Dangerously Red (A Dark and Dirty Tale) (3 page)

“I know.” My heart clenches as I interrupt him. I can’t bear to hear him say that we could’ve been great together. I’ll break apart if I think about it for too long. I can’t deny that on some level, some part of me is seriously pulled to Lukas. But it’s just sex with him. Primal, carnal, hotter than Hades, oh-my-fuckity sex. And this is my
life
I’m deciding tonight. My future happiness depends on one decision, one name. “You don’t have to say anything. It’ll only make things harder.”

“Too late, baby.” He takes my hand, guides it down his chest, over his rippling abs to his straining erection. “I’m already there. I can’t resist you, Ivy. You lure me in and make me forget everything that’s going on outside of you and me and this moment.”

As a full-body shudder racks me, I take his thick length in my hand. “I feel the same way.”

Stroking slowly at first, and then faster and faster, I crush my lips to his while I work him, twisting and turning my wrist over his rod as my tongue dances with his. He feasts on my whimpers, and answers with satisfied groans that only increase my thirst for him. He sucks my bottom lip into his mouth and gently grates his teeth over my flesh. I’m shivering, wet and aching, and I can’t let another second go by without him inside me.

Shuffling around him, I brace myself against the wall, and prop my foot on the stone bench beside me.

“I know what you want, Ivy. I can sense your desire.” He’s on me before he finishes the sentence, an arm coiled around my back to support my weight, his mouth claiming mine. “But not yet.”

He kneels in front of me, ghosting his hands down my body, over my breasts, down my abs, and as he presses a scorching kiss to my pleasure spot, I slip against the wall. Grasping for purchase, I run my fingers through his hair and grip the ends tight. He moans, his breath hot on my flesh, causing a delicious vibration to sing through my core. Sliding a hand to my rear and gripping lightly, he holds me up as his tongue drags over my clit. I lift my head into the warm spray and let the steam fill my lungs. I’m aching, writhing, gasping, as he toys with my tender flesh and desire escalates to drowning need.

He gazes up at me with heavily-lidded eyes. “If I had nothing else to eat in this world,” he says, lapping his thick tongue over my throbbing clit. “I could happily survive on your cream alone. You’d be my personal Ivy buffet.”

I giggle as delight streams through me. “For you, I’d be open twenty-four hours a day.”

“All I can eat,” he adds, grinning up at me mischievously.

This
is the banter I’ll miss when I’m bonded with Lukas and Reaper is gone from my life—the crackle of humor mixed with the heat of his body.
This
is what Lukas and I don’t have. While we have intense sexual chemistry, I don’t feel equal to him outside of the bedroom. Especially now that I know no one will be allowed to touch me after tonight.

He doesn’t light me up this way, doesn’t make me laugh and tease me. Doesn’t unwind me.

Not like this.

As Reaper begins to suck and tease and twirl his tongue round and round, minutes blend into one rippling blur of sensation, and I come with resounding force. The orgasm grips me like a fist, pounding relentlessly as my hips buck against his sexy mouth.

He rises to his feet, snatches me around the waist and hauls me against him.

“You’re so fucking hot, Ivy. You’re ruining me.” He slides his dick through my folds, bends his knees slightly, and then rises up, spearing me in one vicious stroke. “I’ll never forget your hot mouth…” Groaning, he licks my bottom lip. The carnal sound reverberates through the room as his rod pummels the walls of my sex. “Your tight pussy…” As he slams his hips against mine, he reaches between our bodies and teases my clit. Shockwaves of sensation rattle my bones, draining every last ounce of my energy. “And the way you feel in my arms. No one will ever compare.”

His words pound through my head.

No one will ever compare.

The insinuation is there, loud and clear, and might as well be written on the shower wall. There will be other women. No one will compare, sure, but that won’t stop him from sleeping around.

I’m a fool.

And I can’t even be bitter about it. I can’t expect Reaper to remain chaste. No way. He’s one of the sexiest men I’ve seen in my life. He’s virile and hot-blooded and as far from celibate as one could get. More than that, I’m not refraining from anything. While Reaper is in Europe, I’ll be working on the orgasm overload experiment with Lukas and his Super Shaft.

Why then, does it bother me when I think of Reaper seeking out pleasure with someone else?

Before I can further analyze the discrepancy, he drives deep and then stills, letting his cock pulse and flex inside me. Liquid heat blazes over my skin, and I’m hyperaware of everything in this moment. Every stream of water as it hits my body, awakening my nerves. Every delicious inch of his dick as it stretches me, hitting just the right spot. Every tingle in my swollen flesh, and the promise of another orgasm on the horizon. And most of all, I’m aware of the look of awe in his onyx eyes, and how it’s never been there before. Not quite like this.

Reflexively, I reach around his shoulders and claw my nails into his back to bring him closer. He can’t get close enough. Pleasure swells inside me in a tidal wave of ecstasy as he nudges my legs apart with his, and thrusts inside. I slide up the wall, gripping his back for purchase, holding on tight.

“Feel me inside you, Ivy.” He stamps a burning kiss on my lips as he works my sex. “Feel how great we are together.”

Oh yes.

We’re a perfect fit. No pain. No fear or hesitation. There is only mind-numbing waves of pleasure that flood my entire body.

“I ache for you, Reaper,” I breathe, a hot rush of blood pounding in my ears. “No matter what tonight brings, I’ll always want you.”

I’ve never meant any words more. My heart calls his name—a whisper, a quiet panging need, a plea that no one will ever hear but him. And we’re almost out of time. The realization is a crushing blow, weakening my middle.

He drives in and pulls out, propping me up with one arm and kneading my breast with the other. My heart drums in time with his thrusts, and although I can’t hear his heart beat, I know it’s racing. I can almost feel its tempo speed up as his own release closes in.

“I’m going to give you more.” His moves are rigid, his muscles drawn tight as he slams into me. “Everything I have to give.”

As the orgasm rips through my core, pulsing and clenching around his shaft, he groans, nuzzling into my neck, sheathing himself deep—so blissfully deep—until he cries out my name. His cock swells inside me as he comes hard, filling me with his seed, marking me with his scent.

He plants a wet kiss on my neck and another right below my ear. “How am I supposed to walk away from you?”

I sigh happily. “Don’t.”

Even though I know it’s not possible, it’s the first word that screams through my head as he hugs me tight.

“You know I have to go.”

Nodding, I rest my head on his bare shoulder and breathe him in, committing his scent to memory. “I know.”

I want him.

I want more than the sexually fueled moments in the garden or the hallway or the shower. I need him by my side, teasing me, challenging me, helping me as I transition into a wolf for the first time.

When I’m with Lukas, lost in the throes of orgasm, I crave him, too, but I don’t want to be trapped, restricted, and controlled in every aspect of my life. Ruling the castle and its gorgeous grounds would be a total trip, but I don’t require all of that. I long for what Reaper gives me—gentleness blended with explosive chemistry. Humor and intelligence. Tender submission that can flip to dominance in the bedroom.

As Reaper helps me out of the shower and dries off my shaking body, I realize my future is as foggy as the bathroom mirror.

“Isn’t there any way?”
For us to be together
, I mean. But I don’t need to finish.

He ties the towel around his waist and then sweeps a wet strand of hair over my shoulder. “As soon as I discover who killed my parents, I can end my hunt and return to the pack.” He strokes his hands up and down my back, gliding his fingers across my slick skin. “But not until then, Ivy.” As we emerge from the bathroom, he glances at the clock. “You only have a few minutes left.”

Thoughts whirling, I pull on my cloak and am struck with the strangest feeling that I’m preparing for my funeral. And as we walk hand in hand down the narrow hall, a cold draft of air creeps up the back of my neck. My hands become clammy, and my heart slows as the blood freezes in my veins.

“This is it. We shouldn’t go any further. Wouldn’t want to piss off your future mate.” At the top of the stairs, at the last point before anyone can see us, Reaper lifts my hand and plants the softest of kisses my knuckles. “Good-bye, Ivy.”

And then he charges down the stairs without looking back. I want to call for him, beg him to come back, sweep me into his arms, and carry me back to bed for the rest of the night.

But I can’t.

I’ll never know what this feels like again—to be overcome by passion, and cherished beyond my wildest dreams. Not anymore. Not after I’m ensnared in Lukas’s controlled and demanding life. This January Wolf Moon might be the beginning of the rest of my life as a wolf, but right now, in this soul-deadening moment, it’s a death march.

Will I be able to say Lukas’s name in front of everyone?

And if I do, will Reaper simply stand there and let me go?

As I pad down the staircase and my insides quiver with indecision, I’m not sure. Not about anything.

Chapter Three

Ivy

The Main Hall is a Victorian Gothic paradise, elegant and dramatic and lush. The castle is a blur of black, gold, and burgundy. Of heavy velvet drapes and boldly textured walls. Of dark corners and dim candlelight. Every wolf in the Arcana Wolf Pack fills the space with fur and fangs, and they bow as the Omega shuffles in. Packmates pair off and situate themselves on thick pads in front of the raised ornate throne, and as I hurry to the front of the stage, I can feel their eyes on me. I’m the only pre-shifter left—the only one who passed out before I could declare my mate.

Across the dimly lit room, curtains have been pulled back to reveal the hallway where I stood an hour before with the other pre-shifting women. But now, it’s empty. They’re probably somewhere in the castle, already learning how to shift into wolves, their bonded mates at their sides.

Lucky bitches.

They make it look easy. As if declaring a mate and bonding for life is as simple as choosing soup or salad. But my tastes are apparently far more complicated than that. This is the most difficult thing I’ve ever done. My body is paying the toll with shivers and stomach cramps and a migraine that’s festering behind my eyes.

It’s probably what I get for letting two men—
cousins
—knock me naked.

Trepidation screeches through me as I scan the room, looking from one set of wide wolf eyes to another. They’re larger than wolves I’ve seen in National Geographic magazines. The ridges of their backs arch five feet high. Their muzzles are wide, their eyes bright, their fangs protruding beneath slick black gums.

I’m not afraid of them, exactly, but of what this means. For me.

As soon as I declare Lukas as my mate, I’ll shift and be just like them. I’ll join their ranks and have a place on a mat in the back of the room. Although werewolves say the shift isn’t painful if you “do it the right way,” no one will say exactly what that way is.

More than anything, I want Reaper to guide me through it.

He’d protect me. Cherish me. Make sure I’m not uncomfortable in any way. He’d stroke my fur and then rake his hands over my naked body after I shift back to human form. It’d be glorious. A dream come true.

Would Lukas’s demands transfer over to my shifting, too? Would he control every aspect of it? When and where and how often? I know the answer deep down in my gut. He’d control
me
. Every part.

I shouldn’t even be thinking these things.

I’m already trapped—there’s only one way this ceremony can end.

Shoving the doubts deep down into my gut, I lift the bottom of my cloak and traipse onto the stage. The Omega sits on her throne, wearing ceremonial black, with her hands clasped together on her lap. Lukas is on her right, his jaw set and his eyes nearly glowing with unspoken demands. Reaper won’t even look at me—not a sideways glance or questioning glare. Nothing that would signal that he thinks we could have any more than crazy-good sex.

Standing square in front of them, I feel the heat of a hundred wolf eyes on my back and take a deep, trembling breath.

This is it.

“Red,” the Omega proclaims as the muffled sound of wolves pawing the ground hits my ears, “step forward and declare the name of your bonded mate.”

Out of my control, my attention shifts from Lukas to Reaper and back again. Lukas is sitting ramrod straight, his fingers curled over the arms of the chair. He exudes dominance, even now, as he glares through me. Reaper, on the other hand, is staring at his lap, a somber expression down-turning his handsome features.

Everyone is watching. Waiting.

Everyone but him.

If I could only see his eyes. Even one glimpse into their black depths might give me the courage to do this. I take another deep breath as my thoughts jumble and twist and turn. Every involuntary movement of my body suddenly seems disjointed and forced. I have to compel my lungs to fill, to will my heart to beat, or I fear it will still completely.

I know what I’m supposed to do, what the Omega has urged me to say, how this night is supposed to end, but I can’t wrap my mind around it. Last night I didn’t have a single prospect, and now I’m about to declare the Alpha as my mate—the one who’ll be by my side for the rest of my life. Uncertainty plagues me, whispering my deepest, darkest fears.

I’ll rule the castle and the pack with Lukas, by his side.

Unable to touch anyone. Ever.

I’ll be pleasured beyond my wildest dreams.

Nothing more than a possession, a conquest, an object.

“I—I declare,” I start, but my heart cuts my words short. “I want…”

Why won’t Reaper even look at me?

As if he heard the final thought streaming through my head, his gaze flips to mine. Raw, stinging pain blasts through me as I glimpse the grief darkening his onyx eyes. And then he mumbles something. A silent prayer? A curse?

It sounds like, “Forgive me,” but I can’t be sure. “Fuck me” would be a possibility, too. I stare, transfixed, watching his full lips for any sign of movement as he closes his eyes. When he opens his eyes again, the anguish reaches through the distance between us and carves me out. I’m hollowed. Shattered.

Reaper.
My heart calls out to him in a desperate rhythm.
It will always be you.

His eyes flash with awareness—
happiness
—as if he heard my thoughts. But he couldn’t have. I swallow hard, gagging on the duty and responsibility that threatens to strangle my future.

“What have you done,” the Omega says flatly. “Red…”

The Great Hall erupts in a ripple of whimpers. Tension whirls through the air as horror shoots through me.

Ohholyfuckballs.

I said it aloud. Called out Reaper’s name. In front of everyone.

“I was going to—supposed to—I swear I didn’t mean that,” I stammer, putting up my hands in surrender. “Did you hear—Did I say…everything?”

Blanching, the Omega nods slowly. Even if she overrules my choice, which she has been known to do, I’ve still slept with Lukas and then chosen another, with every single one of his packmates watching.

Hatred and humiliation are written all over Lukas’s face as I backpedal, rattling off excuses and apologies, but nothing is working. Gibberish tumbles from my mouth. My heart splits right down the middle and begins to crumble from the pressure. Now I’m the one who can’t look at him. I stare at my bare feet, the frayed hem of my cloak, and the glossy hardwood floor.

“Red,” the Omega says over the hot rush of blood in my ears, “you have chosen Reaper.” Her voice is shaky. Hesitant. “You are…” Time. Fucking. Stops. “A perfect—”

“No,” Lukas spits, and the hall falls silent. “Don’t you dare finish that sentence.”

Reaper stands, hands in his pockets, facing his cousin as we all wait for him to continue. The Omega remains seated, her narrow, wrinkled face an unreadable mask. A wolf in the back of the room coughs—probably choking up a fur ball—and it seems to smack Lukas back on track.

“I’m exercising my divine right.” Lukas is on me before I can take a single breath, and snakes a strong arm around my waist. His grip is greedy and possessive, and a huge wake up call. If we were going to be together, I should be his wife and his equal, not an object he can claim at whim. “In the privacy of my bed chamber, Ivy Douglas declared that she was mine.”

Oh sure, bring up the bedroom talk. What happened to
never kiss and tell
? Was chivalry
completely
dead?

“There’s no reason why those words—a declaration of her intent,” he says, “shouldn’t carry over to this public ceremony.”

“Private declarations aren’t witnessed by the entire pack and are therefore invalid.” The Omega stands, clutching her midnight-black shawl over her shoulders. “And I don’t need to remind you that in our pack, males don’t choose. The women hold the right to—”

“I’m not a child, grandmother,” Lukas hisses, his breath coating my ear. “I’m the fucking Alpha of this pack and have lived by its rules my entire life.”

“Maybe you should check yourself.” Reaper’s voice rings out. He’s standing closer now, a few feet away. His jaw ticks near his ear. “Lukas, because you’re the Alpha of my pack, and my cousin, I’ll give you to the count of three to release your grip on
my
woman. After that, I’m taking your head off.”

“
Your
woman?”

Reaper nods. Only once.

“You don’t want to do this, Lukas,” the Omega presses, her beady eyes shifting to the packmates watching from below. “We can talk about this later. In private.”

“No, it has to be now.” Lukas tightens his grip on my waist, and backs toward the opposite end of the stage, holding me as some kind of barrier between him and Reaper. “I think our pack laws are stale and in need of a major overhaul. And since every pack member is in attendance, any laws changed at this juncture are binding.”

Reaper growls. “One…”

The Omega touches Reaper’s arm and pleads with him, but I can’t hear what she’s saying over the sound of Lukas’s breathing in my ear.

“It is time for the available men in the pack to choose their mates.” He continues to back away, pulling me along with him. “Women have held the power long enough. And while we’re on the topic of women in power…” Cinching his arm around my waist like a python, Lukas turns me until we’re facing the Omega. His grip is rough, his fingers gouging into my stomach. “Times are changing, and if we want to survive, we must change with them. Packs in the area are growing stronger, yet our Omega is determined for us to obey the old rules and traditional ways of doing things, keeping us stagnant and weak. I’ve requested funds to breathe new life into our security, and I’ve brought the prospect of mergers to the table. Packmates…brothers and sisters…I’ve been denied at every turn.”

“Lukas?” the Omega says, her voice weaker than I’ve ever heard it. “What are you doing?”

“You’re too old to know what’s right for the pack. And you’re weak. No one has seen you shift into a wolf in fifty years. You probably can’t even do it anymore.” He hauls me against him with a jerk. “So I’ve taken steps behind the scenes to assure our dominance.”

“You mean behind her
back
,” I mumble.

Reaper takes a giant step forward. “Two…”

“You’re the one impersonating me?” the Omega asks, as the color drains from her face. “The one stealing money?”

“
Investing
money, grandmother. I’ve made the pack stronger in the last year than it’s ever been. You think you can live with the same security, laws, and traditions, and invest in the same places year after year, and remain one of the strongest packs in the country?” He barks out a laugh. “You can’t. Under my rule, we’re going to merge with the southern California pack and rule the entire west coast. Those new wolves will work for us. They’ll guard us, bring in new blood, and new ideas.”

“Lukas, it’s the wrong approach,” she pleads. “Southern California wolves will have different morals and traditions, and varying degrees of loyalty. And there’ll be two Omegas.” She shakes her head wearily. “That would never work.”

But he doesn’t plan on sharing the throne with anyone. I haven’t known him more than a single night, yet I know, unequivocally, he wants to control
both
packs. How could he go against his own grandmother? Push her aside and try to build something without her? I expected Lukas to be controlling and domineering when it came to pack business, but underhanded? Disloyal to his own bloodline? I wouldn’t have thought it. I’m ashamed for him, embarrassed, and incredibly…disenchanted.

“We are a family,” she goes on, as if she can reason with him. “We must remain close and tight and watch out for one another, because our lives are in each other’s hands. How can we feel that type of connection if our ties are loose and wide spread?”

Reaper stalks closer, his eyes narrowing to blacked-out slits.

“It’s too late,” Lukas seethes. “All that’s left is one final contract to sign. That’s it.” He plants an open-mouthed kiss on my neck. “You’re out.”

Reaper growls fiercely and crouches, ready to strike. “Three.”

With a frenzied roar, he springs toward us, his clothes shredding and falling to the ground as he shifts into a wolf in midair. Inky black fur explodes from his skin as his limbs lengthen and strengthen and his face transforms.

I don’t even realize Lukas has released me until I spin around and run face first into his snarling, drooling, whiskery muzzle.

…

Reaper

Blood may be thicker than water, but they’ll pour from Lukas’s body just the same.

Jolting into action, I leap through the air and let my wolf form blast to the surface. Lukas tries to put Ivy in front of him as some kind of shield against my attack—
the coward
—but he releases her for a split second so he can defend himself in wolf form. Ivy spins right into him, and as she flinches, jumping aside, she leaves him wide open.

Good girl.

Clawing at his side, I come away with clumps of fur and flesh beneath my fingers. Lukas howls, spinning away as blood drips to the floor. I paw at the ground in front of him, daring him to come at me.

You’re stupid to challenge me in front of my pack,
he says through wolf mind-speak.
I could kill you here and now, and I’d be well within my rights.

A sick sense of satisfaction rolls through me as I circle him, searching for an in, waiting for a sign of weakness. I analyze his every move. Every twitch of his muscles. Every sniff he takes of the stale air. I’m going to get the jump on him, and he’s never going to be able to hurt Ivy again.

You’ve forgotten who you are,
I project back, swiping for his muzzle.
Allow me to remind you. You are only the Alpha because I stepped down. Consider this my official return.

His eyes widen, but not for long. Taking advantage of the surprise, I leap forward, striking his cheek and trailing my claws down his side. He dodges before I can do major damage and parries my every move.