Pack Challenge (24 page)

“Ouch, get off me.” She squirmed and tried to dislodge him but instead the action caused him to bite down harder. When she stilled, his jaws loosened. Her pulse beat a wild tattoo just below where his tongue lapped at her neck.

“Caelan!” Tieran wiggled again, he bit her again. Any harder and he’d puncture her jugular, she thought wildly. She submitted, giving him what he obviously wanted.

Submission? Bullshit. She’d turn into the tooth fairy before she submitted to him.

“Yet there you are, laying so still beneath your wolf-man, Tulla.”
Ah hell. Her gramama was right.

Her lungs deflated on a huge sigh. Above them, Eli chuckled. Finally the razor sharp teeth were removed from her skin.

“The next time I tell you to fucking do something, by God, you better do it.” Caelan’s growl was laced with deadly menace in her ear, but she detected something else too. Nervousness? Anxiousness?

His tongue flicked out, lapping at the wound he’d inflicted, making her forget everything. He smelled so good. Like sweat and man and sex from their earlier romp. She looped an ankle around his calf and pulled his leg between hers, fitting his thigh snugly against her pussy. Finally!

Maybe she could relieve some of the tension that throbbed at her clit.

“Mmm.” She wrapped her free hand around the back of his scalp and angled her head to give him better access. Not that he needed it. He was doing just fine on his own.

His mouth moved to her earlobe and sucked it deep. She imagined it was her nipple he had embedded in that wet heat. She wanted his hands on her. Wanted to feel him tugging and pinching the sensitive beads. She lifted her hips and rubbed herself on his thigh. It wasn’t enough! There were too many clothes in the way. She needed his fingers, his tongue, or better yet his cock, inside her, filling her. Not where it was, poking into her side.

“Man, you guys are hot.”

“Oh shit.” Tieran yanked herself free from Caelan and raised up on her elbows, her chest heaving with each breath. What in the hell was happening to her? She’d certainly liked having sex before, but until now,

having it wasn’t a requirement. Not a need that festered like an infected wound. She’d never craved it like she did with Caelan. And she’d never lost control in a way that everything around her disappeared.

Her cheeks flamed. Eli stood above them, watching as she and his brother went at it on her living room floor like two randy teenagers.

Caelan couldn’t resist smiling as he rolled more firmly on his side and propped his head on his hand. He reached out and palmed the small cotton-covered breast furthest from him, flicking at the nipple. If Eli hadn’t interrupted—for Tieran’s sake, ‘cause it damned well wasn’t for his—Caelan would have fucked her right here on the hardwood floor.

“Stop it.” Tieran slapped at his hand. “Your brother is watching.” He shrugged. “So?”

Her eyes widened, her face drained of color, and she gulped. “Please don’t tell me you guys do that…that…sharing stuff,” she hissed.

Caelan snarled; Eli burst out laughing.

“Nobody but me will ever touch you,” Caelan growled.

“Sweetheart, I’m not ready to die.” Eli reached a hand down and pulled Caelan to his feet.

“What does that mean?”

“Wolves mate for life.” Caelan winced at his gruff attitude, but goddamn, share her? Never. He helped her off the floor and guided her to the sofa. He needed to sit and have a drink after nearly having his heart ripped out. When she’d said dogs, he immediately assumed she wasn’t looking at dogs, but wolves. Rogue wolves on the prowl and looking for another kill.

Eli scratched his head and sat across from them. “What it really means is that as a Prime’s mate, you are the alpha bitch. The only way

I’ll
ever
get to touch you, is for me to fight Caelan to the death and take over the pack. I’m really not all that intrigued by the prospect.” Tieran turned away from Eli. “Did he just call me a bitch? ‘Cause I really don’t think he’s known me long enough to make that kind of presumption.”

Caelan choked on his mouthful of beer, spitting it across the room.

“Only you,” he said when he could breathe again, “could make that kind of statement and totally ignore the part about him killing me.” He threaded his fingers through hers and gathered her closer until she was tucked under his arm.

Introducing Rene Lyons with an excerpt from her sexy and enthralling
vampire romance, Midnight Sun. Where the damned come to play...

Enjoy this excerpt from

Midnight Sun

(c) 2006 Rene Lyons

“Where is she?”

Constantine’s demand held a note of accusation Sebastian didn’t care for in the least. If Allie weren’t still here he’d beat the Dragon senseless for the implication in his tone.

Biting back his indignation, he motioned to the bathroom door. “In there.”

“In one piece?”

“Bloody hell!” Sebastian stood and strode over to the fireplace. He slapped his palms again the black granite mantle in a rare burst of emotion. “Of course in one piece, you bloody bastard.”

***

Allie’s body might be intact, but her mind was shattered into a million pieces.

Good God, the man can kiss!

Needing to clear her head, she splashed cold water on her face.

Sebastian’s kiss left her as close to drunk as she’d ever come. He worked her mouth with the expertise of a man who had centuries to perfect his form.

Pulling down her bottom lip, she saw a nice gash. He caught her good with those razor sharp fangs of his. Amazingly, she hadn’t even felt it happen.

Letting go of her lip, she dismissed the cut, assuming accidents were

bound to happen when you had fangs hanging out of your mouth.

A wonderful shiver passed through her, as she wished she were still lost in his kiss. His raw masculinity woke everything feminine in her. He was all grace and beauty, with a deadly ferocity simmering under the cool façade he presented to the world.

After tasting a small sample of Sebastian’s fire, Allie was left shaken and wanting more. Not even Jude, a handsome man in his own way, moved her as Sebastian did.

What a shame it wasn’t going to go much beyond this kiss.

Though embroiled in the same nocturnal world, they walked vastly different roads. Allie couldn’t imagine the two of them mixing well together since he was of the dead and she of the living. It might work with just a friendship, as it did with Constantine and Raphael, but anything more could end in a huge mess, leaving her with a broken heart.

Though if a woman was to have her heart broken, she could do worse than a man as sexy and mysterious as Sebastian.

Ripped with thick cords of muscle, he oozed strength and sex appeal.

Everything about him appealed to her, from his shorn head to the dragon tattoo on his upper arm. He was sexy as hell and it drove her insane how he pointedly ignored her when all she wanted to do was rip his clothes off.

As someone who was tattooed herself, she was dying to get a good look at the dragon piece that covered his upper arm and some of his neck. She doubted she’d ever get the chance unless she tied him down and had her way with him.

Not a bad idea if I do say so myself.

Turning off the water, she heard Raphael’s voice coming from the bedroom. Quitting the black marble bathroom, Allie threw open the door that connected to Sebastian’s room and waved at her friends.

“Hey guys. Here.” Fishing around in her pocket, she pulled out

Raphael’s key and handed it to him.

At the same moment, Constantine’s gaze shot to her bottom lip. He sniffed at the air, a vicious snarl curling back his upper lip. “Why the fuck is she bleeding?”

Unfazed by Constantine’s furious demand, Sebastian threw him a glare. Before things got out of hand, as it easily could when dealing with vampires, Allie waved a hand through the air dismissively. “It’s nothing.

We were making with the nice-nice and Sebastian’s fang accidentally caught my lip.”

Three male jaws practically hit the floor when she carelessly threw out that tidbit.

Oblivious to the murderous glares Raphael and Constantine were directing at Sebastian, she turned around and glanced in the mirror hanging over the black lacquer dresser. “See? The bleeding already stopped.”

Turning back, she finally noted how furious her friends were.

Obviously it didn’t seem to matter that he clipped her by accident. By their reaction one would think he tore off a chuck of her lip and was still gnawing on it when they burst in on him.

She also noticed Sebastian looked like he wanted to wring her neck.

Raphael was the first to snap out of his stupor at her flippancy. Given that his anger was now directed at her, Allie wished he was still struck dumb.

“I’ve known you for five months and not once did you
‘make with the
nice-nice’
with me. You’re around Sebastian for five minutes and you’re making out with him.”

Allie rolled her eyes over his argument. “Don’t go getting your panties in a bunch about it. Just because I never swooned at your feet when you tried those ridiculous lines on me doesn’t mean I was immune to you.

Jeez, Raphael, look at yourself! You’re gorgeous. How could I not be attracted to you? But you’re my friend. And I don’t know,” she shrugged,

“I don’t see you in a sexual way.”

Constantine raised a brow at her. “So what am I? Dog shit?” Allie closed her eyes and pressed her fingers to her temple in exasperation. “I am not having this conversation.” When she opened her eyes, she saw Sebastian casually leaning his hip against the fireplace looking entirely too amused. “This is all your fault.”

He stabbed a finger at his chest and shot his brows up in askance.

“Me? How the hell am I at fault here?”

Her hands going to her hips, she matched the glare he was giving her with one of her own. “If you didn’t go and kiss me, I wouldn’t have kissed you back and I wouldn’t have to try to convince two furious vampires that I think they’re hot.”

She went to storm out, but Sebastian prevented her dramatic exit when he moved with the speed of lightening and grabbed her. Again.

“Allie,” he said too calmly. “Did it ever occur to you that those two,” he motioned to Constantine and Raphael, “wanted us to get together?” Why would it take her friends this long to work their scheme if they could have executed it months ago? Ready to dismiss Sebastian’s presumption, she peered over his shoulder to see two guilty-looking vampires suddenly vastly interested in the dark gray rug.

“They knew I was going to be home tonight.” Allie laughed at how guilty they looked—even Constantine—which shocked the hell out of her. “You sly dogs.” Yanking her arm from Sebastian’s grasp, she went over to Constantine, giving him a good shot to the arm. “I didn’t even see this coming.”

“That’s because you’re too damn trusting.”

“Maybe,” she retorted with a shrug. “I gotta go. You guys can deal with Sebastian’s anger on your own. I’ll see you tomorrow night.” Unbeknownst to her, three men watched intently as she flounced

from the room.

***

Once she left, Raphael looked to Sebastian. “Well Sage, how pissed are you?”

Sebastian ignored him, instead going after Allie. Constantine let out a grunt of satisfaction. “Something tells me he’s not half as pissed as he wants us to believe.”

Raphael slipped him a sly grin. “Think if we bother him enough about it he’ll tell us all the juicy details?” Constantine shrugged. “Doubt it, but I’ll see if I can get into his head and find out.”

***

“Wait.” Sebastian called to Allie.

She froze and turned on the darkened steps. “What is it?” With the night wrapped around her, she looked vulnerable swallowed by the shadows of the staircase. “I don’t want you to leave thinking I was sorry for what passed between us.”

The emerald fire in her eyes nearly scorched him. “Don’t worry. I don’t.”

“Good,” he said gruffly. His body reacted violently when he saw her lick her lips. Thoughts he had no business entertaining about exactly what he wanted her to do with her tongue—and lips and teeth—hardened his body painfully.

The quick, yet infinitely tender kiss she placed on his lips squeezed at his dead heart. Reminding him what it felt like to beat with life, he’d never missed being alive as much as did then.

“Good night, Sebastian.”

This time, when she turned to leave he let her go. Unable to move, to speak, he was struck dumb by the wealth of affection he felt in the gentle touch of her lips. He knew only one thing for certain right at that moment—now that he tasted her passion and affection, he wasn’t going to let her get away.

Not when her kiss gave the promise of life denied him for seven hundred years.

Samhain Publishing, Ltd.

It’s all about the story…

Action/Adventure

Fantasy

Historical

Horror

Mainstream

Mystery/Suspense

Non-Fiction

Paranormal

Red Hots!

Romance

Science Fiction

Western

Young Adult

http://www.samhainpublishing.com