Fever (Blood Moon Rising, #1) (7 page)

Potentially
. He could work with
“potentially.”

She ran a finger along him, making him
quiver with desire. “You’re so big,” she whispered, leaning forward
and kissing the swollen head tenderly.

He braced himself against the wall as
her tongue danced along the tip, then licked him as her mouth
swallowed him whole.

“
Danica,” he gritted out as
she sucked him. He bucked his hips, grabbing her head and holding
it steady, taking over the rhythm. The faster he pumped, the harder
she sucked, squeezing her mouth around him as he moved in and out,
in and out.

She grabbed his hips, digging her
nails in.

He groaned, bucking harder. Sweet
release was close; he could feel it building up, bubbling to the
surface. Just a few more pumps….

Frantic knocking came from the door.
Nik’s voice yelled from the other side. “Sire! A word with
you!”

“
Not. Now,” Gage growled.
He was losing his mind. Never had he felt such intensity during any
sexual act.

More banging, louder this time. It
didn’t stop, becoming more insistent.

Danica pulled back, and Gage swore
profusely. The mood ruined, he stormed toward the door. “This had
better be damn good, or I swear, Nik-”

Nik opened the door before he reached
it. “It’s Onyx - he’s been spotted on the property.”

Gage wasted no time. Danica was
already covered again in her robe, to his immense disappointment,
when he turned around. “What’s going on?” she said, mouth swollen
and wet with his juices.

“
Nothing to worry about,”
he said soothingly, not wanting to frighten her anymore than he
already had earlier with the wolf stunt. Never would he do
something so stupid again. “We have to go.”

He went to the bathroom and grabbed a
towel, wrapping it around his waist. His erection hadn’t gone away,
the towel making it more obvious, but that was the least of his
concerns.

“
Why?” Danica said as he
ushered her out the door and down the hall, Nik leading the way.
“What’s happened?”

“
Nothing.”
Yet
.

Her face turned stormy. “Tell me
what’s going on right now! Obviously, I can handle it. I saw you
turn into a wolf earlier, and you haven’t had to commit me to an
insane asylum.”

Nik stifled a snicker.

Gage glared at him. “I’m taking you to
my quarters, where you will remain under my watch. The rest of the
premises is to be under lockdown. I want him found and brought to
me, Nik.”

“
On it.”

He parted ways with them at the next
landing, disappearing around a corner.

Danica glanced around anxiously. “Is
that man back?”

Gage felt a strong, protective urge
surge through him, and he hugged her tight. “I won’t let anything -
or anyone - hurt you. I swear it on my life.”

Chapter 7

Holy. Shit.

Werewolves. Mating.
Stalkers.

Her horoscope had
not
forecast this. More
so, what the hell was wrong with her? She’d gone from freaking out
over seeing him literally turn into the biggest wolf she’d ever
seen, to taking one glimpse of his dick and wanting to mount him
right there. It was like PMS on crack.

Gage held her close the rest of the
way to his room. It felt right being held by him - a sense of
rightness that was growing by the minute - but she couldn’t help
looking all around her, expecting Onyx to leap from the shadows
like a bogeyman.

Two guards stood outside a
large, ornate golden door. They looked like they just stepped out
of
Howl
, wearing
torn jeans, sleeveless shirts that showed off their muscular arms,
and a leer to make most people think twice about crossing their
paths. They bowed as Gage approached, opening the doors for
him.

The room was huge, with a California
King-sized bed on one wall with another gigantic, walk-in fireplace
opposite it. A large fur rug lay before the fire, and a window seat
sat beneath a window that took up a good portion of one wall,
providing a spectacular view of the distant lake and the
star-spackled sky.

“
Wow,” she said. “You
wolves spare no expense on interior decorating, do you?”

He chuckled slightly. She felt some of
the tension drain out of him as he wrapped his arms around her. She
instinctively leaned into him, liking the way he held her. She
imagined falling asleep in his arms every night, staring out at the
sky, feeling safe in the warmth of his embrace.

And how safe had you felt
in Seth’s arms, hmmm?

Shaking her head, she stepped away and
he reluctantly let go. He didn’t move to stop her as she walked
around, exploring. Her face heated. “Earlier… in my room…
that…”

“
Was amazing?” he said with
a sly smile. “You scandalize me, my lady. What will this do to my
sterling reputation?”

Now
, her face was on fire. “I just don’t want you to think I’m
some nympho looking for a quick fix.”

His face turned serious. “I would
never think that of you. Your reaction is entirely normal,
actually.”

She looked again at her hand, at the
dark blue ink that seemed to catch the moonlight. “The Change, you
mean.”

“
And the fever.”

“
What’s the
fever?”

He cleared his throat, staring at the
rug. “When a wolf reaches his or her prime, they go through the
mating season - their Blood Moon. That’s when the mating fever
takes hold.”

“
Oh.”
Awkward
. “When does it go
away?”

His eyes met hers, burning as brightly
as the fire. “When we mate.”

“
As in… have
sex?”

He nodded.

Had the rational side of her brain
been working, the idea of having sex with a total stranger would
definitely not have been down her alley. If anything, now, it made
her wetter. Who knew soft-spoken, “good girl” Danica could be such
a total slut?

“
What happens if we don’t
have sex?” she asked.

His eyes grew troubled, and a shadow
seemed to fall over his face. “We both remain unmated forever.” It
looked like he wanted to tell her something more, but he remained
silent.

“
That sounds lonely,” she
said, shoulders falling.

“
Yes.”

Silence.

She shook her head, going to sit on
the bed. Patting the bedspread beside her, she said, “Tell me about
the Change.”

He blinked, then sat down beside her.
“The first one is out of your control. I’m also sorry to say it
will be the most painful.”

“
Great. Like a second
period.”

He laughed. “I’ve never heard of it
put that way before, but I suppose you could compare the two.
You’re in wolf form for the entire night, Changing back at dawn.
From then on, you can control it, shifting at will.”

“
So the whole thing about
shifting during a full moon…?”

“
Nonsense. Humans mixed up
our Blood Moon with the ‘Curse of the Werewolf’ that’s so popular
in modern culture. It’s completely ridiculous.”

“
I see.”

“
You’re taking all of this
surprisingly well,” he said warily.

She laughed. “Aside from my initial
freak-out? Yeah, I suppose.” She shrugged. “When I was little, I
wanted to be a superhero. Somebody special, who was strong enough
to make a difference in the circumstances around me.”

He waited patiently for her to
continue.

“
My folks were always
fighting while I was growing up. We didn’t have much. When my dad
nearly broke my mom’s jaw one night, she grabbed me and ran away
with me to here.”

“
Where’s your
father?”

“
In jail. He’s in and out
so much, I think they just keep a cell prepared for
him.”

“
And your mom?”

Her throat nearly closed up.
“Dead.”

Gage took her hand and squeezed. For
once, the gesture actually was comforting. “I’m sorry for your
loss.”

Blinking away tears, she said, “It was
a long time ago, a car accident. I lived with my aunt, whom we were
staying with, until she left me one day too for her boyfriend. They
eloped.” She smiled. “I’m happy for her. I hear they had a
kid.”

“
But she still left
you.”

“
I was
eighteen.”

“
That doesn’t make it
okay.”

She looked at him. “No, I guess it
doesn’t. But it still happened.”

“
You’ve been alone for a
while, haven’t you?”

“
Yeah,” she said
flippantly, picking at a pearl sewn into the comforter
design.

Gage stared into the fire. “My dad
couldn’t hold down a job to save his life. He moved me and my
brothers all over the place, and you could forget about him
settling down with a woman. When we got old enough to work, we all
pitched in and helped. But it wasn’t enough. My father owed a lot
of bad people money - one of them the were who Marked him as
punishment. He Marked us the same day.”

She listened intently, frozen by the
sadness in his eyes.

“
More than anything, I
think the Mark was what tore our family apart. Dad couldn’t handle
it. He killed himself after the first Change, and eventually, my
brothers drifted off to different walks of life - all except Nik. I
was a lot scrawnier than my brothers for a long time, since it took
me a while to hit my growing spurt. Nik looked after me, protecting
me at school and at home. He took a lot of shit from
Dad.”

Danica could see the regret written on
his face, making his handsome face seem much older as he spoke
about his past.

“
Nik and I set out on our
own, moving from pack to pack until we found one that more or less
fit. It wasn’t easy. Packs are supposed to be like your family, but
there was a lot of in-fighting and warring with other packs when we
first joined the Moonstruck Pack.”

Danica was silent for a moment,
digesting this. Gage had to be incredibly tough to endure something
like that. “You’re the Alpha, aren’t you?”

“
Why would you say
that?”

“
Well, the guards and the
fact everyone keeps calling you ‘sire’ or ‘your highness’ kind of
gave it away.”

He gave her a small smile. “Does that
bother you?”

She blinked. “No! I think it’s great.
You’ve fought your way to the top. You’ve earned it.”

That troubled look returned. “If I
could spare you from the Underworld, I would.”

“
Underworld?”

“
The supernatural world
most humans don’t know about.”

Pause. “You mean, there are other
creatures? Like vampires?”

“
And succubi, incubi,
demons, angels, witches, warlocks, faeries.”

Her face lit up. For the
first time in a while, she felt like a kid again. “That’s
awesome
!”

His brows raised.

“
I, er, read a lot of
fantasy books to ‘escape’ while growing up.” And still do, but she
didn’t want to look any more like a dork than she already did.
“Anyplace was better than home, you know?”

He smiled, seeming amused. “I
see.”

Her mind spun with questions. Who knew
there was a whole other world out there, one she’d only dreamed
of?

Maybe life was more magical than she
thought. Maybe there was more to look forward to than working for
“the man,” always owing on taxes, and never being able to pay rent
on time. She started to open her mouth, another question on her
tongue, when a yawn escaped instead. “Jeez,” she said, blushing,
“sorry. I didn’t realize I was so worn out.”

Gage shifted his weight. “You should
rest. You’ve had a tiring day. I’ll sleep on the rug.”

She wanted to talk to him more, but
she couldn’t argue that sleep sounded fantastic. She caught his
hand as he started to stand. “Stay with me?”

It was nearly inaudible, but he sucked
in a tiny breath. “Are you sure?”

She nodded. With that man still on the
loose, she wanted to be as close to Gage as possible.

She wanted to feel safe, plus she was
too tired to fight the urge to be near him. She couldn’t begin to
understand it. Nothing about the whole situation made sense. Hell,
up until he’d literally shifted in front of her, she’d been ready
to tie the bed sheets together and scale the side of the building
in hopes of escaping. But there was one thing she’d noticed ever
since he’d Marked her - she craved his touch, to be as close to him
as possible.

Starting with right now.

To her disappointment, he pulled on
some pants before they pulled back the covers. She climbed in then
waited for him. And waited. “What are you doing?”