Blood Wolf Dawning (9 page)

Chapter 6

B
y the time they’d crossed into Maryland, Cian was in a world of pain unlike anything he’d ever known. He took shallow breaths and tried not to draw too much of Sayre’s mouthwatering scent into his lungs, but it was a wasted effort. Now that she’d admitted she still wanted him, there wasn’t any point in trying to keep his hands off her. He was locked on to every single
detail of her, his hunger increasing with each second that ticked by, coiling tightly through his insides. Like a physical thing, it prowled beneath his hot skin, keeping perfect company with his beast.

To make matters worse, the more time he spent with her, the more it became increasingly clear that he genuinely
liked
her. Yeah, he lusted after the little witch to the point that it was going
to damn near kill him to walk away from her. To leave without claiming her in
all
the ways that he craved. But he liked the woman beneath that beautiful surface to an equally dangerous degree. She was funny and spirited and fascinating. Different from the girl he’d known, and yet, the same.

Sweet, smart, beautiful Sayre. If he’d been a different man, with a different past...and a different
future, he would have claimed her in a heartbeat. Even with that smart-ass mouth and attitude that could so easily rile him.

Finally reaching his breaking point, he sent up a silent word of thanks to whomever might be out there listening when he saw the sign for a small rest area a mile up the road. They were in a remote part of the mountains and hadn’t passed another car for the last twenty
minutes, so when they reached the turnoff, he took it and followed the dirt path into the trees, parking at the back of a small clearing that sat at the edge of a cliff. Restrooms and a few empty picnic tables were the only amenities, but the view out over the mountains was incredible.

“Is there any particular reason that you’ve parked here?” she asked, staring out at the view as she undid
her seat belt.

He cut the engine, the air leaving his lungs in a rough exhalation. “You know damn well why I brought us here.”

With a feminine little snort that he found entirely too adorable, she turned her head and gave him a cocky grin. “You’re too old to drive for long periods of time without getting out to stretch your legs?”

Arching his right eyebrow, he said, “You’ve developed
quite a gift for sarcasm, haven’t you?”

Her next breath released on a sigh. “Sometimes life will do that to a girl. Does it turn you off?”

“There isn’t a damn thing you could do to turn me off, Sayre.”

She blinked at him with wide eyes. “Wow, you’re not holding back, are you?”

“Why the hell should I hold back about wanting you? I wanted you when you were too young for me to
even think about. Wanted you so badly it nearly drove me out of my goddamn mind. I want you even more now.”

“Good,” she breathed. “Because I want you, too.”

“Then come on,” he rumbled, reaching for his door handle. “I’m not kissing you for the first time in this small-ass car.”

With a low, kind of nervous laugh, she opened her door and started to climb out. “This is a beautiful
car, you know. You’re just too big for it.”

Did she just call us big?
his wolf growled, sounding smug as hell.
She’s got that right.

Shaking his head at the arrogant idiot, Cian climbed out and slammed his door shut. His stupid hands were still trembling like a boy’s, and he couldn’t help but shake his head at himself, as well. So much for his legendary reputation and control. All it
took was a single heated look from this girl, like the one she was giving him as he came around the front of the Audi, and he was undone. Damn near knocked back on his ass like someone who’d had their legs swept out from under them.

“I don’t understand,” he said when he was standing right in front of her and staring into those big, beautiful eyes, a shimmering ring of gold beginning to gleam
around the smoky blue. It was like she’d been shocked wide open, her desire laid bare for him to witness, and it humbled him just as much as it scared the ever-loving hell out of him. “How can you do this, Sayre? How can you look at me like that? Don’t you blame me for what’s happening? For the fact that your life’s in danger?”

She pulled in a deep breath as she stared up at him, and then
slowly let it out. Voice thick with emotion, she said, “I actually blame you for a lot of things, Cian. If that bothers you, then don’t touch me. It’s your choice. I’m simply being as honest as I can be with you about what I want.”

“You were never this bold before.”

“True,” she agreed, keeping her gaze locked tight with his as she leaned back against the passenger’s-side door. “But a
person can change a lot in five years.”

“And some things don’t change at all.”

“Are you talking about yourself?” she asked, some of the light in her eyes fading, and he knew she was thinking about the women. About the ones he’d gone through faster than packs of cigarettes.

“I was. But it’s not what you think, Sayre. I was thinking about the way you affect me.”

The frown between
her slender brows smoothed out. “Oh.”

A slow, crooked smile tugged at his lips. “Yeah,
oh
.”

“Tell me,” she said, the words soft and husky with need. “I mean, I know it’s really just the connection, but I’m curious if it’s as strong for you as it is for me.”

“You want me to speak plainly?” he asked, his throat so tight with lust he could barely voice the question.

She nodded.
“Please.”

Cian stepped closer and allowed himself to touch his fingertips to the pink flush on her cheek, her skin so smooth and soft it was unreal. She’d left her hair down, and the wind was playing havoc with the wavy strands, silky tendrils brushing against his forearm and across the back of his wrist. “I’ll tell you what I want, Sayre. I want you open and bare beneath me, your beautiful
little body
mine
to do with as I please,” he confessed, the lilting burr of his accent thickening with each word. “I want you wet and desperate and begging for me, lass. I want to make you feel so bloody good you can’t do anything but scream when you come for me, your nails digging into my back and your body writhing. I want to get inside you, any way I can, and bring you off so many times you
won’t even be able to remember what it was like without my hands and mouth on your skin, laying claim to every part of you.”

She shivered, and he loved the way he could feel the warmth of her blush surge beneath his fingertips, her temperature spiking with the fiery energy of her power, tiny sparks of light beginning to glitter in the air around them. Her eyes were glassy with desire, storm-dark
and eager, those slim rings of gold at the outer edge of her irises starting to burn even brighter.

“I’m, um, good with all that,” she whispered, her little tongue swiping across that succulent lower lip that he wanted to catch between his teeth and suck on,
hard
. It was juicy and pink, the sweet rush of her blood lying just beneath the tender surface, and Cian quickly shoved that dangerous
thought behind thick iron gates in his mind, determined not to let it take hold of him and ruin this unexpected moment.

Given their past, he’d never once believed that she would let him get close to her like this. And there was always the chance that she would change her mind. Which meant he needed to get the hell on with it, enjoying it while it lasted, and pray to whatever higher power
might be listening that he didn’t blow it by losing control.

Lowering his head, he gently swept his lips across hers, using every ounce of strength he possessed to hold himself back, still terrified he’d scare her off. The wolf inside him shuddered with pleasure to finally have the taste of her, and their breaths blended together, the tips of her breasts pressing against his chest as he made
a low, thick sound of hunger in the back of his throat. When he pulled his head back to check her reaction, making sure she was still with him, she frowned up at him. “What’s wrong?” he rasped, curving his hand around her nape.

“Is there some kind of problem? Because despite what you keep saying, you seem pretty reluctant.”

You fucking idiot
, his wolf snarled, seething beneath his skin.
We’ve finally got her and you’re blowing it!

“Not reluctant, Sayre. Just trying to figure out if I’m dreaming.”

Another soft burst of laughter seemed to catch her by surprise as it fell past her lips, and she smirked up at him. “Oh, man. That was a smooth line.”

“I wish it was a line,” he groaned, caging her in with his arms as he pressed his palms flat against the sun-warmed side
of the car, her breaths coming in little pants of excitement that he couldn’t get enough of. Then he leaned down and brushed his mouth over hers again, unable to believe how impossibly sweet her lips were. “This would be so much easier if it was,” he growled against that tender mouth, flicking the center of her bottom lip with his tongue.

When she moaned and rubbed her tongue against his,
he lost it and thrust past her lips, the kiss turning deep and deliciously wet. It was terrifying as hell, how damn perfect she tasted, the tender recesses of her mouth and that kittenish tongue that kept tempting him to take more on the cusp of landing her in some serious trouble. His gums burned with the weight of his fangs, every dark, dangerous part of him shocked into awareness by the feel and
scent and taste of her.

Unable to keep his hands off her, Cian reached down and grasped her hips in a hard, possessive hold, preparing to pull her into his lower body, against the part of him that was getting harder by the second, when she gasped against his mouth in a way that almost sounded like fear. Breaking away from the kiss, he pressed his forehead against hers, his body shaking with
the effort it took to stop and wait for her to tell him that she was okay.

“Sorry,” she whispered unsteadily. “I didn’t want you to stop. I’m just...I’m not used to people touching me.”

He knew she meant in a casual way, seeing as how she’d been living on her own for so long. But he also sensed that she was talking about physical intimacy. Whatever the little witch had done with other
men after he’d left, there was still a part of her that was somewhat shy when it came to sex, and he both loved and hated it with equal ferocity. Yeah, he was relieved that she hadn’t gone out and banged every guy she could find just to get back at him for being a jackass. But on the other hand, he didn’t quite know what to do with someone who didn’t share his level of sexual experience. That was
something he hadn’t messed around with for decades, and, for a moment, he was worried he’d do this all wrong. Go in for too much, too soon, and end up pushing her to call a halt to the whole thing.

He couldn’t let that happen. Not when the taste of her had just hit his system like a shot of pure whiskey. She was even more addictive than he’d feared, and now he was hooked. Walking away from
her at this point, before he’d gotten his fill, might damn well finish him off. And while he might not care all that much about dying, he wasn’t going anywhere until he’d dealt with Aedan. No way in hell was he leaving this world until his brother had been taken care of, once and for all, and Sayre was safe.

The touch of her hands curling over his shoulders jerked him from his troubled thoughts,
and he couldn’t stop himself from lifting his head to ask, “Why are you really doing this, Sayre? With me of all people?”

Holding his gaze, she said, “I don’t have to tell you my reasons, Cian. You’re either game or you’re not. No pressure. But if we do this, I want it to be worth it.”

“And what, in your mind, makes it worth it?”

“In all honesty? Lots of things. But the pleasure
is a part of it. Until this problem with your brother is over, I want you to make me feel good. I want you to rock my freaking world.” Her beautiful eyes gleamed with challenge. “So are you up for it?”

Despite her mention of Aedan, which should have turned his blood cold, his shoulders shook with a silent laugh. “Poor choice of words, lass. I’m always
up
for it with you.”

“Wow,” she
murmured with a smirk. “Look at the old man playing the comedian.”

“I’m not that old,” he grunted as he dipped his head and nipped the delicate edge of her jaw with his teeth.

“Sure you aren’t, baby.”

He rubbed his nose against hers, a smile on his lips that he couldn’t have gotten rid of to save his life. “You’re riling me on purpose, aren’t you, you little witch?”

“Either
way,” she quipped, “you’ll never know.”

“Ah, lass. I told you that you shouldn’t play with me,” he growled, holding her head still with his hands as he brought his mouth down over hers again, claiming that damp, succulent part of her like he owned it. The kiss was nothing but pure, unadulterated craving, raw and aggressive and dirty as hell. His tongue pushed into her mouth, stroking against
her own in a way that was suggestive of how he wanted to lick at that sweet flesh between her thighs, and he knew that she got it. That she understood what he was trying to tell her with the greedy, explicit demands of his lips and tongue and teeth. His hands burrowed deeper into the silken mass of her hair, turning her head at the angle he needed so that he could get to even more of that hot
little mouth, the breathless sounds that she made and the way she clutched at his shoulders as she kissed him back driving him out of his goddamn mind.

Needing to learn more of her, he lowered his arms and pushed his hands under the hem of her shirt, touching her soft, smooth skin. His heart was hammering so hard he was surprised it hadn’t torn free of his chest, his pulse roaring in his
ears, the thumping beat keeping perfect time with the guttural howls of his beast. Loving the way she felt, he trailed two fingertips across her soft skin, his path leading to the shallow indentation of her navel. But just as he started to trace his fingertips over the sexy tattoo he knew was inked there, something dark and savage burst inside his head like an explosion, slamming into him with the
force of a racehorse at full tilt. He cursed against her mouth, burning with the predatory need to take her down to the ground and bury every inch of his brutal erection deep inside her, at the same time he drove his fangs into the tender column of her throat and bit the holy living hell out of her.