Bitten Too

by Violet Heart

  "Maybe it would have, if he'd been patient and good-hearted, like you."

  "I'm not good-hearted. I hurt you, didn't I? I come into your bedroom uninvited, don't I?" His lip curled, but she suspected his disdain was for himself and no other. "I wanted to kill Lord Malveaux. He has a good heart. Don't think I don't realize he could've destroyed me. That he spared me, instead, by avoiding me. I deserve to die just as much as Youel did." His gaze dropped to the floor.

  Her anger disappeared entirely. "Please, come sit." She gestured to a couple wingchairs set at angles before her unlit fireplace.

  Jorge draped his coat over one's backrest and sat. He rested his forehead in his hands, his elbows on his knees and his hair falling forward to hide his face. "You see goodness in me despite my behavior." Turmoil formed a vortex in him. "It's ironic."

  "Why?" She sat.

  Jorge cut his gaze to her in the other wingchair. "Because you're the good one. Your behavior is exactly what it should've been. Even when I treated you with less respect than you deserved, you never hurt me."

  She clutched the neckline of her night rail. "Is that what you think I should've done? Wounded you in some way?"

  He took in her loose waves and soft eyes. Her beauty kindled a flame of desire that lengthened his cock. He shifted, changing its course to harden toward his trousers' waistband rather than against his unresisting crotch placket.

  His voice came out rougher when he said, "I imagine another lady wouldn't have hesitated to hit me over the head with a knickknack then shove me right back out that window."

  Her features gentled. "Maybe I should have." She chuckled and shook her head. "Another lady would've been unprepared. I dreamt of you before you arrived. I was ready for you." She released her gown and placed her hand on his knee. "I am ready for you."

  Her intimate touch sent a jolt of need straight from his knee to his hard-on. He jerked upright.

  Yanking her hand away, she said, "I'm sorry. I'm too bold."

  "You're perfect." He took her hand and put it back on his knee. An incredible, quaking awareness shuddered through him. "Do you feel that?"

  "Yes," she whispered. With her free hand, she grasped his fingers and put them to her slender shoulder. She tilted her head, pressed her cheek to them, and closed her eyes. "I feel you. It's as if you're inside me. All around me. You're part of me."

  His cock enlarged. His pants wouldn't contain him much longer. "Yasmine. Do you know what you're doing?"

  Her large brown eyes opened and drew him into their depths, as if she reached inside him and touched his soul.

  "Come with me." She stood, took his hand.

  "Where?" To your bed, I hope. He got to his feet, his arousal bulging.

  She headed to the door and put a finger to her lips. After she checked the hall, she led him to a servant's stairwell then out a door and into the garden.

  As soon as the night air hit him, he knew what she seemed to understand. They were fated to mate. The time had come to claim her. A tension stiffened his spine and robbed him of his erection.

  On instinct, he met her gaze in the moonlight. A place awaited them – the place of their joining. Tonight, magic stronger than any he'd experienced bound him to claim her as his bride.

  He cupped her cheek and stared into her dark gaze. "I won't tear you from your family. If we do this, parting won't be an option, and I can't stay. I have responsibilities in Austral."

  A gentle smile curved her mouth. "Jorge, you don't need to ask. My answer is yes. My place is with you, wherever that may be. Come." She gave his hand a tug.

  They ran in answer to an urgent calling on the breeze. His heart pounded. The moon's energy surged into him.

  At the rear of her garden, moonlight reflected off a placid pond. An enormous tree beckoned from the other side, its wide trunk declaring it as ancient as the first werewolves in Rift. Thick roots formed a sprawling, intricate design in the ground. Between a set that went from trunk to the water, a velvety-looking bed of bright green moss covered the ground along the shore.

  "We're not the first to bond here." Yasmine released his hand and removed her night rail. She wore nothing underneath.

  He drank in exquisite loveliness. Firm breasts offered dark, hard tips ready for his kisses. Shapely arms hugged delicate ribs. A tight waist rounded in front by a slight protrusion of delicious belly. Below, sable curls formed an apex amid flaring hips and smooth, curvaceous thighs that begged to be spread.

  His cock hardened insistently. She put a hand to his chest, the thin linen of his shirt the only thing between them.

  The moon’s tumultuous power boiled his blood. A familiar, uncomfortable tingling coursed his limbs. Pain sliced through his abdomen.

  Oh, God. He couldn't stop it. "Run!" He'd kill her if she stood near when he suffered those first seconds of disorientation after morphing.

  He twisted. His shifting bones and changing muscle dropped him to a writhing heap on the ground. A howl of agony ripped from his widening throat. He gasped and braced for the flash of paralyzing pain that always slammed into him right before the final transformation into wolf.

  It didn't come.

  She caressed his hot back, which curled into a hunch halfway between man and wolf. The pain evaporated. He'd never been caught between.

  Not wanting her to see him this way, he stayed balled on the ground. "Why'd you stay? What if I'd mauled you, or worse?"

  "You wouldn't." She kissed his ear and then the side of his neck.

  He'd morphed short of sprouting fur. His senses overwhelmed him. Her perfume mingled with the unmistakable musk of her woman’s excitement. Every night sound combined to form an overture to accompany her breathing. Her touches, ten times more exciting, caused his sensitive skin to bunch and shiver.

  "I discovered this afternoon that I love you, Jorge," she said low, close enough to his ear that her sweet breath brushed his cheek. "You wouldn't hurt me. This is our destiny. Finish the journey with me." Yasmine cupped his chin and urged him to look at her.

  Tender affection shone from her gaze and graced a gentle smile curving her lips. She loved him. His mind struggled against the idea. How could she love him? How could a proper, elegant lady possibly open her heart to a reprobate?

  "I don't deserve you," he said.

  Her smile widened. "You're far more worthy than you give yourself credit. But if you truly worry, then endeavor to deserve me, because I'm already yours." She dropped her gaze to his mouth.

  A fierce strength filled him. He rolled into a squat, gathered her into his arms, and stood. He ran three steps then leaped over the waterhole. She gasped. He landed on his feet without a sound on the moss bed between the tree's roots.

  "You're sure about this?" he asked.

  "More than I've been about anything. Ever."

  He settled her to the velvety bank. Moonlight turned her pale skin luminescent. His entire body trembled with need.

  Kneeling on the moss, he said, "This is forever. If we make this commitment of flesh, we can never undo it."

  "Don't you know?" She reached up, wrapped fingers around his nape, and pulled him near.

  He stopped, their noses almost touching. "Know what?"

  Closing her eyes, she closed the gap and pressed her lips to his. All thought fled as an overwhelming need to be inside her consumed him. The wolf in him growled for his mate.

  He stretched out over her, placing a knee between hers. She willingly opened. Her inner thighs caressed his outer ones. At the same time, she parted her lips and touched her tongue to his.

  He wanted more foreplay, but an urgency gave him a sense that he had no time. They had to join. Now.

  Jorge gathered her in his arms. Her lush breasts against his chest increased his appetite for her. He sent his tongue along hers, enjoying for one more second the smooth texture. She tasted of sweet cream and peaches. The scent of rich orchid clinging to her skin consumed him.

  His engorged cock found its own way along her wet
pussy to her maidenhead. He tested its tautness. She was too firm. This was going to hurt her.

  "Hug me tightly," he said. His voice sounded so deep and animal, he didn't recognize it.

  When she squeezed his back, he tensed. Watching her, he exhaled while pushing against her hymen. It didn't give.

  "Please," she whispered. "I need you so badly."

  His rod grew painfully hard. He needed her, too. He took a deep breath and thrust, piercing her barrier. His cock sank into her tight, wet quim.

  She screamed. Her head went back, her spine arched, and her fingertips dug into the muscles between his shoulder blades. The smell of blood quickened his animal hunger. Without thought, he bared his teeth and sank them into her shoulder.

  Her scream ended on a small yelp. He released her shoulder. Licking her blood from his lips, he locked gazes with her. You're mine.

  "I love you," she whispered. Her fingers relaxed.

  A new hunger brought an ache to his buried hard-on that made him move to seek relief. Out then in, and again, he worked toward a rhythm that replaced the pain with pleasure.

  Her passage was heaven, encapsulating him in silken warmth. As he stroked into her faster, she tilted her hips. Her walls closed in around him, drawing him deep on every thrust.

  "Yes," she cried. Her voluptuous body tensed.

  Then she closed her eyelids, and her quim gripped him. As she came, her honeyed walls milked his length. His already pounding heart threatened to quit as intense pleasure turned to molten lava flowing through his veins.

  Her very soul seemed to tug at him until he surrendered to ecstasy. An invisible fist took hold of his testicles. Pressure increased.

  "Oh, God," he shouted.

  Then he exploded. Inside and out, he combusted. He lost touch with his physical self, and clarity invaded his mind. As if he gazed into the glassy surface of a pond, he stared at a reflection of himself. Not his physical visage, but his essence. His soul.

  His purpose became evident. His past and present. His future. His entire life took on a new meaning.

  As he floated away from the reflection toward his physical body still in the throes of orgasm, the hardness around his heart disintegrated. An overwhelming love filled him to overflowing, all for Yasmine. For this gentle creature, so intelligent and kind. For this incredible woman, open and accepting.

  He came to himself on a gasp. His strength ebbed.

  Under him, Yasmine sighed and smiled. She was his, and he was hers. A tingling shivered along his entire body, just under his skin, and he resumed his full human form.

  "I know what you meant when you asked if I knew." He reluctantly withdrew from her tight heat. Going to his side on the moss, he embraced her. "I thought I'd come to the Rift River Valley to get revenge for my brother."

  "Uh-huh?" She twined her legs with his and settled her cheek to his chest.

  "I was wrong. I came for you. You're my destiny. My everything. God, Yasmine, I love you. I'm so stupid." He closed his eyes and breathed deeply of her orchid-scented hair.

  "You're not stupid. I'd never love a foolish man. You were blinded, that's all. Now you're free." She kissed his chest then cuddled closer.

  "I'm free." The words themselves were liberating, and he smiled. "Marry me? Wear my ring, and make me the happiest man on earth?"

  She sat slowly and placed a slender hand over his heart. "You have my heart forever, Jorge Grauwolf, and I accept your offer. Yes, I'll marry you."

  His restlessness left, and contentment settled about him. A contentment, thanks to Yasmine, that would stay with him all the days of his life. He ended the kiss and gazed into her large, affection-filled eyes. "I love you."

  Joy surrounded him, rocking him for a moment. When his lips met hers, the world became right. The universe aligned. He became complete.

  The End