NocC 023 - The Ancients 05 - Bonnie Vanak - Incubus Wolf - Harlequin 2012-09 (3 page)

Dominic sat on the bed, the handcuffs slowly swaying on one
finger. “You like that. I’m tied up, and I can’t do anything, except submit to
whatever you want. You can bring me back to prison, collect the bounty and your
reward… or… you can surrender to temptation. Do whatever you want with me as I
lie helpless before you. Touch me. Taste me. Would you like to know what I taste
like, Alexandra?”

Mesmerized, she nodded, spellbound as she stared into his
hypnotic gaze.

Leaning forward, he brushed her hair back from her ear, blew a
warm breath. She was hot now, so hot. Her nipples hardened to pebbles.

“I taste like chocolate and wine. Like a man’s tongue between
your legs, slowly stroking and licking you whole. I am the caress of a hand
against your bare bottom just before I mount you and push deep into your most
intimate place… filling you, deep and slow.”

Her skin tingled and her belly clenched again. Moisture gushed
from between her legs. She felt the gathering storm with each hot breath against
her skin, the brush of his whiskered cheek against the curve of her
shoulder.

Dominic nuzzled her neck, drawing in a deep breath.

“I taste like… this….”

Very gently, he bit down. She cried out in shocked pleasure.
Lost in sensation as his mouth nuzzled her, she clung to his shoulders, her
fingers curling around the hard muscles. Just like another time and place as
he’d pushed open her thighs and…

You have a job to do.

The thought was a cold slap. Alex pushed him away, controlling
her erratic breathing, fighting the sensual net he’d used to ensnare her.

He’d controlled her, breaking down inhibitions with his
masterful touch. Nearly making her climax without touching any of the areas
she’d kept off limits. It took every ounce of strength and determination to
fight him.

Dominic stared down at her, but instead of amused triumph in
his eyes, she saw tenderness. Then the look vanished, replaced with his usual
sensual intent.

“You can try to handcuff me, Alexandra. Oh, I might even let
you. But I’m not leaving here so easily. I’ll leave with you if you’ll do
something for me first.” Leaning close, he spoke into her ear, his warm breath
feathering over her cheek.

“I think you’ll find it most pleasant.”

He stroked a finger over her cheek, and her overly sensitive
nerves leaped at his touch. Alex struggled to retain her sense of self.

“If it involves my handcuffing you and bringing you back where
you belong, then it’s a deal.”

Dominic gave an amused smile. “Perhaps. But first, you must
make love with me. And then I will go with you.”

Chapter 4

Alex had expected him to come to her in the night, but
she had awakened alone, the fire long dead. Last night’s bitter cold surrendered
to a bright and sunny morning. She showered and dressed, searching the spacious
bathroom for possible weapons and went downstairs.

Alex sat in an overstuffed armchair in the living area, staring
out at the meadow. Floor-to-ceiling windows gave a magnificent view of the
meadow and the lake below.

Dominic’s dangerous offer confused her. He’d proposed it, then
left her alone in the bedroom to “sleep on it.” Make love with him and she could
return him to prison. Love, not sex. Men like him didn’t make love. They fucked.
They did it because it was in their blood, and sex gave them strength.

They did it for money as well. Shame burned in her cheeks as
she remembered. Hiding her real identity with glamour, the gold coins spilling
from one trembling palm into a more calloused, masculine one. His palm was
broad, with a distinct scar slashed across it, as from a knife wound.

The sex had been worth the gold. She’d lost her virginity,
accompanied by several orgasms. He’d been tender and gentle and yet passionate,
guiding her untried body through a maze of sexual delights.

And then he’d left her shivering in the cold gray dawn, the
stain of blood on the sheets as proof to her stepfather that she could never be
the pure and innocent bride he’d promised to deliver to his powerful
rival….

Dominic Farrell. Her first lover and now her prey.

Her few sexual experiences afterward were shameful and secret,
conducted in the cloak of darkness, hurried fumblings under the sheets. They
were so emotionally painful that Alex resolved herself to celibacy and solitude.
She didn’t need a man. Pleasure would come later, when she finally settled down
on her own land, with her own little cabin and the freedom to run wild and not
have to account to anyone.

And with the wizard’s potion, she could move freely among
populations. She’d never have to hide behind a pall of glamour. No one would
ever call her ugly again.

But first, she had to capture the wolf.

Pulling a pin from her hair, Alex went to the gun cabinet by
the wall and saw her pistol stored there. A minute later, she picked the lock
and tucked the weapon into her waistband behind her back. The special ammo used
for taking down paranorms went into her jeans pocket. She returned to the chair
just as a familiar scent wended through the room.

It teased her senses, making her body alive and aware. Alex
closed her eyes. He was vibrant and sexy. Getting him to accompany her back to
prison would be a bitch. A blade between the ribs had worked with past escapees.
But the thought of marring his perfect flesh sickened her.

Being lovers… another more tempting option.

“I brought you breakfast. Eggs, bacon, toast and tea.”

A tray rattled on the cocktail table. Alex shook her head. “I’m
not hungry. And I’m not as stupid as Persephone.”

She felt him settle on the chair’s arm. “Ah, you’re up on your
mythology. The seeds Hades made her eat so she’d be trapped in hell.”

“I know what it means for you to give food to a woman.” Alex
opened her eyes to his amused expression.

“Among my kind, feeding a woman declares a male’s intent to
mate with her. However, you need to eat.”

He broke off a piece of toast. “Open wide.”

She needed her strength. Alex opened her mouth. Dominic slid
the bread into it, and as she closed her mouth, he traced the curve of her
bottom lip. Heat flared in his gaze.

A memory surged… lying in bed before they’d first made love,
Dominic tracing her mouth. “You have such a tempting mouth,” he’d murmured,
before kissing her the first time.

Now he brushed a strand of hair away from her face. “Eat your
food. Regain your strength. You’ll need it, with all the things I plan for
you.”

Heat curled low in her belly at the deep timbre of his voice.
She fought to free herself from the sensual snare. She had to think of the most
boring, ordinary tasks to avoid tumbling into his sensual trap. Housework.
Scrubbing a floor, mopping it.

“Have you thought about my proposal, Alexandra? Are you
thinking about it now?” A challenge, a whispered promise.

“Read my mind because you’re such an expert.”

Alex raised her chin, challenging him. She felt him delicately
prod her thoughts, a velvet stroke inside her mind. And to her surprise, she
heard him laugh there.

Dominic’s mouth quirked. “Intriguing. An ordinary mop and scrub
brush, used on certain parts of your body, a gentle stroke in the right places…
I can make things… interesting.”

The image flared with brutal clarity. Dominic slowly rubbing
alongside her naked backside with the brush, its bristles scraping each nerve
ending to erotic awareness as his fingers caressed her between the legs…

He was good, oh, so good. Slamming a barricade down on her
thoughts, Alex changed the subject. “Tell me, Dominic. What’s your beef with the
wizard? Land dispute? Not enough turf in Oz for both of you?”

Dominic sat back, his mouth a tight slash. “He’s been trapping
and caging wild wolves, supposedly as a tourist attraction, but he tortures them
to lure me into his lair. He’s trying to trap me because he wants my blood.”

Her heart pounded loudly. So that’s why the wizard wanted him.
“Why? Some kinky longing to be a vampire?”

“Just a few drops of incubus blood sexually charges a man for
weeks.”

“Old Belaramos has trouble? No Viagra this far north?”

“The little blue pill doesn’t do what my blood does.” Dominic
tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, his fingers trailing down her neck.
“Make a man irresistible to any woman.”

“I’m not finding you irresistible. Maybe your blood is low on
the incubus platelets. Better get a checkup.”

“You say one thing, but your body says another, Alexandra.” He
leaned closer, his nostrils flaring, his mouth wide and kissable and oh, so
sexy. “Your breathing has increased, and there’s a lovely, delicate flush
tinting your pretty cheeks right now. Your legs are clenched tight as well.”

Alex sputtered, loosened her legs. Bastard.

“I can wait. Anticipation has a certain reward, as does
patience.” He playfully tapped her nose.

As he started out of the room, she called out, “You, patient?
You weren’t enough to stay in prison to do your time. Not enough to stick around
to see what happened to all those virgin Fae females you seduced and
abandoned.”

Cold fury burned in his eyes as he turned back. “I never
seduced any Fae females.”

“Not what the judge said when he sentenced you to prison.”

“I was framed for political reasons.” His mouth was a tight
slash. “There was only one Fae female I took into my bed. She sought me out and
paid me.”

Eyes of ruthless blue bore into her. “The experience was
immensely pleasurable and a novelty, although she was innocent and
inexperienced, she harbored a wild passion I’ve never found in Fae, which is one
reason I avoid them. Why settle for cold hamburger when the finest filet mignon
is always available?”

A shiver snaked down her spine. Dominic couldn’t know that very
Fae sat before him. She was just one of the many women warming his bed, lost in
a blizzard of one-night sexual encounters. Dominic wouldn’t ever remember the
most beautiful Fae in the land, who’d sought him out to lose her precious
virginity so important to the rival Fae king.

Paid him to have sex because she desperately wanted her first
time to be magic, no matter what the circumstances. He’d murmured to her in bed,
praising her beauty… their whispers in bed that of young lovers with a future
ahead of them. Dominic had opened her palm and spilled the gold coins back into
it. Because he promised to return for her, promised to bring her to a magick
land filled with its own beauty, where she could stay with him forever.

“And you never bothered to find out what happened to that young
Fae after, did you? Because you don’t care. You love them and leave them,
disposing of them as if they were scraps.”

Ice glittered in his blue eyes, making them so cold that she
shivered. “I went back after making arrangements with my pack for her arrival. I
did not know she was in trouble. And the moment I did, I was seized, arrested
and sent to prison after a mockery of a trial whose outcome was set the moment I
was brought into court.”

He went back for her? Alex clenched her hands so tight that her
knuckles whitened. Lies, it was all lies. Dominic had never returned. She’d
waited, hoping and watching from the window. Until two days later, when the maid
finally showed the sheet proving her virginity to her stepfather, and he’d taken
her away….

Dominic said those things to appease his own conscience, if the
wolf even had one.

“You’re such a saint.”

“No, far from it. But I’m not a beast, Alexandra. My ways, and
the ways of my pack, are foreign and strange to some, but they suit us
well.”

She leaned back. “Your pack is known for its sexual exploits.
Public sex, spankings, bondage.”

“By others who fear us and don’t understand. Each member of the
pack fully accepts the rules. Those who do not are free to leave without
consequence. But this is their home, our home, and it’s a safe haven.”

“For the males, yes. But the females—” Alex shook her head
“—they’re treated like sex slaves.”

“We revere and honor our females.” Dominic sat on the chair’s
arm, tipped her chin up with a finger. “Just as you would be revered if you were
to stay.”

She sputtered. “Stay?”

“A warm home, security and respect, Alexandra. Not a cold cabin
where you would forever be lonely.”

“Free,” she challenged.

“There is great freedom here in being among those who
understand.” Secrets shadowed his expression.

An odd hope fluttered through her, but Alex silently laughed as
she realized how unlikely that would be.

“Here? Your pack is comprised of dangerous rogue wolves. None
were ever accused of a crime, but they were all tossed out of packs because
they’re rule breakers.”

Tension turned his jaw to granite. “Rumors and gossip. Every
single member of my pack was homeless and alone. Michael was tossed out, yes.
Because he lost an eye in a vicious fight protecting his alpha, and for his
loyalty, he was banished, no longer considered whole. He came here and met
Carla, his mate, who’d been left orphaned. All my people have found acceptance
and a place to belong.”

Dominic thumbed her chin, his gaze intense. “You, too, could
belong here, Alexandra. We’d make a good pairing.”

The odd longing surged with vehement force. Somewhere she could
relax and be herself, not worry about her looks or being judged.

Fifteen acres in Colorado looked less attractive. Solitude was
wonderful, but was she embracing it the rest of her life? She was still young.
Maybe somewhere, someone would want her, despite her ugly appearance.

But if she had the wizard’s potion, she would never be ugly
again. Her stomach twisted at the idea of what she had to do to get it.

And if Dominic ever saw her real face now, he’d be repulsed,
just like the men in the bar.

“I don’t need anyone. I can do perfectly fine on my own. And
I’m not the pairing type. Certainly not in a pack where females are expected to
be submissive to their males’ sexual whims.”

“Don’t mock what you haven’t tried,” he said in a silky voice.
“They’re quite content and their mates keep them far too busy and pleasured in
bed.”

He turned her toward the window. “Look.”

Outside, two wolves scampered across the meadow, coming to a
halt just before the lamppost. The smaller gray wolf turned and snapped at the
larger one. He nipped her hindquarters and she whined.

Suddenly the wolves shifted into human form. The male wore an
eye patch and had a firm, trim body. The short-haired blonde was petite and
seemed frail. Both were naked. “Michael and Carla, his mate,” Dominic said
quietly. “He’s disciplining her for disobedience. I ordered Michael to punish
her when she went beyond our borders against my express orders. Watch.”

Michael pointed to the lamppost. Carla closed her eyes, bent
over and grabbed the post. Alex cried out in shock as the male began to slap
Carla’s bottom.

Outraged, she jumped up. “Hey, stop that!”

Dominic’s fingers clasped her wrist. “Do not interfere. But
watch.”

The ecstasy on Carla’s face gave Alex pause. Her moans of
pleasure, not distress.

Michael stopped spanking his mate. Then the werewolf slid a
hand between her legs. When he pulled his fingers free, they were
glistening.

“She’s very aroused,” Dominic mused. “Now, she is ready.”

Shocked, Alex stared. She enjoyed the punishment?

“Very much so,” Dominic said softly, reading her thoughts. “I
ordered Michael to punish her, but the means of punishment was up to him. He
could have inflicted something on her that she did not like. But this will give
her less reason to stray far from home, knowing such pleasure awaits her at her
mate’s hands.”

Silently Michael pointed to the ground and Carla dropped to all
fours.

Carla raised her reddened bottom in the air, her legs slightly
spread. Michael stood, proud and straight, behind his mate. He had a heavily
muscled body, and his long, dark hair spilled down past his thick shoulders. His
erect penis stood out stiffly. Alex’s breathing hitched as Michael ran his hands
down the small of Carla’s back, between her legs and then knelt behind her.

Carla threw her head back and cried out as Michael eased into
her. Hands on her hips, he began to thrust hard and heavy.

Dominic leaned closer, his warm breath feathering her blushing
cheek. “Look at them. Wild in their passion. Losing themselves in each other, so
caught up in their pleasure, the world ceases to exist. This is the essence of
my people, Alexandra. Come, be with me and know the erotic passion of completely
losing your inhibitions.”