Hunger of the Heart (Wolves of Ravenwillow Book 1)

by Magenta Phoenix

  “You damn well will promise it. I don’t want anyone else here with you.”

  She didn’t know what she had expected him to say; but that certainly hadn’t been it. “What’s wrong with you?” she scowled pacing away from him. She didn’t get very far as his hand reached out and clasped her wrist. Jerking her to a stop, she found herself staring up at his cool blue eyes as he stepped in front of her; still maintaining possession of her wrist.

  “I don’t want anyone else here with you.” He repeated in a low voice. Each word was bit out between his teeth as the control of his temper seemed to be holding on by a thread. “I cannot explain it, but the thought of another man near you makes me…” he trailed off, shaking his head. “Do not test me on this, Rebecca. I don’t share well and I have no intention of sharing you with another man. I am it.”

  Rebecca blinked up at him with utter confusion. “What are you talking about? You’re not making any sense!” she said waving her hand at him. “I had a date. One date and now your acting like you own me? I am nothing to you but an employee and you have no say in what I do.”

  He watched her during her ranting, completely unaffected. She may as well have been conversing about the weather with the expression he held. Slowly he moved closer to her, his hand releasing her wrist as both hands slid up her arm to cup her shoulders.

  “Tell me you don’t feel it, Rebecca. This need I have for you. Tell me you don’t feel it clawing at you in your dreams and every waking second.”

  “It’s called lust, Eric. It’s no different than walking down the street and noticing anyone else.”

  “It’s different for me.” He admitted softly his eyes boring into hers with a beseeching light. “If it were simple lust, that would be easy for me to ignore; but it’s not.”

  “Then that is your problem.” She bit out. With a glare she shoved out from beneath his hands before pacing away. “I want no part of you other than my paycheck. Now for the final time, I want you to leave. I think you’ve done enough damage for the night.”

  Crossing her arms, she glared at him as she pointed to the door like he was a dog. She almost laughed at the irony. Dropping her indicating finger, she waited. Eric stood still as a statue, his arms hanging limply at his sides as he studied her. His eyes narrowed slightly as though he was perplexed at her for some unknown reason. She attempted not to feel the edge of discomfort at his close scrutiny.

  Unwilling, her eyes fell from his scowling face to his bare chest. Eric didn’t look like a model in the least. He possessed a strong physic; it was true. But he possessed a man’s body. His shoulders where broad and his arms were comprised of roped muscles that flexed beneath his skin with each movement. His muscled chest was dusted with dark hair that led her gaze down over his hard abs and down further to the gray sweats that he wore.

  Flush tore up her face as her eyes lingered on the tell tale bulge that pressed from beneath the sweats. Her womanly channel clenched in response to what her eyes had beheld. This was too much for her. Being this close to him, surrounded by his rough scent; it was maddening. A part of her wanted to tackle him and just forget every sensible thought in her head. She hungered to feel his strong, hot hands on her skin. More than anything she wanted to press herself against the hard plane of his body and drown in his embrace.

  “Maybe I should make it your problem as well.” Eric’s sudden rough voice cut through her chaotic thoughts in an instant.

  Raising her questioning gaze to his, she had no time to react as he ate up the distance between them in two quick strides. Startled, she jumped back, stumbling on her heels; she fell backward onto her couch. Eric had followed every terrified step of hers with confident movements. Looming over her, he followed her down onto the worn cushions. Struggling to rise up, Rebecca pushed up with her arms, half dragging and crawling backward along the couch in an effort to escape his predatory gaze. With a slow movement, Eric’s hand encircled her ankle with a gentle touch, slowly pulling her back to him.

  Falling onto her back as he pulled her closer, Rebecca pushed up on her elbows, gazing up at him uncertain. “Eric, what are you doing?” she gasped out.

  He didn’t answer. His eyes flashed at her briefly until they lowered to her captured ankle. With a gentle and slow action, he slipped her heels from her feet to carefully set them in the floor beside the couch. Her womb tightened with awareness as his hand cupped her foot tenderly in his hands. His fingers dug into the bottom of her bare foot, slowly kneading the soft flesh. Almost as quick as he had begun, he lowered her foot to do the same to the other.

  Rebecca’s chest ached with how hard her heart was pounding. What was he doing? Somehow she knew this went far beyond him simply touching her. At the feel of his hands on her bare skin, a pulse of need grew between her legs. She had to push away this need if she had any hope of getting rid of him before she did something stupid.

  “Eric—” she began, but ended with a gasp of surprise as he moved closer to her with a hard look.

  Lifting her legs, Eric settled between them, his unrelenting hands smoothed up from her trembling knees and over her thighs until his strong fingers closed around the button of her dress slacks. Her stomach muscles bunched and tightened with desire and apprehension. Her hands quickly covered his and interrupting his task.

  Seeing her nervous eyes flicker uncertainly over his face, Eric slowly crawled over her slivering body. Gently laying a kiss over her left eye and then the right, as her breath calmed; his lips covered hers in a soft kiss. His lips moved over hers seeking for the response that he wanted from her. Without realizing it, Rebecca found herself arching into his kiss, pleading for more.

  Pulling back, he studied her flushed face. She lay under him; still as stone, staring at up at him with her frightened doe eyes. “Tell me you don’t feel anything with me this close to you.” He demanded in a harsh tone.

  Panting, she shook her head mutely. Her lips felt bruised from his kiss and God help her; she wanted more of his rough kisses. Curling her fingers into the cushions beneath her, she forced her hands not to move and definitely not to reach for him and pull him to her as she ached to do.

  Holding her gaze, his hands moved back to the clasp of her slacks with nimble fingers. At the brush of his fingers against her lower stomach, she was jerked out of her trance. Before she could react to what he was doing, Eric moved higher up her body, giving himself room.

  Covering her lips with aggressive possession, planting one hand up near her head, Eric’s other hand slid beneath the front of her open slacks. At the touch of his hand slipping beneath the armor of her clothing, Rebecca jumped, yelping fearfully against his pressing lips. Jerking his mouth from hers, he pressed his forehead against hers as his fingers slid between the folds of her sex.

  Gasping, Rebecca eyes widened as her hands shot from their position to grip his wrist in a vain hope to restrain him. “W-What are you doing?” she nearly shrieked.

  His fingers moved with confident strokes, first beginning at the bottom of her folds at her entrance, before sliding up to her clit to slide firmly around her swollen bud. Crying low against the sensations that had her belly growing hot with need, Rebecca fought for the strength to tug on his wrist that she held.

  She would fight him. In...just..one…minute.

  His fingers continued to slide her wet sex, coaxing a forbidden response from her as he bent to trail soft nips along her jaw to her ear. Licking at her lobe, he drew the soft flesh between his lips before biting it softly. Her gasp of pleasure was his reward.

  “Tell me you don’t want me now and I will leave without a backward glance.” He breathed out against her ear.

  Gooseflesh erupted down her neck and down her spine as his words flowed over her skin. She wanted to tell him to leave, to pull his hand from between her spread legs and cease his addictive touch, but she couldn’t find the will to speak.

  Alternating between licking and nipping at the skin of her neck below her ear, Eric’s stroking hand b
egan to become more demanding. His fingers moved quicker against her clit with devious strokes. The heat in her belly spread like raging flames, consuming everything it touched. Her inner muscles squeezed with need at each quickened stroke of his hand. God; she loved his hand. How had she not known that a single touch like this could inspire such a reaction within her?

  In that moment; her body didn’t belong to her, but to Eric. Drugged on the sensations that kept building stronger and stronger, she found she was more than willing to let him have whatever he wanted from her as long as his fingers kept moving against her.

  “Let go. I’m right here. Let go.” He whispered against the skin of her neck as his fingers pressed harder against her clit with quick movements. Before she could fight it, the fire inside her exploded into an atomic bomb of sensations, obliterating every thought she possessed. Eyes wide, her back arched off the couch as she cried out. Over and over, her sex clenched so hard that her legs shook. Waves of pleasure shook her, flooding her veins with fire that she never knew existed.

  Falling back onto the cushions, her hands falling away from his wrist, Rebecca’s breath escaped in ragged pants. Dazed, she barely felt Eric pull his hand from her spasiming sex as he moved to caged her with both his arms. Smirking down at her, he smoothed her hair away from her face with his fingers.

  “This is the part where I say I told you so.”

  Coming out from the drugging cloud that he’d created within her, Rebecca felt her horror at what had just happened flood her. Refusing to meet his eyes, Rebecca turned her face away, her teeth biting down into her bottom lip as she tried to block out the silent screams that echoed in her mind. What had she done? She couldn’t do this with Eric. She couldn’t allow herself to get involved him. The distance that had remained between them before tonight was necessary. It was her only protection.

  “Please. Please let me up.” A sigh of relief escaped her lips as Eric moved to sit next to her hip on the edge of the sofa. Not bothering to mess with her slacks, she pulled herself into sitting position, moving to the opposite side of the couch out of self-preservation. Her sex still hummed with the lingering tingles of desire. She had to get away from him and what he’d done to her.

  “Rebecca.” At the soft tone, she forced her eyes to remain adverted. She couldn’t face this right now. She couldn’t face him. When she didn’t look his way, Eric’s voice grew firmer. “What you’re feeling will not go away. That hunger—is for me, for what only I can give you.”

  Shaking her head, her hands lifted to rub over her face. She couldn’t deal with this. The feelings that he was bringing to the surface within her were too confusing to think about. “I want you to leave.” She whispered, keeping her face turned away from him. She didn’t trust herself to look at him. If she did…she didn’t know what would happen.

  The cushion beside her abruptly shifted as Eric rose to his feet. “Fine.” he bit out.

  She closed her eyes, praying that the next sound she would hear would be the slamming of her front door. She nearly jumped out of her skin as Eric’s hand cupped her chin firmly, tilting her face to look up at him.

  “Look at me.” He ordered when she attempted to avert her gaze once more. Knowing there was no fighting him in that instant, she looked up at him. “Take tomorrow off and think about what happened here tonight. When you come back to work, we will talk about this; about us.” His hand fell away from her. Stepping back, his gaze lingered on her face a moment longer before he turned and started for the door.

  She frowned at his commanding tone. “There is no us, Eric.” She called at his back firmly.

  He didn’t bother to turn to face her as he responded. “There is and you better get used to it. Don’t be late.”

  *~ * ~ *

  Closing the door behind him, Eric felt his air explode out of his lungs. Forcing himself to step away from her closed door, it took every ouch of discipline he possessed to not storm back inside and finish what he’d started. He had been holding on by a thread as Rebecca had shattered against his hand. The scent of her orgasm filled his nostrils. He very much doubted he would ever be able to forget that scent and he wasn’t the only one. His wolf reacted to her scent and her presence with uncontrollable need. There would be no staying away from his little human now. He’d known that when she’d cried out her pleasure with his name on her lips.

  Though she’d fallen to pieces in his arms, from the stubborn look in her eyes when he’d forced her to look at him, he could see that there was a fight looming ahead of him. Rebecca wouldn’t be an easy woman to woo to his bed. Eric could help but smile as he sprinted down the steps. Rebecca would be his; he would just have to be sneaky about it.

  7

  Hands clasped firmly behind his back; Eric paced back and forth across the kitchen, all the while his wolf snarled within him with impatience. Where was she? For the third time, he glanced at the large clock that hung on the far wall of the kitchen. It was barely past two and Rebecca was due back from picking Emma and Travis up from school at any moment.

  The seconds ticked by like hours. Several times he thought about turning around and heading to the seclusion of his home office instead of this senseless waiting. There still were piles of paper work that needed his attention, but every time he started to leave, he felt his wolf recoil and found himself turning back.

  He shook his head with disgust. What the hell was he doing? His sudden—well; maybe not sudden—obsession with Rebecca was perplexing to say the least. He didn’t know what hold she held over his body and his wolf; but he found that he wanted it. Craved it. He didn’t know what had driven him to his actions the other night in Rebecca’s apartment; but he didn’t regret a single second of it. He smiled at the memory. The way her chocolate brown eyes watched him with uncertainty and then melted with need; a need only he could full fill.

  He struggled not to dwell on what else had occurred that night, but it was impossible to push the images from his mind. Rebecca—his Rebecca—had actually gone on a date with Damon—that mongrel! He suspected that she’d only done so to prove a point to him, to prove that he held no control over her.

  That’s where she was wrong.

  He didn’t want to control her, but he’d be damned if he idly stood by as Damon put his roman hands on her or any other part of her body. Growling in the back of his throat, he fought against the memory of Damon pulling Rebecca into his arms as his lips crashed down over hers. His wolf became enraged at the image.

  No matter how hard he thought about it, he couldn’t figure out why he felt this way about her. He was unfamiliar with the feelings that roiled within his chest. It was a strange, belly clawing, heart wrenching feeling. It was obsession boarding on the need to possess her.

  His pacing strides froze at the thought. Could that really be the reason? Did he simply just want her? Was it possible that he could simply claim her body and this unexplainable need would leave him? No. He shook his head in denial. What he was experiencing went far beyond a simple sexual attraction.

  Before he could pondering on his thoughts any further, his head jerked toward the front door at the soft sound of a car coming up the gravel driveway. Inside his mind, Eric felt his wolf come to attention at the sound. She was here. His chest expanded with the knowledge as his lips curled into a smile.

  Crossing his arms over his chest, he forced himself to remain still and wait. Just as he thought his impatience would be his undoing, the front door swung open; echoing with the excited voices of his children. The twin’s eyes widened with happy surprise at seeing him home early. Both rushed at him with excitement as they both proceeded to tell him of their day simultaneously. Struggling to listen to both, he chuckled as his eyes lifted to see Rebecca cross the threshold.

  Her eyes briefly lifted from the floor as she turned to close the door behind her. Moving further inside, the moment her eyes met his, she froze. Her face quickly paled at the sight of him. Eric had no doubt that she had hoped to avoid him after the othe
r night, just as he had anticipated. All too quickly, Rebecca dropped her gaze from his and turned into the main section of the kitchen, pretending to do something in there. He smirked. Did she really think that she could hide from him?

  We’ll see about that…

  * ~ * ~ *

  Heart thundering in her ears, Rebecca felt her mouth go dry as she came into the house to find Eric waiting for her. What was he doing? Why was he home so early? Suddenly all her hopes of putting off facing him; especially after what had happened at her apartment, went up in flames. Needing to put some space between them for her peace of mind, Rebecca quickly ducked into the kitchen, keeping her back to Eric.

  Emma rushed to her side as her twin’s excited voice held Eric’s attention. Curling her fingers around the bottom of Rebecca’s t-shirt, Emma tugged insistently. Thankful for the distraction, Rebecca turned to smile down at Emma’s soft face.

  “Can I have a snack?” her voice was so soft, echoing with sweet innocents that Rebecca felt her heart squeeze.

  Rebecca nodded. Turning away she moved past Emma to the opposite counter beside the sink, reaching for the white and blue ceramic cookie jar that sat against the wall. Lifting the lid, she pulled out two chocolate chip cookies that she’d made earlier in the week. Replacing the lid, she turned to hand them to Emma who eagerly held out her hands.

  Holding the cookies out of reach for a moment, Rebecca paused handing them to her. “One is for your brother, Emma.” She said with a firm look before lowering the cookies within reach.

  “I will.” Emma promising words were tossed over her shoulders as she ran from the kitchen and towards the living room. As she past her twin, Travis quickly followed her once his eyes fell upon the treat clutched in her hand. The excited voices of the twins were quickly droned out when the TV was turned on in the other room.