A Wolf's Savage Embrace (9 page)

When he walked through the doorway and into the room, his eyes instantly went to the bed where the witch in question was curled up on her stomach - her breathing soft and even in slumber, and he said a quiet prayer of thanks that she had finally fallen to sleep.

He wasn’t sure that he would be able to stop himself this time if he had to look into those beautiful eyes of hers again. He was a strong man – but even he had his limits. And he was not use to being denied what he wanted. And damn if he didn’t want her – with every fiber of his being.

He took a long ragged breath, and reminded himself that he needed to bide his time, and when she realized that he wasn’t going anywhere, and that she could trust him – then he could show her just how much she meant to him.

Christ, he thought with a disgusted grunt – when had he become such a
wuss
? His entire body screamed out in frustration, urging him to take what he wanted, but he fought for control. In time.

He silently walked over to the bed, and slid in beside her – feeling himself instantly harden at the feel of her warm, soft curves next to him, and her heady scent as it wrapped around him like an erotic embrace.
Holy mother of God, he inwardly groaned, this was pure, unadulterated torture. And he felt that he would surely combust when a moment later, she murmured something unintelligible in her sleep, flipped over, and snuggled up against his side - throwing a delicate arm across his chest.

Luke took a deep, steadying breath and wrapped his arm around her – pulling her close, and realized with that damnable tightening in his chest that nearly took the breath from his body, that this felt right. That
this
was where she belonged - held safe and secure within the circle of his arms. Now, if he could only get the mule-headed witch to realize it – he’d be good.

The first thing that Kat was conscious of as she slowly came awake was the steady pounding in her head - and she winced in pain.
The next was the feel of being held against a steely, muscular frame that she knew immediately.

She opened her eyes slowly; basking in the feel of Luke’s strong arms wrapped securely around her, and allowed herself a moment to just
feel
how wonderful it was to be there. Dear Lord - he was smooth and hard - and oh, so tempting. She could hear the steady thrum of his heart against her ear and smiled at the wonderful tempo it made. It was steady and sound – strong and soothing. Oh, if she could only have this forever, she thought sadly and mentally shook herself. No, that just wasn’t in the cards.

Resigning herself that the thought was just a stupid dream, she slowly pulled herself from his arms and slid from the bed. Hoping a shower would ease the pain she was feeling – in more ways than one.

She quickly grabbed her backpack, which Luke had so graciously left by the dresser and slipped into the bathroom. She groaned when she looked at herself in the mirror. Her hair was a tangled mess and her eyes were blood red. She dug into her pack and pulled out a bottle of aspirin.

Quickly opening the bottle, she tossed a couple of pills into her mouth and poured herself a glass of water from the tap -downing three more glasses quickly after.

She stripped and turned on the shower full blast, waiting until the water had turned near scalding before stepping in and letting it wash the tension from her aching body.

Luke lay in bed; waking the instant that Kat had slipped from his arms, and stared up at the ceiling - trying with everything he had not to picture her standing naked in the shower – her soapy body slick, and smooth – and glistening.

“Shit!” He cursed as he threw back the covers and sprang from the bed. He paced the room like a caged animal, trying to calm his overcharged body.

He tried to distract himself by planning out what their next move should be.
They needed to find her sister, and hopefully she hadn’t high-tailed it out of town yet. Deciding that their best move would be to go back to the Bradford’s house so that he could check for her scent, he dressed quickly and plopped down in the chair by the window – waiting for the comely witch.

When Kat walked out of the bathroom, she found Luke sitting by the window, staring out. His mouth set in a tight line.
She felt her cheeks heat at the sight of him sitting there, looming like a dark storm cloud, and was again instantly struck by how primal the man was. He was dark and dangerous and utterly gorgeous. She cleared her throat and faced him.

“What do we do now?” she asked, hating how aware of him she was.
Even with her head pounding - she felt an overwhelming desire wash over her with just his presence. And it was definitely not what she wanted. She needed to find her sister and get away from Luke as quickly as possible.

Luke turned to her and smiled, his eyes raking over her shapely figure in appreciation. She looked utterly tempting standing there in her tight jeans and tank top, and Luke felt his body respond immediately.

“I want to head back over to the Bradford’s and see if I can pick up your sisters scent,” he said, standing and walking over to her. He stopped not a foot away from her and gave her a smile, his hand reaching up and stroking her cheek. “You look pale,” he murmured. “Guess drinking like a fish doesn’t really agree with you, red.”

Kat slapped his hand away and glared, her chest heaving with indignation. “I am just fine, Tonto,” she snapped – even though the pounding in her head begged to differ.
She turned and grabbed her backpack, walking over to the door. “Well?” she questioned, her brow raised. “Let’s get a move on.” With that she stomped out of the door, her eyes slamming shut as the glare of the morning sun hit her full force, and she inwardly groaned. Ugh, that
really
hurt!

When Luke pulled into the
Bradford’s drive, he drove around to the back of the house before throwing the car into park, and turning to glance at Kat’s questioning look.

“We’re not going in the house,” he informed her, his gaze stoic.

The last thing he wanted was for Kat to have to go back into that house. He was fairly certain that no one had discovered the couple’s bodies yet, and he didn’t need Kat seeing that. “I want to see if I can pick up Harper’s scent back here. Her bedroom window is up there,” he said, pointing, and Kat nodded – knowing full well why he didn’t want to go in. And for a change, she had no desire to go against him.

With the way that her head was pounding and her stomach churning from her escapades at the club last night - she didn’t think she could take going in there.
She watched silently as he got out of the car and walked over to the back of the house, below the open bedroom window. She was fascinated by the intense way he studied the area around him, his rock solid body alert - and so damn sexy. He moved with a lithe grace that was absolutely fascinating. It was smooth and sexy and…

Kat groaned inwardly at the path her wayward thoughts were taking her, and looked around – trying to keep her eyes off of the distracting wolf. She thought she saw a flicker of movement by the side of the house and leaned forward slightly to try and get a better look - but there was nothing.

She watched as Luke knelt down to pick up some dirt - bringing it to his nose and sniffing. He stood and walked over to Kat.

“She ran into the woods,” he informed her softly, leaning against the SUV.
“We aren’t very far from town, so I’m hoping she went to a friend. I’m going to follow her scent a bit,” he turned and leaned in, bringing his full, perfect mouth close to hers. “Care to take a little stroll through the woods with the
Big Bad Wolf
, red?”

Kat swallowed the grapefruit sized lump that had formed in her throat, and shook her head.
The
last
thing she wanted to do was to go traipsing through the woods with this arrogant – albeit gorgeous, ass! Especially with her being hung over and feeling as if she had swallowed saw dust.

“All right then,” he murmured, kissing her lightly on the cheek.
“Stay in the car- and I do mean
stay.
I won’t be long. Just call out if you need me,” he finished with a devilishly heart-stopping quirk of his brow, and Kat grimaced.

She studied him as he walked away, all confident and gorgeous – and cursed him to hell as he disappeared through the thick patch of pine trees that bordered the property - her heart jumping to her throat.
That man infuriated and calmed her all at the same time – and
how
that was even possible just completely stumped her. He had her mind, heart, body and soul all fighting against the other – and she hated it. It was as if she had no control what-so-ever over her emotions when he was near. And she had never felt so out of control in her life.

Again she saw something flicker from the corner of her eye and turned back toward the house.
This time, she was certain that she saw something move. She looked for Luke, but he was nowhere to be seen and she cursed softly – trying to figure out what to do. Screw it! She finally decided. It couldn’t hurt to just check it out - besides, she thought with a grunt, she should - for all intents and purposes, be doing this on her own anyway. What did it matter if he wasn’t here? Who needed the mangy cur anyway?

Kat opened the door and slid out – wincing again as the damn sun hit her full on - not helping her headache in the least – and swore that she would never drink Tequila again.
Her mind drifted to the feel of Luke’s strong arms around her as they had danced – the way his body had felt when he had pressed her up against him and kissed her - his mouth at her breast… and she mentally shook herself. Damn it! She needed to purge that man from her thoughts. But even as she tried to convince herself of that fact – she found her eyes instantly flicking to where the stubborn ass had disappeared through the trees, and she found herself longing to be walking along beside him.

She huffed in disgust at her weakness, and turned her attention back to the corner of the house.
There it was again, a slight movement - and she hesitantly crept closer. When she reached the front of the structure, she pressed herself against the wall and peered around the corner.

Shit! Kat gasped, when she saw the two men walking around the front of the house - peering into the windows. She knew in an instant that these were witches from Lexie’s coven, and her heartbeat immediately accelerated as adrenaline shot through her system.

As she went to take a step back to go and find Luke - her foot snagged on a rock and she stumbled, inadvertently hissing out a curse as she did.

Their heads turned towards Kat in unison, and she heard the one growl. “That’s her.”

Kat turned, with the intention of running to where Luke had disappeared through the trees to warn him; but immediately stopped herself – not wanting them to know that he was with her. She had put him in enough danger already, and she didn’t need to lead these two assholes straight to him.

So instead, Kat took off running towards the woods at the side of the house – as far from Luke as she could.
She crashed through the trees and ran blindly as she heard them cursing and running behind her.

In the next instant, Kat tripped and was painfully tumbling down a hill and rolling through the dirt and debris.
She was stopped a moment later when she slammed into a tree, and felt an instant burning in her hip – knocking the breath right out of her.

“Holy
crap
!” She groaned – before pushing herself up and looking to see where the two men were.