Heart of the Wolf (10 page)

Her wolf had wanted to surrender to him, to stretch out her neck and lick away the blood of their vanquished enemy, to slide her belly across the cold snow and submit. But Kathryn had never known the lust of a wolf, only a man. And what she knew was tainted with pain and disgust. So she’d run.

She could hear Ren coming up the stairs, his footfalls heavy and even. She was naked, her skin pebbling with cold, trembling uncontrollably with equal parts of fear and desire. The door opened slowly, so slowly, she found herself craning her neck to see who stood there, even though it could only be him. She jerked back as his broad shoulders filled the doorway, his chest heaving with effort, blood still staining his human form, despite his obvious efforts to clean up.

His eyes were heavy, half-lidded beneath thick lashes as he scanned the room with a lazy, predatory gaze. When he found her, his hungry eyes swept over her from head to toe, and a small smile creased his hard mouth.

“Kathryn,” he growled.

She jumped at the sound of his voice, pressing herself harder against the wall as if she could escape through the wood and plaster somehow. And yet a part of her didn’t want to escape. A part of her wanted to run across the room and throw herself into his arms, to press her breasts against his firm chest, to open herself and let him…

“Kathryn,” Ren crooned, “I know you want this, want me. I can smell your need.”

She gasped. “Don’t say things like that!”

Ren laughed, low and seductive, as he came slowly closer. “Don’t you want me, Kathryn?”

“Yes,” she whispered desperately. “I want you to—” She covered her mouth with her fingers, shocked at herself.

“What?” he murmured. “Tell me what you want.”

He was so close. She could feel the brush of his breath washing over her skin, could feel the heat rolling off of him in waves. And, oh, God, she could feel his desire for her, his cock hard and rampant with wanting, pressing against the heavy denim of his jeans.

“Don’t be afraid of me, Kathryn.”

“I’m not. Not really. It’s just…”

“What, sweetheart? Tell me.”

“I’m afraid of
this.
I’ve never mated as a wolf. I’m afraid I’ll do it wrong, that you’ll—”

He held her then, his arms hard and strong, letting her feel the beat of his heart, the slickness of the blood on his skin, the firm shaft of his erection pressing against her belly through the rough cloth.

“You are Wolf, sweet Kathryn. You may have been exiled among the humans for all these years, but you are still Wolf. I come to you covered in the blood of our enemy, as male wolves have for centuries. Torn, bloodied, furious that we have been forced to fight in order to claim our mate and yet filled with desire for her, for
you
, Kathryn. It is a glorious thing that no human joining could ever rival.”

“But—” She gasped as she felt a single sharp claw glide down her back, slicing deftly into her skin in a long line of exquisite pain. She shivered with desire, every nerve in her body coming to life.

“There is no shame in what you are, Kathryn,” he continued in a low, sensuous voice. “There is only beauty and grace such as I never found until I met you. You are mine, Kathryn. You were always mine.”

He raised his hand again, trailing two claws this time, down her back to her buttocks. She moaned with need, her hands falling away from her chest and reaching out to stroke his muscular thighs, letting her own claws run out to hold him against her. He sucked in a breath.

“Let me show you,” he managed to say. “Gods, Kathryn, let me show you the glory that is Wolf.”

His claws disappeared as his fingers cupped her bottom and pressed lightly, tucking her up against him so she could feel his arousal, hard and long in the crease between her legs. She moved instinctively, rubbing herself against him. He groaned as his fingers dipped between her legs where she was wet and hot, her sex swollen with desire. She cried out when he touched her clit, heard his soft chuckle as he began stroking her with his thick fingers, dipping into her wet core and out, his thumb reaching out to strum her clit, his rough skin like a thousand sparks of lightning against her sensitized skin as he dipped deep inside her once more, teasing her until she wanted to scream with frustration.

She dug her claws into his thighs, slicing through his denims like butter and digging into his flesh, drawing enough blood she could feel its warmth over her fingers, thrusting herself against his maddeningly slow fingers. Ren growled, bending down to sink his teeth gently into her neck.

“Ren,” she breathed. “Please.”

Without warning, he plunged two fingers into her satiny slick sex, fucking her in and out, while in the same instant, he pinched her swollen bud. She screamed, nearly fainting with the rush of pain and soaring pleasure that swamped every muscle, every nerve, every instinct in her body. Her vaginal muscles clenched around his fingers and she lost control of her own responses. She would have fallen if he hadn’t been there to brace her against the wall, holding her upright against his hard body, with his fingers still buried deep inside her, his thumb still stroking her hot and begging little nub.

Her orgasm seemed to go on forever as he roused her again and again until she was weak with the effort of remaining upright. He kissed her neck, licking away the pain of his bite, trailing a line of kisses from her shoulder to her cheek, taking her mouth when she hungrily sought his lips.

His fingers slid from inside her, and she gasped as he teased them across her clit one last time, feeling her own slick wetness on her skin as he caressed her belly and breasts before circling her with his arms.

“I love you, Kathryn,” he whispered against her ear. “I’ve loved you from the moment I saw you.”

Her eyes filled with tears she never thought she’d shed again. “He told me you left. That he’d offered me to you and you refused.”

His arms tightened around her, and she heard the low rumble of his growl. It was a soothing sound. It spoke to her of love and of safety.

“He lied.”

Chapter Sixteen

Ren scooped her into his arms and crossed the room to the big bed. He didn’t know whose room this was, but there was a bed and that’s all he cared about. Kathryn was limp with post-orgasmic lassitude as he laid her on the bed, pulling the covers from beneath her. He watched her as he stripped his pants off. She lay slightly to one side, her breasts full and swollen, her nipples hard, rosy buds that begged him to taste. Unable to restrain himself, he knelt on the bed and leaned forward, taking one hard little pearl into his mouth and sucking it to an even greater firmness.

Kathryn arched suddenly against his mouth, her hands winding through his hair to hold him in place. He bit down lightly, and she moaned, her body rippling beneath him. Closing his eyes against an almost overwhelming lust, he covered her body with his, pressing forward with his hips and feeling her legs spread in welcome. His heavy erection nestled into the silky, wet folds of her sex, and he began moving slowly, sliding his shaft back and forth, coating it with her slick juices.

“I need you, Kathryn,” he rasped.

“Yes,” she whispered, thrusting against him.

“I don’t want to hurt you.”

“You won’t, Ren. Please.” She cried out as he pushed harder against her, letting the length of his cock rub back and forth over her swollen clit. “Oh, gods, yes.”

He pulled back enough to slide the tip of his cock into her heat and slammed forward, thrusting his entire aroused length deep inside her, groaning as her hot, tight walls closed around him, sucking him in. He held still for a long moment, supporting himself with his arms, letting his head fall forward, eyes closed against the strength of the emotions threatening to swamp him. As if she understood, Kathryn wrapped her arms and legs around him and held him close.

And then he began moving, pumping in and out, withdrawing almost completely before plunging into her once again, back and forth, reveling in the feel of her hungry sex as it tightened around him, drawing him ever deeper, milking his cock, urging him to climax, to spill his seed deep into her womb. Kathryn moaned and began rubbing herself against him eagerly with every thrust, giving little cries of pleasure that made his sac tighten and his already hard cock swell even further.

She came without warning, her muscles contracting so strongly around his cock that he could barely move. He growled, his teeth baring in combined rage and pure sensuous ecstasy as he gradually forced her slick channel to release him, moving slowly, gaining urgency until he was pounding her once more. He captured her mouth with his, swallowing her cry as she orgasmed one more time, screaming his name, her satin walls convulsing around him, caressing him, and sending him over the edge. He roared as his seed rushed forward to fill her, as he claimed her for his own, his mate, his love.

Chapter Seventeen

Ren woke to find his arms full of naked warm female, and not just any female, but Kathryn. He buried his face in her neck, breathing in her scent, filling his hands with her soft, full breasts, rolling her rosy pink nipples in his fingers until they were hard and begging to be tasted.

Kathryn sighed in her sleep, covering his hand with hers and wiggling her firm ass as she tucked herself deeper into his embrace. Ren’s body immediately responded, reminding him of all the delicious things one could do with a welcoming, warm woman on a lazy winter morning.

He grinned and curved his hand over Kathryn’s hip, rubbing himself lazily against the firm globes of her butt. His shaft responded eagerly, growing harder and longer, slipping down into her crease and between her legs until his tip touched the moist heat hidden there.

Ren hummed with pleasure and began to thrust slowly, sliding his hand down to her thigh and pushing her leg forward, opening her to his sensuous intrusion. She was still wet from her last orgasm, still as hot as she’d been when she screamed his name and raked open his back with her claws. He rolled the muscles of his shoulders, feeling the pull of healing wounds. He smiled and flexed his hips forward, sliding deep into her tight little body.

Kathryn murmured softly in her sleep and began pressing back against him in time with his thrusts, making love to him even before she was fully awake. He caressed her belly, sliding his hand down between her legs and burying his fingers deep into her silky, swollen folds until he found her clit, already hard and eager for his attention.

He pinched it gently and Kathryn came fully awake, gasping his name. “Ren!” She moaned wordlessly, rippling her body against him. “How come you still feel so good?”

“Because you do, sweetheart.”

“Mmmm. Oh, yes, there!”

Ren chuckled. “Greedy little wolf.”

“You started it,” she sassed back at him.

Ren growled and began pumping harder, his fingers spread wide over her belly, holding her in place, using his powerful thigh muscles to thrust deep inside her, burying himself over and over again until Kathryn came hard, screaming his name even as his own roar of completion echoed through the final dark hours of the night.

* * * *

Ren lay awake, watching the first pale warnings of dawn light the sky through the unshuttered windows. Kathryn was curled in his arms, her back to his chest, her head tucked under his chin. She lay quietly, but she wasn’t sleeping, either. He could tell from her breathing, from the slight tripping of her heart.

“Who was he?” she asked in a quiet voice.

He didn’t have to ask whom she meant. “A hunter. A very specialized hunter. He called himself Gerald Edmonds, although that’s probably not his real name.”

“A hunter,” she repeated, puzzled. “But why? Someone hired him? For me?”

Her voice rose with anxiety, and he tightened his arms, holding her close. “He’s dead, Kathryn. He can’t hurt you ever again.” Ren wasn’t sure if he meant
Edmonds
or Preston Avinger.

“It was
Preston
, wasn’t it?” she whispered. “He hired him.”

Ren nodded, knowing she could feel the movement of his head. “They had a contract,” he confirmed. “Once
Preston
was dead, the contract went active. Westgate knew about it.”

She was silent for a long time and then said, “
Preston
never really believed I couldn’t make him Wolf, even after I finally bit him and nothing happened. It took months for his arm to heal, you know.”

 “Too bad he didn’t lose something more vital,” Ren said darkly.

She laughed bitterly. “He was furious. He said we were all freaks.”

Ren stroked his hand over her cap of silver hair. “You’re not a freak.”

“I know. I forgot it sometimes, though, living with him.” She sighed. “What do you think my father will do?”

“About what?”

“About me. Will he come after me?”

Ren wanted to tell her yes, that Dominick would come after her, that she should go away with Ren, that he would keep her safe. They could leave tomorrow, the sooner, the better. But it would have been a lie. Dom might try to sweet-talk her into coming back to Clanhome, but he wouldn’t hurt her. She was too valuable to him alive, and their kind lived a long time. She was angry now, but Dom would figure she’d come back sooner or later. A lone wolf was a lonely wolf, and Kathryn had already been alone a long time.