the same rhythm he was entering her. She couldn’t focus, couldn’t concentrate, couldn’t even breathe. This time the orgasm slammed her body with sensations. She trembled and cried out his name in a broken voice. He pumped into her faster, burying his cock deep until he pushed in a final time and held still, his length pumping out its seed. “Kendra,” he groaned.
She opened her eyes to see the expression of pure ecstasy on his face.
He moaned, and lowered his body atop hers, his weight somehow pleasing, his sweat-dotted skin touching against hers. He buried his face against her shoulder and kissed her cheek. “Stay the night with me.”
She turned and caught his lips with hers, kissing him weakly. She didn’t think she’d be able to walk for a while, much less leave him. “Okay. Every night if you want. I’ll stay.”
He pulled onto his side, his still firm cock leaving her. Darius curled around Kendra and held her. She had never felt so safe before, and she hoped the high she was riding at that moment would last the rest of her life. Darius ran his fingers over her cheek, gently avoiding the bruises to caress her. He moved to her hair, slipping the hair tie free so he could comb through her curls.
“I don’t have to be alone anymore.” His voice was at her ear, and the words he said touched a part of her that felt exactly the same. “I love you, Kendra.”
The End
About the Author
Anastasia Rabiyah writes erotic romance, paranormal erotic romance, and dark fantasy. She often crosses genres in order to follow her muses into the darkness where they seek out destiny in all its forms. She believes in fairies, demons, angels, magic, passion, chocolate, supportive friends, e-books, and writing critique groups. Her deepest desire is to pursue her creative dreams and realize them. Every spare moment she devotes to writing for her haunting muses. She lives in Tucson, Arizona, with her husband and three sons.
Visit her on the Web at: www.RabiyahBooks.com
Also by Anastasia available from Amira Press:
A Walk Between Worlds
Blood Angel
Blood Angel Book Two: Charon
Bound by the Night
Demonic Obsessions
Goblin’s Bride
Wolf Next Door Page 7