Lion in the Shadows

by Delilah Devlin

  He noted the sharpened tips of her corner canines, peeking from beneath her upper lip. “Calum,” he said, his own voice deepening. His breathing was coming faster, sitting this close to her, drinking in her sweet-almond scent, which should have acted like repellent. But almond blended with a slight hint of vanilla and her feminine musk, and now moisture gathered in his mouth. He wanted a taste.

  His mouth twitched and, inside, he laughed at himself for his attraction. How long had passed since he’d fucked a woman? Now, he wished he’d come better prepared. Vampires were naturally sensual creatures. That was all this lust was. He was growing aroused because she was what she was, and he’d been without for far too long.

  She cleared her throat, and her glance shifted to the side, toward those occupying the tables around them.

  One couple was particularly “involved.” A woman with a loosened skirt straddled a creature whose bony mask was revealed and mashed against her neck. The way she moved on him, jerking forward and back, Calum knew they fucked. The creature’s growl rumbled as his jaws worked. The woman sobbed softly and mewled, likely teetering between rapture and death.

  Calum’s fists balled, and he stiffened, ready to push up from the table, but he wasn’t quick enough.

  In a gray blur, Ginnie moved toward the couple and gripped the male vampire’s hair. She bent toward his ear and whispered.

  Calum had no problem hearing her soft but harsh voice.

  “Let her go, or I’ll kill you, Jay.”

  The creature growled more loudly, warning her off.

  Ginnie bent, reached into the top of her boot, and slid out a stake. She slipped it between the slats of the chair back and pressed it forward, just a couple of inches.

  Jay released the woman and stretched his arms to reach behind him. His face crackled and reformed to reveal a man in his early twenties. “Ginnie, dammit. Stop!”

  “Take care of her,” she growled then pulled back the stake. “I won’t warn you again.” When she returned to the booth, she stood beside it, studying Calum’s expression, her frown deeper. “So, do you want to?”

  Calum’s eyebrows shot upward. “Which part? The fucking or the nearly dying?”

  Her lips tightened. “Look, I’m...hungry.”

  And getting bitchy, by her tone. Calum wasn’t prepared to share his blood. Not yet. His secret would be out, and now, he was interested in how she would cajole him to give up a vein. That she wasn’t simply forcing him spoke to the fact she wasn’t entirely soulless. Good to know, since they’d soon be fighting on the same side. “I don’t know...” His gaze swept her lean frame.

  Her sigh dropped her shoulders. “Follow me. I’ll take you somewhere more private.” Turning on a heel, she walked away, again skirting the floor, her head pivoting toward the crowd, likely gauging whether she’d have to intervene again, but she continued toward a set of stairs that led upward to a booth above the club floor.

  He followed, more slowly, noting the jerking sway of her backside, the stiffness of her shoulders, and wondering why she acted angry. Was she irritated with him? Or herself?

  Once up the stairs, she stood to the side, her hand on the doorknob, waiting for him to pass inside what appeared to be a well-furnished office with a sitting area.

  After he entered, she turned the lock on the knob. Then, with her back to him, she drew her tank from the waist of her jeans and pulled it over her head. The bra fell away. Next, she toed off her boots and pushed down her jeans. Once completely nude, she turned slowly to face him.

  His groin tightened. She was lovely. Her skin was pale. A silver ball chain with a key dangled between her small but rounded breasts. Her sex was nude. A surprisingly feminine pale pink painted her toenails.

  Her breath left in a prolonged huff, and she walked toward him, reaching for his belt buckle. With a flick, she freed the tongue then unzipped his jeans and gripped the waist to push his pants past his hips.

  His cock sprang upward, and her gaze locked on it. Looking downward, he noted the sharpening of her cheekbones and the blush rising to color her cheeks with soft, rosy color. Calum reached behind his shoulders and grabbed the back of his tee to pull it over his head. Before it was clear, he felt wet heat surround his cock.

  “Shit.” His body tightened. His balls drew up hard against his groin. He tossed away the shirt and threaded his fingers through her silky-soft hair. He scraped his nails against her scalp and held her there as she flowed forward and back, each pull accompanied by strong suctioning. When he was fully aroused, his cock so hard it felt ready to burst, she drew back and jutted her chin toward the leather sofa.

  Calum shuffled backward and sat. Then he quickly shoved his pants past his knees because she was already bracing her hands on his shoulders and straddling his hips. He tucked his fingers between her legs, found her opening, then gripped his cock and placed it there.

  As she lowered herself, taking him inside, he placed his hands on her hips, his fingers digging into her soft flesh, and then glanced downward between their bodies to watch her take him inside.

  Fuck, she was tight. Every inch of her channel squeezed around him. Moist, hot heat surrounded him as she churned up and down, more moisture oozing toward his balls.

  At first, she moved slowly with her eyes closed and her fangs pressing tight into her lower lip. Her hands gripped his shoulders hard.

  He watched the flexing muscles of her thighs and belly, admiring her wiry strength, but his gaze locked on the only soft parts of her body, her small round breasts with their cone-shaped nipples and engorged tips. The little nubs were so tempting, he couldn’t resist and leaned forward to latch his lips around one straining peak. He sucked it into his mouth and tugged, moving his head in circles before chewing gently on the tip.

  Her breath hissed between her teeth, and her movements quickened. Soon, she slammed down his length and bounced against him, her breaths becoming ragged.

  Calum planted his feet as far apart as the jeans cinching his legs would allow and rutted upward, meeting her downward thrusts. Every muscle in his thighs and hips turned to steel as he speared her over and over. When tension gripped his balls, he knew he wouldn’t last long. He released her breast and leaned back. Their gazes collided and held. “When you’re there...” he whispered and tilted his head to the side. His initial revulsion at the thought of feeding a vampire was gone. Now, he wanted to know why humans were so eager to provide sustenance.

  She pounded downward several more times, and then leaned toward him, her tongue lashing out to numb his skin.

  When her teeth dug into his artery, he gave a sharp growl and gripped both globes of her ass to keep her moving. He knew the moment she realized what she fucked. Crackling sounded.

  The noise prickled his skin. Hair sprouted, thrusting outward. While his heart quickened, he let the change come, but only so far. He kept his shape, but allowed his fur to coat his skin and his snout to lengthen.

  She released his neck and jerked back. Her eyes glowed like flat golden disks. The bones of her forehead protruded, darkening the shadows of her eyes. He dug his sharp talons into her skin, warning her, but he didn’t let go. He continued moving her on his cock, forcing her up and down, while she wriggled and hissed—and at last, exploded. A hoarse, rasping cry echoed inside the small room.

  Calum lunged upward twice more then closed his eyes, reveling in his release as streams of come flooded her vampire cunt. When the pleasure ebbed, he opened his eyes to find her staring downward, her face once again human.

  Her mouth trembled.

  That hint of vulnerability struck him with guilt. He’d played with her. Tricked her. Not once had she used her special allure to seduce him. She’d been straightforward about her needs.

  Ginnie shoved at the hands still gripping her ass. “Let me go.”

  Anger filled him. Unearned. Unexpected. With her. And himself. He relaxed his grip, took a deep breath, and let his beast recede, but he didn’t move away his hands. He didn�
��t want to let her rise. “Don’t move,” he said, his voice husky.

  Ginnie shook back her hair. “Think this is funny?” she bit out.

  “No.”

  “Then why did you let it go so far?”

  Like I could have stopped you? Or myself? He arched a brow.

  She narrowed her eyes. “Werewolves hate vampires.”

  Calum swallowed. “True.”

  “You let me drink from you.”

  “Only seemed fair.” He shifted his gaze downward then darted back up to gauge her reaction.

  Her lips sneered. “Not very discriminating about who you fuck.”

  “I haven’t fucked in a long, long time,” he said, surprising himself with his candor. But Ginnie wasn’t what he’d thought she would be. She appeared hard, but she wasn’t cruel. She hadn’t taken from him. Instead, she’d given him the choice. “I didn’t come here to fuck. But I’m not sorry we did.”

  Her fingers slid from his shoulders, and she sat back. Her eyelids dipped. “Fuck you.”

  Perhaps unintentionally, her move pressed deeper on his still-engorged cock. “I wouldn’t mind if we did. Again.”

  “Sonofabitch...” she said, more softly this time, and her pussy tightened around him.

  Realizing what was causing her distress, he didn’t dare smile his satisfaction. He was as disturbed as she that his arousal only grew. “Since we’re already here,” he said, lifting his lips to answer her snarl.

  Her growl was low and deep, and followed by a snarling, “I want the fucking jeans gone.”

  “I want you on your goddamned knees.”

  She sucked in a breath. Then she lifted, crawled off his lap, and knelt on the floor, bending her torso over the sofa seat.

  Calum stood, toed off his boots, and shoved his pants the rest of the way off. Then he knelt behind her, gripped her ass, and stroked inside. The long thrust seated him inside her tight channel.

  This time, he didn’t fight the change. He howled as he transformed, his joints crackling. Then he stretched over her, rubbing his fur against her skin as she cussed and growled—and planted her knees farther apart. The tilt of her hips gave him the angle he needed, and he dug his claws into the leather seat and into the carpet beneath him. He gave into the sensations engulfing him. Let go the thing he never did, even knowing doing so was wrong.

  His cock swelled, the base growing engorged. His movements slowed and shortened, but he was deep, so deep the knot swelled and lodged inside her entrance.

  Which triggered Ginnie to instinctively clamp her pussy around the knot. She keened as he continued to hump. He licked her neck, her shoulder, and then bit into the tender corner to hold her still, as below, his wolf’s knot swelled more and locked them together.

  About the Author

  Delilah Devlin is a New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author with a reputation for writing deliciously edgy stories with complex characters. She has published nearly two hundred stories in multiple genres and lengths, and she is published by Atria/Strebor, Avon, Berkley, Black Lace, Cleis Press, Ellora’s Cave, Entangled, Grand Central, Harlequin Spice, HarperCollins: Mischief, Kensington, Kindle, Montlake Romance, Running Press, and Samhain Publishing.

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