by Judy Mays
“You don’t seem too upset for a man whose granddaughter has just been kidnapped.”
Seamus turned his attention back to the door and smiled at the pretty girl who stood there. “Come into my house and be welcome. I’m Seamus O’Brien, and you are?’
She jerked the door free of the wall and said, “Sorry for my father’s lack of manners. I’m Belle. Now, why aren’t you worried.”
Seamus nodded to the hole in the wall. “Whoever took Moira wants her alive so she’ll be fine. With as angry as your father is, I’d worry more about the two fools who took her, if I were inclined to worry about them.”
Belle nodded. “That’s why Brandon went with him, damage control. When father finds out who the mastermind behind this abduction is, someone will have to keep him from killing the idiot.”
“Brandon’s your brother?”
“Yes.”
“Well then, I’ve nothing to worry about, do I?” Seamus said with a grin.
Belle stared into the white-haired man’s sparkling blue eyes. He had a sharp mind in his crippled body, one that saw far more than most people probably realized.
“Who do you think is behind the kidnapping?”
Seamus shrugged. “Why that old harridan Sylvia James. Without Moira, James Parfumes is nothing. When old Mr. James died, Sylvia fired any chemist who’d been there long enough to call her Sylvia. Their expertise went with them.”
Belle grinned. “And I’ll just bet, you’re in the habit of calling Ms. James, Sylvia to her face.”
Seamus grinned back. “She was a nasty child. Always putting her nose where it didn’t belong whenever her father brought her to the lab. More than once, I told him that he should take her over his knee and give her the spanking she deserved. He never took my advice.”
Planting her hands on her hips, Belle chuckled and cocked her head to the side. Her nostrils flared as she inhaled. “I think there’s more to you than meets the eye, Seamus O’Brien.”
Seamus’s eyes sparkled even more brightly as he leaned forward and took her hand. “Come in Belle Gray and make yourself at home. There’s coffee ready, or I can brew you some fine tea if you’d like. Then I’ll tell you the story of a small village in the wilds of northern Wales where some of the finest flowery salves and tinctures were brewed while the wolves bayed at the moon.”
Chapter 8
“Ouch, you stupid ass. You pulled my hair,” Moira snapped as the smelly hood was pulled from her head.
“You have a pretty smart mouth, bitch,” Gimpy—as Moira now thought of him since he walked with a limp, said. “I’d shut it before I got hurt if I was you.
Moira lifted her hands straight out before her. “You can untie me now. We both know your boss doesn’t want me hurt, so you can cut out the threatening act.”
“Untie her,” the other kidnapper said. “It’s not like she’ll be able to get away with the both of us in here.”
Moira flinched mentally when the man in front of her pulled a switchblade out of his pocket and flicked it open, but she held her hands perfectly still as he sawed through the clothesline he’d used to tie her wrists together.
“There. Now go sit over on that couch until we tell you to move.”
She crossed her arms over her chest and snapped. “I don’t want to.”
“I’ve had enough of your fucking bullshit, bitch.” Reaching out, he grabbed Moira by the front of her robe, lifted her, and threw her across the room onto the dumpy, moth-eaten sofa.
She landed on a heap, her silk robe and nightgown slid up her thighs.
“She got really nice legs,” blue ski mask said.
Moira jerked the gown and robe down over her thighs. “You touch me and you won’t be working for Artemis much longer.”
“Don’t know no Artemis, bitch,” Gimpy said with a gap-toothed smile.
“Can we play a little?” blue ski masked asked his companion.
Moira’s anger was quickly replaced with fear as their eyes roamed up and down her body. Pulling her legs up onto the couch, she covered them with her robe. Grasping the edges, she held them together under her chin. They didn’t know Artemis? Then who’d kidnapped her?
“Obviously your boss wants me in one piece,” Moira stated, failing to keep the quaver out of her voice.
“We ain’t supposed to hurt her,” Gimpy said in a low voice. “We best leave her alone. Don’t want to lose any money cause she’s hurt. You can go fuck that whore you like after we get paid.”
Swallowing, Moira stiffened her body to keep from shaking. Even though Gimpy had said no, blue ski mask glanced furtively her way. After a quick glance to see if Gimpy was watching, he pursed his lips and blew a kiss to her. Moira wasn’t able to control her trembling after that. She blinked, but a few tears escaped to roll down her cheeks. As long as she’d thought Artemis had kidnapped her, she knew she wasn’t in any danger. She was absolutely sure to the depths of her soul that he wouldn’t hurt her. But if Artemis wasn’t involved, who was? And why had she been kidnapped in the first place?
Huddling into a corner of the old, worn sofa, she fought against the fear that threatened to overwhelm her.
“How much longer we gonna sit here?” complained blue ski mask. “I’m hungry. And this mask itches. How come I can’t take it off?”
“Because,” Gimpy said as he shuffled his cards for another game of solitaire, “she ain’t supposed to know who we are.”
“She already don’t know who we are.”
“And it’s gonna stay that way. Now quit bitching.”
Before blue ski mask could answer, the door flew open. It slammed against the wall and rebounded only to be wrenched from its hinges and thrown into the room.
Artemis stepped into the room. Nostrils flaring, his gaze darted about the room until it came to rest on Moira. For a second, the steely look in his eyes softened. “Moira, are you all right?”
Heart in her throat, she nodded. Fool. What did he think he was doing. These guys had guns.
Any hint of softness disappeared from Artemis’s eyes as he turned his attention back to the two men who’d jumped to their feet when he’d entered the room.
Grinning, Gimpy cracked his knuckles. “You looking for something old man?”
Blue ski mask lumbered over to stand next to his buddy.
Moira jumped to her feet. “Artemis, get out of here and call the police. They have guns.”
He ignored her.
Brendan’s voice drifted into the room from behind his father. “Want any help, Dad?”
Artemis’s voice was hard. “No. They’re mine.”
Brendan stepped into the room, crossed his arms over his chest, and leaned back against the wall. “Well, if you need any help, just say so.”
“Brendan,” Moira begged, “please get some help.”
“I don’t need any help, Moira,” Artemis snarled through clenched teeth. Then he sprang.
Moira gasped. One instant Artemis was standing just inside the door. A second later, he was burying his fist in Gimpy’s stomach. As the big man doubled over, Artemis swung around and planted his foot in blue ski mask’s crotch. Screaming in agony, he collapsed.
The sound of a gunshot reverberated through the room. Moira screamed as Artemis fell to the floor.
An evil grin spread across Gimpy’s face. Then Artemis rolled, leaped to his feet, and buried his left fist in Gimpy’s stomach. As the big man doubled over again, a hard uppercut from Artemis snapped his head back. Artemis followed the uppercut with a fist squarely into Gimpy’s nose. Cartilage crunched as it flattened. The revolver skittered across the floor as Gimpy slumped unconscious to the floor next to his still moaning and writhing companion.
Panting, his hands still fisted, Artemis turned to Moira. The look in his eyes caused her to take a step back.
“Well, I can tell when I’m not wanted,” Brendan said in a cheerful voice. “I’ll just clean up the mess.” Grabbing both men by their shirt collars, he dragged them from t
he room.
Kicking the man at his feet out of his way, Artemis stalked across the room towards Moira. “Mine,” he growled when he reached her. Pulling her into his arms, he covered her mouth with a hard, demanding kiss.
Moira shivered in his arms and opened her mouth to his stabbing tongue. Artemis’s teeth clashed against hers as his kiss not only dominated but also drew forth a feral response from her soul Moira never realized existed. She wrapped her arms around his waist and plastered her body against his.
“Mine,” he growled again when he finally stopped ravaging her mouth.
Allowing her head to drop back, Moira stared into Artemis’s stormy gaze. A wild beast stared back at her, but instead of being frightened, she was excited. Heat jolted through her body. Her nipples hardened as her breasts swelled. Moisture seeped into her panties. She wanted this man. She needed him. “Yours,” she moaned as a lust she’d never before experienced surged though her body.
He pushed her back towards the couch and growled, “Submit.”
“Yes,” Moira answered. She felt like putty in his hands as he spun her around and pushed her onto her knees on the couch. She dropped her arms, and her silk robe seemed to flow from her body as Artemis pulled it off of her shoulders. Then he ripped her nightgown down the back. It fell from her body to drape across the lumpy cushions beneath her. Moira leaned forwards against the back of the couch and opened herself fully to Artemis.
His hands stroking Moira’s back and ass, Artemis struggled to subdue the rage that still surged through his veins. They had taken his mate! He should have ripped out their throats and let their hot blood run down his throat. Should have pounded them until their bones broke, and they howled in agony. His hands tightened on Moira’s ass.
She moaned and spread her legs wider.
Artemis shuddered as the spicy, earthy aroma of Moira’s heat drifted to his nostrils. Between her hot scent and triumph throbbing in his veins, Artemis’s desire to have all acknowledge his Alpha status dominated his mind and body. The werewolf in him seized control. He had fought and won his mate. What’s more Moira, in full heat, kneeled submissively before him, her body arched and spread, waiting for his cock.
She sobbed and pushed back against his fingers when he slid them down the crack in her ass to her dripping slit. He thrust first two, then three fingers into her.
“Please, Artemis. I need you inside of me.”
Artemis’s cock jerked against the confines of his jeans. Ripping them open, he shoved them down over his hips, toed his loafers off, and kicked his jeans away. He ripped his shirt off his chest. He leaned closer to her and inhaled.
Moira’s irresistible fragrance wrapped itself around him. He had to taste her.
Only Artemis’s firm grip on her hips kept Moira from leaping over the back of the couch when he lapped the moisture from the inside of her thighs. Arching her back, she spread her legs wider as his tongue lapped first one thigh then the other. Moaning, she arched more, trying to force his mouth and tongue where she wanted them.
“Please, Artemis.”
The lapping stopped. The sensitive skin of her clit tingled and ached.
Artemis blew, and warm air swirled between her legs. “What do you want?”
“Your mouth, your tongue, your teeth.”
His answer was to stab his tongue into her as deeply as he could.
She ground her crotch into his face as he lapped and suckled. When he gently nipped her clit, she screamed and clamped her thighs against his face. Once more, and she would come.
Artemis grabbed her thighs and spread them, pulling his magic tongue from her body.
Moira struggled against him. Her body was so hot, so achy with the need to explode. He couldn’t stop now. She pushed herself away from the back of the couch and tried to turn. “No, Artemis. Don’t stop. I need to come. Now!”
He gripped the back of her neck with one hand. “No! Submit!”
For a few seconds, the urge to rebel reared its head. Moira tensed her muscles, ready to struggle against his hold.
“Mine,” he snarled again. “Submit.” He slid his cock between her thighs and rubbed it against her slippery lips.
Sexual heat erupted outward from Moira’s groin, and the urge to have a steel-hard cock plunged into her dissolved any thoughts of rebellion.
“Yours,” she gasped again.
Artemis reached between her thighs and spread her slippery lips. Then, with one powerful thrust that drove her forward until her upper torso was hanging over the back of the sofa, he rammed his cock into her.
Panting, Moira braced her hands against the window sill behind the couch and thrust her hips back against Artemis. After a few awkward bucks, she caught the rhythm of his thrusts. Never had anything felt so good!
“Oh, God, yes!” she moaned when Artemis leaned over her back and nipped the back of her neck.
When he clamped his teeth down on her shoulder and began to pump harder, she yelped with pleasure.
Draped over her back, his teeth clamped on her shoulder, the werewolf in Artemis held Moira submissive to his pleasure, to the necessity that he mate and spread his seed to insure offspring with his genes would survive into another generation.
The fact that she was enjoying what he was doing as much as he did delighted the human half of his soul.
As her slick internal muscles tightened around his cock, Artemis released her shoulder, nipped her, and bit down again. He reached underneath her and kneaded her breast. Then he pinched her nipple. She moaned, and her entire body shuddered. The muscles trying to milk his cock flexed and tightened. He growled and thrust harder. The werewolf half of him wanted to release his seed. His human half wanted to prolong the pleasure, but he wasn’t going to be able to last much longer.
Releasing Moira’s shoulder, Artemis lifted himself off of her back and arched. Bracing himself against her ass, he thrust as deeply as he could and rotated his hips.
Beneath him, Moira stiffened.
A low, keening howl escaped her throat as the muscles around his cock contracted one final time, sucked him deeper, then began to vibrate.
Artemis threw back his head and howled as hot come surged through his cock and exploded into Moira’s hot, sopping, shuddering body.
Gasping for breath, Moira wiped the tears from her cheeks.
Artemis lay on her back pressing small kisses against her shoulder blades, his cock still imbedded inside of her.
Moira shifted, and the crisp hairs on his legs rasped against the tender skin of her inner thighs.
When Artemis wiggled his hips, she sighed with pleasure. “Hmmmm. Can we to that again?”
Chuckling, Artemis lifted himself off her back and slid his cock out of her body. “If you don’t mind, next time we make love, I’d like it to be in a bed.”
Turning, Moira sank down onto what remained of her nightgown. “And if you don’t mind, I’d like to take my clothes of instead of having you rip them off.”
Grinning, Artemis shook his head. “I can’t make that promise. Hell, I can’t even be sure if we’ll make it to a bed. You’re just too damn sexy.”
Moira smiled at the warm feeling that permeated her body. Artemis thought she was sexy.
Before she could say anything, he dropped to one knee.
“You didn’t give me an answer last night. Will you marry me, Moira Archer?”
“Oh!” She blinked away the tears that suddenly welled in her eyes. Launching herself off the couch, she threw her arms around his neck. “Yes! Yes, Artemis Gray, I’ll marry you.”
He kissed her long, tenderly, thoroughly. When he finally lifted his mouth from hers, he said, “You’ll accept the transfusion of my blood?”
Blinking, Moira gathered her scattered wits. What was a blood transfusion after all? “Yes.”
Artemis grinned. “Good. It will make your pregnancy easier.”
Moira’s wits were now all firmly where they belonged. “Pregnancy? Now wait a minute, buster. We have t
o talk about this. I’m the one who has to carry a baby. I’ll decide when we have one.”
Artemis kissed her nose. “Then you want to have children?”
Moira wrapped her arms around his waist and rubbed her breasts against his chest. The hairs there did such wonderful things to her nipples. “Of course. I just intend to have some input about when we have them.”
Artemis chuckled again. “I’ll be sure to remember that for the next one.”
Moira stopped concentrating on how her nipples were feeling. “What do you mean, the next one.”
His smile was gentle. “Moira, love, you’re in heat, and I’m a werewolf. You’re pregnant.”
“But, but...”
“I love you, Moira.”
Her hand slid to her stomach. “A baby?”
Artemis hugged her tight against his chest. “Yes, I’m sorry if you’re not happy, but I couldn’t have stopped if I’d have wanted to.”
Moira felt her lips twitch into a small smile. Artemis’s baby. She glanced up into his face. “It better be a girl. I don’t know if I could handle another male as arrogant as you.”
A devilish light appeared in his eyes. “I can’t predict the sex, love, but I can tell you this. You’re having twins.”
Epilogue
The pounding on the front door was so loud, Sylvia heard it all the way back in her drawing room. “Excuse me,” she said in a perturbed tone to the other three women gossiping over tea.
Rising, she sauntered from the room, closing the door firmly behind her. Once the other women couldn’t see her, she allowed the placid mask to slip from her face as she stomped towards her front door. Where was that lazy butler?
The butler was hurrying down the hallway from the kitchen and reached the door just before she did. “I’m sorry, Madam. There was a problem with the grocer.”
“I don’t give a damn about your problems. You’re supposed to be here to open the door. Now open it.”
“Yes, Ma’am,” he answered through clenched teeth.
As soon as he turned the knob, he was knocked out of the way as the door was shoved open.
Brendan Gray walked in, dragging the two men who’d kidnapped Moira behind him, without their masks. “Yours, I believe,” he said as he dropped them at Sylvia’s feet.