Werewolves of New York: Darik

by Faleena Hopkins

  “I didn’t know I was kissing you until I tasted your skin.”

  A laugh fell gently from her. “You couldn’t help yourself—is that what you’re saying?”

  “Yes.” As he met her eyes she noticed the blue in his seemed different now, much lighter.

  She reached up and touched his cheek, her fingers resting lightly on his short beard. She liked the feel of it. It was pure man. He closed his eyes and covered her hand with his, pressing it harder into his skin. She kissed his cheek, marveling at how good he smelled. Musky. Masculine. The complete opposite of her.

  Fuck it.

  She climbed onto his lap, clasping his face then tracing the angular lines of it with her red-painted fingernails. He let out a soft moan, his hands wrapping around her hips as her skirt rode up her thighs. The sweatpants were soft against her but that’s where the softness stopped. His fingers roughly gripped her, like he was having a hard time maintaining control. They stared at each other and closed their eyes as their lips connected. His hips bucked and his fingers jammed into her hips with a possessive stronghold. His mouth claimed hers with such passion she weakened in his embrace. They moved together and she scratched down his neck, the neck she’d admired in the ally, and held her fingers there as their kisses grew. Their hips undulated, seeking more. The ache inside her started to throb with greater need. She gasped into his open lips as his length pulsed against her through their clothing.

  He released her mouth and yelled, “Dontae, stay in your room!”

  Muffled through walls Dontae hollered back, “Like you have to tell me that.”

  Talia blinked as a shocked grin spread on her face. He kissed it off her, removing whatever remained of a childhood prudish resolve. She’d never wanted anyone so badly. All of her cells screamed for him as his fingers raked down her sides and over her thighs, his tongue working hers. She gasped, “Are you sure you’re well enough—”

  “Shut up,” he growled, taking her mouth in his again. Panties drenched, she moaned into his lips, reached down and slipped her hand into his pants, wrapping her fingers around the girth of his cock. Feeling him grow under her touch drove her absolutely fucking crazy. He was huge and her pussy begged to know what he felt like.

  Darik tucked his fingers under the crotch of her silken panties, sliding a thumb in. “You’re sopping wet,” he groaned as the pad of his thumb stroked her. “I can’t wait. I can’t.” He slid a couple fingers into her and wiggled them around. “I have to be inside you and not just with these.”

  She bit her own tongue to keep from crying out in pleasure. Her hips rose up like they had a mind of their own and she positioned herself over his smooth blunt tip. He tugged her panties over more and stared into her eyes as she slid down just an inch, holding there. She smiled at him. She couldn’t help it. He flashed a grin that disappeared the second she started the tight trip down his cock, her walls stretching with delicious purpose. He stuck out his tongue. She sucked on it all the way until his cock reached the deepest point within her cave. They held there a moment, relishing in the feeling of being together. They began to move and he took control, guiding her, his rhythm skilled and sensual. He followed the sounds of her moans, speeding up then slowing. No matter how quiet she tried to be, it didn’t work. It was too good. He filled her. She needed this. She’d needed this for a long time and he was giving it to her right here on the couch.

  She cried out as her back arched. Her blouse popped a lavender button as the first pulse of her orgasm took her to a place she’d never been from just intercourse alone. Her thighs gripped his as the second contraction hit. And then the third. The fourth. He soaked in her every movement, her every cry of ecstasy. She tightened then, his cock hardening and clenching as it jerked inside her. He groaned long and low, and buried his face in her neck. He bit down. It hurt in the most amazing way, stunning her frozen, her body unable to move an inch even as her pussy pounded against his length. He latched his teeth solidly into her skin without breaking it. When the climax calmed, he released her and she slumped against him, gasping for air, turned on beyond belief. “What was that?” she moaned.

  “What?” he murmured sleepily into her hair.

  “That bite. It was like …you were marking me.”

  He glanced up, surprised. She stared at him, her confusion deepening as his irises started to darken. It was a visible change she couldn’t ignore. She blinked as he inspected her. “I was just…biting you. It’s not a big thing.”

  She struggled under the extreme change in his tone. “Okay.” She started to get up, but he held her there.

  “No. Stay with me a minute.” He absently traced the outline of her breasts, the silken material caving in under his touch. “I’ll spend more time on these next time.”

  She couldn’t help but laugh. “I can’t believe we just did that.”

  “I couldn’t help it.”

  “Neither could I,” she admitted.

  He leaned down and kissed the little slip of flesh that had started it all. Without warning he yelled, “Dontae! I need food. I’m not fucking around. Get me a damn steak!”

  “Fine, fine, fine. Stop yelling,” Dontae called back from his bedroom.

  “What?” Talia gaped. “He hasn’t fed you since you got here?”

  “I fell asleep before the food arrived. Just woke up a half hour ago.”

  “You’ve been asleep for that long?”

  Dontae strolled into the room giving Talia a heart attack since Darik was still inside her. “Oh shit.” He turned around and went back into the hallway.

  Talia covered her face. “Is there a place I can disappear into now? Oh my God.”

  Darik chuckled and lifted her off of him. He planted a firm kiss on her, the kind of kiss a boyfriend gives you when he knows you’re not going anywhere and he’ll kiss you better, later. He reached down, grabbed the blanket and handed it to her for coverage so she could right herself. “We’ve got company,” he called out.

  “I heard.”

  “Heard what? I don’t hear anything,” Talia glanced toward where he was looking. A few seconds later Eli and Nathaniel’s voices were heard in the hallway mingling with Dontae as he greeted them.

  Dontae shouted “Are you presentable?” with amusement. It was the first time she’d heard him show any kind of humor and she blamed it on him getting a kick out of his embarrassing her, the jerk.

  She clamped her hand over Darik’s mouth as he started to answer, so she could call back, “Go fuck yourself, Dontae.”

  A loud guffaw preceded him into the room. He was still in his robe. Nathaniel and Eli, both in expensive, well-fitting suits, walked in after him. They looked damn good and their unabashed confidence doubled it.

  “Guess who we found?” Eli smirked, a dimple bursting into his cheek.

  Chapter Twelve

  Darik gave his shoulder a stretch, feeling the odd pull of his skin against the stitches. “Who?”

  “Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum,” Eli walked to the window. “Hi Talia.” He opened the curtains to let in the waning sunlight, acting as though it was no surprise to see the human female back, sitting here in Dontae’s living room. But then he froze, said, “Whoa. Wait a minute,” spun around and sniffed the air.

  Darik tried to signal him to stop from saying anything, but Nathaniel’s nostrils had caught the scent, too, and he called it out. “Why do I smell sex?”

  Eli chuckled at Dontae in his robe. “So, D, you changed your tune, didn’t you?”

  “I didn’t join in, you sick fuck,” chuckled Dontae.

  Two shades from the color of a full-bodied Cabernet, Talia covered her face with the blanket and curled up under it. “Oh my God.”

  Darik grinned as his packmates started cracking up, which for Dontae meant one burst of laughter followed by a contained smile.

  “Okay, okay!” Darik laughed and threw his arm around his cowering mate. “I am not going to apologize. I claimed her. Right here. Because I couldn’t help my
self. This woman is mine. Mine and mine alone. And that’s that. So drop it.”

  Talia poked her head out, hair flying with static cling, pretty eyebrows nearly jumping right off her gorgeous head. “What??!”

  He suddenly couldn’t wait to spend the rest of his life watching her expressions.

  He kissed her nose. “You’re mine. You have a problem with that?” She shook her head very slowly. “I didn’t think so.”

  “You presumptuous jerk!” she cried as he pulled away, but he could see she was ridiculously happy. “What gives you the right to—?”

  He covered her mouth with his hand. “It’s just a fact, woman. I want you. You want me. It’s done.”

  Stunned, she blinked.

  He dropped the hand and turned back to his friends and packmates. They were speechless, too, their moment of entertainment usurped by the bold pronouncement. They’d seen it coming, but that he’d said it aloud, outright and so soon, shocked them all. Maybe even him a little, too. There would be no stupid debate. Not anymore. He’d heard enough arguments from Dontae. What good were they? Not only had he dreamed of saving her life before it actually happened, thereby telling him she was a part of his destiny, but today his wolf had taken control for two reasons: how he felt about her, and also because there was another wolf inside the ‘den’ when she arrived—Dontae. The beast inside Darik’s soul who knows what is best for him more often than he knows, took her immediately to mark her as his. She’d gotten her instinct right about his bite. His wolf needed to ensure there was never any question as to whose mate she was. That she’d accepted him so readily affirmed she felt the same. Who has time to play games?

  “Now that that’s taken care of, who’d you find?”

  Nathaniel called over to Eli, who was heading for the bar, “Fuck. Pour me one, too.” Then he looked over to Darik. “Um…we found…can we talk in private?”

  “No.”

  “Relax.” Eli held up a bottle of Glenmorangie Scotch in one hand, his other placing five rocks glasses on the black counter. “It’s not about Talia. It’s about the robbery.”

  Talia grabbed Darik’s arm. “I was there, too. I’m a part of this. Don’t shut me out.”

  She waited as he stared at Nathaniel.

  Then he looked to his oldest friend, out of reflex.

  Dontae answered his unspoken question with gravity. “If you’re going to claim the woman for life, you’re going to have to tell her what she’s buying into. I think she can handle it. I’ve had her watched at the hospital. She hasn’t told anyone about the robbery.”

  Darik was stunned. Eli couldn’t believe his ears, either. Nathaniel was shaking his head.

  Most humans have images in their minds of horrible creatures ruled by a full moon with no ability to rule themselves. Who kill and eat people because they can’t help it. Like zombies or something. He was no zombie, and a planet did not dictate who he was and when. He was in control. He’d earned that ability. But now how to explain that to her this early in the game? He had no idea.

  “You had me watched?” Talia demanded.

  “Dontae never ceases to surprise us,” Nate exhaled.

  With annoyance, the wolf in question glanced around the room. “When will you ever learn that I’m ruled by logic?”

  “How is having me watched, logical?”

  Darik adjusted on the couch so he could face her. “In a minute you’ll know why.”

  Eli snorted and poured the Scotch.

  With respect, Nate asked, “You want us to leave?”

  “You’re my family. No.” Darik took Talia’s hand and sandwiched it between his own. He was suddenly more nervous than he’d ever been. “Talia, You’ve had a lot of questions. I haven’t been able to answer them but I want to now. I’m going to trust you with something only a few people know. Make that two people. I’m not counting my friends.”

  “Rose and Michelle,” she whispered.

  “Yes.” She gave a small nod that she was ready. “I’m not sure how to say this, because I’ve never personally told anyone. The thing is…I’m not normal.”

  Her chin dipped a little. “I know that.”

  “I’m different. We’re different.”

  “I know that, too.”

  His throat felt like someone had shoved a wool sweater in it. Darik licked his lips. “Drink, please?”

  Eli strode over and planted a glass in his hand. He held one out for Talia. She took it without looking at him.

  Darik’s heart gained speed to a dangerous pace as he struggled for courage. He took a swig of the amber liquid and set it down, taking hers from her, too, so he could hold her hand again. “Fuck, this is hard.”

  Dontae’s voice came from what seemed like miles away. “Greyson, calm down. You’re still healing.”

  Talia’s eyes softened and she scooted closer to him, slipping her hand around the back of his head. She weaved her fingers in his hair and brought their foreheads together, whispering just for him, “I’m here.”

  A knot formed in his gut, tightening painfully. “I might scare you away.”

  “I don’t frighten easily.” She touched the place over his pounding heart, carefully, so as not to rub against where he’d been shot. She had no idea the pain was deeper. “You should see some of the things I’ve seen working at that hospital.”

  “I’m not like anything you’ve seen.”

  He exhaled and pulled away so he could sit up straight. Her fingers slipped down to her lap, the blanket bunched around her, her lavender blouse smooth, one button missing.

  “I’m not just a man.” He paused. “I’m also…a wolf.”

  She stared at him, then slowly asked, “What do you mean?”

  “I mean I’m both.” Her eyelashes fluttered, searching to see if he was kidding. He remained patient, waiting for her to realize he wasn’t.

  A light sparked and she sat up straighter. She turned her head and let her glance graze his friends, one at a time—Dontae last. “All of you? You’re saying you’re werewolves? Is that really what you’re saying?”

  Eli took a sip, his forehead crinkling upward as he looked over the glass at her, no smile. Nathaniel crossed his arms and leaned against the wall. Dontae’s hands slid into the pockets of his white robe pulling it open just enough to show a little more of his chest hair, but nothing else.

  Darik heard something then that was very, very unexpected.

  Her heart.

  It beat normally.

  She was blinking at the coffee table, her mind racing around ideas they couldn’t guess at. He looked toward her chest, listened closely to the calm sound and then met Dontae’s knowing gaze. He’d heard it, too. So had Eli and Nate. They waited. It was up to her to say something now. It was all on her.

  As the pieces fell into place, she whispered, “That’s how you were able to save my life. You moved with preternatural speed?”

  “I prefer to think of it as supernatural speed, but yeah.”

  “When you were looking at my chest but not at my breasts, were you listening…to my heart?”

  An impressed smile flashed across him.

  Eli teased, “You didn’t look at her boobs? What are you—” He shut up at Darik’s look. “Not joke time. Right. Sorry.”

  She pointed at his t-shirt. “Show me your wounds.”

  Again he was impressed by her intelligence. Without argument, he pulled it off, ripping the gauze off immediately with nervous fingers. Her hand fluttered to her mouth on widening eyes. She gingerly reached out and touched the stitches, picking away the dried blood to take a better look.

  “You’re healed,” she breathed, running her fingertips across sewn-up, perfect, virgin flesh. The wonder left her eyes, replaced by a melancholy he couldn’t understand.

  “What are you thinking, Talia? What’s wrong?”

  She frowned, eyes rising slowly to meet his. “Do you age?”

  “You’re afraid of growing old without me?” She nodded and he exhaled, hap
py. “We live a normal, human life span. Our eyesight, night vision, hearing, they’re highly intensified over what you experience, but those abilities will soften. And we do wrinkle, just maybe a little less. It depends.” She was looking at him like he was a god or something and he couldn’t lie, it felt great.

  “How do you know what I experience?”

  He glanced over to his friends. They listened intently, their support in their expressions. Nathaniel nodded that Darik should tell her. It was almost shameful in wolf circles to have been human once, but now it seemed he had an advantage because their commonality might bring Talia closer. And she might think him even more impressive, which he wouldn’t mind at all.

  “I was human. For twelve years. On my thirteenth year, something happened.” He launched into a respectful summary of the night his life forever changed. The old pull of grief tugged as he described losing his parents, as though it happened yesterday. She listened, rapt.

  Her eyes flashed over to Dontae when she heard how he had found Darik and with the others, had taken the lost boy in without hesitation. Then to Nathaniel as she learned he’d taught Darik how to control the shift. And to Eli when they explained he’d joined their pack at eighteen after a rival pack had killed his alpha and made his first pack scatter. How the four of them were now closer than most brothers could claim to be. How they used what they could do, to fight the evil in New York. It was a moral obligation as well as a way to keep their abilities useful, honest, and honed.

  Talia was in pure awe. “I want to see what you really look like when you...what did you call it? Shift? I want to see you all as wolves.”

  Darik’s mouth slackened.

  The other three exchanged glances.

  “Well…I didn’t expect that,” Dontae muttered.

  Eli took a measured sip and admitted, “If she goes and tells anyone, no one will believe her.”

  She made a little snort. “I’m not going to tell anyone. Can you imagine? They’d lock me up. Okay, I’m ready.”