Digging the Wolf: a paranormal romance (Werewolves of Crookshollow Book 1)

by Steffanie Holmes

  “That’s life as a werewolf,” Luke spat, his body shaking with anger. “Always on the outskirts, always running, always hiding and hoping your true nature isn’t discovered.”

  “You showed me your true nature.” I said, touching his arm. “I haven’t run away yet.”

  “You’re different.”

  “So who did kill the child?”

  “That’s just the thing,” Luke said. “We never knew. My father carried this horrid guilt with him his entire life, as though he secretly believed one of his brothers might have done it. That’s why we hid in the forests – he preferred to be alone, to escape the Lowe legacy, rather than to fight for it.”

  “So why did you come here?”

  “My father died last month,” Luke said, his voice catching. His words brought forth a wave of empathy more powerful than I’d expected. I knew all too well the pain he was going through, the burning anger at the universe, the memories that flooded you when you least expected them, the way you felt isolated from the rest of the world, part of a secret society you never wanted to join.

  “I’m sorry,” I whispered, wanting to say more, but not knowing what to say. Even people like me who’d lived with death for so long grew tongue-tied about other people’s grief. It was the British way.

  “It’s OK, not your fault. He’d been ill for some time, but…I saw an article about the excavation in the paper. I showed it to him. I thought it might cheer him up to know that our old haunt might have some archaeological significance. But instead it drove him crazy. For days he rolled around in bed, halfway between sleep and waking, mumbling about the paintings and the curse of our family…” he choked. “The stress of it broke him, it allowed the cancer to take over. It was all my fault.”

  “Luke, no. It wasn’t.”

  “You weren’t there.” His voice grew hard again. “You can’t know. Only I know. The last words he spoke to me were ‘Don’t end up like me, Luke. Don’t live your life paying for the mistakes of the past.’ So I came here to bury the past forever.”

  “That’s why you were in the caves with that crowbar? You were going to destroy the paintings?”

  Luke nodded. “I knew that if you guys found them they’d get a ton of attention. My grandmother was fascinated by neolithic art – she deliberately used the same styles and pigments used to create ancient cave paintings. It tickled her that one day they might be thought to be older than they were. But there’s no reason to bring up the whole story again, not now that everyone in the village has more or less forgotten it. It’s not as if the paintings would be missed. They aren’t archaeologically significant, which your Professor is going to discover as soon as she does some in-depth analysis.”

  “But they’re part of your history, your heritage. Doesn’t that mean something?”

  “Not everyone wants to hold on to the past,” he said. “Only archaeologists.”

  “Not all archaeologists want to hold on to the past,” I said, two faces flashing in front of my eyes – my father, and Ben. “Some of us want desperately to forget.”

  “We have more in common than you’d like to admit,” he said, a harsh sadness passing over his features briefly. In an instant, that grin was back on his face, the sadness he’d shown before erased in a moment, replaced by glimmering eyes and a cheeky smile. He stepped towards me, his muscles rippling as he moved.

  “Can you point that thing somewhere else?” I asked, my cheeks flushing hot as my eyes fell once again on his rigid cock. I tried not to imagine how good it would feel to ride that.

  “Why?” Luke said simply. “It’s like that because of you.”

  “Er…I…”

  Luke was on me in a moment, his powerful arms wrapping around my body, the heat of his hands pressing into my back. His hardness rubbed against my thigh, and an ache rumbled deep inside me, yearning for us to be closer still.

  “We were discussing something really serious before,” I said, desperately trying to buy myself time to think. Luke’s scent intoxicated me, driving out any rational thought. There was a reason this was a bad idea…I just couldn’t remember it right now.

  “Just say the words,” he whispered. “And I’ll leave you alone. I’ve done it before, though it tore me up inside. But I want you, Anna. I want to feel you beneath me, writhing in ecstasy.”

  “Luke, I…I’m not sure…”

  “Can I help you make up your mind?”

  He pressed his lips to mine.

  The touch sent a surge of heat through my body, an energy that reached from our lips right to my toes. My fingers tingled, my core throbbed with need.

  God, he tasted so good. His soft lips mashed against mine, a hint of stubble above his lip scraping against my skin. His tongue slid against mine, wrapping around me with delicious warmth.

  This is a very bad idea. My brain screamed. You barely even know this guy, and what little you know about him suggests he’s an arrogant ass with an interest in destroying priceless archaeological discoveries. Not to mention the fact he’s a werewolf. A werewolf. He could claw you to pieces—

  Unfortunately, Luke’s intoxicating scent and delicious mouth dissolved the voice before it finished its thought. I drifted away, the chill in my limbs expelled by the heat of our embrace.

  Without breaking our kiss, Luke scooped me up in his arms. He lifted me easily and started walking back towards the camp, his torn clothes lying somewhere in the forest behind him.

  “Whose tent?” He whispered against my lips.

  “Yours.” I whispered back. “It’s further away.”

  Luke picked his way through the forest with ease, holding me as though I weighed nothing. Every few steps, he stopped to clasp me to him, kissing me passionately. His hair fell over my face, tickling my skin. Occasionally, the voice in my head surfaced, reminding me was a bad idea, that I wasn’t ready, that I would regret this in the morning. But all my protests dissolved in Luke’s kisses and the thrumming energy that enveloped us, drawing our bodies together like magnets. Maybe my head wasn’t ready, but my body couldn’t wait to be naked beside him.

  Inside his tent, Luke lay me down on the bed – an air mattress covered with two furs and an arctic sleeping bag. It looked like the boudoir of some kind of modern Viking. Luke grabbed his phone and pulled up an app of a flickering candle, which he placed on the ground beside the bed.

  “For atmosphere,” he grinned.

  “If only it was a roaring fire,” I said, my teeth chattering from the cold air.

  Luke tugged off my boots, kissing the tops of my socks, and slid alongside me on the furs.

  “Let’s see if I can’t do something to warm you up,” he said, as he tore off my shirt. Buttons pinged against the canvas as he tossed the useless fabric aside. My bra was next. He snapped the straps right off as though they were made of pasta. His eyes gleamed as he gazed down at me.

  “Fuck, you’re gorgeous,” he whispered, his gaze dancing over my body. I flushed with heat, his words pulsing through me. Luke buried his face in my neck, trailing a line of kisses over my skin. My body lit up under his touch as he dragged his teeth over the sensitive skin behind my ear. I moaned, dragging my fingers across his back, enjoying the way his muscles responded to my touch.

  Luke’s kisses trailed across my collarbone, and over the rise of my breast. He cupped my breast in his hand, pointing the nipple up towards his mouth. He blew against the sensitive bud. All the hairs on my body stood on end.

  His eyes glued to mine, Luke bent down and sucked my nipple into my mouth. I cried out as the sensation arced through my chest. He nibbled and sucked, pulling each nipple into his mouth. In seconds I was moaning against him, my whole body lit with sparks.

  Luke pulled back, a cheeky grin lighting up his whole face. “I know it’s hard,” he said, as his fingers crept across my stomach towards the fly of my jeans. “But you’re going to have to be quiet. Unless you want to wake up the entire camp to tell them what I’ve been doing to you.”

&nb
sp; “You sound awfully confident.”

  “I have good reason.” Luke bent his head and took one of my nipples in his mouth again. I gasped as his warm tongue slid over my sensitive skin once more. Damn him...

  I missed this. I missed the touch of a man, the warmth and intimacy of skin against skin. Locking eyes with a lover and feeling as though you were the only two people in the world. And when your lover was a werewolf…

  “You’re being so gentle,” I told him as he dug his thumbs in the waistband of my jeans. Just having his fingers so close to my core made me ache harder. I bucked up my hips, urging him to go faster, but he didn’t relent.

  “Because I know,” Luke murmured back, as he reached over my head and pulled a condom from his wallet. “Both of us are still reeling from the trauma of grief. I don’t want to frighten you with wolf nature. I want this to be good for you, so I’m controlling myself.”

  “Is that so?”

  “If it’s any consolation, I’m finding it bloody difficult,” he growled, as he tore open the packet with his teeth and rolled the condom onto his shaft. “All I want is to be inside you, to ride you like the wolf I am.”

  That deep rumble in his voice made me shiver all over, and not from the cold. “What if I want to meet this wolf?”

  “Are you sure about that?” Luke’s eyebrows knitted together. He curled one of his fingers over the edge of my underwear and I groaned. “You can’t take it back.”

  “I’m sure.”

  Luke groaned. He planted his lips against mine, but this time, the kiss wasn’t tender. It was fierce. His tongue forced my lips apart. One hand remained hooked in my waistband, the other cupped my face, pulling me towards him.

  The hunger in his eyes pulled me deeper. His warmth enveloped me. I became lost in the wildness of him.

  Luke tore off my jeans and underwear and plunged his face between my legs. His tongue found that special spot, and he attacked it with all the ferocity of his feral form. The ache in my body intensified as he drew me closer to climax. Every hair stood erect, every nerve ending focused on the work of his tongue.

  “Oh, Luke!” I dug my fingers into his hair.

  In the flickering glow of his phone I could just make out Luke’s dancing eyes and wild grin, as he battered me with waves of pleasure. Sparks leapt from my skin, my whole body aglow with dazzling fireworks, my skin like molten lava flowing from my bones.

  I came with a shudder, my entire body convulsing as the lava overflowed and buried me in heat. Red welts appeared in my eyes, and for a few moments the world completely vanished, replaced only by the roaring in my ears and the fire licking my veins. As the pleasure ebbed, leaving me sleepy and sated, Luke crawled up beside me, wrapping me in his arms, that grin of his wider than ever.

  “Well, I guess I did tell you to be quiet,” Luke laughed, holding up the edge of his fur. I flushed with embarrassment – I had torn a hole right through it.

  “Don’t be embarrassed. They say it’s the geeky girls who turn into demons in bed.” He planted his lips on mine. “I can’t wait to find out.”

  As his tongue slid over mine, the ache between my legs returned, more persistent than ever. I wanted Luke just as much as he wanted me. Luke rolled me over, so I was lying on my stomach against the furs. He grabbed my hips with his hands, his fingers digging into my skin. I cried out with pleasure as he plunged me back against his cock, penetrating me with one quick motion.

  I threw my head back, moaning as his whole length entered me, and we became one. I’d expected it to hurt, because of the size of him, and how long it had been for me, but all I felt was an incredible sense of fullness, of power. The sense that something inside us that had been searching for the other had finally been united.

  Luke started to rock against me, one hand supporting himself, the other running over my skin, fingers drawing lines of fire across my back, down my arms, over the edge of my breasts. As he moved inside me, the ache gnawed at me, the pressure building once more.

  As my body lit up beneath Luke’s touch, my heart soared. Maybe it was the way Luke murmured my name as he drove into me. Maybe it was the hunger in his eyes, a hunger reserved for me. For the first time since Ben’s death, I felt powerful, invincible, capable of anything. I was wild.

  Luke rode me like the animal he was, leaning forward and crushing me against his body, his hands snaking over my skin. His teeth dragged across my neck, sending shivers of delight through my whole body. He thrust faster, building towards his own release. His cock stiffened, and the sensation of his impending orgasm drove me closer. The ache turned into a roar, and my body slipped over the edge once again, the lava bubbling up from inside my skin.

  I started to cry out and the pleasure swept over me. “Bite me,” Luke growled, holding his hand in front of my mouth. I bit down on the flesh of his thumb as the lava scorched my veins.

  “Anna,” Luke growled my name, his voice hitching as his whole body stiffened. He came with a mighty thrust, his cock reaching deep inside of me, touching every part of me. His eyelids fluttered shut and a few moments later he collapsed beside me, his breathing hard.

  “Fuck...” He gasped, wiping sweat from his forehead. “Anna, that was incredible.”

  I fell back against Luke’s pillow, my body still tingling. Luke draped an arm across my naked chest, the weight of it reassuring. I waited for the joy to fade, for a sense of guilt to erode the tiny piece of freedom I had claimed back. But it didn’t come. Ben’s voice, for now, was silent.

  “So…” I breathed. “This is what it’s like to sleep with a werewolf.”

  Luke beamed. “Did it fulfil your wildest fantasies, geek girl?”

  “It was OK.”

  “Just OK?”

  “Yeah,” I grinned. “It needs practice.”

  “Oh, really?” Luke stroked the edge of my breast. “And are you offering to help me sharpen my skills?”

  “I’m available any time you need, wolf.” I settled back against his shoulder, listening to the rain pelt down on the roof of the tent. My eyes fluttered closed. For the first time since Ben had died, I felt ridiculously, gloriously happy.

  8

  Luke

  I rolled over in the morning, my arm falling over Anna’s sleeping body. She lay on her side, facing me. Her delicate features appeared relaxed and serene. A lock of hair fell over her eye, and a thin trail of drool extended from her mouth to the pillow.

  I grinned. She looked so adorable. Heat radiated off her body, and the pull of our bond tugged between us. I shuffled closer, pressing my body against hers as the heat sizzled across our skin. The itch beneath my skin burned into hers. The full moon would begin today, and I needed to be well away from the camp. I couldn’t predict how I’d behave now that Anna was my mate.

  My mate. The thought sent a fresh shiver through me. I noticed a dark smudge on Anna’s shoulder from where I’d bitten her, marking her as mine.

  She was mine. The thought sent a shiver of joy through my body. I reached out and grazed my fingers across her soft cheek. I could stay like this all day…

  …all day…

  For the first time it occurred to me just how much light was streaming through the tent’s canvas. I reached over her and grabbed her phone from on top of the torn remains of her jeans.

  “Shit!” I grabbed Anna’s shoulder and shook her. “Wake up. We overslept.”

  “Huh?” Anna opened one lazy eye. Upon seeing me beside her, she leapt out of bed, evidently forgetting she was wrapped up in a sleeping bag and managing to topple into the side of the tent.

  “Luke, what are you...” her voice trailed off as the night evidently came back to her. “Shit.”

  “Shit is right,” I shoved the phone under her nose. “We overslept. It’s quarter past seven.”

  “Fuck,” the curse word sounded so hot coming out of Anna’s full red lips. She scrambled around the bed, searching for her clothes. “I have to get out there. Frances has all these plans for uncovering t
he paintings today. I wasn’t at breakfast so they’re probably looking for me and—”

  Her face fell as she held up her torn shirt. “You ruined my clothes,” she moaned, grabbing the buttons from the tent floor and throwing them at me. “I can’t believe this!”

  I scratched at the itch crawling under my skin, biting back the urge to grab her, throw her down on the bed, and make her call out my name again. “I told you the wolf in me was too close to the surface. You didn’t seem to care at the time.”

  “But all my clothes?” Anna inspected the seams on her jeans with horror. “I have nothing to wear out there and all my clothes are in my tent and they will know—”

  “So?” I squeezed her beautifully-shaped arse. “I don’t care if they find out. Besides, I think you look much better without clothes.”

  “I care.” Anna’s lower lip quivered. She looked dangerously close to crying.

  “Hey, geek girl. Don’t worry.” I shuffled towards her, arms open. I wanted to find some way to make it right for her. “We’ll find a way out of this.”

  “How?” Anna sniffed, turning away from me and balling up her hands with frustration. “I have to somehow get to my tent, by walking past the rest of the camp completely naked!”

  I reached for a pair of boxer shorts, pulling them over my hard-on. From the look of terror on her face, it didn’t look as though I’d be getting a repeat of last night any time soon. I tried a different tack. “I don’t see the problem. We’re consenting adults. We’re allowed to shag, you know.”

  “They can’t know,” she whispered. “It…it will get back to the university. Everyone will talk about me. I can’t deal with that.”

  Somehow I doubted that was really the reason, but I didn’t call her out on it. This definitely wasn’t the time.

  “Just wait until the team has left for the site and sneak over.” Then I remembered the way I’d yelled at Frances yesterday. She thought I was only one infraction away from shutting her site down. There’s no way she’d risk leaving the camp until Anna and I presented ourselves.